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Save DU holds public meeting at Arts Faculty against state repression on campuses

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A public meeting, “Campuses on a Boil: State Repression and Coming Together of Struggles” was held on 7th April near Arts Faculty, Delhi University. The public meeting was a part of the Save DU campaign and was organised in collaboration with various Left students’ and teachers’ organisations.  The speakers who presided over the session included Shehla Rashid, Vice President JNUSU; Arindam Banarjee from Ambedkar University; Hany Babu and Prof. Apoorvanand from Delhi University; R. Gopinath from Jamia Millia, Rohit Azad and Surajit Mazumdar from JNU and  Ravi Kumar from South Asian University . Nandita Narain, President of DUTA and FEDCUTA was also one of the speakers.

The meeting highlighted increasing authoritarianism and state repression which is being felt across campuses. It provided a holistic overview of the issue by virtue of the speakers being from various universities and academic backgrounds. Prof. Surajit Mazumdar called the development model of India ‘inherently in-egalitarian’. He pointed out the deliberate attempt of the Government to delink higher education from an egalitarian social transformation. Prof. Rohit Azad from JNU explained how the government is trying to divide people of India in order to keep them from realizing the presence of huge economic inequalities, similar to the 99% highlighted by Occupy Wall Street protest, NY. He also urged the Left to be more inclusive.

Prof.  R.Gopinath from Jamia Millia raised concerns about the unavailability of space for student activism in the university. He also talked about how Muslim students face tremendous problems in protesting and participating in the current debates about nationalism. He condemned the stigma attached to muslims which inevitably and unjustly accords them the tag of being ‘anti national’.

Ravi Kumar from South Asian University also talked about the anti-people policies of the Government and the need to deconstruct and challenge the concept of ‘might of the state’. Prof. Hany Babu from Delhi University highlighted the systematic denial of opportunities in terms of employability and promotions to SCs and STs especially in Delhi University. He called the ‘campus boiling’ phenomena, an indicator of the fact that the students and teachers are doing the needful to keep the system of debate, dissent and struggle alive.  Other speakers also spoke on the same lines and reiterated time and again the essential need to form alliances against Government’s propaganda of communalisation and saffronisation.

The public meeting was then addressed by Shehla Rashid. She also urged everyone to fight a common struggle against the policies of the government to divide people on the grounds of caste and religion. Speaking about the issue which has erupted in NIT Srinagar, she spoke against the stigma attached to the ‘k’ word. She also spoke against the fact that soldiers are not allowed to make their unions.  Shehla also talked about the deifying of women in the ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ discourse while strategically denying women their rights. She questioned if the concept of Bharat Mata includes women like Soni Suri and Irom Sharmila.

Nandita Narain concluded the meeting  with her views about various issues such as those about the introduction of  FYUP and CBCS . She also requested the students of Delhi University to realise that they are the ones who have to take up the cause of the poor, the downtrodden and the oppressed.

The meeting closed with slongans of ‘Jai Bheem, Lal Salam’. A social Justice March is also scheduled to happen on 13th of April.

 

Featured image credits: Save DU Press Release/Abha Dev Habib

Tooba Towfiq

[email protected]

 

 

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DUB Speak

DU’s deafening silence over JNU and Hyderabad University

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Over the past few months, the country has seen a dramatic change in the student politics environment. Jawahar Lal Nehru University chalked out the condition of a religious and national mind while the injustice faced by Rohit Vemula at the University of Hyderabad ushered a new wave of student movements. While issues and ideas at both the places should have been dealt at the level of debate, the government decided to use their power in a ruthless manner.

However, another thread that binds both the universities together is Delhi University’s surreal silence. One would expect from one of the largest universities in the country, often looked upon for its high standards and prestige, to come out in support and to protect the vulnerable. Delhi University did none of that.

A huge issue erupted at the centre of which was the idea of nationalism. While people across the country discussed the issue strenuously, DU kept silent, almost to the point of ignorance. It was an indifference which was disturbing as it questioned the nature of education and the kind of critical thinking it should have fostered. A large number of institutions came out in support of JNU across the globe. DU decided to take none of the sides and instead turned a blind eye. While it would still have been agreeable to have a difference of opinion, the disappointment was an absence of it. It is true that students from DU did participate in the protests organised by various student groups, the University as such did not use its voice collectively to join the debate.

It is important to reiterate here that while a lot of universities signed petitions in favour of JNU, DU neither supported nor condemned it. In fact, very few discussions were formally conducted which also owed a lot to a fear that had been generated following the JNU row. Students were scared to organise any kind of events or discussions, especially those on the side of a new kind of understanding of nationalism which was being discouraged brutally by the state. Is this the kind of environment we should be nurturing at a central university? One would have overlooked this silence only if it wasn’t too evident. But in the huge, loud and fierce atmosphere of struggle carried out by students of HCU, AMU, TISS and others against all odds, it was a great disappointment to see DU quiet.

After the release of almost all students and teachers involved and an apparent settling down of issues, it is pertinent to ask some questions. How much of space are we left with for dissent? Is the fight that the students put ahead going to protect the spirit of debate and discussion? Or has the state artfully done what it has to by creating a fear psychosis in which one would question the culture of questioning the dominant in the first place? We as students of Delhi University, who have witnessed the sheer amount of indifference and ignorance that fellow students have shown, need to ask ourselves if there is something wrong with the education we are getting or have we already given up in this struggle of fighting for a freedom to speak and to ask questions.

Tooba Towfiq
[email protected]
Kartikeya Bhatotia
[email protected]
Image credits: youthkiawaaz.com
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DUB Speak

5 Steps to Become the Flag Waving DU Hipster Student Activist

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1. Get the kurta right

Before you decide on the issues(s) you want to start hunger strikes on, you must get the look right to compliment your now-future leaner physique. Look into your father’s closet and find the oldest kurta that you can find. If your father is the only-shirt-pants wearing bourgeoisie, don’t worry, FabIndia will come to your rescue. Sources tell us that the brand was formed to supply DU-JNU student activists with socialist-chic clothing which can also be worn for their Pammi Aunty’s Diwali parties. Step it up with the thickest nerdy glass that you can find, regardless of your need for glasses. More accessorising opportunities come with the winter, when Nehru jackets and shawls become the ‘It Things’ to have. It goes without saying, a jhola is a must.

Tip: While kurtas are mostly unisex, lady activists can also wear khadi saris, monotone or tribal prints, at seminars and other occasions of importance where you might get photographed. Male activists can try cross dressing to up their game.

2. Networking at D School

Now, as a rule every student activist worth their swadeshi salt hangs out at D School. Transcending the North Campus-South Campus divide, D School is the K Nags and Satyaniketan for students with enlightened views. Now as activists, you must network with others of your community to know about the new cool issue to raise your voice for. And what better place than D School! Though it was established as a premier institute for studying Economics, actual students of the school are hard to find with students from all over encroaching their habitat. A burgeoning issue amongst actual D School students is the ‘Gair D Schooli Chatra Bhagao Andolan’, which as a defender of the secular public space, you must oppose.

Tip: Brownie points to you for hanging out at the JNU campus at times. Try to regularly post pictures of you with your JNU/media/professor friends on Facebook to let others know that your network is wide and radical.

3. Deciding on Your Issues

With the look right and the networking done, now you can decide on the movements you can lend your support to. Try to listen in on what is bothering your senior activists and try nodding your head to them. You might not understand them much initially but a quick Google search later will take care of it. Try keeping up with the news. Immediately make an account on change.org and sign petition after petition without any discrimination. Keep only a couple of issues as your primary ones but you can always make your presence felt in others. But try not to take up all the issues as your projects as this will only cause people to take you less seriously.

Tip: Read up on gender, sexuality, poverty, Kashmir and Israel. Your ability to quote case studies will decide your position in the hierarchy.

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4. Learn to talk Much without saying Anything and understanding Everything

Remember the time when the darling of your hipster circle was talking about something and all except you were nodding their heads? Then you did not read the previous point closely. Nod your head to everything; that is the single most important thing you can and should learn. The ability to let people believe that you know more than they ever can is necessary for you to leave any kind of impression. One of the ways is nodding along but a greater method is to actually talk a lot and mean nonsense. Engineered by Literature students to pass their exams, it has now been adopted by the larger artsy population as one of the languages they are fluent in. Learn to speak in paradoxes as soon as you can or you will remain in the training period for longer than you need to.

Tip: Take a recorder along the next time you go to a talk, which should ideally happen weekly, and listen and try to replicate the way the speakers were speaking there. Remember, practice is the only way.

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5. Learn how to belittle others because of their choices

While ‘Right to Choose’ and ‘Right to Express’ are one of the rights you must bring in any conversation and defend them whenever they are in danger, you must learn the proper way to judge people on their choices and letting them know that. Notice your classmates hanging out at Starbucks? Call them enabler of the war on Palestine. See them reading Chetan Bhagat and/or Durjoy Datta? Call their literary taste trashy and low. See them eating McSpicy Burger? Call them sell-outs to Multinational Corporations. See them parading their spoilt asses around in branded clothes? Scream BURGEOISIE! This may lead to multiple ‘unfriending’ on Facebook and subsequent stoning of your popularity in your college, but who cares about those merchant-minded dimwits when you can get popular in D School? This skill to belittle others will also come in handy later when you get promoted in the corporate world you joined right after college and want to make the minions know who the boss is now. Then you would also need to quash those two rights of your juniors mentioned above.

Tip: While still learning the ropes of the game, your senior activists may call out on the still lingering signs of your middle class upbringing at times. Don’t lose your patience and tell them “thank you, you are helping me mould my consciousness into the example of enlightened perfection that you project.”

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P.S.: The author is only half serious and would still like to enjoy his Keema Dosa and Iced Tea at D School.

Image courtesy: quickmeme.com, tumblr.com, thehindu.com

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A Clean Sweep!

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a clean sweep1

The World Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (WCARP) in partnership with the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) held a massive Cleaning Campaign in and around heritage sites in New Delhi to commemorate the International Day of Climate Action on 24th October. In association with 350 and Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN), this drive targeted areas of Red Fort, Qutab Minar and Tughlaqabad Fort. More than 650 students from colleges of DU, JNU and Jamia Milia Islamia pitched in to clean the areas surrounding these heritage sites.

Says Sandeep Kumar, President of WCARP, “This cleanliness drive was a huge success. We had never imagined that so many students would be interested. In fact, a group of students asked me to conduct such a drive for bus stops and railway platforms as well. I could see a spark in the youth of this country to outdo the authorities and make Delhi a cleaner place to live in. Some students were extremely enthusiastic and wanted to take on the responsibility of keeping these monuments clean.”

The students were provided with broomsticks, gloves, chemicals and brushes to effectively do their job for the day and were also given free T-shirts and refreshments. Most students found it to be a highly enjoyable experience. Medha, a student volunteer says, “It was a memorable and satisfying day. We could actually be a part of the change in this country. Moreover it was an enlightening experience for me as well. Though I’m a Delhiite, I didn’t know there are as many as 174 monuments in my city.”

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The key message of this drive was to “avoid plastic” and change the mindset of the people. The positive response to the initiative has led to plans for a second such attempt. “Upon request by the students, another drive is being organized on the 19th of November, 2009 at Purana Quila.”, says Sandeep. “So everyone who believes in the cause and missed out on this drive has another opportunity to pro-actively help change their world, be it in a small way.”

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