Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)

Creating Safety in the Bay Area, Pakistan, and Around the World

May 13, 2010

Last week, Faisal Shahzad was arrested for allegedly trying to set off a car bomb in New York's Times Square. Local and federal branches of U.S. government have responded by spreading hateful messages that feed into a renewed fear of immigrants. These messages put immigrant communities at risk of being targeted by racist violence in the U.S. and our homelands.

Mainstream media and many progressive groups within the U.S. have been noticeably silent about what these messages mean for the safety of immigrant communities in America. The Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA) is responding to this silence and countering some of the dangerous statements put out by government officials. Additionally, ASATA shares some thoughts on building the long-term, broad-based, multi-issue alliances needed to counter violent government repression that is currently targeting Muslims, South Asians, Arabs and members of other immigrant communities.

In President Obama’s inauguration speech, he said: "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." We agree with that message. But we’re seeing government agencies do the exact opposite.

Boycott Israel? Amitav Ghosh & the Dan David Prize

Dear Amitav Ghosh,

We wish to express our deep disappointment in your decision to accept the Dan David prize, administered by Tel Aviv University and to be awarded by the President of Israel. As a writer whose work has dwelled consistently on histories of colonialism and displacement, your refusal to take stance on the colonial question in the case of Israel and the occupation of Palestine has provoked deep dismay, frustration, and puzzlement among readers and fans of your work around the world. Many admired your principled stand, and respected your decision not to accept the Commonwealth Writers Prize in rejection of the colonialist framework it represented.

As scholars, writers, and activists of South Asian origin and those working on South Asia and on anti-racist, anti-colonial, anti-imperial politics at large, based largely in the United States like you, but also in South Asia, we think this is an important moment to consider the reasons why South Asians should take a principled stand, along with others, in refusing to legitimize a state guilty of war crimes and illegal occupation and instead joining the growing movement for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

The coordinators are restructuring ASATA general meetings to make them more exciting and useful for our members :)

Till then, members are welcome to plug into the Education Circle meetings (it meets 2x/month), ASATA's work for the US Social Forum, and our online conversations. We're also hard at work on our member survey, which will help shape the direction of ASATA.

The best place to keep up with all the meetings, events and discussions is our members-only ASATA-internal listserv.

There's also our (high-traffic) Yahoo! group, which has current events from the South Asian diaspora and a whole lot more. Click on the "Get Involved!" link at the top left of this page to sign up.

If you're a member but you're not on the listserv, or if you want to meet up with a coord to share feedback or ask a question, email us at asata_coords@asata.org.

love,

ASATA coords

From Arizona to Afghanistan, No One Is Illegal!

The Land Belongs to the People who Work It!

International Workers Day- Fruitvale Rally and March
Saturday, May 1st

1pm-2pm program at Fruitvale BART Plaza

2pm March to Federal Building

In the midst of national marches for immigration reform, attacks on immigrant communities and working class people still continue.

Please join the ASATA coords for the May Day march and rally for workers rights and immigrant rights: 1pm-2pm at Fruitvale BART Plaza.

An Open Letter to Our Communities
With Love and Solidarity
from The Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)

We are saddened to learn about recent violent acts against members of our communities here in the Bay Area. We are equally saddened to learn about some proposed responses that will further attack our communities.

KPFA's Apex Express interviews ASATA member Sabiha about the 10th anniversary of the Reddy case and Seetha's death.

Listen online at:
http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/56322

Great post on RaceWire, the Colorlines blog:

http://www.racewire.org/archives/2009/11/reddy_case_10_years_on_violence_against_women_of_color_continues.html

Reddy Case: 10 Years On, Violence Against Women of Color Continues
by Debayani Kar

Violence against women of color is often reported out of context. The deeper social and economic injustices at work are overlooked.

Today, a coalition including (partial list) Narika, ASATA (Alliance of South Asians Taking Action), South Asian Sisters, Asian Women’s Shelter, Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition, Maitri, and California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, will mark the 10th anniversary of the Lakireddy Bali Reddy sex and labor exploitation case with a vigil and press conference in Berkeley.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.”

In 2000, Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy, owner of Pasand restaurant, the Shattuck Down Low and other businesses, was charged with bringing 25-100 people from his village in India to work for little or no pay in his restaurants and businesses. He was also convicted of trafficking at least 3 young women, some minors, for forced sex. ASATA focused on reframing the issues in the case from immigration fraud and sex scandal to issues of sexual and labor trafficking and exploitation, and urged the South Asian community to hold Reddy accountable for his exploitative actions.

Sexual trafficking is when abuse of power, force, coercion, fraud, abduction, or deception is used to transport people for commercial sex acts.

* Sexual trafficking is only one form of human trafficking fueled by the same injustices of
- social, economic, and gender inequality,
- unfair labor and immigration laws,
- unequal enforcement of labor protection laws,
- civil unrest fueled by domestic and international laws,

International and domestic labor and sex trafficking are fueled by social, economic, and gender inequality, xenophobic immigration laws, environmental degradation, civil unrest, militarization, and poverty. We believe that ending the forced and coerced migration of people from their homelands for work abroad is inherently linked to the elimination of the root causes of racism, neo-liberalism, patriarchy, and poverty.

Quick Details:

A coalition of South Asian community members, agencies and allies is hosting a vigil to remember the life of Seetha Vemireddy. One of the many victims of Lakireddy Bali Reddy, she died of carbon monoxide poisoning on November 24, 1999.

November 20th Action
Time: Noon
Location: in front of Pasand Restaurant (2286 Shattuck Ave. near downtown berkeley BART station)

Action: The rally will gather for 20 minutes and then march to Bancroft to the building where Seetha (also referred to as Chanti) died, for a memorial and press conference. (please NOTE we will NOT be traveling to city hall)

June 26, 2007

Dear Senator,

We, the undersigned organizations that serve the South Asian community in the San Francisco Bay Area, are writing to express our concerns about the direction that the Senate is taking in immigration reform through Senate Bill 1639. The Senate bill does not balance the civil rights of immigrants and will inevitably lead to separated families, isolation and fear, and distrust of law enforcement and government officials.

As of June 8, 2007…

What happened with the Senate immigration bill:

• Bill was problematic to begin with (see below)
• Bill was made worse by adding anti-immigrant amendments (see below)
• Vote to limit debate (to help speed bill’s passage) failed on June 7
• Senate majority leader Reid tabled further work on the bill
• Immigration reform now stalled, not dead, in Senate — White House and Reid say the bill’s coming back (no timeline, but maybe later in ‘07)

AsianWeek
March 29, 2007
by Phil Tajitsu Nash
http://www.asianweek.com/2007/03/29/south-asian-americans-convene-in-dc/

Dalip Singh Saund was born in a village in Punjab Province, India, in 1899. In 1956, after emigrating to California, getting a Ph.D. in mathematics at U.C. Berkeley, working in agriculture, and serving as a judge, he became the first Asian Pacific American elected to the United States Congress.

International Solidarity
"ILPS Anti-Imperialist Contingent Marches on August 12 in Solidarity With the Lebanese and Palestinian People"
September-October 2006
by Dave Pugh
http://www.bayanusa.org/downloads/ilps_newsletter_06.pdf

In the first major ILPS demonstration in the U.S., the Anti-Imperialist Contingent rallied at Powell and Market in San Francisco, then stepped out onto the streets in a spirited march which later joined the march and rally called by International ANSWER. Wearing red shirts and yellow bandanas, with bright banners, ILPS flags and infectious chants, the Anti-Imperialist Contingent set a radiant, militant tone for the day.

ASATA co-sponsors a new exhibit at the Asian Resource Gallery in Oakland’s Chinatown.

“One Nation Under Surveillance: Reimaging the South Asian Community” opens Thursday, August 10, 2006, at the Asian Resource Gallery in Oakland Chinatown. Opening reception at 6pm with refreshments, performances and film screening of “Punjabi Cab.” Gallery hours: M-F, 9am-6pm, 310 8th St., Oakland. Free.

Joint press release from ASATA, Maitri, and South Asian Sisters

Judge Claudia Wilkens reinstated the sentence of Lakireddy Bali Reddy, and all the conditions of release after the completion of 97 months was reinstated. This was a huge victory for community organizations, who have been working on the case for the past six years, and have put in tremendous effort to educate the community about the heinous crimes committed by Lakireddy Bali Reddy.

Siliconeer
May 2006
"In Memoriam: Birjinder Anant, Scholar Activist"
http://www.siliconeer.com/past_issues/2006/may2006.html#Anchor--OBITUA-8013
by Anirvan Chatterjee

Oakland, Calif.-based activist Birjinder Anant died in December last year. As Anant grew up in a small town in Texas, he overcame racism with thoughtfulness and humor. Later, he grew up to be a compassionate and tenacious activist whose commitment withstood the siren calls of the dot-com boom. Anirvan Chatterjee offers a tribute.

We at ASATA oppose the continuing domestic “war on terrorism” and “war on immigrants”: movements that we understand as intricately linked.

For us, opposition to and mobilization around the various versions of HR4437 means showing our solidarity with other immigrant communities, particularly our Latino brothers and sisters, as they fight what is also our fight.

Immigration to this country does not denote positions of privilege, but of plight. The majority of us did not make a decision to migrate from our homes, families, and communities: we were forced here by the violent effects of global economic inequity. The U.S. government is using a double-edged sword as it coerces countries in the Majority World into Free Trade Agreements and then simultaneously criminalizes the people displaced by them.