Friends of South Asia - Positions and Activities

Positions and Activities

Friends of South Asia was described by Metro Santa Cruz in April 2006 as "a hodgepodge of mostly secular-leaning South Asian Hindus and Muslims—university students, Silicon Valley engineers moonlighting as activists, etc.—who regularly organize local vigils, poetry readings, films and speaker events relating to South Asian issues."

The group advocates against what they term "militarism in India, Pakistan, and the United States." According to a 2006 statement, "We express our deepest disappointment with the recently concluded visit of George Bush to India and Pakistan, and unequivocally condemn the Indo-US nuke deal...The United States' imperial designs in its war on Afghanistan and Iraq and the submission of the Indian and Pakistani governments to go along, is not lost on their people who came out in thousands in both countries to protest against Bush and his agenda."

Friends of South Asia has been involved with several other campaigns, including opposition to the Iraq War, the 2002 Godhra riots, Pakistani military actions in Balochistan, Pakistan, and the 2006 bombings in Varanasi, India, as well as support for victims of the Bhopal disaster, advocacy for the civil rights of immigrants to the United States, support for the Right to Information movement, and the proposed expansion of reservations (quota-based affirmative action) in higher education for members of Indian castes defined as Other Backward Classes. FOSA has also specifically focused on highlighting art and activism linked to social change movements in Pakistan, including issues like peace with India, ending the Indo-Pak nuclear race, opposition to censorship and ending religious intolerance against the Ahmadiyya Muslim minority who have been victims of pogroms in Pakistan.

The group holds an annual literary event in August, celebrating the Indian and Pakistani Independence days with readings in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Kannada, Gujarati, and English. Topics have included "South Asian Writings on War and Terrorism," "Revisiting Changing Homelands," and "The Language of Food."

Friends of South Asia was a prominent participant in the Californian Hindu textbook controversy, in which it joined a number of other groups in petitioning California's Curriculum Commission to reject allegedly revisionist edits to California's textbook curriculum on Hinduism and India, as suggested by two American Hindu organizations.

FOSA has an informal organizational structure, and a number of members have served as spokespeople. In 2006, during the textbook controversy, graduate student Anupama Mandavilli was a primary spokesperson. Group members have often collaborated with or co-sponsored events with other California South Asian American anti-communal organizations like EKTA and the Coalition against Communalism.