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!

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.

A Promise…

To Guru Arjan Dev who sat upon the stove of sacrifice,

To Guru Tegh Bahadur who gave his head of love,

To Guru Gobind Singh who gave me my name,

To the four Sahibzade who exemplify brotherhood.

A Promise…

To the Panj Pyare whose bravery exceeds my thoughts,

To Baba Deep Singh who denied age,

To Bhai Bachittar Singh who introduced a foe elephant to his naagni barcha,

To Mai Bhago who matched beauty and grace to the sword.

A Promise…

To the Chali Mukte who did come back,

To Akali Phoola Singh who flowered the Akal Takth,

To all Sikh warriors in WW1 and WW2 who shed blood for others,

To Kartar Singh Saraba who gave life to Sikh Politics.

A Promise…

To Shaheed Bhagat Singh who makes me want to wear a paag,

To Shaheed Udham Singh who showed what it means to be a lion,

To Shaheed Chandarshekar Azad who simply would not be put down.

To Shaheed Raj Guru and Sukhdev who are not given enough credit.

A Promise…

To Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale who makes me proud to be a Sikh,

To Jaswant Singh Khalra who opened my eyes,

To my fathers who were burned alive,

To my mothers who were widowed,

To my sisters who were demoralized,

To my brothers who were orphaned,

To the unimaginable number of innocent Sikhs killed,

To the unanimous number of Sikhs still missing today,

A Promise…

To never forget.

A Promise…

To 1984.

A Promise…

To You.

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!

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!

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

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.

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.

After finishing Visions of Truth in Yuba City today I would like to give some suggestions for the upcoming film screenings:

• If possible do an afternoon/evening event.  Unfortunately, many prefer to sleep in rather than attending a film screening.
• Go in a few days before your event to make sure the DVDs are compatible with the devices that you will be given.  If done at a school campus make sure that the sound works as well. Also this will give you a chance to familiarize yourself with the equipment.
• Have a back up plan if people show up late-if only a few people come on time have something planned so the audience doesn’t get bored.  You definitely want to start on time, but with IST it gets difficult.
• Pass out flyers. We only did posters due to the time constraint, but by passing out flyers people will read it and remember.
• Assign someone to take pictures during the event. And if possible get a tri-pod so the pictures aren’t blurry-or if someone has a high-tech camera. It just slipped my mind that the lights are off during a movie screening.
• Refreshments would definitely be a good idea. You can keep it simple by just doing water. Plus, soda and most juices aren’t too good for the body anyways.
• If you are not doing it at a location that most people know, have some places to eat in mind-that is if you are not serving lunch/dinner. (Which would be difficult since you do not know how many people are going to attend.)
• Before the clips read a short intro and then after each one summarize what was seen/go over the key parts/add something-incorporate the knowledge that you already have
• Just relax and everything will work out in some way or another & don’t forget to SMILE

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SCREENING

Some additional notes:

A few of Americans had come to the event because it was sponsored by the student government and these attendees said that our organization was amazing in actually having events such as this one. They said that it is difficult to get the youth to come out but by even getting the word out to anyone and everyone is spectacular.  On this note I was thinking since the movies have subtitles it wouldn’t be a bad idea to invite non-Sikhs as well.  They shouldn’t be our main target, but if we have good friends who aren’t Sikh and that would be willing to come, it would be a good idea to spread the message.  But there is + and – for that. Since it might be difficult for some to read subtitles for a few hours.

-Just relax and everything will work out in some way or another & don’t forget to SMILE

-attendees said the event was well organized and logistics were great (besides the technical difficulties) Thanks to our lovely Jakara volunteers in Fresno and San Jose

-Just relax and everything will work out in some way or another & don’t forget to SMILE

-attendees said the event was well organized and logistics were great (besides the technical difficulties) Thanks to our lovely Jakara volunteers in Fresno and San Jose

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.

ABOUT THE FILMS

With a combination of documentaries, fiction, musical shorts and feature lengths each piece thoughtfully addresses the issue of 1984 – what it meant for individuals and what it meant for the Quam.  Storming the Temple provides a chronological look at the events leading up to 1984 and the conflict between the Indian Government and the Sikh Nation.  Reaching for Home provides a fictional account of the events through a character analysis.  The Widow Colony uses testimonies of widows who were directly impacted by the violence.  Included in this list is a last recorded speech of Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human rights activist.  The Sikh Genocide Project clips discuss the events through a lens of four different periods in history.  Amu, a critically acclaimed film by Shonali Bose, threads together 1984 by addressing issues related to identity, history, truth and justice.In addition, three musical shorts will be shown throughout the event providing a platform to promote Sikh musical artists including Humble the Poet, Sikh Knowledge, G.N.E., and Rubin Paul Singh.  Each piece addresses the impact 1984 has had on Sikhs and the artists use their role in the diaspora to promote creative dialogue in the community.

ABOUT JAKARA MOVEMENT

The Jakara Movement seeks to encourage engagement with Sikh culture through education, research, and community outreach initiatives.  Founded in 2000, the Jakara Movement began as a collegiate conference, but has evolved into an institution for the recruitment and training of volunteers and a hub for the Sikh Californian youth. With a focus on the interstices of education, health, gender, and social justice, the Jakara Movement inclusively engages large sections of the Sikh youth in various projects to strengthen their identity and consciousness as Sikhs, foster education through service-learning, and inspire activism and volunteerism within the greater Qaum.

The following are the cities and dates.

Yuba City: Sep 5th 2009 A Success!
Sacramento: TBD
Bay Area: Sep 19th, 2009
Fresno: Sep 19th, 2009
LA: October 2009
Irvine: October 2009
Riverside: October 2009
San Diego: October 10th, 2009

For more information – including venues and times – please contact the Jakara Movement through our contact page or by calling 559-677-SIKH or 1-888-JAKARA-1

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.

One problem I faced was that some of the parents did not consider doing the paath a big deal, as Sukhmani Sahib is part of their regular routine and the event did not always have an impact.

Calling and speaking to the parent generation in Punjabi was a huge asset, as many did not feel comfortable speaking English.  I did make a lot of contacts that I feel will be extremely valuable in the future.