Global Truth: Jakara Events Around the World

Blogged by Sarina Kaur, Sweden.

Visions of Truth was held on November 14^th 2009 in Sweden and was a huge success.  Feedback from the sangat showed that the films, musical shorts, discussions, the 84 seconds of silence between each piece, the opening and closing ardaas, the candlelit vigil, and divaan impacted each person who had attended.

While everyone has a general understanding of what happened during 1984, the majority of people don’t have a grasp on how the issue is still impacting Punjab – with all the economic social and political violations of rights and lack of justice – today.  Many think that because these are events from 25 years ago, other issues are more important today.

Each one of us can make a difference in remembering the events and ensuring they are not repeated anywhere in the world.  Many of the movies we watched at this event shed light on this call to action and sense of urgency.  The revolution starts with me, and as Rubin Paul Singh said, “the eyes of 25,000 are looking down on me” and Jaswant Singh Khalra’s ‘”thats all you got?” or “don’t just learn how to take from the Guru but also learn how to fulfill the instructions given to you by your guru or if you cannot protect your own human rights, you will not be able to give the definition of the Khalsa to anyone in the world.”  These are the words that stuck in our mind.  During the discussion, it was asked – what will you contribute? What will you do? What are you good at and how can you use this to help the panth?  It was a start.  I hope that the Visions of Truth event left a footprint in each of the attending people’s hearts.

Thank you to the sangat in Sweden for your support!

A Promise

The following poem was written by a member of the Jakara Movement and presented at the Remembrance March held by the Jakara Movement in memory of those lives lost in the pogroms of 1984.

Written by Simranjit Singh, “A Promise” provides insight into the thoughts of a developing young Sikh leader.  There is angst; there is passion; there is power; and there is inspiration.  Here are his words and his expression.

“A Promise”

By Simranjit Singh

Today I make a promise.

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The Jakara Movement at Sikhlens’ SAFF

This weekend Sikhlens will be presenting its annual Sikh Art and Film Festival 2009.  The film festival showcases the best in Sikh movie-making talents from around the globe.  It also presents a forum for aspiring Sikh artists to also come and display their burgeoning talents.

he inaugural Sikh Art and Film Festival will be held at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA on November 13-15th.

The weekend features a number of different clusters, highlighting issues on the youth, creative Sikhs, short films, feature films, and even Remembering 1984.  The Remembering 1984 cluster on Sunday afternoon will be co-hosted with the Jakara Movement in conjunction with it’s Visions of Truth film series.

So whether you come for the entire weekend, make it out to just one cluster (at $15 pre-sale, you won’t find a better price), or at least to Sunday’s mela, check the schedule, check out the films, and make sure you come out and support Sikh arts!  Come join us in Southern California this weekend!

Visions of Truth in Sweden – Jakara Musings

Dispatch from Sarina Kaur, a Jakara member, currently studying in Tullinge, Sweden.

My inspiration for implementing Jakara’s Visions of Truth in Sweden was rooted in my desire to be with a sangat for the anniversary of November 1984.  Since there was nothing planned by the local Sikhs, I was forced to consider the thought of letting the anniversary pass without being a part of any effort to remember, reflect, or respond – and that thought began to daunt me.  Its easy enough to feel completely and utterly insignificant in our qaum’s bigger fight for justice but to not even be able to unite with a sangat and have an ardaas dedicated to the 25th anniversary of November 1894 was unacceptable, especially when the Swedish sangat seemed like a progressive one.

The way I see it is that you can only do so much for yourself independently but until you are in the right sangat listening to presentations and personal accounts, engaging in discussions and workshops, your experience and your feelings toward our history have been solely influenced by your own limits and your own understandings.  Activism stems from being in the right sangat; the right sangat demands that you take imitative and look within yourself and ask what you will do for your qaum.  It forces you to confront that darkness that is our reality but in a proactive way.  Jakara, among many other organizations and individuals have moved me to do this.

I feel so fortunate to have the Jakara’s support in making such a special event possible half way across the world.  I only hope that this event pushes the sangat here to ask themselves the same questions Jakara pushed me to ask of myself.  I hope that this event will be a step toward unity because regardless of where you are in the world, you have to acknowledge that unity is the first step to our revolution.

The entire Jakara family extends our Ardas to our sister and daughter of the Guru pushing for change across the globe!

Remembrance Marches in November

Through Sukhmani Sahibs, conferences, film festivals, and even ongoing camps, the Jakara Movement adds the next event to its on-going “Remember 1984″ campaign.  This November we begin our Remembrance Marches.

25 years ago there was a government-sponsored pogrom in Delhi and throughout many parts of India that left tens of thousands dead.  Orchestrated by the Indian Government, the perpetrators of these pogroms roam free today. Join us and connect in solemn remembrance with Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike as we commemorate the events of 1984 and call for justice and bear witness to the genocide.  We will not be silenced.

The Event will consist of a series of silent marches in the various regions, followed by video screenings, speeches, and a candlelight vigil.

Attend one at a city near you:

• BAKERSFIELD – Silver Creek Park – Saturday, November 7th, 2009, 5-7pm
• FREMONT – Albert Augustine Jr. Memorial Park in Milpitas, CA – Saturday, November 14th, 2009, 6-8pm
• FRESNO – Woodward Park – Monday, November 16th, 2009, 6-8pm
• RIVERSIDE – Glen Avon Heritage Park – Wednesday, November 18th, 2009, 6:30-8:30pm

The Jakara Movement at Yuba City Nagar Kirtan

This past weekend was the 30^th Annual Yuba City Nagar Kirtan (sometimes called the Sikh Parade).  Thousands from all over California and beyond gathered for the weekend, doubling the population of sleepy Yuba City.

An estimated 75,000 people filled Tierra Buena and Butte House roads before the beginning of the parade, one of the largest annual gatherings of Sikhs anywhere outside Asia.[link]

We had mentioned before the float built by the Sikh Students Collaborative.  The Appeal Democrat, Yuba City’s own newspaper, made special note of the float that seemed to have attracted plenty of conversation and provided fruits for conversation:

More floats followed, from businesses, school ethnic clubs and charities such as the American Red Cross’ local chapter. Some floats had a political message, such as one from a group of Sikh college students that warned of oppression against Sikhs in their native India.

Two men stood on the float with their heads positioned inside nooses, while words read, “A community will never forget.”[link]

Along with the float, the first annual Yuba City Youth Lecture and Discussion was conducted.  Overall the weekend was a great success and too many of us are still exhausted.  Special thanks to ALL those SSAs that lent their support and especially ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS that were out until 2am working on the float.  Another thanks has to go out to the Jakara Movement volunteers that came out and worked above and beyond the call of duty.  Truly when we work together, we are the movement.  Below the link, see some pictures from the float.

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Thoughts on “Visions of Truth” – Fresno and San Jose

This past Saturday (September 19, 2009), the “Visions of Truth” film series came to San Jose and Fresno, California.  Both came to respective college campuses and drew audiences of 50+.  Families, the elderly, and the young joined together to reflect on the events of 1984, through the lens of film and visual media.

The attendance was larger than expected, for promoting independent small-scale productions, and drew accolades from the participants.  In Fresno, city councilpersons, including the president Cynthia Sterling, joined in the film discussions and marked that she enjoyed such community participatory events and hoped to come again in the future.  It was also discussed that they key for greater non-Sikh participation in our community events is through our own participation and presence in events by non-Sikh groups.  All enjoyed the “Visions of Truth” events and eagerly hoped that they would continue in the future.

The Visions of Truth series now shifts to Southern California.  We’ll keep you updated on future dates and times, in October.

The Jakara family also wants to extend special thanks to all its volunteers in Fresno, Kerman, and San Jose that continues to put on quality events and encourage youth participation.  Together, we are the movement.

Thoughts on “Visions of Truth” – Yuba City

The “Visions of Truth” film series was launched this past Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at Yuba College.  It was a success, with even some non-Sikhs joining the audience.  The following was a critique by one of the organizers.  We are publishing it online to help other groups and cities that will be participating, as well as for helping other future initiatives by young Sikh activists.

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Visions of Truth

LAUNCH OF SIKH FILM FESTIVAL DEVOTED TO 1984

The Jakara Movement is pleased to announce the launch of the Visions of Truth film festival.  Visions of Truth will be a traveling film festival taking place throughout the state of California from Yuba City to San Diego.  The goal of Visions of Truth is to spur dialogue between students and members of the community by showcasing film and music media related to the third ghallughara, or Sikh holocaust (1984).  By increasing awareness, this event will mobilize activism around these issues and move individuals and communities to be more involved in issues of injustice both locally and globally.

The third ghallughara remains to be one of the least recognized, yet most significant, events in the history of Sikhs.  In early June 1984 the Indian Army invaded one of the most historic of all Sikh Gurdwaras, the Darbar Sahib complex in Amritsar, Punjab.  The ensuing destruction and loss of life marked one of the darkest chapters of the later 20th century for Sikhs.The aim of the film festival is not only to remember the events of 1984 but also to raise awareness in the community and promote positive dialogue. Visions of Truth is open to the public and is free.

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Reflections on Working with Sikh Parent Generation

[The following was written by a Jakara Movement member that coordinated our inaugural project of the Remember 1984 Campaign.  These were their personal reflections and they are being published in hope that other Sikh activists may make use of their notes.  They also may be notable because the coordinator engaged directly with Sikh women – editor]

Learning to interact with the parent generation and how to persuade their involvement was one of the key skills obtained through being the project coordinator for this particular project. I gained patience and persistence with my audience, while ensuring that they were committed to the project.

Lessons that may be helpful in increasing participation is to start a lot earlier. It is a tricky balance, I cannot call too early because the parent generation doesn’t exactly carry around calendars. They tend to do things by memory, so asking them 2 months in advance may not work. At the same time, asking them one month in advance was not efficient either. In the future, I would have started calling 6 weeks before the start of the project, send out materials 4 weeks before the project and call them to ensure that they are advertising it to the entire sangat. Sending out the materials really helped them understand what they are supposed to be doing.

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