The Chronology of Open Space - Lucknow Events

2008

5th June: औरतें, औरत की तलाश में - Urdu Short-Story Reading on the theme of 'Woman' by Lucknow's foremost Urdu Women Writers, Hotel Mezbaan

6th June: An Interaction with Interfaith Couples, NGO Saajhi Duniya premises

16th June: A meeting with Interfaith Couples, NGO Saajhi Duniya Premises

21st June: ग़ज़ल फिर ग़ज़ल इक सुनाने चली - Poetry Recitation on theme of 'Woman' by Lucknow's leading Hindi and Urdu Women Poets, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Foundation

8th July: Socio-Cultural Anthropologist, Prof. Nadeem Hasnain's lecture on "Muslims-'Others' Interface", Uttar Pradesh Press Club

26th July: Open Space - Lucknow Book Tasting Club Session on the theme of 'Displacement' and Reading of excerpts from the Indian Jewish Writer Meera Mahadevan's (nee Miriam Jacob Mendrekar) Hindi novel Apna Ghar, 1961, Academy of Mass Communication

28th July: Open Space - Lucknow Book Tasting Club Session on the theme of Terrorism and Communal Violence, with the reading of excerpts from the Indian Jewish Writer Esther David's novel The Walled City, 1997, NGO Saajhi Duniya office

11th August: The First Session of the Open Space - Lucknow Series 'Diversity Dialogue' - Cross Cultural Dialogue between the American Students of the Urdu Language Programme of the American Institute of Indian Studies and the Indian Students of the University of Lucknow at the campus

14th August: A Discussion on the Appropriateness or Inappropriateness of Religious Processions and the Screening of the Documentary उसी शाहजहांपुर में (In That Very Shahjahanpur)

4th September: The Second Session of the Open Space - Lucknow Series 'Diversity Dialogue' - Cross Cultural Dialogue between the Afghan and Indian Students of the University of Lucknow at the campus

20th September: Workshop on Dalit Issues by the Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) Fellow, Parul Jaitly, at the Nari Shiksha Niketan Post Graduate College, Lucknow

23rd September: Feminism in India - Discussion and the Screening of the documentary Unlimited Girls at the premises of the NGO Saajhi Duniya

27th September: The Third Session of the Open Space - Lucknow Book Tasting Club on the theme of 'Terrorism and Communalism' and the Recitation of the Hindi translations of the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai's Hebrew poems, Academy of Mass Communication

18th October: The Third Session of the Open Space - Lucknow Series Diversity Dialogue - International Interface on Personal & Political Themes with Students from Thirteen Countries at the University of Lucknow

23rd October: The Fourth Session of the Open Space - Lucknow Book Tasting Club on "The Tragic Loss of Life due to Human Misdeeeds" and the Reading of the Israeli writer Etgar Keret's Hebrew short-story "Breaking the Pig"

22nd November: Eminent Historian and the Honorary Consul of India for Queensland, Australia, Professor Sarva-Daman Singh's lecture on "Religious Amity in India" at the Uttar Preadesh Press Club

25th to 27th November: "Be Positive!" - Three-Day-Film-Festival on AIDS/HIV at the University of Lucknow main campus and its affiliate colleges, including a Muslim girls' college

13th December: Famous Urdu Poet Professor Malikzada Manzoor Ahmad's lecture against Muslim Anti-Semitism, titled "The Misuse of Poetry Recitations for Rhetoric", at the Academy of Mass Communication

16th December: Workshop on Energy Conservation at the Nari Shiksha Niketan Post Graduate College

2009

24th January: Session on "The Usage of the Images and Ideas of Masculinity to create Communal Hatred and Violence" and the Screening of the Documentary Father, Son and Holy War

29th and 30th January: Workshops on Energy Conservation in Commemoration of the Energy Conservation Fortnight at the Eram Girls Degree College and the Academy of Mass Communication

28th February: ज़मीनें गुनगुनाती हैं - Hindi and Urdu Poetry Recitation on the Dalit Movement

13th and 14th March: American Jewish Human Rights Activist, Dr. Richard L. Benkin's lectures on "Human Rights in South Asia" and "The Fight Against Terrorism and Communalism" at the University of Lucknow

30th and 31st March: A Couple of Sessions on Communal Harmony - Sadia Shepard's reading of her memoir The Girl From Foreign (Penguin, 2008) and the screening of her documentary In Search of the Bene Israel at the Urdu Language Program of the American Institute of Indian Studies and the University of Lucknow

17th April: A Session on Communal Harmony - Urdu Poetry REcitation by the Muslim Poet Soz Malihabadi and his narration of his Search for his Jewish mother, Academy of mass Communication

19th April: Screening of the documentary ज़ुल्मतों के दौर में (In Dark Times) with the Holocaust as a Case Study for understanding the ways in which Fascism grows and takes over society, Open Space - Lucknow Office

29th April: Lecture on the Right to Information by the RTI Activist Izhar Ahmad at the Ambedkar Central University

14th June: Session on "The Rural-Urban Divide in India" and the Recitation of the Indian Jewish Poet Prof. Nissim Ezekiel's poems at the Open Space - Lucknow Office

22nd June: Preview Screening of the Documentary New Muslim Cool, which highlights the friendship of a new Muslim with a Jewish poet, at the University of Lucknow before its world premiere

27th June: An Evening dedicated to Jewish-Muslim Relations: Screning of A Mighty Heart, based on Daniel Pearl's widow Maiane' memoir and the distribution of a bilingual (Urdu & English) booklet dedicated to interfaith dialogue among Muslim students at the Academy of Mass Communication

10th July: The Fourth Session of the Open Space - Lucknow Series 'Diversity Dialogue' - on the theme of 'Multiculturalism' and the Screening of the documentary Impressions from Luton
in the presence of its maker Mekhela Deva at the Heritage Institute of Languages

16th July: Lecture on Conflict Resolution, titled "26/11 Mumbai and the Radical Project of Secularism" by Prof. D. Marya, University of Southern Maine, USA, at the Giri Institute of Development Studies

28th July: Secretary General of the Italian Muslim Assembly, Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi's lecture on "The Misinterpretation of Islam by Non-Muslims as well as Muslims"

21st August: Indo-Pak Dialogue - 5th Session of the OS-Lucknow series 'Diversity Dialogue'

23rd August: Screening of Rakesh Sharma's Final Solution

14th - 18th September and 12th, 13th, 15th and 22nd - 27th October: THE FIRST EVER HOLOCAUST FILMS RETROSPECTIVE IN SOUTH ASIA at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, University of Lucknow, City Montessori School and the offices of Saajhi Duniya and Open Space

10th October: An Evening of Jewish Music dedicated to World Peace in Memory of Daniel Pearl at the office of Saravajanik Shikshonayan Sansthan

1st November: "Remembering Gujarat 2002" - Reading of excerpts from Robin David's City of Fear, the only Jewish account of the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat 2002, and screening of the documentary Passengers at Open Space - Lucknow office

2nd November: Homage to the Victims of the Anti-Sikh Pogrom in Delhi in 1984 - Screening of the documentary Delhi Diary 2001 at the Open Space - Lucknow office

9th and 11th November: Israeli filmmaker Professor Yael Katzir's workshops on filmmaking and retrospective of her films at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Univerity of Lucknow and City Montessori School

1st December: Honorary Consul of India for Queensland, Australia and Director, Institute of Asian Studies, Brisbane, Australia, Professor Sarva-Daman Singh's lecture on "The Role of Religion in Society" at the Department of Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, University of Lucknow

2nd December: First Secretary - Political Affairs, Embassy of Israel, New Delhi, Ms. Sharon Rappaport's lecture on Indo-Israel Relations at the Department of Ancient Indian History & Archaeology, University of Lucknow

6th December: Homage to the Victims of the post-Babri Mosque demolition riots - Screening of the documentary Dharmayudh (The Holy War) at the Open Space - Lucknow Office

7th to 12th December: A Week of Stories from Nazi Concentration Camps: Reading of Yogendra Krishna's Hindi translations of Tadeusz Borowski's Polish stories from his collection This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (गैस चेम्बर के लिए कृपया इस तरफ) at the Open Space - Lucknow Office

10th December: Screening of the documentary The Romany Trail - Part I on International Human Rights Day at the Open Space - Lucknow Office

18th December: Screening of the documentary Being Osama on International Migrants Day at the Open Space - Lucknow Office

2010

20th January: Screening of the documentary War & Peace as the first event of the year 2010, declared by the UN as the International Year of the Rapprochement of Cultures, at the Open Space - Lucknow Office

23rd January: Discussion on Secular Humanism and recitation of the Secular Humanist Urdu poet Khalid Sohail's poems at the Academy of Mass Communication

30th January: Screening of Gandhi (1982) on Gandhi's martyrdom day at the Open Space - Lucknow Office

The Misinterpretation of Islam by Non-Muslims as well as Muslims

Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi

Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi and Prof. Arif Ayyubi

Dr. Rukhsana Nik'hat Lari, Reader, Department of Arabic, University of Lucknow, asking a question

Dr. Rukhsana Nik'hat Lari, Reader, Department of Arabic, University of Lucknow, asking a question

From the left: Marialusia Sales, Kaur, Isabella, Jane (back row), Brother Chris Mauger (front)

Sheikh Professor Palazzi, Prof. Arif Ayyubi and Dr. Zafar Muhammad Khan asking a question

Prof. Shams Tabrez Khan, Dr. Zafar Muhammad Khan and Prof. Malikzada Manzoor Ahmad

"The forced Wahabization of al-Harmayn (Mecca and Medina) and the oil wealth of the world's only Wahabi state, Saudi Arabia, has completely changed the face of the Islamic world and the way Islam is perceived by non-Muslims and even by some Muslims. Although the Saudi funded propaganda has failed to convert the majority of Sunnis to Wahabism, yet it has succeeded in creating small Wahabi oriented sectarian groups, like Ikhwan al-Muslimin, the so called Ahl-e-Hadith, and the pseudo Salafis. Some contents of that propaganda have strongly influenced the non-Wahabi Muslim perceptions of modernity and of the Judeo-Christian West, " said Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi, the Secretary General of the Italian Muslim Assembly , the Director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community, Rome, and the Co-Founder & Co-Chairman of the Islam-Israel Fellowship, Jerusalem, while delivering a lecture on "The Misinterpretation of Islam by Non-Muslims as well as Muslims", at the Persian Department of the University of Lucknow, under the joint auspices of the department and Open Space, on 28th July, 2009. With a doctorate in Islamic Sciences from the Institute for Islamic Studies and Research in Naples (by the authorization of the former Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia), and ijazzah, authorization to teach, both the Qur'anic exegesis and the Islamic Law, from the prestigious Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Prof. Palazzi backed his somewhat surprising positions with citations from the Qur'an and the traditional Muslim sources.

Prof. Palazzi has taught at universities and academic institutions across Europe, North America and the Middle East, and has been active in the promotion of inter-faith dialogue.

Born in Rome, after completing his secular and religious education in Rome and Cairo, he served as the Imam of the Italian Muslim Community. In addition to numerous Masters degrees, Prof. Palazzi holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Sciences by decree of the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Baz. He holds a a doctorate in Islamic Sciences from the Institute for Islamic Studies and Research in Naples, Italy, by authorization from the former Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, and ijazah (authorization to teach) for both, Qur'anic exegesis and the Islamic law from the Al Azhar University, Cairo. He has been a lecturer in the Department of the History of Religion, Universita della Terza Eta, Velletri (near Rome). Prof. Palazzi was appointed a Member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Muslim Association in 1989, and is now its Secretary General. Prof. Palazzi is also in the international advisary councils of the International Intelligence Summit and of the Jewish Legal Heritage Society. Prominent among the universities at which he has given lectures, are the following:

• Princeton University
• University of Texas
• University of Chicago
• University of Maryland
• University of Ottawa
• University of California - Santa Barbara
• Rutgers University
• Brandeis University
• McMaster University
  
• Kent Law

26/11 Mumbai and the Radical Project of Secularism

Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and Mrs. Rivka Holtzberg, who were killed in the 26/11/2008 Mumbai Terrorist Attack on the Chabad House there. The lecture was organised in their memory and also in memory of everybody else killed in the attacks.

From the left: Prof. A. K. Singh, Director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, Prof. Roop Rekha Varma, Secretary, Saajhi Duniya (NGO) and Prof. Deepika Marya, University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine, USA

Prof. A. K. Singh, Director, Giri Institute, introducing the speaker, Prof. Deepika Marya, Univ. of Southern Maine

Prof. A. K. Singh addressing the gathering

Prof. Marya being felicitated by a Research Fellow of the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow

Prof. Deepika Marya giving the lecture

Prof. Deepika Marya on the mike

Prof. Deepika Marya

Prof. Deepika Marya

Two-year-old Moshe who lost his parents, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg & Mrs. Rivka Holtzberg, to the 26/11/2008 Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

Hotel Taj, Mumbai, under attack on 26/11/2008

Prof. Deepika Marya

"The crises experienced by the people of Mumbai during and after the terrorist attacks on 26/11 have taught us that we can no longer rely on the state to respond to take control and provide safety for the general population. When the state fails to act responsibly it is left to the citizens to come forward with strategies to understand and handle the crisis; where did it emerge from, what were the factors that inflamed it and what will it take to eradicate it in the most constructive way," said Prof. Deepika Marya on Thursday, 16th July, 2009, in a lecture she gave on "26/11 Mumbai and the Radical Project of Secularism", jointly organised by Open Space - Lucknow and the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, at the institute's main auditorium, in memory of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Mrs. Holtzberg and everybody else killed in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Prof. Marya teaches Postcolonial Theory in the English Department at the University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine, USA. She has been active in the field of Conflict Resolution since 1994 and has consulted at numerous colleges, universities, and public and private schools across the US, leading trainings and workshops on Conflict Resolution and Social Justice. She has originated the use of critical theory in mediation training and intervention.

Prof. Marya said, "Based on the work of Rohana and Karper, who have worked in societies that are perpetually torn apart, one could suggest that in cases of sudden, unexpected terrorist attacks on the scale of 26/11, conflict reduction remains out of reach if we keep blaming the 'perpetrators' for all the ills of society and keep them out of the reconciliation process. In other words, to design justice and reconciliation after an an event such as 26/11, the community/nation needs to pay close attention to the group that is being held responsible for the crime. When reconciliation is designed 'at the top', which is to say responding to the needs of those with more power in society and does not dialogue with the group that is most interested in gaining that attention of the media, society and the world, it fails in its purpose." Prof. Marya also added, It is also a moot point that who should design what the process should be and who should carry it out. Holding a person in custody and hanging them is only one form of 'justice'. When that happens the state becomes part of the problem and we get even further from the solution. The state can become a Trojan horse where large scale inquiries that are mandated lead to wrong people being accused or not enough evidence being produced that all parties are convinced. If resolving a deep rooted malaise, whether it be communal disharmony or related to any other societal inequity requires we ask the state to be accountable for its role in perpetuation of the problem, it needs to involve the lower powered group, the one that feels targeted, and step back to ask ourselves as a community what do we mean by justice. Do we feel justice has been done by punishing the lone surviving attacker and pointing fingers at another country for harboring terrorists?"

The programme was presided over by eminent social activist Prof. Roop Rekha Varma, while the speaker was introduced by Prof. A. K. Singh, Director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow. The vote of thanks was given by Open Space Fellow Dr. Navras Jaat Aafreedi.

Session on Multiculturalism and the Screening of the Documentary "Impressions from Luton" in the presence of its maker Mekhela Deva

Luton, United Kingdom

Poet Robert Gurney

Mekhela Deva, the Maker of Impressions from Luton

A session on multiculturalism was organised at the Heritage Institute of Languages , Lucknow, under the joint auspices of Open Space - Lucknow and the institute under the Open Space - Lucknow series of cross-cultural dialogues, titled Diversity Dialogue, on Friday, 10th July, 2009, at which a documentary Impressions from Luton was screened in the presence of its maker Mekhela Deva. The film was about the changing face of a British town called Luton, seen through the eyes of two local Englishmen, poet Robert Gurney and journalist Andy Gayler. It is their impression that the student director Mekhela Deva brought back with her after a year's sabbatical at the University of Bedfordshire, where she did a Masters in Media Production (Documentary). Curious about the British multicultural experiment, she explores it through both their narratives that reflect the town's diversity in a very subtle way. The film is split in five different sections. It begins with one of Bob Gurney's poems and is followed by the journalist's narrative, to come back to another poem and so on. However, there is a thread that links all the sections to also tell the story of the town. Robert Gurney's poems are like an elegy to the past, whilst the journalist celebrates the survivor spirit of Luton with its "let's live with it" pragmatism. By the end of the film one gets a sense of the town's history as well as its evolution from a very English town to one with a multicultural face. The screening was preceded and followed by discussions on multiculturalism, in which students from thirteen countries enrolled at the Heritage Institute took part along with the institute's directors Rauni and Rebecca Da Mota and teachers. On the occassion a treatise written by Mekhela Deva on her film was also distributed.