'The state is anti-people and anti-art': Seraiki poet Ashu Lal on why he refused Pakistan's highest literary award

IRFAN ASLAM

         

“The deep state is oppressing the natives, our resources and our culture. Our children go missing under the fascist regime."

Renowned Seraiki poet and writer Dr Ashu Lal refused to accept the Kamal-i-Fun Award having the prize money of Rs1 million announced by the Pakistan Academy of Letters on Thursday.

He was selected for the award by a committee of PAL and the announcement in this regard was made at a press conference by Dr Yousuf Khushk, chairman of the academy. Urdu novelist and travelogue writer Mustansar Hussain Tarar is the other author who got the highest award of the country besides Ashu.

After the award was announced, Dr Ashu Lal took to social media and announced his refusal to accept the award in a post made in Seraiki. He said: “I express my gratitude to friends. I refuse to accept the award. I have not sent any of my books to the Academy of Letters. In my opinion, my refusal (to accept the award) is more precious. My literary activism for the last 40 years is my reward (as a writer). Don’t want to live in brackets. Thank you.”

When asked by Dawn the motive behind his move, Ashu Lal said: “The deep state is oppressing the natives, our resources and our culture. Our children go missing under the fascist regime. The natives are ignored badly. How can we accept the award from an anti-people and anti-art state?”

He says the awards are mostly politically motivated and they have become controversial, limited only to photo sessions. He asserts that he doesn’t have anything to do with the deep state in government, literature or culture. He considers it degrading for himself to accept an award from a president in the current regime who does not even know him.

Born on April 13, 1959, he was named Muhammad Ashraf but adopted the sobriquet Ashu Lal, which was given by his mother, when he started writing in the Seraiki language. He is a medical doctor by profession. After completing his MBBS from the Quaid-i-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur, he served as a doctor across the region, at times working in places where no doctor would like to go. He retired from his job two years back. Since then he runs a clinic at Karor Lal Esan tehsil of Layyah district where treatment is free for the poor.

“I am 62 years old. Since my youth, I have believed in literary activism only. By accepting an award from the current exploitative regime, how can I waste my struggle of 45 years of writings in Seraiki and Urdu?” he emphasises.

When asked about sending any books to PAL for the award, Ashu says that his friend had sent a book on his own way back in 1997 and except that he never sent any book to the academy.

Expressing his gratitude to those who considered him worthy of the award, he says he refuses to accept the award because the state is not taking care of the rights of the natives and it is exploiting their resources. We (Seraiki region) are being kept backward financially and culturally.

“I am not against any mother tongue or regional language. I urge the Punjabi-speaking people to adopt Punjabi medium in schools,” he clarifies, adding that the state’s policy of not giving education to the people in their native tongue is a tactic to keep them backward. He says he is following the resistance of Bulleh Shah and Kabir.

Explaining what he means by ‘living in brackets,’ Ashu quotes Jean Paul Sartre, saying he had refused to accept the Nobel Peace Prize because he did not want to become a bracketed writer (institutionalised was the word used by Sartre).

Ashu Lal is currently engaged with the PPP South as the president of its cultural wing. He argues that his objective is to achieve cultural harmony and satisfy his inner self and that he has a commitment to himself.

“I am working with the native people. We arrange poetry sitting and cultural events and get connected to our land and share our thoughts about it. That’s our way to resistance. The fishermen in river Sindh are struggling to survive. Water crisis is a big issue in the whole world but here it is ignored.”

Ashu Lal suggests that cultural and literary bodies of the country should do something practical. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had started doing it. PAL was founded by him. He had organised a big symposium at Moenjo Daro and then he was hanged.

Speaking about the power of culture, he says the Fasting Buddha on its own can save Pakistan, given the number of Buddhists in the whole world but our state has done the greatest damage by using the religion card.

Dr Ashu Lal says that the country has turned into a fascist state, which commits “brain robbery” against children through syllabi and textbooks. He adds that brain robbery takes away the power to think in the younger generations and then the state easily usurps resources.

His Seraiki poetry books include Chairroo Hath Nah Wanjli (The Shepherd without a Flute), Gautam Naal Jhairra (Arguments with Gautam), Kaan Wassu Da Pakhi Aey (Crow is Bird of Human Abode), two editions of Sindh Sagar Naal Hameshaan (Always with River Sindh), Jaal Maloti (A Meeting Place) and two collections of short stories, Abnormal and Bairri (Boat). Another collection of his short stories is being published.

Originally published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2022

America's first Somali mayor Deqa Dhalac hopes to inspire immigrants, youths and women

Interviews
Brooke Anderson
Washington, D.C.
01 April, 2022

The New Arab Meets: Deqa Dhalac, who has long worked behind the scenes in politics. Now, as mayor, she hopes to make a difference as the face of South Portland, Maine.

When Deqa Dhalac became mayor of South Portland, Maine at the end of last year, making her what is believed to be America’s first Somali American mayor, it was after many years of working to make a difference, starting with her upbringing in her country of origin.

“My parents were a big part of my growing up, telling me to do the right thing, and always wanting us to have a space to say what we had to say,” Deqa tells The New Arab. "Our government was repressive. My father would tell us that other countries have democracies and people would elect who they wanted.”

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She was raised in an educated family that encouraged her to learn languages, history and politics, skills that would be useful after she left for a new life in the United States in 1990, just prior to the civil war.

Deqa says she wants the state's next governor to be encouraging of immigrants, support diversity,
and to show good will toward Maine's immigrants [Getty]

Finally arriving in 1992, after a trip that took her from Mogadishu to Rome – where she spent nearly two months at an airport as she sought asylum– to the UK, then to Canada, and then finally to Atlanta, where she became a permanent US resident.

"My parents were a big part of my growing up, telling me to do the right thing, and always wanting us to have a space to say what we had to say"

There, she quickly got to work in grassroots political organising, registering people to vote and teaching them about the importance of being politically engaged.

But with all the advantages Atlanta had as a big city, its fast pace eventually took its toll, leaving her with little time for herself.

“Atlanta is a big city, and my children were very small. I would do my work and I would do community organising, and before I knew it, the week was up,” she recalls. “I always wanted to do more, but I didn’t have enough time.”

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After her uncle moved to Maine in 2004, he told her she would have more time for herself there.

“Is there a place like that in the US? And you’ll still have time for yourself?” she asked herself, as she thought about continuing her education. She would eventually earn two master’s degrees at universities in the northeast.

When she visited her uncle, she liked the small-town feel with few distractions. The following year, in 2005, she moved up to Maine, a state known more for its cold climate and ageing population than for its political activism. Nevertheless, she continued with her community organising and dove into local politics in South Portland, a city of around 25,000.

"Unfortunately, not everyone welcomed the state’s new residents with open arms. In 2002, Lewiston Mayor Robert MacDonald wrote an open letter, telling Somalis not to come"

Maine, America’s whitest state, was a major shift from Atlanta, a hub for African American culture, and even further from her original home of Somalia. Yet, around the time she moved there, a growing African – mainly Somali – community was taking shape, reflected in the state’s food and arts scene, and increasingly in its politics.

Like her, many had been through hard times, having fled violence and having lived in multiple locations, and they were looking for a quiet place to settle down and raise their children.

Unfortunately, not everyone welcomed the state’s new residents with open arms. In 2002, Lewiston Mayor Robert MacDonald wrote an open letter, telling Somalis not to come. This was followed by demonstrations of support for the African immigrants, an important statement of solidarity as Deqa was settling into her life in Maine.

“The youth can really take a look at those of us from other countries. They can see it doesn’t matter what colour skin they have. They can do this,” she says. “They’re the future. They need to step up and be part of civic engagement. There’s so much attack on democracy, with voter suppression and women’s rights. They need to step up and take up spaces.”The state’s small but growing population of young African immigrants marks a contrast from its long-time ageing white population, a change that Deqa hopes will inspire local youths to become more politically engaged.

After working largely behind the scenes in various social work positions, in 2018 she was elected to the city council of South Portland, where she worked across the spectrum in small city government.

"The youth can really take a look at those of us from other countries. They can see it doesn’t matter what colour skin they have. They can do this... They’re the future"

“I was just helping folks behind the scenes registering to vote. I never wanted to run for office. It never occurred to me,” she recalls thinking at the time. “People said it would be great. And I said: No, not me. Because of the identities I hold: being a woman, black, immigrant and Muslim – especially during Trump’s time during the Muslim ban.” Then she thought, “Let’s just show folks who are saying this, immigrants are doing good work.”

Deqa Dhalac points to members of the audience during a ceremony in the Lecture Hall at South Portland High School in December after she was formally seated as mayor of South Portland, Maines [Getty]

She was re-elected in 2020. Then last year, there was an opening to run for mayor. Encouraged by her colleagues, she took the plunge. Though this position was voted on by the councillors, she took the opportunity to get to know the community she hoped to represent by knocking on around 2,000 doors.

She got support from New American Leaders, an organisation that helps people with immigrant backgrounds run for elected office, whom she met through Portland, Maine's Vice Mayor Pious Ali, part of the state’s growing contingency of immigrant politicians.

“I never wanted to run for office... People said it would be great. And I said: No, not me. Because of the identities I hold: being a woman, black, immigrant and Muslim – especially during Trump’s time during the Muslim ban"

“Becoming the first Somali American mayor in the United States, Deqa Dhalac is paving the way for other immigrant and BIPOC leaders and changing the face of leadership,” Megan Cagle, director of communications at New American Leaders, tells The New Arab.

“Much like Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and other Somali American elected officials, as a Black Muslim woman, Deqa challenges outdated and discriminatory ideas of who can and should serve in public office.”

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In the end, she was voted in unanimously, a testament to her commitment to the local government and the confidence of her colleagues.

“It’s the most beautiful thing I ever did,” she says. “Having people from all parts of the world, doing good work and running for office. It’s just something to be really proud of.”

Brooke Anderson is The New Arab's correspondent in Washington DC, covering US and international politics, business and culture
Follow her on Twitter: @Brookethenews

More than 200 detained in Ukraine protests across Russia: NGO

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
03 April, 2022

Russia has been cracking down on protesters demonstrating against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, with the number of those detained amounting to more than 15,000 people according to the OVD-info NGO.

Police officers in Central Moscow arrest a protester against Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Saturday [Getty]

Russian police detained 211 people Saturday at protests against Moscow's military operation in Ukraine, an NGO said.

OVD-Info, which monitors arrests during protests, said police had detained at least 211 people during demonstrations in 17 cities in Russia.

An AFP journalist in Moscow witnessed more than 20 people detained by riot police under heavy snowfall in the capital's central park Zaryadye, a short distance from the Kremlin.

Police escorted away people sitting on park benches or just standing around without explaining the reasons for the detention, the reporter said.

One of the detained women held a bouquet of white tulips, while another several times exclaimed "No to war in Ukraine!" as she was being taken away.

A national sit-in Saturday against what Moscow calls its "military operation" in Ukraine was announced on social media by activists in around 30 Russian cities.

The organisers said in a statement they wanted to protest "the collapse of (Russia's) economy", against Russian President Vladimir Putin and to demand freedom for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

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"Russia deserves peace, democracy and prosperity," they said.

In Russia's second city, Saint Petersburg, AFP saw multiple arrests near the city's Legislative Assembly where around 40 people gathered, although it was unclear how many were there to protest.

"Nobody will come, all the active ones were detained at previous protests," said 30-year-old Sergei Gorelov, who said he came to "take a look and show support if necessary".

"I just came to stand around, to somehow express my protest to everything that is happening. It's scary to protest actively," Galina Sedova, 50, told AFP at the scene.

Protesters risk fines and possible prison sentences by taking to the streets.

OVD-Info says that over 15,000 people have been detained at rallies across the country to protest Russian military action in Ukraine, which was launched on 24 February.

ISRAEL COLONIALIZATION
Sa’ar vows government won’t freeze settlement building

In message to Gantz, justice minister says Defense Ministry body that authorizes settlements must meet ASAP after five-month hiatus

By TOI STAFF

The Times of Israel

Today, 

Construction work in the   ILLEGAL  Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank, on October 28, 2021 (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)


Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar vowed on Saturday that the government would continue construction in Jewish communities in the West Bank, amid outrage from settler leaders over the Defense Ministry’s failure to convene the panel responsible for authorizing such building in over five months.

In an interview with Channel 12, Sa’ar hinted that Defense Minister Benny Gantz was preventing the Civil Administration’s High Planning Subcommittee from meeting as it typically does once every three months.

Gantz is seen as a tepid supporter of West Bank settlements shifting his views over the years from opposing construction deep in the West Bank to more recently arguing that all Jewish communities in the disputed territory have a “right to exist.


However, he has also been among the most sensitive in the government to the concerns of the Biden administration, which spoke out vehemently when Israel advanced plans for roughly 2,000 settlement homes last October. Gantz views the support of the US as essential in defending Israel’s security interests and has sought to act accordingly. Over the past year, he has spoken about the importance of advancing settlement building “responsibly.”

Sa’ar told Channel 12 that while he has a good relationship with Gantz, he would put his foot down on the issue of settlements. “In this government. there will be no freeze on settlement in Judea and Samaria, and I intend to insist on that,” he said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.

“I hope this matter will be resolved in the coming days,” he said, adding that he has discussed the matter with Gantz several times and that the defense minister is not in favor of a construction freeze.

Gideon Sa’ar speaks in Jerusalem, on March 7, 2021.

 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The five-month gap between High Planning Subcommittee meetings is not all that rare and longer gaps took place even when Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump were in office.

But this has not stopped settler leaders from launching a public campaign to bring down the government. David Elhayani, who chairs the Yesha council umbrella body of settler mayors, is among those campaigning, even after ending his longtime Likud membership to join Sa’ar’s New Hope party in the previous election campaign.

Asked about Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s use of the term “West Bank” during a press conference with visiting Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Sa’ar said he is under the assumption that this was a “one-time error,” adding that he only refers to the area as “Judea and Samaria.”

Bennett’s office said the premier used the term accidentally and that no special inferences should be made as a result of the slip.

Sa’ar also rejected Blinken’s use of the phrase “settler violence,” saying settlers are “patriotic, law-abiding citizens” who are among the foremost victims of Palestinian violence. He did, however, acknowledge that there are “marginal forces who need to be dealt with.”

During the recent deadly terror wave of the past week and a half in Israel, there were at least five reported hate-crime attacks targeting Palestinian villages throughout the West Bank. Indictments in such cases are exceedingly rare.

 NEO-LIBERAL GLOBALIZATION

Xiconomics: China-Europe cooperation gains steam by embracing green partnership

(Xinhua) 09:43, April 03, 2022

BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Offshore construction of a wind farm is complicated. It is often described as a "moon landing" mission. That is even more so in the Mediterranean, one of the world's busiest waterways.

Yet the Italians' determination coupled with Chinese expertise are starting to turn the Southern European nation's dream for clean electricity into reality.

WIND OF COOPERATION

A massive wind turbine installation vessel is on standby 24 hours a day off Taranto port in southern Italy, where engineers are about to witness the birth of the Mediterranean's first offshore wind farm. When fully operational, Beleolico could power 18,500 households.

With Chinese expertise, the construction of the wind farm is nearing completion. It is ready to tell a story of how the tie-up of Chinese renewable technology and Europe's ambitious green targets can make a difference.

And when the wind blows across turbine rotor blades off the Puglia coast -- the "heel" of Italy's boot -- the wind farm can generate zero-emissions electricity to power tens of thousands of local families.

Italy is not the only European country that is working with China to generate power through wind. In a dense mountain forest in western Croatia, the country's largest wind farm, built by a Chinese company, has begun operation. It promotes greener, local growth and could persuade more environmentally-oriented young people to stay behind and develop their hometowns.

That wind of renewable energy cooperation is impressively valuable and essential as the headwinds of protectionism and confrontation are swirling hard. That is why leaders of China and the European Union (EU) have stressed once again their shared commitment to promoting common development and jointly tackling such planetary challenges as climate change at their Friday's virtual gathering via video.

SHARED GREEN FUTURE

These wind farm cooperation projects are possible thanks mostly to the common pursuit by China and the EU in green development, a key component of "Xiconomics" put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping and guiding China's high-quality growth.

Following Xi's economic thought, China has built the world's largest wind and solar power capacity, with an increase in new installation outpacing any other country in the world. In 2021, China sold more than 3.5 million new energy vehicles, ranking first globally for the seventh consecutive year.

While China is delivering on its promise of carbon neutrality set for mid-century, the country is synergizing its development strategy with that of the EU to generate new driving forces in an already dynamic partnership.

About 800 km away from Taranto port, China's Shanghai Electric Power Company Limited is using its expertise in wind, solar and hydrogen power on Malta's Gozo Island, which could become the EU's first carbon-neutral island.

Horst Loechel, a professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, stressed the importance of green cooperation between China and the EU.

This "template for cooperation" in green energy is of great significance for the world, said the professor.

"We shall see more and more joint efforts in technology invention, adoption, and commercialization," said Xiong Yu, a professor at the Surrey Business School in Britain, while talking about the prospects of China-EU green cooperation.

"The collaboration will be from strength to strength and can obviously impact the world," he said, adding that "it will greatly improve the trust and partnerships in many other areas between the two regions."

PARTNERSHIP OF GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE

Eight years ago, during a visit to the EU headquarters in Brussels, President Xi proposed that the two sides foster a partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilization.

During a meeting with President Charles Michel of the European Council and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission via video link on Friday, Xi urged greater synergy between their development strategies and complementarity between China's new development philosophy and paradigm and the EU's trade policy for open strategic autonomy.

The new development philosophy, featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, was put forward by Xi in 2015 and has since piloted China's growth and strengthened its trade links with other countries.

China-EU trade has no doubt reaped from such a vision. In 2021, bilateral trade between China and the EU was worth over 800 billion U.S. dollars, a new all-time high, up 33 percent from eight years ago. Two-way investment last year exceeded 270 billion U.S. dollars.

The EU became China's second-largest trading partner last year. In the first two months of 2022, it overtook the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to grab the top spot, indicating the huge potential for the two-way trade.

And across the Eurasian continent, freight trains transporting merchandise between China and Europe see constant growth, supporting global supply chains despite disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine conflict.

"China and the EU should act as two big markets promoting shared development and deepen economic globalization through open cooperation," Xi said, adding that China welcomes the EU's support for and participation in the Global Development Initiative that aims for balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth worldwide.

"China and Europe are close trading partners," said Timo Vuori, director of International Trade and Trade Policy, the Confederation of Finnish Industries.

It is vital for them to "continue to develop bilateral cooperation in trade, investments, and climate change. For example, there is potential for industrial digitalization and a green economy including sustainable manufacturing and renewable energy," Vuori said.

For professor Xiong in Britain, China-EU ties are of global significance. "China and EU collaboration can greatly benefit each other and create unique value and opportunities for the whole human society." 

 

In Wake Of Putin’s War In Ukraine, Russians Must Demolish The FSB – OpEd

 April 3, 2022 

By Paul Goble

Polls showing that 70 percent of Russians support the military operation in Ukraine are “creating a distorted picture” of their reaction to that event,” Aleksandr Morozov says. In fact, contacts with people on a daily basis show that few of these are enthusiastic about the war, most are in shock, and many want to know who decided to start it.

The political philosopher says that he has the impression that ever more Russians are convinced that the only beneficiaries of this war are “those who are professionally connected with security, that is, with the FSB and its voluntary assistants.” Everyone else is taking serious losses (polit.ru/article/2022/03/25/todo/).

“No one has any illusions,” Morozov continues, and many suspect that the army was pushed into this conflict and that is leaders do not believe the propaganda about fighting “Nazis” or “defending” Russia against NATO. Moreover, they think, many taking part in the operation are certain that the war will have exactly the opposite result to the one the Kremlin projects.

Russians and the world watched the meeting of the Russian Security Council where the decision to begin the war was supposedly made. But it was obvious that “the real decision was taken not there and not by these people.” But as the war has gone on, Russians increasingly are not asking who really is behind it but, the eternal Russian question, what they must do now.

It seems clear now, Morozov continues, that “Russia will be able to get out of this extreme situation either by a nuclear war or when part of its ruling class will take on itself the heavy responsibility for the future of the country and begin to demolish all that led to the catastrophe of February 2022.”

“The shape of the future will depend on the bravery of the people,” he argues.

Today, Russia needs a peace treaty; but it also needs to put an end to the situation in which the Russian army has been reduced to being “an instrument of the FSB. Looking further into the future, one must say now that the FSB in that form which it has existed at the end of the 30 years of the post-Soviet transition … must no longer be allowed to exist.”

According to Morozov, “the special services must be depoliticized, and the society and the country as a whole must be de-FSB-ed.” That will mean that the rights Russians are supposed to have under the constitution will be observed, and the army will be “retained for the defense of the state in its borders and not for reckless political adventures abroad.”

The state sector of the economy must be significantly reduced, and the state must be transformed so that it will not be used primarily to extract wealth for the few and prevent any economic and civil will, Morozov concludes. But first it is necessary to end Putin’s war and then do away with the FSB in its current form.

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Earlier, he served as vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. He has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Goble maintains the Window on Eurasia blog and can be contacted directly at paul.goble@gmail.com .

THUMBNAIL; The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia.