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As of September, 2009, 17,000 of an expected 60,000 Bhutanese Hindus have arrived in the United States as refugees. Another 40,000 are destined for resettlement in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Hinduism Today sent correspondent Rajiv Malik and photographer Thomas Kelly to one of the camps in Nepal, correspondent Lavina Melwani to the Bronx, New York, and enlisted community volunteers in Ohio and Texas. All contributed to the following report on a mass Hindu migration and the challenges and opportunities faced by this relatively poor and unevenly educated community.
Nineteen years ago, one hundred thousand Hindus--one-sixth of the population of Bhutan--left that country in a massive exodus to escape vicious persecution. Bhutan's Drukpa majority, followers of Tibetan Buddhism, declared the Hindus, who migrated to Bhutan a hundred years ago, to be illegal immigrants. They were stripped of rights, then attacked and finally forced to leave the country. Refused sanctuary in neighboring India, the refugees reached Nepal and have been living ever since in "temporary" camps, ignored by the Indian press and knowing little but unfulfilled hope, anger and resignation.
These Bhutanese Hindus are the latest large group to have been accepted for asylum in the United States. Beginning in 2008, thousands began to leave the camps for cities all over America. While a few other countries have agreed to take some refugees, a full 60 percent will go to the US.
Moving such a population, even at a rate of 1,500 per month, considering relocation to all countries, takes time. The first and bravest are already established in far-flung places like New York and Utah; while relatives remain in the camps, receiving letters with tales of the New World and anxiously--sometimes hesitantly--awaiting their turn. During the wait, they take classes on the various aspects of modern Western life, which is much different from anything most have ever known.
The area provisionally granted to the refugees by Nepal is in Damak, 650 km from the capital, near the narrow part of India that separates Nepal from Bhutan. The climate there in September was hot and unpleasantly humid, a far cry from the cooler Bhutanese weather.
The camps are overseen by the International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental agency founded after World War II to manage and care for the millions displaced by that conflict. Today, IOM, backed by 127 member countries, is the unofficial guardian of those who, like the Bhutanese Hindus, live in limbo, with where no country is home. Now that some countries have agreed to accept Bhutanese refugees, the IOM and the United Nations Refugee Agency decide together who will go to each country, with family unity a major consideration.
There are seven main encampments near Damak. The largest, holding 22,000 Bhutanese, is Beldangi II--a warren of bamboo huts, tall trees and ubiquitous mud. It is accessible (at least, when the rivers are not in flood) only via a circuitous unpaved road. The IOM arranged for Hinduism Today to visit and interview residents here.
Impressions on entering the camp are mixed. The lush green trees provide a pleasant atmosphere, in contrast to the litter and garbage on the paths between the huts. A few structures of round, curved shiny metal, resembling satellite antennas, are actually solar heaters, used to boil water and sterilize utensils. Hundreds of curious, excited children flock out to follow foreign visitors, especially intrigued by Hinduism Today's American photographer, Thomas Kelly, who speaks fluent Nepalese.
The home of Mr. Mano Rath Chamalgai, 67, is a cramped hut with no electricity. As night fell, a curious mob crowded the door and windows. The patriarch was the first to speak, nostalgically relating a tale that is representative of most in the camps: "In Bhutan I had a very good life. I was a farmer, with my own land and a nice house to live in. We had electricity there. But the Bhutanese government and army were cruel to us, and that was the reason we had to leave Bhutan. The eighteen years we have spent here have been very difficult."
His wife, Man Maya Chamalagai, 65, fears the future. "I am in a big dilemma. I have been living here for a long time. Now the future is uncertain. I do not know what is going to happen to us once we are in USA. I am not sure what kind of life we will lead there." Their two daughters, Lekha Devi and Parvati, know nothing but life as refugees. "I do not have the citizenship of any country right now," says Lekha Devi. "In the USA, I hope my dreams will come true."
Mr. Chamalgai continues, "My ancestors and forefathers migrated to Bhutan from Nepal. Our customs and traditions are similar to those that prevail in Nepal. So, we belong in Nepal." Nepal, however, refuses to grant them residency (see page 31).
Bhutan's ethnic purge began in 1990. Making wide use of intimidation, bureaucratic dead-ends and suspended rights, the government organized a massive migration of all families that could not meet the draconian requirements for citizenship--expelling fully one-sixth of the country's population. Forced to sign "voluntary migration forms," Bhutanese Hindus were taken to Nepal. Because the Nepalese government denied them citizenship status--most had no acquaintances or family they could trace back to Nepal--they became refugees, not legally bound to or welcomed by any nation.
Prem Paykurel, too, had been a successful farmer in Bhutan. His memories of the expulsion are fresh in his mind: "When we left Bhutan, the agitation for restoration of democratic rights was going on. Even though I was not involved, I was arrested and beaten. Finally, we were given an ultimatum by the Bhutanese authorities to leave the country. But we never thought that we would have to live in Nepal for 18 years."
Paykurel is the head of a family whose migration to America was followed by Hinduism Today (see sidebar, page 27). At the time of this interview, two of Prem's children had already flown to America. He and his family feel the time for their better future has finally come. "I have waited for so long living in these camps, thinking a day would come when we would go back to our native Bhutan," he laments. "Life has been really miserable here, and especially the children went through a lot. I am taking this decision of going to USA only because it will ensure a good life for them. But I know my wife and I will have to endure many hardships."
For most refugees, is seems, a buoyant hope for a bright future keeps the painful past at bay, but some have lost much. Yogacharya Narayan Adhikari held a high position in Bhutan: "For many years I was an elected member of parliament, the national assembly of Bhutan. I represented our people and tried to serve the interests of all in the best possible way. Then there was cultural and religious annihilation done by the Bhutan government. First, they made a certain dress compulsory: everyone was supposed to wear only that. Then, all that was deemed not part of the official culture was forbidden."
Adhikari's current focus is on teaching yoga and meditation in America once he relocates to Pennsylvania, where some of his relatives are already settled. His main message is: "Youth must always remember their duties towards dharma. We Bhutanese refugees have to be known as good people, of right conduct and behavior. Our youth must live correctly for us to get a good image all over the world."
Hinduism is intrinsically woven into the identity of the people here. It was one of the main factors that distinguished them from the dominant Drukpa Bhutanese. They are free to practice Hinduism in the camps, and conversion efforts are forbidden by the camp administrators. There are several small temples in Beldangi II. Sitaram Adhikari, priest of the Lakshmi Temple, shares, "Without the temple, none of us could feel blissful and peaceful." He worries that he will have trouble finding puja supplies in the US: "Kusha, till, au and tulsi are four things we must have for our puja, but we cannot take the seeds with us." He and a few other priests perform samskaras, blessings, marriages and cremation ceremonies. There are also a number of pundits in the camps, such as Adhikari and Pundit Kashi Nath Ghimere, who completed his education in Bhutan and studied Sanskrit in India. A pundit's functions overlap with the priests', but they focus more on providing sacraments than on ritual worship. Pundit Ghimere is busy working not only among the refugees but the local Nepalese population as well. Another pundit, Bhola Nath Sapkota, carries the degree of Acharaya in Sanskrit Grammar from Varanasi. He explains, "There are no differences in the Hindu dharma when it comes to Bhutanese Hindus; it is only a few traditional practices that might be unique."
Most of the refugees have known only the simple life of farming, working the mountainous land and living in houses made of mud mixed with yak dung. Ms. Jennifer Pro, Overseas Processing Supervisor of the IOM, knows well the challenge of integrating them into gigantic cities like New York, Cleveland or Los Angeles, each with populations many times that of Bhutan's.
In addition to a standard education for the children--some of whom surpass their American peers--the IOM provides cultural orientation classes for refugees whose move has been scheduled. The curriculum is designed to help them understand their host country and survive in it. The instructors, though called "volunteers," are paid $500 a month. To qualify, they must have actually lived in the host country.
According to instructor Shashwat, the refugees are taught about all aspects of life in their future home, particularly those that will seem most alien to them. For example, they learn that toilets are inside the house, and that water runs in pipes day and night. To help overcome the language barrier, short crucial sentences and key English word are taught. Refugees with just a few dozen words in their vocabulary display pride in their accomplishment, little aware of how much must yet be learned.
Classes on health and hygiene teach how the standards of personal cleanliness are much different in an American city than in the camp. Other sessions focus on flying in an airplane, what to expect at security, how the toilets work and even how to operate the control for the in-flight entertainment.
Students are encouraged to ask questions. The most basic answers may be the ones they will need the most as they brave their awkward new world. The instructors use mock settings to help them visualize, interact with and understand what they will encounter. They see and touch objects, and pass around pictures of everything from dressing styles to airport signs.
The aid programs for them in the US will be short term, so everyone is encouraged to think now about getting a job. Pictures depicting nurses, construction workers, drivers, clerks and people in other professions are passed around, eliciting animated questions from students. Yogacharya Adhikari volunteers, "We are told how to hunt for jobs so that we can become self-dependent, which is the most important thing."
David Derthick, Resettlement Program Manager for the International Organization for Migration, sighs with relief when talking about the massive effort to send the refugees to America. Notwithstanding all the work involved, it is easier, and more humane, than maintaining a refugee camp. Overall, he says, the camps have worked remarkably well over the 19 years, considering all the tensions and potential problems. "These refugees are treated better than any refugees with whom I have worked in my whole life. The camps are well run, and the infrastructure is good. The government of Nepal has been quite benevolent toward them. In other situations I have seen, refugee camps are closed, and refugees are confined like prisoners. This is not the case here. Refugees freely move in and out of the camps. They travel to India and to Kathmandu. Technically, they should not work, but many do, and that releases some of the tensions that would arise from having tens of thousands of people idle. Some even have good jobs that pay well."
"Unfortunately, there is a rule, issued by Nepal, that structures should not be permanent. But refugees here are themselves the de facto government of the camp; they run for offices and get elected in hotly contested elections. I have found the leaders to be extraordinarily good administrators who care about their people."
The IOM, the United Nations and a Christian relief organization called Caritas provide the infrastructure and the resources for the camps. The IOM is the main organizer; the UN provides various services, including primary education and part of the funding; Caritas contributes food and provides education at the ninth and tenth grade levels.
Father Varkey Perekkatt is with Caritas Nepal, which is part of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, a group that, historically, has engaged in intense and widespread conversion efforts. According to Perekkatt, Caritas has a different goal. "In the curriculum in our schools there is nothing special about religion. We are not running a Hindu school or a Christian school. I am a Catholic priest, but we are here in a humanitarian, secular assistance. Under that condition, religion does not count." Refugees similarly reported that there is little or no proselytizing at the camps. Perekkatt continues, "Ninety-five percent of those who came here were Hindus, and the rest were Buddhists. Now there are the occasional Christians, less than five percent after 18 years." He did not explain how five percent had become converted, given the camp rules prohibiting proselytization--though there are churches in the area.
Caritas' main challenge nowadays is to find, among the refugees, good school teachers who speak English, the medium of instruction. Perekkatt laments, "Last year, 600 of our 1,100 teachers left for resettlement. Soon 291 more will be leaving." This is a consequence of the policy of sending the more educated people first to the US and other countries, knowing that they will get established more easily. But Perekkatt is still confident that the children are being properly taught. He says with pride, "Some of our students who are now in American schools have written that they are performing better than other people in their class." He says many resettled Bhutanese write to him from America, telling about their life, their jobs and their challenges. "These are good people; some are making 25 dollars an hour there." (The average yearly income in Nepal is $471.)
The camp organizers are suffering from what Human Rights Watch calls "donor fatigue,"which set in before the current recession. In December 2006, the World Food Program warned that it had not yet received any international donations to fund its food aid to the refugees for the next two years, and would be forced to cut their rations. Caritas stopped distributing clothing in 2002. Likewise, the UN, compelled by budgetary constraints to scale back assistance programs, stopped providing vegetables and spices to supplement basic rations. Refugees who have no outside income can now prepare only the most basic meals, with little variety and poor nutritional value. Sometimes there just isn't enough, and tensions mount.
The cutbacks have been many, and the impact is dramatic. The materials needed to fix the roofs of their simple huts, for example, are no longer available, and leaks abound. During the rainy season, entire families crowd together in the small parts of their huts that are still dry, or take shelter in another family's hut. Leaky roofs in school classrooms mean that the jute mats on which the students sit become soggy; there are no chairs, so the children must attend classes standing up.
Probably the biggest impact of budget cuts was the switch from kerosene to coal briquettes for cooking. While briquettes are cheaper, they also have serious disadvantages compared to kerosene, including health hazards.
The IOM estimates that 25,000 refugees have left for other countries so far. "Everything is going on smoothly. Every month about 1,500 people are leaving," says David Derthick. "I expect this to be the case for next several years. Certain refugees families here are frustrated because we have a big backlog. But I think 1,500 people is a lot, all things considered."
He describes some of the logistical challenges that can overshadow the extensive paperwork and refugee training. For three months of the year, the fog in the Damak region is so thick that few planes can fly to Kathmandu, whence refugees fly to India and then America. During other times of the year, rivers flood, making it impossible to reach the camps.
Security is an constant concern. In May of 2008, two IOM buses were attacked and set on fire. No one was hurt, but Derthick says the message was clear: "There is a small group of refugees which does not want the refugees to resettle. In another incident, a grenade was thrown into this compound." Those against the resettlement feel that Bhutan should take them back, and that accepting the resettlement is a display of weakness. Others would rather be accepted as citizens of Nepal, or to receive asylum in India.
Perenkkatt explains that Nepal has tried to negotiate with Bhutan on behalf of the refugees: "Fifteen rounds of talks took place between Bhutan and Nepal. Bhutan came up with conditions very few were able to agree to, including planning a closed camp where refugees would live for two years studying Bhutan's main culture. After that, they would take exams on it and renounce their own former culture. But even that offer was restricted to only a few, and eventually withdrawn. When all this was announced, people went wild and violent. After that, many young refugees went to Maoists and wanted to fight Bhutan's government for their rights. Many chose this path of confrontation between 2004 and 2006." Much of the anger calmed down when, in 2006, an American delegation visited the camps and offered asylum soon thereafter. But tensions and fear are still commonplace.
Vishnumaya Oli, a 27-year-old English teacher and a refugee, says, "The problem now is that almost all the educated people have already left the camp and settled abroad. Those who are here now are mostly uneducated, and many are negative in their outlook. Some create disturbance in the camp. Just a few days back, one of the camp's leaders was stabbed to death. We do not know if the murderer is a refugee or a local Nepalese with a vendetta. But things are getting worse." Vishnumaya's relatives have already left. "My parents have settled in the US, and they are extremely happy there. They call me up every day and ask me to join them."
Hinduism Today asked Derthik if consideration is given to helping the Bhutanese Hindus retain their cultural and personal identities during the relocation process. Clearly puzzled, he replied, "I will be honest: I never thought of this before. I was reading your magazine today and realized that their rich culture is a new dimension to me. Honestly, I do not know. Here we are just giving them nuts-and-bolts information on how to survive in America and other countries." He adds, however, that in selecting the country of resettlement the UN "values the importance of family unity and would not send some members of a family to Australia and others to the United States."
One can only imagine what a hullabaloo there would be if America were to push out thousands of its naturalized citizens, stripping them of all rights, based simply on the language they spoke or the faith they practiced! Yet Bhutan has managed to do this with impunity, destroying the lives of thousands of its own citizens who thereafter languished in refugee camps, their lives disrupted and put on hold. Youth who were born in the camps have wasted the best years of their lives-up to 20 years-living in limbo, with no dreams and no future. Two decades have been spent as stateless people, belonging nowhere, allowed to have no allegiance, no sense of purpose.
Difficult as their situation has been, there is a silver lining: the offer of the United States to resettle up to 60,000 of the 106,000 refugees. About 8,000 have already arrived in the US and been given government assistance to settle down. But this help is for just eight months, after which they have to fend for themselves. Many of the refugees speak no English and have no marketable skills. What will life be like for them as they try to get their bearings in a world light years removed from their simple rural existence, first in Bhutan, and then in Nepal? Certainly their lives will be very different. And each family's situation will vary depending on the towns and cities they land in, from Ohio to Georgia to California, New York and New Jersey. Those here now are finding the people, the economy, the climate and even the language vastly different between Anchorage, Alaska; Oakland, California; Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; and right here in New York City, where just about everyone's ancestor came as a refugee from one country or another over the last two centuries.
A Little Bhutan is taking shape in the rough, hard-nosed Bronx borough of New York. The Bronx is a traditional landing place for immigrants--at any given time in the last hundred years, one-third of its residents have been foreign born.
T.P. Mishra, now 25, was just six years old when his father was beaten up, kept under police surveillance and then stripped of his citizenship. The whole family was expelled from Bhutan, and since then Mishra knew no other home but the congested huts of the refugee camp until he arrived in the US on July 2, 2009.
Mishra lives in a rundown, bleak and yet somehow handsome old apartment building, a place with an unkempt, struggling patch of grass in front. In this hard neighborhood, even the grass has to fight to survive. In Mishra's apartment, there is scant furniture and the barest of necessities. There are no fancy decor items, just a black sofa, a chair and, on one side, a couch where he sleeps. The bedroom is shared by his two sisters, Tika and Dillu. The parents are still in the camp, waiting their turn.
A miniature flag has pride of place on his side table, a part of his life wherever he goes, wherever he lives. It is his identity. It is the flag of Bhutan, the country that disowned him. For Mishra, as for all the refugees, it tells a tale of unrequited love. Mishra is more fortunate than most: he has an education that is enabling him to do some worthwhile things. With his faithful laptop by his side, he is a journalist in exile; and he provided Hinduism Today a window into the world of the Bhutanese refugees. The voice of his community, he has his own website (www.tpmishra.com) and two blogs.
Mishra's sister Tika is a lovely girl, but she looks wan and pale, low in joy and smiles. She is learning English through the International Rescue Committee, the resettlement agency. The days seem to hang heavy on her, as she has no job. Her younger sister Dillu is working in a factory, packing food. As they improve their English, their access to the outside world will increase.
Mishra's building houses the largest settlement of Bhutanese refugees in the New York area: 50 people in 9 families living in the same walk-up building. They move easily among each other's units, eating together, chatting about world and personal matters, almost like an extended family of many cousins, uncles and aunts. Those who have left their parents behind in the camp look to the elders here as surrogate parents. As in a family, everyone is closely connected. Says Mishra: "Sometimes I feel I'm not in America--I still feel I'm within the camp or with my community. If I lack anything, I can come down to my neighbor's and open the fridge and take what I need. And if they lack anything they can come to me."
Hinduism Today also visited the family of Jaya Narayan, 78, and his wife Nar Maya, 68. The whole family--sons, daughters, grandchildren and grandparents--are dressed in traditional garb, the men with a Nepali topi or cap, the women with Nepalese scarves and jewelry, their faces leathery and weather-beaten. Happy to meet another Hindu, they take their visitor to their small makeshift shrine for their evening arati. Nar Maya lights a divya and her husband blows loudly on the small conch as the family gather close. Hindu values are intact here. No matter how little the refugees have, they share it, even with strangers. The steaming, sweet milky chai, served in steel tumblers, is delicious.
Their home shrine is in a closet, with coats hung incongruously on top. On the wall are calendars with the images of Sri Krishna and Lakshmi, and in the shrine photos of their family members who have passed on. An oil lamp divya burns on the table, a makeshift attempt to retain religion in their daily life.
Narayan's large, shining computer contrasts with the Spartan furnishings. The refugees have learned that a computer is essential for connecting with their community, be they in Australia or Wisconsin, USA. Through video, they can watch each other and laugh and talk together. Young and old gathered around the computer, having a video chat with their daughters in Australia.
The Bronx Bhutanese were getting ready for Dashain. The country of Nepal shuts down for two weeks each year in September/October to celebrate. Abi Sivakoti says, "We pray for ten days, and on the tenth day we get blessings and tikka from our parents. We have a very good meal, and that's how we celebrate. There are so many pandits in the refugee camps but there isn't one here. We do hope to get one here because we don't want to miss out on our culture."
Mangala Sharma, now living in Minnesota, came to the US in 2000 after receiving political asylum. Since then, she has been working to advocate on behalf of the refugees. She explains, "I was born and raised in Bhutan. In fact, I am the fourth generation of women born in Bhutan in my family. I used to work for the United Nations; then I lived in a refugee camp in Nepal."
Sharma says the 300 Bhutanese already in Minnesota have formed Nirvana Center, a collaborative effort with local Hindu families. The Center provides familiar food items, winter clothes and other necessities to arriving refugees. Sharma shares, "So far, Minneapolis has been very good place for resettlement. We have many more benefits than other states."
She says what while most of the people come from a farming background, the community also includes some professionals who are both studying and working, thus preparing for the future. All are Hindu. She mentions, "Nirvana Center is the outcome of people's needs and hunger to preserve our culture and religion. We have satsang every fortnight, and we completed the Art of Living workshop, which people loved."
Santi Ram Poudel spent 16 long years in Maidhar Refugee Camp. Before that he lived in the village of Lalihapper, a backward and remote place where there were no motor roads, schools or markets. During the 1990s, he recalls, Bhutan used its military and civil servants to wipe out the Nepali-speaking Southern Bhutanese through torture, rape, murder and burning of homes. Poudel was one of the lucky ones. He obtained an education under these difficult circumstances--though his Master of Science in Urban Planning from Tribhavan University, Katmandu, means little in America. Presently he is a coordinator in a nonprofit assisting immigrants.
Insightful and articulate, Poudel shares his observations and impressions. First off, he confides, "I thought all the Americans are multi-millionaires. I thought on every corner of the street people will hire for a job and it won't be hard to get employment. Things didn't happen that way, and it is really tough and challenging to find jobs. Initially we thought we won't find people who would help us but we found people who not only helped us but cared for us. They touched our lives. My three uncles and their families are resettled at South Dakota."
He found life in the camps left them totally unprepared for the US. While they were happy to escape the growing discontent, he says, "the cost of resettlement is too high. Most had not expected life to be so different. Some are really disturbed, our seniors especially. Be it buying groceries, banking, making appointments or job interviews, people are having multi-dimensional catastrophes."
Poudel wants to pursue graduate studies, but must balance that desire with his need to make money and his essential role in the community: "For some, I need to write their checks, read the letters and interpret for them, solve family issues, encourage and provide moral support."
He expressed a common dilemma, present even for refugees in the camps: "If I make a phone call or visit my relatives in Bhutan, the government will suspect them and may expel them. This is how the life is!" Still, he affirms, "I respect my country and I feel proud to be a Bhutanese citizen. It may take time to resolve the crisis, but it will be resolved. The fourth king of Bhutan realized his mistakes and he did not hesitate to abdicate his throne. The fifth king is far-sighted and a visionary leader."
The Bhutanese refugees present a new scenario for the American-Hindu community: how to help a largely uneducated group of Hindus settle down. Nearly all previous immigrants from the Indian region have been educated professionals for whom carving a niche in America was little challenge. But this group is different, and a number of Hindu temples and organizations have stepped in to help.
Sree N. Sree0nath (see his In My Opinion, page 9) is president of Sewa International, one of the key Hindu-American organizations working with the Bhutanese across America (www.sewausa.org/bhutanese-refugee-empowerment-project). He explains the challenges: only about 20% of the group have any college education and hence a working knowledge of English. These have gotten and held jobs, and bought their first cell phone, computer and used car. At the other end of the spectrum are some 40% who are functionally illiterate. They speak only Nepali--not even Hindi, which would help them get jobs in Indian businesses. Another 20% are under-employed. The work is mostly minimum wage--restaurants, motels, convenience stores, gas stations and the like. These are legal workers, and that is an advantage. They've appealed for jobs from the business community, and, as one community leader said, "have had some great successes--and some spectacular exploitation."
The employment situation, Sreenath explains, varies greatly. California and the South, except for Texas, have been hard-hit by the recession. Depending on location, unemployment can run 30 to 80%. "Employment is the biggest challenge; after that is cultural adjustment, especially for the older ones. Cold winter weather, which keeps them indoors, is a great hardship for those with no transportation."
Asked how the Bhutanese have been received by the Hindu community, Sreenath replies, "In all the places that Sewa International has been working, the Hindu community has more than embraced them. In a few places Sewa International does not have volunteers, and the community is left to fend for themselves. But even then, the refugees are pleasantly surprised by the warmth that mainstream America has shown them."
The stars in this drama, Sreenath recounts with pride, are the children. "There are many straight-A students. Those who were in high school in the Nepal camps are a year ahead in math and science compared to the local American students. Of course, they are struggling with English and social studies, due to language."
Sreenath feels the Bhutanese accept America as home. "Having lived in jail-like, squalid camp conditions for 17 years, they find US to be a paradise--especially once they find a job and settle down. The ones who are in their 30s would like to go back, but only as tourists. The children couldn't care less."
The refugees' Hindu faith sees them through their tribulations. Yet it is this Hindu faith and culture which--almost outlawed by Bhutan--has, to a large extent, been responsible for their loss of homeland. And now, even in America, that same Hindu faith is under siege, as some refugees report coercion to embrace Christianity. On the line are jobs, material comforts and an easier life.
The resettlement agencies handling the refugees for the first eight months are expressly forbidden to proselytize among them. But such efforts have been an issue. Sreenath says, "All refugees tell us that the missionaries who visited them in the camps said that there are no Hindu temples in the US. Everyone is a Christian, and they will also have to become one, and it is better they do so right away because they will get better benefits. This kind of talk continues to be a problem in the southern states here. But wherever Sewa International is working, the missionary activities are low, if non-existent."
You can contact Sewa International through their web site, or track down the Bhutanese in your area using public-domain government documents available at www.scribd.com/ht_resources. They include lists of all cities the refugees are settled in and a list of all local sponsoring agencies contracted to the government. There are only a few in any given area, so it should be possible to find the one working with the Bhutanese and arrange to contact a community representative. Such support is golden.
In 2007, the international group Human Rights Watch issued an in-depth analysis of the Bhutanese refugee situation. These are selected verbatim excerpts from that report. We begin with the report's footnote #6, Threat to a Nation's Survival. It answers--to some extent--a puzzling question: Why has Bhutan, the nation famous for trying to improve its "Gross National Happiness," expelled one-sixth of its population?
[In a 1993 report by Bhutan's Ministry of Home Affairs entitled "The Southern Problem: Threat to a Nation's Survival] referring to the millions of ethnic Nepalis in India, the government of Bhutan raised the specter of a "relentless tide of the Nepali diaspora" imposing "a state of democratic siege on Bhutan." The government asserted that "the southern Bhutan problem is neither a movement for democracy nor an issue concerning human rights. It is simply an attempt by an ethnic community to turn themselves into a majority through illegal immigration in order to take over political power."
Developments in the region no doubt contributed to these fears. In 1975, the neighboring kingdom of Sikkim ceased to be an independent state and merged with India, following a referendum in which the Nepali migrants, who had come to outnumber the Buddhist Sikkimese, were instrumental. In the mid-1980s the Gorkha National Liberation Front led an ultimately unsuccessful but violent campaign in North Bengal in India, on Bhutan's western border, for an independent Nepali state.
The Bhutanese refugee crisis has its roots in the history of migration to Bhutan, the resulting ethnically diverse make-up of the country's population, and the harsh policies of Bhutan's absolute monarchy towards its ethnic Nepali minority. The politically and culturally dominant Ngalongs, who live mainly in the central and western regions of Bhutan, are of Tibetan descent; their ancestors arrived in Bhutan in the 8th and 9th centuries. The Ngalongs speak Dzongkha and follow the Drukpa Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, which is Bhutan's state religion. Bhutan's king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, is a Ngalong. The Sharchhops, who live in eastern Bhutan, are of Indo-Burmese origin, speak Tshangla (which is closely related to Dzongkha) and follow the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Together the Ngalongs and Sharchhops are known as Drukpas. The third major group, who differ greatly from the Drukpas in terms of culture, language, and religion, are ethnic Nepalis in southern Bhutan, called Lhotshampas; they speak Nepali and are predominantly Hindu. Ethnic Nepalis first began migrating to Bhutan in the nineteenth century. Many became eligible for Bhutanese citizenship under the 1958 Nationality Law. Moreover, from the mid-1950s ethnic Nepalis began to be admitted into the bureaucracy, the army and the police, and were made members of the cabinet and the judiciary.
By the late 1970s the Drukpa establishment had come to see the ethnic Nepalis' growing numbers and influence as a threat to Bhutan's cultural identity and the Drukpas' own privileged position. Increasingly, Bhutan's ruling elite asserted that the majority of the ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan were not in fact citizens but illegal immigrants who threatened Bhutan's "survival as a distinct political and cultural entity." The government invoked these perceived threats as justification for a series of discriminatory measures aimed at the political, economic and cultural exclusion of Bhutan's ethnic Nepalis. Two new Citizenship Acts were passed in quick succession, in 1977 and 1985, each tightening the requirements for Bhutanese citizenship.
The 1985 Citizenship Act was followed by a new census in 1988. This census amounted to a selective, arbitrary and retroactive implementation of the 1985 Act. The authorities excluded ethnic Nepalis from becoming naturalized citizens, as provided for under the 1985 Act; instead, the authorities restricted Bhutanese citizenship to ethnic Nepalis who had records, such as tax receipts, to prove residence in Bhutan in 1958--30 years before the census. Bhutanese officials classified people who could not prove residence in 1958 as non-nationals, "returned migrants," or other illegal immigrant categories, even if they possessed a citizenship card. A series of "Bhutanization" measures in line with Bhutan's "one nation, one people" policy exacerbated a state of fear and resentment by trying to impose a distinct national identity. On January 16, 1989, the king issued a decree requiring all citizens to observe the traditional Drukpa code of values, dress and etiquette called driglam namzha. Then in February 1989 the government removed the Nepali language from the curriculum in all schools in southern Bhutan.
Ethnic Nepalis perceived these policies as a direct attack on their cultural identity. This led to growing unrest in southern Bhutan, culminating in mass demonstrations in September and October 1990. The government response was swift. The authorities classified all participants in the demonstrations as ngolops ("anti-nationals"), arresting thousands of people. The government then closed all schools in southern Bhutan and suspended health services.
By the end of 1990 the Bhutanese authorities coerced the first ethnic Nepalis to leave Bhutan. They released some ethnic Nepalis from prison on condition that they would leave the country, while giving others categorized as non-nationals under the 1988 census the "choice" to leave the country or face imprisonment. The security forces harassed many ethnic Nepalis, in some cases destroying their homes. The authorities forced the majority into exile by intimidating them into signing so-called "voluntary migration forms."
A young man's testimony was typical of the accounts refugees gave to Human Rights Watch: "The army took all the people from their houses. My father left the house and went to India. The army sent us the form issued by the government [voluntary migration form]. They said that we had to go out. They said if you go now you will get some money. Some people got a little money. On the way [as we left Bhutan] there were many police. We were forced to sign the document. They snapped our photos. The man told me to smile, to show my teeth. He wanted to show that I was leaving my country willingly, happily, that I was not forced to leave. Only one member of my family signed. My mother gave her thumbprint."
Some of the ethnic Nepalis who fled or were expelled from Bhutan settled in India, but most refugees ended up in Nepal.
Refugees have the right under international law to return to their own country. However, in a flawed process that was widely discredited by international observers and refugee experts, Bhutan and Nepal instituted a "joint verification process" to determine which refugees would be able to return.
The process of "verifying" the status of refugees and placing them in one of four categories broke down after a joint Nepal-Bhutan verification team assessed only one camp, and not a single refugee has been allowed to return to Bhutan as a result of this process.
Nepalis Remaining in Bhutan
Bhutan continues to discriminate against the remaining ethnic Nepali population in Bhutan. Ethnic Nepalis have great difficulties obtaining so-called No Objection Certificates (NOCs), which are a pre-requisite for government employment, access to higher education, obtaining trade and business licenses, travel documents, and buying and selling land. Being denied a NOC deprives a person of almost all means of earning a living. Moreover, Bhutan's remaining ethnic Nepali citizens face ongoing threats to their citizenship status. A nationwide census completed in 2005 classifies 13 percent of current Bhutanese permanent residents as "non-nationals." While most ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan do not believe that they are currently at imminent risk of being expelled from Bhutan, they fear that without citizenship cards and without NOCs, life in Bhutan will eventually become so difficult as to leave many of them with little choice but to leave the country.
Refugees voiced to Human Rights Watch persistent fears that Bhutan might use the resettlement offer as a pretext to force its remaining ethnic Nepali citizens to leave the country. One refugee said, "Government officials in villages are saying to Lhotshampas, 'Your relatives are going to America, why are you still here?'"PIpi
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The Dead Path
Editorial Reviews
A fantastically dark and gripping tale expertly delivered in performer Michael Carman's sandpaper-and-silk voice. Australian Nicholas Close is living in London when an accident kills his new wife and leaves him with the ability to see the dead. Returning to Australia, he discovers that a 100-year-old string of child sacrifices have been taking place in the dark woods near his house. Close must get to the bottom of the horror, or risk being swallowed up himself. Stephen M. Irwin takes what might be a cheesy plot in the hands of a lesser writer and crafts an icily beautiful thriller instead. Highly recommended for fans of horror and suspense.
Publisher's Summary
The Dead Path tells the gripping story of a broken man, Nicholas Close. A terrible accident has left him a widower and awoken in him the ability to see the dead. Now, he can't escape visions of tortured spirits, their last moments caught in horrible, endlessly replaying loops.
Nicholas leaves London and returns to Australia, where he is disturbed to see that a heavily treed tract of land in his childhood suburb has somehow escaped development. These woods have haunted Nicholas since he was a boy, and now he knows why: he sees the ghosts of terrified children being dragged from the path into the grinning maw of dark trees.
When another local child goes missing, Nicholas himself becomes a suspect, yet he alone knows the girl has been taken into the woods. If he does not act against whatever resides among the shadowy trees, more innocents will be murdered. But the force he resolves to confront is old, cunning, and evil...and wants Nicholas for itself.
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5 Stars29
4 Stars37
3 Stars16
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1 Stars6
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- Sean
- 06-22-10
An excellent story!
I really enjoyed this. The narration seemed a little harsh at first, but after a few minutes you adjust to the light accent of the narrator. Also, since the story itself takes place in Australia it adds to the authenticity. I'm not kidding when I say I listened to the whole story in one sitting, it really keeps you on the edge of your seat with plenty of twists and turns. The only negative comment I would have is that section of the story were slightly pornographic. This isn't really a bad thing since it all relates to the story, but of course it means that I wouldn't recommend it for younger listeners. Other than that, this was an outstanding story full of interesting characters and great suspense!
PS: Those read up on the occult will be happy to know there's a decent amount of accuracy when it comes to runes and European pagan mythology. Complete with a positive example of a modern adept to offset the negativity of the antagonist.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
- Jennifer
- Halifax, NS, Canada
- 09-23-10
Best Debut of the Year
This is the best audiobook I have listened to in ages. In fact, after I finished it I kept thinking about it and thinking about it, so I went back and listened to it again.
The story is riveting. An Australian in London loses his wife in an accident and then returns to his home town in Australia after he discovers that his own accident has left him with the uncanny ability to see the ghosts of people at their moments of death.
Back in Australia, he discovers that children are being abducted and killed in the dark woods near his house. These relate to the murder of Simon's best friend 20 years before. They also relate to a string of child killings (sacrifices) which have taken place over the past hundred years or so.
The story weaves the current day plot with scenes from Simon's childhood. Simon seeks to find answers and to stop the horrifying occurrences. He enlists his sister, his mother, and the widow of an acquaintance. They are all drawn into the mystery and the witchcraft.
The images in the book are compelling. The woods are haunted and haunting. There is witchcraft and ancient magic. There are ghosts. There are spiders and shape-shifters. There are believers, non-believers and reluctant believers. There are shamans and priests. Several characters die. The end of the book is surprising and satisfyingly disturbing.
The narration of this story is superb. Michael Carman is absolutely brilliant. His English accents and Australian accents are spot on, and he's one of the few male narrators who does a really excellent job with female characters.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
- Hope
- Broken Arrow, OK, United States
- 01-22-11
Wonderful story
I loved everything in this book. I have no idea why on Earth there are so many comments about sex detracting from the story, that is not the case by any means unless I blanked out at just the right moments. I was interested from start to finish.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
- Alicia A. Jenson
- 11-16-10
If you hate Spiders.....
I enjoyed this book immensely, mostly because the end was completely different than I was expecting. I would have given it a five but only books that make me cry or fool me who the murderer is get that.
I heard about this book on Facebook, and I was somewhat skeptical about how good it would be but I am very glad I downloaded this. It was entertaining, creepy and I did root for the characters.
There was a review on here that said it was sexually explicit....I don't know what book she was reading but I didn't think any of this book sexually inappropriate. And what sex there was was important to the story.
Download it, I liked it, a good listen, good narrator and I will definately buy his second when it comes out.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
- Andre
- 09-03-10
Loved it
I don't understand the negative critics, it might not be the kind of book that everyone loves, but it definitely is a great book, I am hoping for a sequel. As for adjusting to the accent (???) come on...there is absolutely no problem with the accent, the reader speaks clearly and is very easy to understand.
I highly recommend this book as it has lots of twists and turns and the end is very interesting.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
- Donna
- Queensland, Australia
- 07-13-10
Very Enjoyable
I've not heard of this author before, but I'd love to get my hands on anything else he's written after hearing this book. His story is easy to get into, well-written, and each time I had to turn it off to do other things, I was always thinking about it and trying to figure out when I'd be able to listen to more. This was my first selection after joining, and I'm very, very happy with it.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
- Abri
- LonehillSouth Africa
- 06-05-10
The Awesome path
This is serious edge of your seat stuff. Well written and read, and there is never a dull moment during this novel.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
- Phoebe
- 11-26-15
Would you try another book from Stephen M. Irwin and/or Michael Carman?
Would you ever listen to anything by Stephen M. Irwin again?
You didn't love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
Any additional comments?
After really trying to get into this book I have to give up after 2 hours. It's just blah and boring.
- Louis Cypher
- 05-11-13
Good Read
Good book, it was similar to The Broken Ones but I liked that book also. I'm glad I took a chance on Stephen Irwin.
- Jared
- 01-11-12
Very Good - Not for children though
Any additional comments?
The story keeps moving and is consistently interesting. Despite the synopsis, seeing the dead isn't actually the main point of the story - and has no resolution. It's more of black arts tale.
My only complaints are some unnecessary detail towards bodily functions - and it's not really a lot - and the last couple of lines of the book. VAGUE-SPOILER: the last few lines after the real closure of the story appear to have been thrown in at the last minute, as they don't really line up with what you've learned about the story world. It also appears to be an attempt to give the story the traditional negative ending that most horror stories have.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful
- karenlr
- 10-06-13
very good
Any additional comments?
Didnt think I would like listening to an Australian narrating (Not because I dont like Australians I think they are great) but I found Michael carmans voice to be very engaging with good characterisation. I love supernatural tales and this was very good moving along at a good pace One thing I have never read a book in which so many people threw up in the characters were doing it all the time (Prehaps the nora virus was doing the rounds!) I felt it did seem to get over zealous towards the end with the supernatural stuff but overall it was very good with a twist that I never saw coming
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
- 07-01-13
Would you listen to The Dead Path again? Why?
I would definitely listen to this again - the story was gripping and unusual, full of unexpected turns.
What other book might you compare The Dead Path to, and why?
This reminded me of Stephen King at his best.
Have you listened to any of Michael Carman's other performances? How does this one compare?
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Any additional comments?
I had expected a murder mystery with some supernatural twists, but this was so much more - unexpectedly brilliant.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
- jennifer
- 04-07-12
The Dead Path
Great creepy ghost story,i often used to think how good it would be to see the dead,but after listening to this story i take it all back!
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
- knittyboot
- 06-01-11
Brilliant book!
Writing horror books or supernatural thrillers I've always thought must be really difficult. How do you come up the new ideas? In this book Mr. Irwin solves the problem by using a very old idea, won't tell you what it is because I don't want ruin the story. Suffice to say he has created an eerie story that I've listened to over and over. Apart from the quite horrible Irish accent that pops up occasionally the narration is great. If you like Stephen King you'll probably like this.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
- christian
- 10-26-13
Unexpectedly good
Any additional comments?
This is a quite competent horror thriller, with good characters, an interesting storyline, an unexpected enemy. The style is competent, even though the author repeatedly uses metaphors and similes that one can get tired of. It has some gruesome descriptions, really horrific moments ( no-one is spared...), and good dialogue with some humorous moments. It manages to be elegiac and somber at times, amidst the general gruesomeness... and though I have read and heard quite a few audiobooks... I did not see the twist in the end coming. A twist which sent chills through me.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
- John
- 03-20-19
Promote this book!
I bought this book years ago but have only just listened to it. A beautifully written, scary story with a twist that you won't see coming. Like other reviewers, I'm reminded of the best Stephen King stories. I'll definitely be listening to more from this author.
- dawn
- 11-11-14
The creepiest book since forever.......!
What made the experience of listening to The Dead Path the most enjoyable?
From the first bit I was hooked - cant tell you more without spoilers.....well written and very descriptive. Fantastic
What other book might you compare The Dead Path to, and why?
Christine - Stephen King - the only other book ever to make me feel scared stupid
Have you listened to any of Michael Carman's other performances? How does this one compare?
first time - it is good. Actually it makes it less scary as I dont find his accent to sinister.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
dont watch alone - and dont go to the bleedy woods anymore.
Any additional comments?
If you like the books I have enjoyed, Duma Key, The Stand, The Passage, American Gods, Shining etc (in no particular order) try this - you will not be sorry.
- Mrs J Greenhalgh
- 09-07-14
fabulously creepy
Would you consider the audio edition of The Dead Path to be better than the print version?
havent read the print version
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Dead Path?
the book was filled with them, so hard to narrow it down to one.
What about Michael Carman's performance did you like?
he made the story feel very atmospheric.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
if you go down to the woods today
Any additional comments?
superb book and narration, the story took me back to childhood at times, and all the things that terrified me.
- sarahmoose2000
- 12-13-13
Gah! Freakout
Give me vampires, werewolves etc and I'm fine; but give me a ghost and I revert to a shivering five year old!
Nicholas keeps seeing ghosts in the woods next to his childhood home. Something is leaving Blair Witch-stlye effigies for unsuspecting children and Nicholas keeps reliving their terrifying deaths.
What do his sister and mum really know? Does the local old granny/witch have anything to do with it?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Orchestrate Your Harder Deployments
IBM UrbanCode Deploy is a tool for automating application deployments through your environments. It is designed to facilitate rapid feedback and continuous delivery in agile development while providing the audit trails, versioning and approvals needed in production.
IBM UrbanCode Deploy provides
- Automated, consistent deployments and rollbacks of applications
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Typical Uses
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Modern applications are often made up of many components. Perhaps a three tier application with database, app and content components. Or A mobile application with the actual mobile application and back-end web services. Even related collections of batch programs are seen as a logical application. UrbanCode Deploy tracks which components make up an application so they can be deployed and tracked together. Snapshots offer the ability to create a version of the application encapsulating versions of each of the components. With snapshots, it is easy to ensure that components that were tested together are released together.Learn more about application modeling and snapshots.
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Deployment automation tools need to know how to deploy your applications. In UrbanCode Deploy, processes are defined in browser using a simple, drag and drop process designer. Component processes are composed of automation steps delivered by integration plugins. Application processes are composed of component processes. Steps may be run in sequence or in parallel. Transitions between steps are governed by rules. Typically, "Go this way on success, or that way on failure." The designer makes it easy to translate a cryptic manual process into an easy to understand automated flow. Learn more about the Process Designer.
Deploy to Public, Private, and Hybrid Cloud
Using the blueprint designer, you can model cloud environments and how your applications are deployed to those environments in a simple graphical editor. You connect to clouds, model the virtual images in the environment, and add your application components to those images. Then, you can provision environments and deploy the application components automatically and on demand. The blueprint designer supports public and private clouds including IBM Bluemix, IBM SoftLayer, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, VMware vCenter, and OpenStack-based clouds. Learn more about the blueprint designer.
Track What is Where: Inventory
It is critical to understand what is in each environment. Audit wants to know what is in production. Testers need to know what we just ran those tests against. And when things go wrong, we all want to know what is different between those environments? UrbanCode Deploy tracks what is where in its inventory system. The inventory system tracks the desired state of each environment, as well as what has been successfully deployed to each target resource and provides graphical alerts when an environment is out of compliance with that desired state. Learn more about Inventory.
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UrbanCode Deploy is built to support mission-critical deployments to thousands of servers in numerous data centers. Master server clustering support provides high availability and horizontal scalability of the deployment automation tool. UrbanCode Deploy uses light-weight deployments agents which provide an immediate presence on or near the target. Remote agents can be proxied through an agent relay to manage load and simplify firewall management.Learn more about UrbanCode Deploy's Architecture
Quality Gates and Approvals
For some environments, deployments may not be allowed until some conditions are met. Perhaps the versions being deployed must have passed tests or received a blessing from a team. Or the time and date of the deployment must be approved by several people. UrbanCode Deploy provides Environment Quality Gates as well as Approval Processes to help you ensure that only the right stuff goes out at the right time. Because these rules are set per application and per environment, early test environments are likely to be setup to not require approvals.Learn more about quality gates and approvals.
Integrations Replace Custom Scripting
Tested integrations are provided with dozens of tools to make the deployment process easier to design and less risky. Integrations are provided for application servers, load balancers, databases, testing tools, build servers and more. Utilities to manage configuration files, registry settings and the like are also available. Teams who have great deployment scripts already can continue to use them through UrbanCode Deploy either by directly calling the scripts, or embedding them in custom plugins. Browse available plugins at the Plugins Portal.
Learn More
- Get quick overview of UrbanCode Deploy: Video, how to get started, see how others are deploying apps.
- Evaluate UrbanCode Deploy: Resources for personalized demos,trials and more.
- See what's new: We are always adding more, check out what we've done recently.
- Whitepaper: Deployment Automation Basics: A free overview of the why's and how's of deployment automation.


text:
ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Joe Biden and Bill Clinton stood in for President Obama on the campaign trail in Ohio and Florida Monday as Hurricane Sandy kept Obama occupied.
"Folks, I know you were expecting the real president, the present president," ABC News quoted Biden telling a crowd of about 4,800 supporters in Youngstown. "... I just want you to know he asked me to express his regrets for not being able to be here, but you know, he's doing the job a president should be doing."
Biden also praised the first responders from across the country who have headed to the region being hit by Sandy.
" They're coming from all over," Biden said. There's folks from Ohio heading east. There's a whole lot of folks all over the country. And it's further evidence, further evidence that when America stands together we're all better off."
Clinton said he told Obama his decision to return to the nation's capital to oversee the storm response was "the right call."
Clinton criticized Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for a campaign ad suggesting Obama allowed Jeep operations to move to China, saying that was "the biggest load of bull." The former president said Obama told him the ad "probably hurts my feelings the most" of anything that's come up during the campaign.
Clinton said Chrysler "put out a statement today saying it was the biggest load of bull in the world that they would ever consider shutting down their American operations. They are roaring in America, thanks to people like the people of Ohio."
Biden said "Romney will say anything, absolutely anything, to win."
"But he can't run from the truth," Biden said. "He said in that article entitled, that he wrote, 'Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.' Only the head of Bain Capital could think that liquidating an industry is the same thing as saving it. Because that's what he did at Bain Capital."
Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement Americans will see the Democrats' "desperate arguments for what they are."
"It appears the Obama campaign is less concerned with engaging in a meaningful conversation about President Obama's failed policies and more concerned with arguing against facts about their record they dislike," Williams said.
The Democratic incumbent also canceled a visit Tuesday to Green Bay, Wis., so he can monitor the impact and response to Hurricane Sandy, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.
"The president's priority right now is the safety and security of Americans who are in the path of the storm and who will be affected by it. It's essential in his view that he be in Washington, one of the areas that will be affected, and where his team is to oversee that effort," Carney said during a news briefing aboard Air Force One.
Carney said it was too soon to address how the storm may impact Election Day, now eight days away. Several states canceled early voting because of Sandy.
Biden canceled two later events in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania through Thursday to "ensure that all local law enforcement and emergency management resources can stay focused on ensuring the safety of people who might be impacted by the storm."
Romney canceled campaign events in Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa Monday, and Romney and running mate Paul Ryan also canceled all of their events Tuesday because of Hurricane Sandy, the campaign announced Monday.
Romney believes "this is the time" for the nation and its leaders to focus on those Americans "who are in harm's way," Talking Points Memo reported.
"Out of sensitivity for the millions of Americans in the path of Hurricane Sandy, we are canceling tonight's events with Gov. Romney in Wisconsin and Congressman Ryan in Melbourne and Lakeland, Fla.," campaign communication chief Gail Gitcho said in a statement. "We are also canceling all events currently schedule for both Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan on Tuesday."
Flying solo in Orlando, Clinton urged 7,600 people at the University of Central Florida Monday to re-elect Obama based on his record concerning education, energy, environmental, healthcare and economic issues, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Clinton described the president's plans for higher education, including student loan reform that would link payments to income, while saving $60 billion on costs and then used that savings for Pell grants and research. Romney, he charged, wants to repeal the student loan bill Obama pushed through Congress during the summer.
"On this issue alone, every person within the sound of my voice should vote for Barack Obama for president of the United States," Clinton said.
The Romney campaign's Jeep ad said he would do more to help the auto industry, the Detroit Free Press reported. In the ad, the Romney campaign said Jeep, which is a brand of Chrysler, which is owned in part by by Italian automaker Fiat, would manufacture its vehicles in China.
Late last week, Romney told a rally in Defiance, Ohio, that he'd seen an article that Jeep -- which has a facility in Toledo -- was moving its production to China. Not only was the story wrong, Romney caught heat for repeating it without it being vetted.
The article subsequently clarified that the production move would be an expansion or return of jobs to China for Chrysler, not a transfer of North American jobs.
Meanwhile, Illinois supporters wanting to spend Election Night with Obama can earn a ticket by crossing the border to door-knock in Wisconsin, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"We want to make sure we're using every opportunity, right up to the end," a campaign official said.


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Very good piece by Devon G. Peña. My concern is that the growth of an information economy means an increased focus on education in part because of a shrinkage in the availability of stable manual jobs that many of our parents and grandparents could count on in the past but also because of the new kinds of demands related to work that an information economy depends on. So depriving entire segments of the U.S. polity to lower rungs in the stratification system is not to relegate the masses to working class jobs, as such, but rather to permanent instability within the working class segment of our economy. This, of course, translates into ever higher rates of poverty, single-parent families, and incarceration. Too much critical thinking should be the least of concerns, particularly in light of the very difficult circumstances and life chances already suffered by our nation's poor.
State Republican Party Seeks to Ban Critical Thinking in Public Schools
by Devon G. Peña
What is it about the political rightwing in the Lone Star State? It seems like they are now competing with Arizona to take the lead as the nation's most anti-education and anti-intellectual state.
Here is the actual language from a position statement in the 2012 Texas Republican Party Platform:
Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.
Where does this Republican fear of critical thinking come from? One would have to surmise it may be derived from two sources: Either (1) they learned some nifty reactionary ideas from the Arizona struggle against HB2281, the law banning the teaching of Chicana/o Studies in public schools, or (2) they understand that Texas public schools are now filled with a majority of minority [sic] students, most of them Mexican-origin, and it may not be a good idea to encourage them to become anything other than servants of the 1% by denying them anything but rote learning and vocational educations.
Both sources seem plausible. In Arizona, much of the opposition to Chicana/o Studies has been framed as an attack on "Critical Race Theory" (CRT), which opponents view as indoctrination and hate mongering.
Of course, the opponents of freedom of thought are actually the guilty on both counts: They wish to indoctrinate everyone based on the supremacy of whiteness. The telluric partisans hate difference and see Chicana/os and other indigenous and people of color as the "Threatening Other" or accept us as an amusing and exotic play thing.
John Huppenthal and John Pedicone, the Superintendent of the Tucson Unified School District, want to replace critical pedagogies with a whitewashed version of multicultural education. This is sort of like burning down your Grandmother's authentic taquería and instead limiting your choices to a Taco Bell® version of her Cochinita pibil; perhaps a Doritos® crunchy cheesy pink slime taco? Only here we are talking about the study of Mexican history, art, culture, philosophy, and science.
Of course, the rightwing has always specialized in blaming the Other for the very thing they are guilty of. You hate blacks? Blame the "Negro" for "hating Whitey" through the civil rights movement that becomes recast as a case of reverse discrimination against white men.
In a widely cited report appearing in Fox News Latino, John Huppenthal, the Arizona Superintendent of Schools, declared that Chicana/o Studies, was a problem and that "I think that's where this toxic thing starts from, the universities." The toxic thing he was referring to is "critical thinking," which the proponents of HB2281 view as un-American and a threat to Western civilization and culture (qua, meaning Anglo American).
This is apparently the lesson the Texas Republicans have learned from the Arizona struggle over the future of public school pedagogies and curriculum.
Plures inferiores: Fear of the majority minority
The second source is also at work here: In 2011, Chicana/o and other Latina/o students became the majority in Texas public schools. They went from 49 percent to 50.2 percent. This represented a shift from 1999-200 when Chicana/os were 40 percent of the student population, African Americans were 14 percent, and Anglo Americans were 43 percent.
The data suggest that the student population in Texas public schools has been a majority minority for several decades. Is it mere coincidence that this demographic shift corresponds with the adoption of neoliberal policies that have attacked and undermined equity in school finance for Texas public schools? That this corresponds with the rise of a fervent anti-intellectualism and an anti-science disposition among the Republicans that have come to dominate the Texas public school textbook adoption process?
The battle over the shaping of textbooks in Texas illustrates the intensity of the rightwing struggle to gain control over the curriculum materials used by public school teachers and students: The most widely discussed example of this unfolded over the course of 2010 when the Texas State Board of Education decided that the state's history and social studies textbooks would have to change their semantics: From now on, textbook authors would have to change their language and the slave trade would have to be called the "Atlantic triangular trade," American "imperialism" would become "expansionism," and all references to "capitalism" were to be replaced with the use of the term "free enterprise."
The attack on critical thinking, or what the Texas GOP Platform calls "Higher Order Thinking Skills" represents the most recent iteration of a now familiar refrain: "Think like we tell you to think. Read only what we tell you to read. And the lack of truth will make you less free." Oh, they leave that last part out!
|Open Forward Thinking
The anti-intellectual tendency in Texas rightwing politics has a deeper history. Richard Hofstader made this evident in his 1963 book, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (New York: Knopf). Hofstader could have been writing about post-2007 politics when he penned the following insightful observations about fundamentalist ideologies in Texas:
Although no one has ever tried to trace in detail the historic links between the radical right of the depression and post-depression periods and the fundamentalism of the 1920s, there are some suggestive continuities among the leaders…The late J. Frank Norris, a Southern Baptist preacher in the forefront of the anti-evolution crusade in Texas, later became one of the most colorful right-wing messiahs…(p. 132)
Clearly, Rick Perry is channeling Norris by mixing his Christian Reconstruction spirituality with fervent anti-science beliefs. The 2012 Texas Republican Party Platform merely solidifies this paranoid and moronic tendency.
Like the period from the 1920s through the Great Depression, today, this authoritarian thought-control streak is being combined with intensified white anxiety about the demographic shift that has already started to unfold in Texas as well as other states. In the twenties, the threatening Other was the "Catholic" although the Mexican "wetback" eventually came to occupy a central role as well during the so-called Repatriation Program.
The Derivatives Depression, as I prefer to call the "Great Recession" that started with the collapse of the subprime mortgage-driven real estate bubble in 2007, has unleashed a similarly telluric and xenophobic tendency. Only this time, the rightwing crazies control the rules for producing textbooks and shaping public school curriculum and pedagogy.
Obviously, it is time for Texas Chicana/os and their progressive allies to rise up and launch a social movement like the one in Arizona that will restore and protect our freedom of thought, our diverse cultures, and our right to understand the world through the broadest exposure to critical and scientific knowledge. Because scientia est potentia and the GOP can kiss my Latin all the way to the next revolt of the Cockroach People.
In the meantime, support the struggle of Sisyphus and visit our earlier story and donate to the defense of our Chicana/o studies educators:
In the meantime, support the struggle of Sisyphus and visit our earlier story and donate to the defense of our Chicana/o studies educators:
Posted 4 days ago by Devon G. Peña


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Website URL: http://www.youjoomla.com
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has issued an invitation to the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships in November 2017, Ulsan City, Republic of Korea.
Players need to enter online at Tournament Software.
Ying Lin and Victoria He have won two titles each at the 2017 Australian U19 Championships in an exciting day of finals which concluded in Adelaide last weekend.
A thrilling match has seen Victoria triumph over NSW in the final tie of the CP Maddern Trophy in Adelaide.
The 2017 LI-NING SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL SERIES is scheduled for TUESDAY 7TH – SUNDAY 10TH September 2017


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Share your memories!
WETA looks back at the people and events of the 1970s in a one-hour documentary, Washington in the '70s.
Remember the radio station WHFS, the arrival of the pandas, the Bicentennial, and George Allen joining the Redskins?
Post a comment below to share your memories of growing up or living in the Washington, DC area during the 1970s.


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As we enter 2014 it promises to be an interesting year with regard to local elections. We will have an opportunity in Alamance County to choose three commissioners. This will be a defining moment for our county.
The recent decision with regard to the county finance manager�s position was perceived by most as �good ole boy� politics. The arrogant attitude with which this board makes decisions is very apparent. Keep taxes low, and as one commissioner recently stated �be a friend to the taxpayer.�
I have to ask, what is a �friend to the taxpayer?� Is it one who continues to cut the wages of our county employees? Is it an attitude that seems to demean the school board? We have delayed raises, furloughed, and cut longevity pay for county employees. Pay our county employees fairly.
We need leaders with a vision. We need to elect leaders who will spend time extolling the advantages of locating in our county with two interstate highways. We need to get the Tucker Street exit on the fast track. A county commissioner needs to be a vocal advocate for our county with regard to growing our tax base and our needs.
We need to develop our county and grow our tax base. That is how you are �friend to the taxpayer.� Looking at the Walmart distribution package I saw something interesting. The three-way partnership with Graham, Mebane, and Alamance County was revealing. Graham and Mebane will pay up front for the land, etc. Alamance County will �pay them back.� Translation: Fund balance is too low to pay for Alamance County�s part. Alamance County�s fund balance is inadequate. Would we have missed this opportunity if not for Graham and Mebane?
Orange County is developing on our county line to the east. Guilford is working to develop to our west. We need to work with the Chamber of Commerce closely not to miss opportunities.
We do not need to waste time on Ritalin in schools and guns in the courthouse. That is not why we elect county commissioners.