August 27th, Saturday, Cupertino, CA

Register of AKSC Conference

Our destiny is largely in our own hands … If we succeed in the race of life, it must be by our own energies, and our own exertions. Others may clear the road, but we must go forward, or be left behind in the race of life.

– Frederick Douglass

The Ambedkar King Study Circle (AKSC) has been organising  to challenge  caste and Brahmanism in the USA since October 2016. We have worked through a variety of campaigns, events, and solidarity actions and have learnt through this process that:  

• South Asians in general, and the Hindus in particular continue to be  caste-conscious and practice caste in the USA.  This has been demonstrated by testimonies collected by AKSC and independent surveys have confirmed the same. The caste discrimination case at software company Cisco and  the BAPS temple caste exploitation are some of the more recent  manifestations of the practice of caste in the USA.

• The practice of caste cannot take place without institutional support and such support comes from the Hindutva organizations operating in the USA. Both in the Cisco case, and the BAPS Temple case,  Hindutva defended the exploiters. Tellingly, the main argument used by Hindutva groups has been that  the state’s intervention into the issue of caste discrimination is an  intervention into the religious beliefs of the Hindus. Hindutva organizations in the United States have a long record of upholding caste and protecting the interests of the dominant castes in the name of religious freedom.

• Non South Asians are not aware about caste and the ways it’s practised, which is an additional advantage for Brahmanical organizations . This allows these Brahmanical organizations that might practise caste to nevertheless take public positions against racist discrimination.

• In an alarming development, Hindutva ideology is making inroads into the American political establishment, including through electoral gains and employment of its followers at various levels of the US administration. 

AKSC is organizing its 3rd conference in order to

• Mobilize,  in large numbers,  people committed to challenging caste in order to counter the attempts by Hindutva organizations to institutionalize Brahminism in the name of religious freedom.

• Expose  those individuals and organizations that are misleading anti-racist organizations with claims of solidarity while continuing to practice Brahminism.

• Alert the American polity about the penetration of the Hindu supremacists in the politics and the administration.