SAJAforum

GANDHI: A rare English recording surfaces

In an exclusive story this week, Shankar Vedantam, a staff writer and columnist ("Department of Human Behavior") for the Washington Post, was able to contribute to our collective understanding of Mahatma Gandhi.

According to Vedantam, only two speeches that Gandhi gave in English have been recorded. One was from the 1930s and, as described in "Saying His Peace":

Recently, however, the second speech surfaced in -- of all places -- downtown Washington. It had been lovingly preserved for 60 years by John Cosgrove, a former president of the National Press Club. Cosgrove's copy came from Alfred Wagg, a journalist who recorded the speech in New Delhi and produced four 78-rpm LPs that included both Gandhi's voice as well as Wagg's own commentary about the Indian independence leader. Cosgrove discovered the significance of the recording during a chance encounter with Rajmohan Gandhi, when the author came to the Press Club this past spring to promote his new biography.

Gandhi's speech -- made with the uneven diction of an elderly man who sounds as though he has lost most of his teeth -- had the same themes he visited over and over throughout his life: the importance of nonviolence, the eradication of the caste system in Hindu society, amity between South Asia's Hindus and Muslims, and a world united against violence and exploitation.

"A friend asked yesterday, did I believe in one world?" Gandhi says at one point in the speech. "Of course I believe in World One. And how can I possibly do otherwise? . . . You can redeliver that message now in this age of democracy, in the age of awakening of the poorest of the poor."

Read the rest of the piece here. You can listen to the recording below and then watch his grandson and biographer, Rajmohan Gandhi talk about the recording and about his grandfather.

Asked how get got this scoop, Vedantam told SAJAforum via e-mail: "Serendipity + luck. I happened to be at a dinner table with Rajmohan Gandhi when John Cosgrove came by to introduce himself." And the rest is a piece of recaptured history. Vedantam wrote a guest  "On Faith" column for WP & Newsweek.com.

Listen to the Gandhi recording:

WEBCAST: Dileepan Sivapathasundaram on Zimbabwe and his ordeal

Back in April 2008, Dileepan Sivapathasundaram was thrust into the media spotlight when he was detained and then released in Zimbabwe at the same that that New York Times reporter Barry Bearak was arrested (he has since been released, too).

With all the news about Zimbabwe's mockery of an election today, we thought we'd remind you of a webcast we hosted with Sivapathasundaram on May 5, 2008, a month after his release. He discussed his work in Zimbabwe, analyzed the elections, talked about the future of that part of Africa, and much, much more.

Meet Dileepan Sivapathasundaram, a U.S. democracy worker who was arrested in Zimbabwe in April while helping local groups monitor the elections. We discussed his detention, how he was freed and his work as a democracy activist. Sivapathasundaram is a Sri Lankan-American who works for the National Democratic Institute ("a non-partisan, non-profit,
non-governmental org that aims to support democratic values & practices in more than 60 countries").

Post your comments below. Journalists want to contact him can write to dileepansiva[at]gmail.

Earlier on SAJAforum:

• April 5, 2008: NYT's Barry Bearak arrested in Zimbabwe; Dileepan Sivapathasundaram released (includes CPJ alert)

PAKISTAN: Benazir Bhutto's Appearance at CFR

The hottest ticket among South Asia watchers on the day after Pakistan's Independence Day was the appearance at the Council on Foreign Affairs by former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. CFR.org has published the transcript and audio from her conversation with CFR president Richard Haass is on the site. After an opening statement, here's the first question:

HAASS: Let me begin with a -- in some ways it's a question that to me was implicit in everything you said. You talk about the history of your country over the last 60 years. What is it about Pakistan or Pakistanis that accounts for the fact that, probably a majority of its history, democracy has not prevailed. What's wrong?

BHUTTO: Well, we feel that the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, died very quickly, a year after Pakistan was founded, and so we didn't have a national leader with the authority, the respect to help us develop our democratic political institutions, whereas Nehru, in nearby India, provided the leadership that could help a new nation strengthen its democratic institutions.

Secondly, we also feel that Pakistan's geostrategic position as a country -- you know, we -- Afghanistan was the buffer state during the Cold War, and Pakistan was one side of the buffer state -- so our geostrategic position as the bastion for the free world also led to the international community dealing with whoever was in power. So in a sense, the military dictatorships were able to milk international support for suppressing democratic rights for short-term strategic goals. But I am concerned that that policy is now backfiring.

HAASS: Do you therefore actually wish that the United States and others were putting more pressure on your government to reinstall democracy?

Read her answer and the rest of the transcript here. Listen to the audio here.

These photos are provided for SAJAforum by Jay Mandal/On Assignment. Contact Jay: jaymandal[at]yahoo.com

EARLIER ON SAJAforum:

• Benazir Bhutto and husband Asif break up
• Read all the items on Pakistan.

TRAVEL: Life Along the Ganges River

All this week, Americans have been waking up to an extraordinary story about the Ganges/Ganga River. Actually, dozens of little stories -- and a fascinating cast of characters. NPR's "Morning Edition" has been running a series that ends this morning called "The Ganges: A Journey Into India." For the series, Philip Reeves traveled 1,500 miles from the source of the river in Devprayag in the Himalayas to where it ends, in the Bay of Bengal.

India's holy Ganges River travels 1,550 miles from the Himalayas and across the plains of north India before spilling into the Bay of Bengal. A five-part series explores life along the river: its extremes of ancient and modern, rural and urban, and rich and poor. The Ganges provides sustenance to more people than the population of the United States. She passes through India's most populous state, its most lawless state, its holiest city and Calcutta, the country's cultural capital and latest aspiring technology hub.

It's quite an journey and one well worth following. NPR.org has collected the entire audio and a series of diary entries from Reeves on its site, along with photos by Heathcliff O'Malley [ O'Malley's photos were also part of a London Telegraph series, "A Holy River: A Journey Down the Ganges" by Peter Foster.] Below are direct links to each day's reports. As many of you know, SAJA's own Madhulika Sikka is senior producer of "Morning Edition."

AUDIO: Asia Society Launches All-Asia Podcast

The building on the right is the Manhattan headquarters of Asia Society, the major U.S. home of all things Asian. From its founding in 1956, the nonprofit has grown into a real international force, with offices in various cities around the U.S. and abroad - including the opening of its India center in Mumbai a year ago. Like most big nonprofits, it has put a lot of energy and resources into its website so that it can reach audiences beyond this and other buildings. Actually, the society is more than just one site. It has several sites that extend its mission:

AsiaSource.org
      Comprehensive resource with news updates, in-depth interviews on current       affairs, and country profiles.

AsiaFood.org
      Resource on Asian cuisines featuring searchable databases of hundreds of       recipes and glossary terms.

AsiaSocietyMuseum.org
  Access a database of masterworks from South, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, dating from 2000 B.C. to the 19th century.

InternationalEd.org
      Online gateway to improving K-12 teaching and learning about all facets       of other world regions.

So I wasn't surprised to get an alert from Deanna Lee, VP of communications, that they have now launched a weekly podcast. In the first edition, which I just listened to, they pull together a short "newscast" about developments coming out of Asia (Dick Cheney's Pakistan visit; Starbucks and its move into India, an Oscar connection to Asia), as well as preview events coming at Asia Society.

This first effort includes a news roundup featuring interviews with Bernard
Schwartz Fellow Pramit Chaudhuri and Betsy Williams, a "Heard At...Asia Society"
section with a Lang Lang excerpt, and a "Coming Up" rundown of select events
at AS centers this week.

Hosted by Lee, a former ABC producer, it's a great way for the Society to showcase its people and programming and experiment with technologies that allow them to reach a broader audience.

Check out the podcast page, where new material will be added every Tuesday and listen to the first edition here, in MP3 format (they promise a downloadable version soon).

[ EARLIER ON SAJAFORUM: Asia Society's "Oz" Prize" ]

Post your thoughts in the comments section below.

                                                          

SAJA-DC: Coverage of "Navigating the Labyrinth" Conference

Some of Washington D.C.'s best-known journalists, including Leonard Downie, executive editor of The Washington Post (right), were among the speakers at SAJA's first ever day-long conference outside New York. In fact, within the first two hours, five Pulitzer Prize-winners had already shared their ideas with the audience of more than 130 journalists. The theme of the conference, which was hosted by the National Press Club: "Journalism in the Nation's Capital: Navigating the Labyrinth."

Below you will find text and/or audio clips from several of the sessions and you can see 80+ photos by Preston Merchant here. You can see a video story in Urdu/Hindi by VOA's Imran Siddiqui here (.mov file). Additional reports from the conference are coming soon. Lots of tips and story ideas, so do take a look.

• Opening Keynote: Len Downie, executive editor of The Washington Post, kicked off the conference with a conversation about the news industry's future, the 2008 elections and covering the war and national security.
  Read a report on the session by Shefali Kulkarni.
  Download the mp3 (31MB) and listen to the whole session.
  

• Unearthing the Big Story: A discussion of some of Washington's biggest stories of the last year, from warrantless wiretapping to congressional scandals, featuring ABC News senior producer Rhonda Schwartz, Jerry Kammer and Marcus Stern of Copley News Service, and Eric Lichtblau and James Risen of The New York Times. Moderated by Chitra Ragavan of US News & World Report
  Download the mp3 (41MB) and listen to the full session.


• The New Wave of New Media: John Harris, editor-in-chief of the brand-new The Politico (and former WP reporter), and Wall Street Journal deputy bureau chief Nikhil Deogun talk with Washington Post assistant managing editor Rajiv Chandrasekaran about blogging, online video and the challenges of feeding new platforms.
  Read a report on the session by Priyanka Dayal.
  Download the mp3 (38MB) and listen to the full session.

• Breaking into Washington Media: What does it take to make it in the nation's capital? Who will give you a shot when you are starting out? What are editors looking for in young journalists? Speakers: Dipka Bhambhani, Platts; Ed Foster-Simeon, USA TODAY; Amanda Long, Washington Business Journal; Amna Nawaz, NBC News. Moderator: Vandana Sinha, Washington Business Journal.
  Read a report on the session by Priyanka Dayal.
• South Asia's Imprint on Washington: Leading journalists representing South Asian and U.S. news outlets discuss how coverage of the region is evolving. Featuring Aziz Haniffa, India Abroad; Selig Harrison, Center for International Policy; Anwar Iqbal, Dawn;   Moderated by Patti Tripathi, Tripath Media.
  Download the mp3 (19MB) and listen to the full session. 

 

Don't forget: This year's SAJA Convention and Job Fair will take place over four days in New York City - July 12-15, 2007. Please mark your calendars and keep an eye on SAJA.org for details.