Call to Action... Protest wrongful protrayal of HInduism

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>Fwd: [hssmw] Fw: Call to Action... Protest wrongful protrayal of

>HInduism

>Fri, 18 Jan 2002 14:11:42

>

 

 

 

 

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Bhaktivrksha, govinda, Isvara.GGS, jghare,

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Fwd: [hssmw] Fw: Call to Action... Protest wrongful protrayal of HInduism

Fri, 18 Jan 2002 14:11:42

>"Vasant M Pandav"

>"HSSmw"

>CC: "Sushama Londhe"

>[hssmw] Fw: Call to Action... Protest wrongful protrayal of HInduism

>Thu, 17 Jan 2002 23:13:51 -0600

>

>Gaurang Desai

>Call to Action... Protest wrongful protrayal of HInduism

>Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:47:00 -0800 (PST)

>

> !!! CALL To ACTION !!!

>

> by Ishani Chaudhuri

>

> Protest Screening of

> Anand Patwardhan's productions

> "We are Not Your Monkeys" & "In the Name of God"

> @ NYC Exhibit on 02/09/2002

>

>EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

>

>In the name of holding an exhibit on "Meeting God: Elements of

>Hindu Devotion" the American Museum of Natural History

>(www.amnh.org) is planning to screen two anti-Hindu movies made by

>self-proclaimed leftist Anand Patwardhan, viz. "We are Not Your

>Monkeys" and "In the Name of God."

>

>Action Required:

>

> (i) Call to protest,

> (ii) Send fax to protest,

> (iii) Send an e-mail to protest, AND

> (iv) send a letter of protest via regular mail.

> [Preferably do ALL Four, or at least one]

>

>Action Target:

>

> Elaine Charnov

> Director, Public Programs and Artistic Director, Margaret

> Mead Film & Video Festival

> American Museum of Natural History

> 79th St. at Central Park West

> New York, NY 10024

> USA

>

> Phone: 212-769-5173

> Fax: 212-769-5329

> Email: Charnov (AT) amnh (DOT) org

>

> Cc: Ms. Laurel Kendall

> Curator of Hinduism Exhibit

> Anthropology Dept.

> American Museum of Natural History

> 79th St. at Central Park West

> New York, NY 10024

> USA

>

> Tel. 212-769-5892

> Fax: 212-769-5334

> E-Mail: LKendall (AT) amnh (DOT) org

>

>Further Action:

>(After you are done with your personal action)

>

> Ask local Hindu / Indian organizations to send a letter of protest

>on their letterhead.

>

>PLEASE DO READ THE DETAILS AND DRAFT YOUR OWN LETTER OF PROTEST.

>

>Thank you.

>

>Ms. Ishani Chaudhuri

>[Contact E-Mail for this CTA: apcta (AT) hinduworld (DOT) com]

>

>=========================== Begin Details =========================

>

>The American Museum of Natural History in NYC (www.amnh.org) is

>holding an exhibit on Hinduism entitled "Meeting God: Elements of

>Hindu Devotion" (click on exhibit icon on the left panel) until

>02/24/02. The object is to portray to the visitor how a Hindu

>worships and reveres God through a collection of deities, photos

>and religious icons.

>

>However, this exhibit also features "Public Programs" which are

>meant to "enhance" the learning experience - namely, dances, music,

>mehendi and documentary videos. Two videos they are planning on

>showing (2/9 from 4p-6p) are entitled "We are Not Your Monkeys" (a

>Dalit interpretation of the Ramayana) and "In the Name of God" (the

>VHP militant Hinduism and consequent oppression of the lower

>classes) -

>http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/meeting_god/home/programs.html

>(gives synopsis). Both are made by self-proclaimed Leftist Anand

>Patwardhan.

>

>What is shocking is not only is the Museum showing this (which has

>no relevance to the objective of the exhibit), but also NOT

>allowing for the opposing party to speak or show their side of the

>story. They are essentially leaving novice minds with a bigoted

>view of Hinduism.

>

>The person in charge of the "Public Programs" is Ms. Elaine

>Charnov. She seems to be highly influenced by academics. The first

>video ("We Are Not your Monkeys") is the Aryan-Invasion

>interpretation of the Ramayan. Essentially it is saying that Rama

>was an Aryan who enslaved the monkeys (Dalits) and made opposing

>Dravidian Ravana an asura. Futhermore, the second video - "In the

>Name of God", portrays our community as a group of oppressive

>religious zealots.

>

>The following points to Ms. Charnov have already been made.

>

>******* Arguments against "We are not your monkeys" *******

>

>1. This video does not fit with the objective of this exhibition,

>which is about Hindu form of worship.

>

>2. This video cannot be represented as "Ramayana" since it has

>nothing to do with any of the dozens of versions that is available

>from different parts of India. It doesn't confirm to the basics -

>neither the characters nor the story line.

>

>3. A group of self styled leftist activists created this video as

>an interpretation of Ramayana as per their Marxist ideology and

>conforming to their world-view of "oppressed" and the "oppressor".

>To gain the mainstream acceptance, they are trying to pass if off

>as a "Dalit" critique of Ramayana.

>

>******* Arguments against "In the Name of God" *******

>

>1. This is a video about political events that has nothing to do

>with the current exhibition.

>

>2. Only one side of the story is presented here, with selectively

>edited footage, extensive interviews with people sharing the

>director's viewpoint, while conveniently ignoring the other side.

>

>3. The video depicts an entire community as aggressors, bigoted and

>brainwashed religious zealots.

>

>4. It is not fair to publicly screen this biased documentary,

>without giving a chance to the accused groups to present their

>case.

>

>5. The extensive coverage given to a rally organized by certain

>political leaders exposes the director's political leanings.

>

>6. As usual, this video is being promoted by Marxist ideologues as

>a dissident voice of the oppressed community, which is far from the

>truth.

>

>***********************************************************************

>

>Please do not forward the above to Ms. Charnov verbatim, as the

>above has been sent to Ms. Charnov. Instead you may write your own

>points and/or phrase it differently. Ms. Charnov was not available

>on the phone. You may try. Phone conversations are more effective.

>Do a thorough background study before calling or writing to her.

>For more info., you may want to do a Google.com search on the Video

>names and on the director himself. A general search on the movies

>can yield the entire synopsis.

>

>Ms. Charnov also seems to be associated with Human Rights Watch

>International, and is probably interested in showing "We Are Not

>Your Monkeys" based on that - but whatever it is, this is

>definitely not an academic circle where this can be debated, nor is

>it a Human Rights forum.

>

>There is still some time - the screening is on 02/09. Our objective

>is to make Ms. Charnov reconsider her options.

>

>Contact info:

>

>Elaine Charnov - Director, Public Programs; Artistic Director,

>Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival

>

>American Museum of Natural History

>79th St. at Central Park West

>New York, NY 10024

>

>Phone: 212-769-5173 // Fax: 212-769-5329 // Email: Charnov (AT) amnh (DOT) org

>

>The curator for the Hinduism exhibit is Ms. Laurel Kendall

>(LKendall (AT) amnh (DOT) org - Ph: 212-769-5892 // Fax: 212-769-5334

>[Anthropology Dept] )

>

>- She can be cc'ed a copy of letter to Ms. Charnov.

>

>==============================

>

>

>

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