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“IDRF announced a donation of $25,000 towards relief efforts following the World Trade Center collapse. .. the people responsible for perpetrating the disaster were Muslims, and the victims largely non-Muslim”
 

People laughed off[1],[2] their “research”, not to mention intellectual honesty since there wasn’t any, in 2003.  As realization dawned that their falsehoods had been exposed, they slinked away, declared that the “fascists” (their term for those who failed to bow to their Politburo) had latched on to “one error” and used that cruelly to destroy their credibility. True, we nearly hurt ourselves laughing at their “FAQ” and the declarations of Dr. Vinay Lal (who always took pains to remind people that he was Associate Professor of History at UCLA and hence superior to us ignorant “mere Indian” peasants). But they didn’t specify which particular howler was the “error” out of the hundreds in their “report” and their “FAQ” and their myriad Press Releases and articles and interviews.  

For a while, there was relative quiet. Then they found new contracts as “Kashmir Researchers”[3]. But, like the wild onions in my lawn, they’re back again and flowering this year, hoping you’ve forgotten. So “its yesterday once more”[4]. 

As a shocked world rushed aid to the tsunami-devastated areas, the FOIL were equally busy. They were spewing hate, exhorting the gullible to not support the rescuers, again using the same bogus M5R “Report”. They were doing this from email servers run by the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and using Pakistani propaganda websites[5], through their new spokesman and so-called “Watchdog Academic”, “Ra” Ravishankar. Obstructing help to the needy is, after all, what the FOIL does best. But it is by no means the only thing they do well. 

Dr. Angana Chatterji of the Progressive South Asians (PROXSA) which is the mother-ship of the FOIL, and of their lately formed “Coalition Against Genocide” [6] is creating ‘news’ again. Their Network has now expanded to such impressive names as “Promise of India”. Not surprising. With the Marxist Communists actively in government in New Delhi, they can smell their stated goal: 

“Lal kile par lal nishaan
Maang raha hai Hindustan”[7]  

The Red Banner over the Red Fort – begs India – a mandatory essay topic for candidates taking the State Education Board exams in Marxist-ruled West Bengal. Probably a required question on all job applications when the Lal Nishaan files over the Lal Kila.   

My congratulations to the Comrades. I feel that the desi community deserves to learn much more about the toils of the FOIL – by far the most powerful “South Asian” organization in America after General Musharraf’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) [8]. Then again, per Pakistani newspapers[9],10, they may not be that different at all. The FOIL is the hottest item in Indian-American politics today. 

The Comrades have worked tirelessly – and, quite contrary to what they say, they did not start in February 2005, shocked by the Gujarat Chief Minister’s impending visit, or in March 2002, shocked by the Gujarat riots. Their “Coalition Against Genocide” is just the latest in a vast array of organizations, all run, and perhaps funded, by basically the same entities⁵. They started many years ago. Some of what follows is repeated from what was posted on the internet- my thanks to that user[10]. Please be patient. 

Origins 

In May 1997, Indians all over the world were preparing for the 50^th anniversary of Independence. So were the FOIL in the US – not to celebrate, but to focus on India’s failure to come up to their standards of perfection. In their own words[11]: 

“Ghadar - a bimonthly publication of the forum of indian leftists Volume 1: Number 1, May 1, 1997 Editorial: Ghadar arrives!. … a journal slash newsletter slash rag that is born out of a need for the left to have a print medium for organizing and discussion. We, the "left," are diasporic Indians (and South Asians) in the US, and some in Europe, who have banded together under FOIL (Forum of Indian Leftists). FOIL's goals are to put forth into the mainstream the ideas of secularism, social justice, and equality. .. Names such as "Red Brownie", "Samvaad", and "Counterfoil" poured in. "Ghadar" won by a reasonable margin in a vote. … this issue was put together by Sanjay Anand, Rahul De', Shubra Gururani, Bikku Kuruvilia, Biju Mathew, Niraj Pant, Gautam Premnath, Mir Ali Raza, Sharmila Rudrappa, Anitha, S. and Gautam Sethi. Address all correspondence to: Ghadar, c/o Mir Ali Raza, School of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Or by email to foil@dti.net. This publication is partially funded by readers like you.” 

The patriotism brought tears to my eyes. I wondered who funded the rest.  But why May Day 1997? Just to celebrate the Bolshevik Bloodbath of 1917? The answer was readily explained:

“Speakers Bureau: Going along pretty well too. The brochure is ready and beginning to get circulated. Some offers to speak have also come along.  Especially in the context of the 50th year of independence this may be a very important project. There are many places/organizations who are desperately looking for people who can come and deliver 30 minute talks. Why not ensure a good lefty talk? Also, most places offer modest honorariums and these monies could be the best way to fund various FOIL activities. What we lack currently are volunteers who are willing to spend those 2 or 3 days in the next nine months doing this. Vijay Prashad is coordinating this project.” 

Sidhartha describes the origins of FOIL[12]  in 2000 :

“In 1991, Biju Mathew, Sangeeta Kamat and Madhav Prasad started … Sanskriti. It dealt with issues ranging from the Narmada movement to communalism to Hinduja investments in Columbia University's  `Indic Studies' programme. .. FOIL grew out of Sanskriti. It now connects hundreds of South Asians through the Net. Biju Mathew was the spirit behind it, although in the early days Vijay Prasad, the rambunctious Marxist scholar from Hartford .. was an ardent collaborator. FOIL became both a clearing-house and a networking tool. It put talks onto the Net (for example: `Diwali and de-colonisation').” 

 As for “Genocide”, they have been fantasizing about that for a long time. Niraj Pant[13] went through contortions in “Ghadar” in 1997, trying to argue that the active and articulate presence of women in Indian society and politics proved his fantasy of a predilection towards genocide against minorities.  

The second issue[14] of Ghadar summarized the FOIL’s Independence Day celebration. I’ll leave the pleasure of perusing that to the reader. The Ghadar creators’ list was essentially unchanged. No doubt the FOIL agitated after the May 11, 1998 nuclear tests (as opposed to the Pakistani tests) and were instrumental in getting the US to impose sanctions on India – after all, look at their awesome influence in the State Department, White House, Congress etc. per Angana Chatterji. By the third issue[15] (November 1998) they listed an email server “as a space for discussion, information, and the mobilization of support for various petitions and rallies”, coordinated by Raju Rajan at an IBM.com email address, as well as a PROXSA website and two more run by “FOILers”[16] S.P. Udaykumar and Harsh Kapoor. Ghadar, the “bimonthly” journal, then disappeared, to surface again in May 2000. The Globalization protests were only a few months away. The Editorial Board had expanded.  

Victorious – Over the New York Traffic Police
 

In their own words: “NYPAAIG was formed, bringing together such organizations as the Colombia Action Committee (CAC), International Action Center (IAC), Committee to Support the Revolution in Peru (CSRP), Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Forum of Indian Leftists, Direct Action Network and Student Liberation Action Movement…

Manco Rojas of the CSRP spoke, denouncing Peruvian President Fujimori as a fascist puppet of US imperialism, … calling for support for the people's war led by the Communist Party of Peru to overthrow Fujimori. After further speakers … the crowd chanted "USA-CIA Out of Peru!" and "Fujimori, CIA, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today?" before marching to the El Salvador consulate.  This was victory number two for the people: the police had declared no marching. “Many heads turned at the sight of 90 people carrying signs and a 22 foot banner reading  "Down with U.S. Imperialism!" and chanting "Brick by Brick, Wall by Wall, US Rule is Gonna Fall!” 

Another victory. Another blow against the system of democratically-elected governments. Another call to overthrow elected governments, in the best traditions of the Red Revolution. Another traffic jam caused to the Petty-Bourgeouis Running Dogs of the Paper Tigers of Capitalist Imperialism (if I remember those Maoist rants from the loudspeakers in Marxist-ruled Kerala right). The FOIL’s later condemnation of IDRF for sending money to the families of fallen New York firefighters is seen to be no accident – it is completely consistent with their contempt of law and order and of those who must enforce it.  

Heroes of the Red Revolution 
 

Dr. Prashad has long worried about the dangers of the Yankee-Yehudi-Yindoo (YYY) combine to the true ‘democracies’ of the world (see his definition)[19]:

“The restless lions of west and south Asia join the tigers of east Asia to encircle China and the predominantly Muslim states of west and central Asia. … eager to undermine the political process with the sorts of hardware that ensures that our world remain undemocratic. Empire is alive and well.”

Dr. Vijay Prashad is disgusted by the desi community’s obscene traditions of working for a living, bringing up families, abiding by the laws, etc. Caswell[20] quotes a Prashad declaration, eerily redolent of a desi Rev. Jim Jones[21]: “My main idea is for us to commit model minority suicide!”  And he’s clearly striving to help the community along towards this noble goal.  

The FOIL’s other intellectual giant, as the above indicates, is Dr. Biju Mathew. He is described, at least since early 2002, as a “Professor” – a promotion that Rider University, New Jersey, appears to be failing to recognize – they still describe him in 2005 as an associate professor!  Dr. Mathew’s Rider university website invites students to be inspired by the UnaBomber Manifesto[22], Puerto Rican secessionists, and various Marxist discussion groups[23],[24]. They are also asked to donate money to worthy causes such as FOIL’s travel and entertainment kitty, the SINGH Foundation. Last we checked, the SINGH Foundation had a 52% overhead above their “direct program costs”. And what were these charitable direct programs? They consisted of screening hate movies, travel for their trustees, and support for the Youth Solidarity Summer whose graduates include people now high up in the Indian Muslim Council. Rider University students were specifically exhorted to send money to SINGH for their friends and later sponsors, Teesta Setalwad and Javed Anand[25] of Sabrang Communications, who claimed a dire need to avoid working for a living.  

This is another FOIL success story. Today Ms. Setalwad and her organization are famous all over India and Pakistan as heroic defenders of (non-Hindu) human rights and combatants against (Hindu) “communalism”. Their organization is a major recipient of Congress Party largesse, including from the Madhya Pradesh State government before the 1999 elections, and their excellence in campaign work was recognized publicly with the Rajiv Gandhi Prize. Most recently, Ms. Setalwad and her friends are known as those accused by Ms. Zaheera Shaikh, the 20-year-old riot survivor from the Best Bakery tragedy, of kidnapping and threatening Ms. Shaikh into signing “Affidavits” composed by Ms. Setalwad. In 2002, people noticed that Ms. Setalwad’s website prominently displayed a map of “South Asia” with all of Jammu-Kashmir, and parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan as being part of Pakistan. However, she appears to be above Indian law regarding such propaganda.  

Today, Ms. Setalwad is obviously doing much better than the pathetic situation depicted by her “Appeal” in 1995, though one recognizes that the high life in the Juhu, Mumbai equivalent of Beverly Hills or Fifth Avenue must still require lots of money. Thus the SINGH Foundation appears to uphold the best traditions of Marxist philosophy, “Rob The Rich and Feed The Poor – And WE Are The Poor!” Ms. Setalwad’s gratitude showed in her generous support through the arduous period of the FOIL’s “5-year Meticulous Report” masterpiece, which was at the core of their hyena-pack attack on the IDRF. 

Let me not convey the impression that all the writings of the FOIL are so negative. Quite the contrary, I assure you. I have seen nothing even remotely negative about Communist China, the Soviet Gulag, the Siberian People’s Paradises, the Tien An Men Square People’s Liberation Army Tank-Tread Lubrication Event where they ran over the Democracy-demanding “splittists” (children), The Red Guards Re-Education Movement, Fidel Castro’s respect for the idea that dissidence is the highest form of patriotism, Ho Chi Minh’s North Vietnamese People’s Paradise, the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot and the Genocides (sorry! “Re-Educations”, perhaps?)  in  Cambodia, the Sudan, or Rwanda, or the Myanmar dictatorship. Comrade Fidel is lovingly praised in FOIL writings. Likewise, in “Red Star Over West Bengal”[26], Dr. Prashad speaks lovingly of the Marxist communist government of West Bengal, which hosted him for a conducted tour of that People’s Paradise. He wants us to be assured that it is free of crime, corruption or inefficiency, the people delighted with the wonderfully approachable and compassionate Political Officers at the rural offices. Of course the media reports on the horrors of Marxist rule in West Bengal, for example on opposition candidates being ruthlessly assassinated, must be all imperialist lies? 

The point of the above FOIL Primer is to show their long history of dedication to the Red Cause, and the fact that they have been extremely well-organized with a network at least since¹⁸ 1998, and confirmed to be so since 2000, with at least “hundreds” of members¹⁴. The general criterion for their activism appears to be: “Is this something that helps people get jobs, get education, get hope, get the right to vote and express their views? If so, FOIL it!” I am sure this takes a rather rare talent and mindset, even more so than nuclear science or genetic engineering. Now to some indications of funding sources that keep such organizations and their efforts thriving.   

The Shansi-Oberlin Declaration 

In late Fall 2001, with America in upheaval after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and realizing some measure of common cause with India and Israel, the dreaded “YYY” alliance loomed. Some people had other priorities in mind. Oberlin College, Ohio, was busily organizing a conference for April 2002. The Conference was titled “Siting Secularism in India”. Papers were solicited. The funding for the conference came from the generous Oberlin Shansi Foundation.  Interestingly, Prof. Anuradha Needham of the English Department, listed as the organizer and contact point for the conference, was also listed as a Trustee of the very Foundation that was funding the conference she was organizing. 

If the Conference produced any Proceedings, they are not to be found on the internet, and the actual list of speakers is also long gone. What remains however is the Oberlin Declaration of April 21, 2002. Coming within 6 weeks of the Gujarat riots triggered by the Godhra atrocity of February 27, the 45 signatories declared the Indian government guilty of genocide, etc. etc. The signatories came from the US, India, UK and France.  “Professor”(?) Biju Mathew of Rider University, “Professor”(?) Raza Mir of Monmouth college and Harsh Kapoor of the South Asia Citizens’ Web, were all there. Harsh Kapoor had flown in all the way from France for the event, despite the travails of air travel in those days.  Six days after the conference, the Declaration had appeared on Kapoor’s PROXSA website run by the South Asia Citizens’ Web in France.  

How was such a conference with so stellar a constellation of Marxist and related invitees organized in so timely a manner?  Why was the Shansi Foundation so interested in “Siting Secularism in India”, and who is the Shansi Foundation? These questions apparently drove internet user Abdul Binmao¹² to a different age, and across the world. The facts cited by Binmao are on the internet all right, as of this writing. 

The Shansi Connection 

Oberlin College is an ancient institution, reputed for its liberal admission policies and inclusive environment. It was also thus favored by “leftist” (some would say “Communist”) academics, from the days of the Russian Revolution, through the horrors of the McCarthy era. “Shansi” used to be “Shanxi”, a city and province in China. In the 19^th century, Christian missionaries from the US opened a mission there. During the Boxer Rebellion, the missionaries were killed and dumped in ditches. After the rebellion was suppressed, their remains were exhumed and moved to a proper graveyard. The Mission’s sponsors evolved into an academic institution, fostering China-US exchanges. They also expanded into India, particularly South India, bringing Chinese studies there, and Indians to the US. The thrust was still to spread Chinese culture. In the 1950s, all contact with the People’s Republic was cut off, and the Foundation focused more on India.   

Then, circa 1998 (coincidentally, about when the FOIL found resources to start “Ghadar”) the Shansi Foundation found favor with the Beijing regime again. Now there are excellent contacts with Shansi University – presumably with official blessings from the Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China.  

The Second Coming of Ghadar

Ghadar reappeared suddenly[27] after a two-year absence, and with evident hurry – on February 21, 2002. “After lying dormant for nearly two years, this occasional publication of the Forum of Indian Leftists has been revived through the efforts of those who felt its absence.  .. This issue was put together by Priyamvada Gopal, Ashwini Tambe, Anhoni Patel, Murli Natrajan, Biju Mathew, Raza Mir, Amitava Kumar, Rahul De', Gautam Premnath, Usha Zacharias and Maya Yajnik.”

Guilty Conscience? The curious declaration of how the FOIL got together

In late 2001/ early 2002, with activity heating up, there was apparently a conference in the Washington DC area, attended by leaders of the FOIL, the political-activist “charities” AID-INDIA, ASHA and ICA, the SINGH Foundation, EktaOnline, FOSA (Friends of South Asia) and their gang. The exterior purpose was to organize the attack against Indian-American low-overhead charitable fundraising in the US. Evidence seems to have disappeared from the web. 

Now we come to the surprise: the FOIL claims that its members were able to organize so quickly after the riots broke out, only because they had screened a movie by Anand Patwardhan in January 2002. From the June 21, 2002 issue of Ghadar: “When news stories from Gujarat first hit our screens in late February, we had just finished organizing a screening of Anand Patwardhan's film 'Jung aur Aman' (War and Peace). Unlike some other Patwardhan film shows, which have been sabotaged by vitriolic Hindutvavadis, the DC event had a highly sympathetic audience, and provided an opportunity for us to connect with each other. The email addresses exchanged helped mobilize an immediate response four days later, as the horror of state ministers condoning killings and police inaction unfolded. About seven of us, from organizations such as FOIL (Forum of Indian Leftists), ASHA for Education-DC, and AID (Association for India's Development) met, finalized a date for a peace rally and a meeting with the ambassador, made posters and agreed on the text of a petition. We mobilized every media outlet at our means, including local desi newspapers; publicized the petition on the internet; and distributed flyers at public events, including desi film screenings. Three days later, the petition denouncing the state's complicity and inaction had been signed by 600 signatories.”  

Remember that in 1998 they had already established email lists and servers, had websites all over the world, and they had been continuously in contact since 1991. The FOIL, PROXSA, FOSA, and SACW started their diligent “research” (which consisted of downloading pages posted by IDRF on the website www.idrf.org ) “five years of meticulous research” before November 2002. Shouldn’t I assume from this that all the co-authors of the report knew each other since November 1997? Apparently not, according to the FOIL’s “FAQ”, as of January 2003: “We found each other - via the internet and through personal contacts - in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots earlier this year.” 

Consider the evidence. From the PROXSA website[28] on FOIL (date impossible to determine, but certainly post 1997 and pre-2002):

“We feel it is time to launch such a forum so that in time we might join together to take common positions and intervene on political matters. Isolation only helps the ruling clique; we need to organize ourselves. Hence FOIL!” 

As for “mobilizing every media outlet at our disposal”, the same page gave directions years ago³⁰

 “Project on Media Presence: The unique strength of the Indian left outside India is that a significant number of us make our living through writing - either within the academy or outside it. For a group with such a skill it is indeed surprising that our presence in the Diaspora’s media arms - newspapers, magazines, TV shows etc. is next to nonexistent. A constant and visible effort in such centrists newspapers such as India Abroad, India Tribune, India West etc. is possible with a little planning. One way of looking at it is simply that between the fifty odd of us, if each of us volunteer to put out one article for one such newspaper or magazine every year we would have said something literally every week. Contact Amitava Kumar for volunteering on this project.”  My congratulations to Amitava Kumar. The media co-option was certainly visible when the attack on IDRF came out – obedient articles uncritically parroting the FOIL’s propaganda appeared with regularity from A.K. Sen of OUTLOOK, Ashwin Mahesh of IndiaTogether, Ashfaq Swapan of IndiaWest and Aziz Haniffa of India Abroad. 

Why the apparent guilty conscience? What were they covering up? The Oberlin Declaration? Why? What was wrong in crediting the conference for bringing vital members together? Why hide their links?   

One final point: According to the same PROXSA page, the objective of FOIL was:

“Our bourgeois 'leaders' and their friends in Washington need to get a wake-up call which blows their eardrums: I think we can in our noisy, desi manner concoct something suitable. Let FOIL be that noise!”

 Now I am by no means suggesting that the “noise” that “blew eardrums” was the one on September 11, 2001. But as for later events, who am I to say?  

Academic Integrity, FOIL style  

Dr. Shalini Gera, then associated with the Stanford University Medical School, is no stranger to the medical profession, and could see perfectly well that the Vivekananda Medical Mission in Kerala was bringing desperately needed succor to people who literally had no access and no money to access, any other medical care. But that did not stop her from describing that organization of heroes and those who funded them, as hate-mongers, in their M5R. Her later employer advertised her thus: “Dr. Gera makes a valuable addition to the (firm name deleted) team.  Her interdisciplinary background and strong quantitative and analytical skills are important in projects requiring technical knowledge and intellectual rigor.  Her familiarity with academic and pharmaceutical research provides the necessary background for undertaking several complicated projects in highly specialized fields.  She has written articles for scientific publications as well as popular trade journals, and can communicate effectively with technical as well as non-technical audience.” Awesome. But don’t “familiarity with academic research” and “communicating effectively with a non-technical audience” come with a responsibility to be honest? Can a person of such “intellectual rigor” be unaware that the report she co-authored was blatantly false, and used cooked-up “data” to prove what is diametrically opposite to the truth?  

Another experience might shed better light on this mystery. One week after the FOIL put up a Petition attacking IDRF, concerned citizens got together and put up a site called www.LetIndiaDevelop.org with a Petition to Let India Develop. Within days, that Petition had left the FOIL’s petition in the dust, as people rushed to tell the FOIL to quit hate-mongering.  

The attackers then bought the name “www.LetIndiaDevelop.com” and used it to mislead voters to their site instead. When outraged readers alerted the Internet Service Provider to this fraud, the ISP published the name and address of the buyer[29]. The address of the site-buyer was P.O. Box 20136, Stanford, CA 94309. This was the same as the mailing address of the “Friends of South Asia” (FOSA), run by Akhila Raman. Ms Raman, then described as a Software Consultant, later became a “Kashmir Researcher” and a prominent organizer of the “Kashmir Forum” which the Pakistani media described [11 as being funded and dictated from Islamabad. Today, that P.O. Box is listed as the address to send checks to “Ekta” for “Organizing Youth!” (OY!). The owner’s telephone number listed there, however, is listed as that of Shalini Gera, with a Stonewood Lane, San Jose address. Any connection to Dr. Gera? Your guess is as good as mine. By the way, “Ekta” is associated with “ICA” – the “Indians for Collective Action” that is now very active in the “Coalition Against Genocide”.  

How 12,000 x 5 = 1,000,000 
 

In the above article, Angana Chatterji cites [30 “a million” tribal people “damned” by the Supreme Court of India’s eventual overruling of the agitators. However, the number of displaced families is cited as [33 “12,000”. Where did Chatterji get the “million” figure? A tribal family has an average of eighty-three people? Or “million” sounded grander than “60,000” which is probably far less than the number of people whom she was obstructing from access to drinking water? As for the initial stated objective of getting fair compensation and rehabilitation assistance to the displaced villagers, I am yet to see any evidence that Chatterji and her gang ever contributed an iota to anything other than political grandstanding. The tribals were eventually left to fend for themselves as the agitators lost political interest, in the best traditions of Limousine-Marxist anarchism. The villagers even told the patronizing American-returned “social servants” funded by the organization “AID” to get lost and leave them alone.  

This sort of bloating of figures for political purposes, and the obvious cooking of data in the M5R, led me to check into some things where I am qualified to judge for myself. In the American university system, novices with PhDs are hired as Assistant Professors, and given up to 6 years to either get promoted to Associate Professor or get out. Promotion to Associate Professor generally comes with – or is followed by, grant of “tenure”. But that is a far cry from getting promoted to “Professor”.  

That promotion may come after six or more years in the Associate Professor rank to most people, and is based on merit, not “seniority”. Some retire as Associate Professor - perfectly respectable. What is NOT respectable, nor tolerated in any respectable institution, is for people to arrogate the rank of “Professor” in presenting themselves to the outside world. In kindergartners it may be cute, like the young lady of my acquaintance who used to respond at age 5 to “What grade are you in?” with “MBBS!”. But in grownups, such claims are no less contemptible than claiming a false degree ( a degree only takes 2 to 3 years, versus 6 years of hard work for promotion to Professor) – and doing so in a letter to the Federal Government might actually bring serious action. Which may explain the sudden attack of truth in the inset shown – an aberration in Dr. Chatterji’s claims about herself[33],[34],[35],[36],[37].  I could fill a page with proof of similar bogus claims, but the point, I believe, is made. There is no room for doubt on this issue.  

Dr. Chatterji’s practice of apparently inflating her credentials is apparently routine for FOIL members’ standards of integrity. Dr. Biju Mathew has been describing himself as “Professor” when Rider University, New Jersey continues to describe him as “Associate Professor”. Dr. Usha Zacarias[38], Editor of the Ghadar edition that was rushed out a week before the Godhra event, and Dr. Raza Mir extend the practice to its logical extremes. She describes herself as “Professor” though Westfield State College, Massachusetts insists[39] that she is an “Assistant Professor”. Mir’s web page[40] at the William Paterson University now describes him as an Associate Professor, and lists his prior experience as “Assistant Professor” at Monmouth University – while he was claiming[41],[42] to be a “Professor” there. The up-and-coming FOIL leader, “Ra” Ravishankar, graduate assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, describes himself in newspaper diatribes as “an Academic”. Wow!  I’ve attended kindergarten at a Catholic Convent, and spent a couple of years as student in a Catholic junior college. I guess that makes me a “Cardinal”?   

To people outside “academia”, these issues may seem small, but consider that industry routinely and automatically fires people caught claiming false degrees on their resumes. A degree takes at most 4 years or so. A promotion to Professor takes 6. If credential-bloating is acceptable at their employers’ institutions, what kinds of institutions are they, to send your children for an education, or to trust for research results? Do you trust them to insist on standards before conferring degrees? Do PhDs from CIIS, for example, mean anything beyond undergraduates playing “Dr.” there, given that their faculty claim ranks that they have never achieved? Rider University, Trinity College and Westfield State College, mercifully, don’t seem to claim to give PhDs.   

Concluding Remarks

Ever wondered why Chatterji and Mathew don’t go around displaying pictures of the innocents in Bengal or Orissa machine-gunned by the Maoist terrorists who share the FOIL’s philosophy (and perhaps their sources of funding)? Why don’t they publish pictures of innocents with their limbs chopped off by the Naxalites? Could it be because those are the same Naxalite terrorists who must have been at that Terrorist Convention[43] that the FOIL’s associates attended?  

You won’t hear the Coalition Against Genocide being bothered by the genocides in Cambodia or Tibet[44], or East Pakistan, or the “Ethnic Cleansing” in the Kashmir Valley or Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, or terrorist-infested Assam. You won’t find pictures on the FOIL websites of the babies who died gasping for breath[45] when Air India Flight 182 was blown up over the Irish Sea, or the 20,000 other innocent victims[46] of the Khalistan terrorists – terrorists whose comrades the FOIL and IMC applauded[47] as invited speakers to demand the breakup of my mother country at the IMC-FOIL Convention in California.  

Associate Professor Angana Chatterji represents the FOIL and the California Institute of Integral Studies very well. From someone who attended one her diatribes: “She flared up and said that she is a PROFESSOR at the Institute, and that I was calling her a liar”.  Hmmm! How unnecessary!   

Satyam Eva Jayate

Narayanan Komerath

       Send your views to author

References

[1]     Friends of India: “Sabrang FAQ meets Reality: Exposing the Lies” January 2003.
http://www.geocities.com/charcha_2000/essays/sabrang_faq_meets_reality.html
A systematic expose of the lies, half-truths, laughs and whines in the Sabrang-FOIL’s claims about themselves and those they tried to slander.
 
[2]     Ramesh Rao, Narayanan Komerath, Beloo Mehra, Chitra Raman, Sugrutha Ramaswami,
“A Factual Response to the Hate Attack on the India Development and Relief Fund. February 2003.” Funded by nobody.
http://www.letindiadevelop.org/thereport/
 
[3]     Narayanan Komerath, “The Lashkar-e-Pinocchio Rides Again”. India-Forum.com. http://www.india-forum.com/Columns/Narayanan_Komerath/The_Lashkar-e-Pinocchio_Rides_Again/26/

[4]      “Yesterday Once More. Memories of the Carpenters and their music.” http://www.yesterdayoncemore.net/
 For the full lyric, see http://www.lyricsdepot.com/the-carpenters/yesterday-once-more.html

[5]     The now-defunct site http://www.PakistanNews.com  which appears to have been done in because of its propagation of the “4000 Jews Escape WTC on 9/11” Al Qaeda fantasy.

[6]     Angana Chatterji 22 March, 2005 Asian Age http://www.countercurrents.org/guj-angana220305.htm

[7]     Debashish Mukherjee,  “Education Controversy – It is a war of ideas”, The Week, Nov. 15, 1998.

[8]     “How Gen. Kakkar blew up plans to roll back the Nuclear Program”. Special SAT Report. South Asia Tribune, July 27, 2002. http://www.satribune.com/archives/july27_02_02/isi_whistle_blower.htm

[9]     Hasan, Khalid, “Acrimonious Kashmir Conference Fails” Daily Times, Lahore. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-7-2003_pg7_41

[10]     Abdul bin Mao, “Who Knew About the Godhra Riots – And Other Mysteries”.  http://www.india-forum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=753&st=0

[11]     Ghadar, Vol.1, No.1, May 1, 1997. 
http://www.proxsa.org/resources/ghadar/v1n1/edit.html

[12]     Siddhartha, “Little Nirvanas -Letter from America : The Forum Of India Leftists thrives in the US”  2000.
http://www.humanscapeindia.net/humanscape/...00/hs12010t.htm

[13]     Niraj Pant, “Facilitating Genocide: Women as Fascist Educators in the Hindutva Movement”.  Ghadar, a bimonthly publication of the forum of indian leftists. Vol.1, No.1, May 1, 1997. http://www.proxsa.org/resources/ghadar/v1n1/niraj.html

[14]     “50 years?” Editorial, GHADAR, Vol. 1, No.2, November 26, 1997. http://www.proxsa.org/resources/ghadar/v1n2/edit.html

[15]     Editorial, “Ghadar – a publication of the Forum of Indian Leftists” Vol. 2, No.1, Nov.1, 1998.

[16]     “FOIL NOTES”, Ghadar, Vol. 2, No.1, Nov.1, 1998. Vol. 2, No.1, Nov.1, 1998. http://www.proxsa.org/resources/ghadar/v2n1/foil.html

[17]     “ New York Activisits Unite Against US Imperialism” September 8, 2000 http://www.nispop.org/s8.html

[18]     Prashad, Vijay,” Red Salute, Comrade Uncle Ho”. ZNET Daily Commentaries, Sep. 4, 1999. http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/1999-09/4prashad.htm

[19]     Prashad, Vijay, “Hindutva and Zionism: Comprador States of Pentagon, Inc.” ZNET Daily Commentaries, Aug. 8, 2001. http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2001-08/08prashad.htm

[20]     Caswell, Michelle, “Smashing the Myth of the Model Minority: An Interview with Vijay Prashad Asia Source, http://www.asiasource.org/society/Prashad.cfm

[21]     “The Jonestown Massacre”. http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial4/jonestown/

[22]     Rider University, New Jersey, website of Associate Professor of Computer and Information Systems, Dr. Biju Mathew, link titled: “Check out the Unabombers Manifesto...”
http://www.pathfinder.com/@@@3IbJnEgxQIAQF...emanifesto.html Viewed in early 2003.

[23]     Rider University, New Jersey, website of Jesse E. Harper Associate Professor of Computer and Information Systems, Dr. Biju Mathew, link titled: “Check out an interesting newsgroup - misc.activism.progressive” http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/internet/news/misc.html

[24]     Rider University, New Jersey, website of Jesse E. Harper Associate Professor of Computer and Information Systems, Dr. Biju Mathew, link titled: alt.india.progressive, a moderated newsgroup aimed at providing a forum for progressives to discuss progressive possibilities without getting bogged down by sheer volume!!...
http://www1.rider.edu/%7Ewebcis/mathew/aip.html

[25]     Rider University, New Jersey, website of Jesse E. Harper Associate Professor of Computer and Information Systems, Dr. Biju Mathew, link titled: “Communalism Combat” http://www1.rider.edu/%7Ewebcis/mathew/ccmain.html “CC has however, run into rough weather. Both the editors quit their respective full time jobs to undertake this project. In addition, the magazine has this far run on subscriptions only. After publishing a combined July-August issue, CC suspended further publication till November 1995 so as to re-group and raise a core fund that will help CC survive as a long term project. Read the SOS sent out by Anand and Setalavad.”

[26]     "Prashad, Vijay, “Red Star Over West Bengal”. ZNET Daily Commentaries, June 28, 2001, http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/200...ashad.htm"  “After the election, the Communists declared that they would govern according to three values: discipline, compassion and dynamism. Nirupam Sen, Minister of Industry, announced shortly thereafter that the Communists would be innovative in the industrial sector. "If we want to move even slightly away from the disease of jobless growth that marks the present stage of corporate capital worldwide," he noted, "we have to strive hard.”

[27]     Ghadar, Volume 5: Number 1, Feb 21 2002

[28]     PROXSA website: Forum of Indian Leftists website at the PROXSA (Progressive South Asian..) site: http://www.proxsa.org/resources/foil/foilpg.html

[29]     See “Sabrang and FOIL deceive IDRF well wishers: Anonymous Einsteins Try to Mislead LetIndiaDevelop petition signers” http://www.geocities.com/charcha_2000/essays/cyber_flimflam.html

[30]     Angana Chatterji, “A Million Damned”Asian Age, August 2002 http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?layout=2&...42&newsid=16794

[31]     Ranjit Devraj, “India: Narmada waters reach desert, but more costs to come, say critics” IPS, New Delhi, 21 May 2001. Quoted at http://lists.iatp.org/listarchive/archive.cfm?id=75732

[32]     “Dealing with drought - Drought stalks Gujarat once again but the government relies on short-term crisis management measures instead of evolving a long-term, region-specific strategy to deal with this recurring phenomenon”. Frontline, Volume 18 - Issue 12, Jun. 09 - 22, 2001
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1812/18120500.htm

[33]     Angana Chatterji in MilliGazette, http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/15082002/1508200240.htm 

[34]     Angana Chatterji in Dissident Voice, December 2002.  http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles/Chatterji_IDRF-Hindutva.htm

[35]     Angana Chatterji article in Asian Age, November 2003: http://sacw.insaf.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/anganaNov2003.html

[36]     Letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Encouraging the Ban on US Visit of Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, for Severe Violations of Religious Freedom, signed by Angana Chatterji and others. Washington, DC, February 23, 2005. http://www.religionandpolicy.org/show.php?p=1.1.1543

[37]     Angana Chatterji, “A Grave Confrontation” June 6, 2002. http://www.dawn.com/2002/06/02/letted.htm#1 

[38]     Abrahamn, G., Chatterji, A., Gupta, S., Rao. A., Ubaid, S., Zacharias, U., 'A Clear Victory For All Indians', OUTLOOK India.com, March 19, 2005. http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20050319&fname=modi&sid=2&pn=2

[39]     Staff Directory, Department of Communications, Westfield State College, MA. http://www.wsc.ma.edu/directory/search_dept.asp?deptid=22

[40]     Raza A. Mir, Ph.D., Christos M. Cotsakos College of Business, Associate Professor: Marketing and Management Sciences, The William Paterson University Home Page for Associate Professor Raza Mir http://www.wpunj.edu/cob/COB_new/faculty/mngtmrktg/mirr/

[41]     PROXSA / YSS members: http://www.proxsa.org/yss/org.html

[42]     “Press Statement regarding Gujarat” By madurai collective 15/05/2002 At 08:32 issued by the participants at the 'Siting Secularism Conference', 21 April 2002, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, USA. http://india.indymedia.org/en/2002/05/1239.shtml Excerpt: “Raza Mir (Professor of Management, Monmouth University, USA).. Biju Mathew (Prof. of Information Systems, Rider University, USA)”

[43]     Sahay, Anand Mohan, “CPI-ML faction to honour kin of 1000 Naxalites”. Rediff, November 15, 2002. http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/nov/15naxal.htm

[44]     Amazingly, Dr. (“Professor”?) Angana Chatterji co-signed, with CIIS’ top administrators, a letter to a Tibetan group sympathizing with them. The content of the letter mainly advertised Chatterji’s heroic sacrifice in going on a diet for 3 days (“3-day hunger strike”) against the World Bank.

[45]     Investigations into the Kanishka Bombing, 1985. From South Asia Terror Portal, Institute of Conflict Management. http://www.satp.org/India/Punjab/Kanishka.htm

[46]     Punjab: Backgrounder. South Asia Terrorism Portal. Institute for Conflict Management.  http://www.satp.org/India/Punjab/Backgrounder_Punjab.htm

[47]     Eyewitness report from an attendee at the IMC 1st Annual Convention, Santa Clara, USA, June 28, 2003.

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