Witnessing & Caring for India 2021

by H—ME W—RK

From  H—ME W—RK:

This is not a comprehensive directory of information, support and ways to help. We hope in good faith that it can be a place to start thinking, learning and understanding what is happening in India right now, the so-called Australian Government’s response and the impact it’s having on people living in India and our South Asian diaspora community, here and elsewhere. 

We believe strongly in the power of mutual aid, offered in a spirit of solidarity and reciprocity, coming from within communities and aiding those affected. But, we also acknowledge the work not-for-profit organisations can do in responding to large-scale emergencies.  We don’t want to tell you ‘how to help’ but hope that as you consider your options, and keep an eye towards liberation, self-determination and social change.

We acknowledge that the context across India is vastly different and infinitely more difficult for certain people, particularly for people from religious (Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhitsts, Jains and Zoroastrians) and caste-class minorities (Dalit, Bahujan and Adviasi), LGBTQI+ peoples, daily wage earners, the unregulated labour force, farmers, students, sex workers, artists and the elderly. Sheltering and social distancing is a privilege that is inaccessible to many. 

Please practice due diligence as necessary, we don’t have the resources to monitor funds as they reach their goals and fulfil their aims. 

 
'Yaad Karo' by Fijian-Australian artist Shivanjani Lal with roots and rememberences that account for colonial and personal histories. Her practice exists in the spaces between. To connect the dots between that which has past and the realities of those lived experiences. To allow something invisible to become visible. These maps were made on a residency in Goa, India in the year 2018. Courtesy of the artist, Shivanjani Lal, photographed at UNSW Galleries by Zan Wimberley

'Yaad Karo' by Fijian-Australian artist Shivanjani Lal with roots and rememberences that account for colonial and personal histories. Her practice exists in the spaces between. To connect the dots between that which has past and the realities of those lived experiences. To allow something invisible to become visible. These maps were made on a residency in Goa, India in the year 2018.
Courtesy of the artist, Shivanjani Lal, photographed at UNSW Galleries by Zan Wimberley

Learning 

Resources to assist in unpacking & understanding what is happening in India right now.


Read

Caravan Magazine

News Laundry 

The Guardian 

Australia’s travel ban on India

via Fariha Roisin

Vaccine Apartheid


Scroll.In

Juggernaut (behind paywall)

NY Times


Muslims opening mosques during the covid crisis

Listen

7am Podcast

Australia India Institute Podcast

Ganatantra

Giving

*notes on giving 

As a collective, we do not advise contribution to the ‘PM Cares Fund.’ There is significant mistrust of the fund by many living in India, who are experiencing the impacts of its corruption and oppression. 

There are specific regulations for foreign donations, the below is not an exhaustive list. Please ensure the fund you are hoping to support is able to accept foreign donations. This is up to date to the best of our abilities but regulatory frameworks often change on the ground. 


Direct Giving

Parivar Bay Area

Food Assistance, Tamil Nadu 

  • Grace Banu is raising funds to provide 500 transgender folk artists, HIV infected trans folx, and rural trans communities in Tamil Nadu with food relief. 

  • This fundraiser accepts foreign donations. Donate, here. 

Queer Relief Active Fundraisers 

  • Pink List India has put together a list of NGOs and self-organised groups working towards providing immediate relief for the queer community across the country. https://www.pinklistindia.com/queerelief 

Feeding from Far 

Khaana Chahiye 

Mahila Patchwork Cooperative

  • Supporting Muslim majority municipality in Ahmedabad, with most people being daily wage earners.

  • Give via—

    • Muskaan, Mahila Patchwork Co-op Society
      Branch: APMC VASNA
      IFSC Code: SBIN0004320
      For Donations From India: A/C No.: 10397116509
      For Donations From Outside India: A/C No. 10397116509
      SWIFT CODE: SBIN0004320

Direct Giving & NFP Databases

Community Sourced Mutual Aid 

Mutual Aid Database 

Kashmir COVID Resources

  • List of direct giving and nfp’s supporting people in Kashmir, here.

Updated List of Organisations 

Fundraising Initiatives

Not-For-Profit Organisations

Khalsa Aid India

Mission Oxygen

Sangama

Give India campaigns

Other Diasporic Initiatives & Volunteering

Some free ways to help include amplifying the voices of people with lived experience, signing petitions, advocating to your local Member of Parliament against the racist border policy, volunteering your time to an aggregator and supporting your friends. 

Democracy in Colour Petition

  • Democracy in Colour has launched a petition to lobby the ‘Australian’ Government to reverse the travel ban and amend the Biosecurity Act, so that it ensures every citizen is able to return home and quarantine safety. You can sign it here. 

Call for Volunteers

  • Project Ekta and the Punjab Club
    https://www.instagram.com/p/COTD7oWB3I-

  • In the time that India sleeps, volunteers are necessary to keep the aggregators up to date. There is a specific call for volunteers from the diaspora to keep these lists up to date. There are aggregators of every ilk, most usefully for oxygen cylinders, ambulances, hospital beds, crematoriums, mental health resources and food sustenance. Australia Eastern Standard Time is IST + 4:30 and Australian Western Standard Time is IST + 2:30. The instagram posts above require you to DM for details on how to contribute. 

via Get Up! Petition 

  • To: The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health, Bring Australians in India home—NOW. You can sign it here.

An offering for Allyship to your Indian friends in Australia

It’s extremely hard for folks with family and friends in India to function as usual right now. We are processing trauma at scale, while still having to navigate everyday life in so-called Australia. 

Everyone’s experiences and response is different, however these small suggestions may assist if you are not sure how to help. 

  • Ask your friends what you can do to help. Not everyone feels comfortable reaching out.

  • Ask your friends what they need. Everyone is different and there’s no one size fits all approach to support. Listen when they respond and pay attention to the spaces between sentences.

  • You could drop off food, offer to drive or give a lift,  go on walks, sit in silence on a park bench, listen without judgement.

  • Give your friends the permission to have a good time. This can be restorative and generative energy that they can recycle for the sustenance of endurance. Survivor’s guilt is real and you may be able to relieve some burden.

  • If you can avoid it, do not offload emotional burdens. Ask your friend if they have the capacity to listen to you. Don’t expect them to. Ask as little of them as possible during this time.

  • Forgive them if they’re flaky. Don’t be upset if they are late or cannot commit to something in the near future.

  • Allow them the space for singular and collective grief.

  • Provide space (a ear to listen, a shoulder to lean on) for when the deaths become closer and closer - 1 in 3 people in India are currently diagnosed with COVID-19 and the death rates are rising.

  • Amplify what is happening in India, especially resource lists so the labour can be shared.

  • If you have a friend who is also a colleague, find opportunities to lobby for their right for paid personal leave and reduced work-load.

  • Encourage your friends to set some boundaries. This can be extremely hard, especially now, particularly culturally. Sit with them and chart a fortitude strategy.

  • Do not stand in for professional help. You can redirect people to Our Directory, an excellent resource list of mental health support for mob, Maori and BIPOC, and the Asian Australian Mental Health List. 

  • Find the words of expression for the things you find difficult. Contemporary ‘Australia’ can be bad at truth-telling and talking about trauma. Doing the labour with your friend to find the words of expression can help you and your friends move through this time. Growth is always painful.

H—ME W—RK is a space for experimentation and contamination of practice by South Asian artists, working and making on stolen lands. 

This document was collaborated on from the lands of the Kulin Nations and Eora Nations, we pay respect to Elders past and present, and are grateful for the shelter on their unceded lands now and always. 

AmiteshGrover_VelocityPieces.jpeg

Created by Amitesh Grover, 100 Velocity Pieces is realised within the framework of Five Million Incidents, 2019-2020 supported by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan in collaboration with Raqs Media Collective. 

Amitesh Grover, resides in Dehli, India and the first artist to collaborate with H—ME W—RK. 

 
Leah McIntosh