sikhlionz

the real problem here is the gurdwaras and sikh org.s need to work together and make fewer larger donations in one go that would be more attention-grabbing like islamic aid are doing- they were on the media saying how they were aiming for £ X millions... that sort of stuff gets people listening... fact is the sikhs are donating a LOT but individually to different places and charities at different times.

could y'all email/pm me the actual specific reason it was shut down including the resources? Enough respect 4 the hard work and sewa... but why stop now? y'all have built up the crediblity and reliability as a good resource! If y'all want me to upload some pages, articles, etc. get in touch :wub:

carnivores: only chickens eats chickens- why not eat a lion and kill it yourself? too scared? forget that they can't even kill a chicken they so dayum scared they get someone else to do it- besides they'd have to catch it first the fat greedy jokers :wub: and for those jokers thinking they are at the top of the food chain- don't forget cannibals are above you! should governments let them loose on all of you?

shoot that's embaressing- i voted the odd time :wub: to say the least... peoples... i'm the laziest person on the planet but that only took 3 seconds to vote (each time) and we would've got a much needed voice in the media oh well... back to gorae and asian chumchae chattin ssssssssssssssugar about us as usual

That's the prob with the net- too much of that sort of BS going on- easiest ways to avoid that happening is better security, spending minimal time uploaing to servers to avoid anyone getting your passwords, changing passwords regularly with passwords including different cases and numbers- common sense stuff. Respect to the W!N for the level of sewa they do :wub:

:wub: ))))

Waheguru

Pay homage to a great Soul; his life's work will continue to inspire generations of sikhs the world over. Wahegurooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

these threads need merging A press release along the lines of the statement below needs to be released by all major Sikh organisations Behzti play; Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti and Birmingham Repertory Theatre dishonour Sikh community The Behzti play caused uproar in the British Sikh community. The play sparked several days of non-stop peaceful protests in which literature was distributed about the Sikh religion and some of the misinformation by the play was corrected. However on the last day of protesting there was sporadic violence in which the Birmingham Repertory Theatre's window and door as well as effects inside were damaged. The important questions are what sparked this situation and what are its implications? What sparked the Sikh community? Unlike what several media sources are currently stating it was NOT the wording of the play that caused gratuitous offence felt by the Sikh community. The offence was caused by the denigration of Sikh symbols on-stage; a fact ignored by the media and other criticisers of the Sikh community. The aggregated effect of using all these Sikh symbols was to create the Gurdwara context for the play. However the symbols were not just used for the context but were abused as well. A turban was placed on a shoe-rack; since the turban is worn not only by members of the Sikh religion but also culturally in Africa and Asia; this would have caused offence to many communities and races as well as religions. The mock-up of the Guru Granth Sahib (Holy Scriptures) may have been an imitation but still makes a mockery of the living embodiment of God in the Sikh religion. The use of pictures of Sikh Gurus, and other important members of the religion held in highest reverence, religious swords, the 'Ek-Onkar' symbol (the Name of God), all were used as a backdrop. The disrespect of symbols in this manner was equivalent to the public burning of a Cross. Would this NOT have caused offence to a majority of Britain?... What are the implications? The Sikh community at no stage requested complete censorship of the play. Also the shocking unfairness of the fact that the entire Sikh community was blamed, by the Arts community and some members of the media. Is the whole of English society ever blamed for the actions of unruly soccer fans? Also this was one instance in decades not like the regular and more sizeable football violence that occurs up and down the country and abroad, causing much greater damage in any instance. The West Midlands Police stated it could ensure the safety of theatre-goers since it could handle football crowds of 40,000 fans at matches regularly then it could handle a few hundred Sikh protestors especially since most of them were peaceful. So the question remains as to why did Birmingham Rep. theatre stop the play since the Police could easily handle the protestors? The only answer can be for commercial reasons. Basic spin-doctoring suggests they used this as a marketing ploy... they used the Media to 'whip up' demand for the theatre and it's plays and providing important publicity. These symbols could have been removed without changing the writing of the play and would have removed the major bulk of the offence caused and definitely would have reduced the protestors. However this fact was made clear to the organisers of the play repeatedly over many months by the Sikh community but it was clear they wanted a public confrontation and much-needed publicity to get 'bums on seats'. The playwright and theatre were adamant on usi ng BNP-style tactics of causing offence to religious minorities by playing on stereotypes and prejudices innate to our society to create intolerance and mass protests. Who has all this publicity benefited? Play-critics gave the play poor reviews in the national and local press and the play received few ticket sales from theatre-goers prior to the last day of protests. However since the last day of protests and wider media involvement the play, the writer and the theatre are now the most famous of their kind in the country. Does the public at large really believe the Media should have given this one incident international headline news coverage, even above Tony Blair's visit to further Middle-East peace negotiations, instances of major violence such as mass murders, and the continuing war in Iraq? The Sikh community meanwhile have been hit with more negative PR than the days of Enoch Powell; standing for election in an area known for being home to a large populace of Sikhs. In the days following the protests there were bomb scares at Gurdwaras in Smethwick and West Bromwich yet this received no publicity. The widely cited death threats to the playwright were mentioned in the national as well as local press but the death threats to the Sikh leaders and Councillors have also been ignored. Thus the whole freedom of speech argument used by playwrights and media to defend the play ignores this basic fact that it was the context; i.e. the use of Sikh symbols NOT the speech or writing that caused most offence. Many members of the media have jumped on the bandwagon blaming the Sikh community as being 'closed' or finding freedom of speech unacceptable. This is entirely wrong due to many reasons: Firstly the Sikh community is very widely accepted as being the most law-abiding community in Great Britain. They are proportionally more economically active than any other community in generating income and taxes for the economy. Hundreds of thousands of Sikhs fought and died in the first and s econd World Wars for Great Britain against the Nazis for these freedoms such as freedom of speech. Unlike their English counterparts these Sikhs were always sent to the front line and fought for these freedoms for a country they never visited and a language they never spoke. Some journalists even had the cheek to suggest the protests were because the playwright was a woman but actually the Sikh leaders and protestors included a good mix of all ages, gender, etc. Britain only gave women equal rights in the last few decades yet Sikh women have enjoyed equal status granted by Sikh Gurus for hundreds of years; for example, fighting in armies alongside their male counterparts, something still today not granted in the British Army. The Sikh community upon entering Britain in the 1950s and 1960s were met with former critics of multicultural society such as Enoch Powell. Due to their appearance the Sikhs have remained the first to be ridiculed in comedies, dramas and other forms of media. Since then a multicultural society may have formed but media organisations have failed by consistent under-representation of the Sikh community in their bodies and thus have a total lack of awareness. In broadcasting coverage on the 9/11 attacks on the USA and the wars since the western media failed to distinguish between Sikhs and Muslims and thus resulted in many Sikhs being murdered in the USA and UK due to the ignorance in society exacerbated by the media. Also the media described the playwright and actors as being Sikh; a fact contested by the entire Sikh community at large as she does not follow any of the basic tenets of the religion, nor it's code of conduct. Those people in Society at large that are not ignorant of Sikhism understand nobody can be born a Sikh as it is a practised religion. If the media chooses to remain ignorant of Sikhism and describe the playwright and actors as Sikh then surely by the same notions the media must remain unbiased and apply this policy to all communities so that whenever it mentions any new s story regarding anybody that has anything to do with Christianity, and other religions it should mention that religion. Thus many animal rights protestors who may be children of devout Christians should be described in every broadcasted news story as being Christian. Also the media were the first to push freedom of speech aside by encouraging retailers to censor West Indian Rap music due to the sentiments against the Gay community. Thus the absurd ignorance, blatant racism, hypocrisy and inequitable news coverage shown by many media broadcasters is apparent. taken from http://www.SikhLionz.com/behzti.htm

A press release along the lines of the statement below needs to be released by all major Sikh organisations Behzti play; Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti and Birmingham Repertory Theatre dishonour Sikh community The Behzti play caused uproar in the British Sikh community. The play sparked several days of non-stop peaceful protests in which literature was distributed about the Sikh religion and some of the misinformation by the play was corrected. However on the last day of protesting there was sporadic violence in which the Birmingham Repertory Theatre's window and door as well as effects inside were damaged. The important questions are what sparked this situation and what are its implications? What sparked the Sikh community? Unlike what several media sources are currently stating it was NOT the wording of the play that caused gratuitous offence felt by the Sikh community. The offence was caused by the denigration of Sikh symbols on-stage; a fact ignored by the media and other criticisers of the Sikh community. The aggregated effect of using all these Sikh symbols was to create the Gurdwara context for the play. However the symbols were not just used for the context but were abused as well. A turban was placed on a shoe-rack; since the turban is worn not only by members of the Sikh religion but also culturally in Africa and Asia; this would have caused offence to many communities and races as well as religions. The mock-up of the Guru Granth Sahib (Holy Scriptures) may have been an imitation but still makes a mockery of the living embodiment of God in the Sikh religion. The use of pictures of Sikh Gurus, and other important members of the religion held in highest reverence, religious swords, the 'Ek-Onkar' symbol (the Name of God), all were used as a backdrop. The disrespect of symbols in this manner was equivalent to the public burning of a Cross. Would this NOT have caused offence to a majority of Britain?... What are the implications? The Sikh community at no stage requested complete censorship of the play. Also the shocking unfairness of the fact that the entire Sikh community was blamed, by the Arts community and some members of the media. Is the whole of English society ever blamed for the actions of unruly soccer fans? Also this was one instance in decades not like the regular and more sizeable football violence that occurs up and down the country and abroad, causing much greater damage in any instance. The West Midlands Police stated it could ensure the safety of theatre-goers since it could handle football crowds of 40,000 fans at matches regularly then it could handle a few hundred Sikh protestors especially since most of them were peaceful. So the question remains as to why did Birmingham Rep. theatre stop the play since the Police could easily handle the protestors? The only answer can be for commercial reasons. Basic spin-doctoring suggests they used this as a marketing ploy... they used the Media to 'whip up' demand for the theatre and it's plays and providing important publicity. These symbols could have been removed without changing the writing of the play and would have removed the major bulk of the offence caused and definitely would have reduced the protestors. However this fact was made clear to the organisers of the play repeatedly over many months by the Sikh community but it was clear they wanted a public confrontation and much-needed publicity to get 'bums on seats'. The playwright and theatre were adamant on using BNP-style tactics of causing offence to religious minorities by playing on stereotypes and prejudices innate to our society to create intolerance and mass protests. Who has all this publicity bene fited? Play-critics gave the play poor reviews in the national and local press and the play received few ticket sales from theatre-goers prior to the last day of protests. However since the last day of protests and wider media involvement the play, the writer and the theatre are now the most famous of their kind in the country. Does the public at large really believe the Media should have given this one incident international headline news coverage, even above Tony Blair's visit to further Middle-East peace negotiations, instances of major violence such as mass murders, and the continuing war in Iraq? The Sikh community meanwhile have been hit with more negative PR than the days of Enoch Powell; standing for election in an area known for being home to a large populace of Sikhs. In the days following the protests there were bomb scares at Gurdwaras in Smethwick and West Bromwich yet this received no publicity. The widely cited death threats to the playwright were mentioned in the national as well as local press but the death threats to the Sikh leaders and Councillors have also been ignored. Thus the whole freedom of speech argument used by playwrights and media to defend the play ignores this basic fact that it was the context; i.e. the use of Sikh symbols NOT the speech or writing that caused most offence. Many members of the media have jumped on the bandwagon blaming the Sikh community as being 'closed' or finding freedom of speech unacceptable. This is entirely wrong due to many reasons: Firstly the Sikh community is very widely accepted as being the most law-abiding community in Great Britain. They are proportionally more economically active than any other community in generating income and taxes for the economy. Hundreds of thousands of Sikhs fought and died in the first and second World Wars for Great Britain against the Nazis for these freedoms such as freedom of speech. Unlike their English counterparts these Sikhs were always sent to the front line and fought for thes e freedoms for a country they never visited and a language they never spoke. Some journalists even had the cheek to suggest the protests were because the playwright was a woman but actually the Sikh leaders and protestors included a good mix of all ages, gender, etc. Britain only gave women equal rights in the last few decades yet Sikh women have enjoyed equal status granted by Sikh Gurus for hundreds of years; for example, fighting in armies alongside their male counterparts, something still today not granted in the British Army. The Sikh community upon entering Britain in the 1950s and 1960s were met with former critics of multicultural society such as Enoch Powell. Due to their appearance the Sikhs have remained the first to be ridiculed in comedies, dramas and other forms of media. Since then a multicultural society may have formed but media organisations have failed by consistent under-representation of the Sikh community in their bodies and thus have a total lack of awareness. In broadcasting coverage on the 9/11 attacks on the USA and the wars since the western media failed to distinguish between Sikhs and Muslims and thus resulted in many Sikhs being murdered in the USA and UK due to the ignorance in society exacerbated by the media. Also the media described the playwright and actors as being Sikh; a fact contested by the entire Sikh community at large as she does not follow any of the basic tenets of the religion, nor it's code of conduct. Those people in Society at large that are not ignorant of Sikhism understand nobody can be born a Sikh as it is a practised religion. If the media chooses to remain ignorant of Sikhism and describe the playwright and actors as Sikh then surely by the same notions the media must remain unbiased and apply this policy to all communities so that whenever it mentions any news story regarding anybody that has anything to do with Christianity, and other religions it should mention that religion. Thus many animal rights protestors who may be children of devout Christians s hould be described in every broadcasted news story as being Christian. Also the media were the first to push freedom of speech aside by encouraging retailers to censor West Indian Rap music due to the sentiments against the Gay community. Thus the absurd ignorance, blatant racism, hypocrisy and inequitable news coverage shown by many media broadcasters is apparent. taken from http://www.SikhLionz.com/behzti.htm

let's gat back to the quote of Mr Mandla in the Times: “The Sikh Federation is just jumping on the bandwagon,” Mr Mandla said. “They are a group of militant people who just want to stir up problems around us.” "every community has hotheads" and speaking most of the protestors; “They called me a sissy and told me to resign" Leaving the GNNSJ debate to one side- i for one would like to thank Mr Mandla for remaining UNITED; this really shows how great a leader he really is :wub: could someone remind Mr Mandla our Panth needs to remain united right now or all hells going to break loose People we gotta stay united as otherwise that's it we may as well blacken our faces and sit on donkeys because we've sat back and fought amongst ourselves over silly little things instead of looking at the bigger picture and seeing the ever-sizeable storm that we've headed into in this situation 2 choices for the panth UNITE OR DIE i say UNITE :wub:

the death threats to 1 playwriter have been widely publicised lets see the publicity the threats to all these councillors gets as well as the bomb scares

sikhi if you're implying that we need to be better soldiers don't forget we're in a minority in the west and they love persecuting our religion at every opportunity. We know the national media is going to be looking for any possible reason to make us look bad so why give them the satisfaction? when you are outnumbered ( and sikh history has PROVED this) GUERILLA TACTICS work best- be a soldier rather than a saint when you haven't got a camera aimed at you and be saint rather than a soldier when you have otherwise you lose out to the majority some of y'all need to brush up on your 'art of war'

http://www.asiansinmedia.org/forum/general.../960/index.html y'all there's some funky messages on this forum run by AIM and sunny hundal- try and post some positive messages and keep it clean

unlike at trafalgar square and at previous protest now the whole national media WILL be present and ready to broadcast sikhs in a bad light so even if an old singh farts; they'll be slating the whole panth saying ten police officers got knocked out in the backdraft :wub: we may as well use the media to OUR ADVANTAGE by proving how well we can do PEACEFUL PROTESTS like SEATED NAAM SIMRAN like rsingh's saying ! ! get more bibian and children down so we don't look like a load of middle-aged blokes causin trouble :TH:

to be wholly honest the odd show that we're willing to fight for our beliefs if necessary may not be such an awfully bad thing... even namby pamby environmentalists go crazy every now and then but see how the media whip it up like we do this all the time whereas environmentalists and animal rights campaigners actually DO <_<

i agree Mohan Singh would be best- (but the blatant chumcha-ness of the previous post cracks me up) :wub: you know i only kidding bro PANTH UNITED :wub:

answering back to Paxman is no easy task so i say respect to him as i dont think some freshy with no grasp of english like most of our leaders could do better ! anyhow; i agree & repeat the essence of previous posts: wherever the play is held- only PEACEFUL PROTESTS, we need more GIRLS/SINGHNIA/BIBIA involved otherwise we look like male mobs and more CHILDREN to show we didn't attack any children on saturday also get Mohan Singh, CSGB and other leaders to work with police so we have our own people forming lines to ensure the funnier members of our youth don't get too frisky and turn things violent because that is something we definetly want to avoid in front of the world's media we are being branded as deniers of free speech, as violent mobs hell-bent on breaking the law- IT IS UP TO US TO PROVE WE ARE NOT- BESTEST BEHAVIOUR PLEEEEEASE UNITED WE STAND :wub:

http://www.nirankari.com/birmingham/homepa...e_newbhawan.htm New dehra nearly finished in potters lane in wednesbury, west midlands, uk... opening v. soon- there's a map on the site for those unfamiliar to the area his "holiness" hardev (the latest leader) will be attending to open it. latest news is available at: http://www.nirankari.com/birmingham/news.htm Also after numerous requests the bbc in its infinite wisdom has added a section on the narakhdari mission at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/faith/sant_nirankari/ what are your views on the above?

:wub: nice 1 kings99 ! !

he he he

Thank You Waheguru Ji ! ! ! ! Even Khalid Mahmood Mp for Perry Barr did a better job than all our 'leaders' in explaining to the BBC News what the problem was, how the Rep and playwriter were at fault and could easily have made simple changes but kept them in including sikh symbols to purposefully cause maximum offence Respect to him and he's going to gain the odd sikh vote methinks!

no offence to the previous responders to this thread but i think when it comes to these issues - i agree we need leaders that can better lead us, speak to the media, etc. However the simple fact remains until you provide a better alternative and walk like you talk by taking up those kursees then they still going to be in power. Secondly whilst we don't walk like we talk and leave them in power then we need to encourage them by any and all means possible to do as the youth want them to. I agree Mohan Singh has done an absolutely fantastic job! However using the opportunity to have a dig at certain people at smethwick is a bit cheap as when it come to the crunch it is better to have some singhs from smethwick and elsewhere standing beside you than have no unity and have in-fighting as per usual between all our various jathas, groups and all that and have nobody standing next to you. Youth- it aint a question of cuss this leader or the other- if you want the kursees then take them if you got the bottle and support But either way when it comes to crunch time and a protest is required for hecks sake stand united and those jokers that have their in-fighting including leaders should be left to it whilst you take a stand i don't mean to cause offence to nobody especially as y'all are my more learned brothers and sisters but peoples stop shooting yourselves in the foot Peace

get to emailing media: midlandstoday@bbc.co.uk newsonline@bskyb.com subject: sikhplay dutyoffice@itv.com http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4110631.stm GET TO PROTESTING IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE :wub:

A MASSIVE WELL DONE to ALL concerned in the protests- keep up the good work for those of us on the fax, email, etc. front email the eforementioned email addresses and give feedback on media articles: http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,3000...3267457,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/west_m...nds/4104139.stm enough respect to the archbishop of brum email every councillor of brum : :wub: http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateConte...s&MENU_ID=13352 fax every local MP in the uk and get them involved :wub: http://www.faxyourmp.com/ contact all the REP's sponsors and let them know the type of intolerant people they sponsor: http://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/core_asp/s...sponsorship.asp