Endorsement: Why Rahul Gandhi’s Leadership is Crucial in the Face of Modi’s Authoritarianism
New York, N.Y. In the current political landscape of India, marked by the rise of Hindu-nationalism and authoritarian tendencies, Rahul Gandhi stands as a steadfast advocate for democracy, secularism, and unity. As a member of the illustrious Gandhi family, he carries forward a legacy of dedication to the nation, rooted in the principles of non-violence, inclusivity, and progressive values.
Rahul Gandhi’s leadership offers a stark contrast to the divisive and authoritarian approach of Narendra Modi. While Modi’s tenure has been characterized by centralization of power and polarizing rhetoric, Gandhi emphasizes dialogue, consensus-building, and the protection of minority rights. His commitment to preserving India’s democratic institutions and fostering an inclusive society is more crucial now than ever.
Drawing on the rich heritage India’s past—the non-violent philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi (no relationship) and Indira Gandhi’s focus on social justice—Rahul Gandhi envisions an India where diversity is celebrated and every citizen is empowered. His approach to governance prioritizes the welfare of all Indians, transcending religious and regional divides to build a cohesive and resilient nation.
Rahul Gandhi’s vision for India is one of progress, fairness, and shared prosperity.
His dedication to upholding the democratic values enshrined in the Indian Constitution sets him apart as the leader India needs in these challenging times. By supporting Rahul Gandhi, we endorse a future where India thrives as a pluralistic, democratic, and inclusive society, true to the ideals upon which it was founded.
Compare and Contrast with Narendra Modi
Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi represent two vastly different visions for India:
Rahul Gandhi:
Democratic and Inclusive: Advocates for democratic values, secularism, and inclusivity, ensuring that all citizens, regardless of religion or background, are represented and respected.
Legacy of Service: Continues the Gandhi family tradition of service to the nation, emphasizing social justice, non-violence, and equitable development.
Consensus-Building: Focuses on dialogue and consensus in policymaking, promoting unity and cooperation among diverse groups.
Narendra Modi:
Authoritarian and Nationalist: Known for centralizing power and promoting a Hindu-nationalist agenda, which has often marginalized minority communities.
Strongman Leadership: Emphasizes a strong, decisive leadership style, which critics argue undermines democratic institutions and freedoms.
Polarizing Rhetoric: Utilizes polarizing rhetoric to galvanize support, often deepening societal divides along religious and cultural lines.
By contrasting Gandhi’s inclusive, democratic vision with Modi’s authoritarian nationalism, it becomes clear why Rahul Gandhi’s leadership is essential for safeguarding India’s future as a diverse and democratic nation. We add Raul Gandhi to the pantheon of progressive leaders around the world we support including Claudia Sheinbaumof Mexico, Lai “William” Ching-te of Taiwan, Benny Gantz of israel, and Pita “Tim” Limjaroenrat of Thailand.
TAGS: Rahul Gandhi, India, Indian politics, Modi government, political leadership, secularism, democracy, Gandhi family, unity in diversity, progressive values, Indian future
Bodhgaya, Bihar. In a transformative pilgrimage to Bodhgaya, I found myself immersed in the sacred rites of the Kalachakra, beckoning seekers to spiritual awakening. Accompanied by the esteemed Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura, a beacon of guidance and philanthropy, our journey was dedicated to supporting the Manjushree Orphanage for Tibetan Children in Tawang, India, nestled near the Chinese frontier.
Bodhgaya‘s profound Buddhist heritage resonated tranquility and spiritual depth, drawing devotees worldwide to absorb its teachings and bask in its divinity. The unfolding of the Kalachakra revealed ancestral wisdom and spiritual consciousness, etching an indelible mark on my soul.
Our path led us to Dharamshala, the humble abode of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Encountering him at the Kalachakra was a serene experience, with silent conversations echoing in a peaceful realm. A subsequent private audience deepened our commitment to Dr. Kazuko’s noble work, a promise embraced by His Holiness.
The author with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura in Dharamshala, India.
Dr. Kazuko’s leadership in Orphans International Worldwide and the James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation, alongside my role in the Gaia Holistic Foundation, empowered our collaboration to uplift the Manjushree Orphanage, impacting the lives of Tibetan children in Tawang.
Dr. Kazuko Hillyer Tatsumura, founder of Gaia Holistic Foundation, at the Tibetan Buddhist Orphanage at Manjushree. Photo: Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura.
Remembering Audiences with His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura in Bodhgaya, India.
Standing amidst the Himalayas near the Chinese border, pride swelled within me. The inscription honoring Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura and Orphans International on the orphanage’s main building cornerstone filled me with immense gratitude. The joyous welcome from the children of Manjushree Orphanage warmed our hearts.
The Dalai Lama‘s calm demeanor and profound peace left an enduring impression, transcending religious boundaries. Inspired by his wisdom and compassion, I am reminded of the importance of service and mentorship in shaping interactions and giving back to communities in need.
His Holiness‘s words, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them,” resonate deeply, encapsulating the essence of our journey. Through compassion and service, this profound odyssey fosters hope, purpose, and interconnectedness in a world in need.
In 1939, at the height of the Sino-Japanese War, a 19-year-old Harvard art history student set off for the remote region of Lijiang, China, in search of the mysterious ancient culture of the Naxi (Nah-shee).
New York, N.Y. Launched on his quest after receiving a gift of a 40-foot Naxi funeral scroll depicting a soul’s journey through heaven and hell in a pictographic script, Quentin Roosevelt, grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, traveled for four months before he finally reached the mountainous region on the Tibetan border.
There, with the help of the Reverend James Andrews, a family friend and Pentecostal missionary based in Lijiang, he spent ten days assembling what was to become one of the most complete collections of Naxi art outside of China.
Crown. Northwestern Yunnan Province. 18th-early 20th century.Paint on cardboard. 4.3 x 7.3 in. Private Collection, Spain
This first-ever exhibition of the collection of Naxi art that the young Roosevelt gathered on his journey of discovery is on view at the Rubin Museum of Art. Quentin Roosevelt’s China: Ancestral Realms of the Naxi, which will remain on view through September 19, 2011, unites the Roosevelt collection with that of legendary botanist-explorer Joseph Rock, the first Western explorer to extensively study the complex religious and linguistic traditions of the Naxi, and whose collection has also never been publicly displayed.
Quentin Roosevelt, grandson of Teddy Roosevelt, traveled for four months before he finally reached the mountainous region on the Tibetan border.
Guest-curated by Cindy Ho and anthropologist Christine Mathieu, along with the Rubin Museum of Art’s former Chief Curator Martin Brauen, the exhibition includes 147 works showcasing the art central to the Naxi Dongba religion, a highly-structured tradition comprising approximately one thousand ceremonies and sub-ceremonies. Much of the art is adorned with a pictographic script that is unique to the Naxi, and possesses a freshness and spontaneity that suggests a focus on content rather than artistic labor.
Among the highlights are:
Ceremonial funeral scrolls, which are central to the Dongba religion as they act as bridges for souls to reach the realm of the gods.
One such scroll, forty feet long and a foot wide, leads a soul on the arduous journey through the gates of hell on to the realm of the gods in intricately painted scenes of the various realms of existence. Funeral scrolls are unique to the Naxi religion and are found nowhere else in China or Tibet.
Ritual cards were used in the many Dongba ceremonies. One set of cards that represents flying creatures was ritually hung above the altar. The ten brightly painted cards that each depict a wild bird, except one which shows a bat, were used in a ceremony called Sizhpiu to request longevity.
Ceremonial Manuscripts were written by Dongba priests in a pictographic script and contain the entire religion’s corpus in about one thousand ceremonial books. The pictographs represent words or syllables, and script tended to be altered as priests took on their own styles and created their own schools.
Manuscript Page. Northwestern Yunnan Province; date unknown. 3.5 x 11 in. Harvard‐Yenching Library, Harvard University.
The exhibition will include a number of texts, including those used in divination ceremonies, funerals for those who died at a young age, and ceremonies for honoring spirits of the natural world, among others.
The dramatic story of Roosevelt’s journey is brought to life in the exhibition’s Explore Area, which features digitized photographic documentation, written correspondence, and actual artifacts from his trip, including Roosevelt’s camera and passport. This section provides a glimpse into Roosevelt’s personal experiences on his journey—what he saw and felt as he encountered the Naxi culture, religion, and art.
Residing in a remote mountainous region between Tibet and the south-western Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, the Naxi and especially their religious art are still relatively unknown. In fact, the thesis Roosevelt wrote as an undergraduate in 1941 remains the only academic thesis on Naxi art in Western and Chinese scholarship.
“In an era before easy air travel and GPS, the young Roosevelt, inspired by the gift of an enigmatic scroll, embarked on an extraordinary journey to a remote region of war-torn China,” said Martin Brauen. “His expedition has brought exceptional artifacts to the United States and the Naxi culture to the attention of a larger public, a great and enduring contribution.”
Ritual Cards. Northwestern Yunnan Province. 18th-early 20th century. Watercolor on hemp paper (?). 8.9 x 6 in. Collection of Dr. John M. Lundquist.
Guest curator Cindy Ho first researched and conceived of an exhibition on Naxi religious art in 1993. Ho gained access to Roosevelt’s personal journals and collections through the generous support of his family, enabling her to track down all of the works he had assembled through his explorations. She traveled to Lijiang four times, retracing his footsteps and visiting villages he and Joseph Rock had written about.
In 1997, Ho was joined by ethnohistorian Christine Mathieu, who had just received her PhD on the reconstruction of the social, religious, and political history of the Naxi. Mathieu traveled to Yunnan twice to research the details of the Roosevelt collection in consultation with Naxi priests and scholars. In 2009, sixteen years after Ho first began working on a Naxi exhibition, she and Mathieu were approached by the Rubin Museum of Art’s Chief Curator Martin Brauen about collaborating on a show about the Naxi culture.
Manuscript Cover. Northwestern Yunnan Province. 18th-early 20th century. Ink and paint on paper. 3.6 x 11 in. Private Collection, Spain.
“Roosevelt’s detailed study of the Naxi tradition, illustrated with his own diagrams and photographs, provides an invaluable window into the world of a little-known culture. His undergraduate work exhibits tremendous courage in its original interpretations and analyses,” said Ho. “In many ways, it has been a blessing that the exhibition took so many years to realize. The Rubin Museum is the perfect venue and has allowed us to expand on our original concept of exhibiting Roosevelt’s collection.”
The ancestors of the Naxi people, called Mosuo (Mo-so), settled in the Lijiang plain in Yunnan province, China in the tenth or eleventh century. Today, the Naxi are one of fifty-six national groups that form the Chinese nation. The Naxi have fascinated scholars and visitors from around the world with their complex and highly-structured religion, Dongba, and especially for the spontaneous and freeform pictographic script in which the religion is written.
Chinese troops fighting along the Salween River front, 1942.
Dongba artist-priests were recognized for their artistic ability and the most influential created their own styles and schools, adding to the complexity and mysteries of the tradition. Quentin Roosevelt’s China examines and explores the artistry central to the Dongba religion.
“The Rubin’s curatorial and educational programs are focused on journeys of discovery. Discovering new cultures and ideas. Discovering rare and magnificent works of art. And personal discovery for our audiences as they encounter cultures and worlds for the first time,” said Marcos Stafne, Head of Education and Visitor Experience. “The museum strives to create a window into a diverse landscape of artistic expression and to capture the shared human drive to explain the complex world around us.”
Quentin Roosevelt’s China continues the museum’s tradition of bringing to the fore previously little-known cultures and creating ground-breaking exhibitions. In 2007, the museum presented Bon: The Magic Word, the first major exhibition in the world dedicated to art of the Bon culture and belief system that predates Buddhism in Tibet.
In 2009 the museum was home to the first public display of Carl Gustav Jung’s famous Red Book, in conjunction with the first ever facsimile and translation of the original work. The exhibition on the Naxi religion exemplifies the museum’s interest in providing audiences with unprecedented experiences.
Cindy Ho reconstructed the Quentin Roosevelt collection and conceived the idea for an exhibition on the Naxi based on the collection in 1993. She identified the Naxi Dongba artifacts collected by Roosevelt, forgotten and dispersed in five different locations. Ho has lectured about the Roosevelt collection at Harvard University and New York’s China Institute. In 1997, she produced Trailing the Written Word: The Art of Writing Among China’s Ethnic Minorities and West of the East – A Journey Through Macau, Asia’s First and Last Colony in 1999, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts and supported by Fundaçao Oriente. Ho lives in New York City.
Christine Mathieu is an ethnohistorian and anthropologist who has studied the histories and cultures of the Naxi and Mosuo people since 1989. She was one of the first anthropologists to work in the field of Naxi studies after the communist revolution of 1949. In 1997 she joined Cindy Ho to work on the Roosevelt exhibition. She has contributed chapters to several anthologies and authored two books on the Naxi and Mosuo, A History and Anthropological Study of the Ancient Kingdoms of the Sino-Tibetan Borderland and the internationally-acclaimed Leaving Mother Lake, with Yang Erche Namu. Mathieu lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Dr. Martin Brauen, former Chief Curator at the Rubin Museum of Art, studied Buddhism at Delhi University and anthropology and history of religions at Zurich University. Field studies have taken him to Ladakh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. Brauen joined the museum as Chief Curator in 2008 and served until July 1, 2011. He had previously been head of the Department of Tibet, Himalayas and the Far East at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich. He is the author of numerous English language publications about Tibetan and Himalayan art and culture, including The Dalai Lamas, Dreamworld Tibet, and Deities of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as a number of publications in German.
The exhibition Quentin Roosevelt’s China: Ancestral Realms of the Naxi is accompanied by a 200-page color-catalogue edited by Christine Mathieu and Cindy Ho that offers a comprehensive introduction to Naxi art, iconography, and religion and will be the first publication of its kind.
The contributions include introductions by Mathieu and Ho; two biographical pieces: the first on Quentin Roosevelt’s journey to China by Chief Curator Martin Brauen, and the second on the life of Joseph Rock by Rock’s late biographer Sylvia Sutton.
It also includes essays by scholars of the Naxi nationality on Naxi history, Dongba art, and women in the Dongba religion; a comparative review of Naxi and Mosuo religious traditions; an essay on Dongba language and the pictographic script; a comprehensive review of Dongba religion and its history by Mathieu; and an interview with Yang Fuquan, also a scholar of the Naxi nationality and vice-president of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.
The Rubin Museum of Art holds one of the world’s most important collections of Himalayan art. Paintings, pictorial textiles, and sculpture are drawn from cultures that touch upon the arc of mountains that extends from Afghanistan in the northwest to Myanmar (Burma) in the southeast and includes Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, and Bhutan.
The larger Himalayan cultural sphere, determined by significant cultural exchange over millennia, includes Iran, India, China, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. The museum explores these rich cultural legacies—largely unfamiliar to Western viewers—from a variety of perspectives, offering multiple entry-points for understanding and enjoying the art of the Himalayas.
The name change is the latest effort by the BSA to brand itself as a more inclusive organization after years of declining membership. The group began allowing girls to join the Cub Scouts, its program for children ages 7 to 10 years old, in 2018.
Washington, D.C. The Boy Scouts of America announced Tuesday it will change its name to Scouting America as it struggles to recover from a sexual abuse scandal involving its adult scout leaders.
The organization said the change will take effect on Feb. 8, 2025, the 115th anniversary of its founding. The BSA describes itself as “the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training,” with its mission “to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes.”
The next year it opened its flagship Boy Scout program to older girls and changed its name to Scouts BSA.
BSA says more than 176,000 girls have joined Scouts BSA since the changes, with more than 6,000 obtaining the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout.
The organization has also lifted its ban on openly gay youth and openly gay adult leaders over the last decade.
The BSA is under a bankruptcy reorganization plan that allows it to operate while spending $2.4 billion to compensate more than 82,000 men who sued the organization, claiming they were sexually abused during their scouting years.
Israeli military manoeuvres and shelling continued in and around eastern Rafah in southern Gaza on Wednesday morning as UN humanitarians stressed that “no fuel or aid” is getting into the enclave.
Thousands of people leave Rafah for central Gaza as hostilities escalate in and around the enclave’s southernmost town. U.N. News / Ziad Taleb
“We’re not receiving any aid, the crossing area has ongoing military operations and is an active war zone,” said Scott Anderson, from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in a post on X. “We are hearing continued bombardments in this area throughout the day. No fuel or aid has entered into the Gaza Strip and this is disastrous for the humanitarian response.”
The development comes amid deepening international concerns including from the UN Secretary-General about a full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah, fuelled by the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing following a deadly rocket attack claimed by Hamas last weekend, and the seizure of Rafah crossing on Tuesday by Israeli forces, dashing ceasefire hopes.
Forced to evacuate
In addition to concerns over dwindling supplies of fuel, food and other basic necessities in Gaza, UN humanitarians reported that tens of thousands of people in Rafah have been uprooted once more by Israeli evacuation orders.
“Every day we are displaced. Every hour we are displaced,” said Rafah resident Salah Rajab Gazan speaking to U.N. News inside the enclave. “We expected that the deal would be reached and we’d go [back] to Gaza City. But, what we expected did not happen, and the opposite happened.”
Gaza ‘has no future’
In another interview with our Arabic service correspondent there, a former resident of Jabalia camp in northern Gaza described his exhaustion and loss after seven months of war which had claimed the lives of his children.
“I can’t find a mattress to sleep on,” he said. “I used to have a house and floors. I am tired of life because there is no life in Gaza. Gaza has no future.”
Guterres concern
In a bid to secure an end to the war and the release of all remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a direct appeal to the Government of Israel late Tuesday “to stop any escalation and engage constructively in the ongoing diplomatic talks”.
Posting on X late on Tuesday, the UN chief said that he was “disturbed and distressed” by the Israeli Defense Forces’ renewed military activity in Rafah, just as he called on Hamas leaders and Israel “to show political courage” and secure a ceasefire.
“After more than 1,100 Israelis killed in the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October, after more than 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, haven’t we seen enough?” Mr. Guterres asked.
To the brave students following in our noble tradition, I say, you are on the right side of history. Dare to struggle, dare to win!
By Marjorie Cohn Professor Emerita, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Author’s Note: The following are remarks I delivered on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at the 55-year reunion of the Stanford University antiwar movement, in which I participated. On April 3, 1969, an estimated 700 Stanford students voted to occupy the Applied Electronics Laboratory (AEL), where classified research on electronic warfare was being conducted at Stanford. That spawned the April Third Movement (A3M), which holds reunions every five to 10 years. The sit-in at AEL, supported by a majority of Stanford students, lasted nine days. Stanford moved the objectionable research off campus, but the A3M continued with sit-ins, teach-ins and confrontations with police in the Stanford Industrial Park.
This reunion comes at an auspicious time, with college campuses erupting all over the country in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Once again, 55 years later, Stanford students are rising up for peace and justice. They have established a “People’s University” encampment and they are demanding that Stanford: (1) explicitly condemn Israel’s genocide and apartheid; (2) call for an immediate ceasefire, and for Israel and Egypt to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza; and (3) immediately divest from the consumer brands identified by the Palestinian BDS National Committee and all firms in Stanford’s investment portfolio that are complicit Israeli war crimes, apartheid and genocide.
At this moment in history, there are two related military occupations occurring simultaneously – 5,675 miles apart. One is Israel’s ongoing 57-year occupation of Palestinian territory, which is now taking the form of a full-fledged genocide that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. The other is at Columbia University, where the administration has asked the New York Police Department to occupy the school until May 17. Both occupations are fueled by the Zionist power structure. Both have weaponized antisemitism to rationalize their brutality.
The students at Columbia are demanding that the university end its investments in companies and funds that are profiting from Israel’s war against the Palestinians. They want financial transparency and amnesty for students and faculty involved in the demonstration. Most protesters throughout the country are demanding an immediate ceasefire and divestment from companies with interests in Israel. More than 2,300 people have been arrested or detained on U.S. college campuses.
Israel has damaged or destroyed every university in Gaza. But no university president has denounced Israel’s genocide or supported the call for divestment.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement was launched in 2005 by 170 Palestinian civil society organizations who described BDS as “non-violent punitive measures” to last until Israel fully complies with international law. That means Israel must (1) end its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantle its barrier wall; (2) recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and (3) respect, protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their land as mandated by UN General Assembly Resolution 194.
Boycotts are the withdrawal of support for Israel, and Israeli and international companies that are violating Palestinian human rights, including Israeli academic, cultural and sporting institutions. Divestment occurs when universities, churches, banks, pension funds and local councils withdraw their investments from all Israeli and international companies complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights. Sanctions campaigns pressure governments to stop military trade and free-trade agreements and urge them to expel Israel from international fora.
“A particularly important source of Palestinian hope is the growing impact of the Palestinian-led nonviolent BDS movement,” according to Omar Barghouti, co-founder of BDS. It “aims at ending Israel’s regime of military occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid and defending the right of Palestinian refugees to return home.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the BDS movement an existential threat to Israel – an absurd claim in light of Israel’s arsenal of nuclear weapons.
The BDS movement is modeled largely on the boycott that helped end apartheid in South Africa. As confirmed by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, Israel also maintains a system of apartheid. Israel’s system is “an even more extreme form of the apartheid” than South Africa’s was, the South African ambassador told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the recent hearing on the legality of the Israeli occupation.
The U.S. has a long, proud history of boycotts – from the civil rights bus boycott to the United Farm Workers Union’s grape boycott. But at the behest of Zionists, anti-boycott legislation has been passed at the federal and state levels to prevent the American people from exercising their First Amendment right to boycott.
“The genocide underway in Gaza is the result of decades of impunity and inaction. Ending Israel’s impunity is a moral, political and legal imperative,” Palestine’s Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the ICJ. “Successive Israeli governments have given the Palestinian people only three options: displacement, subjugation or death; these are the choices, ethnic cleansing, apartheid or genocide.”
“Israel restricts every aspect of Palestinian life, from birth to death, resulting in manifest human rights violations and an overt system of repression and persecution,” al-Maliki said. “Through indiscriminate killing, summary execution, mass arbitrary arrest, torture, forced displacement, settler violence, movement restrictions and blockades, Israel subjects Palestinians to inhumane life conditions and untold human indignities, affecting the fate of every man, woman and child under its control.”
The Israeli military is poised to compound its genocidal campaign by ethnically cleansing 1.4 million people sheltering in Rafah, who have nowhere to flee. The violence in Gaza did not start on October 7, 2023, with the killing of some 1,200 Israelis by Hamas. It is the continuation of Israel’s brutal Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”) that began 75 years ago.
The Ambassador of Belize told the ICJ, “No state reserves to itself the right to systematically violate the rights of a people to self-determination — except Israel. No state seeks to justify the indefinite occupation of another’s territory — except Israel. No state commits annexation and apartheid with impunity, except — it seems — Israel.” He said that “Israel must not be allowed such blatant impunity.”
Yet the U.S. government continues to fund Israel’s occupation and genocide, and protect the Israeli regime from any accountability. The U.S. also provides Israel with diplomatic cover, consistently vetoing resolutions in the Security Council that call for an enduring ceasefire.
Israeli officials believe that the International Criminal Court is about to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli government officials, including Netanyahu, for their crimes, including the obstruction of humanitarian aid to the people starving to death in Gaza. Hamas leaders also reportedly face arrest warrants. The Biden administration is taking steps to shield Israelis from ICC arrest warrants.
Meanwhile, Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, called for an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel. The amazing student movement that only promises to grow will hopefully be a game changer in stopping Israel’s US-backed genocide.
To the brave students following in our noble tradition, I say, you are on the right side of history. Dare to struggle, dare to win!
Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, dean of the People’s Academy of International Law and past president of the National Lawyers Guild. She sits on the national advisory boards of Assange Defense and Veterans For Peace. A member of the bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, she is the U.S. representative to the advisory council of the Association of American Jurists. Her books include Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral and Geopolitical Issues.
This article originally appeared at Common Dreams; licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were arrested on suspicion of treason for enacting the plan, Ukraine’s state security service said in a prepared statement, which added that the plot was drawn up by Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Washington, D.C. Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators said Tuesday that they thwarted a plan by Russian agents to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other high-level officials.
Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were arrested on suspicion of treason for enacting the plan, Ukraine’s state security service said in a prepared statement, which added that the plot was drawn up by Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Moscow did not immediately comment on the reports, which indicate that the colonels were recruited prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for the inauguration, was indeed a failure of Russian special services,” Vasyl Maliuk, head of Ukraine’s State Security Service, told his agency via Telegram.
The United States and most European Union countries skipped Putin’s 6th term swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday.
The inauguration comes more than two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said in 2022 that there had been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him. A Polish man was arrested in April on allegations of working with Russia’s GRU military intelligence on an alleged plot to assassinate the Ukrainian president.
Zelenskyy is leading Ukraine’s effort to fight off Russia’s aggression as the war enters its third year.
As a frequent traveler, I’ve marveled at the seamless public transit systems in cities like Bangkok, Singapore, and Tokyo. So when the MTA unveiled its new OMNY contactless payment system, I was thrilled that New York was finally catching up with the times. The promise of simply tapping my phone or card to board seemed like a dream come true.
Little did I know, it would soon become a nightmare. #ShareIfYouCare #CrosstownBusNightmare #NeverTapAgain
New York, N.Y. One recent afternoon, I tapped my phone on the OMNY reader as I boarded a crosstown bus. The screen flashed “GO,” and I took my seat, feeling smug about embracing this modern convenience. However, my satisfaction was short-lived when a squad of MTA police officers boarded and began checking everyone’s receipts or phone statements.
Despite having followed the instructions and being granted entry, my bank statement showed no record of the payment. Protests fell on deaf ears as four of us were unceremoniously ordered off the bus, surrounded by burly officers who seemed more interested in flexing their authority than hearing our explanations.
The Humiliation and Consequences
The humiliation of being publicly escorted off the bus like a common criminal was bad enough, but the consequences didn’t end there. Not only was I issued a $100 fine that could potentially tarnish my record, but I was also left stranded, forced to reschedule a crucial doctor’s appointment – a significant inconvenience.
Insult was added to injury when, hours later, the charge finally appeared on my statement, confirming that I had indeed paid the fare. But by then, the damage was done.
The Plot Thickens
I called my credit card company and they said that when I swipe my cell in the subway, it registers “MTA,” but when I swiped on the bus, it registered as “NYC go now” or something. And because I usually take the subway and not the bus, it was the first time that new charge hit my card. So they held up payment deeming it suspicious and didn’t approve it for 12 hours.
In short, the fault seems to lie with both MTA and my credit card company. I don’t really care whose fault it was, I was still kicked off the bus by uniformed police, missed my medical appointment, and was fined $100. This so-called seamless experience is full of wrinkles. It is simply not for me anymore.
A Broken System
The MTA’s heavy-handed approach and lack of understanding or flexibility in dealing with a clearly flawed system is appalling. Why should I, or any law-abiding citizen, cooperate with an agency that humiliates and penalizes us for their own technological shortcomings?
Until the OMNY system is refined and its enforcers are trained to handle such situations with more empathy and common sense, I’ll be steering clear of this so-called “convenience.” The MTA has lost my trust and my business. I, for one, will never tap again.
Photos: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit
With Wynton Marsalis, world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and a leading advocate of American culture.
New York, N.Y. I was thrilled to be with Wynton Marsalis[Luce Index™ Score: 95] at the French Embassy in New York City the night in 2009 he received France’s highest distinction, the insignia Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, an honor that was first awarded by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Marsalis has been called the “Pied Piper” of Jazz and the “Doctor of Swing”
Since his recording debut in 1982, he has released 127 jazz, classical and alternative recordings and won many awards. From the very beginning of his career, education has been vital to his mission. He has taught and mentored a voluminous number of musicians who have gone on to play, teach and advocate in their own brilliant ways. Through these relationships Marsalis has ensured that the legacy of jazz music will continue to propagate for generations to come.
Over the past four decades, Marsalis has rekindled and animated widespread international interest in jazz through performances, educational activities, books, curricula, and relentless advocacy on public platforms. Today, Marsalis continues the renaissance that he sparked in the early 1980s, attracting new generations of young talent to jazz and illuminating the mythic meanings of jazz fundamentals.
Wynton Marsalis’ core beliefs are based on jazz fundamentals: freedom and individual creativity (improvisation), collective action and good manners (swing), as well as acceptance, gratitude and resilience (the blues). Marsalis believes that music has the power to elevate our quality of life and lead us to both higher and lower levels of consciousness. He maintains that music can elevate the quality of human engagement for individuals, social networks and cultural institutions throughout the world.
A Musical Upbringing
Wynton was born in New Orleans in 1961, to jazz pianist and music educator Ellis Marsalis Jr. and Dolores Marsalis. He developed an avid desire to participate in the cultural community that surrounded him. He was curious about his father and his musician friends that would always come by the family home for a visit, or to shed tunes. Hearing how passionately Ellis and his musician friends talked about the Civil Rights Act, and key political figures of the time such as Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Lyndon B. Johnson led Wynton to first start to understand the intrinsic link between music and the human experience that it represents.
Early Years in New York
After receiving his diploma from Benjamin D. Franklin High School in New Orleans, Marsalis left home to continue studying classical music at The Juilliard School in New York City. He enrolled in the fall of 1979.
While a student at Juilliard, Marsalis quickly began to take note of the flourishing jazz scene that was transpiring in New York. He soon started playing jazz gigs around the city; it didn’t take long for the grapevine to begin to buzz as people wondered who this young cat from New Orleans was.
Columbia Records signed Marsalis to his first recording contract in 1980— just a year after he had left home.
Since his boyhood encounter with the young man on the New Orleans streetcar, Marsalis has maintained his love of classical music. His deep interest in the compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and others has driven him to pursue classical music as well as jazz throughout his career.
Television, Radio & Literary
Throughout his career, Marsalis has taken on an inexhaustible advocatory role for jazz music. He has often been referred to as The Conscience of Jazz. Through the mediums of television, radio, journalism and literature, he has communicated his message to the world about the imperative force of jazz to elevate our livelihood and culture.
Marsalis had two documentaries made on his music and perspective early in his career: Catching a Snake in 1985 and Playing Through the Changes in 1992. Though many years have passed since these two pieces aired, Marsalis’ overall message about jazz music and its importance as a classic American art form have remained consistent to date.
In the fall of 1995, Wynton launched two major broadcast events. That October on PBS, he premiered Marsalis on Music, an educational television series on jazz and classical music which he wrote and hosted. Writers distinguished Marsalis on Musicwith comparisons to Leonard Bernstein’s celebrated Young People’s Concerts of the 1950s and 60s. That same month, NPR aired the first of Marsalis’ 26-week series entitled Making the Music. These entertaining and insightful radio shows were the first full exposition of jazz music in American broadcast history. Wynton’s radio and television series’ were awarded the most prestigious distinction in broadcast journalism, the George Foster Peabody Award. The Spirit of New Orleans, Marsalis’ poetic tribute to the New Orleans Saints’ first Super Bowl victory (Super Bowl XLIV) has also received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Feature (2011).
Marsalis has been interviewed for countless documentaries and educational specials on jazz music, as well as classical. One of his most notable moments in this vein was his collaboration with Ken Burns in 2001 on his documentary miniseries Jazz. Other examples include his contributions to A World Without Beethoven? (2020), TCM’s Jazz in Film series (2020), and his interviews with LIFE on Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong (2015). Marsalis is consistently called upon to speak about the legacies of other jazz legends. He has given interviews on Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and so many others.
Select Awards and Accolades
Marsalis’ creativity has been celebrated throughout the world. He has won the Netherlands’ Edison Award and the Grand Prix Du Disque of France. The Mayor of Vitoria, Spain, awarded him with the city’s Gold Medal – its most coveted distinction.
In 2001, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan proclaimed Wynton Marsalis an international ambassador of goodwill for the Unites States by appointing him a UN Messenger of Peace. Then, in November 2005, Wynton Marsalis was bestowed The National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the United States Government. Marsalis was honored with The National Humanities Medal by President Barak Obama in 2015, in recognition of his work to deepen the nation’s understanding of the humanities and broaden American citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages and philosophy.
In the five decades preceding Marsalis’ 1997 Pulitzer Prize win for Blood on the Fields, the Pulitzer Prize jury had refused to recognize jazz musicians and their improvisational music, reserving the distinction solely for classical composers. In the years following Marsalis’ award, the Pulitzer Prize for Music has been awarded posthumously to Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane.
TIME magazine selected Wynton as one of America’s most promising leaders under age 40 in 1995; in 1996, TIME celebrated Marsalis again as one of America’s 25 most influential people. In 2011, the Marsalis family, including Wynton, became the first to receive a group NEA Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment of the Arts. Honorary degrees have been conferred upon Marsalis by 41 of America’s leading academic institutions including Columbia, Harvard, Howard, Princeton, Yale and Tulane University in his hometown of New Orleans.
In the winter of 2021, Marsalis was welcomed into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The same year, he was winner of the Dr. Maria Montessori Ambassador Award given by the American Montessori Society, Brooklyn for Peace’s PathMakers to Peace Award, the winner of the American Prairie Reserve’s Ken Burns American Heritage Prize and was presented the Key to the City of New York by Bill DeBlasio. In 2022, Marsalis was presented with SFJAZZ’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Marsalis’ album Black Codes (From the Underground) was inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in the spring of 2023.
“The Hijras taught me that being trans and Indian is enduring. The Hijras can teach all trans people that their experiences are enduring. The Hijras can teach society that trans people are enduring.” – Alex Parmar-Yee
New York, N.Y. — In a recent article published by Queer A.F. and titled “The Hijras taught me that being Trans and Indian is enduring,” Alex Parmar-Yee.
Parmar-Yee writes, “‘People like me aren’t transgender, right?’ This is a question that I and many trans folks have asked ourselves as we have begun exploring our identities.
“However, “people like me” can mean different things for each individual. It might refer to an individual’s experience of dysphoria, their hobbies, or their friends.
“For me it was my ethnicity. Although born in London, I’m a second generation immigrant of Chinese and Indian heritage, and growing up in the ‘90s and ‘00s meant that the representation of transgender people and LGBTQIA+ people in general that I saw tended to be controversial. Moreover, those people were usually white.
“As I began to scratch the surface of trans-ness online in my 20s, I saw the trans community indeed appeared to be mostly white folks.
“As I got deeper I discovered more about Black trans pioneers, but I didn’t encounter many brown, South Asian trans siblings. Perhaps, I thought, being born and raised British had allowed me to assimilate with identities which aren’t for people like me?”
She continues, “As my initial gender exploration and experimentation ended and I became more confident as a non-binary trans feminine individual, I sought more information on trans people throughout history. I fell down an internet research rabbit hole, and ended up on a page which surprised me…
“The Hijras taught me that being trans and Indian is enduring. The Hijras can teach all trans people that their experiences are enduring. The Hijras can teach society that trans people are enduring,” she concluded.
🏳️⚧️
This article was one part of a series of official content produced for the first-ever Trans+ History Week. During the week Queer A.F. invested in, mentored and published over 30 Trans+ creatives from the U.K., U.S., and Europe.
The report also reveals ongoing challenges. Although most people continue to live in the country where they were born, an estimated 281 million people worldwide are international migrants, or roughly 3.6 per cent of the global population. Of this number, 117 million are displaced – the highest level yet.
Dhaka, Bangladesh. Money sent home by migrants abroad has surpassed foreign direct investment in boosting the gross domestic product (GDP) of developing countries, UN migration agency IOM said in the latest edition of its flagship report, released on Tuesday.
World Migration Report 2024 reveals a significant shift in global migration patterns, including a record number of people displaced due to conflict, violence, natural and other disasters.
Speaking at the launch in Dhaka, Bangladesh, IOM Director General Amy Pope said the report aims to “demystify the complexity of human mobility through evidence-based data and analysis”.
Driving development and growth
International migration remains a driver of human development and economic growth, as highlighted by a more than 650 per cent increase in international remittances from 2000 to 2022, rising from $128 billion to $831 billion.
Growth continued despite predictions that remittances would decrease substantially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of the money, $647 billion, was sent to low and middle-income countries, constituting a significant portion of their GDP – that is, the amount of money earned from the sale of all goods and services.
Globally, these remittances now surpass foreign direct investment in those countries.
Record displacement
The report also reveals ongoing challenges. Although most people continue to live in the country where they were born, an estimated 281 million people worldwide are international migrants, or roughly 3.6 per cent of the global population. Of this number, 117 million are displaced – the highest level yet.
IOM said migration is an intrinsic part of human history, but it is often overshadowed by sensationalized narratives and headlines that belie the reality on the ground.
“Most migration is regular, safe, and regionally focused, directly linked to opportunities and livelihoods,” the UN agency affirmed. “Yet, misinformation and politicisation have clouded public discourse, necessitating a clear and accurate portrayal of migration dynamics.”
Spotlight on Bangladesh
IOM chose Dhaka as the site for the report’s launch to both highlight Bangladesh’s efforts to support vulnerable migrants and promote pathways to regular migration and to recognize the country’s important role in shaping global migration discourse and policy.
As a champion of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, adopted in December 2018, Bangladesh has demonstrated a strong commitment to addressing migration issues and implementing policies that safeguard migrants’ rights, IOM said.
The country’s Foreign Minister, Dr. Hasan Mahmud, said “Bangladesh will not only continue to act upon the pledges it has made for its domestic context but would also take up emerging issues and challenges pertaining to migration and development for informed deliberations at the international level.”
In the United States, where the right to publicly criticize the government and the right to assemble to protest its policies are both enshrined in the Constitution, the dispersal of protests is a sensitive subject. But while federal law guarantees freedom of speech, that freedom is not unfettered.
Washington, D.C. In the weeks since protests against Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip began on U.S. college campuses, the number of people facing arrest has soared into the thousands.
Police from New York City to Los Angeles have been breaking up protest encampments, sometimes violently, and rounding up demonstrators.
FILE – The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., right, accompanied by Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, center, is booked by city police Lt. D.H. Lackey in Montgomery, Alabama, on Feb. 23, 1956.
Choosing civil disobedience
Over the centuries, federal courts have established that some restrictions on speech, particularly related to the “time, place and manner” in which it is delivered, are legally permissible.
Dating to at least the Civil Rights Movement, members of protest movements in the U.S. have often knowingly and purposefully violated those restrictions, engaging in what is commonly known as civil disobedience.
In states across the country, protesters demonstrating against the war in Gaza have faced a variety of charges, including trespassing and unlawful assembly. Many of those arrested may face jail time, an appearance before a judge and possible legal sanctions. Student protesters may also face internal discipline from universities.
First Amendment binds government
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees Americans’ right to free speech and assembly. It reads, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
However, it is important to note that the First Amendment only binds the federal and state governments, not private individuals and institutions.
“At a public university, the First Amendment will regulate what that institution can do with respect to protesters,” Vera Eidelman, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told VOA. By contrast, private universities are free to establish their own rules about permissible speech.
“The government can impose content neutral rules, meaning they can’t be based on the message that is being expressed by the protesters that reasonably get at the time, place or manner of the protest,” Eidelman said.
In practice, that often means limits on things such as using amplified speech late at night and camping out in public spaces.
“Rules like that, that are content neutral and are reasonable and are not aimed at suppressing a message, are generally available for the government to apply,” she said.
Not all neutral
Civil liberties advocates have pointed out that some of the enforcement actions being taken against protests appear to be examples of the government acting to shut down particular kinds of speech, which is not permitted under the First Amendment.
In Texas, which has a state law that protects the right of students to protest on campus, Governor Greg Abbott nevertheless preemptively announced that pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas at Austin would not be allowed to take place and sent in law enforcement officers to prevent protesters from assembling.
Abbott said he was blocking the protest because it would be “antisemitic” — a claim that civil rights advocates said does not justify suppressing speech.
“We were very concerned about what we saw at UT Austin,” Alex Morey, vice president for campus advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, told VOA.
“We took huge objection to that, because we said, ‘This is not you breaking up civil disobedience or keeping the campus safe from violence. You’re preempting peaceful protest, and you’re saying that it’s viewpoint based,'” she said.
Impact of arrests
For the thousands of protesters who have faced arrest over the past few weeks, the consequences can range widely.
In Austin, for example, most of the dozens of protesters taken into custody during Abbott’s preemptive raid had their charges dropped almost immediately. They were quickly released from custody after prosecutors found little basis for pressing charges.
However, according to Trisha Trigilio, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, the impact on other protesters could well be more severe.
In the U.S., police can legally hold a person in custody for 48 hours before they are brought before a judge and formally charged with illegal activity.
“The arrest can be quite violent, and the next few days after arrest when people are held in jail can also be really harmful,” Trigilio told VOA. “Protesters could miss work and lose their jobs. There’s a lot of students arrested, and they miss important deadlines leading up to finals and graduation. People were arrested towards the end of the month, and rent was due at the time that many people were jailed.
“You’ll hear folks in law enforcement talk about being jailed for ‘just a few days,’ but it’s actually really serious,” Trigilio said. “These arrests can have really lasting effects.”
Various charges
The kinds of charges protesters face vary significantly. Some are relatively minor, with the maximum penalty consisting of a fine. Others, however, face much more serious consequences, including for some of the students arrested at Columbia University, who broke into and occupied a campus building before being removed by police.
“We’ve seen people charged with felonies,” Trigilio said. “Here in New York, people were charged with burglary. It’s very common, when you have this kind of emotional back and forth between police and protesters, for police to charge people with resisting arrest or assaulting an officer. Your charges like assault and burglary can be elevated to felonies depending on the jurisdiction you’re in.”
In the U.S., conviction for a felony can be a serious burden. In some states, felons are deprived of the right to vote, and in many cases, a felony will complicate a person’s employment prospects.
But even simply being charged with a felony can be damaging, with many jurisdictions requiring the accused to post cash bail before they are released from custody.
“A recent study showed that most Americans cannot afford a $400 emergency expense,” Trigilio said. “And it’s very common for cash bail to require payments that are greater than that in order for people to get out of jail.”
In the heart of Madrid, where the pulse of culture and intellect beats strongly, there exists a man whose literary prowess and global perspective have captivated audiences around the world.
New York, N.Y. Mario Vargas Llosa, acclaimed author, intellectual heavyweight, and unwavering advocate for freedom and democracy, stands as a towering figure in the realm of literature and beyond.A decade ago, amidst the refined ambiance of The Americas Society on Park Avenue in NYC, I had the distinct honor of meeting Mario Vargas Llosa—an encounter that left an indelible mark on my soul and reinforced my commitment to championing the ideals of thought leadership and global citizenship through my writing.
Mario Vargas, one of the world’s most important novelists, explains a finer point to me. From: Mario Vargas Llosa on the end of the Incan Empire at the Americas Society, NYC.
As a contemporary Japanese literature major studying the works of Kōbō Abe and Mishima Yukio, with deep familial ties to the world of French literature, Mario Vargas Llosa‘s work resonates with me on a profound level. Growing up surrounded by the rich tapestry of literary traditions, with my father and stepmother both professors of French literature, and my father a translator of Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Jules Verne, I developed an appreciation for the power of storytelling and the enduring impact of cultural exchange.
Meeting Vargas Llosa was not just a meeting of minds, but a convergence of literary legacies—an encounter that underscored the universality of the human experience and the transcendent power of literature to bridge divides and foster understanding. In Vargas Llosa‘s work, I find echoes of the themes and motifs that have long captivated me in Japanese and French literature.
From Peru to the Global Stage
From the cobblestone streets of his native Peru to the hallowed halls of academia and the global stage, Mario Vargas Llosa’s journey is one of literary brilliance and unwavering conviction. Born into a world of political turmoil and social upheaval, he emerged as a voice of reason and enlightenment, using his pen as a mighty sword to challenge oppression, confront injustice, and champion the power of individual freedom and human dignity.
A Literary Oeuvre of Depth and Diversity
Vargas Llosa’s literary oeuvreis as vast and diverse as the landscapes that inspire it. From the lush jungles of the Amazon to the bustling streets of Lima, his novels transport readers to worlds both familiar and fantastical, weaving intricate tales of love, power, and the human condition. Through works such as The Feast of the Goat, Conversation in the Cathedral, and the seminalThe War of the End of the World, he invites readers to confront the complexities of history, politics, and morality, urging us to question, to reflect, and to dare to imagine a better world.
A Thought Leader and Global Citizen
But Vargas Llosa‘s influence extends far beyond the realm of literature. As a thought leader and public intellectual, he has dedicated
his life to advancing the cause of freedom, democracy, and human rights on a global scale. From his outspoken criticism of authoritarian regimes to his unwavering support for marginalized communities and oppressed individuals, he embodies the principles of solidarity and compassion that lie at the heart of true global citizenship.
An Encounter with a Literary Giant
At The Americas Society on Park Avenue in Manhattan a decade ago, I witnessed firsthand the depth of Vargas Llosa’s intellect and the breadth of his vision. In conversation, he exuded a rare combination of humility and intellectual rigor, engaging with topics ranging from the future of democracy to the role of art in society with equal parts passion and insight. It was clear that here was a man who not only understood the world in all its complexity but who was also determined to shape its future for the better.
A Guiding Light in Uncertain Times
As I reflect on that momentous encounter, I am reminded of the impact Mario Vargas Llosa has had on my own journey as a writer and advocate. His unwavering commitment to the principles of freedom, democracy, and human rights serves as a guiding light in an often tumultuous world, inspiring me to use my voice and my pen to amplify the voices of the marginalized, challenge the powerful, and champion the cause of justice and equality.
In an era defined by uncertainty and upheaval, Mario Vargas Llosa stands as a beacon of hope and inspiration, reminding us of the enduring power of literature, the importance of intellectual engagement, and the imperative of global citizenship. As we navigate the challenges of the 21st century, let us look to Vargas Llosa not only as a literary luminary but as a steadfast ally in the quest for a more just, equitable, and compassionate world.
Using visual cues from the paintings of Caravaggio, Indian filmmaker Bedabrata Pain has produced a triumphant film, that screened in New York last week.
New York, N.Y. Using visual cues from the paintings of Caravaggio, Indian filmmaker Bedabrata Pain has produced a triumphant film, Chittagong, that screened in New York last week. It is based upon a little-known episode leading to Indian Independence: a group of schoolboys who, with the help of their teacher, temporarily toppled the British a decade before the Union Jack was removed permanently.
Although independence was gained in 1947 through Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence (Satyagraha), growing up hearing stories of the American Revolution I could certainly understand the desire to raise arms against colonial rule. The film tells this story brilliantly. Riveting and spectacular, Chittagong is the Gandhi for our age.
A trailer for the film is available online. Image: www.chittagongthefilm.com.
Chittagong is only the first film of producer, director and main writer Bedabrata Pain. The film opened the 12th annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) sponsored by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC). Bedabrata stated in the Q&A following the screening at Manhattan’s Paris Theater last week:
This story had to be told: Kids standing up to the British Empire and its army. Although the story had to be told, I was left with how best to tell it. We needed character development — the kids.
The main protagonist was a 14-year-old named Jhunku. We interviewed him on what turned out to be his death bed in a nursing home in Calcutta. He passed away two weeks after we filmed him. He was so pleased his story had finally been recorded.
Jhunku was the least likely candidate to lead a revolt: his father was an attorney for the Crown and he was bound for Oxford under the tutelage of the local British commander.
I spoke with Bedabrata after his film’s opening, as well as throughout the festival, and found him to be as pleasant as he is talented.
Chittagong’s producer, director and main writer Bedabrata Pain with Aroon Shivdasani, director of Indo-American Arts Council. Photo courtesy of Archana Desai.
After the festival, I spoke with the New York Indian Film Festival’s director Aseem Chhabra at the Light of India Awards at the Taj Pierre Hotel. Aseem explained to me:https://bb646c8aa066fedb10f95e6fba22f27e.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html?n=0
The film deals with the facet of Indian Independence — an unforgettable story — that had never been told to a broad audience before. In telling it, Bedabrata created an epic. I liked the fact that it was such a bold plan: children almost toppled British rule. It was very fantastic, and the film captured it so well.
This beautiful film was shot mostly during morning hours. The resulting lighting, coupled with the director’s use of shallow, depth-of-field perspective creates a stunning, historical tableau. Composed over just five days, the musical soundtrack for the film is sad and romantic and adds to the film’s layers.
Focus on the Chittagong Uprising of 1930. Graphic: New York Indian Film Festival.
I chatted at length with the filmmaker Dev Bengal about Chittagong. He told me:
It’s like watching a painting in motion. Bedo has the eye of a Renaissance artist. You’d never imagine this is his first film. Wow, what a debut. He directs like a master. Add to that, the courage and madness in taking on a political story of resistance and making it ring true to us today. Bedo’s film stayed with me days after I had seen it.
Bedabrata Pain with Aroon Shivdasani whose Indo-American Arts Council runs the New York Indian Film Festival. Photo courtesy of Archana Desai.
After the festival I followed up with filmmaker Bedabrata Pain. We discussed how not only was Chittagong historically significant, but the message that ordinary people can generate social change resonates in this moment of Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street. He told me:
Chittagong is a film about celebration of human spirit — a spirit that refuses to give in the face of injustice and adversity, and triumphs at the end. Today, when there’s a striving for change all over the world — from Greece to Wall Street, from Africa to Asia — I hope my film reminds everybody that David can win the battle against Goliath.
The reason for the uprising’s initial success was due to its leader Masterda Surya Sen’s brilliant and audacious strategy to capture the two main armories and then destroy the telegraph and telephone office and railroad line. They also planned to capture the British Raj officials in the European Club and raid the local armories for weapons, however these two plans went awry. Retreating to the countryside, it was only a matter of days for several thousand troops to surround them. By the end, over 80 British troops and 12 of the revolutionaries lay dead. The number of dead may have been as high as 150 as their bodies were actually thrown in the Bay of Bengal to prevent an accurate count. Surya Sen was eventually betrayed, arrested, and hung — but for a good three years he eluded capture, protected by Muslim peasants, even though he was of Hindu religion. But there temporary victory lay the groundwork for India’s independence.https://bb646c8aa066fedb10f95e6fba22f27e.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html?n=0
As Bedabrata Pain told me, “Most of the revolutionaries survived and went on to lead mass uprisings — something that is integral to the narrative of Chittagong. These uprisings played no small a role in the struggle for India’s independence.”
The film Chittagong is a brilliant, poignant action-drama, made more so by the fact that it is true. I thank Bedabrata Pain for bringing such an import, little-known story to global attention. If this is only his first film, we can only imagine what his next films will be like. I await them eagerly.
Graphic courtesy of the New York Indian Film Festival.
Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) The oldest and largest Indian arts organization outside India, it was founded by Aroon Shivdasani in New York City.https://bb646c8aa066fedb10f95e6fba22f27e.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html?n=0
New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) A project of the Indo-American Arts Council, NYIFF is the oldest and largest Indian film festival outside India. 2012 is its twelfth year.
The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation (www.lucefoundation.org) is the umbrella organization under which Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW) is organized. If supporting young global leadership is important to you, subscribe to J. Luce Foundation updates here.
New York, N.Y. I’ve always considered myself fortunate to meet the people who are doing big things– positively impacting lives in meaningful ways. Recently I met a kindred spirit, Jonathan Hollander, founder and director of Battery Dance Company. His lower Manhattan-based dance company demonstrates the tremendous public good that the arts can contribute to society. He has done it now for almost four decades.
With a budget just under $1 million, Battery Dance Company organizes the city’s longest running dance festival, operates in six public schools per year, manages international programs in 10 to 12 countries, produces at least one new production each year, and operates a low cost studio share program that serves over 300 choreographers. This puts him in the realm of great NYC arts masters such as Susan Wadsworth, Aroon Shivdasani, and Marie-Monique Steckel.
Battery Dance Company in “Shell Games” choreographed by Jonathan Hollander, 3LD Art + Technology Center, New York, May, 2013. Photo by Darial Sneed.
Battery Dance Company is perhaps best known for its wonderful performances at New York’s premier venues and on the world’s major stages. Many around New York City also know Jonathan as the artistic director and organizer of the Downtown Dance Festival, which recently held its 32nd annual event.
But many are unaware of Battery Dance Company’s involvement in public schools–at a time when school art programs have been slashed or altogether eliminated. For 38 years, the dance company has brilliantly filled the gaps. Battery Dance Company Portrait. Photo: Battery Dance Company.
“Social relevance has always been an important piece of what we do,” Jonathan underscored in our conversation. “Not every New York City public school child has access to the arts. It’s a matter of chance as to whether he or she lives in a zone where there are arts classes.”
Also, few people know about the company’s impressive cultural diplomacy program: Dancing to Connect. Battery Dance Company created this initiative to engage youth in creativity and team building through modern dance. Since 2006, the company has implemented the program in 38 countries and plans on expanding to 50 by 2015. Jonathan Hollander in 1976, the same year he formed Battery Dance Company. He was a dancer and choreographer at the time. Photo: Ed Robbins.
Dancing to Connect is an intensive 20-hour program that brings together a diverse group of 100 students, most with little or no dance experience. Under the instruction and guidance of five Battery Dance Company teaching artists, the students learn how to express themselves through dance and create an original choreographed piece that they perform on a big stage.
For some of these students, learning dance can be therapeutic. Jonathan recalled the company’s experience in Thailand where some of those students were rescued sex workers who experienced many horrors in their young lives. Having written about such kids in Southeast Asia (story), I was really impressed. Dancing to Connect rehearsal, Potsdam, Germany Theme: “Inclusion/Exclusion” Program sponsored by HeinrichBoell-Stiftung-Brandenburg, Federal Ministry of Education, U.S. Embassy Berlin. Photo: Battery Dance Company.
The program also builds bridges. For example, Israeli, Palestinian and German teens learned to overcome distrust and work together. Amazing. In Iraq, a Dancing to Connect program was held recently in Erbil, a Kurdish region of the country. The U.S. State Department facilitated the participation of Kurdish, Shia and Sunni students–groups with simmering tensions against each other. Fantastic.
At the beginning, there is often friction, but at the end, the students hold each other’s hands and lean on each other, he noted to me. “You can’t dance with somebody you distrust,” Jonathan commented. “It’s impossible.” Aboriginal Taiwanese Dancing to Connect participants with Jonathan Hollander in Taichung, 2008. Photo: Battery Dance Company. To measure its success and ultimately improve its program, the dance company tracks the opinions of participants before and after Dancing to Connect workshops. The detailed survey asks the participants to identify “the other” and how he or she feels about them. The Democratic Republic of Congo has been one of the most challenging locations. “You can’t walk anywhere in Kinshasa without being concerned for your safety,” Jonathan said. In addition to the dangers, the students live in extreme poverty in shantytowns, and many of the facilities for dance are decrepit. “Yet our program in the DRC is one of the most fulfilling ever,” he added. Despite the challenges, students showed up each day, dressed immaculately and ready to practice. Dancing to Connect participants in Erbil, Iraq, 2012 Jonathan Hollander is one of the most accomplished artists I’ve met. Some of his accolades include a Choreography Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, two Fulbright awards, the Silver Mask of the Silesian Dance Theatre (Poland) and the USable Award (Germany). He has been a guest speaker for the Aspen Institute, India Foundation for the Arts, and keynote speaker for the 2011 Asia-Pacific International Dance Conference. As a philanthropist and writer, I’m always curious about what motivates other people to do big things. I was not surprised to learn from Jonathan that, like me, the fruit didn’t fall far from the tree. Both of Jonathan’s parents were on the boards of directors of NGOs and nurtured an ethos of giving in the family. Dancing to Connect participants with immigrant backgrounds in Offenbach, Germany As a 16-year-old high school student, Jonathan lived in India for three months as an exchange student. “That experience jump-started my international outlook,” he told me. The Indian family he lived with was a leader in business and arts, yet they lived a humble life and cared a great deal about providing social services for the poor. My start in global thinking came from being a high school exchange student to Germany with AFS. Reared in the wealthy suburbs of Chevy Chase, Md., he also spent time tutoring inner city schoolchildren in Washington, D.C. He spent the summer following his high school senior year at Junior Village in D.C., which he recalled as “a rundown facility for homeless children.” He encountered talented children who, if given the opportunity, would excel in life. Ironically, those children, who had experienced so much, enriched Jonathan’s life. Dancing to Connect Workshop sponsored by the U.S. Embassy Madrid and Centro de Danza Canal. Given all that Jonathan has accomplished, he said achieving sustainability for Battery Dance Company is his major accomplishment. “During the last 38 years we’ve seen a lot of dance companies come and go,” he noted. Jonathan said, “We glued ourselves to a community at the very beginning.” There was a lack of art in lower Manhattan at that time. Downtown workers spent all day crunching numbers or erecting scaffoldings and needed some balance. “That gave us a unique reason for being among the hundreds of other dance companies that already existed in New York. There was a territory that needed us and that gave us a sense of purpose right from the beginning,” he added. Battery Dance Company founder Jonathan Hollander. Photo by Richard Termine As the dance company expands at home and overseas, Jonathan wisely plans to grow by engaging and becoming a part of the communities where his company plants its roots. I encourage you to do whatever you can to support the Battery Dance Company and its founder Jonathan Hollander. The company is unrivaled in its scope, its vital mission dedicated to using the arts to bridge differences around the world, and its founder a true thought leader and global citizen. Edited by Nigel Roberts of The Stewardship Report. Battery Dance Company 380 Broadway, 5th floor, New York, NY 10013 | (212) 219-3910 www.batterydance.org, Twitter: @batterydance Facebook/batterydancecompany
The media shapes the way most people understand a protest movement and the politics around it. But as coverage of the protests across universities has shown, often the focus is on the spectacle rather than the substance.
By Danielle K. Brown Michigan State University
Protest movements can look very different depending on where you stand, both literally and figuratively.
For protesters, demonstrations are usually the result of meticulous planning by advocacy groups and leaders aimed at getting a message out to a wider world or to specific institutional targets. To outside onlookers, however, protests can seem disorganized and disruptive, and it can be difficult to see the depth of the effort or their aims.
Where does this disconnect come from? Most people don’t participate in on-the-streets protests or experience any of the disruption that they cause. Rather they rely on the media to give a full picture of the protests.
For over a decade, my research has extensively explored trends in how the media shapes narratives around different kinds of demonstrations. Reporting on the campus encampments by large parts of the media fits a general pattern of protest coverage that focuses more on the drama of the disruption rather than the underlying reasons behind it – and that can leave audiences uninformed about the nuances of the protests and the movements behind them.
Covering drama over demands
Protests – from small silent sit-ins and mass marches to the current student-led encampments – share similar components.
They require a degree of planning, focus on a perceived injustice and seek reforms or solutions. Protests also, by their very nature, engage in varying degrees of disruptive actions that exist in confrontation with something or someone, and utilize strategies that attract the attention of news media and others.
These core elements – grievances, demands, disruption, confrontation and spectacle – are present in nearly all protests.
But to the media, some elements are more newsworthy than others, with confrontation and spectacle often topping the list. As a result, these elements tend to be covered more often than others.
In research focusing on social movements like Black Lives Matter, the 2017 Women’s March and others, I have found that time and again, coverage tends to headline the parts of the protest that are sensational and disruptive.
And this neglects the political substance of the protests. The grievances, demands and agendas are often left in the shadows. For example, analysis of the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd conducted by myself and colleague Rachel Mourão found the Associated Press and cable news headlines were more likely to focus on disruption and chaos than police violence or protester demands.
This pattern is referred to as the protest paradigm. While there are many factors that can make this paradigm fluctuate, like the timing of stories and the location of a news organization, movements that seek to disrupt the status quo are the most likely to receive initial coverage that frames protesters as criminal, irrelevant, trivial or illegitimate components of the political system.
When the media takes notice
This pattern can be seen in the initial coverage of protests against the war in Gaza at U.S.-based universities. These protests began in 2023 and only escalated into the campus encampments seen today after months of campaigning.
In the months leading up to the encampments, many students who were engaged in advocacy efforts over the Israeli campaign in Gaza demanded, among other things, that their universities divest from businesses connected to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Little of this made it into mainstream news reports compared to late April, when an uptick in coverage corresponded with students organizing encampments at universities and university official began to respond. Those universities that asked police to enforce the dispersion of protesters amplified the intensity of confrontation, and, in turn, amplified the news coverage.
And rather than focusing on the grievance of protesters — that is, concerns about the deaths, injuries and looming famine affecting Palestinians — in reports of the campus encampments it has been the confrontations between protesters and police that have become central to the news media coverage.
As with all trends, there are always deviations and outliers. Not all reported pieces align with the protest paradigm. In the research examining news coverage after the murder of George Floyd, we found that when reports in major news outlets deviate from the protest paradigm, it was often in work produced by journalists who have engaged deeply and frequently with a community.
In the current campus protests, it is student journalism that has emerged as an outlier in this respect. Take, for example, an article from the Indiana Daily Student published during the peak of the unrest, which explains the lesser-known last-minute administrative policy changes that ultimately disrupted protest planning logic and contributed to the arrests and temporary bans of faculty and student protesters.
Who gets quoted, who doesn’t
There are commercial reasons why some newsrooms focus on the spectacle and confrontation – the old journalism adage of “if it bleeds, it leads” still prevails in many newsroom decisions. For the initial weeks of the campus protests, this penchant for sensationalism has shown up in the focus on chaos, clashes and arrests.
But it is a decision that delegitimizes protest aims.
This delegitimization is aided by the sourcing routines journalists often fall back on to tell stories quickly and without legal consequence. In breaking news situations, journalists tend to gravitate toward – and directly quote – sources that hold status, like government and university officials. This is because reporters may already have an established relationship with such officials, who often have dedicated media relations teams. And in the case of campus protests, in particular, reporters have faced difficulty connecting with protest participants directly.
And because readers and viewers are unlikely to be on the ground to gauge Abbott’s characterizations of protesters for themselves, the coverage can shape how a protest movement and the politics around it are understood.
The media shapes the way most people understand them. But as coverage of the protests across universities has shown, often the focus is on the spectacle rather than the substance.
Julian Schnabel and Rula Jabreal on location. Photo: Weinstein Company.
I lined up outside the United Nations with some apprehension. I was about to view the opening of the acclaimed Israeli-Palestinian film Miral. Since I had rsvp’d to view the film, the Israeli government, as well as prominent U.S.-based Jewish groups including the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League, had protested the showing – and I did not wish to participate in an anti-Israeli event.
New York, N.Y.The great U.N. General Assembly hall quickly filled to capacity – 1200 people sat through perhaps the first Palestinian-Israeli epic. I was delighted that the film was not anti-Israeli in the least – it was rather an extremely moving narrative of an orphaned girl, Israeli-Palestinian, set during the 1987 Palestinian uprising. It showed the horror of her childhood – from atrocities committed by both Palestinians and Israelis – and random acts of kindness from both that kept her alive.
Freida Pinto plays Rula Jabreal in “Miral.” Photo courtesy of Weinstein Company.
The film, directed by Julian Schnabel and shot in Jerusalem and the West Bank, was deeply disturbing, thought-provoking, and incredibly poignant. Based on Julian’s filmBasquiat, the biopic on the Haitian-American painter, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1996) whose life ended too soon, I had believed it would be. Miralis distributed by the Weinstein Company, who recently brought us another moving film, The King’s Speech.
Julian, raised in a Jewish family in Brooklyn by a mother that belonged to Hadassah, stated:
“I love the State of Israel. I believe in it, and my film is about preserving it, not hurting it. Understanding is part of the Jewish way and Jewish people are supposed to be good listeners. But, if we don’t listen to the other side, we can never have peace. Instead of saying ‘no,’ I ask the A.J.C. to say ‘yes,’ see ‘Miral’ and join the discussion.
Vanessa Redgrave, Hiam Abbass, and Willem Dafoe in Miral. Photo courtesy of Weinstein Company.
Julian is, in addition to a brilliant film director, an accomplished painter and sculptor. During his remarks at the General Assembly, he mused:
“I never thought a Jewish guy would be the one to tell this story, but I need to, to allow myself to heal. If we listen to the other side, there might be a possibility of advancing peace.
“I was particularly impressed with the President of the General Assembly, the Hon. Joseph Deiss of Switzerland, whom I wrote to compliment for his courage to host this cry for peace in Mideast from the eyes of Israeli-Palestinian orphan. It is obvious that 63 years of political diplomacy have not brought the world closer to a much-needed two-state solution. Perhaps the film Miral will have more influence than all of the diplomatic resolutions combined.
Julian Schnabel and Freida Pinto as Miral on location. Photo: Weinstein Company.
As founder of Orphans International Worldwide (OIW), I have worked closely with former presidents of the General Assembly, including Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockman and H.E. Haya Rashed Al, but I had not yet dealt with the current General Assembly president, Joseph Deiss. I found the current president Joseph Deiss to be a man of extreme integrity.
The gorgeous Rula Jabreal wrote the book the film is based on. Photo: John Lee.
The focus of the film is the childhood of a real woman, Rula Jebrealas, who attended the screening. She escaped a challenging upbringing on a scholarship to Italy, where she lives today. Rula said:
“Miral is a story about human beings — Palestinian, Israeli, Muslim, Jewish and Christian — and it explores how we all react differently to the violence around us, whether physical, emotional, political, or otherwise. It is a film about love, education, understanding, and peace. That seems like a good thing to show at the United Nations.
Rula’s character was played brilliantly by Freida Pinto, known for her inspirational acting in Slumdog Millionaire.
Freida Pinto stars in Julian Schnabel’s Miral. Courtesy of the Weinstein Company.
According to Rebecca Sacks in Vanity Fair:
Schnabel first met Jebreal at a party in 2007, when Schnabel was still married to his second wife, Olatz Lopez Garmendia. He was so impressed with the book (and its stunning author) that he was inspired to make the film. Schnabel and Jebreal promptly fell in love, and now live together at Palazzo Chupi, Schnabel’s famed pink-stucco Italo-condo in New York’s West Village.
The film Mirabel seems to be a Rorschach test for the viewer – if you are pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, you see the film from your own perspective. If you support both, as I do, you see it as a cry for peace in a land divided.
The atrocities portrayed are vivid and remain with the viewer, searing one’s consciousness: a Palestinian young woman being beaten by an Israeli prison guard, a Palestinian girlraped by her step-father, and the Israeli army demolishing a Palestinian home as the elderly residents weep.
Author with with Miral’s director Julian Schnabel following the screening. Photo John Lee.
Author Rula Jabreal explained her vision and hopes to Vanity Fair:
“Jebreal is passionate on the topic of the film’s rating, explaining how Miral could be a tool for education, showing young women what it’s like to grow up amidst violence and fear. “Infotainment,” as Jebreal calls it. Miral is also being protested by some as anti-Israeli. “I simply wanted to tell my story and the story of my family. It’s not an accusation; it’s a love letter to my country and for many girls — Israeli and Palestinian,” Jebreal says. “Education saved my life. I’m promoting peace and education.”
The film opening attracted a plethora of Hollywood humanitarians, including Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Vanessa Redgrave, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Weinstein, and Josh Brolin. One of my heroes, Dan Rather, MC’d the Q&A that followed the screening.
Dan Rather moderated the panel following the screening. Photo: John Lee.
Dan Rather, one of the preeminent television newscasters of our times, told me following the screening:
“This is an incredibly moving film. It is a true story told in a medium that brings history to the screen. It is a hot-button issue film, as were Philadelphia and My Left Foot.”
The panel discussion featured the director, the author, Rabbi Irwin Kula, journalist Mona Eltahawy, and Yonatan Shapira, co-founder of Combatants for Peaceand was a former captain in the Israeli Air Force Reserves. Yonatan organized a group of pilots who refused to fly attack missions on Palestinian territories in 2003. Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of Clal, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, called the film a new form of peacemaking. “This is a meditation on empathy,” said this eighth-generation rabbi.
Rula Jabreal‘s book and now the film Miral concerns the vitality of education. An uneducated woman in Palestine has limited options, Rula believes, and either becomes a prostitute, or even worse, a suicide bomber. Education contains the seeds of rebellion. Miral, Julian Schnabel believes, could be a Tibetan, a Chechen, a Kurd, a Tutsi, or a Hutu.
Julian believes everyone has a story. “We need to hear these small, human stories more than we need to hear about the conflicts that surround them. We need to find empathy, for you cannot make peace without empathy,” he said.
Freida Pinto as Miral with Alexander Siddig as her father. Photo: Weinstein Company.
From what I have seen of the world, I could not agree more strongly. The film is a mirror of evil in the world that can be overcome by education and tolerance. Rula Jabreal and Julian Schnabel are not anti-Israeli, but rather pro-humanity. They are true thought leaders and global citizens whose vision should inspire us all.
Miral was directed by Julian Schnabel; written by Rula Jabreal, based on her novel; director of photography, Eric Gautier; edited by Juliette Welfling; production design by Yoel Herzberg; produced by Jon Kilik; released by the Weinstein Company. Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes. With Hiam Abbass (Hind Husseini), Freida Pinto (Miral), Alexander Siddig (Jamal), Omar Metwally (Hani), Yasmine Al Massri (Nadia), Ruba Blal (Fatima), Willem Dafoe (Eddie), Vanessa Redgrave (Berta) and Stella Schnabel (Lisa).
Although thought of as the world’s most popular tourist destination, I am thinking of “retiring” here.
Bangkok. Welcome to Bangkok, where the old and the new seamlessly blend, creating a vibrant tapestry of culture, commerce, and tradition. As I navigate through this gigantic city with a heart, I can’t help but be enchanted by its rich history and its forward-looking spirit.
The Chao Phraya River, the lifeblood of Bangkok, winds its way through the city, connecting its past to its present. From the majestic Grand Palace to the bustling commercial district of Sam Peng, every corner tells a story of resilience and adaptation.
Wat Arun temple in Bangkok overlooking boat traffic on the Chao Phraya River.
In the heart of the city, you’ll find the traditional areas where the Grand Palace once stood as a testament to the city’s royal heritage. Today, the streets are lined with shop-houses that have evolved over the centuries, offering a glimpse into Bangkok‘s vibrant commercial past.
But Bangkok is not just about its ancient roots. Modernity has made its mark, with skyscrapers dominating the skyline and the bustling financial district of Silom Road pulsating with energy. The city’s transportation system has evolved, from the maze of canals that once earned it the nickname “Venice of the East” to the efficient Skytrain that now connects its sprawling neighborhoods.
Metro Rapid Transit Skytrain Blue Line crossing Chao Phraya River. Photo: MRT Bangkok Metro.
As I explore the city, I can’t help but be struck by its diversity. From the ethnic Thai majority to the vibrant Chinese and expatriate communities, Bangkok is a melting pot of cultures and traditions. It’s a place where the past coexists with the present, where ancient temples stand side by side with modern condominiums.
The Rama VIII Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge crossing the Chao Phraya River. Built between Opened in 2002, it was built to alleviate traffic on the nearby Phra Pinklao Bridge.
But amidst the hustle and bustle of urban life, there’s a sense of serenity that permeates the city. Whether you’re wandering through the tranquil gardens of the King Rama IX Royal Park or taking in a traditional Thai performance at the Silapakorn National Theatre, there’s always a moment of peace to be found in Bangkok.
Author on balcony of the Jim Thompson Museum, highly recommended, is built on one of the city’s many canals.
The Jim Thompson Museum is one such quiet spot. Jim Thompson’s Thai House, named for the U.S. entrepreneur and devotee of Thai culture, a graduate of Princeton and member of the precursor tot he CIA, the compound houses several traditional Thai mansions; it contains the country’s largest collection of 17th-century Thai religious paintings.
Author in front of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC).
The Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC) is another quiet place. This arts center a hub for the city’s contemporary art, design, music, theater, and film, and hosts exhibitions and performances in its spaces. The center also has cafes, art galleries, bookshops, craft shops, and an art library.
Modern medical facilities exist throughout the city. Here, my partner Bxx gets a dental check-up.
And let’s not forget about the food. From the tantalizing aromas of street food stalls to the gourmet delights of Michelin-starred restaurants, Bangkok is a paradise for food lovers. Whether you’re craving spicy tom yum soup or indulging in a decadent plate of pad Thai, the city’s culinary scene is sure to delight your taste buds.
In Bangkok, there’s always something new to discover, whether it’s a hidden temple tucked away down a narrow alley or a trendy rooftop bar offering panoramic views of the city.
It’s a place where East meets West, where tradition meets innovation, and where the past and the future converge in a vibrant tapestry of sights, sounds, and flavors. So come along and explore Bangkok, the city that truly bridges the gap between East and West.
Gigantic Bangkok, old and new, bridges East and West, with ancient bridges as well as super-modern ones such as this.
After 50 years in New York City, I will eventually want to “retire” – close to the countries we have worked in for the last 25 years such as India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. As well as near the countries I studied in, Japan and Germany. Gigantic Bangkok, both old and new, bridging East and West, seems to be the perfect hub.
Jim Luce has traveled to Havana multiple times, both to explore and to speak at conferences—each journey requiring a circuitous route through Panama due to U.S. travel restrictions. His encounters with Mariela Castro, first at the United Nations and later in Cuba, left a lasting impression, revealing her as a progressive thought leader and global citizen. Luce admires Cuba’s achievements in education and healthcare, acknowledging its imperfections while recognizing its resilience against decades of U.S. pressure. In today’s political climate, he reflects on the challenges of critiquing other nations, particularly under the Trump administration’s policies. Through his writing, Luce offers nuanced perspectives on Cuba and its diaspora.
Chatting with Mira Nair at the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival in New York City. Photo: John Lee.
“I want my films to work in multi-cultures. To play in Calcutta and New York. I want it all – and I want my films to work in both India and the U.S.
New York, N.Y. I braved freezing weather recently to hear Mira Nair speak at the President’s Forum at the Upper East Side’s Asia Society (video). It crossed my mind that I could write a story on her work.
I failed to grasp her work – as both a humanitarian and a filmmaker – was so vast it would become a three-part series, to run across my columns in the Huffington Post (her life), Daily Kos (film reviews), and the Stewardship Report (her film school in Uganda).
Mira Nair spoke at President Vishakha Desai’s Forum Asia Society in New York.
In her spare time she directed a short film in New York, I Love You, a romantic-drama anthology of love stories set in New York, and a 12-minute movie on AIDS awareness titled Migration – and funded by the Gates Foundation.
She often works with longtime creative collaborator, screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala, whom she met at Harvard.
Vishakha Desai, the Asia Society’s president, asked Mira pointedly why her just-released biographical film on the iconic Amelia Earhart garnered such negative reviews. Mira had made the movie with funding from Gateway founder Ted Wyatt.
Interestingly, when Mira produces “ethnic” films, she is usually acclaimed. However, when she steps into “non-Indian” films, she garners far less praise. I will let readers judge that themselves.
Her work – as both a humanitarian and filmmaker – is so vast it I must write a series.
“There was a great degree of territorialism with Amelia. A non-American had taken on the movie of an American hero,” Mira reflected.
“The Bagvadhgita states that our work is to serve and then let go. As a filmmaker, this is what I must do,” Mira shared with the audience. “I don’t read the reviews.”
Mira has several pending projects, including the big-budget Shantaram which is now owned by Johnny Depp.
“The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an incredible tale. Truth is stranger than fiction,” Mira said.
Mira and Vishakha discussed the differences between studio films and independent films. “Everything changes,” Mira said, “when a studio enters the picture. They are the gatekeepers to commerce – they make major decisions which impact the movie.”
“With Indian films I have complete freedom, but with non-Indian films I must deal with other forces,” Mira said. And yet, two of her films available in the U.S. are banned in India, which she sees as a travesty.
In her dialogue with Vishakha and the audience, Mira related.
“There is a dance between the film maker and the distributer. I believe in a sacred frame. The visual aspect is so important.
“The intimacy of my vision, the beauty of the film. This all has to be negotiated with the distributor.
“I never want to repeat myself. What is the point? I want to be continuously challenging myself.
“I want my films to work in multi-cultures. To play in Calcutta and New York. I want it all – and I want my films to work in both India and the U.S.
“But Mississippi Marsala was not made for an Indian audience. They just wouldn’t get it. I am fascinated to hear American audiences respond to this film.
As Idi Amin threw Asians out of Uganda in 1972, many went (believe it or not) to Mississippi – and opened hotels. “Mississippi, the birthplace of the Civil Rights movement,” Mira explained to the Asia Society audience.
In Mississippi Marsala, an Indian woman from Uganda who knows Africa well falls in love with an Afro-American (Denzel Washington) who knows virtually nothing about his own roots. Thus, a comedy of cultural disconnections.
I was highly amused to hear Mira explain, “Afro-Americans laugh at some parts, Indo-Americans at others. Sometime Caucasians are confused, wondering why either group is laughing.”
“In the 1980’s, when I arrived in the U.S., you had to spell out for Americans the word ‘India.’ No one here had any idea. I had people say to me, ‘In your (Indian) film I saw running water – do they have that there?’”
Mira has won countless awards. The Golden Camera (Cannes Film Festival, 1988), The Golden Athena (Athens International Film Festival, 1988), The Golden Osella (Venice Film Festival, 1991), UNESCO Award (Venice Film Festival, 2002), and The Pride of India (Bollywood Film Awards, 2007).
She is close friends with the Asia Society’s president, Dr. Vishakha Desai, who I was privileged to interview last spring here. Her social circle also includes PepsiCo’s Chair and CEO, Indra Nooyi.
Mira was born in Orissa, on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. Her father was a civil servant and her mother a social worker and activist. Mira credits her mom’s influence for her own social conscience.
“Film is such a populist medium,” Mira said. “It reaches millions. I have been constantly energized to find cinematic truths. The idea is making a difference. It is a super-idealistic question: Can art change the world?”
For her AIDS film, Mira said she wants to reach a very wide audience – specifically rural and marginalized audiences in India.
“I have enjoyed working without expectations, because when we let go the alchemy becomes bigger than ourselves.”
“I love Indian classical music. I love to capture what I have grown up with.” I wanted to ask her about Ustad Amjad Ali Khan played the, whose feet I sat at in absolute wonderment last fall and then wrote about here.
“We are now dealing with 5,000 street kids in 17 centers in Bombay and Delhi,” Mira said. As founder of Orphans International Worldwide (OIW), I know that there is no harder population to reach than street children.
Last year I wrote an essay called Slumdog: Greater Insult ‘Slum,’ Not ‘Dog,’ where I discussed the pornography of poverty. Mira does not glamorize poverty, she attacks it head on.
Mira was a visionary when she used proceeds from her film depicting social injustices to address their root causes. Now she has taken on what may be her life’s greatest triumph.
She is building the film school – Maisha – to help build an entire film culture for the continent of Africa!
“When I see Hollywood films about “Africa,” I often do not even recognize the continent. It is their idea of what Africa is. We need to train our own, African directors.”
To mentor a new generation of Afro-centric film makers. To create an oasis for artists and thinkers. To have a boot camp for the continent’s best and the brightest.
My God, what incredible dreams. Luckily, she is a strong enough woman to bring her dreams into reality.
“India is a paradoxical place. But there are and have been women in great leadership positions. I always assumed I could do anything.” Strikingly, there are far more female film makers in India than the U.S.
“One needs the skin of an elephant and the heart of a poet to deal with it all,” she confided.
I will write a much larger story on Maisha for the Stewardship Reportnext month. The BBC and Aljazeera are already filming the progress of this amazing film school and its founder.
Mira wants to raise $1 million to finish building her film school in Uganda.
She lives much of the time in Uganda’s capital Kampala, where Maisha is located. But she has the same basic questions as other world citizens. Who am I? Where am I?
“I am happy and relieved to be from India. I am inspired when I am there. But I have lived in Kampala since 1989. And I teach at Columbia, where my son is in high school. Where is my home? Where will I grow old?”
“When I arrived in Uganda I felt like the daughter-in-law of that continent, Africa. But now I feel like a daughter. New York City has also been home to me. There is an egalitarianism her I love.”
“I do need three homes – in India, in Uganda, and here in the U.S.,” she confided.
Today, her cinematic work, from low-budget documentaries to independent films and big-budget studio movies, stretch over several decades:
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996). This controversial film made it in India by special Tuesday night “women-only” screenings.
Mississippi Masala(1991). A profile of a family of displaced Ugandan-Indians living and working in Mississippi, starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury.
The Perez Family (1995).
Monsoon Wedding (2001). A chaotic Punjabi Indian wedding with screenplay by Sabrina Dhawan. This film may soon be produced on Broadway
Hysterical Blindness & September 11 (Segment – “India”) (both 2002).
Vanity Fair(2004). Her version of Thackeray’s novel, starring Reese Witherspoon.
“Filmmaking is a disease and you have to be sick. To be possessed. You just have to do it, and be prepared to be rejected by the entire world. It is an obsession, a masochism.” I could relate.
“To achieve anything you must first invest 10,000 hours. Ten years of work to begin to make a difference. It’s really not normal. You need a slight madness.”
Mira lives near Columbia University in New York where she is an adjunct professor in the Film Division of the School of Arts, and where her husband, Professor Mahmood Mamdani, also teaches. They first met in 1988, when she went to Uganda for the first time to research for the film Mississippi Masala.
“He is such an amazing man,” Mira told the Asia Society president. What a wonderfully nourishing time we have at home. I believe I also seek his approval.”
Mira spoke enthusiastically about yoga. She has been a practitioner for decades. She told her audience that, when making a film, she has the cast and crew both start the day with a yoga session.
Mira has one son, Zohran Mamdani, now 18 years old and currently attending the Bronx High School of Science in New York.
Mira Nair is an outstanding Thought Leader and Global Citizen. The artistic and social impact she has had – and will continue to have – in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas is beyond compare.
While not many Manhattan-oriented diners frequently travel to the outer boroughs to engage in their favorite pastime, some culinary experiences are well worth the trip. Serving amazing Thai cuisine since June of 2009, Green Curry is clearly one of those culinary experiences.
By Elizabeth Perea, edited by Jim Luce.
New York, N.Y. Not far off the beaten path of Manhattan in Astoria, Green Curry is a Thai restaurant that easily rivals any of your inner-city favorites, but hold on. The cuisine isn’t the only thing that will make you smile.
With lunch specials priced at $8.00 and dinner specials priced at $10 ($12 for shrimp), the total bill elicits almost as much joy as the authentic flavors and beautiful plate presentation.
With 14 appetizers and 45 main course dishes, Green Curry rules Astoria.
The appetizer selection promises to provide something that will appeal to any true lover of Thai cuisine with traditional dishes such as Thai Steamed Chicken Dumplings prepared with water chestnuts, mushrooms, and carrots wrapped in wonton skin.
Green Curry prepares Thai Steamed Chicken Dumplings with chopped water chestnuts, mushrooms, and carrots wrapped in wonton skin.
Traditional yes, but made uniquely true to Green Curry by being served with titillating soy, vinaigrette, cilantro sauce, truly a mix of flavors that will pleasantly surprise you.
One distinctive element of Green Curry is that all sauces are homemade and awaken a blending and layering of flavors uncommon in any other Thai experience.
Another appetizer on the menu, the Golden Taro, is an excellent example of the chef’s unique ability to create an experience that will please even the most traditional of Thai diners, while engaging the most adventurous of foodies.
The crispy shredded taro, wrapped in tofu skin and served with homemade tamarind sauce is truly an experience in both flavor and texture.
Taro, according to Wikipedia, is a tropical plant grown primarily as a vegetable food for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable. It is considered a staple in Oceanic cultures. Good to know!
I particularly enjoyed the flavor and texture of the crispy shredded taro, wrapped in tofu skin and served with homemade tamarind sauce.
Green Curry also features two “Yums,” or authentic Thai spicy salads.
Cooked in coconut milk and served with fresh lime juice and chili pepper, the Tom Kha Gai soup with mixed vegetables, chicken, squid, and shrimp in chicken broth was wonderful.
The Tom Kha Gai soup is cooked in coconut milk and served with fresh lime juice and chili pepper, with mixed vegetables, chicken, squid, shrimp in chicken broth.
Nam Sod which is a well cooked ground pork salad marinated with roasted chili, peanut, fresh lime juice and shredded ginger ($9) and Yum Goon Chieng, Chinese sausage salad marinated with fresh lime juice, chili pepper, tomato, cucumber and red onion ($9).
Both were like nothing we had ever tasted before, but that we would most definitely order again.
Also, worthy of note, particularly for vegetarians was an exquisite spicy vegetarian ‘duck’ salad, the vegetarian duck is made from wheat flour.
All dishes can customized in terms of their cooking method – from steaming to stir fried, and the curry can be paired with any variety of meat, seafood, and/or vegetables listed on the menu.
While the appetizers and salads may fill you up, the entrees at Green Curry are not to be missed, so leave room.
For the non-vegetarians out there the Keang Massaman made traditionally with sautéed meat with massaman curry paste, coconut milk, potato, onion and peanut, was out of this world.
We can only guess that the distinguishing factor was the homemade sauce.
Deep-fried red snapper topped with a unique sweet and spicy tamarind chili sauce.
The fish dishes were also outstanding. If you’re a fan of red snapper, Green Curry gives you three fabulous dishes from which to choose:
The Pla Lard Prik, deep-fried red snapper topped with a unique sweet and spicy tamarind chili sauce;
The Pla Jiean, or deep-fried red snapper topped with a combination sauce made of ginger, mushroom, and ground pork; and
The Pla Chu Chee, a hearty, aromatic herbal curry fish dish of deep-fried red snapper with red curry sauce, coconut milk, and kaffir lime leaves.
Each of these dishes will introduce you to a layer of flavors about which you will tell your friends and neighbors.
Pad Priew Wan. Thai sweet & sour sauce with pineapple, tomato, onion, and cucumber.
Pad Kraung Keang. ed curry sauce with onion, chili, and fresh sweet basil.
Pad Khing. Black bean sauce with shredded ginger, mushroom, chili pepper, and scallion.
Another unusual aspect of Green Curry is that the non-related staff seems to be a family. The owner takes great pride in treating her employees as family, and it is reflected well in the bright and energetic service they bring to each table.
Keep in mind that the owners and operators of Green Curry once ran the successful Pearl River (Rockland County) restaurant, “Royal Siam,” which was open 12 years. Customers would drive as far away as from Queens to eat there.
Now New Yorkers from every borough need only to travel as far as Astoria to experience authentic Thai cuisine; a combination of Chinese, Indian, and Malay traditions, in a gorgeous setting with a wonderful and attentive staff. As we, said earlier, it’s worth the trip.
Check out their Facebook page – I recommend Green Curry to all my Manhattan friends! With 14 appetizers and 45 main course dishes, I know each and every one of them will find something to love.
Jim Luce visits the kitchen with the owners and his friend Paat Sinsuwan.
Green Curry Information and Directions: 35-13 Ditmars Blvd., Astoria, Queens, N.Y. 11105 Take the “N” or “W” subway to the last stop – Ditmars Blvd. – walk 3 blocks. Tel. (718) 777-7013
The Mahabodhi Temple Complex is one of the four holy sites related to the life of the Lord Buddha, and particularly to the attainment of Enlightenment. The first temple was built by Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century B.C., and the present temple dates from the 5th or 6th centuries. It is one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick, still standing in India, from the late Gupta period.
Where Buddha Obtained Enlightenment
The Mahabodhi Temple Complex, Bodh Gaya lies 115 km south of the state capital of Bihar, Patna and 16 km from the district headquarters at Gaya, in Eastern India. It is one of the four holy sites related to the life of the Lord Buddha, and particularly to the attainment of Enlightenment. The property encompasses the greatest remains of the 5th-6th century A.D in the Indian sub-continent belonging to this period of antiquity. The property has a total area of 4.8600 ha.
The Mahabodhi Temple Complex is the first temple built by Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century B.C., and the present temple dates from the 5th–6th centuries. It is one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick, still standing, from the late Gupta period and it is considered to have had significant influence in the development of brick architecture over the centuries. The present Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya comprises the 50 m high grand Temple, the Vajrasana, sacred Bodhi Tree and other six sacred sites of Buddha’s enlightenment, surrounded by numerous ancient Votive stupas, well maintained and protected by inner, middle and outer circular boundaries. A seventh sacred place, the Lotus Pond, is located outside the enclosure to the south. Both the temple area and the Lotus Pond are surrounded by circulating passages at two or three levels and the area of the ensemble is 5 m below the level of the surrounding land.
It is also a unique property of archaeological significance in respect of the events associated with the time Lord Buddha spent there, as well as documenting the evolving worship, particularly since the 3rd century, when Emperor Asoka built the first temple, the balustrades and the memorial column and the subsequent evolution of the ancient city with the building of sanctuaries and monasteries by foreign kings over the centuries.The Main Temple wall has an average height of 11 m and it is built in the classical style of Indian temple architecture. It has entrances from the east and from the north and has a low basement with mouldings decorated with honeysuckle and geese design. Above this is a series of niches containing images of the Buddha. Further above there are mouldings and chaitya niches, and then the curvilinear shikhara or tower of the temple surmounted by amalaka and kalasha (architectural features in the tradition of Indian temples). At the four corners of the parapet of the temple are four statues of the Buddha in small shrine chambers. A small tower is built above each of these shrines. The temple faces east and consists of a small forecourt in the east with niches on either side containing statues of the Buddha. A doorway leads into a small hall, beyond which lies the sanctum, which contains a gilded statue of the seated Buddha (over 5ft high) holding earth as witness to his achieved Enlightenment. Above the sanctum is the main hall with a shrine containing a statue of Buddha, where senior monks gather to meditate.
From the east, a flight of steps leads down through a long central path to the main temple and the surrounding area. Along this path there are significant places associated with events that immediately followed the Buddha’s Enlightment, together with votive stupas and shrines. The most important of the sacred places is the giant Bodhi Tree, to the west of the main temple, a supposed direct descendant of the original Bodhi Tree under which Buddha spent his First Week and had his enlightment. To the north of the central path, on a raised area, is the Animeshlochan Chaitya (prayer hall) where Buddha is believed to have spent the Second Week. Buddha spent the Third Week walking eighteen paces back and forth in an area called Ratnachakrama (the Jewelled Ambulatory), which lies near the north wall of the main temple. Raised stone lotuses carved on a platform mark his steps. The spot where he spent the Fourth Week is Ratnaghar Chaitya, located to the north-east near the enclosure wall. Immediately after the steps of the east entrance on the central path there is a pillar which marks the site of the Ajapala Nigrodh Tree, under which Buddha meditated during his Fifth Week, answering the queries of Brahmans. He spent the Sixth Week next to the Lotus Pond to the south of the enclosure, and the Seventh Week was spent under the Rajyatana Tree, to the south-east of the main temple, currently marked by a tree]
Next to the Bodhi Tree there is a platform attached to the main temple made of polished sandstone known as Vajrasana (the Diamond Throne), originally installed by Emperor Asoka to mark the spot where Buddha sat and meditated. A sandstone balustrade once encircled this site under the Bodhi Tree, but only a few of the original pillars of the balustrade are still in situ; they contain carvings of sculpted human faces, animals, and decorative details. Further up the central path towards the main temple to the south is a small shrine with a standing Buddha in the back and with the footprints (Padas) of the Buddha carved on black stone, dating from the 3rd century BC when Emperor Asoka declared Buddhism to be the official religion of the state and installed thousands of such footprint stones all over his kingdom. The gateway to the Temple, which is on the central path, was also originally built by this Emperor, but was later rebuilt. Further on the path towards the main temple is a building housing several statues of Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Opposite is a memorial to a Hindu Mahant who had lived on this site during the 15th and 16th centuries. To the south of the pathway is a cluster of votive stupas built by kings, princes, noblemen and lay people. They vary in shape and size, from the simplest to the most sumptuous ones.
In the context of philosophical and cultural history, Mahabodhi Temple Complex is of great relevance as it marks the most important event in the life of Lord Buddha, the moment when Prince Siddhartha attained Enlightenment and became Buddha, an event that shaped human thought and belief. This property is now revered as the holiest place of Buddhist pilgrimage in the world and is considered the cradle of Buddhism in the history of mankind.
Criterion (i): The grand 50m high Mahabodhi Temple of the 5th-6th centuries is of immense importance, being one of the earliest temple constructions existing in the Indian sub-continent. It is one of the few representations of the architectural genius of the Indian people in constructing fully developed brick temples.
Criterion (ii): The Mahabodhi Temple, one of the few surviving examples of early brick structures in India, has had significant influence in the development of architecture over the centuries.
Criterion (iii): The site of the Mahabodhi Temple provides exceptional records for the events associated with the life of Buddha and subsequent worship, particularly since Emperor Asoka built the first temple, the balustrades, and the memorial column.
Criterion (iv): The present Temple is one of the earliest and most imposing structures built entirely in brick from the late Gupta period. The sculpted stone balustrades are an outstanding early example of sculptural reliefs in stone.
Criterion (vi): The Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Bodh Gaya has direct association with the life of the Lord Buddha, being the place where He attained the supreme and perfect insight.
Integrity
The inscribed property contains all the attributes necessary to convey its outstanding universal value. The historical evidences and texts reveal that the parts of present Temple Complex date from different periods. The main Temple, the Vajrasana, the seat of Buddha’s enlightenment was preserved by Emperor Asoka and the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment witnessed through the ages, the site’s glory, decline and revival since middle of 19th century A.D onwards is unchanged and complete.
The main part of the temple is recorded from about the 5th – 6th century A.D. But, it has undergone various repairs and renovation works since then. Having suffered from long abandonment (13th -18th century A.D) it was extensively restored in the 19th century, A.D and more works were carried out in the second half of the 20th century A.D. Nevertheless, the temple is considered to be the oldest and best preserved example of brick architecture in India from this particular period. Even though the structure has suffered from neglect and repairs in various periods, it has retained its essential features intact.
Authenticity
The belief that Buddha had attained Enlightenment in this particular place has been confirmed by tradition and is now called Bodh Gaya, this is of supreme value to the world. It has been documented since the time of Emperor Asoka who built the first temple in 260 BCE when he came to this place to worship the Bodhi Tree, which still stands as witness to the event, along with the attributes of the property (the Vajrasana, etc). Buddhist texts of both Theravadhan and Mahayanan traditions have clear reference of this event of Buddha’s enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. Buddhists from all over the world today venerate Bodh Gaya as the holiest place of Buddhist pilgrimage in the world. This confirms the use, function, location and setting of the complex/property. The outstanding universal value of the property is truthfully expressed through the attributes present today. The architecture of the Temple has remained essentially unaltered and follows the original form and design. The Mahabodhi Temple Complex has continuous visitation by pilgrims from all over the world to offer prayers, perform religious ceremonies and meditate.
Requirements for protection and management
The Mahabodhi Temple Complex is the property of the State Government of Bihar. On the basis of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, the State Government is responsible for the management and protection of the property through Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) and Advisory Board. The Committee meets once in every three or four months and reviews the progress and position of the maintenance and conservation works of the property and also manages the flow of pilgrims and tourists visit. The Committee is equipped with 85 regular staff members and over 45 casual workers to attend to the Temple duty as office staff, security guards, gardeners and sweepers. Further consideration is still warranted on the possible designation of the property under national legislation to ensure the protection of its outstanding universal value as well as its authenticity and integrity of the property. Given the significant development pressures in the broader urban and rural setting, the definition of an appropriate buffer zone and the establishment of regulations for its protection is a priority. Options, such as extending the property to include related sites, need to be explored to ensure the conservation of the setting and landscape of the property associated with the life and wanderings of Buddha. The protection of these elements is particularly relevant to sustaining the religious character of the property that substantiates criterion (vi).
All developmental activities within the premises of this World Heritage property and at Bodhgaya are guided by the rules and regulations of the Site Management Plan framed by the Government of Bihar. All conservation / restoration works relating to the Temple Complex are taken up under the expert guidance of Archaeological Survey of India. The main source of finance for the property is through the donation from Devotees. The sustained operation of the management system allows for the Temple Complex to be well maintained and flow of visitors managed adequately
As the site is being visited by pilgrims/tourists (national/international) in large numbers, a need to develop infrastructure and public amenities is anticipated. Proposals will need to be preceded by Heritage Impact Assessments and a particular challenge will be to continuously monitor the impact that potential developments of the area as a whole, including the town, may have on the religious and spiritual significance of the place.
The Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee also seeks to undertake a sustainable approach to the maintenance of the property for example utilization of solar energy, pollution free environment, etc
