amorphous_singh

Sorry Paaji, didnt see you; but no problem; next time please do give me a shout and we can exchange Fateh. Thanks for coming.

Man - I didnt leave until 7:30 - had to go to more meetings afterwards. Only got home an hour or so ago. Tired now :-) I was the one who asked Rob Marris why he failed to mention the attacks against Sikhs in his interview on Radio 4's today programme earlier in the morning. Or if it helps visually, black dastaar, beard, etc ... oh thats probably no good ;-) Ok - black T-shirt with 1984 on the back in white.

It went really well. There was an excellent turnout and we completely filled the select committee room. Many youngsters were present. Many MPs were also present throughout the launch. I'm sure you'll see some "proper" reports soon enough. I'll post some pictures once I catch my breath. Well done to everyone who turned up and then stayed on to go to the Central Lobby to lobby your MPs At least one radio interview was recorded that I saw.

A few pictures from todays launch will be uploaded soon - well once I catch up on everything else that has been neglected as a result of spending nearly all day and much of the evening in Parliament. Damn I'm tired :-)

It also includes an interview with Rob Marris (chair of the newly launched APPG for British Sikhs) and he completely ignores this ideal opportunity (on a very high profile news show) to highlight the very real concerns that British Sikhs have about attacks against our community as a result of the London bomb blasts. A wasted opportunity by him. He was told as much at todays APPG launch. As for the quote from Savraj Bains; about "... a growing extremist element ..." and thats not all he says; maybe he can explain if he was misquoted or not and if so demand an immediate retraction. Excellent contribution from Gurjeevan Singh though. Keep it up Singhs and Kaurs.

This morning, the Radio 4 Today Programme (one of the, if not the most; important news programmes in the British Media) carried a short 7 minute report on the Respect for Guru Ji campaign. You can hear a recording of that report at http://june84.org/audio/today-12-07-2005.mp3 It includes an interview with Gurjeevan Singh from the R4G who explains the necessity for the campaign.

Ok - it's today folks. Get moving ..... I'm on my way to catch the tube as I type. See you all there. GurFateh

Seconded!

I agree there is some responsibility on us to educating the masses; however what we are discussing are the ignorant actions of a number of individuals who are using the London blasts as an excuse to attack Sikhs. In no way is this excusable. We do not need to make excuses for this type of behaviour but we need to challenge it. No amount of education is going to help an ignorant racist; who couldn't care less who was responsible for the blasts to launch their own campiagn of intimidation and hate; blaming an entire community (whoever that is) is what feeds their racism. If someone was to make the fallacious connection between the explosions and Sikhs then they should be corrected. We should not be cowered and slink away; anyone making such connections needs to have their ignorance and inherent racism challenged. As always we should remain viligilant but we need not be frightened. We should continue with our lives and with our campaigns; we should continue to challenge and highlight injustices where ever we see them. Do not be afraid. Hold you head high and go about your lives and act like a Sikh; you are the daughters and sons of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Don't let the racists win. And with that I'm off to 2 hours of Gatka training!

Please see Post#3 in the following thread. http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?showtopic=12252

I'm sure the Toronto Sikhs will make an appropriate judgement (esp. considering it took some effort to get their protest organised) but I feel the following is worth reiterating. What follows is slightly amended copy of my posting at http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?showtopic=12037&st=60 in response to the cancellation of the UK Sikh Day of Protest. The reason that the UK protest was called off was because it was the sensible thing to do; to have continued with it at this tragic time would have been insensitive and irresponsible; especially with regard to stretching police resources. If someone was to make the fallacious connection between the explosions and Sikhs then they should be corrected. We should not be cowered and slink away; anyone making such connections needs to have their ignorance and inherent racism challenged. As always we should remain viligilant but we need not be frightened. We should continue with our lives and with our campaigns; we should continue to challenge and highlight injustices where ever we see them. The tragic events of yesterday should not be used as an excuse to move backwards or halt ongoinging campaigns. Much has been made of the stoicism of Londoners and their refusal to be laid low by the attacks; we are the Sikhs of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji; we shall continue to be such and we shall not hide or cower. We shall act responsibily and dispel any incorrect sentiments; where ever it is expressed. Do not be afraid. Hold you head high and go about your lives and act like a Sikh.

From http://tapoban.org/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=43688&t=43688 Subject: "Christian Missionaries Target Toronto Sikhs" ===== Begin ===== Starting on July 16, Christian Missionaries are going to be specifically targetting Sikhs for conversion. I say we give them a fitting reply. They had a single Jesus who died an agonising death, asking "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me leaving Me helpless, forsaking and failing Me in My need?" We have thousands and thousands of Shahids and the likes of Dhan Dhan Shahidan De Sirtaj Satguru Arjan Dev jee who repeated, "Tera keeaa meethaa lagai...." when being boiled alive. We have Dhan Dhan Satuguru Tegh Bahadur Sahib who gave his life so others could practice their religions freely. Forget our Gurus questioning God, not even our Guru's Sikhs made a sound when going through the most brutal tortures. Who should be converting who now? _______________________ Toronto challenged Beginning July 16, Toronto Challenge teams will work in partnership with churches to meet the 48 percent of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) residents who weren't born there in order to spread the gospel. Toronto's multi-ethnic/religious community includes Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. Canada is home to the largest community of Sikhs outside of the Punjab in India, home to half of Canada's Sikh and Hindu population. For three weeks, teams will visit Muslim mosques, Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwaras or Buddhist temples while learning about other faiths and cultures. Call 1-877-487-7777 or email: andy@cdn.om.org. http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bi...es/050630briefs Poster at http://www.omcanada.org/tc05.doc.pdf ===== End ==== Toronto Sikhs please be alert. It would that this group are attempting to use the guise of learning about other faiths to try and promote themselves.

Apologies for the slow response, been tied up with other stuff. I just wanted to comment briefly on the above. The reason that the protest was called off was because it was the sensible thing to do; to have continued with it at this tragic time would have been insensitive and irresponsible; especially with regard to stretching police resources. If someone was to make the fallacious connection between the explosions and Sikhs then they should be corrected. We should not be cowered and slink away; anyone making such connections needs to have their ignorance and inherent racism challenged. As always we should remain viligilant but we need not be frightened. We should continue with our lives and with our campaigns; we should continue to challenge and highlight injustices where ever we see them. The tragic events of yesterday should not be used as an excuse to move backwards or halt ongoinging campaigns. Much has been made of the stoicism of Londoners and their refusal to be laid low by the attacks; we are the Sikhs of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji; we shall continue to be such and we shall not hide or cower. We shall act responsibily and dispel any incorrect sentiments; where ever it is expressed. Do not be afraid. Hold you head high and go about your lives and act like a Sikh.

The above press release is available online at http://www.sikhfederation.com/news/pr_london_blast.htm

Things seem to be returning back to a bit more normality in the last few hours. The tube (underground) network is still competely closed; but most mainline stations are now open; though not at full service levels. I'm not sure of the situation regarding buses. The streets were erily empty of cars. For anyone using the DLR - it seems to be operating well in the last few hours. Crowded but operational. For hours we had the constant wail of sirens from the police and emergency services (my office is on a major road into London). My brother missed the Moorgate blast due to his being 10 minutes early; normally he'd have been passing through there at the time the blast happened! Rab Rakha

This is correct. Please await official statement to be issued later. To reiterate: Sikh Day of Protest - Friday 8th July has been cancelled - official statement will be issued later. Please pass the word around. Do not travel to London for The Sikh Day of Protest. It's total chaos in London currently. Please do your best to help those in need as a result of these explosions.

FYI The June 2005 editions of the Ensaaf (www.ensaaf.org) newsletter is now available at http://www.ensaaf.org/dispatch-jun05.pdf This includes: - information on the "Torture and Trauma Evaluation Study in Punjab" lead by ENSAAF, Physicians for Human Rights and the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture to conduct a study of 120 families who survived the disappearance of a family member in Amritsar, Punjab - information about the lawsuit filed to allow Harpal Singh Cheema (a human rights lawyer and political activist who fled India) to wear his turban. Harpal Singh has been imprisoned since 1997 awaiting the outcome of his asylum application. Full details available at http://www.ensaaf.org/Cheema-complaint.pdf - update on hearings into the Punjab illegal cremations case (http://www.ensaaf.org/nhrc.html) - and more

http://www.sikhsangat.org/publish/article_145.shtml

You know I've never thought of getting his autograph. Good point. I'll be sure to do that. I wonder what he will make of that. He's always so gracious and always happy to have us pose along side him and snap away - what a man. I have a heap more pics - I'll try and post some slightly different ones over the next few days - time on a million other activities permitting :-)

Some placard images on view at the San Francisco June 27th, 2005 Rally: "Arrest us for Sedition??? Give us the chance first ....." "30 years since Indra's emergency Sonia wants to celebrate with her own" "A UN Seat??? Read the rules first....."

From http://forums.waheguroo.com/index.php?showtopic=11534 The Sikhs in San Francisco held a rally on June 27th, 2005 Rally outside the Indian Consulate General. For more details check http://www.panthic.org/news/123/ARTICLE/1484/2005-07-03.html and pics up at http://photos.waheguroo.com/categories.php?cat_id=179 Looks like there might be some placards images to "nick" for the London demo :-)

Following information taken from a posting to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sikh_news_discussion by Harmander Singh on Sun 3rd July 2005. The official who was monitoring the record attempts was Bridget Cushen, the Hon. Secretary of the British Masters Athletics Federation. She's the one shaking hands with Fauja Singh in one of the pics. Apparently the following will shortly appear on the BMAF website. ----- Begin ----- 94 year old breaks 5 records within 94 minutes As part of their contribution to the Back the Bid campaign, the Sikh Community hosted a record-breaking event at Mile End Park Stadium, East London, on Saturday 2 July. Star performer was the indefatigable 94 year old Fauja Singh. His aim was to run 100m, 200m, 400m, the mile and 1500m, and a 3000m continuing on to finish the 5000m. Five races covering seven distances in a time limit of 94 minutes. Impossible? nothing is impossible for the ex-farmer from the Punjab! Together with his enthusiastic coach, Harmander Singh, who himself had just missed out on the qualifying time for 10000m at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and a group of training partners, Fauja clocked 19.97 (hand timed) for the 100, missing the UK record by 7/100^th of a second. In the 200m he obliterated the UK M90 age group 200m clocking an amazing 45.13sec. The 400m he covered in 1.49.28sec, to become the first in Briton ever to contest this distance. The UK 800m time he beat by 18.02 sec, running 4.20.97sec. The magic mile he ran in 9.40.13, timed at 9.03.37 for 1500m in the process. The last event, the 5000m, 12 times round the track, seemed a daunting target. Cheered on by the Mayor, local Press and supporters, he reeled off consistent laps, setting a new UK M90 3000m in 18.38.48 and continuing to complete 5000m in 31.31.12, just 5.67sec off the current UK record. With five records, or six, if you allow for the fact that all races plus recovery time were completed within the 94 minutes, Fauja still had enough puff to conduct media interviews! ===== End ===== :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh:

Yeap - we held a local workshop on 1984; including documentaries; Katha in English on Shaheedi's from Guru Arjan Dev Ji up to the modern day. It was very well attended by local youth and quite a few "seniors". The protest, lobby day and other campaigns were raised, re-raised and re-re-raised. Erm I mean yeap it was mentioned ad infinitum. There was considerable interest in attendance though it would appear many are planning on making their own way up. And for those that ain't much literature on protests and 1984 in general was handed out.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh :-) Yeah I put that generalization proviso in because I accepted that I was making a generalization. But talking of generalizations ..... "The most diverse country in the world"? I'm not sure how this measure of diversity is determined - but the previous comment seems like a generalization to me as well. I'm going to assume that in this context we're talking about diversity in terms of race/ethnicity. Sure you're diverse and I've seen this myself from the West Coast to the East. But the most diverse? The UK is diverse; Australia is diverse; Brazil is diverse as are many other places. And Norway and Australia have also featured in such lists. And many Americans will also argue that they are the greatest place in the world - often from privileged positions without any real appreciation of what it's like for those that are not so privileged. The reason I posted in the first place was to just point out that; I accept Canada is a great place; but surely to say the Greatest is undeterminable; and by way of pointing this out; especially with regard to the original posters statement "the priveleged life that I have" that it wasnt the same for all people. No problem with that. Many of the Canadians I meet are very very proud. I'd like this the whole world over. Also concur with Nama Singh's comments. So just to make sure no one gets the wrong idea - I like Canada and I'm certainly not attacking it, as it has many good points; but there's no need to go over board and believe that it's the greatest place on the Earth; as I have seen people who are destitude, suffering and need help and support. We all have these problems. Only when we actually have Utopia can someone make a claim for the "Greatest Place". And having said all of that I shall be over there for a while in a few weeks time and I shall say hello to random strangers in downtown Toronto ;-) And to repeat - I quite like Canada. But then there's much I like about many different places. Heck I even like the UK :-))))) Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

It's a real shame that despite the efforts of some and the obvious support from others that the Toronto Sangat hasn't been able to organise a protest. See http://tapoban.org/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=41205&t=41205 Please ..... BC Sikhs are doing it, UK Sikhs are doing it ..... any chance the Toronto Sikhs can? GurFateh