Binghamton April 8, 2025 (Yes Punjab News)
American Sikh Council (ASC) representative Kavneet Singh attended in the Genocide and Mass Atrocities Prevention (I-GMAP) Conference organized by Binghamton University at the downtown campus in Binghamton, NY from April 4 – 5, 2025.
This was the sixth time that Kavneet Singh participated in this conference which was organized by the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocities Prevention department at Binghamton University. This year’s I-GMAP Conference had over 100 attendees (including some online) with mostly academics, researchers, university students, practitioners and activists.
This was a panel style step up with most panels consisting of three to four panelists and a moderator. Additionally, there were Q & A sessions as part of the overall event that were also very interesting and enlightening. The conference started early in the morning and ran late into the evening on both days. Some of panelists were attorney activist practitioners who posed practical questions with suggestions based on their lived experience of the current genocides across the globe.
There were other panelists working on mass atrocities, displacement to ethnic cleansing issues. Academics and activists representing several countries, which included; the US, Norway, Canada, United Kingdom, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Ghana, Myanmar, Columbia, Venezuela, and a few others.
There were seven full panel sessions with each running ninety minutes over the two days. The discussions were invaluable with extremely good information for activists to learn and use in the field especially for those who are involved in education and advocacy.
One of most interesting panels was on the ongoing Genocide in Gaza by the Israeli government against the Palestinians. Three of the panelists and all experts in various fields with graduate and law degrees from Ivy league universities candidly shared their views of the brutal repression and ethnic cleansing of the innocent people of Palestine. All the panelists agreed on the full accountability by the Israeli regime.
Another very interesting panel covered the ‘Risk and Trigger warnings of the current administration’. Some of the points raised by the panelists was very concerning regarding possible violence within our nation due many prevailing political issues, including holding extreme views, triggering chaos. Even in a civilized society fissures can be caused by polarizing leaders, especially when the some of the population is dissatisfied, unemployed, underemployed and/or the economy is volatile.
ASC representative Kavneet Singh displayed the ‘Sustained Sikh Genocide 1984 – 1998’ brochures along with copies of the detailed book list of ‘Human Rights Violations against the Sikhs’ which were very well received by the attendees. www.thirdsikhgenocide.org . The networking with other researchers and activists always helps build bridges and support to highlight each other’s suffering to the world at large.
Clara B remarked, “I have tracked the transnational repression against the Sikhs over the last two years and realize why the Indian state is trying to hide the planned Sikh Genocide committed against several hundred thousand Sikhs, mostly young men for15 years. It is simply mind-boggling!”
The networking and the outcome of the I-GMAP Conference was a great success, thanks to the great planning and quality of panelists who were invited to this conference.
ASC representatives have held conferences on the ‘Sustained Sikh Genocide 1984 – 1998’ and continue to do them into the foreseeable future. Thanks to the tremendous effort put in by tireless ASC volunteers the ‘Sustained Sikh Genocide 1984 – 1998’ is now part of the Holocaust and Other Genocides content being used in schools across the state of New Jersey. www.thirdsikhgenocide.org https://www.nj.gov/education/holocaust/curr/addresources/
In order to continue to sustain the ongoing work on this issue, ASC requests all the gurdwaras to generously support these very important educational initiatives in order to help our next generation so that they never forget and remember their history
