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Expatriates Meet In Montreal To Heal Rift

When 24,000 taxi drivers brought New York to a standstill last year, within days of the rival nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, their ethnic composition was the focus of much attention.

The Pakistani and Indian press have often remarked about the unity of the taxi drivers, most of whom are South Asian -- 16,000 drivers are Indians or Pakistanis.

"They kept focusing on the taxi drivers from their countries, and there were many attempts to drive a wedge between them," says India-born co-ordinator of the powerful alliance, Biju Mathew. "This kind of solidarity is possible when people realise they have more to gain than lose by uniting," he asserts.

Mathew who organised the strike after the nuclear tests strike was among some 200 activists, most of them youth of South Asian descent, who met recently in Montreal, Canada, to discuss the building of a secular and democratic platform for the diaspora.

Expatriate communities of Indians and Pakistanis have not been able to shake off the prejudices and animosities that divide the two neighbours. Events at home are mirrored abroad.

As India and Pakistan fought over Kashmir in Kargil this summer, non-resident Indians were among those bombarding Indian newspaper offices with e-mail urging the Indian army to march on Lahore in retaliation.

The immigrant communities, including members on university campuses, felt the full force of the nuclear tests that sent political temperatures soaring in New Delhi and Islamabad.

While the simmering tension between the groups did not erupt into campus clashes, independent organizations like the Montreal-based South Asia Research and Resource Center felt there was urgent need to forge a common front of the progressive sections of the diaspora.

CERAS put together the two-day 'North American Conference on Peace and Human Rights in South Asia' last week, flying in speakers from India, Pakistan and other countries.

It concluded with participants pledging to keep the process going with the formation of the International South Asia Forum for a peaceful and secular South Asia.

"We are handing over the baton to the new generation," said Professor Daya Varma, CERAS president.

"As South Asians... we have a responsibility not only to our countries of origin, but also to the world to work for peace and influence events,'' the pharmacologist at McGill University said.

The meeting discussed the inroads made by the right in South Asian immigrant communities, under the influence of events at home.

"Here it can be even more extreme, as a response to racism, guilt at being away, and, particularly, unhinged identities. The structure of nostalgia then feeds into the Right, which offers packaged forms of tradition for young professionals to consume,'' trade unionist Mathew observed.

Kiran Patel, a young sociologist from London, agrees.

"For many young second generation Asians, the mental conflict and confusion they may experience [in an effort] to find an identity, has led to the adoption of a religious identity. They have little else to pledge allegiance to...

"The ideas propagated by the religious parties make them feel that part of being a 'real' Hindu is to intrinsically hate the 'other' religion, Islam. And vice versa,'' she says.

"This way of thinking conveniently fits into the anti-Muslim hysteria within Britain and the USA. Such so-called nationalism promotes racism, capitalism and patriarchy, and women are relegated to being the symbols of values, tradition and culture."

Appealing for change, Mathew said South Asians should use the many fora available to them to break down the walls between Indians and Pakistanis, Hindus and Muslims and "create bridges here and contribute to the democratic process at home."

It is possible to make a difference. Last year, the Forum Of Indian Leftists succeeded in stopping a US phone company from allowing subscribers to divert one per cent of their monthly bill to the right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which had registered itself as a non-profit cultural organisation.

The VHP was taxed on $ 620,000 of declared income, Mathew said, adding, "as much as 50 per cent of the BJP's donations came from NRIs in dollars and pound sterling... We need to examine how the money is raised, and to get the multinational companies to be more discerning when they promote charities."

CERAS co-ordinator Feroz Mehdi said the meeting in Montreal was "historic" -- it brought together progressive individuals and groups from all over north America.

A series of other meetings to mobilise the South Asian diaspora were decided on. The next is likely to be in December, in either Boston or Vancouver.

Next: Earth Looks Ahead To A Good Showing In North America

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