All posts by Aditya Nigam

Culture, Debates, Education, Language, Politics

The Three-Language Controversy – Response to a Disagreement on Hindi: Vipin Kumar Chirakkara

11/03/2025 Aditya Nigam 2 Comments

Guest Post by VIPIN KUMAR CHIRAKKARA

The state of the controversy

As the debate on the three-language policy has intensified, what was originally an exchange between ministers of the union government and the government of Tamil Nadu, or between leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (DMK), has become a subject of commentaries and criticisms coming from observers, intellectuals and activists. The union government says that no state could be exempted from the implementation of the three-language formula as envisioned in the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and adds that Hindi is not made mandatory under the present formula. The condition is that two of the three languages must be native Indian languages. The DMK leadership argues in response that the three-language policy can still be an indirect route to push Hindi into the state. The latter has appeared firm in its argument that it is the state’s prerogative under the federal system to determine its language and education policy (though during emergency education was shifted to the concurrent list of the union government). It also opposes the measure adopted by the union government, that is, to link the funding under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan to the implementation of NEP 2020 and the language formula it includes. The parties which are not in alliance with the DMK in the state allege that the DMK has staged this conflict in order to ignite sub-national/regional sentiment to strengthen its position before the elections.

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Capitalism, Debates, Democracy, Media politics, Movements

Reflections on the Kafila Journey – Looking Back at a Tumultuous Experience

19/12/2024 Aditya Nigam 4 Comments

An expanded version of the presentation at the panel on Kafila held as part of the W.I.P alt.FEST held in Bangalore and Delhi in December 2024. While the first post in this series by Subhash Gatade is linked below in the text, the third by J. Devika can be read here.

Kafila was formally launched on 6 November 2006 at a session of the India Social Forum in Delhi, though its first post had gone up a couple of weeks earlier, on 19 October. However, there is a prehistory to the actual formal formation of Kafila which goes back to two earlier movements that had brought many of us together.

As rightly mentioned by Subhash Gatade in his reflections, the first of these was the movement against the relocation of polluting/ hazardous industries starting from late 1996. It was this movement that, perhaps for the first time in India brought the issue of workers’ rights into the discourse on urban pollution and environment. It took the discussions on urban planning, linking air and water pollution, zoning, transport policy and questions of workers’ occupational health, outside the charmed circles of urban planners. Initiated by the Indian Federation of Trade Unions, the formation of the Delhi Janwadi Adhikar Manch was the platform that had enabled this by bringing all of us together.

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Democracy, Education, Right watch

Democratic Teachers’ Initiative Seeks Solidarity from Wider Community against Termination of Faculty Members in AUD

05/12/2024 Aditya Nigam 1 Comment

We are reproducing below a statement by the Democratic Teachers’ Initiative seeking wider support from the university community in the struggle against the termination of employment of Prof Sali Mishra and Prof Asmita Kabra by the Ambedkar University Delhi administration. Those willing to sign may please do so by clicking on the link at the end of the statement.

We express deep shock and rage over the termination of two esteemed faculty members of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University (AUD), Prof. Salil Misra and Prof. Asmita Kabra, and request your solidarity in building a struggle against this unprecedented and grave act of injustice.

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Capitalism, Democracy, Ecology/Environment, Movements, Politics

Stop Arbitrary Detentions and Intimidation, Save Ecology & Uphold Democratic Rights in J&K and entire Himalayan Region: Statement by 250 organizations and individuals

14/11/2024 Aditya Nigam Leave a comment

Following is a statement issued by 250 organizations and individuals, including the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) against arrests and intimidation of activists raising concerns regarding the ecological impact of so-called “developmental” projects. The statement was issued on 13 November 2024

Stop Arbitrary Detentions and Intimidation of Social & Environmental Activists in Jammu & Kashmir

Save Ecology & Uphold Democratic Rights in J&K and entire Himalayan Region

National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), along with other people’s organizations and concerned citizens from across India strongly condemns the arbitrary detention of social and environmental activists in Jammu & Kashmir under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Those detained under the provisions of J&K Public Safety Act, 1978, include Mohammad Abdullah Gujjar (resident of Sigdi Bhata), Noor Din (resident of Kakerwagan), Ghulam Nabi Choppan (resident of Trungi – Dachhan), Mohammad Jaffer Sheikh (resident of Nattas, Dool) and Mohammad Ramzan (resident of Dangduroo – Dachhan), trade union leaders from Kishtwar district.

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Democracy, Movements, State Terror, Violence/Conflict

Urgent Letter to the DGP, Chhattisgarh Regarding Unlawful Detentions and Extra-Judicial Killings in Bijapur District : NAJAR

13/11/2024 Aditya Nigam Leave a comment

Following is a letter from the NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE ACCOUNTABILITY AND RIGHTS regarding recent unlawful detentions and extra-judicial killings in Bijapur.

Urgent Letter to the DGP, Chhattisgarh Regarding Unlawful Detentions and Extra-Judicial Killings in Bijapur District

13^th Nov, 2024

To,

Director General of Police, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur, Chhattisgarh

Sub: Unlawful Detentions and Extra-Judicial Killings in Bijapur District – Seeking Immediate Release of all detenus and impartial inquiry – Reg

Sir,

We the undersigned, as members of a national collective of lawyers, law students, law professors, and other legal professionals, called National Alliance for Justice, Accountability and Rights (NAJAR) write to express serious concern regarding recent actions by security forces in Bijapur District, Chhattisgarh, on 8^th Nov, 2024. The mass detention of individuals, including prominent activists, as well as reported killings, raises grave concerns about due process, excessive use of force, and adherence to legal standards.

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Debates, Democracy, Mirror Worlds, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Beyond ‘Islamists vs Awami League’ – The Political Reality of July Uprising of Bangladesh: Sohul Ahmed

25/10/2024 Aditya Nigam 2 Comments

Guest post by SOHUL AHMED

Students protesting in Uttara, Dhaka, August 2, 2024. Photo: Ashraful Alam

Sheikh Hasina, often labelled as fascist and autocratic leader in Bangladesh, was forced to flee the country following a popular uprising in July-August 2024. Many writings have appeared exploring the character of the movement and the consequent developments. Recently, renowned Indian historian and journalist Vijay Prashad published an article titled ‘Will Bangladesh be another Egypt?’, where he expressed the concern that Bangladesh could follow a path similar to Egypt’s. Vijay presents the popular uprisings as both a continuation and, to some extent, a counter-response to the Shahbagh movement, while drawing parallels to the Arab Spring. However, his disregard for certain political realities in Bangladesh—such as the country’s long tradition of democratic movements and the presence of major centrist parties like the BNP—makes his comparison uneven and incomplete in some respects.

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Capitalism, Debates, Government, Movements, Politics

The New Janus of Sri Lanka: Revolution at the Gate? Maya John

10/10/2024 Aditya Nigam 1 Comment

Guest post by MAYA JOHN

[Maya John has been part of the Left Movement for the past two decades and this piece is in response to ongoing dialogues with Sri Lankan comrades.]

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, photo courtesy AP News

The recent presidential election has installed Anura Kumara Dissanayake (“AKD”) from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) alliance as the new president of Sri Lanka. This victory is seen as a result of rising popular hostility towards mainstream parties and rogue dynasts. Consequently, we find that AKD garnered an overwhelming share of the votes from those same electoral constituencies which had earlier voted in bulk for the corrupt Rajapaksas. Prior to this presidential election, the frustrated Sri Lankan masses, plagued by growing economic and political crises, generated the powerful people’s movement – the janatha aragalaya – that ushered in a huge legitimacy crisis for the ruling elites.

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Debates, Democracy, Politics, Violence/Conflict

A Misguided Narrative – A Response to the Lemkin Institute’s Statement on Bangladesh: Sohul Ahmed

30/09/2024 Aditya Nigam Leave a comment

Guest post by SOHUL AHMED

Crowds outside the prime minister’s office during the Uprising. Photograph by Dipu Malakar, courtesy Prothom Alo

The statement issued on 24 September 2024 by the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention titled ‘Statement on Threats to Democracy in Bangladesh’[1] has drawn our attention not only due to misrepresentation of facts but also because it aligns more with the narrative of the ousted autocratic regime led by Sheikh Hasina and her party Awami League than with the aspirations of the people of Bangladesh. The statement has failed to capture the complexities of the situation in Bangladesh and thereby presents a misguided narrative about the uprising and its aftermath. Under the circumstances we feel obligated to respond to set the record straight and point out the inaccuracies in the statement.

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Right watch, Violence/Conflict, Politics, Culture, Feminism, Democracy

Long Live the Eternal Feminist, Anti-Fascist Fire and Flower Gauri! – A Letter from ALIFA

13/09/2024 Aditya Nigam Leave a comment

Following is an Open Letter from ALIFA (All India Feminist Alliance ) to Gauri Lankesh, marking 7 years of her cowardly killing. The Open Letter is in both English and Kannada. The Kannada version follows after the English one. ALIFA is linked to NAPM (National Alliance of People’s Movements). ಆತ್ಮೀಯ ಗೌರಿ ಲಂಕೇಶ್ ಅವರ ಹೇಡಿತನದ ಹತ್ಯೆಗೆ 7 ವರ್ಷಗಳಾಗಿ, ಅವರಿಗೆ ಅಲಿಫಾದಿಂದ (ALIFA) ಬಹಿರಂಗ ಪತ್ರ

Gauri Lankesh, image courtesy Asianet Newsable

Gauri, dear sister, dear comrade!

It has been seven years. We still remember the day, the night! 5^th September, 2017 – in fact the very moments – when the ‘news’ hit us. Gauri Lankesh shot in cold blood. Details poured in. Number of bullets. At your residence. By two men. We reeled with shock under immeasurable grief, loss and helplessness. Abandoning so many unfinished conversations, you left a void in all our hearts, the shape and size of a star!

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Capitalism, Countryside, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Movements

Vikalp Sangam – A Decade of Exploration on Alternatives in India: Ashish Kothari

04/09/2024 Aditya Nigam 7 Comments

Guest post by ASHISH KOTHARI

Abstract [1]

The multiple crises humanity confronts require fundamental shifts in how we relate to the Earth and to each other. This entails tackling the roots of these crises head-on, including the structures and relations of patriarchy, racism, colonialism, capitalism, statism, and anthropocentrism. This in turn needs to be done within the context of visions of the ideal society we want. This essay presents a process in India, Vikalp Sangam (Alternatives Confluences), that has attempted for a decade to document, visibilise, network, and create collaborations amongst movements and groups involved in alternative approaches for justice, equity, ecological sustainability. It describes the process and its various components, the challenges and opportunities of bringing very diverse groups from different cultural contexts together, the potential of a bottom-up and participatory visioning process, and the excitement of attempting to bridge conventional traditional-modern, practitioner-intellectual, urban-rural, and other divides.

Keywords: Democracy; Visioning; Alternatives; Environment; Civil society

Introduction: The Making of Vikalp Sangam

A decade is not a short span of time – and yet, it is too short. These are the contrasting thoughts I have as I contemplate a process that I have been part of since its initiation, as I and my colleagues enter into a phase of reviewing whether it is on course to meeting the objectives it began with. This is Vikalp Sangam, or Alternatives Confluence, a national platform established in India in 2014.

Democracy Vikalp Sangam, School for Democracy, Rajasthan, October 2019

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Debates, Democracy, Movements, Politics

Twenty Days that Shook the World – Bangladesh Uprising II : Shahed Suvo

03/09/2024 Aditya Nigam 4 Comments

Guest post by SHAHED SUVO

This is the second part of the two-part article by Shahed Suvo, published earlier in Bangla in Ekak Matra on 10 August 2024. The first part appeared yesterday and can be accessed here. This part deals with the last days of the Sheikh Hasina regime and the transition that immediately followed. It has been translated for Kafila by ARUN SINHA.

Responding to the call of the anti-discrimination student movement, student-citizens gathered at Shaheed Minar on August 3. Young people continued to gather at Shaheed Minar with separate protest processions. At this time, elderly citizens were also seen participating in the protest march with them. At around 5:30 PM in the afternoon, the coordinator of the organization leading the quota reform movement Md. Nahid Islam announced a one-point demand in a speech to the students-people gathered at Shaheed Minar – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet must resign.

Asif Mahmud, another coordinator of the movement, announced the outline program of the non-cooperation movement.

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Democracy, Movements, Politics, State Terror

‘Motherland that is Dearer than Heaven’ – Bangladesh Uprising I: Shahed Suvo

02/09/2024 Aditya Nigam 2 Comments

Guest post by SHAHED SUVO

As a lot of motivated propaganda continues to be dished out about the uprising in Bangladesh, with weird and utterly nonsensical stories of it being ‘engineered’ by ‘the CIA’ at one end, and ‘the Islamists’ at the other, we reproduce here this article that gives a virtually blow by blow account of the developments. Published earlier in Bangla in Ekak Matra on 9 August 2024, Twenty Days that Shook the World in two parts, it has been translated for Kafila by ARUN SINHA. This is the first part. Part II can be read here.

Bangladesh protest before 5 August, image courtesy Ekak Matra

The students’ community revolution in July 2024 will be etched as one very important and characteristic event in the annals of history of deconstruction of state in Bangladesh. After declaration of Pakistan as a state, the first voices of protest were raised against Jinnah’s policy of declaring Urdu as the state language. That was Bhasa Andolan (Language Movement) in 1952, then came the movement on 1962 education commission, the mass uprising in 1969 culminating in the glorious Liberation War in 1971. The student community always participated in bringing these momentous changes walking hand in hand with the people in Bangladesh. Whenever people lost their way and paths in independent Bangladesh, it is the movement of the students that showed the road ahead. Therefore, for the people of Bangladesh the student community has always been the symbol of truth and justice.

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Movements, Politics, Right watch, Sexual Violence, Violence/Conflict

Women’s Rights Now! Citizens Speak Out Against Brutal Cases of Sexual Violence Across India

28/08/2024 Aditya Nigam Leave a comment

[More than 900 organizations and individuals speak out against brutal rape and cultures of impunity from Kolkata and Manipur to Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and other parts of the country. Published below is their statement issued on 26 August 2024.]

WOMEN RIGHTS NOW!

CITIZENS SPEAK OUT AGAINST BRUTAL CASES OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE FROM KOLKATA TO MANIPUR, GUJARAT, UTTARAKHAND, BIHAR, UTTAR PRADESH…

DEMAND URGENT, INDEPENDENT AND UNBIASED INVESTIGATIONS AND INSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY!

NO MORE SHIELDING OF PERPETRATORS AND THEIR PROTECTORS

JUSTICE TO VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES!

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Democracy, Government, Movements, Politics, State Terror

STATEMENT BY INDIAN CITIZENS AGAINST BRUTAL STATE VIOLENCE AND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE STRUGGLE IN BANGLADESH

05/08/2024 Aditya Nigam 1 Comment

[Even as the massive Long March in Dhaka’s Shahbagh is going on, reportedly with lakhs and lakhs of people demanding Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, rumours of her having already resigned are coming in. The statement is of course in support of Bangladesh’s struggle for democracy and against the brutal repression unleashed by her Awami League regime.]

We, the undersigned citizens of India, writers, artists, intellectuals and activists, express our deep concern over the recent developments in Bangladesh. As fellow South Asians, we share a common destiny and the destruction of democracy in any part of it is obviously a matter of concern for all of us. The current government that has unleashed massive violence on its own citizens has brazenly hijacked the elections three consecutive times in the last ten years.

The world has been watching in horror the violent crackdown on protesting students and youth in Bangladesh since mid-July. On 15th July, a peaceful protest by students of Dhaka University demanding reform in the quota system was violently attacked by a group of goons said to be from the student wing of the ruling party. The crackdown followed statements by the Awami League general secretary and an important minister that the Chhatra League would teach a lesson to the students, whom the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina had earlier labelled ‘razakars’ – a term used for the collaborators with the Pakistan army during the 1971 Liberation Struggle. Expectedly, the Bangladesh Police, rather than acting against the attackers, started a full-scale crackdown on protesters all across the country from the next day. On 16th July, the police killed Abu Saeed, a student of Begum Rokeya University, as he stood with open arms, without any weapon, in front of the approaching police forces who aimed their guns at the protesters. The murder of Abu Saeed, who posed no threat to the approaching police forces, manifests how the intention behind the crackdown on protesters was not to maintain law and order but to forcefully silence voices of dissent arising from all across Bangladesh.

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Democracy, Everyday Life, Movements, Politics

The Movement in Bangladesh is for a Radical Reform of the State – Interview with Sarwar Tusher

02/08/2024 Aditya Nigam 1 Comment

Interview with SARWAR TUSHER, writer and activist in Dhaka. Sarwar is one of the leading critical intellectuals associated with the important journal of political thought in Bangladesh, Rashtrochinta Journal and is also member of its editorial panel. In this detailed interview Sarwar explains not just the movement but also the larger politics of Bangladesh. The interview was taken by Aditya Nigam over email.

Turbulent July, Photo courtesy Rahat Karim

[After a round of massive repression and killings, the details of which the reader will find below, the movement is now back with renewed strength. This time it is not just the students and youth demanding an end to quotas but rather huge popular movement that is demanding nothing less than resignation of the Sheikh Hasina government and radical reform of the state. The conception behind this demand for “radical reform of the state” has been spelt out by Sarwar Tusher in detail below and the reader can see how it has grown in conjunction with mass movements of the past. Critical political thinking in tandem with the experience of mass movements has now led to the demand also of a new Constituent Assembly and the drafting of a fresh Constitution. It is also significant that “July” is no longer the name of a month but the name of the struggle itself as it reappears with greater vigour. I should add one more point here, which as to do with some misgivings in India about the quota and reservation question. Though Sarwar deals with it at greater length in different part of the interview, my own sense on reading his responses as well as following the discussions over the past one month, is that the situation is more akin to what might have been (and still is) in countries of state-socialism where the communist party certification was crucial in getting jobs and rising in the bureaucracy and other state institutions. The party certified whether you were “revolutionary” (muktijoddha) or “counter-revolutionary” (razakar) and it is not difficult to see why those regimes became so seriously unpopular (to put it mildly) in their own countries. AN]

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Violence/Conflict, Government, Politics, Culture, Movements, Democracy

The End is Nigh – Bangladesh Report from Ground Zero: Shahidul Alam

22/07/2024 Aditya Nigam Leave a comment

This is a guest post by the well known Bangladesh photographer, SHAHIDUL ALAM. The article was earlier published in NEW AGE BANGLADESH and sent to us by SIMONE RUDOLPHI. The photographs are courtesy DRIK. Shahidul’s article actually answers many question that have been on Indian readers’ minds, including, not the least, the question of “quotas.” Interested readers may also find this article by academic Naveeda Khan useful, written as it is from within Dhaka, though she herself is based in the USA.

It would be a mistake to see this as simply a demand for more jobs. The quota movement, justified as it is, is simply the tip of the iceberg. A rampant government running roughshod over its people for so very long has led to extreme discontent. The quota issue has merely lit the fuse to this tinderbox. As citizens counted the dead and the injured, the prime minister fiddled, advising attendees at an aquaculture and sea food conference on tourism prospects in Cox’s Bazaar.

The original quota had been designed, shortly after independence in 1972 to be an interim arrangement to acknowledge the contribution of freedom fighters who constituted less than 0.25% of the population. Since a government known to be incredibly corrupt is responsible for creating the list of freedom fighters, over 50 years later the 120 fold allocation through a 30% quota has become an easy back door for party cadres to much sought after government employment. Confirmation came through senior Awami Leaguers saying, ‘just get through the initial screening and we’ll get you through in the viva’ and more tellingly, ‘government jobs will only go to party people.’

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Democracy, Government, Movements, Politics, Right watch, State Terror

In Defense of the Bangladeshi Students’ Uprising

21/07/2024 Aditya Nigam 4 Comments

One of the innumerable anti-quota protests across Bangladesh, image courtesy Pressenza – International Press Agency

This post is dedicated to the innumerable young students of Bangladesh who have lost their lives in the last few days of struggle. This wasn’t supposed to be our first post on the Bangladesh students’ struggle because our friend Sarwar Tusher, one among the group of dynamic young critical intellectuals associated with the journal Rashtrochinta, was supposed to write a first hand analytical account. Meanwhile, from Thursday night (18 July) the Sheikh Hasina government enforced a total internet shutdown as the Army moved in to quell the protests. Tanks had already been seen moving in some streets and the protesters were expecting an exponential increase in state violence. Another Tienanmen Square seemed to be in the offing.

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Right watch, Capitalism, Law, Government, Politics, Democracy

Arvind Kejriwal’s Bail: Why the Establishment Wants to Destroy AAP

15/07/2024 Aditya Nigam 1 Comment

The Establishment’s desperation is becoming clearer by the day. And by ‘Establishment’ here, I do not mean simply the ruling duo in power today but a constellation of forces, many of whom congregated at a mega-wedding event in Mumbai recently. The embryonic New Congress thankfully stayed out of it – though the Old Congress is pretty much part of the Establishment, as we will see below.

Popular Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal has finally got bail from the Supreme Court – both interim and regular – in the totally fictitious Enforcement Directorate (ED) case in which he has been framed. Yet he must remain in jail because on the eve of his release by a Delhi court and Additional Sessions Judge Nyay Bindu, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) went and arrested him while he was still in jail!

Image courtesy The Economic Times

This arrest-within-arrest shows a desperation of the Establishment that has rarely ever been seen before. The desperation was even more evident in the fact that the High court judge, Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain went ahead to uphold the ED plea against the bail order by Judge Nyay Bindu, even before the order had been uploaded to their website. 157 lawyers wrote to the CJI alleging that the brother of the Judge, Anurag Jain is one of the counsels for the ED, which showed a clear conflict of interest. More importantly, referring to the urgent listing, hearing and stay of the trial court’s bail order by the high court, the lawyers’ letter said,

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Culture, Democracy, Politics, Right watch

Elections 2024 – After the Euphoria, What Next?

13/06/2024 Aditya Nigam Leave a comment

Representational image. Women voters in queue, image courtesy Hindustan Times

A Turning Point

We have all been justly euphoric since 4 June 2024 as results started pouring in, especially since the non-biological being himself was trailing behind the Congress candidate Ajay Rai for quite some time. If the claim made in a video of a hardcore BJP worker Ujjwal Kumar from Banaras is to be believed, they – the unsung workers – had to arrange for ‘extra votes’ to ensure that ‘he’ wins. Regardless of whether his claim is correct, we kept up our euphoria even as the ECI website stopped updating counting figures and reports kept coming in from different constituencies in UP and some other places that INDIA alliance candidates were being forcibly declared lost after having won.

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Culture, Feminism, Genders

Surokkha Istehar, Forum of Theatre Workers Memorandum to Pashchimbanga Natya Akademy on Sexual Harassment

27/04/2024 Aditya Nigam Leave a comment

SUROKKHA ISTEHAR (Safety Manifesto), is a recently formed forum of theatre workers and individuals and organizations concerned with gender justice in Bangla Theatre. The forum was formed following a raging recent controversy arising from providing a forum to an accused in many sexual harassment cases. A deputation of Surokkha Istehar submitted a memorandum to the member Secretary, Paschimbanga Natya Akademi (the WB government body invested with the recognition and welfare of Bengal theatre groups) seeking immediate information about sexual harassment redressal mechanisms within the ambit of the Akademi, fair representation of all segments of the theatre workers’ community in the constitution of the Akademi as well as accountability of theatre groups and the Akademi in ensuring persons accused of sexual harrasment do not occupy positions of power within the Akademi, etc.

Published below is the memorandum, containing more than 900 signatures, which also announces the launch of the forum, which seeks to offer assistance to survivors of sexual harassment in theatre spaces, to ensure gender justice in Bengali theatre, among others.

Deputation of Surokkha Istehar submitting their Memorandum to the Pashchimbanga Natya Akademy

The Memorandum submitted to Pashchimbanga Natya Akademi

Madam/ Sir,

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Empire/ Imperialism, Feminism, Politics, State Terror, Violence/Conflict

Release Prof Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian of Hebrew University Immediately

20/04/2024 Aditya Nigam Leave a comment

A Statement by Academics Worldwide on the Arrest of Hebrew University Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

Around 5 pm on Thursday, April 18, 2024, Hebrew University professor and internationally renowned feminist scholar Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian was arrested by Israeli police at her home in the Old City of Jerusalem on the charge of incitement to violence. The police raided and searched her home and she is currently undergoing harsh and dehumanizing interrogation. Her lawyer said the charges against her are serious. Information about her release is unknown. Palestinians in Israeli detention suffer physical, emotional, and mental violence. Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian, who holds both Israeli and U.S. citizenship, has been subjected to violent repression and harassment by the Hebrew University for speaking out against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Furthermore, she was suspended from her teaching duties in March, though later reinstated once it became clear that there is no basis for the allegations against her.

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DISSENT, DEBATE, CREATE