URGENT! Read, act, disseminate — DEMOCRACY AT RISK — AN UNDECLARED EMERGENCY IN INDIA

We write with great urgency and alarm about events that took place in India early on the morning of Tuesday 28^th August. In simultaneous, concerted actions in Mumbai, Goa, Delhi, Ranchi and Hyderabad, individuals were arrested and homes raided. Those arrested were: Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navalakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, and Varavara Rao. Their homes were also searched and materials removed. Those whose homes were raided, or who were humiliated include: K. Satyanarayan, Anand Teltumbde, Father Stan Swamy, Kranthi Tekula, K.V. Kumarnath, and Susan Abraham. Last Tuesday’s arrests follow the arrests in June this year of five others on the same charges: Surendra Gadling, Suhdir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, and Mahesh Raut. All these individuals are lawyers, intellectuals, and activists from many communities and different walks of life, who have dedicated their lives to the service of Dalits, workers, the poor and marginalized, and are advocates and proponents of civil liberties and democratic rights.

For months now in India a reign of terror has been unleashed with state complicity against Muslims and minorities. The government at the Centre and in some states is dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ethno-nationalist party committed to making India into Hindutva, a “Hindu” nation.They will do whatever it takes to advance their political objectives. And the clock is ticking as the nation heads to the polls in May 2019. Their failure to make good on promises of economic improvements and growth has led them to fall out of favour with many of those who voted for their platform of development and change. As well, their policies of majoritarian tyranny, where there are almost daily incidences of lynchings of Muslims and Dalits have also caused the blinders to fall from many who had supported them.

Desperate to change the narrative, they are inventing threats to the nation to rally people to their side.  The slightest form of dissent invokes the label “anti-national” or urban Maoist, after which “terrorist” is not slow to follow. They use violence, threats and intimidation to get their way, and are ably assisted by sections of the corporate media. To get compliance they want to create a climate of fear. And they will keep escalating these tactics.Unrestrained social violence and vigilantism is the order of the day: the arrests follow in the wake of recent attacks on other voices for justice such as Swami Agnivesh, Umar Khalid and other student activists. In fact a BJP lawmaker from the state of Karnataka was emboldened to advocate the murder of “intellectuals”.

When those who have a record of defending the victims of state violence in courts and forming committees to investigate massacres and human rights violations are now the targets, a very, very dangerous threshold has been crossed. Every vestige of democratic functioning is in jeopardy.

If you care for democracy, peace,and justice speak out and take action now. Demand the release of those arrested, the dropping of all charges, and an immediate end to political harassment of government opponents. The Diaspora matters. We must speak out in our communities, make them aware of what is happening. Write to federal and provincial political representatives, the Foreign Affairs Minister — tell them of your deep concern; call on them to take this up with India via their political channels. Write to the Indian High Commissioner or Consuls as well. In 1975 The Emergency ushered in a period in India where all civil liberties were abrogated. We are seeing the same thing now – an undeclared Emergency against the people of India. Act now! Make a difference!

Centre sur l’asie du sud (CERAS), Montréal ∙ DESSA (Democracy, Equality and Secularism in South Asia), Winnipeg ∙  Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI), Vancouver ∙ India Civil Watch-Canada ∙ Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association, Winnipeg ∙ South Asia Left Democratic Alliance (SALDA), Toronto ∙ South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), Vancouver

cerasmontreal@gmail.com; https://sansad.org/

URGENT! Lire, agir, diffuser – LA DÉMOCRATIE EST À RISQUE – UNE SITUATION D’URGENCE INDIQUÉE EN INDE

Nous écrivons avec beaucoup d’urgence et d’alarme sur les événements qui se sont déroulés en Inde tôt le matin du mardi 28 août. Au cours d’actions simultanées et concertées à Mumbai, Goa, Delhi, Ranchi et Hyderabad, des individus ont été arrêtés et des habitations ont été attaquées. Les personnes arrêtées étaient: Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navalakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira et Varavara Rao. Leurs maisons ont également été fouillées et les matériaux enlevés. Les personnes dont les maisons ont fait l’objet d’une descente ou qui ont été humiliées sont: K. Satyanarayan, Anand Teltumbde, le père Stan Swamy, Kranthi Tekula, K.V. Kumarnath et Susan Abraham. L’arrestation de mardi dernier à la suite des arrestations en juin dernier de cinq autres accusés sur les mêmes chefs d’accusation: Surendra Gadling, Suhdir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson et Mahesh Raut. Toutes ces personnes sont des avocats, des intellectuels et des militants de nombreuses communautés et de différents milieux qui ont consacré leur vie au service des Dalits, des travailleurs, des pauvres et des marginalisés, et défendent et défendent les libertés civiles et les droits démocratiques.

Depuis des mois en Inde, un règne de terreur a été déclenché avec la complicité de l’État contre les musulmans et les minorités. Le gouvernement du Centre et de certains États est dominé par le Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), un parti ethno-nationaliste engagé à faire de l’Inde une nation hindoue appelée Hindutva. Ils feront tout ce qui est en leur pouvoir pour faire avancer leurs objectifs politiques. Et le temps presse car la nation se rend aux urnes en mai 2019. Leur incapacité à tenir les promesses d’améliorations économiques et de croissance les a conduits à tomber en disgrâce auprès de beaucoup de ceux qui ont voté pour leur plateforme de développement et de changement. De plus, leurs politiques de tyrannie majoritaire, où les lynchages de musulmans et de dalits sont quasi quotidiens, ont également fait tomber les œillères de beaucoup de ceux qui les avaient soutenues.

Désespérés de changer le récit, ils inventent des menaces contre la nation pour rallier les gens à leurs côtés. La moindre forme de dissidence invoque le label «anti-national» ou maoïste urbain, après quoi «terroriste» ne tarde pas à suivre. Ils se servent de la violence, des menaces et de l’intimidation pour se frayer un chemin et sont aidés avec compétence par des sections des médias d’entreprise. Pour se mettre en conformité, ils veulent créer un climat de peur. Et ils continueront à intensifier ces tactiques. Des violences sociales et un vigilantisme effrénés sont à l’ordre du jour: les arrestations font suite aux récentes attaques contre d’autres voix pour la justice telles que Swami Agnivesh, Umar Khalid et d’autres militants étudiants. En fait, un législateur du BJP de l’État du Karnataka a été encouragé à préconiser le meurtre d’intellectuels.

Lorsque ceux qui ont l’habitude de défendre les victimes de la violence de l’État devant les tribunaux et de créer des comités pour enquêter sur les massacres et les violations des droits de l’homme sont désormais les cibles, un seuil très, très dangereux a été franchi. Tout vestige de fonctionnement démocratique est en péril.

Si vous aimez la démocratie, la paix et la justice, prenez la parole et agissez maintenant. Exiger la libération des personnes arrêtées, l’abandon de toutes les accusations et la cessation immédiate du harcèlement politique des opposants au gouvernement. Les Diasporamatters. Nous devons parler dans nos communautés, les sensibiliser à ce qui se passe. Écrivez aux représentants politiques fédéraux et provinciaux, au ministre des Affaires étrangères – dites-leur votre profonde préoccupation, appelez-les à en discuter avec l’Inde via leurs canaux politiques. Écrivez également au haut-commissaire ou aux consuls indiens. En 1975, The Emergency a inauguré une période en Inde où toutes les libertés civiles ont été abrogées. Nous voyons la même chose maintenant – une urgence non déclarée contre le peuple indien. Agir maintenant! Faites une différence!

Centre sur l’asie du sud (CERAS), Montréal ∙ DESSA (Democracy, Equality and Secularism in South Asia), Winnipeg ∙ Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI), Vancouver ∙ India Civil Watch-Canada ∙ Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association, Winnipeg ∙ South Asia Left Democratic Alliance (SALDA), Toronto ∙ South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), Vancouver

cerasmontreal@gmail.com; https://sansad.org/

DR. AMBEDKAR MEMORIAL LECTURE PLANNING COMMITTEE IN BC PROTESTS RAIDS AND ARRESTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS IN INDIA

The Planning Committee of the Annual Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture instituted in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2017 by Chetna Association of Canada; Hari Sharma Foundation; Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University; and Centre for India and South Asia Research, University of British Columbia, Department of Asian Studies, and Robert H. N. Ho and Family  Foundation Program in Buddhism and Contemporary Society at the University of British Columbia is gravely concerned by the simultaneous raids on the homes of prominent writers, lawyers, poets, and human rights activists in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Goa, and Ranchi on August 28, 2018.

We are deeply disturbed that journalists, writers, poets, lawyers, trade unionists, academics, and human rights activists such as Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bhardwaj, Varvara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, and Arun Ferreira have been arrested under patently false terrorism related charges, Ferreira having already served five years in prison on false charges that were dismissed in court.

We are deeply concerned that renowned academic, writer, and human rights activist Anand Teltumbde’s home in Goa was raided in his absence. Dr. Teltumbde delivered the Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture organized by the Institute for the Humanities (SFU), Chetna Association, Hari Sharma Foundation, and Centre for India and South Asian Studies and Department of Asian Studies at UBC in 2016. We deplore this attack on an outstanding scholar, academic, a critical thinker and spokesperson for the rights of Dalits.

We also deplore the raid on the home of Father Stan Swami in Ranchi on the ground of his work on the rights of Adivasis.

We demand the immediate release of all who have been arrested and the return of all material confiscated in these unjust raids that intimidate people from speaking on behalf of the oppressed.

Jai Birdi, General Secretary, Chetna Association of Canada; Coordinator, Planning Committee, Annual Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture

Samir Gandesha, Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Director, Institute for the Humanities. Simon Fraser University

Chinmoy Banerjee, President, Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation

Harinder Mahil, Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation

Anne Murphy, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies UBC and Co-Director, Centre for India and South Asia Research, University of British Columbia

Sara Shneiderman, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBC and Co-Director, Center for India and South Asia Research, University of British Columbia

Jessica Main, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies, UBC, and Director, Robert H. N. Ho and Family Foundation Program in Buddhism and Contemporary Studies, University of British Columbia

Ajay Bhardwaj, PhD Candidate, Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia

Condemn the raids on Prof. Teltumbde and Prof. Satyanarayana and raids and arrests of other human rights activists!

Demand their immediate and unconditional release!

Resist state repression!

COSTISA, a co-ordination of progressive and democratic student’s association of various S&T institutes condemns the raids on Prof. Teltumbde and Prof. Satyanarayana and raids and arrests of other human rights activists. Anand Teltumbde and other activists have spent their lives being the voice of the voiceless Adivasis, Dalits, religious minorities and other oppressed people. Ex-Professor of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. Teltumbde is now working as a Senior Professor in Goa Institute of Management(GIM).
The severe onslaught that has been underway in India to plunder the natural resources, exploit the human resources and open up the market at the cost of the common people is reaching a pinnacle since the fascist BJP-RSS combine have been in power since 2014. Prof. Teltumbde has been a vocal critic of the neo-liberal agenda since long, including the aggressive phase that we are going through currently. The intention of the government through these raids and arrest is clear – to stifle all voices of dissent and terrorize all progressive forces who would speak up for the dispossessed.
One of the primary sectors bearing the brunt of the neo-liberal policies of successive governments is the education sector. Closing down primary schools, severe funding cuts in higher education institutes, encouraging private investments in education, funding private institutes by tax payers’ money, forcing institutes to generate their own funds through raising fees or corporate funded research, etc. are not to be seen in isolation: they are part of the monstrous neoliberal agenda of liberalization, privatization and globalization. These series of policy measures systematically snatch the right to education from vast populations who are already marginalized. Civil society activists and students, under the banner of All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE), have been constantly raising these issues of national interest for some time. Prof. Anand Teltumbde has been a guiding force behind this nationwide movement to save the education sector in India.
Prof. Anand Teltumbde’s Goa house has been raided and he was also threatened with arrest. The residence of Professor K. Satyanarayana from the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), was also raided. Besides, other activists have been arrested on Tuesday. They have all been known for their activism throughout their lives. They have spoken out against the corporate loot in the forest lands where a large number of adivasis live. They have time and again criticized the way in which governments and state administrations have sided with the corporate and dispossessed the original inhabitants of this land from their own land. They have stood with oppressed workers, dalits and religious minorities. They have spoken out very strongly for the people of this ‘democratic’ country
who can’t even exercise their basic rights; instead they are subjected to severe repression, torture, murder and rape.
The Hindutva fascist forces in power are intensifying their all-out war on the Dalits, Adivasisand minorities in the rural areas on one hand, and trying to suppress all voices of dissent over these issues on the other hand.
Using the pretext of the Bhima-Koregaon incident and the alleged fabricated letter indicating a plot to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ruling establishment is leaving no stone unturned to reach that end. Media channels have already started branding the activists arrested as ‘Urban Naxals’, a term coined to easily deem illegitimate any pro-people work that might be done by these activists which is not in line with the corporate agenda of the ruling establishment. This tag has become an easy label to mobilize popular sentiment against such activists, making any trial in the court of law potentially biased even before its start. The media frenzy, created by some media agencies, also serve the purpose of diverting public attention from issues like the activities of Sanatan Sanstha, role of Hindutva leaders Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide in the Bhima Koregaon violence, etc.
These arrests are not only an attempt to silence the voices of dissent, but also a message to all progressive individuals in this country to either think the way the government wants or face the consequences.
The basic value of education lies in thinking in myriad ways and engaging in debates to arrive at the correct understanding. However the Government of India, currently under the control of the fascist BJP-RSS, wants the student community to think in only one direction, thereby destroying the very ethos of education. These forces want the education system to be in a way tailor-made to serve the corporate masters without questioning. However, that dream is not going to be fulfilled.
COSTISA appeals to the patriotic, progressive and democratic students, intellectuals, activists and individuals to unite and resist the state repression ushered upon the people of India. We condemn the unjust raids on Prof. Anand Teltumbde and Prof. K. Satyanarayana. We also demand the unconditional and immediate release of the other arrested human rights activists.
Coordination of Science and Technology Institutes’ Student Associations (COSTISA) (www.facebook.com/supportcostisa)
Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, IIT Madras Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle – IIT Bombay Students For Change – SFC, IIT BHU Students For Change – SFC, IMS BHU Ambedkar Bhagat Singh Study Circle, IIT Kharagpur

July 26, 2018

Manik Mukherjee, Vice-President of the All India Anti-imperialist Forum issued the following statement

All India Anti-imperialist Forum condemns the Israeli enactment which effectively denies the civil rights of the Palestinians living in Israel.

The All India Anti-imperialist Forum (AIAIF) strongly condemns the enactment of the heinous new law in the Israeli Parliament which declares Israel as the “Nation State of the Jewish people” and asserts that Israel is the homeland of the Jews with Jerusalem as the capital, Hebrew as the official language and announces that the right of national self-determination is “unique to the Jewish people.” Ever since the birth of the State of Israel when millions of native Palestinians were driven out of their homeland and became perpetual refugees, through successive wars of aggression it has annexed a vast area of Palestinian land. It illegally occupied both East and West  Jerusalem  and proclaimed the “unified and complete” Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which was a clear violation of international law. Countless Resolutions were passed in the UN condemning Israel as the violator of International laws. But Israel paid little heed to the Resolutions being supported by USA and other imperialist powers. Sometime back the President of the United States, Donald Trump, defying world opinion, announced the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and shifted the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Israel was emboldened by this display of open US support and has now made this heinous and fascistic enactment. The new law effectively robs the constitutional rights of equality from the native Palestinians living in Israel.  It will establish Jewish supremacy to the detriment of the Non-Jewish people. The Arab legislators in the Israeli Parliament has branded it as racist and legalizing Apertheid. The world opinion has roundly condemned this move and even a section of saner Jewish population have opposed this nefarious move of the rulers. We urge the Indian government to bring pressure on Israel to rescind this law.

The All India Anti-imperialist Forum stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people fighting to realize their just demands   and strongly condemns the aggression of Israel against the people of Palestine. We call upon all the freedom-loving people of the world to rise up in protest against Israel’s heinous acts, abetted by USA in league with other imperialist powers. Israel must withdraw this despicable legislation.

.

Manik Mukherjee

Vice-President

All India Anti-imperialist Forum (AIAIF)