Networking for Change

The Malaysian Police have detained 5 leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) under the infamous Internal Security Act (ISA). They were arrested under Section 8(1) which allows for the person to be detained without trial for any period of time not exceeding two years. Those detained are P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, R. Kengadharan, V. Ganabatirau and K. Vasantha Kumar. They were detained on Thursday, 13th of December 2007. HINDRAF came into the spotlight on the 25th of November when it organized a mass rally that saw nearly 30,000 Malaysians of Indian ethnicity gathering at various locations in Kuala Lumpur. The main purpose of this gathering was to support HINDRAF’s plan to submit a petition to the British High Commission in Malaysia. The petition was to ask Queen Elizabeth II to appoint a Queen's Counsel to represent the Indian community in a class-action suit against the British Government for bringing in Indians as indentured labourers to the then Malaya and exploitin...

Read message by United Nations Secretary General on World AIDS Day by clicking on the link below. http://data.unaids.org/pub/PressStatement/2007/071126_sg_wad_statement_en.pdf

DEAR FRIENDS, All of you must be fully aware by now as to what is happening in India's West Bengal over the Nandigram issue. After months of struggle by the people of Nandigram to save their land, they are today living a miserable life in relief camps without proper food, water and clothing. Just nobody, seems to care, and more unfortunately people in far away Kolkata, the capital are busy venting to their anger on the streets by disrupting normal life. Today, Kolkata, the City of Joy was witness to hooliganism by some forces who pretend to be defending rights of the a certain class of people. The real story is that nobody is interested in saving or protecting the lives of the minorities, poor and the marginalised and instead are trying to extract political mileage for the sake of wresting power in one form or the other at a certain time, maybe now or even in the distant future. While the real issue of land rights and people's basic human rights have been forgotten, some politi...

Friends, I want to bring to fore the plight of the people of Nandigram, a village in India's West Bengal owing to the supressive tactics employed by the Communist Party led Government under Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee. The Government has orchestrated a well planned move to drive out the people/original inhabitants of Nandigram using the state machinary and party workers. Many innocent people have died and social workers, artists, writers, film personalities and even journalists have not been spared. Please read some on the links below this note. www.telegraphindia.com/ ; http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/15nandi.htm ; http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200711101866.htm ; http://www.indlawnews.com/7CECF53D499496662FBDFE480CE9FA5C ; Please read articles and pass them on to your friends. The incidents of violence and killings of innocent humans must be condemned by every citizen ofthis world.

Me at the UN-GIFT conference on Global Initiative to Combat Human Trafficking, organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), New Delhi from 9th October to 11th October, 2007. The humane side captured in my camera.

The attempt is to make people from different corners of the world communicate with each other and share common concerns and a common platform through the network. It is like an opportunity for people and youths to understand each other, learn about cultures and traditions that exist in different parts of world and also help each other. Our motto, if you may call it is to strive not for our satisfaction but for the excellence and preservation of our day-to-day actions which taken together could form a powerful tool and change the course of destiny. It is not as though we are trying to look at the philosophical side of life but our attempt is to bring to the fore the innermost element that makes us and makes our world. The world that we live in throws up uncountable experiences, which almost look like a Diaspora of different cultures, traditions and lifestyles that has been handed down to us by civilization. Armed with a belief that every drop goes on to make an ocean, this journey to ex...