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Vaisakhi in
Surrey
Indira Prahst
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It motivates us. The
more stuff they throw at us the tronger it makes us. They have
been calling us terrorists since the time of Guru Nanak. When
Guru Nanak first started he was jailed. … It's been going on
since the beginning of Sikhi and if they have been calling us
terrorist from the beginning, they are not going to stop now. |
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 With
the barrage of reference to the depictions of pictures of Sikh
militants and of T-shirts bearing slogans promoting Khalistan, there
is no doubt that the influence of the media with its "selective"
information can impact on people's perceptions and the current
social and political conflict.
It is incumbent on the media to present the other side of the
picture while not justifying any illegal activity or promoting
violence. For this reason I wish to expose the voices of the youth
who wore T-shirts with the words "While we live, we shall live with
dignity; when we die shall be for our faith" on the front and "Long
live the Republic of Khalistan" on the back at this year's Vaisakhi
parade in Surrey which I attended.
Wanting to know the purpose behind these shirts from the perspective
of the youth, I questioned some of them. At first, they were very
apprehensive, but within a few minutes, one of them, Gary, 26, spoke
up: "The reason why we are wearing these shirts is not that we are
supporting terrorism - it is the fact that we are supporting the
people that have died for our faith, our culture and our religion
who are misrepresented."
Unfortunately, we were interrupted by media camerapersons coming our
way and the youth were clearly uncomfortable with that.
"Wow this is like media all over us!" said Gary as he and others
quickly walked away. This reaction showed a loss of faith in the
media to cover their perspectives without distorting them. It is the
media's objective to show both sides of this issue which is what
prompted me to find more youth wearing the T-shirts to expose their
voices.
I did encounter another group of youth with the T-shirts and lucked
out, as one of them recognized me and was in fact a friend of a
former student of mine who had once contacted me for my views about
the CBC's "Samosa Politics" documentary. The group, consisting of
some five youth, shared their thoughts for quite some time.
(Although the youth permitted me to take their pictures with their
faces, and use their full names for this piece, out of discretion, I
decided to only use first names and use pictures only revealing the
T-shirt logos). Here is what they had to say.
I first asked them why they were wearing these T-shirts. One former
Kwantlen student, Talwinder, responded: "The reason for wearing
T-shirts is to show we have the right to express our freedoms - what
we have been demanding for the past 25 years like even since
Operation Bluestar (when the Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple
in Amritsar, India, in 1984) happened, more than that, since 1947,
when India first got its independence. We think that all human kind
has the right to have aspirations for their freedoms. Just by
wearing T-shirts, maybe it's not moving a cause forward, but it is
actually showing the world we still remember what happened to us. We
want to speak out but we are being silenced by the media which is
also responsible for creating divisions between us and our
community."
For some these T-shirts are controversial I pointed out, to which
Talwinder responded: "According to the media and RCMP you can wear
anything that does not go against Canadian law. So, this year, there
were T-shirts made. Last year there were shirts that had slogans
with ISYF (International Sikh Youth Federation) which is a banned
organization or quote unquote "a terrorist organization." By law
there is nothing wrong with these T-shirts. Yes, they have guns on
them, but the thing that people need to understand is our Guru
Gobind Singh told us keep weapons … it was not meant to harm people
it was to defend our rights. That's the reason why we wear the
Kirpan. Four hundred to 500 years ago when no one owned a gun, a
knife was the equivalent of a gun then."
I asked if their T-shirts were affiliated with any organization. "I
give you my word," said Talwinder, "this is not connected to any
group, any temple, nothing. The only person that it is connected
with is the person wearing the T-shirt." At that point, Paul, a
21-year-old former BCIT student, added his views: "It's a personal
opinion about how I feel about it and these T-shirts are reflecting
it."
When I pointed out again that the shirts were connected to banned
organizations last year and asked them what they had to say about
that, Talwinder looked straight at me and said: "Babbar Khalsa was
an organization that was founded on the basis of Sikhism and human
rights. It is sad to hear that it was branded a terrorist
organization. When you look at the roots of Babbar Khalsa and how it
originally started, whenever there is a large group of good people
there is the odd couple that get played by the government … money
can do wonders. They caused the Babbar Khalsa to look bad. They say
that Talwinder Parmar blew up Air India and so forth, but when you
accuse a dead person it's a lot easier."
(EDITOR'S NOTE: While some accuse Parmar of being the brain behind
the Air India bombing, others actually accuse him of being used by
the Indian intelligence at some stage or the other. Unfortunately,
dead men don't speak and everyone knows that the Indian police
caught Parmar, tortured and interrogated him and then murdered him
in a so-called encounter. This begs the question: What was the
Indian government trying to hide?).
I asked them if there were any links or ideas about the T-shirts
drawn from the Babbar Khalsa?
Talwinder replied: "As far as these shirts being related to Babbar
Khalsa (is concerned), there is no relationship. Babbar Khalsa was
an organization founded by Talwinder Parmar and others … these
shirts maybe had a primary goal which was to unify for freedom. The
move was the same. Babbar Khalsa was probably created to show people
we are going to speak out we are going to fight for our rights.
These shirts show we are speaking out as well. That is the only
relationship I can find with them."
I asked him: "How do you feel as youth, when efforts are being made
to expose your history and in doing so you are perceived by some, to
be promoters of terrorism?
Talwinder responded: "It motivates us. The more stuff they throw at
us the stronger it makes us. They have been calling us terrorists
since the time of Guru Nanak. When Guru Nanak first started he was
jailed. … It's been going on since the beginning of Sikhi and if
they have been calling us terrorist from the beginning, they are not
going to stop now. The way we look at it, we have re-invented what
the word terrorist means. A person who teaches Kirtan or Gurbani
teaches people to express their freedoms and fight for their
freedoms. There was a human rights activist who was also branded a
terrorist, he was murdered by the Indian (government) agents."
I next asked him: "How do we move forward peacefully here in BC,
what do youth with your vision want?"
Talwinder said: "There are a lot of youth that want to speak out,
(but) the hard part is to get people to speak out. These T-shirts …
they were kids in high school that got together and said, 'this is
our cause. Do you support it?' We got them made. When it comes to
bigger issues, even the parents don't understand. There are 75-80
kids that are wearing the T-shirts right now (at the parade) but
their parents don't know anything about the rights and freedoms; the
younger generation knows. As an example, there is a kid, his parents
don't support any of this, they are completely against it, but the
kid chose to wear the shirt. That is a huge decision especially in
our culture - the way it is, we usually do what our parents tell us
to do."
Apart from barriers to speak out, Paul added that what youth want is
proper representation about who they are as Sikhs and the Vaisakhi
parade: "The (Indo-Canadian) community is one of the most successful
communities, but yet we get (portrayed) as terrorists - not as the
successful people. The media interview some MLA's who keep saying
this is a political thing. Well people have to understand that our
religion is a political religion. We are taught to learn about other
people's cultures and religions, and learn about their and our
politics. What we want to tell these guys is that, hey, we are a
political group of people. Sikhism is not just a religion we are a
nation on our own. Just because we don't have a piece of land to
call our own does not mean that we are not independent. We are still
independent people."
So I asked them what they thought ought to be the solution and
Kwantlen student Swaroop responded: "In schools we need political
awareness classes, have debates and more discussion of what's going
on in the world. It's easy for a country to go to war on the basis
of anyone calling it terrorist, because the meaning itself is not
defined. I can say anyone is committing an unlawful act, that act
that is against the mainstream can be considered terrorist. So you
need to give voice and opinion to the other side. As long as people
are talking about it is fine and as long as people are not picking
up a gun and shooting someone that is fine. The weapon does not kill
somebody; it's the person that's using it. For example someone is
not allowed to wear this T-shirt. What is wrong with wearing this
shirt? What I am saying is there needs to be open discussion in
classes so others can get a broader picture overall."
In closing, if we wish to work towards solidarity and equality we
must begin to see the essential historic ties which have been
ignored and have therefore been an essential part of the
"controversy" swirling around the Vaisakhi parade. World peace
depends on resolving tensions that fuel "militarism," that is, a
failure to respond and listen to OTHER voices and perspectives.
Canada does not support achieving political goals through violent
means, however, expressions of Khalistan that do not advocate
violence must not be nullified and generalizing ideals of Khalistan
only in the context of violence is an injustice itself and part of
the problem that is stirring up tension right here in BC and among
our youth today.
I end with these words: The golden rule of conduct is mutual
tolerance, seeing that we will never all think alike and we shall
always see truth in fragment and from different angles of vision."
Mahatma Gandhi.
(The author is Instructor of Race and Ethnic Relations, Langara
College, Vancouver)
23 April 2008
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