Celebrating Early Indian Intellectuals in the Diaspora

100th anniv revised

Invitation to the 100th Zoom Public Meeting by Staff Reporter

We wish to invite all interested individuals, organisations and institutions to celebrate the 100th
edition of our ZOOM Public Meeting on Sunday May 1st 2022. For 99 unbroken, continuous weeks, we have been hosting the program every single Sunday. In the past two years, we have featured over 305 presenters from all parts of the world speaking on 99 topics. We wish to thank all those who have contributed, in whatever way, towards the success of this ongoing Pan Indo-Caribbean, and Pan Indian-Diaspora project, which, you will no doubt agree, is historic, pioneering and professionally executed.

The hosts will be the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC), a legally registered, research and publishing company, operating since 2010, led by Dr. Kumar Mahabir, as well as The Ameena Gafoor Institute for the Study of Indentureship and its Legacies (AGI) led by Professor David Dabydeen. The historic 100th progamme is being supported by the Sport and Culture Fund (SCF) of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. Sunday May 1st will also mark the beginning of Indian Heritage/History Month in many countries in the Indian Diaspora. Sunday May 1st will also be Eid-ul-Fitr, a celebration by Muslims worldwide marking the end of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

The theme of this Sunday’s event is “Celebrating Early Indian Intellectuals in the Diaspora.” It is the ICC’s belief that even where Indians are the majority population in the Diaspora, they and their views are often marginal, or marginalised, in the mainstream media, and in formal discourses, and in public groups, organisations and institutions. This forum follows the Black Lives Matter movement with a mission to eradicate inequality, injustice, discrimination and systemic racism.

The topics of these meetings are mainly on and about Indians, but the forum is not for Indians only. OUR MISSION: To bring the Indian Diaspora in the Caribbean and elsewhere closer for intellectual discussions, unity, solidarity and empowerment every Sunday evening/night on one platform. OUR VISION: To achieve a better understanding and appreciation of ourselves in seeking to create a diverse, just, equitable and non-discriminatory society in which Indo-Caribbeans thrive harmoniously with other ethnic groups.

Please join us THIS SUNDAY for a joint ICC, AGI+SPC ZOOM Public Meeting, May 1, 2022 at (1.00 p.m. Belize), (3.00 p.m. New York/Eastern time), (3.00 p.m. Trinidad/Atlantic time), (3.00 p.m. Guyana), (4.00 p.m. Suriname), (8.00 p.m. England), (9.00 p.m. South Africa), (Mon 12.10 a.m. India, ND), (Mon 7.00 a.m. Fiji)

Topic: Celebrating Early Indian Intellectuals in the Diaspora

Honourees:

  • Sir V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad, 1932 – 2018) – Knighted in 1989. Only Trinidad-born person to receive the Nobel Prize (in Literature, 2001). Author of the novel A House for Mr Biswas (1961)
  • F.E.M. Hosein (Trinidad, 1882 – 1936) – Oxford University scholar, Indian civil rights activist, leader of the Young East Indian Party and active member of the East Indian National Congress
  • H.P. Singh (Trinidad, 1905 – 1979) – Indian nationalist in Trinidad, celebrated in the biography The Indian Struggle for Justice and Equality Against Racism in T&T by Kamal Persad (2011)
  • Bechu (Guyana, 1860 – 1910) – Prolific letter writer on Indian indentureship. Immortalised in the book Bound Coolie Radical in British Guiana, 1894-1901 by Clem Seecharan (1999)
  • Joseph & Peter Ruhoman (Guyana, born 1880s) – The Ruhoman brothers were Indian civil right activists, organisers, authors of books and editors of magazines on the Indian Diaspora
  • Dr. Jnan Hansdev Adhin (Suriname, 1927 – 2002) – Holder of three doctorates, Government Minister, and advocate for unity in cultural diversity in multi-ethnic Suriname
  • Prof. Ajai Mansingh (Jamaica, 1932 – 2011) – UWI Biology Professor and co-author of the seminal book Home Away from Home: 150 Years of Indian Presence in Jamaica, 1845-1995 (1999)
  • Prof. Lasserre Singaravélou (Guadeloupe, 1945 – ) – Former President of Bordeaux Montaigne University in France, and author of the 3-volume Les Indiens De La Caraibe (1987)
  • Prof. Fathima Meer (South Africa, 1928 – 2010) – anti-apartheid and human rights activist, educator, author and one of the most prominent women political leaders in South Africa
  • Dr. Khorshed Ginwala (South Africa, 1929 – 2019) – medical doctor with a passion for the poor. Activist in the 1980s. President of the re-named Durban Indian Child Welfare Society
  • Prof. Brij Lal (Fiji, 1952 – 2021) – Political activist, prolific writer and renowned historian on indentureds and their descendants. Editor of The Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora (2007)
  • Prof. Basdeo Bissoondoyal (Mauritius, 1906 – 1991) – social worker, educator and writer who mobilised Indo-Mauritians in pre-Independence politics and the independence movement

Followed by Q+A

Join Zoom Meeting by touching or clicking on this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86474981109

Meeting ID: 864 7498 1109
No Passcode Needed

Live-streamed on the YouTube channel of the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre
https://www.youtube.com/user/dmahab

Hosted by www.indocaribbeanpublications.com + https://ameenagafoorinstitute.org + SPC
WhatsApp +1 868 756 4961 or +1 868 381 0386
dmahabir@gmail.com, indocaribbeanstaff@kumarmahabir

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