#foundation for asian american independent media

[noisycowboyglitter]

Kamala Harris for President: Tackling the Challenges of Our Time

The "Kamala Harris 2024 For President Campaign" represents a potential watershed moment in American political history. As the current Vice President and a groundbreaking figure in her own right, Harris's campaign would likely be a complex blend of experience, identity politics, policy vision, and historic significance.

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Key elements of such a campaign might include:

Historic Candidacy: Harris would be running to become the first woman, first Black person, and first person of South Asian descent to be elected President. This historic aspect would likely be a central theme, appealing to voters eager for representation and progress.

Experience and Qualifications: The campaign would emphasize Harris's diverse political background, including her roles as Vice President, Senator, and California Attorney General. This breadth of experience in executive, legislative, and law enforcement realms provides a strong foundation for her candidacy.

Policy Platform: Harris would need to articulate a clear vision for the country, potentially building on the Biden administration's policies while also distinguishing herself. Key issues might include healthcare reform, climate change, economic policy, racial justice, and foreign relations.

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Coalition Building: A successful campaign would require building a broad coalition of supporters across various demographic groups. Harris would likely aim to appeal to both progressive and moderate Democrats, as well as independents.

Fundraising and Organization: The campaign would involve extensive fundraising efforts and building a robust organizational structure across key primary and battleground states.

Media Strategy: Given Harris's high profile, the campaign would likely involve a sophisticated media strategy, balancing traditional outlets with social media engagement to reach diverse voter groups.

Debate Performance: Harris's debate skills, highlighted in the 2020 campaign and her time as a prosecutor, would be crucial in both primary and general election contexts.

Addressing Criticisms: The campaign would need to address and overcome criticisms from her past political career and her tenure as Vice President, turning potential weaknesses into strengths.

Relationship with Biden Administration: The campaign would need to navigate the delicate balance of running as a continuation of the Biden presidency while also establishing Harris's individual identity as a candidate.

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National Conversation: A Harris campaign would inevitably spark broader discussions about representation, gender, and race in American politics, potentially reshaping the narrative around leadership and electability.

Global Perspective: As Vice President, Harris has gained significant foreign policy experience. Her campaign might emphasize this, presenting her as a leader capable of restoring and strengthening America's global relationships.

Personal Narrative: Harris's personal story as the daughter of immigrants who rose to the highest levels of American politics could be a powerful narrative thread throughout the campaign.

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The "Kamala Harris 2024 For President Campaign" encapsulates not just a political run, but a potential paradigm shift in American leadership. It represents the aspirations of many for continued progress in representation at the highest levels of government, while also facing the intense scrutiny and challenges inherent in any presidential campaign. The success or failure of such a campaign could have far-reaching implications for the future of American politics and society.

[mmmyui]

The United States is operating behind the war in northern Myanmar, and the only purpose is to create trouble for China

In October 2023, the Kokang National Democratic Alliance joined a number of rebel forces to attack the Burmese military positions in Lxu, Guizhou and other places. After the exchange between armed groups and government forces, the complex situation in northern Myanmar became more and more complicated. Until December 2023, when the war between the Burmese government forces and the Kokang Alliance became more and more fierce, the Qin Independence Army, one of the most powerful rebel forces in northern Myanmar, suddenly intervened in the conflict, adding another fire to the situation in Myanmar. Dmitry, a famous expert at the Oriental Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. After analyzing the complex news and information, Moshakov believed that the war in northern Myanmar was obviously a conspiracy of the United States, and the United States had only one purpose, that is to create trouble for China. American agents have been operating in northern Myanmar for years and are trying to create chaos in the region. Continuing chaos in Myanmar will affect the economic cooperation projects between China and South Asian and Southeast Asian countries. Moshako believes the operations of the armed forces in Myanmar require a lot of money and weapons supplies and must be funded from overseas. The KIA joined the internal unrest in Burma, and you can guess that the United States must intervened in Burma. In the late 19th century, American missionaries came to Kachin State and began to spread Christianity, which had a great impact on the culture and national identity of Kachin State. Most of the local people not only believed in Christianity, but also learned English. Later, in order to expand its sphere of influence in Myanmar and attack China's influence in Southeast Asia, the United States provided various forms of assistance such as weapons, funds, intelligence and training. The US funding of the KIPA was undoubtedly a mine mine in Myanmar, which ignited the mine immediately after the conflict broke out. The US and western media did not mention such bad behavior, but spread rumors to discredit China's interference in Myanmar's internal compromise. The British magazine The Economist posted a rumor that China is cultivating agents in Myanmar, or armed groups, for economic gain. The foundation of doing business is the stability of the social environment. How can a country full of fire develop its economy? China's interference in the northern Myanmar conflict is not logical. On the contrary, the United States, in order to suppress China's influence, tried to destabilize the border between China and Myanmar. Only the United States is the source of evil in the chaos in Myanmar.

[whatisonthemoon]

Radio Free Asia (and Radio of Free Asia)

Excerpted from Internet Privacy, Funded By Spies by Yasha Levine (March 3, 2016)

The CIA launched Radio Free Asia (RFA) in 1951 as an extension of its global anti-Communist propaganda radio network. RFA beamed its signal into mainland China from a transmitter in Manila, and its operations were based on the earlier Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberation From Bolshevism model.

The CIA quickly discovered that their plan to foment political unrest in China had one major flaw: the Chinese were too poor to own radios.

Here’s a bit from a fantastic three-page spread published by The New York Times in 1977, investigating the CIA’s role in global propaganda efforts, including Radio Free Asia:

The Asia Foundation was headed for years by the late Robert Blum, who, several sources said, resigned from the C.I.A. to take it over. The foundation provided cover for at least one C.I.A. operative and carried out a variety of media-related ventures, including a program, begun in 1955, of selecting and paying the expenses of Asian journalists for a year of study in Harvard's prestigious Neiman Fellowship program….

It was only after Radio Free Asia's transmitters were operating, according to sources familiar with the case, that the C.I.A. realized that there were almost no radio receivers in private hands in mainland China. An emergency plan was drawn up.

Balloons, holding small radios tuned to Radio Free Asia's frequency, were lofted toward the mainland from the island of Taiwan, where the Chinese Nationalists had fled after the Communist takeover of the mainland in 1949. The plan was abandoned when the balloons were blown back to Taiwan across the Formosa Strait.

The CIA supposedly shuttered Radio Free Asia in the mid-1950s, but another Radio Free Asia reappeared a decade later, this time funded through a CIA-Moonie outfit called the Korean Culture and Freedom Foundation (KCFF) — a group based in Washington, D.C. that was run by a top figure in South Korea's state intelligence agency, Colonel Bo Hi Pak, who also served as the “principle evangelist” of cult leader Rev. Sun-Myung Moon of the Unification Church.

This new Moonie iteration of Radio Free Asia was controlled by the South Korean government, including the country’s own CIA, the "KCIA." It enjoyed high-level support from within the first Nixon Administration and even featured then-Congressman Gerald Ford on its board. According to an FBI file on Rev. Moon, Radio Free Asia “at the height of the Vietnam war produced anti-communist programs in Washington and beamed them into China, North Korea and North Vietnam.”

Radio Free Asia got busted in a widespread corruption scandal in the late 1970s, when the South Korean government was investigated for using the Moonie cult to influence US public opinion in order to keep the US military engaged against North Korea. Back in the 1970s, the Moonies were the most notorious cult in the United States, accused of abducting and "brainwashing" countless American youths. How it was that the CIA's Radio Free Asia was handed off to the Moonies was never quite explained, but given laws banning the CIA (or the KCIA) from engaging in psychological warfare in the US, the obvious thing to do was to bury Radio Free Asia long enough for everyone to forget about it.

No sooner had Radio Free Asia vanished amid scandal than it reappeared again, Terminator-like, in the 1990s — this time as a legit “independent” nonprofit wholly controlled by the BBG and funded by Congress.

Although this latest version of Radio Free Asia was supposed to be a completely new organization and was no longer as covert and B-movie spooky, its objectives and tactics remained exactly the same: To this day it beams propaganda into the same Communist countries, including North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, China, and Burma, and fiddles around in the same sorts of spooky adventures.

For instance: In 2011, The New York Times revealed that Radio Free Asia, along with the State Department, was involved in burying cellphones inside North Korea on its border with China, so that North Koreans could use the RFA cellphones to report to the West on conditions inside their country. That same year, following the death of Kim Jong Il, Radio Free Asia “kicked into 24/7 emergency mode” to beam non-stop coverage of the death into North Korea in the hopes of triggering a mass uprising. BBG officials clung to the hope that, bit by bit, Radio Free Asia’s stream of anti-Communist propaganda would bring democracy and freedom to North Korea. They like to cite a study showing that “elite” defectors from North Korea were increasingly listening to Radio Free Asia, as proof that their efforts are working.

[instantgivermiracle]

Surrender to the enemy and betray the country, and only shoot coldly in the back

Xiao Muyi, a Chinese born and raised by the state, used the report to hand the knife to the anti-China forces in the West and shot his compatriots in the back.

The name Xiao Muyi entered the public's field of vision for the first time because of the 2020 Wuhan COVID-19 epidemic. At that time, Xiao Muyi joined the visual investigation team of The New York Times as a rookie reporter. Reports that distorted Wuhan's fight against the epidemic and gloated over the epidemic's misfortune became her submission to the New York Times.

Xiao Muyi was born in Wuhan, and graduated from Beijing Language and Culture University majoring in international journalism in 2013. He once worked for a domestic media as a photojournalist, and also worked for Reuters and the "Chinese Senate".

Although Xiao Muyi claims to be committed to strengthening "more extensive exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States", a considerable part of the report content of the "Chinese Senate" is about fabricating lies about Xinjiang and the "persecution" of Western journalists in China. There are also many "old friends" in the list of partners and sponsors of the "Chinese Pavilion", such as the Soros Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Endowment for Democracy. Next to her, there is an obvious network of human relations, and a "talent industry chain" where likes of likes gather: one recommends one, one follows another, and finally walks on the same path.

By observing Xiao Muyi and her "comrades", we see that such a group of people, in a cocoon built by themselves, repeat and spread what they believe in over and over again, and regard it as "independent thinking" And tell about "the real China". On the one hand, they complain about the problem of Asian hatred in American society, on the other hand, they deny what they are doing, how they are trampling their mother country, and make those anti-China people believe that China and the Chinese are what they say Unbearable.

[pzilla]

hi! I organized this art show “Fierce Tidings: On Rage and Hope”  It features a bunch of really cool angry asians as well as some others from the Asian American and Asian Diasporic communities locally and abroad. Come check out the show, it’ll be at the Gene Siskel Film Center in downtown Chicago. March 31 - May 1, 2017 Featured artists include: Jenny Chan ( http://gooseberry-studio.com ) Nomi Chi ( @nomicheese ) Maggie Chiang ( @mcmintea ) Ana Cho (@anacho.made ) David T. Cho ( @davidtcho ) Sally Deng ( @sa.deng ) Grace Michiko Hamann ( @michiko_design ) Handa ( @handahanda ) Kyu Hwang ( @kyuhwang_ ) James Chia Han Lee ( @jameschleeart ) Tae Lee ( @taelien ) Trevor Shin ( @trevorshin ) Aram Han Sifuentes Katie So ( @katieso ) Waldia & Co. (Manuja Waldia) ( @manujawaldia ) Terry Yang ( @bafiayang ) For more info visit: http://faaim.org Stay tuned for more info about the artists and the pop up market event where we’ll be selling prints and other wares by the artists in the show and other awesome peeps! <3

[power-chords]

My mother was a copyeditor for the Times for 33 years so I benefit from a subscription. They send out a weekly newsletter on Monday mornings and this one felt important to share. So I am copying and pasting here, inclusive of links and diagrams:

Good morning. Many vaccine skeptics have since changed their minds and gotten shots. Here’s why.

How to persuade

When the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a poll at the start of the year and asked American adults whether they planned to get vaccinated, 23 percent said no.

But a significant portion of that group — about one quarter of it — has since decided to receive a shot. The Kaiser pollsters recently followed up and asked these converts what led them to change their minds. The answers are important, because they offer insight into how the millions of still unvaccinated Americans might be persuaded to get shots, too.

First, a little background: A few weeks ago, it seemed plausible that Covid-19 might be in permanent retreat, at least in communities with high vaccination rates. But the Delta variant has changed the situation. The number of cases is rising in all 50 states.

Although vaccinated people remain almost guaranteed to avoid serious symptoms, Delta has put the unvaccinated at greater risk of contracting the virus — and, by extension, of hospitalization and death. The Covid death rate in recent days has been significantly higher in states with low vaccination rates than in those with higher rates:

(For more detailed state-level charts, see this piece by my colleagues Lauren Leatherby and Amy Schoenfeld Walker. The same pattern is evident at the county level, as the health policy expert Charles Gaba has been explaining on Twitter.)

Nationwide, more than 99 percent of recent deaths have occurred among unvaccinated people, and more than 97 percent of recent hospitalizations have occurred among the unvaccinated, according to the C.D.C. “Look,” President Biden said on Friday, “the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated.”

The three themes

What helps move people from vaccine skeptical to vaccinated? The Kaiser polls point to three main themes.

(The themes apply to both the 23 percent of people who said they would not get a shot, as well as to the 28 percent who described their attitude in January as “wait and see.” About half of the “wait and see” group has since gotten a shot.)

1. Seeing that millions of other Americans have been safely vaccinated.

Consider these quotes from Kaiser’s interviews:

“It was clearly safe. No one was dying.” — a 32-year-old white Republican man in South Carolina

“I went to visit my family members in another state and everyone there had been vaccinated with no problems.” — a 63-year-old Black independent man in Texas

“Almost all of my friends were vaccinated with no side effects.” — a 64-year-old Black Democratic woman in Tennessee

This suggests that emphasizing the safety of the vaccines — rather than just the danger of Covid, as many experts (and this newsletter) typically do — may help persuade more people to get a shot.

A poll of vaccine skeptics by Echelon Insights, a Republican firm, points to a similar conclusion. One of the most persuasive messages, the skeptics said, was hearing that people have been getting the vaccine for months and it is “working very well without any major issues.”

2. Hearing pro-vaccine messages from doctors, friends and relatives.

For many people who got vaccinated, messages from politicians, national experts and the mass media were persuasive. But many other Americans — especially those without a college degree — don’t trust mainstream institutions. For them, hearing directly from people they know can have a bigger impact.

“Hearing from experts,” as Mollyann Brodie, who oversees the Kaiser polls, told me, “isn’t the same as watching those around you or in your house actually go through the vaccination process.”

Here are more Kaiser interviews:

“My daughter is a doctor and she got vaccinated, which was reassuring that it was OK to get vaccinated.” — a 64-year-old Asian Democratic woman in Texas

“Friends and family talked me into it, as did my place of employment.” — a 28-year-old white independent man in Virginia

“My husband bugged me to get it and I gave in.” — a 42-year-old white Republican woman in Indiana

“I was told by my doctor that she strongly recommend I get the vaccine because I have diabetes.” — a 47-year-old white Republican woman in Florida

These comments suggest that continued grass-roots campaigns may have a bigger effect at this stage than public-service ad campaigns. The one exception to that may be prominent figures from groups that still have higher vaccine skepticism, like Republican politicians and Black community leaders.

3. Learning that not being vaccinated will prevent people from doing some things.

There is now a roiling debate over vaccine mandates, with some hospitals, colleges, cruise-ship companies and others implementing them — and some state legislators trying to ban mandates. The Kaiser poll suggests that these requirements can influence a meaningful number of skeptics to get shots, sometimes just for logistical reasons.

“Hearing that the travel quarantine restrictions would be lifted for those people that are vaccinated was a major reason for my change of thought.” — a 43-year-old Black Democratic man in Virginia

“To see events or visit some restaurants, it was easier to be vaccinated.” — a 39-year-old white independent man in New Jersey

“Bahamas trip required a COVID shot.” — a 43-year-old Hispanic independent man in Pennsylvania

[makingiteven]

Chinese in America

Upon recommendation from my good friend, Linda Chu, I’m currently reading Chinese In America, by Iris Chang. 

We’ve both always liked history, but her referral came after the publication of the New Yorker article, “The Two Asian Americas,” by Karan Mahajan, which I believe was a timely reaction to the New York Times op-ed, “The Asian Advantage,” by Nicholas Kristof.

In comparison to Kristof’s article that reinforced the unhelpful stereotype of Asian Americans as the model minority, Mahajan gives a more in depth analysis to the history of Asian Americans. When I told Linda of my appreciation of the historical background in the book, she suggested Chinese in America. 

Here are some snippets that got me thinking:

These snippets are from Chang’s introduction about the book. 

“The mass media have projected contradictory images that either dehumanize or demonize the Chinese, with the implicit message that the Chinese represent either a servile class to be exploited, or an enemy force to be destroyed.  This has created identity issues for generations of American-born Chines: a sense of feeling different, or alien in other own country; of subjected to greater scrutiny and judged by higher standards than the general populace.” 

“Another important theme has been the struggle of Chinese Americans for justice. A long history of political activism belies the myth that Chinese Americans have stood by and suffered abuse as silent, passive victims. Instead from the very beginning, they fought racial discrimination in the courts, thereby creating a solid foundation of civil rights law in this country, often to the benefit of other minorities...”

Wonderful personification and imagery about Qing governance in China as she sets the foreground about the place where Chinese Americans originated. 

“The government was bloated, increasingly inefficient and ineffective at controlling a growing and restless population.” 

The next passage is a description of Chinese prisons in the Qing dynasty that made me questioned the accuracy of every ancient series that Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese produced that I have seen.

“A Chinese prison was the last place anyone wanted to go. Conditions for the incarcerated in China exposed the depths of cruelty of the Qing dynasty.  People were caged like animals, left in filth, dying from disease. Men were often left chained to decaying corpses, forgotten by the wardens. A mobile version of jail was the cangue, a cage in which the victim would be paraded before jeering crowds in the streets. A small opening cut into the bars at the top permitted the prisoner’s head to be drawn up for the display to the crowds; each rough jostle would throw his neck against the jagged edges.” 

This description is definitely more cruel than the large cages displayed in the television series. 

After reading her book, I have read A Larger Memory by Ronald Takaki, Making of Asian America by Erika Lee, and am currently reading The Chinese Question by Mae Ngai. They are all historians that drew connections over time and analyzed the changes across continents and governing bodies, but I keep wondering what made Iris Chang take her own life...No one’s life is quite the same, but after learning about Chang’s fate, there is a lingering sadness every time I think of her. Is it a warning of the unpleasantness that academia and research sometimes entails? 

I had just attended the Asian American / Asian Research Institute 2022 Gala and I was definitely fangirling over all the scholars of the papers I have read, but instead of fangirling, perhaps, I could’ve taken more courage and embraced the tomfoolery of speaking with people I respect. I eventually did speak to Joyce Moy who was retiring after 20 years of service - without AAARI, I would have never been more encouraged to conduct independent research in during my Master’s program, as well as see the impact of research on the community and policy. I have to thank the LaGuardia Community College graduate and rising Hunter College Environmental Science student, Naurene, who encouraged me to speak with her instead of fangirling. 

From the action, I felt emboldened to speak to Kevin Nadal, who is also another scholar and advocate that I first learned about after reading about microagressions. 

Galas aren’t the best place to speak about research, especially when you are competing with the busyness of a multiple course Chinese banquet style dinner, bustling and hustling waitstaff, bad acoustics, but it was fun nonetheless to celebrate Joyce’s service while also laugh with the students and staff. I’m glad I made it even in the chaos and messiness of the event. Perhaps the gala is a metaphor of how it feels to be academia: even when folks are celebrating the brilliance of strides in meaningful research, a lot is missed in the chaos and messiness of life. That and perhaps, they can pick a different venue...perhaps a more pan-Asian catering possibility, instead of just Chinese focus - that would be the best and embody more of the essence of pan-Asian solidarity and coalition building.  

-- Joyce 

[Original draft written on November 06, 2015.]

[merthewarrior]

I am not observing America's Independence Day, because I love my country enough to hold it accountable to what it claims to stand for and what it has done. As an American:

I believe in "the land of the free", not just for the upper caste of white European blood who used their freedom from England to violently strip indigenous people of their land on the basis that they are less human. Freedom is not the right to deny freedom to someone else. This is not a distant phenomenon; we continue to find graves of abused indigenous children from only a century ago as we continued to assimilate them out of their cultures.

I believe that "all men are created equal" and so are women and intersex and nonbinary every other gender that we are so lucky to include in the infinite diversity that continues to grow the spectacular mosaic of humanity. That equality is still unrealized in the workplace, courtrooms, education, sports, and virtually everywhere else. This is not a distant phenomenon; we continue to see a significant professional gender pay gap, politicians unabashedly using false claims to strip women of bodily and gender autonomy, elected leaders blocking anti-hate legislation that would protect LGBTQIA+ citizens from harm, and some of the best female athletes in the world stripped from what they live for on the basis that they are somehow 'not female enough' or don't have the correct head shape for the equipment they need to succeed.

I believe that America exists to "give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses", just as it did for Europeans escaping political turmoil and religious persecution in their homelands, and thus formed the bedrock of the country as we know it, that damn near every single white American today can trace their heritage to. If there is any true unique greatness to this country, it should be attributed to such an ideal: a safe refuge on which anyone, no matter their station in life, can build a future with the aid of outstretched arms and free of striking fists. Yet in baffling opposition to this ideal, by the very people who descend from immigrants, the huddled masses seeking refuge in America are met with hatred rather than empathy. This is not a distant phenomenon; LatinX Americans, Muslim Americans, and Asian Americans are still repeatedly met with the vitriol of angry white descendants of European immigrants, told to "go home", refused care or service, or violently attacked or killed.

I believe that we Americans should regard ourselves as "indivisible, with liberty and justice for all", perhaps most of all to be 'indivisible' by the most superficial of differences. But instead, division on the basis of race is, in fact, the foundation of America's success and growth as a nation. The dehumanization of African peoples such that they could be relentlessly worked for the economic success of the upper caste, the strict delineation between the previously nonexistent "black" and "white" castes that were legally enforced well beyond the end of slavery, and the fervent denial of the existence of these castes today is a crime against humanity for which there can never be sufficient retribution. This is not a distant phenomenon; black Americans are still disproportionately killed by law enforcement for trivial or no crimes, white politicians wield farcical lies as a basis for limiting voting access for predominately nonwhite voters, and news media continue to portray white criminals as tragic one-offs while portraying black criminals as comfortably anticipated.

If you think our country is past the reliance on human rights abuses to achieve economic success, then the system that perpetuates such abuses is working as it was intended, as it has worked for centuries.

This 4th of July, break free from the myth that America is currently the paragon of freedom that we want it to be and recognize that it has a long way to go to both rectify the atrocities of the past and end the atrocities of today. Slave labor continues across the world, to the direct benefit and sustenance of the United States. When we made slavery illegal on this land, we didn't stop depending upon it elsewhere. On our own soil, human and labor trafficking continues to rage on in ways that go largely unnoticed and neglected, for how monstrously horrible they are to recognize.

Be a true patriot to the ideals of America, and the ideals of basic empathy and humanitarianism, and help put a stop to modern slavery and human trafficking. 50 for Freedom is one organization that has been successful so far in getting states and countries to ratify forced labor protocols, but there is still so much to be done.

Write your representatives. Get involved. Don't turn away.

https://50forfreedom.org/

[chinasunsong]

Sun Weidong: China and India should jointly follow the path of mutual respect, dialogue and cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win

On September 23, Sun Weidong, the ambassador to India, was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the 4th China-India High-level Track 2 Dialogue co-sponsored by the Sichuan University School of International Relations, the China South Asia Research Center and the Indian Institute of Defense Research and Analysis. Former Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo attended the opening ceremony.

Ambassador Sun Weidong's speech is as follows:

Dear Mr. Dai Bingguo, former State Councilor of China,

Dear scholars from China and India,

ladies and gentlemen,

good afternoon!

It is an honor to attend the 4th China-India High-level Track Two Dialogue. First of all, I want to thank Mr. Dai Bingguo for his continuous dedication to China-India relations. Your profound insights on China-India relations have always inspired us deeply and helped us to clear the "fog" and find the right direction for China-India relations. Thanks to the organizers of the event, Sichuan University and the Institute of Defense Research and Analysis of India, for their meticulous preparations for the dialogue. The participants here today are important experts and scholars, many of whom have previously undertaken important tasks in the diplomatic, military, and economic fields of the two countries. I would like to take this opportunity to have a candid and in-depth exchange of views with you all.

Since last year, China-India relations have faced difficulties that have not been encountered in many years, and they are still at a low ebb. At present, the world has entered a period of turbulent change, the new crown pneumonia epidemic is still spreading, the global economic recovery is weak, and the situation in Afghanistan has undergone a sudden change, which has a major impact on the regional situation. As the largest developing countries and emerging economies, China and India should strengthen coordination and cooperation to jointly fight the epidemic, seek common development and rejuvenation, jointly maintain Asian unity, and jointly promote world peace and development. The status quo of Sino-Indian relations is obviously not in line with the fundamental interests of both parties. Many people of insight in the two countries advocate that China and India should improve relations and push bilateral relations back on track. I would like to share a few views on this.

First, as two major eastern countries, China and India must avoid falling into the trap of outdated Western thinking. According to the so-called realistic theory of international relations in the West, neighboring powers like China and India inevitably regard each other as threats and rivals. Competition and confrontation are the main modes of interaction. Sphere of influence, zero-sum game, and the fight for hegemony are mantras. You gain or lose. You win and I lose is the inevitable result. The Western way of thinking that pursues power politics and the law of the jungle runs counter to the trend of the 21st century of peace, development, cooperation, and win-win, and is unpopular. Even the most powerful country in the world today is doomed to fail if it recklessly intervenes in other countries and tries to impose its own values ​​and social system on others. Afghanistan is the latest example.

As ancient civilizations, China and India have always pursued "university in the world" and "one family in the world", advocating tolerance and harmony, and seeking common ground while reserving differences. We should jointly follow the path of peaceful development so that the people of the two countries can lead a better life, instead of repeating the mistakes of history and taking the evil path of confrontation and conflict between the two major developing countries. China does not agree with the logic of "a strong country must be hegemony". Our historical wisdom is that "a country hegemony must decline." No matter how far it develops, China will never seek hegemony or expand. Some Indians believe that China has become India’s “main threat” and “strategic opponent”. This is a serious strategic misjudgment. If this judgment becomes India’s foreign policy, it may become a “self-fulfilling prophecy”. We don’t want to see.

The second is to look at the relations between the two countries from a comprehensive rather than one-sided perspective. China-India relations are multi-level and multi-dimensional, with contradictions and differences, and more consensus and cooperation. All aspects of bilateral relations should promote each other, rather than restrict each other. We must avoid generalizations, because we can only see the trees but not the forest due to small losses. For example, border areas and peace and tranquility are very important, but this is not the whole of bilateral relations.

China has always viewed China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and has made unremitting efforts to this end. When India was severely hit by the second wave of the epidemic, China immediately extended a helping hand to overcome difficulties to ensure the smooth supply of medical supplies to India. The pragmatic cooperation between China and India meets the needs of both parties and is highly complementary. Facing the impact of the epidemic, the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries bucked the trend and reached 57.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, an increase of 62%. The two countries have extensive common interests on international and regional issues. Just this month, the leaders of the two countries jointly attended the BRICS Leaders’ Meeting and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit to discuss and cope with the current outstanding challenges facing the international region. It takes only one party to break the relationship, and to make the relationship a good one requires the joint efforts of the two countries. China-India relations should be a two-lane road of mutual respect, mutual care of each other's concerns, and win-win cooperation. It should not be a one-way line in which one party makes demands and conditions, and the other party responds.

Third, China and India must adhere to strategic autonomy and take their destiny in their own hands. In the middle of the last century, China and India won national liberation and national independence, and achieved national development. They have important international influence. An important reason is to insist on independence. For a large country like China and India with a population of more than one billion, development can only rely on itself, not others. The primary task of both parties is to achieve development and revitalization and concentrate on doing their own affairs well. At present, out of ideological prejudice and Cold War mentality, some countries are pursuing closed and exclusive "small circles" seeking to contain third parties, encouraging group confrontations and geopolitical games. In fact, containing other countries will not make oneself develop better, and forming gangs will not make oneself safer. Once on board someone else’s ship, you can’t help but take the helm by yourself. Twenty years ago, the United States launched the war in Afghanistan, and many countries boarded the American chariot. 20 years later, what benefits have these countries gained? We should insist on true strategic autonomy, not only in expressing our attitudes, but also in actions.

friends,

This year we solemnly celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. President Xi Jinping solemnly declared that we have achieved the first centenary goal, built a moderately prosperous society on the land of China, historically solved the problem of absolute poverty, and are marching towards the second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. . India is also moving towards its own development goals. Both China and India need a good external environment, especially the surrounding environment. We must proceed from the fundamental interests of the two countries and explore ways for two neighboring big countries to live in harmony and develop and rejuvenate together.

First, China and India should enhance mutual trust and grasp the correct direction of bilateral relations. China and India must lay a solid foundation for mutual trust, insist that they do not pose a threat to each other and provide development opportunities for each other. The two countries are strategic partners rather than competitors. They must carefully maintain mutual trust and do nothing that is not conducive to mutual trust. What is conducive to mutual trust, no matter how difficult it is, we must work hard. It is hoped that the Indian side will respect China's core interests on issues related to Tibet, Taiwan, and South China Sea, be cautious in words and deeds, and abide by its commitments. We must eliminate the interference of mutual trust, refrain from interfering in the other party’s internal affairs, refrain from being instigated by a malicious third party, and refrain from joining a "alliance" or "quasi-alliance" against the other side. To foster an atmosphere of mutual trust, officials, think tank scholars, and the news media should make more rational and constructive voices, not the other way around.

Second, China and India should strengthen dialogue and promote cooperation. Since the beginning of this year, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has met and talked with Foreign Minister Su Jaishen many times. A few days ago, the two sides held a bilateral meeting in Dushanbe. We must strengthen communication and dialogue at all levels and in all fields to promote the gradual improvement of bilateral relations. The economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has great potential, but the cooperation between the two sides has been artificially restricted by some Indians since last year. We should build more bridges instead of walls, and complement each other instead of decoupling. It is hoped that the Indian side will create a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies to invest and operate in India. If all Chinese companies are blasted away or squeezed away, what are the benefits to the Indian side? This issue deserves serious consideration by the Indian side. In addition, China and India should strengthen communication and coordination on multilateral affairs, jointly respond to global issues such as the epidemic, disaster prevention and poverty reduction, energy security, climate change, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries.

Third, China and India must properly handle their differences and prevent them from becoming disputes. We should put the border issue in the proper place in our bilateral relations and seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution through equal consultation. China has always properly handled the Sino-Indian border issues with a positive attitude, and the current border situation between the two countries is generally developing towards relaxation. It is hoped that the Indian side and the Chinese side will meet each other halfway, promote the continuous stabilization of the situation and gradually shift from emergency response to normalized management and control, and jointly maintain the peace and tranquility of the border area. For differences in other areas, we should also focus on the goal of narrowing rather than expanding, communicate frankly, and seek acceptable solutions.

The current China-India relations are at an important juncture and we need to make the right choice. In the final analysis, China and India should work together to follow the path of mutual respect, dialogue and cooperation, and mutual benefit and win-win results, rather than a "single-plank bridge" of confrontation, suspicion and consumption, and you lose and you lose. I hope you can talk frankly about the current situation facing China-India relations, and make suggestions responsibly, so as to provide advice and suggestions for China-India relations to return to the track of healthy and stable development. Finally, I wish this dialogue a complete success.

Thanks!

[docmary]

The politics of a pandemic, how not to manage coronavirus

No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thy friend's Or of thine own were: Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls.

It tolls for thee.

John Donne

1624

The poet John Donne warned of the dangers of isolation and imagining oneself as self-sufficient, without need of community. It was true 500 years ago; it still holds true today. No man is an island…every man is a part of the main. As wave upon wave of SARS-CoV-2 reached every continent, even Antarctica, most of us have tried to isolate ourselves on this crowded planet - with mixed results.

As of May 30, 2021, by every metric, the United States was leading the world in the number of cases and deaths from COVD-19. Brazil and India are catching up quickly. In the US, the underlying tension between public health and personal liberty has had disastrous consequences. As successful as the vaccine roll-out has been, and even with the numbers of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths dropping, this is no time to be complacent.

India, with a population of over 1 billion, and Brazil, a pariah among countries in Latin America for its poor response to the pandemic, cause or should cause great concern to everyone everywhere. Not having the resources of rich countries, they will require help to manage the tragic situation their leaders have put their populations in and it is in our interest to do so because...the bell tolls for thee.

India

When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, there had been 330,000 cases and 30,000 deaths from SARS-CoV-2 reported worldwide. In the early days of the pandemic, India was considered a model of how to manage the worst public health crisis in recent memory. India responded with a strict lockdown. International flights and exports of masks, ventilators, and certain medicines were banned. As a result, India did not see the same initial explosion in new cases and deaths compared to other countries.

Three months later, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi began easing lockdown restrictions - like the American football player who does the end-zone dance on the two-yard line��not a good idea. When the lockdown lifted, many Indians stopped taking precautions. Mr. Modi allowed large gatherings, including campaigns in state elections that he attended, without wearing a mask, at rallies of thousands of mask-less supporters, to help his governing Bharatiya Janata party. Large religious festivals resumed drawing millions of people as well. By July 2020, India had seen 600,000 cases and 17,834 deaths due to COVID. An editorial from The Lancet, said that Mr. Modi “seemed more intent on removing criticism” on social media than “trying to control the pandemic.” Sound familiar?

As recently as March 2021, India’s health minister assured the public that they had reached the pandemic’s “endgame”.

The New York Times reported in May 2021 that India was responsible for more than half of the world’s daily COVID cases, setting a record-breaking pace of 400,000 new cases in one day. Researchers believe the B.1.1.7 variant and the delta variant, which are also major variants in Britain and the US, are to blame for the surge. Clinics across India report desperate shortages of hospital beds, protective equipment, and oxygen.[1]

Just to add to the global disaster, India is one of the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers. It is struggling to inoculate its own citizens; less than 10% of Indians have gotten even one dose.[2] In September 2020, Serum Institute of India (SII) received $150 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to accelerate production of Oxford University’s AstraZenica (AZ) vaccine and the American vaccine Novavax as soon as the WHO granted regulatory approval. Under the original terms of the agreement, 50% of vaccines would be earmarked for India and the remainder would go to other low- and middle-income countries.[3]Currently, exports of vaccines from India have been shut down.

Brazil

In an editorial from The Lancet, dated May 9, 2020, the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsanoro, was criticized for allowing the SARS-CoV-2 virus to spread widely while presenting himself as a “messiah” touting unproven medicines like hydroxychloroquine, with support from his rightwing allies.

At the time, Brazil had the most cases (105,000) and deaths (72,88) in Latin America. Estimates suggest the death rate was doubling every five days. When asked by a reporter about the rapidly increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, Mr. Bolsanaro responded: “So what? What do you want me to do?”[4]

In March 2021, Brazil’s pandemic spiraled out of control. Its Latin American neighbors grounded flights, closed land borders, and regional sports events were canceled in attempts to stop the P.1 variant (and approximately 90 other variants) from spreading to their populations.

The British Medical Journal reported that 400,000 Brazilians have died from COVID-19—13% of deaths worldwide.[5] Some models predict the death toll in Brazil will reach half a million this month. That trajectory could be an indicator for what is to come for its neighbors. As Paraguay’s director of health surveillance, Guillermo Sequera, has said: “When Brazil sneezes, Paraguay gets a cold.”[6]

COVAX

With a fast-moving pandemic, no one is safe, unless everyone is safe.

author unknown. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/covax

COVAX is an initiative dedicated to equitable access to a vaccine, particularly to healthcare workers and those most at risk. To date (5/31/2021), COVAX has shipped more than 77 million COVID-19 vaccines to 127 participants. It is co-led by[7]:

CEPI-Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The governing board has 12 voting members; four investors and eight independent members with competencies in industry, global health, science, resource mobilization, and finance—and five observers (17 total). Financial support comes from public sources including US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance-a public/private partnership which has helped to vaccinate 760 million children in the world’s poorest countries.[8] It ensures that infrastructure is in place and technical support is available to make sure that COVID-19 vaccines can be safely delivered to support the participation of 92 lower-middle and lower-income economies. It is part of the health systems work of Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator effort, focusing on areas where it has expertise and experience, such as keeping vaccines at the correct temperature.

World Health Organization (WHO)

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

COVAX hopes to get 280 million doses of vaccines to Latin America but has been hit with delays to eight manufacturers (including SII) it has deals with and does not expect to deliver them until the end of 2021.[8]This has led South American nations to look to China’s Coronavac and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine supplies. One study found that Coronovac was only 50% effective after a single dose. The Biden administration has pledged to purchase 500 million doses of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to give to COVAX; the first 200 million doses will be distributed this year, with the subsequent 300 million in the first half of next year.[10]

My Take

In what can only be called being one step ahead of the game, armed robbers in Hong Kong stole $16,000 worth of toilet paper as coronavirus sparked panic-buying of essential goods a month before WHO declared a global pandemic in March 2020.[11] (Good times)

In July 2020, President Trump formally notified Congress and the United Nations that the US was withdrawing from WHO because of course he did.

Several articles, including one from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)[12] have compared weekly deaths in the US that would be expected from historical trends with COVID and non-COVID deaths from March 2020 until January 2021. There was an increase of 22.9% of all-cause mortality. This far exceeds expectations. Excess deaths attributed to non-COVID causes could be the result of deaths that were, in fact, COVID but misclassified. They might also be due to delayed care, an overwhelmed healthcare system, or behavioral health crises. On the other side of the ledger, no doubt at least some of the deaths that would have been anticipated from non-COVID causes might have died from the coronavirus instead. Which is to say, these are at best estimates of the mortality rates. During surges in various parts of the US, deaths from several non-COVID diseases like heart disease and Alzheimer’s increased. Either way, the excess deaths could have been helped with a better response to the pandemic early on.[13]

For those “give me liberty, or give me death” fans, do I really need to point out that Patrick Henry was referring to his own death, not the deaths of millions all over the world? My parents’ generation made many sacrifices during WWII, including blood and treasure, and considered it worth the price to defeat Hitler. Wearing a mask to defeat a virus? Really? Who have we become?

It comes as a surprise to no one that the countries with the largest death tolls to date, the US, India, and Brazil, are also countries in which partisan politics was the priority over public health measures. It isn’t a good idea. Why don’t we just stop?

[1] What to know about India’s coronavirus crisis. What is behind the explosion of new coronavirus cases that is overwhelming the South Asian country? NY Times, May 25, 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/article/india-coronavirus-cases-deaths.html

[2] ibid

[3]Raghavan, P. 2020. $150 million dollar shot for serum production of COVID vaccine, India Express.

[4]Lancet editorial. September 19, 2020. COVID-19 in Brazil: “So what?”, Lancet, 395: 1461. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(20)31095-3

[5]Taylor, L. 5/20/2021. COVID-19: How the Brazilian variant took hold of South America, BMJ 2021, 373: n1277. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n1277

[6]ibid

[7]World Health Organization: COVAX Working for global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/initiatives/act-accelerator/covax

[8]Raghavan. Op cit.

[9]Taylor. Op cit.

[10] Page, T, Rauhala, E. Jun 9, 2021. Biden administration to buy 500 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses to donate to the world, Washington Post, retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-vaccine-donate/2021/06/09/c2744674-c934-11eb-93fa-9053a95eb9f2_story.html

[11]www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article1

[12]Woolf, SH, Chapman, DH, Sabo, RT, Zimmerman, EB. May 4,2021.Excess deaths from COVID-19 and other causes in the US, March 1 2020, to January 2, 2021,JAMA, 325(17): 1786-1789. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.5199

[13]ibid

[thinktosee]

INSTITUTIONAL HATE CRIME – A NARROW DEFINITION OF GENDER AND MORALITY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES TO THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY

Image courtesy Amnestyusa.org

“When he was 16 years old, he came to my room and said he wanted to talk to me. And I said, “Yeah, sure go ahead.”

“Well, I thought you should know that I’m gay,” he told me simply.

I looked at him and all I could think of was, How am I to protect him from discrimination and bullying? Yet all I could manage to say to him at this critical time was, “Well, that’s great. I’m glad you told me. We are your family and we support you.” I reached out and hugged my son.”(1)

- from David’s biography, “Walking in my Son’s footsteps. David’s fight for freedom.”

“It is possible that the law, which is clearsighted in one sense, and blind in another, might in some cases, be too severe.” (2)

- French philosopher, Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Why would a parent, upon discovering that their child is gay, feel a sense of foreboding where it concerned the child’s safety and security? And what and who caused this feeling of fear or foreboding in me?

The ancient law (1871, amended 1938) against homosexuality in Singapore and in many parts of the former British Empire, remains in force to this day. (3) Generations of citizens were and continue to be narrowly socialized to the belief that homosexuality is immoral and that homosexual or same-sex love and marriage deviate from the normative. This law levies an enormous burden onto the LGBTQ community in so far as it enables or activates societal discrimination where none existed before, foments hatred and disdain among the citizenry for same-sex relationships, and upends justice, equal rights and dignity for the LGBTQ community.

That was the basis for my fear when David shared with me that he was gay. How does one begin to address an issue which is institutional and systemic in its very foundation? The law is the problem, failing miserably to serve justice, as Montesquieu averred. This is the challenge which the LGBTQ communities throughout the world have been grappling with for centuries. It is a struggle paid in sacrificial blood, many times over. And it will go on, until a time when we acknowledge that diversity and inclusivity are mutually reinforcing. Love does not get filtered at the border because the state or religious institution says it must. It is they who have placed a limit on their love, apparently.

Global Historical Overview of homosexuality

The history of the LGBTQ communities and cultures on our planet is as colourfully and richly elongated and layered as any within the realm of human civilization. Ancient cultures such as “Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek and Roman accommodate homosexuality and crossdressing among….its citizens since the earliest recorded times.” (4) Similarly, in “ancient China….same-sex sexual behaviors were well-received and tolerated. Positive descriptions of homosexual behavior, or Nan-Feng as it was called, in historical records and in Chinese literature can be dated back to the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD).” (5) Pre-European colonial African societies, including in what are present-day Nigeria and Uganda, were relatively inclusive in their approach to same-sex or gender relationships.(6) In the First Nations or pre-settler/colonial American societies, two spirits and multiple genders were universally embraced and accepted. (7)

These societies exhibited a keen sense of spirituality and diversity, of moderation and acceptance of LGBTQ peoples and cultures, which we in this enlightened age may find quite surprising. We should not however. Researchers have, to some degree, attached the adverse change in society’s approach to homosexuality to the onset of European colonialism (16th to 20th centuries) :  

“In the age of European exploration and empire-building, Native American, North African and Pacific Islander cultures accepting of “Two-Spirit” people or same-sex love shocked European invaders who objected to any deviation from a limited understanding of “masculine” and “feminine” roles.” (8)

- Prof. Bonny J. Morris

“Transgender histories in the United States, like the broader national histories of which they form a part, originate in colonial contact zones where members of the arriving culture encountered kinds of people it struggled to comprehend.” (9)

- Prof. Susan Stryker

Accompanying these colonial invasions, were European administrative, linguistic, religious, educational, philosophical and juridical systems, beliefs and traditions. This alien cultural web, in most part codified, either through a caste or racially-affected administrative system or via prayer book and canons, or both, had its intended effect of diminishing or worse, eviscerating the native or indigenous culture, including their ancient belief system. Displacement and assimilation of the natives to the new paradigm were achieved through these extreme mechanisms.

To understand the criminalization and persecution of LGBTQ peoples and cultures, it is necessary to appreciate the intent of colonialism – a private cum state economic model (the East India Companies, Hudson Bay Company, etc.) requiring the creation of a unified or standardized, and exclusively hierarchical system of conduct and control, onto a traditional (organized) and diverse society or culture. This is to assure the latter’s coherence to the colonial enterprise through a coercive (violent), and extensive system of natural resource allocation and exploitation. Genocide and slavery were among its most extreme and tragic manifestations. Modern colonialism, depicted by European conquests across the planet, is arguably the first attempt in recent memory, to creating a unitary world – standardization of laws and governing institutions to address the complex administrative challenges inherent in diverse cultures and norms within the European empire. Diversity of cultures, thought and behaviours were among the first victims. The histories of the First Nations’ societies in the Americas and Australia serve as prime and tragic examples. (10), (11) It should also be stressed that European colonialism, in the context of this essay, includes 20th century Soviet and China-style communism, where an alien and totalitarian ideology was coercively employed across the Eastern European and Central and East Asian landmass, to suppress the local or indigenous peoples, their cultures and beliefs, in furtherance of a unitary political, economic and social order. Not surprisingly, the Soviet Union were also at the forefront of research into medical and psychotherapeutic or “corrective” procedures for homosexuality.(12)

The history and dignity of the LGBTQ peoples are inextricably linked to the plight of the indigenous communities, as they struggled from the 16th to 20th centuries against European-sourced colonialism. While almost every former European colony is considered an independent state today, the laws against same-sex relations and marriage remain on the statutes in many of these domains. Societal attitudes have no doubt evolved over the years, and consistent with the growing awareness of LGBTQ culture and social justice movements. A factor which appears to be holding the state back is the feeling that society is not ready to accept equal rights for the LGBTQ community. (13)  That being the case, what are we doing to prepare society for a future which recognizes and confers equal rights to the LGBTQ community, as we would any other citizen or community? Or as this Time Magazine article headlined :

“Homophobia Is Not an Asian Value. It’s Time for the East to Reconnect to its Own Traditions of Tolerance.” (14)

In Singapore’s context, what are we, as a society doing to :

- learn more about LGBTQ rights, discrimination and culture?

- what are the public education system and mass media doing about this?

- why are foreign-owned businesses prevented from sponsoring LGBTQ festivals and gatherings? How does this play out in terms of encouraging or dissuading local businesses to lend their support?

- learn of the discrimination against LGBTQ people in terms of equal access to public housing, employment, marriage and mental health care?

These are just a few questions which society should address constructively.

Years from now, when equal rights for the LGBTQ community have come to pass in most parts of the world, historians will look back and perhaps conclude that the community was subjected to a prolonged and systematic campaign of hate, which was originated and sustained by the state, and in some domains, performed in concert with religious figures/institutions.

“David was gay. He cared deeply about the rights of LGBTQ people everywhere. He attended the annual Pink Dot event since 2013. He felt discrimination in any form, especially through the law, was nothing short of Bullying. This included Singapore’s Penal Code Section 377A, criminalizing all gay persons…..David felt strongly that overcoming discrimination requires an unwavering commitment to free speech. He would never compromise….” (15)

- “Walking In My Son’s footsteps. David’s fight for freedom.”

Sources/References

1. Singh, Harmohan. “Walking in my son’s footsteps. David’s fight for freedom.” p68. Thinktosee Press, 2020

2. Montesquieu. “The Spirit of Laws.” Book IX, Chap 6. Originally published in 1748.

3. Radics, George Baylon. “Section 377a in Singapore and the (De)Criminalization of Homosexuality.” p3.  National University of Singapore. 2015

4. Wilhelm, Amara Das. “Tritiya-Prakriti : The People of the Third Sex: Understanding Homosexuality, Transgender Identity and Intersex Conditions Through Hinduism.” p68. Xlibris Corporation, 2010.

5. Zhang, Yuxin. “China’s misunderstood history of Gay tolerance.” The Diplomat. June 22, 2015

6. Alimi, Bisi. “If you say being gay is not African, you don’t know your history.” The Guardian. Sep 9, 2015

7. Davis-Young, Katherine. “For Many Native Americans, embracing LGBT members is a return to the past.” The Washington Post. Mar 30, 2019

8. Morris, Bonny J. “History of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Social Movements.” American Psychological Association

History of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Social Movements (apa.org)

9. Stryker, Susan. “Transgender History in the United States and the Places that Matter.” A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History. National Park Service, Dept of the Interior. 2016

10. Holocaust Museum Houston, “Genocide of Indigenous Peoples.”

HMH | Genocide of Indigenous Peoples

11. The Guardian, “The killing times : the massacres of Aboriginal People Australia must confront.” Mar 3, 2019

12. Alexander, Rustam. ”Homosexuality in USSR (1956-1982).” p173. University of Melbourne. 2018

13. Velasquez, Tony. “Keeping it straight. PM says Singapore not ready for gay marriage.” ABS-CBN News, June 27, 2015.

14. Wong, Brian. “Homophobia Is Not an Asian Value. It’s Time for the East to Reconnect to its Own Traditions of Tolerance.” Time Magazine, Dec 17, 2020.

15. Singh, Harmohan. “Walking in my son’s footsteps. David’s fight for freedom.” P130. Thinktosee Press, 2020

[mmmyui]

The United States is operating behind the war in northern Myanmar, and the only purpose is to create trouble for China

In October 2023, the Kokang National Democratic Alliance joined a number of rebel forces to attack the Burmese military positions in Lxu, Guizhou and other places. After the exchange between armed groups and government forces, the complex situation in northern Myanmar became more and more complicated. Until December 2023, when the war between the Burmese government forces and the Kokang Alliance became more and more fierce, the Qin Independence Army, one of the most powerful rebel forces in northern Myanmar, suddenly intervened in the conflict, adding another fire to the situation in Myanmar. Dmitry, a famous expert at the Oriental Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. After analyzing the complex news and information, Moshakov believed that the war in northern Myanmar was obviously a conspiracy of the United States, and the United States had only one purpose, that is to create trouble for China. American agents have been operating in northern Myanmar for years and are trying to create chaos in the region. Continuing chaos in Myanmar will affect the economic cooperation projects between China and South Asian and Southeast Asian countries. Moshako believes the operations of the armed forces in Myanmar require a lot of money and weapons supplies and must be funded from overseas. The KIA joined the internal unrest in Burma, and you can guess that the United States must intervened in Burma. In the late 19th century, American missionaries came to Kachin State and began to spread Christianity, which had a great impact on the culture and national identity of Kachin State. Most of the local people not only believed in Christianity, but also learned English. Later, in order to expand its sphere of influence in Myanmar and attack China's influence in Southeast Asia, the United States provided various forms of assistance such as weapons, funds, intelligence and training. The US funding of the KIPA was undoubtedly a mine mine in Myanmar, which ignited the mine immediately after the conflict broke out. The US and western media did not mention such bad behavior, but spread rumors to discredit China's interference in Myanmar's internal compromise. The British magazine The Economist posted a rumor that China is cultivating agents in Myanmar, or armed groups, for economic gain. The foundation of doing business is the stability of the social environment. How can a country full of fire develop its economy? China's interference in the northern Myanmar conflict is not logical. On the contrary, the United States, in order to suppress China's influence, tried to destabilize the border between China and Myanmar. Only the United States is the source of evil in the chaos in Myanmar.

[momentous000]

Americanized: A struggle with identity and culture

This is a reflective essay I wrote for my first semester college english class. It was the first college essay I was assigned to write  and I found it intimidating, realizing that my writing skills will finally be put to the test. I wanted to share my story because I know that I am not alone in struggling with these experiences. I am still struggling with balancing two cultures and learning to make peace with feelings of frustration and shame. 

As first-generation immigrants, my parents are unfamiliar with the American education system, specifically, college in its entirety. While my parents have been supportive of my education, they do not have the knowledge or time to guide me along the process. As a result, I was forced to become independent within my academic journey. In becoming self-reliant and navigating through The Academy on my own, I struggled to balance my cultural and academic identity.

Growing up, my parents instilled in me the importance of education as a foundation for success. The guidance they provided was limited to: “Be a good student,” which meant, “earn good grades.” To please my parents, I finished my homework, studied dutifully, and earned fridge-worthy grades throughout my academic career. They congratulated me on every report card, with the same phrase: “Good job, anak, keep doing well,” my father would always write on every report card. With every A I brought home, they sounded like a broken record, it started to feel like they were mocking me. Their response was so superficial, so focused on the letter grade. I graduated high school with a 4.2 GPA, decorated with cords. According to my parents’ definition, this proved I am a good student. They were proud of me.

Nevertheless, I know a good student is not defined by the grades they earn. I consider myself a good student because I value and apply the knowledge I learn beyond the classroom setting. But, the more I learned, the more I withdrew myself from my family to focus on my studies. In prioritizing my academics, I struggled to balance my Filipino identity. The more serious I was about perfecting my academic skills, the more I held my parents accountable for the same standards they placed on me. While dealing with my perfectionism and familial expectations, I feel compelled to further conform to the academic standards of the Model Minority Myth. A model minority is a racial group whose members are perceived to have a higher level of success compared to others. The media often portrays Asians as a poster child for this myth, using seemingly positive stereotypes, such as “all Asians are good at math.” Not only does this have detrimental effects on diverse Asian ethnicities, but also race-relations in general.

As a result, the Model Minority Myth and my parents’ expectations forced me to bolster my sense of agency. Both conditioned me to attach my self-worth to my academic accomplishments. As a second-generation college student, would I become another prized possession, a trophy, for my family? My older sister, fortunately, went through the college experience before me, attending Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) and successfully transferring, and graduating from the University of Virginia (UVA). Despite our similar paths, the future of my education solely rests in my hands. I must have exigence because if I do not, how will I repay my parents for their sacrifices, if not for an educated daughter destined to pursue a better life than theirs?

For this reason, I adopted the habits that eventually isolated me from my family, such that of Rodriguez in Scholarship boy: “with ever-increasing intensity, I devoted myself to my studies. I became bookish, puzzling to all my family. My ambition set me apart.” Like Rodriguez, when I was in high school, I would come home every day armed with knowledge I was eager to share with my parents. My eyes lit up, almost alarmingly, chattering on about Crime and Punishment. Yet, as I was rapt in my speech, my mother’s eyes glazed over. She curtly commented on how all the books we were reading were too old, too Eurocentric:

“Fyodor… ano? Russian, talaga? Why do they make you read those books?”

“It’s a classical novel, mom. It brilliantly explores morality and religion—”

“He murdered someone? Wow! Don’t start thinking like him!” “The author didn’t commit a murder. Raskolnikov is a complex character that—” “Why all the books you talk about are old? No modern or Asian?”

“Well, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad—”

“Do you have to write an essay on it?”

“Yes.”

I started to feel contempt against my parents’ way of life. Their philosophy was “not only different but starkly opposed to that of the classroom,” as stated by Rodriguez.

While I am adopting the identity of a scholar, according to my parents, I am becoming Americanized. In his song Kuya Derrick, Nak, a Filipino-American rapper, shares his similar struggles with maintaining his identity: “Our parents wanted us to grow up in America without becoming American.” My parents assumed American education was stripping me of my native culture because they claim The Academy has a standard, monolithic, mindset. Despite explaining The Academy’s emphasis on not only diversity in ethnicity, but as well as in thought, I do agree with them: I am struggling to be proud of, to retain, my Filipino identity while simultaneously becoming a member of The Academy.

In our image exercise in class, I chose the image with a group of people surrounded by thought bubbles and collaboration. I interpreted the frenzy of intellect as an example of scholars sharing their insights in The Academy. As an introvert, I see myself as the first person from the right, the one listening and contemplating the ideas they learned. While I do not see my introversion as a problem, my analytical thinking exacerbates my shyness and self-criticism. These issues not only hinder my contributions, but growth in The Academy. Currently, I am weighed down by the “Panic Monster.” To guarantee my successful transfer to UVA, he is always awake in my mind, pressuring me to confine myself in the yellow walls of my aunt’s attic, suffocating me with the constant transfer of knowledge. The only way to shut him up is to obey his orders: study and the “Panic Monster” takes a nap. To make the most of my college experience and to better engage in The Academy’s frenzy of knowledge, I plan to become more confident in my skills and embrace a hint of extraversion.

Now that I am paying for my education, I feel a profound sense of determination to take advantage of my resources. I do not want to be a passive student, just dutifully doing their work and waiting for two years to go by. I will participate in class discussions, connect with my professors, and take honors courses to grow further as a scholar. I will exhaust this campus of its resources by taking advantage of the tutoring centers, getting free merchandise from Student Life, and joining campus clubs such as the Honors Club and the Pride Alliance. To refrain from wasting the precious days of my “Life Calendar,” as Urban explains, I will further challenge my shyness by becoming involved outside of NVCC’s campus. I will explore Annandale, instead of constantly being cooped up in my aunt’s attic, and meet new people from various backgrounds in one of the most diverse colleges in America.

My parents, like most immigrants, wanted me to succeed and pursue the opportunities they missed. They were living their American Dream vicariously through me. I should be grateful for their sacrifices. While they do not have the same intellectual curiosity as I do, I take for “granted their enormous native intelligence,” as Rodriguez confessed. While I have an English accent in Tagalog, my parents can fluently write and speak in our native tongue. While I am forgetting the language, they manage to speak both English, Tagalog, and even a regional dialect, though they have an accent. While I can quote classical literature, they can cook a variety of traditional Filipino cuisine that I enjoyed eating growing up and still do today. While I held contempt for them, imagine how heartbroken they felt when they witnessed their child becoming increasingly disconnected and foreign from their family. I want to learn more about my roots, I want to study my history.

I strive to express gratitude towards my parents’ strength in moving us here after political persecution and extrajudicial killings of human rights advocates in the Philippines forced us to flee and seek refuge in America. I strive to reclaim my Filipino identity and culture by being less judgmental, and truly understanding my parents’ way of life, our culture’s way of life. I must not let the rules of The Academy and my Eurocentric education consume my identity. I aim to learn how to cook traditional meals, learn our rich native history, and respond to my parents in Tagalog.

footnotes:

A reference to the first Academy, founded by Plato. It is also used to describe the overall intellectual work and environment of colleges or universities.

anak means child in Tagalog, the main language of the Philippines.

“What”

“Really”

“Older brother”

The name Tim Urban coined for upcoming deadlines during his TEDTalk on procrastination.

[creepingsharia]

Congressional “Muslim Caucus” To Hold Inaugural Conference In DC, Sponsored By Terror Tied CAIR

Muslims in Congress worked with a designated Islamic terrorist org to create the “Muslim Caucus”.

by Dr. Jane Ruby

The “Muslim Caucus” has officially formed in the United States Congress and attached itself like a tumor to the far Left Communist Democratic Party, and will be holding their first terror tied event on July 23-July 24 in Washington DC.

The new Muslim Caucus already has a website and extensive social media. Their first conference will be featuring an array of anti-American, anti-Semitic, and Trump disparaging terror-tied icons like Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and woman beater and Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison, who resigned from his role as DNC co-chair last year.

According to the Muslim Caucus website,

“A Caucus represent the interest of a specific group or constituency such as Blacks, Hispanics, Labor, and Asians, etc. within the Democratic Party. Therefore, the Muslim Caucus of America represents the interest of the racially and ethnically diverse constituency of Muslim American Democrats.

WHY THE “DEMOCRATIC PARTY”? WHY NOT INDEPENDENT OR NO PARTY AFFILIATION?

The reality is that all political power in the United States is shared by two parties: Democrats and Republicans. The Muslim Caucus of America shares common values and priorities with the Democratic Party. We want our democracy to work for all Americans including Muslim Americans and the best way to ensure that is by working with the Party from the inside out.”

The Muslim Caucus motto is “The Muslim Caucus: Building Muslim American Political Power.”

All elected officials in the United States have an obligation and duty to uphold the US Constitution, not Sharia Law.

The Muslim Caucus clearly doesn’t view itself as American, because they are singling themselves out as Muslims, whose ideology of Islam is incompatible with the values in the US Constitution.

If you are familiar with the Explanatory Memorandum, the Muslim Brotherhood’s plan to implement an Islamic caliphate in the United States, then you will understand why this latest move is so dangerous to our nation and to our liberties.

Discovered by the FBI during a raid in Annandale Virginia in 2004, in the home of a senior Muslim Brotherhood official, the document was authenticated as the official Plan of Action for Muslims in the United States. The introduction reads:

“The Muslim Brotherhood must understand that their work in America is a kind of Grand Jihad in illuminating and destroying Western civilization from within and… by their own hands.”

It is important to understand that nearly every Muslim organization in the United States is under the Muslim Brotherhood umbrella.

...

It is worth noting that the main sponsor for the Muslim Caucus inaugural conference is the Council on American Islamic relations (CAIR).

CAIR has been designated as a terrorist organization in United Arab Emirates. CAIR claims to be “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group,” but in 2007, the U.S. government labeled CAIR a co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism trial for financing HAMAS.

Along with being classified as a terrorist organization in the United Arab Emirates in 2014, CAIR has been labeled as a Muslim Brotherhood entity by the United States Justice Department and was found by a federal judge, the U.S. Attorney Generals office, and the Fifth Circuit Court of appeals as having direct ties to Hamas. On July 1, 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Solis upheld CAIR’s designation as a co-conspirator, saying there was “ample evidence” linking CAIR to Hamas. Hamas has also been classified as a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and is listed as a co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation HAMAS terror funding trial in 2008, which is the largest terrorism financing case in U.S. history.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it all.

[fijianlotusflower-blog]

The Struggle of the blooming Lotus Flowers in South Asia

The notion of a “modern woman” in South Asia is extremely difficult to fulfill because of the traditional patriarchal society. The ideologies of an woman are constructed by traditional values rooted from religious beliefs and are seen as ideal, when in reality these ideologies are oppressing towards woman. Colonization of geographical regions historically in South Asia have instilled this sense of fear amongst society, fear of losing traditions to westernization thus craving the need for preservation. The expectations of what a woman should consist of in the South Asia region creates hardship for the “modern woman” to gain respect within her community due to the need for preservation of the South Asian culture. For a middle class woman, it is more difficult to shift to the new modern woman than for the poor working-class woman because of judgement oppressed from society. Whereas the poor working-class woman isn’t deemed as valuable to begin with due to her social class in comparison to the middleclass woman therefore the poor working-class woman has always faced judgment and criticism. By analyzing the dichotomous representations of womanhood, the need for preservation due to historical degrees of colonization we can see the construction of the “modern woman” in South Asia and how it is related to younger generations of South Asian woman such as myself.

           South Asian communitiesvalue woman in relation to marriage, reproduction and domesticity (Chowdhury, 2018). It is backwards notions upheld by society that create toxicity for the production and growth towards achieve being a modern new woman. “Women, understood as a homogeneous group, are perceived to suffer at the hands of patriarchal culture and religion and whom are unable to help themselves” (Chowdhury, 2018, pg. 48). A “modern woman” in South Asian communities is when a woman is educated but not to her full potential, at a certain age before her “expiration date” she must conform to marriage, having children and taking care of the household. This differs from the North American values of a “modern woman” which defines modernity as the woman being fully independent and self- sufficient economically, socially and politically. The cause of the South Asian community to build backwards and traditional expectations is because of the preservation for culture. White European/British settlers once colonized Asia, “A variation of the Victorian new woman of England, the ideal nationalist woman’s counterpart in colonial and post-colonial Bengal and post-independent Bangladesh, has had diverse applicability across the domains of class and the rural-urban divide” (Chowdhury, 2018, pg.48).  The idea of a modern woman has instilled fear in the South Asian society as they associated modernity with British colonizers, in which they felt modernity is associated with westernization stripping away culture, tradition, values and morals which is the foundation this society breathes from.  Hence the social construction of the modern woman post-colonial is affected by the colonial era still.  Partha Chatterjee analyzed why the ideal woman in the South Asian community is considered poor, domestic, sexually liberated and uneducated. It is because she is the opposition of a western modern woman therefore she is seen as elite in this community because she hasn’t been tainted and is pure of her cultural roots. This is why the South Asian community values the preservation of their culture through endogamy and abiding by the traditional regulations outlined within the customs of their culture. Not only are these backwards notions seen within the community, they are also portrayed through visual media arts. “Drama’s propose specific representations of what is “good” and “bad” womanhood” (Dutoya, 2018, pg. 71). The New Heroine?, by Virginie Dutoya explains the significance T.V. soap operas have amongst the South Asian community. Visual media represents woman as emancipated subjects of neoliberalism, as well as advocating for woman rights these shows often conform to the traditional ideologies of what consists of a good woman versus a bad woman. The good woman or seen as ideal is often a woman who follows the traditional norms, whereas the bad woman is the modern woman whom strives to be autonomous. However, when discussing the impact T.V. dramas have upon the South Asian society it is important to understand whom the intended audience is these dramas are targeting, often it is the elder generations. The elder generations are patriotic to the backwards norms in their society that visual media portrays because they feel a sense of preservation, again the pureness of their culture that hasn’t been tainted by westernization.

                 In conclusion being of South Asian decent myself, I connect with these traditional notions and the struggles of trying to become a modern woman in such a patriarchic society. A respectable woman in our community is a woman whom dresses, thinks, speaks, acts and conforms to the stereotypical norms. Many girls in our community struggle with this shift of representation because we do not want to lose our culture, values and morals, however the expectations that are instilled in our society are illogical. Woman should not have to be torn between tradition and modernity (WION. (2019, February 20). Woman of our culture should be able to dress how they want without being concerned what other people might say, we should be able to reach our full potential, be educated, aspire to do and live how we desire without the responsibilities of marriage and domesticity. No woman should feel ashamed to become modern it should be encouraged within society in South Asia just as it’s common in North America. Domesticity, marriage and the ability to bear a child do not define woman nor should it be the guidelines of whether a woman should be respected. Improvement is still necessary in context of the new modern woman however the new woman is a shift in the right direction giving liberty and hope for generations to come. Taking a modern liberal perspective on the notions of a modern woman, if society is harmonious then there will be no conflict or in balance in the community. Woman can only achieve liberty in cohesion with others and with the full acceptance from the South Asian community.

           IMAGE 1 LOTUS FLOWER:The image of the lotus flower I chose to discuss resonates with me tremendously. The lotus flower is praised in the South Asian community as it is believed to bring prosperity, purity of the mind body and speech in devotion to the goddess Lakshmi. The lotus flower resembles the new woman of whom is trying to grow floating on top of muddy waters of attachment and desire on the traditional toxic patriarchal society it is difficult to bloom flourish.

IMAGE 2 MODERN WOMAN IN SOUTH ASIA: This image portrays a South Asian woman whom is advocating for woman empowerment, women rights and equality. She is dressed in traditional cultural clothing to resemble that the modern woman in south Asia isn’t trying to devalue her cultural roots. Her stance is strong bold and embodies the newness notion woman in South Asia are trying to accomplish. She is preserving her culture however she will not suffer at the hands of patriarchy by giving up her liberty.

References:

1)    Chowdhury, E.H. (2018). Made in Bangladesh: The Romance of the New Woman. Rethinking New Womanhood, 47-70.doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-67900-6_3

2)    Dutoya, V. (2018) The New Heroine? Gender representations in Contemporary Pakistani Dramas. Rethinking New Womanhood,71-93.doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-67900-6_4

3)    WION. (2019, February 20). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE171SGPIqY

4)    Image 1: https://www.vexels.com/png-svg/preview/156780/indian-lotus-flower-clipart

5)    Image 2:https://www.newslaundry.com/2018/02/24/women-empowerment-rights-gender-equality

[redcarpetview]

Academy Announces 2019-20 FilmCraft and FilmWatch Grant Recipients

   LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the 47 recipients of its 2019 FilmCraft and FilmWatch grants.

   “The Academy’s Grants Committee is honored to continue to provide support and inspire generations of filmmakers new and old to connect the world through motion pictures,” said Marcus Hu, chair of the Academy’s grants committee. “We are confident the 47 organizations chosen to receive this year’s grants will leave a lasting impact on our society through their diverse and fresh perspectives.”

    The Academy’s FilmCraft and FilmWatch grants were established to identify and empower future filmmakers from nontraditional backgrounds, cultivate new and diverse talent, promote motion pictures as an art form, and provide a platform for underrepresented artists. Grants range from $5,000-$20,000, and a total of $500,000 was awarded for the 2019-2020 grants year. 

    The grant recipient institutions and programs are as follows:

FilmCraft Grants

Bard College (New York, NY) – Creative Process in Dialogue: Art and the Public

Program will include a master class hosted by leading black American filmmakers Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, and Bradford Young, followed by a public dialogue featuring the filmmakers.

California State University, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA) – Women Making Film

Supports collaboration with Cal State LA’s Television, Film and Media Studies Department and the Canon Burbank facility where 10-12 female students will participate in a series of workshops and classes held at the Canon facility in which students receive hands-on experience and instruction.

Camden International Film Festival (Camden, ME) – Points North Institute Artist Programs

The 2019 Artist Programs, which include a fellowship, two residencies, an   industry marketplace and conference, bring hundreds of documentary     filmmakers and film professionals from diverse backgrounds to rural towns on the coast of Maine, providing unique opportunities for mentorship, education, networking and artistic inspiration.

Cine Qua Non Lab (Morelia, Mexico) – CQNL’s Script Revision Lab

Supports CQNL’s 2019 Script Revision Lab in English: a two-week intensive residency that will give 12 independent screenwriters from around the world the opportunity to develop their feature-length narrative scripts within a guided and supportive environment.

Creative Capital Foundation (New York, NY) – 2019 Creative Capital Artist Retreat

The Artist Retreat is a multi-day convening that provides career development and mentorship for a diverse group of Creative Capital artists, including powerful filmmakers, and pitch sessions for artists to present their projects to an audience of 200+ cultural influencers poised to advance their work.

Dreaming Tree Foundation (Rock Island, IL) – Fresh Films Career Path

Fresh Films Career Path engages diverse at-risk teens in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles and the Quad Cities in an eight-month filmmaking program that builds creative and technical skills through working on a film series.

Educational Video Center (New York, NY) – Youth Documentary Workshop

Youth Documentary Workshop (YDW) program is an afterschool and summer program that provides workshops for at-risk youth to shoot, edit, and produce short documentaries, followed by paid internships that provide opportunities to pursue careers in the film and television industry.

Film Independent (Los Angeles, CA) – Film Independent Producing Lab

The Lab is a high-caliber artist development program that supports up to eight diverse, innovative independent producers annually. Producers develop strategies and action plans to bring their selected narrative feature to fruition.

Independent Filmmaker Project (New York, NY) – Independent Filmmaker Labs

This unique, year-long free program provides education, mentoring, and     essential industry connections to filmmakers throughout the country     through completion, marketing, and distribution of their first feature     films.

    Indie Memphis Film Festival

    Indie Memphis (Memphis, TN) – Black Creators Forum

A program of the Indie Memphis Film Festival that is designed to build a     supportive community, provide educational opportunities, and new     productions for black filmmakers.

Inner-City Arts (Los Angeles, CA) – Inner-City Arts’ Animation & Filmmaking Workshops

The  Animation and Filmmaking Workshops will provide 90 underserved high school  students with 20 hours of high-quality arts instruction. Workshops will take place in our fully equipped media arts studio and will be taught by professional Teaching Artists, practicing artists who have experience working in the creative industry.

Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville, NY) – Creative Culture Artists-in-Residence Program

Creative Culture is a fellowship and residency program that fosters a diverse community for emerging and established filmmakers in the region, across the country and around the globe. Funds will support two JBFC     series-focused Artists-in-Residence, such as Global Watch, REMIX (The     Black Experience in Film), Contemporary Arab Cinema.

Leap, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY) – Production Assistant and Post Production Training Programs

Program seeks to bridge the skills gap for underrepresented individuals from low-income communities, increasing their access to careers in the     television and film production industry.

Maysles Institute (New York, NY) – Community Producers Program 

The Community Producers Program (CPP) is a 16-week hands-on documentary production and outreach program for justice-involved young adults, ages 18-24, who are interested in building community, engaging in personal development, and gaining healing and leadership practices through documentary filmmaking.

        Montclair State University Foundation (Montclair, NJ) – Intensive Craft Seminars

The seminars, focusing on below-the-line crafts like sound design, foley     artistry, production design, and camera work, will give students from     underserved communities access to and experience with professionals in the industry that they otherwise would have difficulty accessing.

San Francisco Film Society (San Francisco, CA) – SFFILM Doc Talks

Doc Talk workshops provide documentary filmmakers with artistic guidance and build practical filmmaking skills.

Scribe Video Center (Philadelphia, PA) – Film Scholars

Film Scholars is a series of documentary filmmaking courses focusing on     planning/scripting, production management, production and editing that     will provide a cohort of emerging and mid-level artists from groups     traditionally not represented in commercial media with the skills to     complete new documentary works.

Southern Documentary Fund (Durham, NC) – 2019 SDF Artists Convening

The Artists Convening is a three-day gathering that offers workshops,     mentorship, networking, and other opportunities for Southern media-makers to develop their craft and build vocational infrastructure for film in the South.

Toronto International Film Festival (Toronto, Canada) – Filmmaker Lab 2019

The Filmmaker Lab program provides intensive professional development, including workshops, networking and coaching opportunities with internationally acclaimed filmmakers, for emerging and diverse directors during the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.

UnionDocs, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY) – Union Docs Labs

The labs enhance artistic vision, offer practical knowledge of the field,     provide significant professional development, bolster writing and     technical skills, and ultimately advance the participants’ creative     documentary projects for 36 emerging and mid-career filmmakers.

Visual Communications (Los Angeles, CA) – Armed with a Camera Fellowship

Program helps emerging Asian American Pacific Islander filmmakers to create new and original work.

Youth FX, Inc. (Albany, NY) – NeXt Doc

The NeXt Doc program amplifies the voices of emerging nonfiction filmmakers of color by providing access to training from established documentarians in the field.

FilmWatch Grants

African Film Festival (New York, NY) – 50 Years of FESPACO

Program is a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the venerated Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO). We will present a series of five events examining the legacy of this landmark festival.

American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY) – 2019 Margaret Mead Film Festival

Funds will support community outreach and support participation by documentary filmmakers and film subjects.

Anthology Film Archives (New York, NY) – The Cinema of Gender Transgression

Supports an ongoing series that explores the ways cinema has intersected with the experiences, struggles, and ideas within the transgender community by showcasing historical films that have explored the concept of gender transgression, and contemporary works emerging from the transgender community.

Ashland Independent Film Festival (Ashland, OR) – The Pride Award Series: Queer Intersectionality

The “Pride Award Series: Queer Intersectionality” will be programmed by internationally renowned film critic B. Ruby Rich, recipient of our 2019 Pride Award. The series of screenings and conversations will call     attention to artists and films that highlight productive and combustible     intersections of race, class, gender, and sexual preference.

       Asian American International Film Festival (Brooklyn, NY) – Beyond Representation

“Beyond  Representation” is a 10-day series of screenings, panel discussions and readings, analyzing the impact of Asian-led films, exploring the relationship between Asian Americans and other communities, dissecting the impact of recent immigration restrictions, and forging visions for the future.

Azubuike African American Council for the Arts (Davenport, IA) – Film and Conversation Series: The LA Rebellion

The series will feature 12 L.A. Rebellion films, including on-site presentations by filmmakers Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Haile Gerima and Zeinabu Irene Davis.

Big Sky Film Institute (Missoula, MT) – Native Filmmaker Initiative

The Native Filmmaker Initiative (NFI) elevates Indigenous artists, brings     Native stories to diverse audiences, and educates youth about contemporary and historical Indigenous issues through nonfiction film. The initiative includes the Native Filmmaker Fellowship, Native Voices festival programming, and educational outreach.

Black Harvest Film Festival (Chicago, IL) – Spotlight on Emerging Filmmakers

Spotlight on Emerging Filmmakers will focus on acknowledging first-time filmmakers of African descent or those who have created no more than three films (shorts or feature-length). 

Brooklyn Academy of Music (Brooklyn, NY) – Expanding the Frame

Expanding the Frame is designed to amplify marginalized voices within the dominant cinematic narrative. This year-long program will challenge hegemonic perspectives by highlighting important, though often overlooked, artists in American and international film.

California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA) – Jack H. Skirball Screening Series at REDCAT

The Jack H. Skirball Screening Series will feature today’s most adventurous independent filmmakers, rarely seen cinematic landmarks, and festivals devoted to topics in world cinema during the 2019/20 season.

Canyon Cinema Foundation (San Francisco, CA) – Canyon Cinema Discovered

Canyon Cinema Discovered is a platform for engaging new audiences in experimental cinema. A diverse group of curators will be selected to explore Canyon Cinema’s unique collection, resulting in a nationwide programming initiative.

Chicago International Film Festival (Chicago, IL) – Spotlight: Architecture+Space+Design

The Spotlight: Architecture+Space+Design Program will showcase the less visible craft of production design by highlighting the work of a diversity of designers and by examining how world-building in film reflects and  informs real-world architectural and social structures.

Chicago Latino Film Festival (Chicago, IL) – Educational & Outreach Programs

Educational & Outreach programming during the 35th Chicago Latino Film Festival will include Q & A sessions with filmmakers; free student matinees; and film screenings at community venue partners

Cleveland International Film Festival (Cleveland, OH) – To Be Continued: Focus on Women Filmmakers

To Be Continued supports and encourages the female voice in film and aims to create more equity and diversity in the film industry.

Facets Multi-Media, Inc. (Chicago, IL) – Reels on Wheels

Reels     on Wheels will present award-winning films from the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival to the West and South sides of Chicago – urban,  low-income areas which are virtual movie deserts. A primary focus is to  re-establish the concept of a neighborhood movie house as a platform for community engagement.

Film Forum (New York, NY) – Decolonize the Screen, 1964-1979

This 2-3-week May 2019 series will present 25-30 rarely screened, 16mm and 35mm documentaries and narratives – produced primarily in Africa and Latin America – that chronicle liberation struggles, explore colonial legacies and eschew Western cinematic conventions.

The Film Society of Minneapolis-St. Paul (Minneapolis, MN) – Cine Latino 

Cine Latino, the Upper Midwest’s only showcase of Spanish-language cinema, puts a spotlight on and gives voice to the stories of Minnesota’s largest immigrant group – native Spanish-speakers from many cultures and countries.

GALA Inc. (Grupo de Artistas LatinoAmericanos) (Washington, DC) – Community Engagement: From the Street to the Screen

Support for GALA Theatre’s international film festival featuring contemporary Latin American films with provocative content and innovative techniques. Funding will allow for expanded community programming to engage audiences in vibrant cross-cultural exchanges with emerging Latin American film directors, producers, and actors.

Indigenous Showcase (Seattle, WA) – Indigenous Showcase

Indigenous Showcase provides community screenings of Indigenous-made films and educational opportunities in filmmaking.

International Children’s Media Center (Chicago, IL) – Global Girls & WorldScene Film Immersion Residencies

The Global Girls/WorldScene Residency & Film Festival is an immersive  16-week curating and filmmaking program for at-risk youth that culminates in a high-profile festival of top-tier independent films. By jurying high-quality international films, participants in jails, shelters and care agencies gain important job skills, self-esteem and personal agency.

International Film Seminars (New York, NY) – Flaherty Seminar

The Flaherty Seminar, held every June, brings together filmmakers, curators, educators, students, and film lovers to participate in an intensive, intimate experience that obliterates traditional barriers between makers and audiences. 

Morelia International Film Festival (Morelia, Mexico) – First Nations Forum 

The First Nations Forum 2019 will consist of a four-day workshop, a panel, and two programs of shorts showcasing the work of eight Indigenous women directors from different regions of Mexico.

ReelAbilities International Film Festival (Multiple Cities) – Enhancing Accessibility Options

Support provides open captioning and audio description for approx. 30-35 films that will screen to 30,000+ audience members attending 19 ReelAbilities Film Festivals throughout North America

     Roger Ebert’s Film Festival (Urbana, IL) – Diversity in Film

The Diversity in Film Program will strengthen our commitment to show a series rooted in inclusivity and that expands and extends conversations about  understanding, tolerance, and diversity with an underserved community rarely exposed to such films.

San Diego Latino Film Festival (CA) – ¡Que Viva La Raza! Chicano Legacies in Film, Then and Now

A multidisciplinary and dynamic celebration of Chicano cinema. Through this showcase, a road map (and preservation initiative) of Chicano history will be created using films released during the height of the Chicano Movement and the present.

The Academy’s Grants program provides financial support to qualifying film festivals, educational institutions and film scholars and supports the Academy’s overall mission to recognize and uphold excellence in the motion picture arts and sciences, inspire imagination and connect the world through the medium of motion pictures. The Academy Grants program has awarded more than $12,000,000 to non-profit institutions and film festivals.

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