The Board of Directors of The Institute of Jainology are delighted that His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales will be launching the JAINpedia project and website, at the Victoria & Albert Museum on 18th November 2010.

Leaders of the Jain community and Project stakeholders will be present at the launch and will have an opportunity to meet His Royal Highness.

You can also be a part of this ground breaking project by attending the JAINpedia Diwali at the Victoria & Albert Museum this weekend, 13th and 14th November 2010.

The full programme of events being held this weekend is:

Rangoli Display
Date: 13-14 November 2010
Time: 10.00am – 5.30pm

JAINpedia Display Tours
Date: 13-14 November 2010
Time: 10.00am – 5.30pm

JAINpedia Treasure Hunt
Date: 14 November 2010
Time: 10.00am – 5.30pm

Jain Stories
Date: 14 November 2010
Time: 12.00pm & 3.00pm

JAINpedia is a 5 year project taking Jainism into the 21st century. Besides a rich online website showcasing rare and sacred manuscripts, the project is conducting a series of exhibitions, cultural events, and educational activities at partner institutions:the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Library, the Bodleian Library and the Wellcome Trust Library.

To find out more about JAINpedia, our events and museum tours please contact:
Email: bansri.mehta@jainpedia.org

What?

1946 after black people had fought and died all over the world for Britain, those who were still in England were told to go back where they had come from.

On this day we will tell the untold stories of the post-war generation with films, audio clips and testimony from war veterans who were also veterans of the Civil Rights movement in Britain. As a black person in the post-war years you were:

refused bank loans
refused jobs
restricted to live in bombed out areas
blocked from buying homes
harassed by police
refused entry to churches
refused service in pubs, hotels, restaurants
forced to pay a higher mortgage than whites
spat at on public transport
attacked by the general public
treated as if stupid in schools
War veterans such as Billy Strachan, Sam King and Connie Marks used their organising skills to fight such discrimination. We will focus on how such obstacles were overcome and if the lessons have been learned/remembered by the present generation

When? – Saturday 21 March 1pm-4.30pm

Where? – Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1

Tube: Lambeth North.

Cost? – Free entry

First come, first served

What?

King Leopold II of Belgium in the early 20th century turned the Congo into a vast rubber-harvesting labour camp in which he killed millions and amputated the hands of tens of thousands while claiming he was civilising the African.

Although represented in the west as typical “african savagery” the chopping off of hands was promoted by white people as a means of terrorising Africans to collect rubber in order to make Europeans rich. This is why one of the world’s richest countries is home to such misery today.

This award winning documentary sets the context for understanding the crisis in Kivu, the 5 milllion Congolese deaths in the  last ten years and why Patrice Lumumba was assassinated by Western governments. The Congo was also crucial to the winning of World War 2.

Followed by panel discussion

When? – Saturday  21 March 2pm-4.30pm

Where? – BFI Southbank (near Royal Festival Hall), Belvedere Road SE1

Tube – Waterloo.

Tickets ₤5.

Phone 0207 928 3232

Date – 08/03/2009

Timings – 11:00 – 16:30

A must - Please register by Wednesday 4th March

This special event invites women from all walks of life to journey inwards and rediscover their unique, heroic capacity not only to overcome life’s obstacles but also to create a destiny that inspires and uplifts others around them.

The day will include:

*  Discovering Local Heros – panel discussion with women of spirit

*  Exploring the Hero’s Heart, Foes, Guides and Resources – dialogue

*  Empowering the Hero Within – an experience

*  Vegetarian lunch will be served and light refreshments at the close.

An event dedicated to International Women’s Day 2009.

For further information, please contact us: (020) 8727 3418

Global Co-Operation House, 65-69 Pound Lane, Willesden Green

London

NW10 2HH

Black Victims of the Nazis! What I hear you ask? Here’s what this event is about: -

What we know today as the Holocaust was researched, rehearsed and refined in Africa with African people long before 1939.

Although it is hardly mentioned, German people, in their colony of Namibia, stole land from African  people and when they fought back, they built rail roads,  labour camps and medical experiment labs in Namibia in order  to work them to death or experiment on their bodies to see how they were able to cope with heat.

This happened in 1906 and the German government even apologised in 2004.

This underviewed documentary states the case with detailed testimony from Namibian and German people and evidence from German secret files.

The fact is that there were also black people in Germany before, during and after WW2 . Some even joined the army, some were entertainers, thousands were sterilised and a vast number were sent to the gas chambers.

Curator, Z Nia Reynolds author of Black Victims of the Nazis will give an illustrated talk about these issues. As there are only two books in existence about this marginalised history you are advised to be on time

When? – Sunday 22 February 1pm-4.30pm

Where? – Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1

Tube: Lambeth North.

Cost? – Free entry

First come, first served

Harrow have many temporary exhibitions scheduled. I have been to two an they have been excellent! Easy to understand. Visual, Good size of text. No judgement or bias shown and great content. I went to the Tudor one. It was called ‘Off with their heads! The Harrow of Henry VIII’ and it was all of the above. I forgot to say their exhibitions are child friendly too.

The second one that I went to see is called ‘Connections: Hidden British Histories’

It’s on from 3 November – 15 December 2008 and here’s what Harrow has to say about it: -

This exhibition looks at the history of Asian, Black and Jewish immigrants to Britain. It focuses on the relationships between them, their shared experiences, and the connections they have made.

I urge you to try and go before it closes. You could of course write to them and ask them to show it again or keep it on for longer.

Here’s an article that was printed in the Harrow Observer: -

Learning lessons from our community’s hidden history

Harrow Museum is launching an exhibition exploring the history of Asian, Black and Jewish immigrants to Britain called Connections: Hidden British Histories.

Personal stories and photographs are used to show how people from minority communities interacted in their new environments while the history of Asian, Black and Jewish food, music, literature and comedy is also explored.

The exhibition challenges the stereotypes of ethnic minorities and will allow the visitors to question their own identity, home and family history, bringing in their own personal experiences of immigration.

Visitors to the free museum at Headstone Manor, Pinner View, Harrow, can drop by on weekdays, excluding Tuesdays, between noon and 5pm and at weekends and bank holidays between 10.30am and 5pm from Monday, November 3, and Monday, December 15.

The display was originally developed in 1998 when the Jewish Council for Racial Equality, the Asian-Black-Jewish

Forum and the Parkes Institute for the study of Jewish/non-Jewish relations at Southampton University launched a major history project into the hidden relations of people from ethnic or faith minorities.

Visitors can look at the way the authors have researched the history of inter-ethnic minorities. There are positive stories of co-operation and learning as well as tales of the problems faced such as tension, prejudice and competition between minority groups.

The reality of the ignorance of people living in diverse cities, with minority groups not knowing anything about each others’ ethnicities, is explored.

The exhibition is the first comparative approach to the history of immigration in Britain and challenges the misconception of relationships between different communities.

Connections: Hidden British Histories is an ideal opportunity to bring people from different communities together, available for everyone from young people and adults.

Museum mangager Lottie Collins says: “This exhibition is very relevant to our community in Harrow, as we are such an ethnically diverse area.”

Oct 30 2008 Rebecca Perring, Harrow Observer

Here’s some info about Glaucoma from the 100 Black Men of London newsletter.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the arrival of the MV Empire Windrush in Britain in 1948, this exhibition tells some of the the personal stories of the Black men and women who were involved in the First and Second World Wars.

Among the exhibits on display are the MBE belonging to Sam King, who returned to Britain on the Windrush after serving in the RAF and subsequently served as the first Black mayor of Southwark, and the telegram announcing the death of Walter Tull, the first Black British Army officer.

The exhibition runs through to March 2009 and will be accompanied by a series of monthly lectures, held in conjunction with the 100BMOL, which will provide the opportunity to explore and discuss various related topics including:

(a) loyalty within the British Empire and what it means to fight for ‘your’ country,

(b) Britain’s use of propaganda in Caribbean recruitment and the anti-Black propaganda employed by the Nazi regime,

(c) the Black victims of Nazi persecution before and during the Second World War, and

(d) an examination of the American presence in the Caribbean and the influence of US segregation policies on Britain.

There are also a series of family events linked to the exhibition. Admission is free.
Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ. For more information see From War to Windrush