Electoral Politics and Cultural Resistance in India: A talk by SHABNAM HASHMI

In 2002, over 2000 Muslims were killed by Hindu extremist mobs in the Indian state of Gujarat, and over 150,000 victims continue to be displaced even today.

Shabnam Hashmi and ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) began focusing on ground-up mobilization work in Gujarat throughout 2006-07 as a run up to the state elections of December 2007 by conducting town and village level awareness campaigns about communal harmony across the state. Shabnam Hashmi's talk will focus on the fate of democracy in Gujarat, India.

Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD is among the foremost figures in the political battles around secularism and religious fundamentalism in India today. With more than 25 years of experience working on issues of religious violence and conflict resolution in India, Hashmi brought together a range of intellectuals and cultural activists in 2003 to found ANHAD as a new experiment in grassroots cultural production and education, especially amongst youth. ANHAD undertakes grassroots level activities with an emphasis on constructive and continuous activity in order to create and sustain secular and democratic consciousness in an ethnically diverse India.