Journeys to Democracy

Articles

• Analysis without agenda: Creating spaces for understanding and empathy

         
  1 March, by beenasarwar
  Sapan is a cross-border, cross-regional, and cross-diaspora initiative that aims to create spaces for understanding and empathy. We provide analysis without agenda; the documentary is a testament to Sapan’s ability to represent local communities authentically.

• INDIA/PAKISTAN: Peaceful Pink Panties to Tame Right-Wing Goons – InterPress Service, 2009

    
  14 February, by beenasarwar
  Wrote this in 2009, at a time when rightwing groups in India had begun attacking people celebrating V-Day, while Saudi Arabia’s Ministry for the Protection of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had banned the sale of Valentine’s Day materials

• ‘Silences within silences’ around 1971. Plus a ‘South Asia Bound’ documentary. And Arundhati Roy

     
  16 December 2025, by beenasarwar
  It was only as an adult long after 1971 that I learnt about the internment camps where Bengalis in then West Pakistan had been detained. My source was an essay titled ‘Crossing Borders on the Wings of Language’, by Hafiza Nilofar Khan, in Borderlines, Vol. 1 (2014), an anthology published by (…)

• An elegant fundraiser and miles to go

        
  30 November 2025, by beenasarwar
  Generous guests that evening contributed for a total of $6K. We now need $1,500 more by 'Giving Tuesday', Dec. 2, to reach $7,500. Here's how you can help...

• To be hopeful in bad times…

   
  23 November 2025, by beenasarwar
  A powerful quote by Howard Zinn that encapsulates my feelings beautifully.