‘India’s Descent into Fascism: How Do We Stop It?

Calling all progressive, democratic, secular organisations to join us at the National Convention

'India's Descent into Fascism: How Do We Stop It?

April 17 & 18, 2013

New Delhi

ANHAD

A DECADE OF RESISTANCE: 2003-2013

Anhad is observing the completion of its ten years. Formed in March 2003 in the aftermath of Gujarat 2002 , ANHAD has actively contested the ideology of hate, the growing authoritarian character of the state, the growth of communal and fascist forces along with doing huge amount of work for the marginalised sections of the society especially women & minorities. ANHAD has intervened at the policy level, has done advocacy work from the grass root to the national level.

Today when the national consciousness is tilting towards the communal ideology and communal thought process has become common sense we feel there is a need to urgently call upon all secular and democratic forces in the country to stop India's Descent into Fascism.

The declining economy, growing unemployment, displacement of people from their natural habitats and the joblessness created by the bursting of the IT bubble is creating a class which, not being engaged with any ideological people's movement and not having the skills to form a united struggle, is bound to turn towards fascism, and it is under these conditions when the ideas of fascism and dictatorship gain ground.

ANHAD is organising a two day national convention 'India's Descent into Fascism: How Do We Stop It?' at the Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi on April 17 & 18, 2013.

The convention will have representatives from a large number of states to present an over view of the situation from their states, experts who have worked on the questions of how terror has been used as a tool to demonise the minorities, communalisation of public and private spaces, culture, educational institutions and media & different segments of the society, it will look at recent cases of communal violence and the way forward.

A special panel of academicians, jurists, activists will at the end come out with recommendations for the government and the civil society.

 Convention Schedule

APRIL 17, 2013

8.00-9.00am Breakfast for outstation participants and Registration

9.00-9.30am- Welcome

9.30-11.15- Session 1 : Voices from the Ground: An Overview of the Situation from different states:

Chair: Gagan Sethi

Speakers : Deepak Bhatt- MP, Dr Anil Panikkar-Haryana, Faisal Anurag- Jharkhand, Kedar Misra-Orissa, Ramzan Chodhury-Haryana, Prof Haragopal- Andhra Pradesh, Dr. A Suneetha, Andhra Pradesh

11.15-1.00pm: Session 2: Voices from the Ground: An Overview of the Situation from different states:

Chair: Aruna Roy

Speakers : Anwar Ali- Kerala, Mohd Arif _UP, Neeraj Jain-Maharashtra,Pritha Kejriwal- West Bengal, Rajendra Sail- Chattisgarh, Shujaat Bukhari-Kashmir, Eric Pinto – Goa

1pm-2pm: Lunch

2pm-3.45pm-Session 3: Voices from the Ground : An Overview of the Situation from different states:

Chair: Prof. Rooprekha Verma

Speakers : Zakia Soman-Gujarat, Uttam Parmar-Gujarat, Yusuf Sheikh-Gujarat, Zamser Ali-Assam,Kavita Srivastava-Rajasthan, Arshad Ajma-Bihar

3.45-5.30pm: Session 4 : Terror a Tool to Demonise Minorities and Sangh Terror Network

Chair: Dr. Ram Puniyani

Speakers: Manisha Sethi, Shahnawaz Alam, Subhash Gatade, Rajeev Yadav, Ajit Sahi

5.30pm -TEA

7.00- 10pm: Celebrating Diversity : An Evening of Poetry, Music and Dance

Welcome: Safeguarding and Celebrating Cultural Diversity: Kamala Bhasin

ANHAD CULTURAL GROUP, URI, JAMMU & KASHMIR, AVNI SETHI, DHRUV SANGARI, GAUHAR RAZA, GOVT GIRLS SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL, BHALOUT, ROHTAK, KHURSHID AKRAM, MANGLESH DABRAL, MAXFORT SCHOOL, DWARKA, NAMRATA PAMNANI, SIDDHI GOMA TRIBAL DANCE GROUP, VIDYA SHAH, VISHNU NAGAR, Documentaries on Anhad by Anhad Production House and Arma Ansari

 

April 18, 2013

8.00-900am: Breakfast

9.00- 11.15: Session 5: Communalisation of Public and Private Spaces, Cultural, Educational institutions and Media, Globalisation and Communalism

Chair: Colin Gonsalves

Speakers: Amit Sengupta, Anil Choudhry, Dr. Anupam Gupta, Avinash Kumar, Dr Harvardhan Hegde, Prof Atul Sood, Sukumar Sukumar Muralidharan

11.15-1.00pm: Session 6: Political Response to Growing Communalism

Chair: Mahesh Bhatt

Speakers: D Raja-CPI, Digvijay Singh-Congress, DP Tripathi-NCP, Kavita Krishnan-AIPWA , Ram Vilas Paswan-LJP, Sitaram Yechury-CPM

1.00pm-2pm-Lunch

2.00-4.30pm: Session 7: The Way Forward and Recommendations

Chair: Prof KN Panikkar

Speakers: Syeda Hamid, Vrinda Grover, Seema Mustafa, Dr. KM Shrimali, Harsh Mander, Dr John Dayal, Dr. Apoorvanand