A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Tonight on APEX Express we speak with members of We Are Savera about Hindutva and the Far Right. Safa Ahmed from Indian American Muslim Council and Roja Suganthy-Singh from Dalit Solidarity Forum USA join Host Miko Lee for an enlightening conversation. More information about We Are Savera Haf Way to Supremacy Report Savera United Against Supremacy Petition Hindutva & The Far Right Transcripts Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It’s time to get on board the Apex Express. Miko Lee: [00:00:34] Welcome. Tonight on Apex Express, we’re very excited to be talking with folks from Savera, a multicultural, interfaith, anti-caste coalition of Indian Americans and partners standing together in the fight against the rise of the transnational far right. Can you please, my lovely guests, introduce yourselves with your name and your organization? Safa, can we start with you, please? Safa Ahmed: [00:00:58] Hi, everyone. My name is Safa Ahmed. I am the Associate Director of Media and Communications for the Indian American Muslim Council. Miko Lee: [00:01:05] And Roja, can you please introduce yourself? Roja Suganthy-Singh: [00:01:08] My name is Roja Suganthy-Singh, and I represent Dalit Solidarity Forum in the USA. I’m the co-founder president, which our organization is also an integral part of Savera, one of the partners. Miko Lee: [00:01:26] Thank you. I know there’s other partners with the Savera, which I’d love you to kind of just name what those other partners are. Safa Ahmed: [00:01:35] Yeah, so there’s multiple organizations within the Savera Coalition have, of course, Indian American Muslim Council, which is the largest and oldest advocacy organization for Indian Muslims dedicated to combating Hindu supremacy in the United States and India. We also have several partners who are also very much involved in that line of work, including Hindus for Human Rights, which is a progressive Hindu organization that is aimed at combating Hindu supremacy using a Hindu voice and also speaking out. Speaking out for other civil rights and social justice causes that impact communities both in the U. S. and India. We have India Civil Watch International, we have Dalit Solidarity Forum, and we also have several other partners, across the spectrum of, identities and communities as well. But those are the main, that are in the core of Savera. Miko Lee: [00:02:21] So this is a broad coalition and we have two of the members here. Since we have you two here today, I’d love to hear from each of you personally. Um, and this is a question that I ask all of my guests, it’s an adaptation of the great poet Chinaka Hodges. And my question is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Roja, can you start please? Roja Suganthy-Singh: [00:02:43] I, like I said, Dalit Solidarity Forum in the USA, I’m one of the co-founders, and I’m the president of the organization. And it’s one of the oldest, Dalit rights organizations in the United States, founded in 1999. basically to provide visibility to and engage in activism to condemn discriminations and violence faced by Dalits, formerly known as untouchables, in India. And due to the caste system, which is an ancient system of human classification still practiced in India and today globally as well, Dalits are rejected and socially excluded as outcasts by the rest of the Indian population. So they are everyday victims of structurally embedded discrimination in all social sectors. forced to live in extreme poverty, subject to constant dehumanization and unspeakable violence , my work with DSF has been to provide visibility to, to this issue. And I’ve been working with grassroots leadership in India for over 25 years now, and my academic work also and research is deeply embedded in the intersectional realities and experiences of Dalit women in India. Miko Lee: [00:03:58] Thank you so much. And Safa, what about you? Who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Safa Ahmed: [00:04:05] So I am a second generation Indian American Muslim, and I always talk about Indian Muslims as this community that’s not very well, understood beyond and even in India, actually not many people know that India has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world with 200 million people, which is about 14 percent of the overall population. It is the second largest religious group in India and the largest religious minority group. And like all religious groups in India, Muslims are so diverse in their ethnicities, languages, cultures, and interpretations of ...
