The Sindhi Foundation is organizing a 350-mile march across the East Coast of America next month to support their on-going mission supporting the fight against human rights violations, climate crisis and environmental injustices.
The Long Walk for Freedom, Nature, and Love will begin at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on April 7th and will end in Washington D.C. on April 29th, 2021.
Standing in solidarity, a mass number of volunteer delegates will gather at various stops as they cross through five states by foot: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Along the route participants will meet with community members, human rights groups, and political leaders who back the fundamental cause.
Motivated to bring forth global change the foundation states that the time is now to understand that, “too many human beings around the world face the appalling realities of enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, and forced conversions. Amidst it all, those with the power to act stand by as global temperatures rise beyond the point of no return, sparking unprecedented fires, droughts, and massive storms.”
Completing the journey in Washington, D.C., participants will hold an event between Long Walk affiliates and congressional members of the United States Congress. Political officials have already shared words of encouragement for the upcoming Long Walk including Congressman Adam Schiff, who has become a strong ally for the Sindhi people since joining the Congressional Sindh Caucus in 2010.
Sindhi Children ©Emily Hauze
“I have had the honor of getting to know more about the Sindhi people and their peaceful and inclusive culture. I am also deeply concerned to see the trends of human rights abuses in Sindh province, including disappearances, torture, forced conversions and extrajudicial killings. I hope that the Long Walk can raise awareness for these crimes and bring peace and justice to Sindh. I am with you as well in your efforts to call for action on climate change and environmental justice,” he expressed during a video message.
Additional backing has also been listed from Congressman Jamie Raskin, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Congressman Brad Sherman, and Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney who stated, “Now more than ever the need to fight for the rights of all people. It is especially important as the current pandemic has worsened the living conditions of many groups like Sindhi people in Pakistan... I strongly urge other human rights activists, defenders, and student organizers to support the Long Walk for Freedom, Nature, and Love.”
Further endorsements and allies in the campaign currently are: Sunrise Movement (Philly Hub), Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, Ambazonia Recognition Collaborative Council (ARRC), International Campaign for Tibet, American Kurdish Information Network, Hindu American Foundation, Center for Victims of Torture, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (USA), International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED), International Interfaith Service Initiative, Armenian Council of America, political activist Noam Chomsky, María Adela Antokoletz, Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared, independent human rights activist Richard Benkin, Catholic nun and torture survivor Sister Dianna Ortiz, artist Mahirwan Mamtani, Noam Chomsky’s Gatekeeper Bev Stohl, filmmaker and activist Sapna Bhavnani, Sindhi traveller and writer Emily Hauze, Quaker John Salzberg, photographer Jonathan Banks, Reverend Charles Hoffacker, civil litigation attorney Maria Leonard Olsen, actor Brian Thompson, Professor Emeritus at University of Maryland Laveen Kanal, professor and CEO of Embedor Technologies Gul Agha, and musician and actor Monica Dogra.
Through this strong collective effort, the Sindhi Foundation and its partners are hopeful that this Long Walk will give voice to the otherwise voiceless, and provide a platform for widespread human rights abuses in Sindh, Pakistan and throughout the world-who for too long have suffered unheard.
Destinations on the Long Walk include:
April 7, 2021 - New York City, NY – United Nations (UN) Headquarters, with guest speakers including Mayoral candidates Art Chang & Eddie Cullen
April 8, 2021 - Newark, New Jersey
April 10, 2021 - Edison, New Jersey
April 12, 2021 - Princeton University
April 15, 2021 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
April 15, 2021 - University of Pennsylvania
April 17, 2021 - Wilmington, Delaware
April 25, 2021 - Baltimore, Maryland
April 28, 2021 - University of Maryland
April 29, 2011 - Washington, DC – The Lincoln Memorial
About the Sindhi Foundation:
Sindhi Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that builds bridges between Sindhi people and the international community through public diplomacy, scholarship, research, defending human rights, media, education, person-to-person contact, culture, art, literary and education events, exchange programs, conferences, Sufi melas (festivals), media arts, studies, fellowships, participation and partnerships among government and civil society sectors.
Its goals are to strengthen and promote inter-racial, inter-religious, inter-faith, and inter-cultural harmony among Sindhis and the rest of the global community. There is also the need to bring a social change and promote openness and freedom of thought and expression among Sindhi people and Sindhi society, especially through empowerment of women, religious and sexual minorities, marginalized communities, and persecuted scholars, academics, civil society to retrieve original Sufi Sindhi discourse.
For more information, visit: www.sindhifoundation.org.
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