Protest at Birmingham Repertory – Behzti

[Guest Jahan]

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Protest at Birmingham Repertory – Behzti

Wednesday 15th Decmeber 2004, 5pm – 9pm

The Birmingham Repertory Theatre supported by an Asian Arts association are promoting a play which is showing at the Birmingham Rep from December 9 – December 30.

The play called Behzti (dishonor) is a black comedy by a Sikh play write, Gurpreet Bhatti.

Some Sikhs including Council of Sikh Gurdwaras have been in discussion with the theatre and imploring on them to make changes as the play makes a mockery of the Sikh religion, its institutions and community.

The theatre and writer have refused to make changes to the setting of the play in a Gurdwara wherein acts of rape, abuse, murder are conducted and sacred Sikh symbolism is dishonored. For example the turban is stored in a shoe rack and scriptures are recited in such a provocative setting.

The theatre has alleged that as the writer is herself a Sikh not all Sikhs disagree with the play. The theatre is promoting and condoning inflammatory material by first commissioning the play, and then providing a platform for its enactment. SAMPAD as an Asian arts agency is exacerbating the blasphemy by promoting the production and thereby hurting the sensitivities of a significant proportion of Asians who SAMPAD supposedly represents; Ironically SAMPAD rarely promotes positive Sikh images or Sikhs artists.

You are urged to join the protest on Wednesday 15 December outside the Birmingham Rep fro

m 5pm to 9pm. Please join the protest to make it clear that such plays are not only misrepresentative but will provoke racial unrest in the otherwise relatively harmonious race relations we have in Birmingham.

JOIN the PROTEST against our Behzti.

See attachment for information……………

Fateh

Behzti (dishonour)

A play by Gurpreet Bhatti

The Birmingham Repertory Theatre is presenting the black comedy Behzti which is being promoted by SAMPAD (an Asian arts association).

The theatre has taken a decision to use public money to mock and ridicule the Sikh community and its institutions. Behzti is a remarkably appropriate title of the clear intent of both the writer and the Theatre administrators towards the Sikh community. There has been a determined strategy to ‘dishonour’ the Sikh community by placing within the context of the Gurdwara and associated imagery acts of blasphemy, and depicting those who selflessly devote and dedicate years in contemplation of humanity and its creator as ignorant bigoted hypocrites.

Hypocrisy, lies and artistic values

Upon commissioning this play the Repertory Theatre’s managers realised that the play posed offence to the Sikh community and chose to consult the Sikh community. Even though the views expressed by representatives of the Sikh community came in clear and to the point, after two months of discussion, it has become evident that the consultation was a tick-box exercise to only please the funders and cover their own back: there was never any intention to listen to nor implement the concerns raised.

The theatre has alleged that as the writer is herself a Sikh not all Sikhs disagree with the play

. This would suggest that arts representatives from the Rep are representative of the arts world, however, representatives of Sikh institutions are only as important as an individual despite how upsetting that one individuals’ views may be. In fact the ttrhetare is using this argument to condone their own actions in promoting and condoning inflammatory material by first commissioning the play, and then providing a platform for its enactment. SAMPAD as an Asian arts agency is exacerbating the blasphemy by promoting the production and thereby hurting the sensitivities of a significant proportion of Asians who SAMPAD supposedly represents; ironically SAMPAD rarely promotes positive Sikh images or Sikhs artists. How representative is SAMPAD of all sections of the Asian communities and what is the need for SAMPAD if it cannot embrace the specific sensitivities that diverse communities have?

Any right ‘not to be offended and abused’

The realisation of the opportunity to offend and alienate the Sikh community wasn’t enough. The Rep still agreed to censor plays that other writers had written for the Rep on the basis of ‘artistic merit’. The right to ‘freedom of free speech’ has been seen as a right greater than the right ‘not to be offended and abused’. With these sort of sensitive policies, one can’t wait for the BNP to come to power!

Nepotism?

Interestingly the writer’s previous play was titled ‘Besharam’ (Punjabi for unashamed), again a wonderful word to express her and the theatres feelings about the Sikh community, and had also been commissioned by the Rep.

Same writer same theatre, same community at the receiving end. Networking really does work, or is that Nepotism?

Bumming Nep

The writer in presenting such a controversial play has provided an essential service, after all we here of rape, murder and abuse taking place in Sikh Gurdwaras every day. Don’t we? The writer says that she believes drama should be provocative and rel

evant. One of two in this case is a failure of huge magnitude. The theatre should be renamed Bumming Nep, with all the nepotism, boys & girls networks, and titillation that takes place behind closed doors.

A Beacon of Truth and Hypocrisy

There is no place for hypocrisy in any quarter; the writer has concentrated on a minority faith community, less than 1% of the population in the UK, less than 2% in India and less than 0.25% worldwide, and not considered the impact on the community of its minority status and the impact this sort of mockery has on a continually victimised community. For example, Sikhs are still classified as Hindu under Indian law, any attempts by Sikhs to extol their own practices have been hindered and subjected to violent vilification. Only 20 years ago the government of India destroyed the Sikh reference library in a deliberate effort to subjugate Sikh culture. In efforts to submerge Sikh practice the government of India gave equal prominence and public funding to right wing Hindu organisations to extol Hinduiastion of Sikh practice during the tri-centenary celebrations of the Sikhs in 1999.

Tabloid Values

The playwright Goraprit Batty, the angelic beacon and protagonist of truth couldn’t have been more hypocritical. In her desire to unearth and make a stand for the ‘losers’ amongst the Sikh Diaspora, Goraprit hasn’t gone out and dedicated her time to voluntary work nor has she established a charity to help alleviate poverty from those faced with adversity. She and the Bumming Nep have instead chosen to use tabloid style titillation to deliberately mock Sikh practice. Could the intention be the same as tabloids- sex and racism sells tabloid newspapers; are you buying or have you already bought your ticket?

Playwright or Social Policy Maker

The drama quite remarkably indirectly makes a suggestion that social research agencies have lost the plot. Public scrutiny has found that public agencies, including the welfa

re state, are socially exclusive, do not respond to the needs of minorities, and continue to be inherently discriminatory through the practice of historical infrastructural commitments which do not respond to the changing demographic needs of diverse communities and those most in poverty.

Batty comes up with such a remarkably simple finding, she would have us all believe it is amazing that so many others missed the obvious. The play suggests that the evils in society stem from the Gurdwara, because the people who run these immoral places only display outer imagery of Sikhism and do not make any effort to actually change their inner beliefs and practices. Thus rendering their practice of Sikhism meaningless, and this impact on Sikhs and their everyday lives is leading to winners suppressing losers. By virtue of this suggestion, is the Sikh community to blame for the fact that many Sikhs couldn’t get jobs after the demise of heavy industry and had to invest their redundancy packages on businesses, usually corner shops, in order to provide a roof and food to their families? Many mature Sikh men and women still are unable to get jobs outside of businesses owned and managed within the community. Many second and third generation Sikhs have to be twice as qualified and work twice as hard to gain career progression in both public and private employment. It is this discrimination that has led to Sikhs enterprising in British society. Many of those the playwright describes as ‘losers’ have not been allowed to move into employment by the institituitional racism that has been paramount in British society and is still rife in arts establishments.

Perfection of Guilt

Unfortunately not everybody can be as perfect as Goraprit, and as such most Sikhs do have their inadequacies. Goraprit has chosen to discard outer Sikh practices and in doing so, maybe out of a feeling of guilt or some other psychological trauma, feels that those who do show outer practices are usually hypocrites.

Another

interpretation of the outer practice of Sikh imagery could be perceived to show commitment and, though we are all sinners, seen as one step towards perfection. Clearly Ms Batty has already found perfection and is now in a position to condemn the practices of others and Sikh Gurus. Why does she not just find another label that suits her better if she doesn’t want to follow Sikhism, after all Sikhism is one of the only faiths that does not forcibly inculcate at birth: the follower is free to choose his or her own path. However, the Gurus who Batty says were ‘brave revolutionaries with the finest minds, warriors who propagated values of egalitarianism and selflessness’ also made it clear that there was no room for hypocrisy and that God was not interested in labels.

‘‘Only he (or she) is a Sikh who lives by the discipline.’’

This means that the outer practice that Goraprit is so uneasy about is as important as the inner practice. The loss of either at the expense of the other is considered hypocrisy in Sikhism.

The Preacher at theTheatre

We are all sinners Batty, it’s just that some don’t need Gurdwaras to preach, just ignorant, Eurocentric theatres, who have no real interest in diversifying their audience. The custodians of the arts enjoy playing to their colonial history and depicting ‘the natives’ as they see not as they are. They need loyal servants to do their work, in the days of the Raaj they gave land and titles to those who betrayed their community, today some will dishonour themselves and their community for the sake of a job.

[Singhstah]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

[Mod Edit]

-10

[Akaal Purakh Di Fauj]

Toooo right Bro :wub: @ :wub: @ @ :lol: @

Krazi what a pathetic joke she is :lol:

[Mod -10] Edit

[Singhstah]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

I think an urgent petion mught be needed wat are every one esles ideas.

[KhalsaSingh]

This is a public forum, I know I should take my own advice but please think before you speak. Could you imagine when public threats against her life are being made and what were to happen if somone then took her out? This forum would be shut down faster than the time it takes bin laden to tie his topi.

We must maintain utmost respect for guroo sahib, however lets try a dimplomatic approach as to imediately resort to violence before exploring other options would only play into peoples like this hands i.e. see look what they saying, they are fundamentalists and terrorists.

Forget petition, organize a protest outside the event, inciting racial hatred, form a line preventing anyone from goin to view the show. chain each other to each other and form a line.

[Mahavir]

I think this Gurprit Bhatty person is playing on the shock value to get success, mindless of the people she will crush to achieve it.

I really hope people don't make death threats, because that will only help her cause. These kinds of people thrive on being "victims".

The best response will be a calm and educated response that the mainstream media will support.

Damn these so called "artists". Angers me so much when they try to hide behind their Sikh label.

[sikhlionz]

no offence but i'm not really a theatre or even cultured person so where abouts in the city centre is the rep? :wub:

must've driven past there eough times- is it near the icc? broad st?

the media like the bbc are prbably going to give it good press since its anti-sikhi so the alst thing we need would be any silly antics by apnae outside the theater

lets not give in and do the behzti she wants- a peaceful but loud protest in a public area will do nicely

[Khalsa04]

Is there any transport scheduled from leicester? please let us know. Fateh.

[s s Jhamka]

vaheguru ji ka khalsa

vaheguru ji ki fateh

sangat ji

please dnt fall foul of the uk laws plus its not a game issuing threats etc.

we need to organise a big demo with loads of leaflets and banners

i cannot come as am in london, but i will let me mates know

heres some info where it is

SPREAD THE WORD LETS UNITE AND SHOW THESE IDIOTS

The Rep is at the heart of Birmingham, next to the Internation Convention Centre in Centenary Square.

Parking

Brindley Drive Car Park,

Cambridge Street,

National Indoor Arena,

Civic Centre and Brunel Street car parks.

Train

There are 3 railway stations within easy walking distance of the theatre. New Street, Moor Street & Snow Hill. For local rail enquiries call 08457 484950 or visit Railtrack's website.

Bus

There are many buses travelling along Broad Street within a short distance of the theatre. Call Centro for details on 0121 200 2700 or visit http://www.centro.org.uk

[www.shaheedkhalsa.com]

please also see

http://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/core_asp/s...e.asp?theid=161

s s Jhamka, drop me a email at info@shaheedkhalsa.com