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At the AID Conference 2002: EHAAL and more!
 
 
Eliminate Hate At All Levels is a campaign targeted at finding a solution to the huge amount of communal hatred in India. The campaign was introduced during the AID conference this year, and a sample poster was displayed at the conference. The final poster is now ready, and the campaign ready to be launched. Please download the poster from here. The dimensions of the poster are 11" x 16.5", and so can be printed on A3 paper directly, and can be color-photocopied fairly inexpensively.

The AID Conference featured as key-note speakers Aruna Roy and Shankar Singh of the MKSS, who discussed not only their work with the MKSS but also the need for a strong and unambiguous effort from civil society to move towards communal harmony in India. More about their talk can be found here.

Further, many AID volunteers concerned about the growing spectre of intolerance in India spontaneously got together to discuss the issue and how an effective response could be formulated. This meeting, held on the second day of the conference, included representatives from most chapters. Attendees included Mokshay, Om, Anand (Boston), Sanat (MN), Anupa (Cincinnati), Uday, Radhika (Atlanta), Dr.Bhagat, Kiran Vissa (MD), Narasimhan (?), Vidhi (Madison), Pavithra (Miami-OH), Savita, Prashant (SF-Bay), Ashish (ASHA-Stanford), Rachna, Nirali (Ann Arbor) and others.

Agenda:

1. Initiatives taken by each chapter in the aftermath of the communal violence. (15 min)
2. Strategies within AID/ Strategies - US NRI Community (15 min)
3. Strategies in India (05 min)

Representatives from each chapter listed the specific set of events that had been conducted in each chapter in the aftermath of the communal riots. These events included:

1. Peace vigils / candlelight vigils
2. Discussion sessions / Forums
3. Interfaith Meetings

Strategies:

The following specific strategies were decided upon during the course of the discussions:

C) Within AID

1. Reinforce the universal values of peace and harmony

i. Take a stand within the AID community that violence of any form is unacceptable and condemnable. Each of us as individuals and AID as an organization will work towards reinforcing the values of peace and harmony in our own lives and those of people around us.

ii. Organize community discussion sessions (reserve a separate AID CSH) with people from different communities getting together and discussing the fundamental values enshrined in each religion. This should provide a forum for the volunteers to appreciate the underlying universality of these fundamental tenets. In addition, each AID chapter should also work towards pro-actively seeking out for volunteers belonging to many different communities.

2. Understanding the complexity of the issue of communal violence

i. Engage the AID community in learning about the varied perspectives that people may have on the issue. Hold regular "topical" discussion sessions to educate the volunteers on the broad perspectives that different people have. Such discussion sessions should therefore include adequate representation of people from different communities and of people with varied ideologies.

During the course of these discussion sesions, the facts used in justifying perspectives should be recorded. Volunteers should reflect upon these perspectives and the facts presented to support the perspective/s.

ii. These fora should also serve to bring together people with opinions that may be markedly different --- but the main point of the discussion session is to provide the volunteers with an opportunity to listen and reflect upon opinions that may be markedly different from those held by them.

iii. Books, articles and editorials and the facts recorded therein must be shared among the volunteers. These can be very important sources to obtain credible information to contest/ support facts that are used in presenting a perspective.

3. Taking this into the community

The chapter discussions should eventually move towards including the local community in the discussion sessions. Moderated public fora can help create an awareness within the community that each and every individual needs to take up the responsibility and play their part in ensuring sustained peace and harmony. Speakers/ presenters with a varied set of perspectives may be included as part of a panel. The smaller chapter-wide discussion sessions and the facts+perspectives recorded therein should now enable the moderators to contest/ support any of the points made by their speakers. The arguments made by the speakers should be judged as being right/ wrong, not on the basis of the ideology enshrined in them, but solely on the basis of whether or not they promote social justice and equality.

Community discussion forums can really help educate the general public on the issue and can help engage the community to work towards achieving sustained harmony -- both at the individual level as well as at the broader community level.

4. Pro-actively seeking projects from NGO's that are working towards building bridges and sustaining peace

For example, the Aman Samuday program in Gujarat started by ActionAid and other NGO's. In addition, the chapter can also try and seek projects that work towards achieving social justice and equality for the minorities in a region -- this could mean Dalits or Kashmiri Pandits or Muslims, in areas dominated by other communities.

C) Within the US community

1. Provide apolitical spaces for people of different communities to come together and interact.

Organize joint cultural events together with a number of organizations whose members are drawn from a number of different communities. Eg. Theater workshops, food festivals, south asian music and dance night etc. Such events can help bring communities closer and get them to socially interact and talk to one another and exchange perspectives and opinions.

2. Engage the community in discussion sessions as stated under strategies within the AID chapter.

3. Talk to local schools and organize events that promote the understanding among children of the universal concepts of love, compassion, peace and harmony. E.g. essay competitions in schools on topics relating to peace and development (like that pioneered in Charlotte).

C) Within India

1. Work with NGO's that help build bridges and engage the community in discussions similar to those listed above. Such fora for discussions should be held in the villages, towns as well as the cities. The object of these sessions should be to educate the people, raise awareness and most importantly getting people to analyze and judge perspectives from the point of view of their effect on achieving social justice and equality -- and not on the basis of whether they are the perspectives of a rightist or leftist. People should reflect on these perspectives and assess its effect on their lives and those of the people around them.

2. Raise funds in support of the relief and rehabilitation efforts. Also: get ads out in newspapers -- both vernacular as well as mainstream newspapers --- calling upon all Indians to contribute towards the relief and rehabilitation of their brothers and sisters in Gujarat. These ads need to address the basic humanity of the problem and may be endorsed by artists/ performers/ sportsmen of national stature --- apolitical people with whom the general public can immediately connect. Insaniyat, a Boston-based group has pioneered this effort. 		 
     
 
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