1/10: South Asian Feminist Edition: Anasuya Sengupta on Decolonizing the Internet; Shreen Saroor on the Current Political Crisis in Sri Lanka

This year’s first South Asia special edition of APEX Express spotlights a discussion with noted South Asian feminist scholar, activist, geek, poet Anasuya Sengupta on decolonizing the Internet and the project she co founded, Whose Knowledge?

In the second half of the show, we turn our attention to the South Asian island country of Sri Lanka. Known as a global tourist destination, the country is also neck deep in deep political crisis, which took a new turn of events in October 2018 when the president Maithripala Sirisena unilaterally displaced the sitting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinge with MahinDa Rajapaksa, himself former President who presided over the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody 25-year civil war and is accused of serious human rights abuses during his rule from 2005 to 2015. What does this mean for a country that is still reeling recovering from the civil war? How are feminists and civil society grappling with the ongoing political and socio economic crisis plaguing the country? Listenup next to a discussion I had with noted Sri Lankan feminist activist Shreen Saroor.

Interview with Anasuya Sengupta in collaboration with KPFA’s Women’s Magazine 

Show hosted & produced by Preeti Mangala Shekar

 

 

10/25/18 3rdi International South Asian Film Festival Spotlight

Come November, the 16th edition of 3rd i’s San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival begins in full swing from Nov 1st to 4th in San Francisco and Nov 17th in Palo Alto. This year’s line up features women centric and films by women from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Canada, Australia, and the USA.

This year’s films range from homelessness and domestic violence, to comic book and real-life superheroes. Documentaries abound featuring sex-positive advice columnists and probing filmmakers who battle the rising tide of fundamentalism in both India and Pakistan. This year, the festival also explore the theme of healing, and the importance of dialogue – sometimes even with the enemy. As always local filmmakers shine bright. Listen to APEX Express’ first of 2 parts of our 3rdi spotlight. Preeti Mangala Shekar sits down in conversation with two local film makers Rucha Chitnis and Harleen Singh, whose short films debut at this year’s festival. These two films screen on Friday, Nov 3rd at the New People Cinema, San Francisco.

For tickets and other films’ information, visit: http://www.thirdi.org

Watch the trailer of Rucha Chitnis’ film: In the Land of my Ancestors:

Watchthe trailer of  Harleen Singh’s film, Drawn Together:

9/13/18: Celebrating India’s Historic Moment for LGBT Rights: Striking down of sec.377; Climate Change in South Asia & A Peek Into a Brand New Storytelling Podcast!

On this month’s South Asian spotlight, we celebrate India’s Supreme Court’s historic decision striking down Section 377, an archaic Colonial law that criminalized homosexuality. We talk to a feisty Desi lesbian couple  Priti and Mads about their new ice cream business, a venture that has helped them dream and live outside the box in many ways!

We also hear from Thanu Yakupitiyage from 350.org, about the ongoing climate actions in resistance to Governor Brown’s Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, and why climate change is also a South Asian issue; and the piece de resistance: a sneak peek into a brand new storytelling podcast by APEX Express’ Preeti Mangala Shekar!

5/31/18: Storytellers Shaking Things Up

To end out the month of May PowerLeeGirls Miko Lee and Jalena Keane-Lee speak with storytellers who are making waves. We speak with An Excess Male Author Maggie Shen King. And hear from two of the culinary activists behind the Rooted Recipes Project. We talk with Heather White whose poignant documentary Complicit focuses on migrant electronic factory workers in China.

Calendar

Rooted Recipes at the United State of Asian America Festival 

Complicit San Francisco Documentary Film Festival
Roxie Tue June 5, 7:15pm • New People Cinema Sat June 9, 7pm

Eastwind Books upcoming events:

June 2nd, Saturday 6pm @ Oakland Asian Cultural Center Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks Book Talk and Panel with Ravi Chandra

June 23, Saturday 1pm @ Oakland Asian Cultural Center Hawker Fare: Stories & Recipes from a Refugee Chef’s Isan Thai & Lao Roots Book Talk with Chef James Syhabout

​July 22, Sunday 3pm @ OACC Panel Presentation: Chinese Exclusion Laws and Being Muslim American in Post 9/11; Author Beth Lew-Williams, The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America ; Author Sylvia Chan-Malik, Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam With Moderator Michael Chang, Lecturer Comparative Ethnic Studies, J.D. UCLA, Ph.D. Ethnic Studies, U.C. Berkeley

​July 28, Saturday 7pm @ OACC Book Talk with Vanessa Garcia, author of See You at the 7: Stories From the Bay Area’s Last Original Mile House

1/18/18 South Asian Spotlight on Consent

On tonight’s South Asia spotlight on APEX Express, we revisit the much discussed, shared and re-shared #MeToo campaign, but through a recent disturbing incident involving “feminist” ally and media personality Aziz Ansari. On the heels of a report detailing the account of a young photographer’s date with Ansari, which quickly degenerated into a harrowing night for her, social media has exploded with both self-proclaimed feminists and others critiquing both parties. But are there two sides? Or just a culture of violence that is trying to pass as normal and routine?

“Friendly Conversation” by zachclean is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

We ask:

• What does this incident (and the way people responded to it) tell us about the culture of violence and silence we live in?
• How do we hold our male, feminist allies accountable?
• What are the uncomfortable gaps in our understanding of complex ideas around “consent,” that incidents like these prompt us to unlearn and learn?
• How can we erase toxic misogyny and patriarchy and proactively build the world we want to live in – of authentic consent and freedom for all bodies to explore their desire and sexuality without stigma, fear of violence, or judgement?
• How can nuanced feminist analyses translate to lived reality?

Join the discussion on tonight’s South Asia Feminist Special where we feature the voices, perspectives, and analyses of a range of South Asian feminists from the Bay Area and beyond.

7/6/17 South Asia Spotlight on #NotInMyName #NehaRastogi

On our bi-monthly South Asia spotlight, we highlight two critical issues – the #Notinmyname campaign that has gone viral in India in the aftermath of a series of brutal lynchings and murders of Muslims and Dalit communities in India. And we have an update from closer home here in California – the #NehaRastogi case and the pernicious issue of #domesticviolence and how it specifically impacts of immigrant women of color.

 

#Notinmyname campaign

#NehaRastogi solidarity protests across many US cities

To listen to the full interview discussion with Zakia Afrin from Maitri (second half of the show), click on this link.

6/8/17 Artist Activist Changemakers

 

Download the show here

Tonight, on APEX Express, we talked with Asian American Artist Activist Change Makers. We spoke to San Francisco Mime Troupe veteran Keiko Shimosato Carreiro, data artist Brian Foo, singer Hollis Wong-Wear and filmmaker Jalena Keane-Lee. On behalf of my co-host Ayame Keane Lee and myself Miko Lee, we thank all of our Artist Activist Changemakers who joined us tonight. Keep creating, keep fighting, keep sharing your visions with the world.

More information on our guests work here:

Theatre Artist Keiko Shimosato Carreiro and the summer tour of the San Francisco Mime Troupe

Data Artist Brian Foo’s awesome website.  and his work with Data Driven DJ.

Singer and Poet Hollis Wong Wear spoken word and Flavr Blue.

Documentary Film maker Jalena Keane-Lee and her latest film The Construct.

 

Community Calendar

June 11, 10am The Construct at the Christopher Smith Rafael Theatre

Through June 12  – United States of Asian America Festival

June 17, 2017, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Soy and Tofu Festival, Event Center at Saint Mary’s Cathedral, San Francisco’s Japantown

 

 

 

4/13/17 All About The Periods…..

 

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Tonight we talk about a subject that over half of the world has to deal with monthly, but is still considered taboo. Tonight we are talking periods with Asian American women. Hosts Miko Lee and Tara Djorbji talk to Amrita Saigal the founder of Saanthi Pad, eco-friendly pads for women in India.  We hear from New York Congresswoman Grace Meng on her Menstrual Equity Bill which will eliminate the tax on period supplies and provide pads to homeless and incarcerated women, and Boston-based activist Nadya Okamoto who at 16 years of age founded Period, a Menstrual Movement an organization providing period supplies to homeless women.  Learn more about the Saanthi Pads and Period, a Menstrual Movement here:

 

Community Calendar:

April 15 1-4:30pm the Tax March San Francisco Civic Center, San Francisco

April 15 & 16 50th annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival in SF J town

April 18 at 07:00 PM Showing Up for Racial Justice presents Anti-Racism Educator Tim Wise at First Congregational Church of Oakland

April 29 The Hidden History of the Japanese-American Community in South Berkeley. Led by Jill Shiraki

 

 

 

 

 

6/9/2016 California History Textbook Campaign Update; Purvi Patel and the Criminilization of Abortion

Tune in tonight for our monthly South Asian edition of APEX Express. First we bring you a critical discussion with Dalit artivist Thenmozhi Soundararajan from the South Asian Histories for All coalition, on the ongoing California Textbook Campaign; on the struggle to keep ancient Indian history curricula in middle school history textbooks, as- it-happened, and not how a well-funded group of Hindu fundamentalists would like it to be. Then we discuss with Lisa Sangoi, a lawyer with National Advocates for Pregnant Women,  Purvi Patel’s case, where we find out the status quo of a young Indian American woman who was unjustly thrown in jail for 20 years, for having a late term abortion. Produced by: Preeti Mangala Shekar and Justine Lee

#DalitHistoryMonth Spotlight, Intersectionality of Caste, Gender and Sexuality

Listen to the show from KPFA’s archives

On the 125th anniversary of ‪#‎Ambedkar‬‘s birth anniversary and in celebration of ‪#‎DalitHistoryMonth‬, hear from inspiring activists Benjamin P Kaila and Sumit Baudh.  Find out about how Dalit activists have been mobilizing in the bay area and beyond, and the incomparable legend, leader and visionary that #Ambedkar was!