Solidarity Letter to Anti-POSCO Movement from a Korean Prison

While Indian State has unleashed State terror again since yesterday on Anti-POSCO protesters, South Korean activist SUNG-HEE CHOI, in prison for opposing a naval base off Jeju Island, sends a powerful letter in solidarity with the people of Orissa opposing the POSCO project.

Dear residents in Jagatsinghpur,

I am a woman and activist living in South Korea, the country of the POSCO you oppose. I am currently being jailed in the Jeju prison, under the charge of ‘interruption of business’, because of my resistance against the enforcement of the naval base construction in the Jeju Island located in the south of South Korea. As of today, July 3, I met 46th day since my arrest and 44th day since my being restrained.

I accidently happened to see two of your struggle photos and a photo in the Korean Times, June 13, 2011 had a caption underneath it:

‘Anti POSCO action in India: A village sprays water to relieve children lying with other villages along the entry point to prevent policemen and officials from entering their area at Jagatsinghpur district, about 140 kilometers(87 miles) east of eastern Bhubareshwary India, Saturday. The villagers have been protesting against turning their farmland into an industrial developed area for a $12 billion steal plant of South Korean conglomerate POSCO (AP-Yonhap).’

The situation of the Gangjeong village, Jeju Island, when I, along with many others, wanted to prevent naval base, is very much like yours. The Gangjeong villages who have fought for four years to save their village are keeping vigil day and night against sudden crackdown by the navy and construction companies (Samsung and Daerim etc.). It is for not being robbed of their lands. If trucks come, they block them with their bodies and if ships come, they resist them by swimming to them.

Third Issue of CRITIQUE Published by NSI Delhi University Chapter is Out!

New Socialist Initiative (NSI)-Delhi University Chapter has come out with the Third issue of "Critique", a magazine which deals with higher education, universities, marginality, left politics, histories of student movements from India and beyond.

Scroll down to see the Contents and the cover of the Third Issue (Vol-1, Issue-3, Jan-May).

If you are in Delhi, you can get your copies at: U-Special Bookstore, Arts Faculty, Delhi University; Jawahar Book Depot, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU); People's Tree, Connaught Place. Copies are also available on request in Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Chandigarh and few other cities. Just email at critique.collective@gmail.com for copies.

हम बनाम वे: अकादमिक कारखाने में दुनियाभर के शिक्षकों तुम श्रमिक भी हो, संगठित हो शताब्दी के अंत में शिक्षा जगत के दस किस्से

 माइकल येट्स

पत्रिकाओं, अखबारों और मेरे परिचित ई-मेल विचार-विमर्श गु्रपों से चुनी हुई निम्नलिखित बातों पर गौर करें:

1. टोरन्टों की चाक यूनिवर्सिटी ने कम्पनियों से अनुरोध् है कि दस हजार डालर देकर वे यूनिवर्सिटी में चल रहे किसी भी कोर्सा में अपनी कम्पनी का लोगों लगा लें।

2. न्यूयार्क की सिटी यूनिवर्सिटी ने अपनी वे कक्षाएं समाप्त कर दीं जिनमें विशेष मदद का प्रबंध् था। पिट्सबर्ग विश्वविद्यालय ने कमजोर विद्यार्थियों ;गरीब और अश्वेतद्ध के लिए विशेष कार्यक्रम समाप्त कर दिए।

3. पिट्सबर्ग यूनिवर्सिटी ने, जिसे कम्पनियों और रक्षा विभाग से खूब ध्न मिलता हे, शिक्षकों के शैक्षिक अवकाश के प्रावधन उनसे बिना पूछे खत्म कर दिया है।

4. कई विश्वविद्यालयों ने क्रेडिट कार्ड कम्पनियों से कापफी दान लेकर उन्हें कैम्पस में एकाध्किार दे दिया है। एक जगह तो क्रेडिट कार्ड कम्पनी छात्रों के रेडियो-टी.वी. कार्यक्रमों के लिए ध्न देती है। 

5. पफीनिक्स की तथाकथित यूनिवर्सिटी, प्राइवेट और मुनापफे के लिए चलने वाली संस्था, एकतीस राज्यों में पंचानबे संस्थाएं चलाती है जिसमें पचपन हजार विद्यार्थी हैं। इसने सुविध, उपभोक्ता सेवा, भारती उत्पादन, तथा व्यवसायिक सहभागिता जैसी व्यापारिक रणीनीति को आक्रामक रूप से लागू किया है। उसके ग्राहक कोडक, आईबीएम, जनरल इलेक्ट्रिक जैसी कम्पनियां हैं जो उन लाखों वयस्क विद्यार्थियों के लिए प्रतिस्पर्धरत है जो लगातार नौकरियां बदलने की तैयारी में लगे हुए हैं।

6. कैलीपफार्निया स्टेट यूनिवर्सिटी का तंत्रा अपनी विभिन्न कैम्पसों के बीच के कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम को ‘माइक्रोसाफ्रट’ संचालित एक संगठन को सौपने की तैयारी में है। राज्य शिक्षा व्यवस्था का यह निजीकरण ;जो राजनीतिक विरोध् के चलते पिफलहाल रुक गया हैद्ध उन्हीं शक्तियों द्वारा उत्प्रेरित है जिन्होंने कूड़ा इकट्ठा करने से जेल व्यवस्था, शिक्षण संस्थाओं में कैन्टीन सेवा और कैम्पसों में पुलिस व्यवस्था तक हर क्षेत्रा में निजीकरण को आगे बढ़ाया है।

7. इतिहासकार डेविड नोबुल के अनुसार ‘एडूकाम’ अर्थात शिक्षा और व्यवसाय जगत के कन्सर्टियम ने ‘ल²नग इन्Úास्ट्रकचर एनिशिएटिव ‘स्थापित किया है जिसके कामों में शामिल है इसका विस्तृत अध्ययन कि प्रोपफेसर लोग करते क्या हैं। इसके लिए वह टेलर प्रणाली से शिक्षण को खंडित कर देखते हैं कि कौन से काम स्वचालित प(ति से हो सकते हैं और जिन्हें दूसरे भी कर सकते हैं। एडूकाम के अनुसार ‘कोर्स डिजाइन’ लेक्चर और मूल्यांकन का मानिकीकरण, यंत्राीकरण करके बाहरी एजेंसियों को सौंपा जा सकता है। एडूकाम के अध्यक्ष रॉबर्ट हेटेरिच का मानना है कि ‘आज का पर्यावरण व्यक्तिगत मानवी मध्यस्थता संचालित है।’ इसकी जगह स्वचालित कम्प्यूटरी नेटवर्क व्यवस्था की भारी गुंजाइश है। ऐसा होना ही है ;देखिए डिजिटल डिप्लोमा मिल्स मंथली रिव्यू पफरवी 1998द्ध

विश्वविद्यालय में रिक्शेः इक्कीसवीं सदी के भारत के नये प्रतीक

संजय कुमार

दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय की सड़कों पर यह दृश्य बहुत आम है। इतना आम कि इसके बारे में कोई विशेष बात करना अजीब माना जा सकता है। दो मिली मीटर मोटी 64 तीलियों के तीन चक्कों के रिक्शा वाहन पर पर 18 से 22 वर्ष का का युवक या युवती सवार हैं।  सम्पन्न परिवार के युवक युवती आमतौर पर स्वस्थ होते हैं, वैसे ही यह सवारी भी है। स्वस्थ शरीर के साथ यौवन सुलभ सौन्दर्य व आकर्षण भी है, लिबास व सर के बालों पर लगे जैल  से लेकर पांवों के जूतों तक के चुनाव पर की गयी चेष्टायें इन दोनों को और बढ़ाती हैं। युवक/युवती का सारा ध्यान कान पर लगे सैल फोन पर चल रहे वार्तालाप पर है। उस वार्तालाप के साथ ही उसके चेहरे पर मुस्कान, हंसी या उत्तेजना आती है। उसके बिना चेहरा शून्य हो जाता है। यह स्वस्थ, सुन्दर, व सज्जित शरीर दिसम्बर की खिली  धुप में छात्रा मार्ग की की ढलान पर पन्द्रह किलोमीटर की रफ्रतार से गतिमान हैं, गालों की थपथपाती व बालों में घुसती ठन्डी हवा से चेहरा और चमक उठा है। युवक युवती से महज दो फुट दूर एक अन्य शरीर है, पूर्वी उत्तर प्रदेश या बिहार से आये किसी देहाती का। इस शरीर की तनी मांसपेशियां युवक/युवती के गतिमान होने का कारण है। कद काठ व भार में यह शरीर युवक युवती से छोटा है, लेकिन आयु में औसतन उससे बड़ा। रिक्शा चालक के कपड़ों में कोई तरतीब ढूंढ पाना असंभव है। प्लास्टिक के काले जूतों के साथ लाल जुराबें, काली पतलून के साथ भूरा स्वेटर, जो कुछ जैसा जहाँ मिला पहन लिया। युवक/युवती का शरीर जितना विशेष प्रतीत होता है, रिक्शाचालक का उतना साधरण। सड़क की धुल मिट्टी का हिस्सा। रिक्शा पर स्थित दो मनुष्यों में एकमात्र संवाद भाड़े को लेकर होता हे, वर्ना वे दोनों अपनी अलग अलग दुनियाओं में गुम हैं।

एक दमनकारी कानून के खिलाफ उठी ‘लौह महिला’ : मणिपुर की महान कवयित्रि इरोम शर्मिला और उनका संघर्ष

- सुभाष गाताडे 

अपनी एक कविता के अन्त में ‘सब अन्धेरा है, अन्धेरा है’ कह कर अपने मन के द्वंद्व को लोगों तक पहुंचाने वाली रचनाकार की संकल्पशक्ति के बारे में दावे के साथ क्या कुछ कहा जा सकता है ? अलबत्ता इन पंक्तियों को पढ़ कर किसी को शायद ही यह लगे कि इन पंक्तियों के रचनाकार ने अपने एक अनोखे संघर्ष के बदौलत चारों तरफ उम्मीद का उजास फैलाया होगा !

यह अकारण नहीं कि एक निम्नमध्यमवर्गीय परिवार में आठ भाई बहनो के बाद जनमी इरोम नन्दा और इरोम सखी की यह सबसे छोटी कन्या इरोम शर्मिला थानु, जो बारहवीं कक्षा के बाद अपनी पढ़ाई भी पूरी न कर सकी थी, आज समूचे मणिपुर की ‘लौह महिला’ के नाम से जानी जाती है। सोचने का मुद्दा यह बनता है कि उपरोक्त पंक्तियों की रचयिता मणिपुर की महान कवयित्रि, स्तम्भकार और सामाजिक कार्यकर्ती इरोम शर्मिला थानु ( उम्र 34 साल) ने ऐसा क्या किया है कि वह जीते जी मिथक में तब्दील हो चुकी हैं।

वजह बिल्कुल साफ है।

इरोम शर्मिला थानु पिछले लगभग दस साल से भूख हड़ताल पर है। राज्य सरकार की बेरूखी और काले कानूनों के सहारे टिकी हुकूमत के खिलाफ अपनी आवाज़ बुलन्द करने के लिए इरोम शर्मिला ने यह कदम उठाया है। बीते 2 नवम्बर को उनकी इस हड़ताल को दस साल पूरे हुए।

At the Risk of Heresy: Why I am not Celebrating with Anna Hazare

Shuddhabrata Sengupta

At the risk of heresy, let me express my profound unease at the crescendo of euphoria surrounding the ‘Anna Hazare + Jan Lokpal Bill’ phenomenon as it has unfolded on Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and across several hysterical TV stations over the last few days. 

This time around, I have to say that the print media has acted (upto now) with a degree of restraint that I think is commendable. Partly, this has to do with the different natures of the two media. If you have to write even five hundred words about the Jan Lokpal bill, you run out of platitudes against corruption in the first sentence (and who can speak ‘for’ corruption anyway?) and after that you have to begin thinking about what the bill actually says, and the moment you do that, you cannot but help consider the actual provisions and their implications. On television on the other hand, you never have to speak for more than a sound-byte, (and the anchor can just keep repeating himself or herself, because that is the anchor’s job) and the accumulation of pious vox-pop sound bytes ‘against corruption’ leads to a tsunami of ‘sentiment’ that brooks no dissent. 

Between the last NDA government and the current UPA government, we have probably experienced a continuity of the most intense degree of corruption that this country has ever witnessed. The outcome of the ‘Anna Hazare’ phenomenon allows the ruling Congress to appear gracious (by bending to Anna Hazar’s will) and the BJP to appear pious (by cozying up to the Anna Hazare initiative) and a full spectrum of NGO and ‘civil society’ worthies to appear, as always, even holier than they already are.

Coalition of Crooks: Why the West was so restive to Attack Libya!

[Statement issued by New Socialist Initiative - Delhi University Chapter]

A pack of scoundrels, brandishing latest weapons have attacked Libya. Ever since the popular uprising against Gaddafi took a turn towards civil war, and Gadaffi’s army gained the upper hand, the gang of Presidents and Prime Ministers of Western countries was getting its arsenal ready against the North African country. Resolution 1973 of the UN Security Council provided the fig leaf they were waiting for, and now, like a pack of hungry wolves on scent of an easy prey they have gone berserk. They care little about pusillanimous complaints of an Arab League, the organization of Arab dictators which gifted them the fig leaf, or African Unity. 

While Western leaders attacking Libya are claiming it to be for the sake of spreading democracy and human rights in the Arab world, their domestic record speaks volumes about the moral content of their politics. The minnow of the pack, but most jumpy Silvio Berlusconi of Italy is mired in bunga-bunga sex scandal and corruption scams at home. He is desperately trying to relive the infamy of Mussolini’s imperial adventures in Africa. Recent opinion polls in France have pushed Nicolas Sarkozy to the third spot among candidates likely to stand for the post of the President next year. Five years ago he had won elections by successfully poaching on the far right, proto-Fascist constituency of the National Front. He had also successfully played the charade of projecting a happy family life by going on a holiday with his estranged wife just before elections, to woo conservative Catholic voters. Just after elections, he divorced and married a much younger Italian super model. His ministers are mired in corruption scandals. It is only the prestige attached to the President of the Republic that is shielding him. A recent demonstration of over two hundred thousand in London called David Cameroon ‘butcher of Britain’ for dismantling whatever little welfare is left in British capitalism. He became Prime Minister because the alternative in Gordon Brown was too disgusting to British voters. His junior Nick Clegg of the Liberal Party won seats by promising, among other things, not to raise university tuition fees. Few months later he broke that promise by supporting Conservative welfare cuts. Barrack Obama started by giving a sensible speech in Cairo to the Muslims of the world. But his behaviour on Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and now, Libya, is ample proof of the stranglehold of imperial arrogance on the US foreign policy, and of what pliable material he is made of.

UID: Facility or Calamity?

- Prof. Jean Dreze

Quite likely, someone will be knocking at your door a few weeks from now and asking for your fingerprints. If you agree, your fingerprints will enter a national database, along with personal characteristics (age, sex, occupation, and so on) that have already been collected from you, unless you were missed in the “Census household listing” earlier this year. 

The purpose of this exercise is to build the National Population Register (NPR). In due course, your UID (Unique Identity Number, or “Aadhaar”) will be added to it. This will make it possible to link the NPR with other Aadhaar-enabled databases, from tax returns to bank records and SIM registers. This includes the Home Ministry’s NATGRID, smoothly linking 21 national databases. 

For intelligence agencies, this is a dream. Imagine, everyone’s fingerprints at the click of a mouse, that too with demographic information and all the rest! Should any suspicious person book a flight, or use a cybercafé, or any of the services that will soon require an Aadhaar number, she will be on their radar. If, say, Arundhati Roy makes another trip to Dantewada, she will be picked up on arrival like a ripe plum. Fantastic! 

So, when the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) tells us that the UID data (the “Central Identities Data Repository”) will be safe and confidential, it is a half-truth. The confidentiality of the Repository itself is not a minor issue, considering that UIDAI can authorize “any entity” to maintain it, and that it can be accessed not only by intelligence agencies but also by any Ministry. But more importantly, the UID will help to integrate vast amounts of personal data, available to government agencies with few restrictions.

[Manipur] Writing on the Walls of People

- Seram Rojesh

Photo: Kangla online

Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958 was passed in the Parliament in 1958. AFSPA can be looked at not only as a problem for those people who live under this law, but as an aspect of neocolonialism, militaristic and undemocratic nature of the Indian State. It does not say that it is to counter the “armed rebellion” or that it is an ‘anti-terror law’. The Supreme Court said that it was required for the national interest and it was not due to the armed rebellion. The AFSPA has its roots from British colonial ordinance, called the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Ordinance promulgated in 1942 to assist in suppressing the "Quit India Movement". The AFSPA itself began as the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance, 1958 that came into force in May 1958, and was passed by Parliament in September. It has only six clauses. Clause 1 definesnehe edefined e the armed forces under the law including all the forces under Army, Nevy and Air forces. the name of the act. Clause 2 defines the armed forces are under the law including all the central forces including Army, Navy and Air forces. Clause 3 defines the power to declare disturbed area. The real law is the clause 4, 5 and 6. Clause 4 allows a non commission officer to shoot to dead on the basis of his suspicion, to destroy a property or any place, to arrest a person without arrest warrant. Clause 5 allows an arrested to person to be kept unlimited time and did not define numbers of days and time. Clause 6 says No prosecution suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted, except with the previous sanction of the central Government in respect of anything done or purported to be done in exercise of the powers conferred by this Act. In short it is a colonial act.

Organizing Revolutionary Dissent: Glimpses into the Praxis of Korean Students’ Movement under Military Dictatorship

- Bonojit Hussain

I.

1986 Workers/Students Protest Meeting

 Today Professor Kim is a well-respected progressive academic in one of the numerous Universities of Seoul, where I have also spent my last three years – first as a student and then as a Research Program Officer/Faculty. But I never had the opportunity to chat with Professor Kim about politics. He spoke only Korean and Russian; and I spoke only English and ‘unintelligible’ Korean. 

But Professor Kim is well known among students as the ‘nutty professor’ who, as a graduate student, went to Moscow to study in the early 1990s. As the rumour goes, study was just an excuse for him- in reality he wanted to (un)confirm his worst nightmare : whether the Soviet Union has truly collapsed or was yet another western capitalist propaganda. 

To anyone today it would appear that he was ‘crazy’. After all, why do you need to go to Moscow to see for yourself whether the Soviet Union has collapsed or not? The whole world read about it in newspapers and saw images of it on television. I would have also thought that this Prof. Kim guy is crazy if I had not become a student of the contemporary labour and student movements of Korea. 

It was not just “young” Mr. Kim who was shocked at the demise of the Soviet Union; there were thousands and thousands of other Korean student activists who could not believe it, and they felt as if the grounds beneath them had slipped away.

Another Education is Possible: An Account of the Struggle against Neo-liberal Restructuring at the University of Sussex

- Ryan Powell

The transformation of British Universities from places of learning and enquiry into supermarkets, where knowledge is a commodity; the production of which is driven by the needs of the market, has picked up pace in the past several years. For a long time universities in the UK were entirely state funded and free for all. Since then fees have been introduced in three phases. At the first stage the maximum any university could charge stood at 1000 Pounds. The second phase began in 2006 when the cap on tuition fees was raised by Tony Blair’s government to 3300 Pounds. We are currently entering what may well be the final phase where tuition fees will either go up to something around 7000 pounds or the cap on fees will be abolished completely allowing universities to charge as high a price as they can get away with. This will mean that universities will have to compete with each other for students and research funding. 

Governments across Europe have seized upon the opportunity provided by the financial crisis to slash public spending across the board. With the election of a Conservative/Liberal coalition (both party’s ideologically committed giving capital and the market free reign) in the UK the speed and depth of these cuts will exceed what was anticipated under Labour with higher education being hit particularly hard. Vice chancellors know what is coming; that universities will soon exist in a competitive market and so will have to be made profitable in order to survive. Instead of opposing this however VCs have jumped on the opportunity to make education a business and have begun to undertake the task of restructuring with gusto, cutting everything but their salaries.

Cry, Dear Friend, On the Death of a Noble Profession

[Note: This article was published in December-January 2010-11 issue of CRITIQUE, the magazine of NSI-Delhi University Chapter]

- Dr. Sanjay Kumar

Delhi University Teacher’s Association, one of the strongest union of university teachers in the country suffered a humiliating setback recently. On 15th November, Justice Manmohan of Delhi High Court ordered DUTA to call off its strike against semester system for science courses introduced by the administration this year. Teachers are back in lecture halls, students on benches are getting ready for examinations, administration has its writ running back in the university; all is quiet on the campus front. The new VC would have hardly expected a more docile environment to establish his authority. 

DUTA struggle was done in by the pincer movement of bureaucracy and judiciary. While the former remained adamant and did not come for any sort of negotiations, the latter determined teacher’s strike to be a blackmail. Indian judiciary in many recent judgements has held protest marches, hartals, strikes, etc. illegal. Its argument is that by disrupting regular social life these amount to taking hostage fundamental rights of citizens. Bureaucracy and judiciary are two important pillars of any liberal governing order. The former in its ideal Weberian type gives rational form to the operation of state power and class rule under liberalism. The main purpose of the latter is provision of argued justifications for the existing status quo, or to bring social reality back within rules if the deviations become too embarassing, as has happened with the 2-G spectrum scam recently. The reality of Indian bureaucracy and judiciary rarely matches with the liberal ideal. Our corrupt bureaucracy lords over citizens, brazenly and violently if they happen to be poor, dalit or adivasi. Our judiciary in many cases relies not on evidence and arguments but on sentiments and hearsay, as it did in the recent Babari Masjid title suit, or on ‘extraneous considerations’, as commented recently by the Supreme Court about the mess in Allahabad HC. The prime responsibility of the judiciary to ensure governance is abundantly manifest in the interim order of the Delhi High Court when it says ‘that in a democratic body polity, governance is the primary factor’, or when it claims that education results in a person becoming ‘disciplined, civilized and a man (sic) of compassion’ (emphasis added).

Turning The Tide? Student Protests in Britain, November 2010

[Note: This article was published in December-January 2010-11 issue of  CRITIQUE, the magazine of NSI-Delhi University Chapter.]

- Dr. Aditya Sarkar

Photo edited by Malay Firoz

In the last decade and a half, the United Kingdom’s higher education system has undergone a rapid transition: from universally free tuition to – as it now appears – universalized student debt. The latest round of reform has sought to increase fees threefold, cutting public funding enormously, and transforming universities into purveyors of ‘services’ to be consumed and paid for by customers, rather than a public good to be received by citizens. Many aspiring university students will never see the inside of a college classroom, and many more will have to precariously balance their education against heavy loans, thereby inevitably selecting courses generating immediate employment prospects and financial stability. Large numbers of ‘non-profitable’ university departments, therefore, are facing the axe, which affects teachers as well as students. In one sense, this continues – and radicalizes – a practice begun in the Thatcher years, as public funding was progressively reduced and supplemented by private investment, and extended in the Blair era, when student fees were introduced for the first time. The present proposals of the Conservative/Liberal-Democrat coalition government are, in one sense, the logical culmination of this tradition, marked, as Stefan Collini has pointed out, by the simultaneous escalation of student intake and the whittling down of funding available, all at a high cost to the quality of the education received.[1]

Speak Out ! Lest We Tolerate a Gender Biased Campus !

[Statement issued on 24th March]

Photo: Women's Right Organization

It does not matter what time of the day it is, what you are wearing or who you are with, Delhi remains extremely hostile towards women. The streets, parks, buses, and bazaars are overwhelmingly male spaces where women are treated as unwelcomed trespassers to be teased, taunted and touched. Delhi University is very much embedded in this culture of harassment. For women, even a simple walk from hostel to college is a map of obstacles to be dodged and strategised around. Not only are women combating Black tinted cars, swerving motorcycles, groping hands and lewd calls but now also the possibility of being shot dead in broad daylight. It is in the neighbourhood of this respected University that a young female teacher was rounded up and molested by none other than male students of this university under the garb of lumpenism that is “allowed” in the name of holi, just a few days ago. It was in one of these usual days, whether it concerns female teacher or student or any other women, when around 11 pm at Chhatra Marg yet another young female teacher was stopped and molested by two bike-riding louts, while she shouted for help none came forward despite many students loitering around the pavements – it was the ‘mad’ exam month of April which sees some movement of students to and from the libraries in the otherwise desolate night streets of North Campus, Delhi University.

Say No to No Say: Delhi University Students and Teachers Gather to Protest against Semesterization

Photo: New Socialist Initiative, DU

Outside the Delhi University Arts Faculty, teachers and students sported T-shirts saying ‘Say No to No Say’, lighting candles , singing songs of protest.

Photo: New Socialist Initiative, DU

The vigil was organized by Joint Action Body against semesterization to protest against the recent spate of unsavoury and coercive tactics being employed by the University administration in pushing forward the process of semesterization in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Among these, the administration has tried to intimidate individual Heads of Departments with threats of punitive action, if they do not ensure that their respective Committees of Courses do not cooperate in the process of semesterization. It has demanded the names of individual committee members, as well as the nature of their votes, on this matter. These measures are not only excessive, they are well beyond the administrative brief of the University administration. Rather, they constitute a blatant and unprecedented attempt to influence and manipulate the decisions of statutory academic bodies, as well as to suppress any legitimate dissent against the completely irrational policies and procedures being adopted by the University. Further, they are also attempts to illegitimately collate data about teachers that may be misused against them in a court of law. As such, these measures directly impinge on the academic autonomy of individuals, faculties and departments of the University.

A Graphic Petition Against Discriminatory Hostel Rules for Women in Delhi University

Note: Hundreds have already signed this petition physically including many leading feminist scholars and activists. If you agree with the petition and want to endorse it, please leave your name and affiliation in the comment section of this post.

Delhi University Post Graduate and Under Graduate Women's Hostels enforce rigid mechanisms which restricts mobility and freedom of the "INMATES". Many of our "FEMINISTS" professors just happen to be on the Managing Committee of these Hostels. We demand that they put their feminism into practice and and in turn force the University authorities to put an end to our imprisonment.

Jashn-e-Tahreer : History As It Happens

New Socialist Initiative
Invites you to a discussion on

People’s March for Liberation:

The Upheaval Across Arab World

Speakers

Qamar Agha
(Senior Journalist and Academic)

Bonojit Hussain

(Researcher and Political Activist)

Activity Center (Above SPIC MACAY Canteen),

Arts Faculty, DU; 2 pm, 18th
February, 2011

Background Note: The recent upsurge of people’s movements against decades of dictatorial regimes, especially in Tunisia and Egypt, and its ripple effect, could establish the year 2011 as the turning point in contemporary history, both of the region and the history of the world itself. If today the Egyptian people’s popular uprising is a mirror of the declining power of the US over its most precious Arab ally, then the geopolitical location of this uprising hints at the ‘possible’ demise of US imperialism in general. More specifically because US has high stakes in the Arab World due to its insatiable greed for oil, and Egypt being the key political player in the region.

Egyptian Blogger says "Today - I am the People!" And Delhi University Students say bring "Substantive Popular Sovereignty and Democracy in Egypt"

Last night we blogged about prominent blooger and activist from Egypt - Sandmonkey. He was arrested and then beaten up in prison cell. While he was battered, his car and phone was also destroyed. He has been released and his blog was also restored after international hue and cry and he is back to tweeting.

He tweets tonight from Tahrir square:

# Okay, guys, I am using an old laptop till the paranoid friends who took and hid my laptop upon hearing of my arrest come back with it.

#One group is peaceful and uses technology, the other is violent and uses rocks to smash your head. Which side do u wanna take?

You read his last blog post here. But few nights ago a fellow Sudanese blogger had a telephonic conversation with Sandmonkey. Now NSI-DELHI has put it together in a video format:

Egypt, Right Now! [Words from the Ground Today]

This gripping account of despair and hope was written this morning by Egypt's top blogger and activist Sandmonkey . Now their are unconfirmed reports doing round on Twitters and facebook that the authorities have arrested him this afternoon, if the report is true we can only hope that he is not murdered by the Egyptian state.

......................

I don't know how to start writing this. I have been battling fatigue for not sleeping properly for the past 10 days, moving from one's friend house to another friend's house, almost never spending a night in my home, facing a very well funded and well organized ruthless regime that views me as nothing but an annoying bug that its time to squash will come. The situation here is bleak to say the least. 

It didn't start out that way. On Tuesday Jan 25 it all started peacefully, and against all odds, we succeeded to gather hundreds of thousands and get them into Tahrir Square, despite being attacked by Anti-Riot Police who are using sticks, tear gas and rubber bullets against us. We managed to break all of their barricades and situated ourselves in Tahrir. The government responded by shutting down all cell communication in Tahrir square, a move which purpose was understood later when after midnight they went in with all of their might and attacked the protesters and evacuated the Square. The next day we were back at it again, and the day after. Then came Friday and we braved their communication blackout, their thugs, their tear gas and their bullets and we retook the square. We have been fighting to keep it ever since. 

On such a day

[ Ronid Chingangbam of 'Burning Voices/Imphal Talkies' pens a provocative piece of poetry on the 61st Republic Day of India]

By- Ronid (Akhu) Chingangbam

On such a day like 26th January

she carries the country in her basket

wrapped adoringly with the tricolor cloth

and walks in the deserted street

On such a holiday some organizations call bandh

this time it was 15 outfits

the vegetables lay silent

the trees are bored to death

the rickshaws are recharging in winter sun

She stops in the middle of the road

and whisper "i am letting you free"

she sobs and says "i have nothing to feed you anymore

you were left at my courtyard when the India Armies

came to pick up my husband

as armies have a habit of leaving their foot marks

in the soil they have walked

and taking lives that belong to the soil.