The 2008 National Asian American Survey - A Post-Election Report in New York City
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 a community briefing from the 2008 National Asian American Survey!
NEW YORK CITY-Data on Asian American political behavior and policy preferences will be released in New York City on July 22, 2009. The National Asian American Survey, conducted in the fall of 2008, will be presenting new findings that highlight the importance of Asian Americans to the political process and to policy debates. They will discuss voter mobilization and turnout, political participation beyond voting, and also present findings on:
Civic engagement;
interracial attitudes and coalition polictics;
discrimination and hate crimes; and
policy items like health care and immigration
DATE: Wednesday, July 22 , 2009
TIME: 5:00 - 7:00 pm
LOCATION: Seyfarth Shaw LLP
620 Eighth Avenue, 32nd Floor, New York, NY 10018-1405
Appetizers and beverages will be provided.
RSVP TO: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHRXR2NaWmNJV1pGejU1LU95eTNvcmc6MA
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS:
Asian American Federation of NY
APIAVote
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Chhaya CDC
National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
OCA New York Chapter
YKASEC - Empowering the Korean American Community
(list in formation)
The initial release in the fall of 2008 showed a majority of the Asian American eligible voters still undecided about their presidential pick. NAAS researchers documented the population's presidential preferences and the differences of opinion among its specific groups. The data also revealed the pivotal role Asian Americans could play in U.S. presidential races, given their significant presence in battleground states and swing states, and indications that, with a notable percentage of that population undecided, their vote was up for grabs.
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Executive Summary: 2008 National Asian American Survey
The 2008 NAAS is a groundbreaking study of the contours and contexts of Asian American civic and political engagement. Funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Russell Sage Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the Eagleton Institute of Politics, the centerpiece of this study is a national, multiethnic, multi-lingual, multi-site survey of 5,159 Asians in United States. This undertaking brings together a team of four investigators - Jane Junn (Rutgers University), S. Karthick Ramakrishnan (University of California, Riverside), Janelle Wong (University of Southern California), and Taeku Lee (University of California, Berkeley) - who are leading political scientists researching the politics of immigration, race and ethnicity, Asian American politics, and political behavior in the United States more generally.
The survey will showcase the most comprehensive data yet available on the civic and political participation of Asians Americans. It will shed important new light on questions such as: When and why do Asian Americans become politically active? Which issues and contexts define Asian Americans into a coherent and potentially mobilizable political group? How are Asian Americans likely to vote in the coming November elections?
The survey combines innovations in sample design and survey methodology that include:
Comparing multiple measures of political engagement: from citizenship, registration, voting and campaign donations to non-electoral measures of engagement, such as protesting, religiosity, and organizational membership.
Integrating individual-level survey responses with contextual-level (zip code, county, state) data on demographic, economic, organizational, and political factors of interest.
Sampling a large enough number of Asian Americans to analyze:
six ethnic groups of interest - Asian Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese.
eight languages - Cantonese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and English.
Asians in traditional immigrant "gateways" as well as those in "new destinations" like Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Charlotte, and Dallas-Fort Worth.
Interviews were conducted during August, September, and early October 2008.
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Showing posts with label Asian Indians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asian Indians. Show all posts
Monday, July 20, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Homosexuality in Ancient India, AIDS and HIV – A Historic Perspective – Part I by Harish Trivedi
Copyright: Harish Trivedi © 2009
Warning: Some readers may consider the contents of this aricle inappropriate.
Homosexuality has been practiced practically all across the world – including India since time immemorial. In some cultures it has been considered as an accepted form of behavior.
India, and indeed, most cultures of the East, had a very liberal attitude towards such matters. Love for a man for a boy was prevalent in ancient Greece. During the time of the Roman Empire and some Arab cultures have made no distinction between sex with a woman and sexual relations with a man or a boy.
The Victorian times effectively put an end to all open conversations about sexuality, despite the fact that those were the most debauch times in Europe.
Post independent India had behaved like an ostrich, with its head buried in the sand of prudish propriety when it came to the subject of homosexual practices.
India has followed, first the strictures imposed by the Laws of Manu and then the laws enacted by the British Raj during the colonial times. It has been illegal in India since 1861, when British rulers codified a law prohibiting “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal.” Its detractors have long viewed the law, known as Section 377 of Indian Penal Code, as an archaic holdover from colonialism.
But all that changed when homosexuality as a topic of human rights and acceptable human behavior was brought out in open when nine years ago gay activist groups in India filed a case in Delhi. And after nine years the historic decision came on July 2nd of this year when the Delhi court ruled that effectively decriminalized homosexual practices in India.
“The inclusiveness that Indian society traditionally displayed, literally in every aspect of life, is manifest in recognizing a role in society for everyone,” judges of the Delhi High Court wrote in a 105-page decision, India’s first to directly address rights for gay men and lesbians. “Those perceived by the majority as ‘deviants’ or ‘different’ are not on that score excluded or ostracized,” the decision said.
The decision was not received well by all the segments of the India’s poly-ethnic and multi-religious society.
Following the Delhi court’s decision a group of Sikh and Hindu activists staged a demonstration in the national capital to protest the Delhi High Court’s recent verdict on Article 377.
The Shahi Imam of Punjab, Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Sani Ludhianvi, at a press conference said that homosexual relations were not approved by any religion. He also said that the Europe and US were intentionally trying to spread homosexuality in India. Mercifully he did not use the word the Great Satan or issue a fatwa against the ruling judges of the court.
In view of this development it is worthwhile to put the whole subject of sexual practices, including homosexual practices in India in a historic context.
The reference to sexual practices in ancient India could be roughly divided in to a) the Vedic period, b) the post Vedic period and the time of compilation of Manu Smriti or the Laws of Manu, c) the Kama Sutra period, d) the era of erotic sculptures across India and the official ban imposed by the colonial government or the British Raj when it enacted the Indian Penal Code in 1861.
a) The Vedic period:
In these temple sculptures the women in ancient India appear to be uninhibited and very much aware of their femininity or so the statuettes leads us to believe. The Vedic philosophy that is the basis of the present Indian culture was very well spelled out in the four Vedas and subsequent treatises. But nowhere in this voluminous works the subject of same sex marriage or homosexual relations has been explicitly discussed, defined or denounced.
The Indian mythology on the other hand has depicted Gods changing their sex or gender at will, often for sexual purposes. Lord Krishna has done it, and the sagely Brahma is known to have taken the female form. Such fusion of gender in Hindu scriptures is based on unique philosophy of cosmic creation. Wendy Doniger of University of Chicago writing about Bisexuality in the Mythology of Ancient India says, “Hindu texts call into question our own gender conceptions; they tell us that desire for bisexual pleasure and the wish to belong to both sexes at the same time are very real…. Many myths bear witness to the existential perception of human beings as bisexual and to active bisexual transformations. Some may show the desire to be androgynous and, contrary to the dominant homophobic paradigm, present veiled images of a bisexuality fulfilled in happiness and satisfaction” Episodes depicted in Indian mythology particularly those related to Shiva and Parvati …illustrate this carefree, joyous way of crossing the gender barrier. -Diogenes, Vol. 52, No. 4, 50-60 (2005)
Such depictions in the Indian mythology suggest that sex; change of sex or varied sexual practices was not a taboo in ancient India.
b) Manu Smriti or the Laws of Manu:
A range of historical opinion generally dates composition of the text any time between 200 BCE and 200 CE. After the breakdown of the Maurya and Shunga empires, there was a period of uncertainty that led to renewed interest in traditional social norms. According to some scholars the strict prohibition and severity of the treatises such as Manu Smriti and subsequent commentary on the same was a result of insecurity of the orthodox Vedic preachers and parishioners in a period that was in historic transition.
The Manu Smriti – The Code or Law of Manu - was written as the words of the original creator, the Supreme Creator “BrahmÄ”. By attributing the words to supernatural forces, the text takes on an authoritative tone as a statement on Dharma (meaning Duty or Responsibility), in opposition to previous texts in the field, which were more scholarly. The eighteen Titles of Law or Grounds for Litigation make up more than one fifth of the work and it deals primarily with matters of the king, state, and judicial procedure.
The Manu Smriti, lists the oldest codes of conduct that were to be followed by a Hindu does refer to homosexual practices, but only as in its regulation. There were punishments, ranging from what could be described as very mild, to slightly harsher punishments, but interesting nonetheless. For instance if a mature woman was found having a lesbian relationship with a young girl, the punishment for older woman was immediately shaving of her head or two of her fingers were to be cut off, and she was made to ride on a donkey.
There are no kind words for a male homosexual either, but the severity is much less.
"Causing an injury to a priest, smelling wine or things that are not to be smelled, crookedness, and sexual union with a man are traditionally said to cause loss of caste" And: "If a man has shed his semen in non-human females (meaning animals or beasts), in a man, in a menstruating woman, in something other than a vagina, or in water, he should carry out the 'Painful Heating' vow." This meant he would have to drink a mixture of "cow's urine, cow dung, milk, yogurt, melted butter, water infused with sacrificial grass, and a fast of one night". Compared to what the woman would have to go through, this is definitely less severe. Perhaps this skewed treatment was due to the fact that most religious orders, had homosexuals in their members, whether acknowledged or unacknowledged. The punishment for a homosexual priest would, therefore, is much milder than say, an erring woman. Besides, Manu Smriti is the same scripture that has stated that the status of woman in the society is the same (or even lower than) that of a man’s land, his cattle and other possessions. It would be safe to say that a man or a group of men composed Manu Smriti.
Manu Smrti - Laws of Manu – pertaining to Homosexuality:
Chapter VIII
Verse 369: A damsel who pollutes (another) damsel must be fined two hundred (panas the prevalent currency), pay the double of her (nuptial) fee, and receive ten lashes.
Verse 370: A woman who pollutes a damsel shall instantly have (her head) shaved
or two fingers cut off, and shall be made to ride (through the town) on a donkey.
Chapter XI
Rules or Laws pertaining to a male offender:
Verse 67: Stealing grain, base metals, or cattle, intercourse with women who drink spirituous liquor, slaying women were considered only minor offences that caused loss of caste.
Verse 175: A twice-born man – meaning a Brahmin who commits an unnatural offence with a male, or has intercourse with a female in a cart drawn by oxen, in water, or in the day-time, shall bathe, dressed in his clothes.
In matters sexual, there were no stiff penalties for offending men during the time of Manu Smriti.
c) The era of Kama Sutra:
It is generally believed that India is the country that gave humanity the first, most scientific and most explicit treatise of love in the form of Kama Sutra. The authorship is attributed to one Mallanga Vatsyayana.
Mallanaga was a holy man, a seer, and a sage and lived primarily a religious life. Other than this scant information, not much is known about this sage Mallanaga Vatsyayana.
At one time the scholars believed that Kama Sutra was composed sometime between the 6th century B.C. and the 6th century A.D. (the Gupta Period in Indian civilization) - a very wide berth of time - but recent evidence indicates that Vatsyayana wrote the Kama Sutra around 150 B.C.
Based on references to 1st Century historical figures in the Kama Sutra, and on references to the Kama Sutra in early 5th Century works, some historians and anthropologists maintain that the Sutra was composed sometime between the 1st and 4th Centuries A.D.
Historian John Keay says that the Kama Sutra was collected into its present form in the second century CE
But for the purposes of present discussion we have a fairly good idea of the time frame during which this mammoth work was compiled.
Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "A Treatise on Kama" is attributed to Nandi - the sacred bull, God Shiva's doorkeeper, who overheard the sacred utterances of Shiva while Shiva was making love to his wife - goddess Parvati The bull Nandi later recorded Shiva’s sacred and profound utterances for the benefit of mankind.
The Mallanaga Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra has 1250 verses, distributed in 36 chapters, which are further organized into 7 parts. Kama means "love, pleasure, and the life of the senses" and a Sutra is a group of aphorisms - short, pithy sayings. The Kama Sutra is recognized as the true surviving text of the original Kama Shastra.
The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian text which is considered the primary Sanskrit work on human sexuality. Although Sir Richard Burton edited and published this very first English translation, he was not the main translator.
Burton had studied Sanskrit language, but he had not mastered it. He had assigned the translation of the primary text of Kama Sutra to two Sanskrit scholars from Bombay - Mr. Bhagwanlal Indraji who was an archeologist, numismatist and a linguist and Mr. Shivram Parshuram Bhide a student of Sanskrit language and a scholar. Burton also took assistance of his associate and a Civil Servant Forster Fitzgerald Arhuthnot.
Bhagwanlal and Shivram consulted four available manuscripts of Kama Sutra, compared the texts and used the text that seemed most authentic from all the available copies. Burton compared all the three translations, re-wrote the text to maintain consistency of language, provided footnotes and a preface to the final work. The first edition was published in 1883.
It should be noted here that Bhagwanlal Indraji worked for Dr. Bhau Daji Lad of Bombay. He helped Dr. Bhau Daji with translations of edicts discovered in Sopara (situated a little north of Bombay) and he also translated inscriptions on many of the coins that he had discovered during his excavations in various parts of India. Based on this Dr. Bhau Daji wrote various articles for the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and Numismatics magazines. Dr. Bhau Daji also collected some rare Sanskrit manuscripts of various treatises and sent it to the noted Orientalist Max Muller – who incidentally never visited India. (Source: The Biography of Dr. Bhau Daji titled Dr. Bhau Daji: Vyakti Kaal Va Kartrutva by A. K. Prioker in Marathi language).
Kama Sutra, Chapter IX: Homosexuality
The Kama Sutra specifies that two [male] citizens might have reciprocal (sexual) relations with one another (2.9.36).
Given the emphasis placed on distinctions of gender, caste, or age in all relationships between a man and a woman in the context of Vedic preaching, the above passage creates a mystery because it does not say anything about caste or age of the men in homoerotic relationship. Perhaps there was some complex set of norms that were to be applied in certain circumstances.
Sex Between Women
The Kama Sutra (2.8) also describes "virile sexual behavior in women." Whether this chapter refers to female homoeroticism (as opposed to women sitting on top of men), is controversial. In a later passage (5.6.2), however, the text clearly describes gender-differentiated sex between royal women and their female-to-male cross-dressed servants. The commentary (2.9.36) also mentions female-female oral sex, conducted in the privacy of harems or quarters restricted to women in other households.
Kama Sutra says that The Auparishtaka (fellatio) was also practiced by unchaste and wanton women, female attendants and maids - those who were single and not married to anybody, but who lived by working as maids.
The Acharyas (i.e. ancient and venerable authors) are of opinion that this Auparishtaka is the work of a dog and not of a man, because it is a low practice, and opposed to the orders of the Holy Writ, and because the man himself suffers by bringing his lingam into contact with the mouths of eunuchs and women. But Vatsyayana says that the orders of the Holy Writ do not affect those who resort to courtesans, and the law prohibits the practice of the Auparishtaka with married women only. As regards the injury to the male, that can be easily remedied.
Tritiya-Prakriti or People of the “Third Sex”
There are two kinds of eunuchs, those that are disguised as males, and those that are disguised as females. Eunuchs disguised as females imitate their dress, speech, gestures, tenderness, timidity, simplicity, softness and bashfulness. The acts that are done on the jaghana or middle parts of women are done in the mouths of these eunuchs, and this is called Auparishtaka. These eunuchs derive their imaginable pleasure, and their livelihood from this kind of congress, and they lead the life of courtesans. So much concerning eunuchs disguised as females.
Eunuchs disguised as males keep their desires secret, and when they wish to do anything they lead the life of shampooers. Under the pretence of shampooing, a eunuch of this kind embraces and draws towards himself the thighs of the man whom he is shampooing, and after this he touches the joints of his thighs and his jaghana, or central portions of his body. Then, if he finds the lingam of the man erect, he presses it with his hands and chaffs him for getting into that state. If after this, and after knowing his intention, the man does not tell the eunuch to proceed, then the latter does it of his own accord and begins the congress. If however he is ordered by the man to do it, then he disputes with him, and only consents at last with difficulty.|
The following eight things are then done by the eunuch one after the other:
The nominal congress, Biting the sides, Pressing outside, Pressing inside, Kissing, Rubbing, Sucking a mango fruit, Swallowing up…
'The male servants of some men carry on the mouth congress with their masters. Some citizens, who know each other well, also practice it. Some women of the harem, when they are amorous, do the acts of the mouth on the yonis of one another, and some men do the same thing with women. The way of doing this (i.e. of kissing the yoni) is similar to kissing on the mouth.
d) The era of erotic and homoerotic sculptures in the temple carvings of Khajurao, Puri and Thanjuvar:
The temple carvings of Khajuraho in central India and Jagganath Puri temples in the state of Orissa in eastern India or the temple architecture of Thanjuvar in the South India is full of very explicit depiction of a variety of sexual activities and homosexual acts that could be considered outlandish, bizarre or bold depending upon one’s view on the subject of sexuality. The sculptures of long limbed big bosomed women in a variety of sexual activities including same sex acts, sexual intercourse between men and women, men and men and humans and animals…all is boldly depicted in these temple carvings, they leave nothing to imagination. What really takes one’s breath away is the sheer quantity of sexual positions that have been put on those walls.
Khajuraho temples were constructed between 950 and 1050 A.D. during the reign of Chandel Empire. The construction of the current Jagannath temple was initiated by the ruler of Kalinga, Anantavarman Chodaganga Dev (1078 - 1148 CE) - during the 12th century. The Jagamohana and the Vimana portions of the temple were built during his reign. But it was only in the year 1174 CE that the Orissan ruler Ananga Bhima Deva rebuilt the temple to give a shape in which it stands today.
From the above chronology it appears that sexual practices in India in general and laws prohibiting certain sexual activities in particular went through many attitudinal changes. People who shout and tout the erotic and homoerotic sculptures at Khajurao and Puri temples as examples of liberal attitudes towards sex seem to ignore the historic variations in the sexual attitudes of people and law givers in India during various periods of time in history.
The Khajurao type sexual liberalism blossomed only after the Manu Smriti stipulations against homosexual practices and in effect may be a result of too many restrictions on homosexual and sexual activities among consenting adults in India. It would be erroneous to think or say that the whole Indian subcontinent was awash with unbridled sexual romp during the historic period that is cited above.
The Indian Penal Code was enacted in 1861 (that criminalized homosexual activities in India) and the first English translation of Kama Sutra was published in 1883. Among other topics dealing with human sexuality, Kama Sutra also gave a detailed description of various homosexual acts.
The India Penal Code also was instrumental in ending the sexually promiscuous and abhorrent practices by the Vaishnav Gurus in Bombay. In the famous libel case against the Vaishnav Maharaj, that came to be known as the Maharaj Libel Case, the Bombay Court rejected the defense by the Vaishnav Maharaj that his sexual activities were sanctioned by his ‘religion’ and dismissed the case against the publisher Karsondas Mooljee of the publication Satya Prakash that published the account of Jadunathjee Maharaj, the chief of the Vaishnav sect in Bombay.
During much of the 19th century and possibly prior to that all kind of sexual practices were prevalent in India. According to Sir Richard Burton, General Charles Napier who was worried that his troops were patronizing the brothels in Karachi asked Burton to investigate the rumors about the brothels. Burton in his report concluded that there were three brothels in the port city of Karachi (now in Pakistan) “in which not women but boys and eunuchs… lay for hire”. He listed the prices and services that were offered to the customers. Burton noted in his report that the boys cost twice as much as the eunuchs because - “the scrotum of the unmutilated boy could be used as a kind of bridle for directing the movement of the animal”. The report was sent to Bombay and Napier was asked to dismiss young Richard Burton. This whole episode could be found described in numerous biographies of Sir Richard Burton. Burrton’s report was censored by the wounded sensibilities of the officials of the British Empire.
Burrton’s writings published during the 19th century throw much light on the sexual and homosexual practices around the world and perhaps that is what provoked the enactment of so-called prudish Victorian laws.
In the Terminal Essay of The Arabian Nights, 1885, Burton outlined his theory of a "Sotadic Zone" where homosexuality/pederasty flourished. According to Burton the Sotadic Zone included most of the Mediterranean countries, the Middle East, China, Japan, the islands of the South Seas and North and South America, the northern cost of Africa particularly Morocco, Tunis, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
Burton further notes, ‘Subsequent enquiries in many and distant countries enabled me to arrive at the following conclusions:
“Running eastward the Sotadic Zone narrows, embracing Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Chaldaea, Afghanistan, Sind, the Punjab and Kashmir.
“Beyond India, I have stated, the Sotadic Zone begins to broaden out, embracing all China, Turkistan and Japan. The Chinese, as far as we know them in the great cities, are omnivorous and omnifutuentes: they are the chosen people of debauchery, and their systematic bestiality with ducks, goats, and other animals is equalled only by their pederasty...
According to Burton the Sotadic Zone extended to South Sea Islands and the New World where, at the time of its discovery, Sotadic love was, with some exceptions, an established racial institution.
“Passing over to America we find that the Sotadic Zone contains the whole hemisphere from Behring's Straits to Magellan's... In California the first missionaries found the same practice, the youths being called Joya... (Burton)
The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton: Fawn McKay Brodie, 1984.
Fawn McKay Brodie in her biography of Burton The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton - refers to twenty-five pederastic terms Burton has quoted in one of which we find, “A favourite Persian punishment for strangers caught in the harem or gynaeceum is to strip and throw them and expose them to the embraces of the grooms and Negro-slaves. I once asked a Shirazi how penetration was possible if the patient resisted with all the force of the sphincter muscle: he smiled and said, ‘Ah, we Persians know a trick to get over that; we apply a sharpened tent-peg to the crupper-bone (or coccyges) and knock till he opens.’”
On the subject of homosexuality in England and Europe Fawn McKay again quotes Burton (page 307) – “In our modern capitals, London, Berlin and Paris for instance, the Vice seems subject to periodical outbreaks. For many hears, also England sent her pederasts to Italy, and especially to Naples whence originate the term ‘Il vizio Inglese’” Berlin, “is not a whit better than her neighbours… Paris is by no means more depraved than Berlin and London; but, whilst the later hushes up the scandal, Frenchmen do not; hence we see a more copious account of it submitted to the public.”
Burton is further quoted as saying, “A friend knowledgeable in such matters had informed me that many distinguished men of the pat had been homosexuals; among them were Alexander, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, and Shakespeare. Among the monarchs he included Henri III, Louis XIII, Louis XVIII, Frederick the Great, Peter the Great, and William II of Holland”. Burton does not cite any evidence to substantiate his observations about the European and Russian royalty and rulers.
The above gives us a fairly good account about homosexual practices during the Victorian period and the prevailing moral attitudes across the world including India.
In the summer of 2003, India witnessed its first Gay Pride parade in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) when several dozen activists, waving rainbow colored flags marched in the city streets.
There are many gay and lesbian groups and organizations in India. Some of the leading ones include HUMRAHI (meaning fellow traveler) is an organization for gay and bisexual men. It is based in Delhi. It has been active since 1997. Among other such organizations include SANGINI (meaning a female friend), AANCHAL (Aanchal means the sheltering folds of a woman's saree) Aanchal was the first help line solely for lesbian and bisexual women in Mumbai, India. In Aanchal, the women who were isolated and fearful of others discovering their sexuality have found a safe place to interact with like-minded women. There is also a group in Delhi, India called Campaign for Lesbian Rights (CALERI). It is an activist collective working for lesbian and bisexual women's rights.
Gay websites and hangouts have proliferated, especially in the capital New Delhi and the southern city of Bombay. During the decade of 1994 to 2005 the groups working on gay issues have grown from only two in 1994 to nearly one hundred in 2005 the last year for which the figures are available. The number of gay and lesbian organization is probably much higher than one hundred of a few years ago.
In a survey done on Indian males by popular magazine INDIA TODAY, the number of Indian men having had homosexual experience at a whopping 37%. Many social critics and commentators have shown skepticism about the survey conducted by India Today. If the above survey were correct then every third person in India would be gay or a lesbian. Even if one accepts the conservative estimate of 5 per cent of the India’s population is gay or lesbian, considering the population of over a billion people, the number of gay and lesbian people is very large.
In this country (U.S.A) there is one major organization devoted to Asian and South East Asian community’s gay and lesbian members. It is called TRIKON.
China lifted its ban on gay sex in 1997. Besides China, Brazil and Russia too retired the law long ago. Nepal’s Supreme Court in 2007 ordered its government to scrap laws that discriminate against homosexuals.
Elsewhere in the world, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and Kazakhstan in Asia; South Africa, Chad, Congo, and Madagascar in Africa; Peru, Chile, Columbia and Bolivia have decriminalized homosexual practices. The 27-nation European Union has of course been at the vanguard of the movement to recognize the rights of LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans genders).
France legalized homosexuality way back in 1791, after the revolution. England lifted the ban in 1967. And now India has joined the major nations of the world and decriminalized homosexual behavior.
India, welcome to the new world order!
* * * * *
1) Sources: Kama Sutra, Sir Richard Burrton’s translation, Manu Smriti or The Laws of Manu – Sir William Jones translation - from my personal collection.
2) Spellings in the quotes are kept as in original.
Part II AIDS and HIV in India - tomorrow
Warning: Some readers may consider the contents of this aricle inappropriate.
Homosexuality has been practiced practically all across the world – including India since time immemorial. In some cultures it has been considered as an accepted form of behavior.
India, and indeed, most cultures of the East, had a very liberal attitude towards such matters. Love for a man for a boy was prevalent in ancient Greece. During the time of the Roman Empire and some Arab cultures have made no distinction between sex with a woman and sexual relations with a man or a boy.
The Victorian times effectively put an end to all open conversations about sexuality, despite the fact that those were the most debauch times in Europe.
Post independent India had behaved like an ostrich, with its head buried in the sand of prudish propriety when it came to the subject of homosexual practices.
India has followed, first the strictures imposed by the Laws of Manu and then the laws enacted by the British Raj during the colonial times. It has been illegal in India since 1861, when British rulers codified a law prohibiting “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal.” Its detractors have long viewed the law, known as Section 377 of Indian Penal Code, as an archaic holdover from colonialism.
But all that changed when homosexuality as a topic of human rights and acceptable human behavior was brought out in open when nine years ago gay activist groups in India filed a case in Delhi. And after nine years the historic decision came on July 2nd of this year when the Delhi court ruled that effectively decriminalized homosexual practices in India.
“The inclusiveness that Indian society traditionally displayed, literally in every aspect of life, is manifest in recognizing a role in society for everyone,” judges of the Delhi High Court wrote in a 105-page decision, India’s first to directly address rights for gay men and lesbians. “Those perceived by the majority as ‘deviants’ or ‘different’ are not on that score excluded or ostracized,” the decision said.
The decision was not received well by all the segments of the India’s poly-ethnic and multi-religious society.
Following the Delhi court’s decision a group of Sikh and Hindu activists staged a demonstration in the national capital to protest the Delhi High Court’s recent verdict on Article 377.
The Shahi Imam of Punjab, Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Sani Ludhianvi, at a press conference said that homosexual relations were not approved by any religion. He also said that the Europe and US were intentionally trying to spread homosexuality in India. Mercifully he did not use the word the Great Satan or issue a fatwa against the ruling judges of the court.
In view of this development it is worthwhile to put the whole subject of sexual practices, including homosexual practices in India in a historic context.
The reference to sexual practices in ancient India could be roughly divided in to a) the Vedic period, b) the post Vedic period and the time of compilation of Manu Smriti or the Laws of Manu, c) the Kama Sutra period, d) the era of erotic sculptures across India and the official ban imposed by the colonial government or the British Raj when it enacted the Indian Penal Code in 1861.
a) The Vedic period:
In these temple sculptures the women in ancient India appear to be uninhibited and very much aware of their femininity or so the statuettes leads us to believe. The Vedic philosophy that is the basis of the present Indian culture was very well spelled out in the four Vedas and subsequent treatises. But nowhere in this voluminous works the subject of same sex marriage or homosexual relations has been explicitly discussed, defined or denounced.
The Indian mythology on the other hand has depicted Gods changing their sex or gender at will, often for sexual purposes. Lord Krishna has done it, and the sagely Brahma is known to have taken the female form. Such fusion of gender in Hindu scriptures is based on unique philosophy of cosmic creation. Wendy Doniger of University of Chicago writing about Bisexuality in the Mythology of Ancient India says, “Hindu texts call into question our own gender conceptions; they tell us that desire for bisexual pleasure and the wish to belong to both sexes at the same time are very real…. Many myths bear witness to the existential perception of human beings as bisexual and to active bisexual transformations. Some may show the desire to be androgynous and, contrary to the dominant homophobic paradigm, present veiled images of a bisexuality fulfilled in happiness and satisfaction” Episodes depicted in Indian mythology particularly those related to Shiva and Parvati …illustrate this carefree, joyous way of crossing the gender barrier. -Diogenes, Vol. 52, No. 4, 50-60 (2005)
Such depictions in the Indian mythology suggest that sex; change of sex or varied sexual practices was not a taboo in ancient India.
b) Manu Smriti or the Laws of Manu:
A range of historical opinion generally dates composition of the text any time between 200 BCE and 200 CE. After the breakdown of the Maurya and Shunga empires, there was a period of uncertainty that led to renewed interest in traditional social norms. According to some scholars the strict prohibition and severity of the treatises such as Manu Smriti and subsequent commentary on the same was a result of insecurity of the orthodox Vedic preachers and parishioners in a period that was in historic transition.
The Manu Smriti – The Code or Law of Manu - was written as the words of the original creator, the Supreme Creator “BrahmÄ”. By attributing the words to supernatural forces, the text takes on an authoritative tone as a statement on Dharma (meaning Duty or Responsibility), in opposition to previous texts in the field, which were more scholarly. The eighteen Titles of Law or Grounds for Litigation make up more than one fifth of the work and it deals primarily with matters of the king, state, and judicial procedure.
The Manu Smriti, lists the oldest codes of conduct that were to be followed by a Hindu does refer to homosexual practices, but only as in its regulation. There were punishments, ranging from what could be described as very mild, to slightly harsher punishments, but interesting nonetheless. For instance if a mature woman was found having a lesbian relationship with a young girl, the punishment for older woman was immediately shaving of her head or two of her fingers were to be cut off, and she was made to ride on a donkey.
There are no kind words for a male homosexual either, but the severity is much less.
"Causing an injury to a priest, smelling wine or things that are not to be smelled, crookedness, and sexual union with a man are traditionally said to cause loss of caste" And: "If a man has shed his semen in non-human females (meaning animals or beasts), in a man, in a menstruating woman, in something other than a vagina, or in water, he should carry out the 'Painful Heating' vow." This meant he would have to drink a mixture of "cow's urine, cow dung, milk, yogurt, melted butter, water infused with sacrificial grass, and a fast of one night". Compared to what the woman would have to go through, this is definitely less severe. Perhaps this skewed treatment was due to the fact that most religious orders, had homosexuals in their members, whether acknowledged or unacknowledged. The punishment for a homosexual priest would, therefore, is much milder than say, an erring woman. Besides, Manu Smriti is the same scripture that has stated that the status of woman in the society is the same (or even lower than) that of a man’s land, his cattle and other possessions. It would be safe to say that a man or a group of men composed Manu Smriti.
Manu Smrti - Laws of Manu – pertaining to Homosexuality:
Chapter VIII
Verse 369: A damsel who pollutes (another) damsel must be fined two hundred (panas the prevalent currency), pay the double of her (nuptial) fee, and receive ten lashes.
Verse 370: A woman who pollutes a damsel shall instantly have (her head) shaved
or two fingers cut off, and shall be made to ride (through the town) on a donkey.
Chapter XI
Rules or Laws pertaining to a male offender:
Verse 67: Stealing grain, base metals, or cattle, intercourse with women who drink spirituous liquor, slaying women were considered only minor offences that caused loss of caste.
Verse 175: A twice-born man – meaning a Brahmin who commits an unnatural offence with a male, or has intercourse with a female in a cart drawn by oxen, in water, or in the day-time, shall bathe, dressed in his clothes.
In matters sexual, there were no stiff penalties for offending men during the time of Manu Smriti.
c) The era of Kama Sutra:
It is generally believed that India is the country that gave humanity the first, most scientific and most explicit treatise of love in the form of Kama Sutra. The authorship is attributed to one Mallanga Vatsyayana.
Mallanaga was a holy man, a seer, and a sage and lived primarily a religious life. Other than this scant information, not much is known about this sage Mallanaga Vatsyayana.
At one time the scholars believed that Kama Sutra was composed sometime between the 6th century B.C. and the 6th century A.D. (the Gupta Period in Indian civilization) - a very wide berth of time - but recent evidence indicates that Vatsyayana wrote the Kama Sutra around 150 B.C.
Based on references to 1st Century historical figures in the Kama Sutra, and on references to the Kama Sutra in early 5th Century works, some historians and anthropologists maintain that the Sutra was composed sometime between the 1st and 4th Centuries A.D.
Historian John Keay says that the Kama Sutra was collected into its present form in the second century CE
But for the purposes of present discussion we have a fairly good idea of the time frame during which this mammoth work was compiled.
Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "A Treatise on Kama" is attributed to Nandi - the sacred bull, God Shiva's doorkeeper, who overheard the sacred utterances of Shiva while Shiva was making love to his wife - goddess Parvati The bull Nandi later recorded Shiva’s sacred and profound utterances for the benefit of mankind.
The Mallanaga Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra has 1250 verses, distributed in 36 chapters, which are further organized into 7 parts. Kama means "love, pleasure, and the life of the senses" and a Sutra is a group of aphorisms - short, pithy sayings. The Kama Sutra is recognized as the true surviving text of the original Kama Shastra.
The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian text which is considered the primary Sanskrit work on human sexuality. Although Sir Richard Burton edited and published this very first English translation, he was not the main translator.
Burton had studied Sanskrit language, but he had not mastered it. He had assigned the translation of the primary text of Kama Sutra to two Sanskrit scholars from Bombay - Mr. Bhagwanlal Indraji who was an archeologist, numismatist and a linguist and Mr. Shivram Parshuram Bhide a student of Sanskrit language and a scholar. Burton also took assistance of his associate and a Civil Servant Forster Fitzgerald Arhuthnot.
Bhagwanlal and Shivram consulted four available manuscripts of Kama Sutra, compared the texts and used the text that seemed most authentic from all the available copies. Burton compared all the three translations, re-wrote the text to maintain consistency of language, provided footnotes and a preface to the final work. The first edition was published in 1883.
It should be noted here that Bhagwanlal Indraji worked for Dr. Bhau Daji Lad of Bombay. He helped Dr. Bhau Daji with translations of edicts discovered in Sopara (situated a little north of Bombay) and he also translated inscriptions on many of the coins that he had discovered during his excavations in various parts of India. Based on this Dr. Bhau Daji wrote various articles for the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and Numismatics magazines. Dr. Bhau Daji also collected some rare Sanskrit manuscripts of various treatises and sent it to the noted Orientalist Max Muller – who incidentally never visited India. (Source: The Biography of Dr. Bhau Daji titled Dr. Bhau Daji: Vyakti Kaal Va Kartrutva by A. K. Prioker in Marathi language).
Kama Sutra, Chapter IX: Homosexuality
The Kama Sutra specifies that two [male] citizens might have reciprocal (sexual) relations with one another (2.9.36).
Given the emphasis placed on distinctions of gender, caste, or age in all relationships between a man and a woman in the context of Vedic preaching, the above passage creates a mystery because it does not say anything about caste or age of the men in homoerotic relationship. Perhaps there was some complex set of norms that were to be applied in certain circumstances.
Sex Between Women
The Kama Sutra (2.8) also describes "virile sexual behavior in women." Whether this chapter refers to female homoeroticism (as opposed to women sitting on top of men), is controversial. In a later passage (5.6.2), however, the text clearly describes gender-differentiated sex between royal women and their female-to-male cross-dressed servants. The commentary (2.9.36) also mentions female-female oral sex, conducted in the privacy of harems or quarters restricted to women in other households.
Kama Sutra says that The Auparishtaka (fellatio) was also practiced by unchaste and wanton women, female attendants and maids - those who were single and not married to anybody, but who lived by working as maids.
The Acharyas (i.e. ancient and venerable authors) are of opinion that this Auparishtaka is the work of a dog and not of a man, because it is a low practice, and opposed to the orders of the Holy Writ, and because the man himself suffers by bringing his lingam into contact with the mouths of eunuchs and women. But Vatsyayana says that the orders of the Holy Writ do not affect those who resort to courtesans, and the law prohibits the practice of the Auparishtaka with married women only. As regards the injury to the male, that can be easily remedied.
Tritiya-Prakriti or People of the “Third Sex”
There are two kinds of eunuchs, those that are disguised as males, and those that are disguised as females. Eunuchs disguised as females imitate their dress, speech, gestures, tenderness, timidity, simplicity, softness and bashfulness. The acts that are done on the jaghana or middle parts of women are done in the mouths of these eunuchs, and this is called Auparishtaka. These eunuchs derive their imaginable pleasure, and their livelihood from this kind of congress, and they lead the life of courtesans. So much concerning eunuchs disguised as females.
Eunuchs disguised as males keep their desires secret, and when they wish to do anything they lead the life of shampooers. Under the pretence of shampooing, a eunuch of this kind embraces and draws towards himself the thighs of the man whom he is shampooing, and after this he touches the joints of his thighs and his jaghana, or central portions of his body. Then, if he finds the lingam of the man erect, he presses it with his hands and chaffs him for getting into that state. If after this, and after knowing his intention, the man does not tell the eunuch to proceed, then the latter does it of his own accord and begins the congress. If however he is ordered by the man to do it, then he disputes with him, and only consents at last with difficulty.|
The following eight things are then done by the eunuch one after the other:
The nominal congress, Biting the sides, Pressing outside, Pressing inside, Kissing, Rubbing, Sucking a mango fruit, Swallowing up…
'The male servants of some men carry on the mouth congress with their masters. Some citizens, who know each other well, also practice it. Some women of the harem, when they are amorous, do the acts of the mouth on the yonis of one another, and some men do the same thing with women. The way of doing this (i.e. of kissing the yoni) is similar to kissing on the mouth.
d) The era of erotic and homoerotic sculptures in the temple carvings of Khajurao, Puri and Thanjuvar:
The temple carvings of Khajuraho in central India and Jagganath Puri temples in the state of Orissa in eastern India or the temple architecture of Thanjuvar in the South India is full of very explicit depiction of a variety of sexual activities and homosexual acts that could be considered outlandish, bizarre or bold depending upon one’s view on the subject of sexuality. The sculptures of long limbed big bosomed women in a variety of sexual activities including same sex acts, sexual intercourse between men and women, men and men and humans and animals…all is boldly depicted in these temple carvings, they leave nothing to imagination. What really takes one’s breath away is the sheer quantity of sexual positions that have been put on those walls.
Khajuraho temples were constructed between 950 and 1050 A.D. during the reign of Chandel Empire. The construction of the current Jagannath temple was initiated by the ruler of Kalinga, Anantavarman Chodaganga Dev (1078 - 1148 CE) - during the 12th century. The Jagamohana and the Vimana portions of the temple were built during his reign. But it was only in the year 1174 CE that the Orissan ruler Ananga Bhima Deva rebuilt the temple to give a shape in which it stands today.
From the above chronology it appears that sexual practices in India in general and laws prohibiting certain sexual activities in particular went through many attitudinal changes. People who shout and tout the erotic and homoerotic sculptures at Khajurao and Puri temples as examples of liberal attitudes towards sex seem to ignore the historic variations in the sexual attitudes of people and law givers in India during various periods of time in history.
The Khajurao type sexual liberalism blossomed only after the Manu Smriti stipulations against homosexual practices and in effect may be a result of too many restrictions on homosexual and sexual activities among consenting adults in India. It would be erroneous to think or say that the whole Indian subcontinent was awash with unbridled sexual romp during the historic period that is cited above.
The Indian Penal Code was enacted in 1861 (that criminalized homosexual activities in India) and the first English translation of Kama Sutra was published in 1883. Among other topics dealing with human sexuality, Kama Sutra also gave a detailed description of various homosexual acts.
The India Penal Code also was instrumental in ending the sexually promiscuous and abhorrent practices by the Vaishnav Gurus in Bombay. In the famous libel case against the Vaishnav Maharaj, that came to be known as the Maharaj Libel Case, the Bombay Court rejected the defense by the Vaishnav Maharaj that his sexual activities were sanctioned by his ‘religion’ and dismissed the case against the publisher Karsondas Mooljee of the publication Satya Prakash that published the account of Jadunathjee Maharaj, the chief of the Vaishnav sect in Bombay.
During much of the 19th century and possibly prior to that all kind of sexual practices were prevalent in India. According to Sir Richard Burton, General Charles Napier who was worried that his troops were patronizing the brothels in Karachi asked Burton to investigate the rumors about the brothels. Burton in his report concluded that there were three brothels in the port city of Karachi (now in Pakistan) “in which not women but boys and eunuchs… lay for hire”. He listed the prices and services that were offered to the customers. Burton noted in his report that the boys cost twice as much as the eunuchs because - “the scrotum of the unmutilated boy could be used as a kind of bridle for directing the movement of the animal”. The report was sent to Bombay and Napier was asked to dismiss young Richard Burton. This whole episode could be found described in numerous biographies of Sir Richard Burton. Burrton’s report was censored by the wounded sensibilities of the officials of the British Empire.
Burrton’s writings published during the 19th century throw much light on the sexual and homosexual practices around the world and perhaps that is what provoked the enactment of so-called prudish Victorian laws.
In the Terminal Essay of The Arabian Nights, 1885, Burton outlined his theory of a "Sotadic Zone" where homosexuality/pederasty flourished. According to Burton the Sotadic Zone included most of the Mediterranean countries, the Middle East, China, Japan, the islands of the South Seas and North and South America, the northern cost of Africa particularly Morocco, Tunis, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
Burton further notes, ‘Subsequent enquiries in many and distant countries enabled me to arrive at the following conclusions:
“Running eastward the Sotadic Zone narrows, embracing Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Chaldaea, Afghanistan, Sind, the Punjab and Kashmir.
“Beyond India, I have stated, the Sotadic Zone begins to broaden out, embracing all China, Turkistan and Japan. The Chinese, as far as we know them in the great cities, are omnivorous and omnifutuentes: they are the chosen people of debauchery, and their systematic bestiality with ducks, goats, and other animals is equalled only by their pederasty...
According to Burton the Sotadic Zone extended to South Sea Islands and the New World where, at the time of its discovery, Sotadic love was, with some exceptions, an established racial institution.
“Passing over to America we find that the Sotadic Zone contains the whole hemisphere from Behring's Straits to Magellan's... In California the first missionaries found the same practice, the youths being called Joya... (Burton)
The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton: Fawn McKay Brodie, 1984.
Fawn McKay Brodie in her biography of Burton The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton - refers to twenty-five pederastic terms Burton has quoted in one of which we find, “A favourite Persian punishment for strangers caught in the harem or gynaeceum is to strip and throw them and expose them to the embraces of the grooms and Negro-slaves. I once asked a Shirazi how penetration was possible if the patient resisted with all the force of the sphincter muscle: he smiled and said, ‘Ah, we Persians know a trick to get over that; we apply a sharpened tent-peg to the crupper-bone (or coccyges) and knock till he opens.’”
On the subject of homosexuality in England and Europe Fawn McKay again quotes Burton (page 307) – “In our modern capitals, London, Berlin and Paris for instance, the Vice seems subject to periodical outbreaks. For many hears, also England sent her pederasts to Italy, and especially to Naples whence originate the term ‘Il vizio Inglese’” Berlin, “is not a whit better than her neighbours… Paris is by no means more depraved than Berlin and London; but, whilst the later hushes up the scandal, Frenchmen do not; hence we see a more copious account of it submitted to the public.”
Burton is further quoted as saying, “A friend knowledgeable in such matters had informed me that many distinguished men of the pat had been homosexuals; among them were Alexander, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, and Shakespeare. Among the monarchs he included Henri III, Louis XIII, Louis XVIII, Frederick the Great, Peter the Great, and William II of Holland”. Burton does not cite any evidence to substantiate his observations about the European and Russian royalty and rulers.
The above gives us a fairly good account about homosexual practices during the Victorian period and the prevailing moral attitudes across the world including India.
In the summer of 2003, India witnessed its first Gay Pride parade in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) when several dozen activists, waving rainbow colored flags marched in the city streets.
There are many gay and lesbian groups and organizations in India. Some of the leading ones include HUMRAHI (meaning fellow traveler) is an organization for gay and bisexual men. It is based in Delhi. It has been active since 1997. Among other such organizations include SANGINI (meaning a female friend), AANCHAL (Aanchal means the sheltering folds of a woman's saree) Aanchal was the first help line solely for lesbian and bisexual women in Mumbai, India. In Aanchal, the women who were isolated and fearful of others discovering their sexuality have found a safe place to interact with like-minded women. There is also a group in Delhi, India called Campaign for Lesbian Rights (CALERI). It is an activist collective working for lesbian and bisexual women's rights.
Gay websites and hangouts have proliferated, especially in the capital New Delhi and the southern city of Bombay. During the decade of 1994 to 2005 the groups working on gay issues have grown from only two in 1994 to nearly one hundred in 2005 the last year for which the figures are available. The number of gay and lesbian organization is probably much higher than one hundred of a few years ago.
In a survey done on Indian males by popular magazine INDIA TODAY, the number of Indian men having had homosexual experience at a whopping 37%. Many social critics and commentators have shown skepticism about the survey conducted by India Today. If the above survey were correct then every third person in India would be gay or a lesbian. Even if one accepts the conservative estimate of 5 per cent of the India’s population is gay or lesbian, considering the population of over a billion people, the number of gay and lesbian people is very large.
In this country (U.S.A) there is one major organization devoted to Asian and South East Asian community’s gay and lesbian members. It is called TRIKON.
China lifted its ban on gay sex in 1997. Besides China, Brazil and Russia too retired the law long ago. Nepal’s Supreme Court in 2007 ordered its government to scrap laws that discriminate against homosexuals.
Elsewhere in the world, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and Kazakhstan in Asia; South Africa, Chad, Congo, and Madagascar in Africa; Peru, Chile, Columbia and Bolivia have decriminalized homosexual practices. The 27-nation European Union has of course been at the vanguard of the movement to recognize the rights of LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans genders).
France legalized homosexuality way back in 1791, after the revolution. England lifted the ban in 1967. And now India has joined the major nations of the world and decriminalized homosexual behavior.
India, welcome to the new world order!
* * * * *
1) Sources: Kama Sutra, Sir Richard Burrton’s translation, Manu Smriti or The Laws of Manu – Sir William Jones translation - from my personal collection.
2) Spellings in the quotes are kept as in original.
Part II AIDS and HIV in India - tomorrow
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
India's Foreing Policy "Software" by Daniel Markey
In a landmark paper titled, Developing India’s Foreign Policy "Software," Daniel Markey, Senior Fellow for South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, "outlines significant shortcomings in India’s foreign policy institutions that undermine the country’s capacity for ambitious and effective international action, and proposes steps that both New Delhi and Washington should take, assuming they aim to promote India’s rise as a great power."
The paper goes on to say:
India’s own foreign policy establishment hinders the country from achieving great-power status for four main reasons:
(1) The Indian Foreign Service is small, hobbled by its selection process and inadequate midcareer training, and tends not to make use of outside expertise;
(2) India’s think-tanks lack sufficient access to the information or resources required to conduct high-quality, policy-relevant scholarship;
(3) India’s public universities are poorly funded, highly regulated, and fail to provide world-class education in the social sciences and other fields related to foreign policy; and
(4) India’s media and private firms—leaders in debating the country’s foreign policy agenda—are not built to undertake sustained foreign policy research or training.
For India to achieve great-power status, a number of improvements to its foreign policy software will be required:
• expand, reform, pay, and train the Indian Foreign Service to attract and retain high-caliber officers
• encourage the growth of world-class social science research and teaching schools in India through partnerships with private Indian and U.S. investors, universities, and foundations
• invest in Indian think-tanks and U.S.-India exchange programs that build capacity for foreign policy research
• bring non-career officers into the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and other parts of the foreign policy establishment as term-limited fellows to improve outside understanding of the policy process
• support the efforts of Indian researchers to maximize public access to material related to the history of India’s foreign policy by way of the 2005 Right to Information Act.
To read an executive summary as well as the full 24 page report, please log on to http://usindiafriendship.net/ and turn to the top left hand corner of the page.
The paper goes on to say:
India’s own foreign policy establishment hinders the country from achieving great-power status for four main reasons:
(1) The Indian Foreign Service is small, hobbled by its selection process and inadequate midcareer training, and tends not to make use of outside expertise;
(2) India’s think-tanks lack sufficient access to the information or resources required to conduct high-quality, policy-relevant scholarship;
(3) India’s public universities are poorly funded, highly regulated, and fail to provide world-class education in the social sciences and other fields related to foreign policy; and
(4) India’s media and private firms—leaders in debating the country’s foreign policy agenda—are not built to undertake sustained foreign policy research or training.
For India to achieve great-power status, a number of improvements to its foreign policy software will be required:
• expand, reform, pay, and train the Indian Foreign Service to attract and retain high-caliber officers
• encourage the growth of world-class social science research and teaching schools in India through partnerships with private Indian and U.S. investors, universities, and foundations
• invest in Indian think-tanks and U.S.-India exchange programs that build capacity for foreign policy research
• bring non-career officers into the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and other parts of the foreign policy establishment as term-limited fellows to improve outside understanding of the policy process
• support the efforts of Indian researchers to maximize public access to material related to the history of India’s foreign policy by way of the 2005 Right to Information Act.
To read an executive summary as well as the full 24 page report, please log on to http://usindiafriendship.net/ and turn to the top left hand corner of the page.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
About Giving...My personal opinion
Just a thought -
As some of you have experienced, I do get this kind (like the one shown below) of email messages for assistance for worthy causes and charities in India. So far good. All these projects need assistance.
My concern or question is why aren't rich and well-to-do people in India such as Birlas, Ambanis, Tatas, Bachhans, Premjees and a whole lot of other such super rich people not helping these causes?
Some people from our Asian Indian community ask for donation for a Gramin Bank, some ask money for a hospital or a school in rural India and so on. In addition there are always causes related to a particular religious denomination. Further more there is no end in site of the visits by the traveling spiritualists, some Maas and Bapus and Gurus. The Guru export has become one of the major export items. Temple building activities in this country is still an on-going activity. It seems as if there is a competition called I can build a larger temple than you can or some such thing. Sure there are devotees and supporters who patronize such events, but when is a proper time to call enough is enough?
Compare such activities and support there of with philanthropic activities such as endowing a Chair of Indian Studies at a University of choice, donating funds for buying books on India to be donated to a local public library, donating funds for Indian art related cultural centers, supporting Indian cultural events with a capital C.... We always seem to run out of money when time comes for the support of Indian arts in this Country, this country many of us call Home or second HOME, where some of us got educated, where some of us got married, some of us raised family, some of us were able to get our relatives on various kinds of Visas... What do we give back to the community, the city or county, the state and the nation that gave us such opportunity? I know some friends who refuse to contribute to any cultural project because they say they are committed to build a hospital, school or a clinic in their home town in India - all very worthy and enviable. And as if this was not enough we get appeal from the group such as AID and other acronyms that probably includes all the letters of the alphabet.
Mind you I am not begrudging all those who give to or patronize worthy causes in India, but when it comes to indulging in such activities at a cost to such activities in this country that we consider or call HOME it seems blantantly one sided and a very parochial, very narrowly focused philanthropy.
I think it is about time that we think, that we discuss, that we debate, that we speak up...and begin investing in Arts, Culture and Education in this country. There are orphans here too. There are poor and needy people here too. There are homeless people here too... and there is need to increase awareness about Indian arts and culture in this country too - all these are worthy causes and need your support, our support and help.
Thank you all who took time to read this... and Cheers!
Harish
Email message received by Harish Trivedi on July 8, 2009 is reproduced below -
Dear ....,
My name is Sandesh Samdaria. I am a volunteer with Association for India's Development (AID). I am contacting you in regards to spreading the word around (as you/your organization has supported AID in the past) about a fund raising concert (Indian Ocean) organized by AID.
Associationfor India's Development (AID) is a non-profit, voluntary organization that supports a wide variety of social service and development projects addressing problems such as literacy, health care, rural credit, vocational training, women's empowerment and children's welfare.
AID has been presenting "Harmony' cross-cultural programs over the years. Last year, AID presented a tantalizing fusion dance that was highly acclaimed. This year, AID presents Indian Ocean, a world-renowned contemporary fusion music band that plays an an eclectic original mix of various genres - rock, jazz, classical and folk music. Their landmark “Desert Rain” album was number 2 on the iTunes UK world music charts in 2006. In 2003, Indian Ocean was nominated as MTV’s Artists of the Month. They have also performed at numerous prestigious events such as the New Zealand Arts Festival, the Melbourne Arts Festival, and the Smithsonian FolkLife Festival (Washington DC). Indian Ocean will enthrall the tri-state area with its creative energy and their concert will be a richly diverse, cross-cultural experience.
Please visit http://cincinnati.aidindia.org/ for details on the event, and http://www.indianoceanmusic.com/ for information on the band.
Please mark your calendars for October 10th, 2009 (6pm), for this musical extravaganza. All proceeds from the event go towards supporting grassroot developmental works in India. We look forward to your presence at the event.
Feel free to pass along the attached flier to your members if you feel appropriate.
Call me if you have any questions.
Regards,
Sandesh
513-550-5473
AID Cincinnati. http://cincinnati.aidindia.org/
As some of you have experienced, I do get this kind (like the one shown below) of email messages for assistance for worthy causes and charities in India. So far good. All these projects need assistance.
My concern or question is why aren't rich and well-to-do people in India such as Birlas, Ambanis, Tatas, Bachhans, Premjees and a whole lot of other such super rich people not helping these causes?
Some people from our Asian Indian community ask for donation for a Gramin Bank, some ask money for a hospital or a school in rural India and so on. In addition there are always causes related to a particular religious denomination. Further more there is no end in site of the visits by the traveling spiritualists, some Maas and Bapus and Gurus. The Guru export has become one of the major export items. Temple building activities in this country is still an on-going activity. It seems as if there is a competition called I can build a larger temple than you can or some such thing. Sure there are devotees and supporters who patronize such events, but when is a proper time to call enough is enough?
Compare such activities and support there of with philanthropic activities such as endowing a Chair of Indian Studies at a University of choice, donating funds for buying books on India to be donated to a local public library, donating funds for Indian art related cultural centers, supporting Indian cultural events with a capital C.... We always seem to run out of money when time comes for the support of Indian arts in this Country, this country many of us call Home or second HOME, where some of us got educated, where some of us got married, some of us raised family, some of us were able to get our relatives on various kinds of Visas... What do we give back to the community, the city or county, the state and the nation that gave us such opportunity? I know some friends who refuse to contribute to any cultural project because they say they are committed to build a hospital, school or a clinic in their home town in India - all very worthy and enviable. And as if this was not enough we get appeal from the group such as AID and other acronyms that probably includes all the letters of the alphabet.
Mind you I am not begrudging all those who give to or patronize worthy causes in India, but when it comes to indulging in such activities at a cost to such activities in this country that we consider or call HOME it seems blantantly one sided and a very parochial, very narrowly focused philanthropy.
I think it is about time that we think, that we discuss, that we debate, that we speak up...and begin investing in Arts, Culture and Education in this country. There are orphans here too. There are poor and needy people here too. There are homeless people here too... and there is need to increase awareness about Indian arts and culture in this country too - all these are worthy causes and need your support, our support and help.
Thank you all who took time to read this... and Cheers!
Harish
Email message received by Harish Trivedi on July 8, 2009 is reproduced below -
Dear ....,
My name is Sandesh Samdaria. I am a volunteer with Association for India's Development (AID). I am contacting you in regards to spreading the word around (as you/your organization has supported AID in the past) about a fund raising concert (Indian Ocean) organized by AID.
Associationfor India's Development (AID) is a non-profit, voluntary organization that supports a wide variety of social service and development projects addressing problems such as literacy, health care, rural credit, vocational training, women's empowerment and children's welfare.
AID has been presenting "Harmony' cross-cultural programs over the years. Last year, AID presented a tantalizing fusion dance that was highly acclaimed. This year, AID presents Indian Ocean, a world-renowned contemporary fusion music band that plays an an eclectic original mix of various genres - rock, jazz, classical and folk music. Their landmark “Desert Rain” album was number 2 on the iTunes UK world music charts in 2006. In 2003, Indian Ocean was nominated as MTV’s Artists of the Month. They have also performed at numerous prestigious events such as the New Zealand Arts Festival, the Melbourne Arts Festival, and the Smithsonian FolkLife Festival (Washington DC). Indian Ocean will enthrall the tri-state area with its creative energy and their concert will be a richly diverse, cross-cultural experience.
Please visit http://cincinnati.aidindia.org/ for details on the event, and http://www.indianoceanmusic.com/ for information on the band.
Please mark your calendars for October 10th, 2009 (6pm), for this musical extravaganza. All proceeds from the event go towards supporting grassroot developmental works in India. We look forward to your presence at the event.
Feel free to pass along the attached flier to your members if you feel appropriate.
Call me if you have any questions.
Regards,
Sandesh
513-550-5473
AID Cincinnati. http://cincinnati.aidindia.org/
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Asian American Vote in 2008 Presedential Election A report of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
A REPORT OF THE ASIAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE
AND EDUCATION FUND
THE ASIAN AMERICAN VOTE
IN THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
By Harish Trivedi
Here is a brief summary of the survey of exit polls conducted by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) that was published last week
The states that were surveyed included NY, NJ, MA, PA, VA, MD, DC, MI, IL, LA, TX, NV
Ohio was not among the states that were survey.
On Election Day, November 4, 2008, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) dispatched 1,500 attorneys, law students and community volunteers to poll sites in 11 states and conducted a nonpartisan multilingual exit poll of 16,665 Asian American voters.
AALDEF’s exit poll was the nation’s largest survey of Asian American voters and covered 113 poll sites in 39 cities. The exit poll was conducted in English and twelve Asian languages. Asian American voters often are overlooked by the mainstream media and by candidates for political office. When the media neglect the Asian American vote, candidates often follow suit. When they do report on the Asian American vote, the data may be skewed because respondents were surveyed only in English.
Multilingual exit polls give a fuller and more accurate portrait of Asian American voters than polls conducted only in English. AALDEF’s exit poll reveals details about the Asian American community including voter preferences on candidates, political parties, language needs, and other issues of vital importance to our community.
Profile of Respondents
The six largest Asian ethnic groups polled in 2008 were Chinese (32%), South Asian (32%), Korean (14%), Southeast Asian (9%), and Filipino (5%). South Asian includes Asian Indians, Bangladeshis, Indo- Caribbeans, Pakistanis, and Sri Lankans. Southeast Asian includes Cambodians, Indonesians, Laotians, Thais, and Vietnamese. Democratic Majority
A clear majority (58%) of Asian Americans were registered Democrats, 26% were not enrolled in any political party, and 13% of Asian Americans were registered Republicans. Party crossover voting heavily favored Democrats. A larger proportion of Asian American Republicans crossed party lines to vote for Obama than did Asian American Democrats voting for McCain. Moreover, the vast majority of Asian Americans not enrolled in a party voted for Obama.
During the presidential election, Asian Americans voted as a bloc for the same candidates and identified common reasons for their votes. Economy/Jobs was the dominant issue influencing the Asian American vote for President (66%) followed by Health Care (40%), Foreign Policy/War in Iraq (31%), Education (27%), and Civil Rights/Immigration Rights (23%).
AALDEF’s exit poll revealed that many Asian Americans, especially those who were limited English proficient, were concerned with losing their homes because of foreclosure.
Language Access
One in five (20%) voters identified English as their native language. In the 2008 elections, 43% of respondents who were limited English proficient preferred to use some form of language assistance to vote.
Voting Barriers
AALDEF poll monitors received more than 800 complaints of voting problems. Asian American voters also faced long lines, a lack of Asian-language assistance, poll books with missing voter names, and machine breakdowns.
On November 4, 2008, AALDEF surveyed 16,665 Asian American voters at 113 poll sites in 39 cities across eleven states - New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, and Nevada - and Washington, D.C.
Poll sites with large concentrations of Asian American voters were selected using voter registration files, census data, and interviews with local elections officials and community leaders. Poll sites with a history of voting problems were also selected. Volunteer exit pollsters were stationed at poll sites.
Survey questionnaires were written in twelve Asian languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Punjabi, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese, in addition to English. One in four respondents (25%) completed Asian language questionnaires, while 75% completed the English version.
PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS
Ethnicity
Survey respondents were Chinese (32%), Asian Indian (15%), Korean (14%), Bangladeshi (8%); the remaining respondents were of other Asian ethnicities and were multiracial or multiethnic Asians.
Language
While 20% of respondents identified English as their native language, 27% identified one or more Chinese dialects as their native language (including Cantonese, Mandarin), 24% spoke one or more South Asian languages (including Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu), 12% spoke Korean, 8% spoke one or more Southeast Asian languages (including Vietnamese, Khmer, Lao), 4% spoke Tagalog, 3% spoke Arabic, and 2% identified another Asian language as their native language. Fifteen percent (15%) identified English as their native language. Among Korean voters, 81% selected Korean as their native language, while 18% identified English as their native language. Among South Asian voters, 27% selected Bengali as their native language, 11% selected Gujarati, 11% selected Urdu, 7% selected Hindi, and 5% selected Punjabi. Thirteen percent (13%) of South Asian voters spoke multiple South Asian languages or other South Asian languages, including Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam, and Marathi. Twenty-four percent (24%) identified English as their native language.
Limited English Proficiency
Thirty-five percent (35%) of Asian voters surveyed said they read English less than “very well.” Of all language groups, native Korean-speaking voters exhibited the highest rate of limited English proficiency, with 66% indicating that they have at least some difficulty reading English. In Chicago, Illinois, 81% of native Korean-speaking respondents were limited English proficient. In Boston, Massachusetts, 70% of native Chinese speakers and 54% of native Vietnamese speakers were limited English proficient. In Queens, New York, 58% of native Chinese speakers and 75% of native Korean speakers were limited
English proficient.
Forty-three percent (43%) of all respondents who were limited English proficient reported that they preferred voting with the help of an interpreter or translated voting materials. Groups with significant rates of limited English proficiency also exhibited a high propensity towards the use of an interpreter or translated voting
Thirty-one percent (31%) of native Chinese speakers, 28% of native Khmer speakers, and 27% of native Vietnamese speakers preferred to use some form of language assistance while voting.
Foreign Born
The groups with the highest rates of foreign-born, naturalized citizens were South Asians (87%), Koreans (83%), and Southeast Asians (83%). respondents at 55%, 57%, and 54% respectively.
Korean respondents, had no formal education in the U.S., the highest rate among all Asian ethnic groups surveyed.
First-Time Voting
Thirty-one percent (31%) of all Asian American voters surveyed stated that they voted for the first time in the November 2008 Presidential Elections. Ethnicity %
Indo-Caribbean 90%
Pakistani 88%
Vietnamese 86%
Korean 83%
Asian Indian 82%
All Asian Americans 79%
Chinese 74%
Filipino 74%
Party Affiliation
The majority of Asian Americans surveyed (58%) were registered Democrats, 13% were registered Republicans, and 3% were enrolled in other parties. Twenty-six percent (26%) of all Asian American respondents were not enrolled in any political party. South Asian voters were enrolled in the Democratic Party at higher rates than all other Asian ethnic groups.
Vote for President
THE ASIAN AMERICAN VOTE
AALDEF’s multilingual exit poll revealed that Asian Americans favored Barack Obama over John McCain, 76% to 23%, in the historic election of the nation’s first African American President. First-time voters and South Asian Americans demonstrated even stronger support for Obama. Vote for President by Ethnicity
Generally, Asian Americans demonstrated political unity, even across ethnic lines. With only one exception - Vietnamese American voters - each Asian ethnic group voted as a bloc for Obama. Ninety-three percent (93%) of South Asian American voters supported Barack Obama. In contrast, Vietnamese American voters gave McCain the strongest support of all Asian ethnic groups at 67%. 18-29 years old voted for Obama. In previous presidential elections, South Asian voters have supported the Democratic presidential candidates most strongly of all Asian ethnic groups. In the 2000 presidential elections, 80% of South Asians voted for the Democratic candidate Al Gore.6 In 2004, 90% voted for Democratic candidate Senator John Kerry. With 73% of Chinese Americans and 64% of Korean Americans supporting Obama in 2008, 72% of Chinese voters and 66% of Korean voters supported Senator Kerry in the 2004 elections. In 2000, the majority of Chinese and Korean Americans voted for Al Gore at 79% and 80% respectively.
Vote for President by State
Asian Americans in Michigan, Massachusetts, and New York were among the strongest supporters for Obama, whereas Asian Americans in Louisiana and Texas strongly supported McCain, largely because of the high number of Vietnamese voters surveyed. In states where Asian American voters supported Obama over McCain, Obama led with double-digit margins.
In comparison to the 2004 presidential elections, Asian Americans voted for the Democratic presidential candidate over the Republican candidate at nearly identical rates. For example, in New York, 74% of Asian Americans voted for Senator Kerry and 23% voted for President Bush in the 2004 Elections. Four years earlier, 68% of Asian Americans voted for Kerry and 30% voted for Bush.
First-Time Voting
First-time voters favored Barack Obama by a significant margin. Eighty-one percent of first-time Asian American voters supported Obama and 18% voted for McCain. In contrast, 69% of first-time voters voted for Obama, and 30% voted for McCain in the overall electorate.8 Similarly, in the 2004 Presidential Elections, 78% of Asian Americans who were voting for the first time supported Senator Kerry compared to 53% of all first-time voters.
Asian American Vote for President
Seventeen percent (17%) of Asian Americans registered as Republicans voted for Barack Obama, whereas only 7% of Asian Americans registered as Democrats voted for John McCain.
Asian Americans crossed over and voted at similar rates in 2004. Seven percent (7%) of Asian Democrats voted for George Bush and 18% of Asian Republicans for John Kerry.
The Vote by Age
Younger Asian Americans voted for Barack Obama by much greater margins than older Asian Americans. Among 18-29 year olds, 88% voted for Obama and 11% for McCain. Obama’s support was greatest among native-born Asian American voters, with 87% voting for Obama. Native-born Asian Americans were only 21% of all respondents, while foreign-born Asian Americans were 79% of those polled. Seventy-three percent (73%) of foreign-born Asian Americans supported Obama. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Asian American respondents who voted for McCain were naturalized in the U.S. Over half (54%) of McCain’s supporters immigrated to the U.S. more than ten years ago.
As voters’ citizenship tenure lengthened, support for Obama decreased. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Asian American respondents who voted for McCain were
Asian American
Limited English Proficiency
Obama’s support was greatest among fully English proficient Asian American voters, with 82% of voters who read English “very well” voting for Obama and 17% for McCain. Among Asian Americans who voted for Obama, 72% read English very well, whereas just over a quarter
(28%) of his supporters were limited English proficient. In contrast, over half (51%) of Asian Americans who supported McCain were limited English proficient.
Vote for Congress
AALDEF’s exit poll was conducted in 45 congressional districts. Overall, Asian Americans overwhelmingly voted for Democratic congressional candidates over Republican candidates in the November 2008 General Elections. Thirty of the 45 congressional districts surveyed showed the majority of Asian Americans supporting Democratic congressional candidates. Of the congressional races covered, 21 candidates were elected with the majority support of Asian Americans. Summary of the Asian American Vote
AALDEF’s exit poll data shows that younger, U.S.-born, more recently naturalized, and English proficient Asian American citizens voted for Barack Obama for President by wide margins. The three most important issues influencing Asian Americans in their vote for President were Economy/Jobs (66%), Health Care (40%), and Foreign Policy/War in Iraq (31%). Economy/Jobs was the top choice for all Asian ethnic groups surveyed. Most Asian ethnic groups identified Health Care as the second most important factor influencing their vote for President.
Health Care
Overall, Asian American respondents who were limited English proficient were more worried about foreclosure than those who were not limited English proficient.
Language Assistance
Asian Americans identified English as their native language; 35% said that they were limited English proficient.
Over a quarter (26%) of Chinese and Southeast Asian respondents and 21% of Korean respondents prefer voting with an interpreter or translated materials. Certain jurisdictions in AALDEF’s exit poll are required by Section 203 to provide Asian language assistance - such as translated ballots, instructions, and other voting materials as well as interpreters - at poll sites. Other jurisdictions in Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania voluntarily provide language assistance, most often in the form of interpreters at selected poll sites for particular Asian language minority voters. Furthermore, 43% of native Chinese speakers in Brooklyn preferred to vote with language assistance. In Boston, Massachusetts, almost half (49%) of native Chinese speakers surveyed preferred voting with language assistance. In Philadelphia, almost two-thirds (63%) of native Chinese speakers are LEP with 41% preferring to vote with language assistance. In Annandale, Virginia, Korean Americans exhibited the highest level of LEP voters (78%) based on native language and surveyed locality. In Cook County Illinois, 43% of voters whose native language was Korean preferred voting with language assistance. The Asian American population has surged throughout the United States. Greater outreach is needed, especially to limited English proficient and older Asian American voters. Moreover, Asian Americans have encountered many voting barriers. AALDEF’s exit poll shows that Asian Americans strongly supported President Obama in the 2008 Elections. Moreover, Asian Americans expect the new administration to address issues regarding Economy/Jobs, Health Care, and Foreign Policy/War in Iraq, which Asian Americans overall agree are the most significant issues. It is also clear from AALDEF’s exit poll that many congressional representatives received strong support from their Asian American constituents.
(Source: Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund Report of the exit poll survey)
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund99 Hudson Street • 12th floor • New York • New York 10013-2815
AND EDUCATION FUND
THE ASIAN AMERICAN VOTE
IN THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
By Harish Trivedi
Here is a brief summary of the survey of exit polls conducted by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) that was published last week
The states that were surveyed included NY, NJ, MA, PA, VA, MD, DC, MI, IL, LA, TX, NV
Ohio was not among the states that were survey.
On Election Day, November 4, 2008, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) dispatched 1,500 attorneys, law students and community volunteers to poll sites in 11 states and conducted a nonpartisan multilingual exit poll of 16,665 Asian American voters.
AALDEF’s exit poll was the nation’s largest survey of Asian American voters and covered 113 poll sites in 39 cities. The exit poll was conducted in English and twelve Asian languages. Asian American voters often are overlooked by the mainstream media and by candidates for political office. When the media neglect the Asian American vote, candidates often follow suit. When they do report on the Asian American vote, the data may be skewed because respondents were surveyed only in English.
Multilingual exit polls give a fuller and more accurate portrait of Asian American voters than polls conducted only in English. AALDEF’s exit poll reveals details about the Asian American community including voter preferences on candidates, political parties, language needs, and other issues of vital importance to our community.
Profile of Respondents
The six largest Asian ethnic groups polled in 2008 were Chinese (32%), South Asian (32%), Korean (14%), Southeast Asian (9%), and Filipino (5%). South Asian includes Asian Indians, Bangladeshis, Indo- Caribbeans, Pakistanis, and Sri Lankans. Southeast Asian includes Cambodians, Indonesians, Laotians, Thais, and Vietnamese. Democratic Majority
A clear majority (58%) of Asian Americans were registered Democrats, 26% were not enrolled in any political party, and 13% of Asian Americans were registered Republicans. Party crossover voting heavily favored Democrats. A larger proportion of Asian American Republicans crossed party lines to vote for Obama than did Asian American Democrats voting for McCain. Moreover, the vast majority of Asian Americans not enrolled in a party voted for Obama.
During the presidential election, Asian Americans voted as a bloc for the same candidates and identified common reasons for their votes. Economy/Jobs was the dominant issue influencing the Asian American vote for President (66%) followed by Health Care (40%), Foreign Policy/War in Iraq (31%), Education (27%), and Civil Rights/Immigration Rights (23%).
AALDEF’s exit poll revealed that many Asian Americans, especially those who were limited English proficient, were concerned with losing their homes because of foreclosure.
Language Access
One in five (20%) voters identified English as their native language. In the 2008 elections, 43% of respondents who were limited English proficient preferred to use some form of language assistance to vote.
Voting Barriers
AALDEF poll monitors received more than 800 complaints of voting problems. Asian American voters also faced long lines, a lack of Asian-language assistance, poll books with missing voter names, and machine breakdowns.
On November 4, 2008, AALDEF surveyed 16,665 Asian American voters at 113 poll sites in 39 cities across eleven states - New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, and Nevada - and Washington, D.C.
Poll sites with large concentrations of Asian American voters were selected using voter registration files, census data, and interviews with local elections officials and community leaders. Poll sites with a history of voting problems were also selected. Volunteer exit pollsters were stationed at poll sites.
Survey questionnaires were written in twelve Asian languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Punjabi, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese, in addition to English. One in four respondents (25%) completed Asian language questionnaires, while 75% completed the English version.
PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS
Ethnicity
Survey respondents were Chinese (32%), Asian Indian (15%), Korean (14%), Bangladeshi (8%); the remaining respondents were of other Asian ethnicities and were multiracial or multiethnic Asians.
Language
While 20% of respondents identified English as their native language, 27% identified one or more Chinese dialects as their native language (including Cantonese, Mandarin), 24% spoke one or more South Asian languages (including Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu), 12% spoke Korean, 8% spoke one or more Southeast Asian languages (including Vietnamese, Khmer, Lao), 4% spoke Tagalog, 3% spoke Arabic, and 2% identified another Asian language as their native language. Fifteen percent (15%) identified English as their native language. Among Korean voters, 81% selected Korean as their native language, while 18% identified English as their native language. Among South Asian voters, 27% selected Bengali as their native language, 11% selected Gujarati, 11% selected Urdu, 7% selected Hindi, and 5% selected Punjabi. Thirteen percent (13%) of South Asian voters spoke multiple South Asian languages or other South Asian languages, including Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam, and Marathi. Twenty-four percent (24%) identified English as their native language.
Limited English Proficiency
Thirty-five percent (35%) of Asian voters surveyed said they read English less than “very well.” Of all language groups, native Korean-speaking voters exhibited the highest rate of limited English proficiency, with 66% indicating that they have at least some difficulty reading English. In Chicago, Illinois, 81% of native Korean-speaking respondents were limited English proficient. In Boston, Massachusetts, 70% of native Chinese speakers and 54% of native Vietnamese speakers were limited English proficient. In Queens, New York, 58% of native Chinese speakers and 75% of native Korean speakers were limited
English proficient.
Forty-three percent (43%) of all respondents who were limited English proficient reported that they preferred voting with the help of an interpreter or translated voting materials. Groups with significant rates of limited English proficiency also exhibited a high propensity towards the use of an interpreter or translated voting
Thirty-one percent (31%) of native Chinese speakers, 28% of native Khmer speakers, and 27% of native Vietnamese speakers preferred to use some form of language assistance while voting.
Foreign Born
The groups with the highest rates of foreign-born, naturalized citizens were South Asians (87%), Koreans (83%), and Southeast Asians (83%). respondents at 55%, 57%, and 54% respectively.
Korean respondents, had no formal education in the U.S., the highest rate among all Asian ethnic groups surveyed.
First-Time Voting
Thirty-one percent (31%) of all Asian American voters surveyed stated that they voted for the first time in the November 2008 Presidential Elections. Ethnicity %
Indo-Caribbean 90%
Pakistani 88%
Vietnamese 86%
Korean 83%
Asian Indian 82%
All Asian Americans 79%
Chinese 74%
Filipino 74%
Party Affiliation
The majority of Asian Americans surveyed (58%) were registered Democrats, 13% were registered Republicans, and 3% were enrolled in other parties. Twenty-six percent (26%) of all Asian American respondents were not enrolled in any political party. South Asian voters were enrolled in the Democratic Party at higher rates than all other Asian ethnic groups.
Vote for President
THE ASIAN AMERICAN VOTE
AALDEF’s multilingual exit poll revealed that Asian Americans favored Barack Obama over John McCain, 76% to 23%, in the historic election of the nation’s first African American President. First-time voters and South Asian Americans demonstrated even stronger support for Obama. Vote for President by Ethnicity
Generally, Asian Americans demonstrated political unity, even across ethnic lines. With only one exception - Vietnamese American voters - each Asian ethnic group voted as a bloc for Obama. Ninety-three percent (93%) of South Asian American voters supported Barack Obama. In contrast, Vietnamese American voters gave McCain the strongest support of all Asian ethnic groups at 67%. 18-29 years old voted for Obama. In previous presidential elections, South Asian voters have supported the Democratic presidential candidates most strongly of all Asian ethnic groups. In the 2000 presidential elections, 80% of South Asians voted for the Democratic candidate Al Gore.6 In 2004, 90% voted for Democratic candidate Senator John Kerry. With 73% of Chinese Americans and 64% of Korean Americans supporting Obama in 2008, 72% of Chinese voters and 66% of Korean voters supported Senator Kerry in the 2004 elections. In 2000, the majority of Chinese and Korean Americans voted for Al Gore at 79% and 80% respectively.
Vote for President by State
Asian Americans in Michigan, Massachusetts, and New York were among the strongest supporters for Obama, whereas Asian Americans in Louisiana and Texas strongly supported McCain, largely because of the high number of Vietnamese voters surveyed. In states where Asian American voters supported Obama over McCain, Obama led with double-digit margins.
In comparison to the 2004 presidential elections, Asian Americans voted for the Democratic presidential candidate over the Republican candidate at nearly identical rates. For example, in New York, 74% of Asian Americans voted for Senator Kerry and 23% voted for President Bush in the 2004 Elections. Four years earlier, 68% of Asian Americans voted for Kerry and 30% voted for Bush.
First-Time Voting
First-time voters favored Barack Obama by a significant margin. Eighty-one percent of first-time Asian American voters supported Obama and 18% voted for McCain. In contrast, 69% of first-time voters voted for Obama, and 30% voted for McCain in the overall electorate.8 Similarly, in the 2004 Presidential Elections, 78% of Asian Americans who were voting for the first time supported Senator Kerry compared to 53% of all first-time voters.
Asian American Vote for President
Seventeen percent (17%) of Asian Americans registered as Republicans voted for Barack Obama, whereas only 7% of Asian Americans registered as Democrats voted for John McCain.
Asian Americans crossed over and voted at similar rates in 2004. Seven percent (7%) of Asian Democrats voted for George Bush and 18% of Asian Republicans for John Kerry.
The Vote by Age
Younger Asian Americans voted for Barack Obama by much greater margins than older Asian Americans. Among 18-29 year olds, 88% voted for Obama and 11% for McCain. Obama’s support was greatest among native-born Asian American voters, with 87% voting for Obama. Native-born Asian Americans were only 21% of all respondents, while foreign-born Asian Americans were 79% of those polled. Seventy-three percent (73%) of foreign-born Asian Americans supported Obama. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Asian American respondents who voted for McCain were naturalized in the U.S. Over half (54%) of McCain’s supporters immigrated to the U.S. more than ten years ago.
As voters’ citizenship tenure lengthened, support for Obama decreased. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Asian American respondents who voted for McCain were
Asian American
Limited English Proficiency
Obama’s support was greatest among fully English proficient Asian American voters, with 82% of voters who read English “very well” voting for Obama and 17% for McCain. Among Asian Americans who voted for Obama, 72% read English very well, whereas just over a quarter
(28%) of his supporters were limited English proficient. In contrast, over half (51%) of Asian Americans who supported McCain were limited English proficient.
Vote for Congress
AALDEF’s exit poll was conducted in 45 congressional districts. Overall, Asian Americans overwhelmingly voted for Democratic congressional candidates over Republican candidates in the November 2008 General Elections. Thirty of the 45 congressional districts surveyed showed the majority of Asian Americans supporting Democratic congressional candidates. Of the congressional races covered, 21 candidates were elected with the majority support of Asian Americans. Summary of the Asian American Vote
AALDEF’s exit poll data shows that younger, U.S.-born, more recently naturalized, and English proficient Asian American citizens voted for Barack Obama for President by wide margins. The three most important issues influencing Asian Americans in their vote for President were Economy/Jobs (66%), Health Care (40%), and Foreign Policy/War in Iraq (31%). Economy/Jobs was the top choice for all Asian ethnic groups surveyed. Most Asian ethnic groups identified Health Care as the second most important factor influencing their vote for President.
Health Care
Overall, Asian American respondents who were limited English proficient were more worried about foreclosure than those who were not limited English proficient.
Language Assistance
Asian Americans identified English as their native language; 35% said that they were limited English proficient.
Over a quarter (26%) of Chinese and Southeast Asian respondents and 21% of Korean respondents prefer voting with an interpreter or translated materials. Certain jurisdictions in AALDEF’s exit poll are required by Section 203 to provide Asian language assistance - such as translated ballots, instructions, and other voting materials as well as interpreters - at poll sites. Other jurisdictions in Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania voluntarily provide language assistance, most often in the form of interpreters at selected poll sites for particular Asian language minority voters. Furthermore, 43% of native Chinese speakers in Brooklyn preferred to vote with language assistance. In Boston, Massachusetts, almost half (49%) of native Chinese speakers surveyed preferred voting with language assistance. In Philadelphia, almost two-thirds (63%) of native Chinese speakers are LEP with 41% preferring to vote with language assistance. In Annandale, Virginia, Korean Americans exhibited the highest level of LEP voters (78%) based on native language and surveyed locality. In Cook County Illinois, 43% of voters whose native language was Korean preferred voting with language assistance. The Asian American population has surged throughout the United States. Greater outreach is needed, especially to limited English proficient and older Asian American voters. Moreover, Asian Americans have encountered many voting barriers. AALDEF’s exit poll shows that Asian Americans strongly supported President Obama in the 2008 Elections. Moreover, Asian Americans expect the new administration to address issues regarding Economy/Jobs, Health Care, and Foreign Policy/War in Iraq, which Asian Americans overall agree are the most significant issues. It is also clear from AALDEF’s exit poll that many congressional representatives received strong support from their Asian American constituents.
(Source: Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund Report of the exit poll survey)
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund99 Hudson Street • 12th floor • New York • New York 10013-2815
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