One of the most poignant reminders, in the city of Boston, of the consequences of denial and indifference is a plaque that marks the end of the walkway through a memorial to the Jewish Holocaust . It bears words that are all too familiar, along the following lines: 'First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak up because I was not a Jew...' and on in that vein, through gypsies, the homosexually oriented and Catholics until the final searching lines, '...and then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up.' The memorial and the words, ironically, are located hard by Government Centre, the site of so many detentions, so many disappearances. And the crime? An unfortunate combination of honest ignorance of increasingly draconian laws, religious identity, and the colour of one's skin.

The rumbles had already been made manifest in the wake of the events of September the 11th, 2001. People perceived to be Muslim, including a large number of Sikh Americans, suddenly found themselves the object of directed attacks. Ignorance did not seem to matter so long as it was practised by elements of the mainstream. Xenophobia enjoyed a field day - murders, beatings, racial profiling became routine. And as Japanese Americans once found to their disadvantage, Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians, American or otherwise, discovered now to theirs - civil liberties were all too easily held to ransom in a nation that flaunted its norms of stated democracy to the world, and aggressively sought to foist the same upon other nations that may have chosen to take other roads to self-governance.

One of the most recent episodes of anti-Muslim and racist violence was met upon a South Asian graduate student, Saurabh Bhalerao, making ends meet by delivering pizzas in New Bedford, Massachusetts, who was set upon by four young men and beaten to within an inch of his life, simply because he was mistaken to be a Muslim. At the same time, a prominent Palestinian activist, Amer Jubran, was being targeted for his outspoken perspectives on Palestinian Human Rights and had been investigated by the FBI and suffered detention in a Rhode Island Prison. The last straw was the circulation of a flyer in the Massachusetts State Legislature by Senator Guy Glodis (D-Auburn), marked by strident anti-Muslim rhetoric. If ever there was a call to action, it was now.

Occasions of different communities of colour coming together are lamentably few, inertia and a marked disinclination to engage often coming to the fore. But as the words of the plaque by the Holocaust Memorial imply, it is precisely such inertia, fear, and lack of fraternity that plague opportunities for concerted resistance to totalitarianism. Fortunately, growing introspection and a desire to foment change is addressing this situation, not least in the genesis of such organisations as SACH (South Asian Committee on Human Rights).

It was SACH that made the call for a rally to be held at Harvard Square to protest the trampling down of the rights of immigrants and people of colour, taking as specific issues, the Saurabh Bhalerao case, the continuing tribulations of Amer Jubran, and the shocking anti-Muslim flyer authored by Guy Glodis. Other organisations were quick to offer support in co-sponsoring the rally. These included Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia; American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Mass.; BankBusters; Campaign on Contingent Work; Civil Liberties Task Force, ACLU, Mass.; Jobs with Justice, Eastern Mass; Muslim American Society--Freedom Foundation; Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Mass. Chapter; New England Committee to Defend Palestine; New England Immigrant and Detainee Response Network; Project Voice, American Friends Service Committee; South Asian Center; UMass-Boston Human Rights Working Group; United for Justice with Peace; and Worker Education Roundtable.

The rally was marked by several stirring speeches, including an address by Amer Jubran, who asked pointedly if Muslims, Arabs and South Asians were scapegoats in the Bush administration's war on terror, and were, as such to be blamed for the continuing deracination of other groups of colour, including African-Americans once forced to backs of buses, and Native Americans, forever marked by the unimaginable genocide perpetrated upon them. Other speakers included Noel Cohen, who spoke impassionately about Amer Jubran's spirited and courageous defense of civil liberties in the face of the gravest governmental provocation, Gabriel Camacho of Project Voice (American Friends Service Committee and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement); Merrie Najimy (president of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee); Sadaf Kazmi (Muslim American Society); Vivek (Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia); and Lisa Thurau-Gray of ACLU, Massachetts. Aimee Smith, running for City Councillor in Cambridge, led the one hundred and fifty strong group from Harvard Square to the corner of Brattle and Mount Auburn Streets, with such slogans as 'Being South Asian is not a crime, being Muslim is not a crime, being Arab is not a crime.' Aparna Sindhoor of Navarasa led the group briefly in a song that suggested strength in solidarity. The rally lasted for an hour and a half, and by all accounts, has provided the impetus for further direct action, strategies for which are being animatedly discussed.

For further information about SACH, please contact southasiancommitteeonhumanrights@yahoogroups.com

John Mathew (with input from Sunaina Maira)

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