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Hari Sharma
1934-2010VOICE OF THE DOWNTRODDEN
Hari Prakash Sharma is described by those who knew him best as a tireless activist against oppression and racism and as an idealist who was always prepared to stand up for the rights of others.
Sharma leaves behind him a legacy of activism in the service of the oppressed, say those who knew him best. In a tribute written by several of his fellow activists following his death, Sharma was praised as “an inspiration to engagement in the struggle for a better world, to a never-flagging effort to create a world without exploitation, without imperialist domination, without religious, caste, ethnic or gender oppression.”
Born on November 4, 1934, in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, Sharma passed away on March 16, 2010, in his home in Burnaby, B.C., after a long battle with cancer.
The son of a railway employee whose work required him to move from one town to another, Sharma had a chance to see much of India during his childhood. He received his BA from Agra University and his master’s in social work from Delhi University before moving to the U.S. in 1963 to further his education. After earning a master’s in social work from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, he went on to receive his PhD. in sociology from Cornell University in New York.
“I was at Cornell when the war in Vietnam began to heat up,” recalled Sharma in an interview three months before he passed away. He became heavily involved with the anti-war movement in the U.S. “I was in the very first delegation to Washington DC which was organized by Students for a Democratic Society in the spring of 1965. I was part of a busload of students from Cornell to Washington DC.”
Sharma accepted a position at the University of California, Los Angeles where he taught from 1966-1968. “That’s the time when it [anti-war sentiment] was really heating up and the size of demonstrations was increasing. I was captain of a bus from L.A. to San Francisco for a huge rally which was simultaneously between N.Y. at the same time, same day and San Francisco.
“Finally, the U.S. government decided that I was an undesirable alien doing too much messing around with the internal affairs,” he said, adding that some younger members of the Black Panthers were among his students at UCLA.
Sharma says he was given three months to leave. “Fortunately for me, I think, it was not a direct command from the U.S. government; it came through my professor at Cornell. He called me up and said you have to leave,” said Sharma.
In 1968 he moved to Canada and accepted a position at Simon Fraser University, where he would teach until he retired as professor emeritus in 1999.
When he wasn’t teaching, Sharma was busy raising awareness about a variety of social issues. In addition to the anti-Vietnam War movement, his many causes included the plight of peasants in India, the rights of political prisoners in India, the fight against rampant racism in 1970s B.C., the oppression of minorities in India and the exploitation of farmworkers in B.C.
He also became involved with the solidarity movement, linking up with other expatriate communities. “People from Palestine, the Philippines, from El Salvador, Mexico, from South Africa,” explained Sharma. “We were all part of a third world people’s coalition, which was essentially anti-imperialist and in a sense also supporting national liberation struggles for genuine democracy and for socialism. So anti-imperialism has been very much a part of my political upbringing, political education.”
As a university teacher, Sharma said he always taught courses within the framework of the relevance of individuals like Karl Marx and Vladmir Lenin.
Among his long list of accomplishments, he was a founding member of the Georgia Straight Collective, a founding member of Indian People’s Association in North America (IPANA), a primary force in the formation of the British Columbia Organization to Fight Racism. He also played a leading role in the formation of the Canadian Farmworkers’ Union (CFU: 1980), which for the first time took up the cause of farm workers who had been historically excluded from protection under the labour laws and any protective regulation.
In the 1980s Sharma’s work also began to focus on the condition of minorities in India, which came to a crisis with the attack on the Golden Temple and the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984 following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Sharma stood firm in his defence of the human rights of Sikhs and other minorities.
In 1989 Sharma brought large sections of the South Asian community together to form the Komagata Maru Historical Society to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Komagata Maru incident. The society’s work led to the installation of a commemorative plaque in Vancouver in 2004.
In 2007, at a gathering in Surrey, B.C., to mark the 93rd anniversary of the arrival of the Komagata Maru on Canadian shores, Sharma demonstrated the eloquence and message of inclusion for which he was well known. “It does not matter which of the world we come from, what language we speak, what religious faith we subscribe to, if our roots go back to the South Asian subcontinent, Komagata Maru becomes an important milestone for our South Asian identity in Canada. We are all descendants of the sacrifices made by the Komagata Maru passengers.”
Following are the recollections and impressions of a few of Sharma’s longtime associates and fellow activists.
‘A man of great energy and vision’
“I met Hari for the first time at a demonstration against the war in Vietnam at Simon Fraser University in 1970,” recalls Chinmoy Banerjee, Sharma’s colleague and friend. “This led to his recruiting me to stand with him at the Indian consulate in Vancouver on August 15, 1973 to submit a petition of international scholars seeking justice for thousands of political prisoners in India jails. He struck me as passionate, deeply informed, and dedicated to democratic rights, human rights and social justice. He championed the rights of working people, and the cause of social justice everywhere. But his heart lay with the oppressed poor of India.
“Hari brought many people into the struggle for making the world more just and peaceful by opposing injustice, oppression and militarism. He always tried to bring people together in common cause across boundaries of region, language, and religion. The South Asian community has lost a man of great energy, organizing ability, and vision in Hari Sharma.”
‘He made this society a better place’
Burnaby MLA Raj Chouhan met Sharma in 1975, shortly after hearing him on CKNW talking about human rights violations in India.
“I was very impressed with the way he articulated the issues faced by people of India,” recalls Chouhan. “At my first meeting with him, it was like I knew him for ages. It didn’t take too long before we became friends. Chin Banerjee, Harinder Mahil and I started meeting at Hari’s house almost every week to discuss many issues faced by our community, such as racism, farm workers’ rights, human rights.
“I am so grateful and honoured that I came to know him. Hari played an important role in shaping my political life. In 2003, when I decided to go into politics, Hari Bhai was there with me guiding and providing all the encouragement I needed.
“I am so grateful for everything he did to make this society a better place for all. He will be missed for his leadership and friendship by many who came to know him and called him Hari Bhai.”
‘Always the voice of the downtrodden’
Harinder Mahil’s association with Sharma stretches back more than three decades. “He recruited me as a member of the Indian People’s Association in North America, which was founded in 1975. In the last 35 years, we attended hundreds of meetings, participated in rallies and walked numerous picket lines.
“It was through my involvement in IPANA that the two of us as well as many others were involved in founding the B.C. Organization to Fight Racism and the Canadian Farmworkers’ Union, which are important milestones in the history of the Indo-Canadian community in Canada.
“Hari Bhai has contributed a great deal to the Indo-Canadian community in Canada. He was always the voice of the downtrodden.
“He was one of the first few individuals to raise the issue of Komagata Maru incident with a view of seeking redress from the government of Canada.
“He felt his work was still unfinished and that he had a lot more to accomplish. He did not realize that he had accomplished a great deal in his life.”
‘This world is a much better place because of his efforts.’
Chelliah Premarajah, vice-president of B.C. Seniors Shanthi Nilayam, describes Sharma as a mentor to activists from the Tamil diaspora living in B.C.
“I first met Dr. Sharma in 1990s at a meeting of non-resident Indians. His approach was very simple but extremely effective. He encouraged us to be more active in our beliefs . . . Dr. Hari showed us the way how to fight on behalf of the oppressed across the globe.”
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