First OSSA now COSS. Everyone gets obsessed with making some unified body when the fact is the individual units (the SSAs) aren’t all that significant in themselves. Are the SSAs getting the Sikhi parchaar done? Is there any impact? There might be some SSAs stronger than others but as a whole, let’s be realistic: no one cares.

Back to the “unified body” though. It always ends up that there are a small number of people involved who take turns leading. Some might not even be students anymore (Just like the ISYF or International Sikh YOUTH Federation is filled with white-bearded men). It turns into a power-hungry ego contest.

Make your local SSAs work and don’t worry about the other stuff. I just don’t see a need for a mother organization at this point.

SHINDA SINGH FOR COSSS PRESIDENT!!!!

to everyone else….stop judging

Vaheguroo ji ka khalsa, Vaaheguroo ji ki fatehhh

Upto an extent i agree with both sides. It can be viewed both positively and negatively.

Negatively we can outline all the views that Shinda Singh has made. To add to that its getting more of a political standing rather then doing ’seva’ to advance sikhi in universities. Im not talking about anyone in particular but there have been incidents that people have admitted that im only doing this because it will look good on my ‘resume’. In result of this there may be fights between ‘friends’ and it just gets really out of hand.

Positively, there can be many unnoticed changes through peoples lives. I know many personally that have changed their whole life around and are now amritdhari or on that path of taking amrit soon. And they have admitted that its because the sangat they are now involved with at universities or around locally.

COSS is an organization that was started with the right intentions. Some will say its needed, some will say its not needed. (Similar to the views everyone will have about local SSA’s or even some ‘events’ throughout locally that are run to bring people more into sikhi).

Challo guru saahib kirpaa karn!

Vaaheguroooooo

Just wanted to clearify in my last post that i was talking about myself but rather in general stand point.

was not*

that is an EXCELLENT point!

i heard laurier is starting an ssa…..should be off the hook

i have totally agree with shinda. the SSAs in BC are a disgrace..ppl only join to meet chicks and vice verca. total beadbi. and some of em join only for the ball tourney. but there are quite few good Gursikhs in the SSAs in BC we cant take that away. but on another note..holllla back

laurier SSA say wat, bomb ….like a sheep to the sluaghter

its Laurier’s (WLUSSA) Inaugural year as an SSA, watch out for all the events to come!

I hereby endorse Shinda Singh as a Presidential Canditate for COSS.

*Candidate
* My secretary can’t type properly so I fired her.

I am shinda’s Garwai

laurier sucks!

wawaweewa, i like laurier ssa, itsa nice

isnt that hte same krissang kaur that went wild on previoius posts? lol that bibs whack

Hey Shinda,

Hope this finds you well. A friend of mine passed me a link to your blog and I felt obliged to leave a note.

In terms of the org structure for COSS, perhaps looking at successful youth governing bodies in Ontario in might help.

One organization that I had the pleasure of working with was the York Region Presidents Council (York Region is north of Toronto - covers Markham, Vaughan, Stouffville, Newmarket, etc) - first as a general participant and then as an executive

The York Region President’s council is comprised of an general body of all the student council presidents of all the high schools in the region. The executive body is comprised mainly of the previous years general body (previous student council presidents)

People have a maximum political life of 2 years. Most of us only stay on for one year.

The result?

People make the best of the limited time. The conferences are very well attended and executed very well because you have people that have already shown they are capabilities as student council presidents.

Being part of the YRPC was almost like a reward for being student council president.

Just my two cents.

Humbly,

Ash Singh

(here is the link to the YRPC constitution http://www.studenttrustee.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/support%20pages/constitution.PDF)

ash’s idea makes sense still

I think Ash’s idea should be completely avoided. Groups such as the one mentioned above are anti-revolutionary. These sorts of clubs most often turn into elite clubs, increasing egos, and gaining characteristic of a ‘privileged class club’… lets move in the opposite direction and put the power back into the hands of the youth/people. Grassroots approach is what we need, not no neo-liberal ideologies, we should be revolutionaries.

Lets be realistic…what do you think happened wit SWFF, Centennial Foundation, etc

Its a bunch of Elitist Sikhs that recieve funding from corporations with blood on their hands, then we are suprised why they they honour individuals such as kushwant Singh, and attempt to bring Naamdharis back into the mainstream.

COSS should be open for all, COSS meetings should be open to the community and its council should merely consist of the people.

Lets give the power back to the people.

Hoooooooooooooooooooold up, before we all dawn our Che Guevara t-shirts and charge out in lead of this revolution I ask that you listen quick to these pearls of knowledge I’m about to drop for all Sangatee’s.

1) Centennial Foundation love them or hate them are doing the right thing(!). Every event they do is picked up by the media. It is ENDORSED by the media, and it IS reflected POSITIVELY in the media. I ask you to name me off some other groups who share similar status. (GGCF barley cuts it).

2) Public Organization’s let whoever wants in, in. There are already such organizations active in Canada. OSY is a perfect example. But apart from sitting in on an AKJ Asa Di Waar, and doing Kirtan in an already popular Friday night Gurmat class and crediting the turnout to all being apart of a ‘Sanjh’, has this organization been able to really unite anyone or bring about a positive change?

Now its not about pitting OSY vs COSS, all I’m saying is that because of COSS’s, albeit relaxed, organization and structure, things do tend to happen. Positive things. Screw the COSS example, look at other groups. GGCF organization = success. Centennial Foundation = success, AKJ Toronto = success, Even Tapoban = Success. Why? ORGANIZATION.

3) ‘Privileged Club’. I only need to go back as far as the 80’s to show what happens when you make a club less Privileged. The Babbar Khalsa at one time were a force to be reckoned with, a force that held ASOOLs (rules) that had the Sikh Sangats respect. The second that Babbar Khalsa, lost its mandate of only allowing nitnemi Singhs, what happened? Well lets just say, things were never the same.

You need a certain level of privilege. Thats what motivates and keeps only those willing to work, to make a positive difference and the easiest way to get rid of all the free loaders just looking for an excuse to rock a tshirt.

If anyting COSS needs more of this privilige. Help setup COSS members with jobs. Organize Job fairs exclsuive to the COSS members. Reward those doing good, and helping out in there SSA’s. What good is COSS if its just another youth group? Instead COSS needs to be THE youth group that parents make sure there kids are involved with.

4) Public Transparency. Name me one organization that has remained completely transparent that has ever succeeded. Every single organization no matter what, must use a degree of political wit in the way it operates. Sure make things transparent. Have every single meetings minutes available online and publicly accessible to all COSS members. Have presentations on the budget, and have the EXECS and members a chance to debate and discuss the budget. Then PUBLICLY announce the budget.

Now after saying the above I wish you the best of luck in your revolution. I wish you fair well as you jump into your deflated raft and charge after your dream while screaming at the top of your lungs, with your face painted in a Celtic blue.

SSAs in general need some more cerdibility/ojectiveness/rules for who can run it….otherwise wat they believe to be ’seva’ or prachar will just turn out being quite the opposite

the babbar khalsa example used by the guy above this post fits into this situation perfectly

SSAs are getting bigger and bigger every year…more members, more events, more money coming in, more money being spent, more people wanting to be exec……..and cuz of this some sort of regulation needs to be put in place to make sure SSA’s actually do some positive work for the sikh community instead of getting together every week to talk about whether ‘it is against sikhi for guys and girls to date’

Heres a quick response… however it is hard to explain it all in detail as it may require one to broaden their scope and educate themselves on issues of social justice, now some individuals may not wanna do that… it might jus be a waste of their time…

Centennial Foundation love them or hate them are doing the right thing(!). Every event they do is picked up by the media. It is ENDORSED by the media, and it IS reflected POSITIVELY in the media. I ask you to name me off some other groups who share similar status. (GGCF barley cuts it).

— This example is pathetic and disgusting and exactly what we do not need. This clearly shows how blindly individuals will follow the mainstream. If endorsements and ‘positive’ outcomes is what you are looking for it is no wonder you don’t mind being a sellout in endorsing Kushwant ‘Singhs’ Ideology. If the honouring of a friend to the Gandhi Family and promoter of the Sikhs are Hindus ideology is something you don’t mind being done at a Sikh event, then I think that may be a problem in itself. Realistically it appears as you are stating your willing to compromise or bend over..just so Sikhs can get a few seconds on your local cable tv station. I challenge you to explain to me how this does anything positive for Sikhs. Firstly, its one step backwards and is contradictory to those that see the Indian Constitution not recognizing Sikhs as a separate people as a problem, and it makes any attempt to raise this issue even harder.

2) Public Organization’s let whoever wants in, in. There are already such organizations active in Canada. OSY is a perfect example. But apart from sitting in on an AKJ Asa Di Waar, and doing Kirtan in an already popular Friday night Gurmat class and crediting the turnout to all being apart of a ‘Sanjh’, has this organization been able to really unite anyone or bring about a positive change?
Now its not about pitting OSY vs COSS, all I’m saying is that because of COSS’s, albeit relaxed, organization and structure, things do tend to happen. Positive things. Screw the COSS example, look at other groups. GGCF organization = success. Centennial Foundation = success, AKJ Toronto = success, Even Tapoban = Success. Why? ORGANIZATION.

—- Again, I don’t recall stating organization was not needed. Although, I don’t blame you for your misinterpretation, because your ideology which seems to provide you with a smoke screen and block out any revolutionary thought ( by revolutionary I mean different and not regurgitated conservative thought consistently hammered into your mind by your “positive media” sources).

In fact what I was stating is that organization is needed, however accountability has been misplaced. COSS should be responsible to SSA’s and SSA’s responsible to its members. However, with a presidential/prime minister system, this clearly does not happen as it just ends up becoming a top heavy hierarchal structure. The power is in the hands of a few, rather than in the hands of the Sangat. I merely stated this should be reversed and that document provided by Ash Singh, would not help this as COSS already had a Constitution and a Presidential System.

3) ‘Privileged Club’. I only need to go back as far as the 80’s to show what happens when you make a club less Privileged. The Babbar Khalsa at one time were a force to be reckoned with, a force that held ASOOLs (rules) that had the Sikh Sangats respect. The second that Babbar Khalsa, lost its mandate of only allowing nitnemi Singhs, what happened? Well lets just say, things were never the same.
You need a certain level of privilege. Thats what motivates and keeps only those willing to work, to make a positive difference and the easiest way to get rid of all the free loaders just looking for an excuse to rock a tshirt.
If anyting COSS needs more of this privilige. Help setup COSS members with jobs. Organize Job fairs exclsuive to the COSS members. Reward those doing good, and helping out in there SSA’s. What good is COSS if its just another youth group? Instead COSS needs to be THE youth group that parents make sure there kids are involved with.

—- Firstly you again missed my point. It seems you were quick to judge my first post as socialist revolutionary thought, but you clearly lack an understanding of what privilege means in this context. Privilege is social economic status or social status. In Indian thought it could be classified as class or caste, COSS does not need individuals or should not develop individuals into elitist in the sense of social status, this again creates a disparity between those that will essentially end up working for COSS and those that “run things” there should be a sense of equality along with an equal voice for all those involved and this can only be done with a grassroots approach in which community and by community I mean member meetings are held and the floor is open to all.

The example you provide of Babbar Khalsa is far fetched from the point I made, Babbar Khalsa did not fall victim to privilege aka social hierarchy, caste and class. However, one cannot deny the power struggles that did eventually come into play between and within many of the freedom fighting organizations. Also, before your quick to bash revolutionary thought, in a sense what do you think Babbars were…. Reformists?

4) Public Transparency. Name me one organization that has remained completely transparent that has ever succeeded. Every single organization no matter what, must use a degree of political wit in the way it operates. Sure make things transparent. Have every single meetings minutes available online and publicly accessible to all COSS members. Have presentations on the budget, and have the EXECS and members a chance to debate and discuss the budget. Then PUBLICLY announce the budget.

—-I return the challenge to you by explaining how the following things will lead to the failure of an organization.
- Making things transparent.
- Having every single meetings minutes available online and publicly accessible to all COSS members
-Presenting the budget
- Allowing the ‘execs’ and members to have a chance to debate and then discuss the budget and publicly announcing it

And lastly I return your well wishes, by returning your blindfold, handcuffs and not asking you to put on Che shirt as your child laboured Nike sweater allows you to continue in your ignorant bliss, because revolutionary thought may open your eyes to the real world.

I have to say, you have a pretty boring blog. So stop bloging and shut down your blog.

JP, come on man..Shinda’s post is awesome

Yo make it simple u idiots, COSS do Jams…nuff ppl will *** out. take da dough n run. SSA’s do ****…da heads claim to be religious dey jus wanna pick up chiks wit deir positions. Western, waterloo, York dem all da same. Dem do paath and discussion **** so dey can show dem chiks dey all religious n betta then ppl like me wit hair cut. U nigg’s jus wnt jubees…n then **** on others who got better game den u…haha…sikhi my ***…who wanna drink to dat….SSA’s shud pay dues 2 COSS…

All right commi lets try this one more time and this time we’ll do it backwards.

4) COSS should be expected to do those things listed,
- Having every single meetings minutes available online and publicly accessible to all COSS members
-Presenting the budget
- Allowing the ‘execs’ and members to have a chance to debate and then discuss the budget and publicly announcing it

Anything more is just plain out stupid. This shouldn’t apply to COSS either, all SSA’s budgets should be made public or available to the execs and at the end of the year they should be made to publicly disclose there financial’s to the world.

It would seem we have reached a level of agreement on this point. Good, now pay attention to the others.

3) Allow the members and execs to freely express the views of there constituents. Go for it, but getting every single person involved not only undermines the system it again makes it harder to work with. Keep it organized. Give those who show commitment and put out an effort a chance to make the key decisions.

You’re saying - give SSA execs an equal chance to voice there opinion, I’m saying the same thing. But unlike your first post I’m not for the idea of let it be free. You want to be part of the people who make the decisions then show that your down to put in the work first.

This isn’t about creating any sort of hierarchy its about giving those able to work a chance to work.

2) Seeing as how you are against the current status quo, why not instead propose what you think should happen instead, and how things should be organized.

1) Love them or hate em they are representing. Sure they may not be representing the way you feel they should but at the same time, they getting what they want done, WHY? Simple because they running things properly.

Now in closing; go run in circles screaming that the sky is falling because of your willingness to be fooled and convinced by the pseudo communist rights left wing media, that has left you more confused then an orphaned ghetto child trying to figure out who his daddy is.

Jatt gone wild…wtf lol who tha hell made u representitive of all moneh ? its me nigga u dun even know what ur talkin bout, lef u guy soo what boner 1 -2 singhs might be shook n done that , look at how many of us are out to chop hoes guy, frig think bout that first n ye nigga cuz they go their hair they more religious then me n you, go *** urself

are you guys STILL talkin about this? what the hell get a life…
i don’t think dharamraj is gonna be asking you about COSS when you die…

I think the idea of having COSS as a council of the different SSAs is the better idea. Each SSA Exec should send 1-2 members and the Chair of every meeting can rotate between the SSAs. These Exec meetings can be closed door and each person takes back what happened to their own SSA.

You can have a general meeting twice a year or something where everyone is invited to participate.

Main thing is being able to coordinate events, and making sure all the SSAs are on the same page in terms of what events they will do and what events they won’t/shouldn’t do.

I totally agree with the post above by Singh, that idea seems like it could deff work

haha this seems like BOSS LOL in UK

COSS IS A RIP-OFF OF BOSS, they can’t even cut it close.

How about All Canada Sikh Students Association or All Canada Sikh Students Federation?

what is this coss u speak of. Sounds like a disease.

Why don’t you ever post your picture on your blog, Shinda? I will know who you are.