Gurpreet Singh

The news of the passing away of the towering leader of India’s Marxist Communist Party came as a personal shock.

I had known Comrade Sitaram Yechury, and had an opportunity to spend some valuable moments with him.

He died at the age of 72, following an illness, leaving behind a rich legacy of his tireless commitment towards a secular India.

He had visited Vancouver a few times, to attend events hosted by the Indo-Canadian Workers’ Association. I had a long chat with him on a range of issues, and learnt a lot about threats and challenges facing the left movement in India.

He often used to say that the majority is not always right, in the context of the growing power of Hindu supremacy under current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He saw him coming, before 2014, when Modi got elected as leader of the world’s so-called largest democracy. He used to remind people that the majority in Germany also committed a similar mistake by choosing Hitler as their leader.

Such candid and unpopular statements need courage and conviction, and Yechury had both.

On another occasion, when Hindu chauvinist leader Bal Thackrey, died, the Indian parliament passed a condolence motion and gave him the state honour. But Yechury opposed it vehemently in the face of threats from Thackrey's supporters.

During COVID 19, when his son died, I called him to pay my condolences. Within a minute, he changed the course of our conversation to the pitiable situation of the poor who weren’t able to get oxygen cylinders because of mismanagement by Modi's government. More than his personal tragedy, he was worried about the people on the street. This small episode continues to sit with me and defines Yechury as a statesman.

He came under constant attack from the followers of Modi for speaking out the truth. He wasn’t spared either when the family was grieving the loss of their loved one. They mocked him for being a supporter of Communist China, which was being blamed for COVID 19 by the right wing forces all over the world.

His demise comes at a time when majoritarianism is on the rise and secularists are fighting hard to recapture their space in Indian politics. He has left a vacuum which cannot be filled easily.

Gurpreet Singh

In July, I had an opportunity to visit a Chicago historic site, where those who had laid down their lives in 1886 in the fight for the right to work for eight hours a day.

Known as the Haymarket produce district, a permanent memorial greets visitors at the place where a bomb was thrown at a meeting organized by the workers, leaving seven policemen and four civilians dead. It remains unknown who was behind the attack, while the meeting was being addressed by speakers from atop a wagon.

However, four participants were hanged to death, including two organizers and two speakers, while one activist died in custody.

The event left a permanent mark on the workers’ history across the world. May 1 is observed as the international workers’ day since then. India, the country of my birth, also celebrates this day with a lot of enthusiasm.

The memorial bears the names and pictures of the slain workers, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, August Spies, Albert Parsons, and Louis Lingg.

One of the plaques reads, “Imagine one world, one voice, a global union”

Ironically, the history of May Day has its roots in the bloody events of Chicago, and yet North Americans holds Labour Day on the first Monday of September, which many see as an attempt to maintain a distance from the Communist movement.

I am really blessed to be one of those who could make it to Haymarket memorial with my wife Rachna and two children. On that note, I would like to recognize that it was Rachna, who introduced me to this important piece of history we should be aware of.

Being born in a family of committed leftists, and a former trade unionist, who is now a minister in the BC NDP government which has close ties to the labour movement, she has a great influence on me. She makes sure to buy services from businesses where the workforce is unionized and does not miss an opportunity to go to the cashier at stores rather than vending machines to make any purchase so that their jobs are protected.   

This Labour Day weekend, let’s take a moment to remember the heroes of Chicago. We must not take for granted the rights we have today because of their sacrifices. In the current economic liberalisation environment, and with the constant growth of right wing politics, whatever concessions they got for us are in danger of being taken away.   

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Gurpreet Singh

“An injury to one is an injury to all’. This trade unionist slogan coined to bring international solidarity is best represented by a memorial in Bellingham.

An Arch of Healing and Reconciliation was erected in 2017 to recognize the violent acts of racism against immigrants from India, China and Japan. 

Plaques acknowledging the historic wrongs committed against these groups at different times greet visitors from both sides of the arch.

One of them is about the ugly events of 1885, when the Chinese people were driven out of Whatcom county. Another two are about the 1907 riots against Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims from India, and the removal and incarceration of Japanese people in 1942.

A 2007 proclamation recognizing the September 4, 1907 violence is also framed among the plaques. Made by the City of Bellingham to mark 100 years of the riots, the proclamation had laid the groundwork for the monument. In fact, September 4 was proclaimed as a Day of Healing and  Reconciliation. 

Although the proclamation acknowledges the government policies’ impact on Indigenous communities, a plaque dedicated to Indigenous peoples in the US would have made the arch even more meaningful, considering that we are all on their traditional lands and yet they continue to suffer systemic racism.

The floor of the structure has brick slabs with greetings in different languages. The ones in Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu say welcome to everyone. The most remarkable part of the memorial is that it’s not just confined to any one particular community, and has tried to include the stories of all the diverse groups of people speaking different languages and following different religions and customs. That makes this place special and worth visiting for any newcomer who needs to know the racist history of the US, and to understand how white supremacy doesn’t discriminate between people of colour and everyone who is vulnerable. 

Redistributing wealth is akin to redistributing water. Consider what happens to water when it remains stagnant and confined to one place: it becomes dirty, stagnant, and polluted. Conversely, when water flows freely in multiple directions, it stays clean and fresh and sustains life, nourishing the creatures and plants around it.

The redistribution of wealth works similarly. Hoarding wealth primarily benefits only the individual and fails to maximize its potential to uplift society. When money is concentrated in one place, it is not efficiently used to help everyone reach their potential and flourish.

If the wealthy distribute their resources through taxes or philanthropy, they can sustain entire communities, just as flowing water sustains life. This movement of wealth ensures that more people can thrive and contribute to a healthier, more vibrant society.

Alex Sangha MSM

Social worker, counsellor, and documentary film producer

Delta, BC

On Friday, June 21, National Indigenous Peoples Day, a special event was held at a Sikh religious space where its president was assassinated last year.  

Hardeep Singh Nijjar is believed to have been murdered at the behest of the Indian government for asking for a separate homeland of Khalistan.

Close to his first death anniversary, which was on June 18, prominent artists Jarnail Singh and Jennifer Sherif, presented a multimedia joint artwork to the gurdwara officials, amidst Sikh religious slogans raised by those present in the congregation. Nijjar's son Mehtab Singh was also in attendance to receive the gift. 

Singh is a well-known Sikh painter, whereas Sherif is an indigenous educator and beadwork artist.

Sherif wanted to express her gratitude to Nijjar for organizing prayers for the indigenous kids whose remains may have been detected at the former site of the so-called Indian Residential School in Kamloops in June, 2021.

He had invited Sherif to talk about the history of cultural genocide of the indigenous peoples. She wanted to contribute to anything meaningful in his memory. Based on her discussions with Singh, the two decided to come up with a multimedia artwork, which includes Nijjar’s water-colour portrait in an orange shirt recognizing the truth and reconciliation day. Sherif has previously made orange shirt pins, studded the painting with beads.  

Those who spoke at the event included Gurdwara Secretary Gurmeet Singh Toor, BC Sikh Gurdwara Council leader Moninder Singh, eminent TV broadcaster Gurvinder Singh Dhaliwal, social justice activists and independent journalists Bhupinder Malih, Imtiaz Popat and Gurpreet Singh. They unanimously paid tributes to Nijjar and remembered his legacy for standing up for human rights of everyone, including the First Nations.

Gurpreet Singh

One of the motivations behind my going to Seville, in the summer of 2023, was to visit the monument built in memory of the author of The Devastation of the Indies, a first-hand account of the repression of the indigenous peoples of the Americas by Spanish conquerors.

Bartolomé de las Casas was born in 1484 to a merchant father, Pedro de las Casas, who had accompanied Columbus on one of his voyages. Columbus had given a young Indian slave to Pedro, who then gave him away to his son as a companion, but Bartolomé handed him over to the authorities so that he could be returned to the Indies.

Bartolomé thereby showed early signs of his disapproval of the mistreatment of the indigenous peoples whose lands were stolen by the Spanish.

As he grew older, he was ordained a deacon and became a priest in 1512. During his time in the Indies, he not only preached against the abuse of the natives by the colonists, but liberated his own slaves and began campaigning for their rights. His open denunciation of the slaughter of the indigenous peoples turned him into an enemy of the officials who were part of the exploitative structure. He faced death threats for seeing the whole affair as against his own Christian values.  

He remained steadfast in his resolve until his death in 1566. 

A sculpture stands on the bank of the Guadalquivir River, across from where he was born, according to Patrick Comerford. Thanks to the information given on his blog, my son and I were able to trace the monument built by Emilio García Ortiz.

Inaugurated in 1984 to mark the fifth centenary of his birth, the monument commemorates Bartolomé as a father-figure of human rights. Incidentally, it was the same year when the minority Sikh community suffered the worst human rights violations in India.

While we as Canadians are celebrating June as indigenous history month, we need to remember Bartolomé and his legacy. To start with, people need to read his book, which gives an idea how the Europeans colonized Turtle Island, and how problematic was the so-called doctrine of discovery that paved the way for marginalization of the indigenous peoples in North America, and their genocide through residential schools and other tools of white supremacy.

Also, we need to recognize and amplify the story of Bartolomé, to see that not every Christian priest was complicit in atrocities or misappropriated the Church to colonize indigenous peoples for material benefits.   

Gurpreet Singh

The recent news of Mattel, Inc., honouring Canadian soccer star Christine Sinclair was really heartwarming. 

It’s a matter of celebration to see Sinclair joining the inspiring women series of Barbie dolls, which include Rosa Parks, a towering civil rights movement hero. 

A few years ago, I gifted my daughter with a Rosa Parks doll shortly after it came out in the market. It’s really amazing to see this company including not only non-white female figures, but also those with many inspiring stories. We need our daughters to grow up not only as career women, but also as social justice activists. 

I wonder if Mattel can consider including Arundhati Roy in their list. The world renowned award winning author, who has published two novels and several political essays, has always stood for the underdog and challenged the power. She has been under constant attack for questioning the status quo in the world’s so-called largest democracy of India. Her difficulties have grown under the current right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP government, which is highly intolerant to the religious minorities and any voice of dissent. Some of the scholars close to her had to endure imprisonments on trumped up charges, and yet she remained steadfast in her resolve. 

I will deeply appreciate if the makers of Barbie can do so, so that the girls of my daughter’s generation can get inspired by Indian icons like Roy, and make the tyrants across the globe accountable for their misdeeds.

Gurpreet Singh

When I moved to Canada from India as a Permanent Resident with my family in 2001, I was deeply touched to see welcoming signs in my native language of Punjabi, not only in and around the Vancouver airport, but shortly after at a few more public spaces in Surrey.

Thanks to the diversity of a country that eventually became my home, Punjabi is now the second most spoken language in several municipalities of BC after English.

The irony is that Punjabis had to fight to keep their language alive in their home country. We have a long history of struggle, jails and bloodshed that led to the creation of the present day Punjab state of India. Punjabi is still facing many challenges within Punjab from elitist English speaking schools and growing dominance of the Hindi language, particularly under a right wing Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi.

Here, in a country that once discouraged Punjabi immigrants, things have changed remarkably over the years. Not only have Punjabis made it to Canadian legislative assemblies, but also to the House of Commons, with a few (including my wife Rachna Singh, who is now Minister for education) having made history speaking Punjabi, although briefly, in the provincial parliament in Victoria.

That said, the diversity of this country should not be taken for granted. We must acknowledge that this nation was built on the stolen lands of the indigenous peoples, who continue to face systemic racism and battle to revitalize their traditional languages, some of which are on the verge of extinction because of colonialism. Both Residential schools and the day boarding schools, established by the colonists to assimilate indigenous peoples, discouraged children from speaking in their mother languages. Defiance would often invite inhuman treatment and brutal punishments.

On March 31, National Indigenous Languages Day, we as Punjabis should be aware of this dark chapter of Canadian history. Rather than celebrating our language alone, we need to give back to the indigenous peoples for what their elders did for our pioneers, who were taken into their embrace when the immigrants were facing blatant racism. That’s how the First Nations came to be known as Tae Kes (from elder uncles’ family) by the Punjabis.

I am thankful to my friend Jennifer Sherif, who took me to Iskut nation close to the National Reconciliation Day in 2023, to see firsthand how the people of the Tahltan territory are trying to revitalize their language that was impacted by the boarding school, according to Jolene Hawkins the Education Manager at the Band Council.

The Klappan Independent School in the community provides education in Tahltan language. Angela Dennis, the language and culture teacher, has a room with an alphabet chart in that language. School principal Glen Campbell, a published author who previously served in the Slocan Valley, is passionate about the efforts of revitalizing Tahltan. As a matter of policy, signs in that language greet visitors everywhere in the school right from the library to the kitchen.  

I was given an opportunity to ask a group of educators at the school what non-indigenous groups need to do for true reconciliation. They divided themselves in four small groups and came up with 21 points. These included a few related to the language, asking for accepting traditional languages and for indigenous language immersion programs. Apart from asking for land acknowledgment and addressing racism in public schools, they mostly emphasized revitalizing the languages that are losing speakers.

While these steps give us some hope for a better future ahead, the experience left me wondering if we are really paying attention to the needs of the original stewards of Turtle Island, whose existence matters the most. Mere tokenistic territorial acknowledgments and reconciliation greetings that appeared in some local weeklies around our visit aren’t good enough.

A renowned UK-based author and scholar who was recently deported from India has received unanimous support of the Punjab Press Club of British Columbia (PPCBC).

Nitasha Kaul was detained at Bengaluru airport and forced to leave the country, in spite of valid travel documents, merely because of her criticism of policies of the right wing Hindu nationalist BJP government in New Delhi.  A Kashmiri Hindu woman herself, she has been opposed to growing repression of Muslims and other minority communities in India, and is known for her advocacy for secularism.

Kaul, who has been visiting India frequently, was invited by a non-BJP government in Karnataka for an event to promote pluralism. However, she was denied entry to the country by the central government.

In one of the four resolutions passed by PPCBC, the members condemned the mistreatment meted out to Kaul at an Indian airport. “This reflects very badly on the world’s so-called largest democracy. And we strongly denounce what Indian establishment has done to a respectable person like Kaul,” the resolution read.

The members emphasized that this is an assault on the right to free expression, and that if freedom of speech is allowed to be stifled, press freedom cannot survive either. They also condemned the banning of books from public display by a Quebec writer, for her opposition to the Israeli aggression in Gaza. Elise Gravel has written several picture books and graphic novels for children. Her books were removed from public display by a Jewish Library in Montreal.

In another resolution, the PPCBC endorsed an open letter to the Israeli government by more than 50 journalists asking for access to Gaza, and expressed their condolences to the families of a dozen journalists killed during Israeli attacks.

The fourth resolution welcomed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and BC Premier David Eby for taking a stand against Bell Company which is laying off journalists and selling radio stations for maximizing profits, but also called upon the two leaders to give the media industry necessary support to ensure its long term survival and job protection for its workers.

Dear Prime Minister,

I believe you are deeply saddened by the death of a critic of the Russian President while being incarcerated. Please accept my condolences and stay strong. 

While I do understand that you carry the burden of being a self-styled leader of human rights in the world, and have an obligation to stand up for alleged repression of political dissidents in Russia, I fail to fathom why you never display such passion when it comes to state violence in other parts of the globe.

I don’t think I need to remind you that India is a neighbour to Russia, and that the country you aren’t unfamiliar with has a poor record on civil rights. After all, you recently acknowledged that they could be behind the murder of a Canadian Sikh activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and yet you have a tendency to forget.

Following the recent death of Alexei Navalny in a Russian jail, your government not only announced more sanctions against Russia, but you called the country’s president Vladimir Putin, a monster. Wow . How brave. Applause. 

Nevertheless, it’s interesting to note that you never dared to call Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi just that, despite the fact that he has Muslim blood on his hands. He was instrumental behind the 2002 massacre of thousands of Muslims in Gujarat province of India. Before being elected as Prime Minister in 2014, he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, and was denied visa by several countries for that reason. How can you overlook such an important historical fact? Not very long ago, in 2021, political prisoner Stan Swamy died in custody of the brutal Indian state. You never uttered a word. Swamy was a Christian preacher who worked among the indigenous communities of India and was locked up under trumped up charges for merely defending their right to the lands being appropriated by the extraction industry. Well, what can be expected from the Prime Minister of a country built on stolen lands of the First Nations? If Putin is a monster, then Modi is a devil who deserves to be punished for his crimes against humanity. The story does not end there. Sikh groups started a petition asking for sanctions against India in the light of Nijjar’s murder. But nothing came out of that. You need to come clean on this. Either act against India with a similar zeal, or stop pretending. Unfortunately, that’s what you have been doing in the garb of human rights advocacy. You don’t see the sufferings of the Palestinians under the repressive Israeli government, but you are obsessed with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. You even failed to make the Israeli state accountable for the genocide of people of Gaza, but chose to call pro-Palestine activists "anti-semitic", whereas Modi is the real anti-semite whose Hindu supremacist organization RSS glorified Hitler and justified the Jewish holocaust. Kindly learn something from South Africa, which has taken the lead on social justice, and stop fooling yourself. 

Gurpreet Singh

Independent journalist and broadcaster.