"CHICAGO RESOLUTION HONORING INDIA'S INDEPENDENCE AND
DEMOCRACY"
A RESOLUTION REAFFIRMING THE CITY OF CHICAGO AS A WELCOMING AND
INCLUSIVE CITY,
EXPRESSING THE CITY COUNCIL'S SOLIDARITY WITH CHICAGO'S SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY REGARDLESS OF RELIGION AND CASTE,
HONORING INDIA'S 74TH INDEPENDENCE DAY,
AND URGING THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO CONDEMN VIOLENCE IN THE NAME OF ANY FAITH WHILE UPHOLDING THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES AND SECULAR PROVISIONS OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
WHEREAS, recognizing that the City of Chicago is a sanctuary city, welcomes all regardless of their background; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago City Council expresses solidarity with Chicago's South Asian community regardless of religion and caste; and
WHEREAS, India will celebrate its 74th Independence Day on August 15, 2020, is the world's largest democracy, and has long shared a unique and important relationship with the United States in promoting common democratic values and human rights; and
WHEREAS, India is the birthplace of four major world religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, is home to the world's second-largest Muslim population, and has historic Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian populations, with three of India's 29 states having a majority Christian population; and
WHEREAS, India's Constitution mandates a secular state that upholds the rights of all citizens to the freedoms of religion, expression, speech and to equal treatment before the law; and
WHEREAS, President Trump's bigoted policies within the U.S. including discriminating on religious grounds, targeting vulnerable communities, stripping citizenship, fabricating crises, and stoking hatred, have been mirrored by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, and their alarming ideology that Hindus are racially and culturally superior to others; and
WHEREAS, across ihe country, there lias been a surge in the number of mob lynchings and violence towards minorities, mostly Muslims. Dalits and Christians, under Prime Minister Modi's leadership; and
WHEREAS, the Indian parliament under the leadership ofthe BJP government and Prime Minister Modi passed the inherently discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which actively creates an unconstitutional, religion-based criteria to grant citizenship to select immigrants - the first instance of religion being used as a criterion for Indian citizenship; the CAA has already been used to threaten deportation for India's 40,000 Rohingya refugees; and
WHEREAS, in August 2019, Prime Minister Modi's extremist government forced nearly 33 million people in the northeastern state of Assam to prove Indian citizenship or face detention at mass prisons and detention camps that the Indian government has begun to build and fill; and
WHEREAS, nearly two million people were left off the state's citizenship rolls and a nationwide expansion ofthis policy could strip hundreds of millions of people (disproportionately Muslim, oppressed castes, women, indigenous groups known collectively as Adivasi, and LGBTQ+ communities) of their citizenship rights creating stateless individuals with no option to be re-naturalized; and
WHEREAS, in April 2019, the Indian Home Minister, Amit Shah, compared undocumented individuals to "infiltrators" and "termites", vowed a BJP government would "throw them into the Bay of Bengal," and called to expand the citizenship law used in Assam to other states in India; and
WHEREAS, reports indicate that police have attacked peaceful protestors at several prominent universities and destroyed Muslim homes in several cities. Peaceful protestors against these policies have faced violent repression including: police fatally firing live ammunition at demonstrators and arresting thousands. These are tactics the Modi government and Indian Army have used gratuitously in Kashmir while stripping its autonomy and prospects for self determination during an unprecedented-level of military occupation and communications blockade; and
WHEREAS, the government use of police to brutalize peaceful protestors violates fundamental democratic principles; and
WHEREAS, the Modi regime's repressive and prejudiced policies arc inconsistent with Chicago's values as a welcoming and inclusive city that embraces South Asian communities of all castes and religions; and
Whereas, the United States has a deep history of individuals protesting against hate, injustice, and government action;
Whereas, local, state, and federal government bodies in the United States have supported the right to peacefully protest against unjust policies;
WHEREAS, the City Council recognizes that citizens of Chicago of all backgrounds have regularly peacefully protested in Chicago to condemn these developments in India; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the City Council condemns President Trump's support for the repressive and discriminatory actions of Prime Minister Modi and his BJP government. It also condemns President Trump's refusal to denounce violence, those inciting violence, and those officials evading their duties to keep order and peace.
RESOLVED, the Chicago City Council rejects violence in the name ofany faith, condemns all supremacist thought, calls for an end of divisions along faith lines. It believes it is the duty of all people to oppose hatred, racism, and authoritarianism around the world and that the human rights record of the Indian government is of concern, not only to the millions of Muslims, oppressed castes, women, indigenous, and LGBTQ+ people in India, but also to Chicago's South Asian immigrant community.
RESOLVED, the City. Council go on record urging the Government-oflndia to:
Respect the human rights of all people and adhere to international human rights law,
Condemn, at the highest levels, all religiously motivated violence, including violence which targets religious minorities,
Prosecute anyone actively inciting violence, including violence against peaceful protestors and journalists,
Uphold the Indian constitution by repealing the Citizenship Amendment Act, stopping the National Register of Citizens, and taking steps towards helping refugees by ratifying various UN treaties on refugees.
RESOLVED, That the City Council go on record urging our congressional delegation to support legislation censuring the Republic of India for adopting discriminatory policies such as the National Register of Citizens, the Citizenship Amendment Act, and military occupation and communications blockade of Kashmir; and be it further
22. RESOLVED, That the City Clerk he and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy to Chicago's Congressional Delegation on behalf of the entire City Council.
The following legislation is being introduced by Alderman Maria E. Hadden regarding Chicago Resolution Honoring India's Independence and Democracy co-sponsored by
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Alderman Ward 12
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The following legislation is being introduced by Alderman Maria II. Hadden regarding Chicago Resolution Honoring India's Independence and Democracy co-sponsored by
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Alderman Ward 34
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Alderman Ward 35
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The following legislation is being introduced by Alderman Maria E. Hadden regarding Chicago Resolution Honoring India's Independence and Democracy co-sponsored by
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Alderman Ward 45 Mayor Lightfoot
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Alderman Ward 46 Clerk Valencia
Matthew Martin
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Harry Osterman
Alderman Ward 48
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Alderman Ward 49
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CITY OF CHICAGO
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OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK ANNA M. VALENCIA
Chicago City Council Co-Sponsor Form
R2020-583
Recognition extended to India on anniversary of 74th Independence Day and support for Democratic principles of Indian Constituition
Adding Co-Sponsor(s)
Please ADD Co-Sponsor(s) Shown Below - (Principal Sponsor's Consent Required)
Alderman
(Signature)
d - I Ward)
(Signature)
Principal Sponsor:.
(Signature)
Removing Co-Sponsor(s) Please REMOVE Co-Sponsor(s) Below -(Principal Sponsor's Consent NOT Required)
.(
f|2 I Ward) Ward)
Date Filed: 7/21/2020
Final Copies To Be Filed With: • Chairman of Committee to which legislation was referred
• City Clerk
121 NORTH LASALLE STREET, ROOM 107, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60602
7/21/2020 Mail - Nancy Simon - Outlook
<*) Reply all v ® Delete 0 Junk Block Re: Dowell sig requested
From: Renee Barrera > Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2020 3:24 PM To: Nancy Simon > Subject: Re: Dowell sig requested
Confirming Aid Dowell has asked to be removed from Hadden's Resolution .
From: Nancy Simon >
| Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2020 2:37 PM
| To: Renee Barrera >
Subject: Re: Dowell sig requested
Renee:
Apologize for the initial confusion.
Attached please find the two resolutions I referenced:
Aid. Vasquez (40th Ward) 25th anniversary of Affinity Community Services -- don't have signature
Aid. Hadden (49th Ward) 74th anniversary of India's 74th anniversary of Independence --Aid. Dowell included but confirming she now longer wants to sponsor
Thanks very much for your assistance.
Nancy A. Simon, Proofreader
[ CITY COUNCIL DIVISION
I North LaSalle, Room 107
| Chicago, IL 60602
| 312.744.7411 | nancy.simon@cityofchicago.org
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