With the outbreak of the war of liberation in Bangladesh, it became necessary to find a way to coordinate and carry out the innate patriotic response of all Bengalis. A meeting was held in San Francisco on May 22, 1971, to cross certain boundaries for effective coordination and communication, with the participation of Bengalis from Los Angeles, Berkeley, Stanford and San Francisco. The following decision was taken at this meeting:
1. The main coordinating part will be based in New York and will maintain contact with other West Coast units such as Berkeley, San Francisco, Stanford, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Denver (Colorado) and Tuscan (Arizona). It is looking forward to coordinating with a few more units in Hawaii, Dallas and Pittsburgh (Kansas).
2. The main coordinating body will maintain active contact with New York, Washington, Chicago and Michigan, and will carry instructions from the Bangladesh government to all other units on the West Coast.
3. All units will exchange information of interest among themselves and pass on their information to local members.
4. A 5% remittance on the total collection by all West Coast units will be paid to the Los Angeles Board to cover the additional costs of the campaign and other adjustment costs.
5. Every unit will continue to campaign to expose the atrocities and barbarism of the Pakistan Army in our country to the American people in general, and to the American delegates in particular, and to propagate Bangladesh's legitimate demands for independence.
. Details of all fundraising will be submitted to Los Angeles.
. An overall list of all citizens and sympathizers will be compiled and the coordinators of each unit will send those names and addresses to the Los Angeles Coordinator.
Public meeting
A public meeting will be held on Thursday, June 24, at 8:00 am at the Friends Meeting House on Fourth and Arch Street, Philadelphia. The main objective of this meeting is to establish an organization called “Friends of East
Bengal” which will 1) inform the American citizens about the activities of East Bengal, 2) assist in relief work and 3) government assistance to West Bengal till the end of their terror in East Bengal. Will apply for a ban. The meeting was chaired by Professor Charles Kahn (University of Penn), Rev. Richard L. Will be organized by Kiach (Central Baptist Church, Wayne) and others. Everyone is requested to attend.
News summary
A meeting of Bangladesh will be held at Windsor University, Canada on July 7, 1971 at 8 o'clock. The topic of this meeting is "The Case for Bangladesh". Speakers will be Professor Ron Inden, Department of History, University of Chicago, Professor Ralph Nicholas, Department of Anthropology, Michigan
State University, Professor Peter Bartokki, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Auckland, Michigan, Azizul Haque Khandaker, BDL Director, Detroit. The meeting place is The Room, Asampton College, 400 Horn Line, Windsor, Canada. Everyone is cordially invited to attend.
The next meeting of the Bangladesh Defense Council will be held in Madison, Wisconsin on July 3, 1971 (Saturday, at 1.30 pm). All BDL members and sympathizers are welcome to attend this meeting. If you would like to join, please contact: BDL, 406 Virginia Terrace, Madison, Wisconsin (Phone: 606-233-0253)
The Bangladesh Information Center has been set up by Mr. Abdur Razzak in Washington. This office will coordinate all lobbying activities in Washington DC. For any advice on lobbying, contact Mr. Khan at
