Five years and three volumes later, it is time to write our final editorial. I write "our" because over the course of the last five years I have been the "masthead editor" of Rungh while in reality Rungh has, from its inception, been edited by my partner, Sherazad Jamal and myself. Our partnership in producing Rungh has given us an opportunity to give to and learn from our "communities", however defined. We thank you for the opportunity.

Rungh started as an idea. In the first editorial we stated that Rungh was about documenting and creating 'documents'; it was about dialogues, activism and creating a forum for discussion; finally, Rungh was about defining and challenging definitions. East-Indian. Paki. Inda-Canadian. Curryeater. These were the terms used to describe us South Asians.

Rungh began in the throes of the identity politics which gripped Canada in the late '80s; a politic which simultaneously created and destroyed definitions. As we broach the end of the '90s the seeds of conservative politics have become well rooted and identity politics are increasingly regarded as having marginal value. When Rungh began there was a window of opportunity to discuss what it meant to be 'Canadian' or 'western' while still having roots someplace else in the diaspora. We fear that the window is beginning to close. The rhetoric of globalism, technology, deficit reduction, and corporatism continue to create further distance between the 'haves' and the 'have nots.' All too often the communities which contribute to and support Rungh find themselves on the losing end.

Is there any room for optimism as we are about to enter the much heralded new millenium? We think there is. We are at heart dreamers and optimists. We believe in the strength of communities and the power of creative labour to resist oppression. Such resistance, however, increasingly requires equal doses of open-eyed pragmatism, faith in ones beliefs and the support of a greater community. We believe that there is much work to be done and that Rungh has a continuing role in doing it. Rest assured that the spirit of Rungh will not disappear.