March 2017

After a peaceful weekend, the Ramjas row has refused to bow down with marches and counter marches. Today, however, was a different day altogether in the campus. A historic march consisting of over a thousand students, teachers and politicians started from SGTB Khalsa College and culminated at Arts Faculty. Students and teachers from colleges across University of Delhi, Jamia Millia, JNU joined in huge numbers to protest against the hooliganism that was allegedly perpetrated by ABVP karyakartas on 22^nd February at Ramjas College. The march – which was called ‘Save DU’ – garnered many students who were first-time protesters.

Teachers come out in support

Teacher associations also came out in large numbers to support their students who were protesting for their right to expression and dissent. Teachers from Delhi University Teachers Association(DUTA), JNU Teachers Association(JNUTA), Ambedkar University and Jamia joined the march. Rajni Parliwala who teaches sociology at DSE said, “This a response from students and teachers to people who try to dictate to us what to speak, what we eat, what we listen to and what we say.”

Abha Dev Habib, a teacher at Miranda House college and member of executive council of DUTA said “Here, students from colleges and universities have gathered to protest against forces trying to dictate what type of seminars can be done and what cannot take place.”

Politicians and Academics throw their weight behind students

The march was also attended by Yogendra Yadav, chief of Swaraj India. Even Sitaram Yechury, the General Secretary of CPI-M and D. Raja, Rajya Sabha Member from Kerala addressed the students. “RSS wants to impose its ideas on everyone,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jean Dreze a famous researcher of development economics who also attended the seminar said, “I am here to support freedom of expression. If there is no freedom of expression then there is no democracy.”

Student leaders from other universities join the march

The protest march was also joined by Kanhaiya Kumar and Shehla Rashid from JNU. Kanhaiya who spoke about maintaining peace and non-violence in campuses highlighted that ABVP has no right to engage in violence. He also said that the trend of violence by ABVP in campuses across India is at attempt to saffronize the campuses across the country.

Candle March by NSUI

In the evening, another march was organised by NSUI, the student wing Congress Party, which started from Arts Faculty and ended at Maurice Nagar police station. Students with posters of peace, candles and cut outs of Mahatma Gandhi protested in order to maintain peace in the campus.

Heavy Police Bandobast

After being on the line of fire for its mishandling of affairs on 22^nd February, the police was on its toes to ensure security and safety of the march. With senior IPS officers monitoring the march and ensuring the safety and security of the protesters.
Attacks by ABVP activists reported

There were some reports and videos that surfaced where ABVP activists where seen to be attacking students who were returning from protests with belts and stones. Their attack was immediately controlled by police personnel present around. An FIR has been registered and the two ABVP activists have been arrested for the same.

Among thousands of voices as this author scanned for reasons for which protestor joined the march he found while some had come to protest against vandalism, some wanted to stand for free speech, some came to support Gurmehar Kaur (a student of LSR, who was given rape threats on social media), some came to get their voices heard. Irrespective of various causes that brought the protestors to the march, they all stood, walked, shouted slogans and protested together to express their right to dissent.

Srivedant Kar

[email protected]

Feature Image credits: Prateek Singh for DU Beat

DU Beat stands strongly for freedom of speech and expression. We condemn this type of attack on our academic spaces. Our classrooms are places where we can speak, discuss and debate on issues irrespective of the ideologies or backgrounds we come from. Violence has no place in our academic spaces.

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This year’s Oscars consisted of many moments that will have echoing ramifications for the cinematic world. The black achiever; an esoteric movie like Moonlight winning the best motion picture; and then Casey Affleck, Viola Davis and Kevin O’ Connell taking home the statutte proved that the Academy Awards of 2017 were clearly in honour of the fools who dream.

There is always something extraordinary about the Academy Awards. They speak of impeccable tales woven into the golden fabrics of genuine emotions and the glorious culmination of years of perseverance. They always have a brilliant mastery over nuances, maintaining that exactitude of predictability and surprise which all come together and crown the golden lady as the greatest award on the planet.

Here we are with a list of every brilliant tale which made the 89th Academy Award the most enduring of all:

1.Jimmy Kimmel

Oscar hosts have always tried to do something out of the box. Remember Neil Patrick Harris’s stunts and Chris Rock’s gaffe over the last two years? But not this time.
In sync with this year’s trend of having talk show giants hosting the award show, the Oscars had Jimmy Kimmel from ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’. Opening the show with the splashy performance of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t stop the feeling’, followed only by his signature monologue, appeal for unity, and the few well curated jokes now and then throughout the night, Kimmel ensured that he did what he wast best at. Whether he joked Mel Gibson, Matt Demon or Meryl Streep, he made sure to toe the line at all times.

2. The not-anymore-white Academy

Oscars 2017 shall well be remembered for the three winners from the black community it had. With Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor, Fences’ Viola Davis for Best Supporting Actress, Director-producer Ezra Edelman for Best Documentary Feature and Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney for Best Adapted Screenplay, it was well evident that the award is not all-white anymore. Cherry on the pudding was the fact that Mahershala Ali is the first person from the Muslim community to win the prize. Also noteworthy is Viola Davis becoming the first black woman to win an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony in her brilliant acting career. At the podium, she seemed to be heaving with emotion, almost out of breath, and yet her words were clear and her sentences deftly paced. When she made her observation with “You know, there’s one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered”, followed by a pause, and then the next line, “One place, and that’s the graveyard”, she quietly validated herself as one of the most deserving Oscar winners of all time.

3. A night of Moonlight

The tale of a poor black gay man simply surviving in the drug and poverty of Miami, an ordinary life of the sort that is portrayed so infrequently as to seem extraordinary, took the world by storm as it lunged ahead of the seemingly obvious winner La La Land and the gruelling reality and individual pain of Moonlight won over the dreamworld of La La Land. This small scale, individual film was not only a huge win for the black community, it was a major triumph for queer narratives in Hollywood. Being the first LGBTQ themed, all black film to win the Academy, the victory can be seen as Academy’s departure from the ‘winner takes it all’ era.

4. Not all rosy with La La Land

The city of stars did not shine just for La La Land as it became the first movie to not to win the award for the best picture in spite of as many as 14 nominations. All the same, Emma Stone was awarded best actress for her portrayal of Mia, winning over Natalie Portman and Meryl Streep. Damien Chaziel, aged only 32, emerged as the best director, and one of the youngest recipients of the golden statuette. The movie also won the awards for Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Cinematography. But what was heartbreaking was the fiasco at the podium when La La Land had almost won the best film award. As Vox later clarified, “The night’s biggest award — Best Picture — was handed to the wrong film, presumed front runner La La Land , because presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were given the wrong envelope. It bore the name of La La Land’s Emma Stone, who had won Best Actress moments before. The three credited producers for La La Land were almost through their triumphant speeches — indeed, the third, Fred Berger , was in the middle of speaking — when producer Jordan Horowitz was forced to take the microphone and say the film had lost to Moonlight.”

5. O.J.: Made in America

Not only did this ESPN-produced project win the award for Best Documentary Featur, but with a running time of seven hours and 47 minutes, it became the longest work in history to win an Oscar. While La La Land declared a sense that musical comedies still possess magic, O.J.: Made in America made us believe in the beauty of long, yet meaningful films.

Nikhil Kumar
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Image Crdits: digitalspy.com

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