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This Petition is now closed!
Thank you for supporting this
effort!
On February 20, 2002, the American Museum
of Natural History (AMNH) in New York
issued the following response to our numerous requests
and petition with over 1000 signatures
requesting that the previously canceled screenings of Anand Patwardhan's
films due to "threats of violence" be screened
inside the museum premises, at the earliest with adequete security,
publicity and notice to the public:
"We Are Not Your Monkeys and In the Name
of God, two films by Anand Patwardhan, will be screened at 6:30
p.m. on Sunday, February 24, at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film
Center at New York University, Theater 101. The location is 36 East
8th Street at University Place. The films will be followed by a
round table discussion."
We believe that the AMNH's cowardly decision
to reschedule the screening of Patwardhan's films to a venue outside
the museum with little publicity and notice to the public was unacceptable.
Joint Press Release
EKTA
Friends of South Asia (FOSA)
International South Asian Forum (INSAF)
For Immediate Release
AMERICAN MUSEUM URGED TO SCREEN PATWARDHAN FILMS, UPHOLD FREEDOM
OF SPEECH
February 21th, 2002
Stanford, CA
Several groups in North America, Europe and South Asia, along
with an impressive list of over one thousand individuals, have
appealed to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New
York to stand firm on its commitment to screen Anand Patwardhan's
films, and to not cave in to censorship demands made by some groups
and individuals in the US claiming to represent Hindu interests.
The American Museum of Natural History had
planned to screen two of Patwardhan's films on February 9th,
2002, to accompany its on-going
exhibition on Hinduism, 'Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion.'
However, some rightwing Hindu groups, including the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad of America, (World Hindu Organization of America, VHPA)
have demanded that the museum cancel the screenings of the films
which they claim are 'anti-Hindu' and 'irrelevant to an exhibit
on Hinduism.' Ekta, a San Francisco based organization seeking
to bridge the "South Asian community through artistic statement,
sociopolitical dialogue, activism, and community building," launched
a counter petition drive in support of the Patwardhan documentaries,
urging the museum to screen the films. 'We believe that religion
and politics should remain open to public debate and scrutiny,
and that Patwardhan's films serve a valuable function in fostering
that debate and deserve to be screened,' reads the petition.
However, on January 31st, after Ekta's petition
had been submitted to the museum with a list of 461 signatures,
Ms Laurel Kendall
of the AMNH informed Ekta that the screenings of Patwardhan's
films at AMNH had been "cancelled, owing to threats of violence." The
next day, Ms Kendall retracted her statement and explained that
the "screenings have been postponed owing to capacity issues," and
that films would be screened at a location outside the museum,
presumably due to concerns of safety for museum visitors. Paradoxically,
a TV version of the Hindu epic 'Ramayan,' which by some accounts
is the most popular TV serial ever in India, was screened at the
museum as scheduled on February 10th, without any similar concerns
about 'capacity.' On Feb. 21nd, Ms. Melanie Kent of the AMNH confirmed
plans to screen the films on February 24th at a venue outside the
museum, due to "security concerns", they are yet to update
the information on the museum website.
The films under consideration at the museum are 'We Are Not Your
Monkeys' and 'In the Name of God'-two films by India's most celebrated
documentary-maker Anand Patwardhan. 'We Are Not Your Monkeys' is
a short 5 minute music video based on a song by the late Daya Pawar,
a renowned Dalit ('untouchable' caste) poet and activist from the
western Indian state of Maharashtra. The film offers a critique
of the Ramayana, and focuses on the gender and caste oppression
implicit in the popular versions of the story.
'In the Name of God' is a 1992 film that documents the rise of
Hindu fundamentalism in India and, according to the museum website,
'it details the campaign waged in the late 1980s and early 1990s
by the militant Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Organization)
to destroy the 16th-century Babri Mosque and build a temple to
Rama.' The documentary examines the motivations behind these and
other religious fanatics who are intent on causing carnage and
destruction, and also highlights attempts by other ordinary Indians,
many of whom are Hindu, who struggle to combat religious intolerance
and promote communal harmony.
Particularly poignant is the story it tells
of Pujari Laldas, the Hindu priest of the contested Ram Janmabhoomi
site, who is
the voice of reason and tolerance in the documentary as he asserts
that the demolition of the mosque was not in the interest of Hindus
but was being advocated for political and financial gain. As an
epilogue to this documentary, Patwardhan recalls, "Two years
later his voice proved prophetic when fanatic mobs succeeded in
demolishing the Babri Mosque in December 1992. In the riots that
followed across the whole sub-continent, thousands lost their lives." (After
the historical structure was demolished, riding on a wave of Hindu
nationalism, the BJP-the Hindu nationalist party-won the state
elections.) "Pujari Laldas was removed from his post as head
priest of the Ram temple. A year later Pujari Laldas was murdered."
'In the Name of God' is considered a landmark documentary on the
topic of religious fundamentalism and went on to win the National
Award for the Best Investigative Documentary in India in 1993.
The Indian state-owned television channel, Doordarshan, initially
refused to screen the documentary, but following a lengthy 6-year
legal battle, it was eventually televised at prime time in 1997
by order of the Bombay High Court. Both films, 'We Are Not Your
Monkeys' and 'In the Name of God' have been included in the Human
Rights Watch Film Festivals, and have won numerous accolades in
film festivals around the world.
The main group opposed to screening the films
at the AMNH is the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America-whose parent
organization in India
was the one calling for destruction of the 400 year old mosque,
which was finally leveled by Hindu extremists in December 1992
and which led to months of savage communal riots not only in India,
but also in the neighboring countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh. "What
is surprising in the whole episode is not that the VHP of America
is opposed to the screenings, but that a respected national institution
like the AMNH, with a century-long history of intellectual independence
and excellence, would give in to pressure from reactionary fundamentalists," said
Girish Agrawal of the Friends of South Asia, a Stanford based group
which is one of many South Asian groups supporting Ekta's petition
to the museum. Adds Barot of Ekta, "We believe that a prestigious
museum such as the AMNH should not succumb to "threats of
violence" as that would mean giving in to terrorism and fundamentalism."
This sentiment is echoed in many of the individual
comments written by the signatories to the petition. Susan Susman,
a law professor
from New York writes, "With democracy so recently threatened
by terrorism, we [have] learned that the response must be to celebrate
our principles-not to yield." Suketu Mehta, a writer from
Brooklyn comments, "If anticipated 'threats of violence' had
been accepted as sufficient justification for stifling free expression,
the Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King's 'I have a Dream'
speech would have been banned." Professor Steven Wallace from
UCLA adds, "Freedom of speech is a hollow right if extremists
prevent the showing of films such as these."
According to Anand Patwardhan, he was completely
taken by surprise when he came to know of the controversy over
the screening of his
films at the AMNH, as he was unaware of the program in the first
place. "Only when opponents and later, proponents, began to
use the internet did it come to my notice in India that my films
had sparked such heated debate in America," he said in a written
statement to the museum. He goes on to say that "it is amusing
to note that the Hindu fundamentalists' chief strategy in challenging
the decision to screen my work was to brand me a 'self-proclaimed
leftist.' Obviously the fundamentalists calculated that a strategy
of red baiting would work best with the American Museum of Natural
History. Sadly they may well have gloated over the accuracy of
their calculations when the AMNH seemed to cave in to pressure
as it postponed the original screenings. The fact that these screenings
were not cancelled but re-scheduled is of course a redeeming feature
but it should not prevent soul searching about why re-scheduling
was resorted to in the first place. History teaches us that compromising
with fundamentalist forces, no matter what their particular hue,
only encourages them to become more extreme."
The museum's stated reasons of 'capacity issues'
and 'crowd control' are also without merit, claims Barot. "We believe that the
issue should be handled by a simple "first-come, first-serve" basis
rather than pushing the venue outside the museum. We believe that
the museum's plans to reschedule the screening of Anand Patwardhan's
films to a venue outside the museum would effectively deter members
of the public from viewing the films." Barot adds that on
Feb 21nd, the museum confirmed plans to screen the films on February
24th at a venue outside the museum. He fears that such short notice
allows insufficient time for good publicity. Ekta has requested
the museum to provide a well publicized and well protected screening
of the films inside the museum premises.
Ekta's petition to the museum has so far accumulated more than
a thousand signatures and continues to gather more every day. Among
the groups supporting Ekta is Friends of South Asia, a San Francisco
Bay Area group that promotes peace in South Asia, DRUM (Desis Rising
Up and Moving), a New York based social justice organization working
for the rights of low-income South Asian immigrants, INSAF (International
South Asian Forum) with chapters in several cities in North America,
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) in Vancouver,
CERAS (South Asian Research and Resource Center) in Montreal, Progressive
South Asian Forum in Chapel Hill, NC and the Ambedkar Mission Society
in Bedford, UK. The list of individual signatures is also impressive,
including names such as Admiral L. Ramdas, the former Chief of
Indian Navy, Mira Nair, the well-known Indo-American film maker
whose most recent film 'Monsoon Wedding' won the Golden Lion prize
at the Venice International Film Festival, Karamatullah K. Ghori,
a former Pakistani Ambassador, and over 50 academics from institutions
in the US, UK, Canada, India, Italy, the Philippines and South
Africa.
Many signatories to the petition highlight
the importance of upholding democratic values by encouraging
free speech, especially in public
institutions such as the AMNH. Himanshu Thakkar, a well-known environmentalist
from India writes "It will be a sad day if such anti-democratic
attempts [to block film screenings] succeed," and Raja Harish
asks, "Since when do museums decide their programming based
on threats from cowards who want to block and trash the very principles
that made museums such as yours possible? Such excuses are pathetic,
especially for a museum located in New York City (not Kandahar)."
Others speak of the value of screening Patwardhan's
films which are described as thought-provoking, intelligent documentaries
encouraging
debate, discussion and introspection. Linda Hess, a Stanford based
scholar of Hinduism who is currently in India, writes "Patwardhan
is a courageous and internationally acclaimed filmmaker whose films
have been very valuable to me as an educator. The self-appointed
thought police of the right seek to suppress the art and literature
that they disapprove of and to control access to information. India
stands for democracy. It will be truly against India's interests
and image in the world if such forces succeed in suppressing free
speech, academic and artistic expression." Dr. Joseph Gerson,
the Director of Programs for the American Friends Service Committee
[The Quakers], New England Regional Office adds, "Anand is
among the world's most important film makers. For the sake of our
collective survival and the ability of people to live their lives
with freedom and dignity, Anand's films must be widely shown and
easily accessible."
Yet others remind the museum that the organizations
asking for canceling Patwardhan's films do not voice sentiments
representative
of all Hindus, or even a majority of Hindus. Writes Melliyal Annamalai, "The
view expressed in the forces that postponed/stopped the screening
does not represent the view of the Hindus living in the U.S. Nor
is it the view of the majority of the Hindus in India. It is a
view of just those who subscribe to a sectarian and divisive platform
of political Hinduism that is extremist (even fundamentalist) in
action and ideology and is intolerant of dissenting voice."
Petition "PROTECT
FREE SPEECH:
SUPPORT FILM SCREENINGS BY ANAND PATWARDHAN"
The screenings of films by noted filmmaker Anand
Patwardhan has yet again come under attack by right-wing "Hindu"
organizations and individuals based in the US. Most recently, a
letter writing campaign has been launched to ban the screening of
two of Patwardhan's films: "In the Name of God" and
"We are not your Monkeys" at the American Museum of Natural
History (AMNH) in New York originally scheduled for Feb. 9, 2002.
Among the reasons alleged, protesters claim that Patwardhan's films
are "anti-Hindu" as several of his films are very critical
of the right wing “Hindu” movement in India.
"In the Name of God"
documents the rise of Hindu fundamentalism in India as reflected
by the temple/mosque conflict in Ayodhya which led to nation wide
carnage in 1992. The film won the National Award for Best Documentary
in 1992 given by the President of India and was broadcast nationally
at prime time on Doordarshan, the main state controlled television
network, after the Bombay High Court ordered its screening in 1997.
"We are
not your Monkeys" is a music video featuring the song of
the late Dalit poet/ activist Daya Pawar, giving a Dalit ("untouchable"
caste) perspective to the Ramayana story. The video clip represents
a legitimate critique of the epic Ramayana story and the caste and
gender oppression implicit in it.
On Jan. 22, 2002, the following petition
was initiated to counter the efforts by right-wing "Hindu" organizations
and individuals to ban the screening of Patwardhan's films at the
AMNH. On Jan. 31, 2002, Ms. Laurel Kendall from the AMNH informed
the sponsor of this petition that the screening of Patwardhan's
films had been "cancelled owing to threats of violence" after
this petition was sent to the AMNH with 461 signatures. On Feb.
1, 2002, Ms. Kendall retracted her statement and explained that
the "screenings have been posponed owing to capacity issues" and
that the films would be screened at a location outside the museum,
presumably due to concerns of safety for museum visitors.
The objective of this petition is to request
the AMNH to screen Patwardhan's "We are not your Monkeys" and "In
the Name of God" at the AMNH (with police protection if necessary)
rather than succumbing to "threats of violence" by right-wing "Hindu"
organizations and individuals based in the US. This petition, however,
will continue to be re-used whenever the screenings of films by
Patwardhan come under attack by those who seek to curb free speech
and prevent public debate regarding the issues raised by Patwardhan's
films in the future.
VIEW
PETITION AND SIGNATURES
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