Urgent: Plans to derail California Hindu textbooks revision

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media (AT) hindueducation (DOT) org For Organizations: media (AT) hindueducation (DOT) org For

California Initiative contact California Coordinator Anjali Patel

join_us (AT) hindueducation (DOT) org 7930 McClellan Rd. Ste # 1 Cupertino, CA 95014

Phone:

408-257-1394 _________ Next step: California Comm. vote on Hindutva changes

Dear Amarjit Singh and John Dayal! I would like to turn your attention to

the matter discussed in the attached letter from Prof. Michael Witzel at

Harvard and in the letter below. As you will see, Hindutva forces in California

have been active trying to change the contents of Californian school books so

that they reflect the views held by Hindutvavadins on Indian society and

history. Witzel and a number of other scholars have reacted to this in the

manner expressed by the letter. Notice particularly the following paragraphs

below: ****** "This is not a public hearing. But all that means is that there

is no official published time for the public to speak before

the commissioners take action. Nonetheless, each meeting has a time for “public

comment” and people will be allowed to come up and speak. (Thus, we have to be

present). If they follow the order of the published agenda, public comment

comes after the actual vote. They will only hear Tom Adam's (CA Dept. of

Education) report on the earlier (Hindutva-inspired) and our (Wolpert,

Heitzman, Witzel) findings. But if they see the huge Hindutva crowd expected

and decide to let them speak first, it is possible votes will be swayed back

the other way simply because no political person likes to say no, in public, to

an unhappy minority group seeking redress of grievances." ****** We feel that

support from other Indians - not Hindutvavadins - would be needed to counteract

the initiative from the Hindutva people. It would probably be an advantage if

Dalits were present and could demonstrate that

the Hindutvavadins do not speak for all Indians. I have been reluctant to

announce this on the Dalit lists because we don't know if they are infiltrated,

we therefore turn to you for advice and help. Is there a way to (discretely)

mobilize Dalits in California and elsewhere in this matter? Could you get some

support from Afro-American organizations here? We don't want to create the

impression that only a few outsiders are against the Hindutva version of

history. Best regards, Lars Martin Fosse Dr.art. Lars Martin Fosse

Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114, 0674 Oslo - Norway Phone: +47 22 32 12 19 Fax: +47

850 21 250 Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45 E-mail: lmfosse (AT) chello (DOT) no

http://www.linguistfinder.com/translators.asp?id=2164 FW: Next step:

California Comm. vote on Hindutva changes amarjit Send Email Dear List

Members Please publicise the contents below so that we may have our opinions

heard. Regards Amarjit Singh

--

Lars Martin Fosse [lmfosse (AT) chello (DOT) no] 27 November 2005

15:12'Amarjit Singh'Cc: 'John Dayal'VS: Next step: California

Comm. vote on Hindutva changes Dear Amarjit Singh and John Dayal! I would

like to turn your attention to the matter discussed in the attached

letter from Prof. Michael Witzel at Harvard and in the letter below. As you will

see, Hindutva forces in California have been active trying to change the

contents of Californian school books so that they reflect the views held by

Hindutvavadins on Indian society and history. Witzel and a number of other

scholars have reacted to this in the manner expressed by the letter. Notice

particularly the following paragraphs below: ****** "This is not a public

hearing. But all that means is that there is no official published time for the

public to speak before the commissioners take action. Nonetheless, each meeting

has a time for “public comment” and people will be allowed to come up and

speak. (Thus, we have to be present). If they follow the order of the

published agenda, public comment comes after the actual vote. They will only

hear Tom Adam's (CA Dept. of Education) report on the earlier

(Hindutva-inspired) and our (Wolpert, Heitzman, Witzel) findings. But if they

see the huge Hindutva crowd expected and decide to let them speak first, it is

possible votes will be swayed back the other way simply because no political

person likes to say no, in public, to an unhappy minority group seeking redress

of grievances." ****** We feel that support from other Indians - not

Hindutvavadins - would be needed to counteract the initiative from the Hindutva

people. It would probably be an advantage if Dalits were present and could

demonstrate that the Hindutvavadins do not speak for all Indians. I have been

reluctant to announce this on the Dalit lists because we don't know if they are

infiltrated, we therefore turn to you for advice and help. Is there a way to

(discretely) mobilize Dalits in California and elsewhere in this matter? Could

you get some support from Afro-American organizations here? We don't want to

create the impression that only a few outsiders are against the Hindutva

version of history. Best regards, Lars Martin Fosse Dr.art. Lars

Martin Fosse Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114, 0674 Oslo - Norway Phone: +47 22 32 12

19 Fax: +47 850 21 250 Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45 E-mail: lmfosse (AT) chello (DOT) no

http://www.linguistfinder.com/translators.asp?id=2164

--

Fra: Michael Witzel [witzel (AT) fas (DOT) harvard.edu]

Sendt: 26. november 2005 17:26Til: Peter Zoller; Garrett G. Fagan; Alexander

Vovin; Patrick Olivelle; Boris Oguibenine; Phyllis K Herman; carendreyer

Dreyer; Frederick Smith; Lars Martin Fosse; Rajesh Kochhar; Richard Meadow;

Stanley Wolpert; Dwijendra Jha; Georg von Simson; Madhav Deshpande; Frank

Southworth; Hiroshi Marui; Sudha Shenoy; Asko Parpola; Mohammad Mughal; Don

Ringe; S. Palaniappan; Wim van Binsbergen; Homi Bhabha; huang9; David Stampe;

Hideaki Nakatani; Jonathan Mark Kenoyer; Stefan Zimmer; Romila Thapar; Muneo

Tokunaga; Shereen Ratnagar; Michael Witzel; Sheldon Pollock; Dominik Wujastyk;

Parimal G. Patil; Steve Farmer; Robert Goldman; falk Falk; jkirk Kirkpatrick;

agnes korn; Scharfe; Kalpana Desai; maurizio.tosi (AT) tiscali (DOT) it; Patricia Donegan;

Shingo EinooKopi: Arlo Griffiths; Raka Ray; Leonard van der Kuijp; Michael

Witzel; John BrockingtonEmne: Next step: California Comm. vote on Hindutva

changes Dear All, Many thanks again for your support! Today I report on the

next step (and some harassment mails) It seems that all 50 signers of our

letter have got the same kind of letter, actually sometimes from 2 people, with

virtually the same text. (Satya Shekhar's is shorter):satya shekhar

<satyashekhar05 >Ratnendra Pandey <pandey (AT) hotmail (DOT) com>(see text

below)---- More importantly: Please alert your friends in CA to attend the

Dec. 1/2 meetings:(1)The Curriculum Commission (one step higher up from last

time) will be meeting Dec. 1

and 2 and will review the proposed edits and corrections and it is open to the

public. The Edits and Corrections proposed by the Hindu Education Foundation

and the Vedic Foundation and our own California Dept. of Education-appointed

committee (Wolpert, Heitzman, Witzel) will be reviewed by the commission. (2)

FYI: There will be a meeting with California Dept. of Education staff and the

publishers to finalize the edits and corrections approved by the Commission on

Dec. 14 and 15. Usually there are two Commissioners and a scholar(s) plus the

CA Dept's staff present. Here is a link to the actual meeting agenda of Dec.

1/2: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/cc/cd/ccagenda120105.asp Please note that on Dec.

1/2 a higher body than last time, the Curriculum Commission, is scheduled to

take up this issue in the morning on December 2 (note all times are

tentative—if they move through the agenda faster than expected, things will

happen earlier). This is not a public hearing. But all that means is that

there is no official published time for the public to speak before the

commissioners take action. Nonetheless, each meeting has a time for “public

comment” and people will be allowed to come up and speak. (Thus, we have to be

present). If they follow the order of the published agenda, public comment

comes after the actual vote. They will only hear Tom Adam's (CA Dept. of

Education) report on the earlier (Hindutva-inspired) and our (Wolpert,

Heitzman, Witzel) findings. But if they see the huge Hindutva crowd expected

and decide to let them speak first, it is possible votes will be swayed back

the other way simply because no political person likes to say no, in public, to

an unhappy minority group seeking redress of grievances. It also appears

that in the afternoon of December 1, the day before the vote, the History-Social

Science subcommittee will hear reports about recent events in the adoption of

the text books. This should not involve any discussion of the "Hindu" issue.

But the Hindu groups might show up for that discussion too. Public comment is

allowed and it will give them a chance to speak to some of the commissioners

before the vote the next day. SO PLEASE TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION:Alert your

friends in California to attend! Michael --------Here Pandey's and Shekhar's

letters: Dear Professor,I am writing to you in regards to your endorsement to a

letter written by Prof. Witzel to California Department of Education (CDE).

Prof. Witzel has written a letter to CDE - apparently with your endorsement -

opposing recommendations to remove biases and stereotypes in portrayal of Hindu

religion and Indian history in the social studies

textbooks of California.This letter has caused serious outrage among many Hindu,

Buddhist, Jain and Sikh residents in the US, especially in California. Your

endorsement seems to suggest that you belong to a group of people who support a

racist theory causing potential discrimination to minorities.We hope that in

this process your reputation as a scholar is not blemished.Sincerely,Ratnendra

Pandey satya shekhar <satyashekhar05 > Dear Professor,

Please attached is a copy of letter where your name has appears. Prof Witzel

and Prof Farmer have sent the letter with your apparent endorsement. This

letter has caused serious outrage among many Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh

residents in the US, especially

in California. The letter has been interpreted by many as if you belong a group

of people supporting a racist theory which may cause potential discrimination

to minorities such as the Hindus. I hope that you are aware of this. Just your

information. RegardsSatya Shekhar ------here my older report, after the last

comm. meeting---- Dear friends, success! It seems that we were successful;

more details will follow as soon they become available. Here the initial,

partial report from people present at the meeting of the California State Board

of Education: This afternoon the California Board of Education voted to approve

the school books for adoption in California schools;seven of eight publishers'

programs were approved (Including the initially rejected Oxford U.P. one, it

seems without adding in any of the Hindutva material). Below, I attach our

joint letter for your reference. We had planned to send it to you earlier, but

all the back and forth yesterday in preparing for today's (Wednesday's) meeting

prevented me. Luckily, we had a California historian of india, Prof. J.

Heitzman (UC Davis), present at the meeting who also used a letter written by

Prof. Wolpert. Hence, some more detailed news about the meeting of the

California State Board of Education: The meeting was to decide whether to adopt

the changes that have already been suggested, collected in a book containing the

massive number of changes. Comments from the audience: each one to speak for

TWO MINUTES each. The first cohort of speakers included representatives of the

Vedic Foundation, who all urged adoption of the changes. The next major group

consisted of a number of Sikh speakers who urged non-adoption of the changes

until after the insertion of additional material on

Sikhism. Prof. Heitzman, speaking for us all, then alluded to the "Standards

for Evaluating Instructional Materials for Social Content," section:" Religion;

Indoctrination", urging the Board not to "encourage or discourage belief or

indoctrinate the student in any particular religious belief." Pointing out

that we represent thousands of high-level scholars from all religious

backgrounds dedicated to the academic study of South Asian history and culture,

he stated that we have two main objections to the current draft that cause us to

oppose its adoption: (1) the consulting base, i.e. Dr. Bajpai, is too narrow

for a problem of this complexity; and (2) we "impugn the credentials" of the

Vedic Foundation and other Hindu groups to speak competently on issues of South

Asian history and religion. These groups project, either overtly or

subconsciously, policies known as Hindutva or "Hinduness" that portray South

Asian and

specifically Indian identity as Hindu. Their program has ravaged the social

studies textbooks of India for the last ten years. He urged the Board not to

allow a religious chauvinism of India to become the policy of the State of

California, which would provoke an academic and international uproar. He

volunteered the services of the university community specializing in the

analysis of South Asia for evaluating the edits and additions proposed for the

California textbooks: "We are ready to earn our pay; let us help you." Sincere

thanks to Prof. Heitzman and to all of you ! This shows how concerted action,

even if it comes as late as ours, can be successful. Incidentally, the next

thing to tackle is the BBC website. Let us discuss how to go about it. Please

see this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/index.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/history5.shtml Best

wishes,Michael Michael WitzelDepartment of Sanskrit and Indian Studies,

Harvard University1 Bow Street , 3rd floor, Cambridge MA 02138 1-617-495 3295

Fax: 496 8571direct line: 496 2990http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm

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