PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2012 ID-53822

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Reclaiming Democratic Spaces from Fascist Assaults ..... 17.2.12 "Jashn-e-Azaadi" Screened in Delhi University Against All Odds! .

Few weeks back. the administration of Symbiosis college in Pune stopped the screening of Jashn-e-Azaadi. bowing downto threats by ABVP and other fascist forces. Yesterday, the students and teachers of OU sent a strong statement of reversing thisdangerou~ trend of policing and bans. Hundreds of DU students and teachers participated the screening of Jashn-e-.

Azaadi organized by AI SA at the Department of Sociology, Delhi University. Predictably this screening had to be held in the teethofopposition from right-wing fascist forces like ABVP and the BhagatSingh Kranti Sena, who tried their level best to stall thescreening. Moreover, the DU administration and the Delhi Police also shamefully sided with these forces and tried to pressurize.

the Sociology department to stop the screening. .

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The powers-that-be have always tried their level best to ensure that people DO NOT get to know the reality of life inKashmir-which consists of routine fake encounters, arrests, torture, rapes and murders. The attempts by the likes of ABVP-to stall the screening of Jashn-e-Azaadi or any talk on Kashmir is aimed at this simple purpose. The saffron forces know very well.

· that they have no reasoned arguments or facts to counter the reality that the film shows: the grim reality of Kashmiri people's lives,very far from the myths peddled by stateist or Sanghi propaganda. That is why they want to muzzle the film by physical attacks andby branding i~ as 'anti-national.'.

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Such attacks are not just attacks on freedom of expression: they are an attempt to hideinconvenient truths from us. And, the entire state machinery predictably aids and abets such forces..

Yesterday, the Delhi police repeatedly called AISA representatives, stating that the Police had been receiving "threats" from.

.L ABVP and Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena. These forces openly told the Police that they would disrupt the screening, if it was allowed..

, lnstea.d ofgiving protection and preventing the hooligans from the entering the premises of Delhi School of Economics, Delhi' police kept pressurizing the organizers to cancel the screening. The DU administration initially also tried to pressurize the.

'r sociology department and the organizers to cancel the programme..

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I However, the Sociology department stood firm in defense ofscreening the film and refused to cancel the booking. They.

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demanded that the OU administration give in writing details of legal and academic grounds on the basis of which the film.

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screening should be cancelled. Unable to give any logical response to this, the DU administration changed its stand and in a' written statement. it told the Sociology department that the film screening could carry on. And so, the programme was held..

~ \ Yesterday's film screening was a spirited demonstration of the resolve of the democratic forces in the country to resist fascist and .

rl draconian assaults. .

, We live in times when fascist forces are continuously trying to curb our democratic spaces of debate, d~scussion anddissent. Academic institutions are by no means free from such assaults. In the wake of sedition charges being leveled againstBinayak Sen, AISA had run a national campaign in January 2011 against state repression. When AISA organized a massive.

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convention in DU on January 17ft~ 2011 as part of this campaign against state repression, ABVP predictably tried to stall theprogramme. On that occasion too, the students resisted the Sanghi goons and the programme was successfully held..

Most unfortunately, university and college administrations often shamefully bow down to 'threats' issued by Sanghigoons from ABVP, Bajrang Dal and similar groups. For instance. Delhi University removed A.K. Ramanujam's well-known andcelebrated essay Three Hundred Ramayanas from the BA History syllabus of the university and SymbioSIS college in Punerefused to allow the screening of Jashn-e-Azaadi .

Footfalls of the Draconian Culture of Bans and Restrictions in .JNU.

We have seen footfalls of this draconian culture of bans and 'restrictions' even in a so-called progressive campus likeJNU. For instance, the JNU administration (through a DoS circular) tried to place all sorts of ridiculous restrictions on publicmeetings and film screenings in the campus; we were told that 'anti-national' and 'uncensored' films cannot be screened! Unitedprotests of students and teachers forced them to beat a retreat. In another occasion, a student group (the JNU Forum) was.

banned, and its activities 'restricted'. The administration also tried to close the JNUSU office. However, the progressive sectionsof the student community have always resisted such assaults, forcing the administration to revoke draconian bans,restrictions and policing. .

Right-wing forces like ABVP, NSUI and YFE of course openly and enthusiastically demand such crackdowns on democraticforces. However, it is most unfortunate that even so-called "leff and "progressive" forces like SFI time and again refuse to support.

struggles to defend democratic spaces from fascist attacks. When the JNU Forum was banned, a protracted movement waslaunched -protest demonstrations were held, signature campaigns were conducted and finally an indefinite hunger strike wascalled demanding revoke of the ban. Throughout this long movement against an unprecedented administrative ban on astudent group, SFI was completely absent. Moreover, SF! did not even think it fit to explain to the student community EXACTLY.

why they were boycotting the several protest demonstrations and hunger strike called in defence of our democratic spaces and.

rights of student groups. SFI boycotted a united protest demonstration for opening of the JNUSU off1ce, on the dubious and.

farcical grounds that the JNUSU office should not be used for ~partisan" purposes! In doing so, SFI implicitly supported the JNU.

administration's attempts to stop the 'banned' JNU Forum from conducting public meetings in the only space available to them..

Students must ask by which logic of "left" and "progressive" politics SFI always remain opposed to and aloof from.

struggles against state repression and basic democratic questions of civil rights. .

AI SA congratulates_DU stude~ts ~~d teach~rs for scre~ning Jashn-e-Azaadi in the teeth of massive opposition. We appeal.

to the student commumty to rema1~ ~1g1lant aga1nst all poss1ble attacks on democratic spaces and to extend spirited support to.

movements against bans and restnct1ons by the powers-that-be. Let us NEVER FORGET Martin Niemoller's memorable words:.

11first they came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not acommunist. .

Then they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not asocial democrat..

Then they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. .,.

Then they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't aJew. Piyush, Vice-Presiden~ AlSA JNU.

When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." .

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Sandeep Saurav, Gen.Secy., AISA,JNU .

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