Category Archives: State Terror

Violence/Conflict, Movements, Democracy, State Terror

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

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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 

13th 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 8th 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.

Continue reading Urgent Letter to the DGP, Chhattisgarh Regarding Unlawful Detentions and Extra-Judicial Killings in Bijapur District : NAJAR →
Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Democracy, Law, Politics, State Terror

हमारी समस्या है नागरिक आज्ञाकारिता ! ‘बुलडोजर न्याय’ के दौर में हावर्ड जिन की याद

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‘हमारी समस्या है नागरिक आज्ञाकारिता…’!

विख्यात अमेरिकी इतिहासकार, नाटककार, दार्शनिक और समाजवादी विचारक हॉवर्ड जिन- जिनकी लिखी किताब ‘ए पीपुल्स हिस्ट्री ऑफ युनाइटेड स्टेट्स’ की लाखों प्रतियां बिक चुकी हैं- के ये शब्द आज भी दुनिया के मुल्कों में दोहराए जाते हैं जब-जब वहां की जनता हुक्मरानों के हर फरमान को सिर आंखों पर लेती है।

बहुत कम लोग इस वक्तव्य के इतिहास से वाकिफ हैं, जिसे उन्होंने अमेरिका के युद्ध-विरोधी आंदोलन के दौरान बाल्टिमोर विश्वविद्यालय के परिसर में रैडिकल छात्रों और परिवर्तनकामी अध्यापकों के विशाल जनसमूह के सामने दिया था। यह वह दौर था जब अमेरिकी सरकार की वियतनाम युद्ध में संलिप्तता को लेकर- जिसमें तमाम अमेरिकी सैनिकों की महज लाशें ही अमेरिका लौट पाई थीं- जनाक्रोश बढ़ता गया था और अमेरिकी सरकार पर इस बात का जोर बढ़ने लगा था कि उसे अपनी सेनाओं को वहां से वापस बुलाना चाहिए।

याद किया जा सकता है कि इस ऐतिहासिक साबित हो चुके व्याख्यान के एक दिन पहले क्या हुआ था। एक युद्ध विरोधी प्रदर्शन में शामिल होने के चलते उन्हें संघीय पुलिस ने गिरफ्तार किया था और हॉवर्ड जिन को कहा गया था कि वह अगले दिन अदालत में हाजिर हों। सवाल यह था कि क्या वह दूसरे ही दिन अदालत के सामने हाजिर हों, जहां उन्हें चेतावनी मिलेगी और फिर घर जाने के लिए कहा जाएगा या वह बाल्टिमोर जाने के अपने निर्णय पर कायम रहें? यानी, रैडिकल छात्रों ने उनके लिए जो निमंत्रण भेजा था पहले उसका सम्मान करें और उसके अगले दिन अदालत के सामने हाजिर हों? जाहिर था कि इस हुक्मउदूली के लिए उन्हें कम से कम कुछ दिन या महीने तो सलाखों के पीछे जाना ही होता।

हावर्ड जिन ने बाल्टिमोर जाना ही तय किया। यहां उन्होंने अपना भाषण दिया। छात्रों एवं अध्यापकों में उसकी जबरदस्त प्रतिक्रिया हुई। वे लौट आए और अगले ही दिन अदालत के सामने हाजिर हुए। जैसा कि स्पष्ट था, उन्हें कुछ सप्ताह के लिए जेल भेज ‌दिया गया। ( Read the full text here : https://junputh.com/open-space/remembering-howard-zinn-in-the-times-of-bulldozer-justice/)

Democracy, Movements, Politics, State Terror

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

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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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Democracy, Government, Movements, Politics, State Terror

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

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

In Defense of the Bangladeshi Students’ Uprising

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

Release Prof Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian of Hebrew University Immediately

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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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Government, Politics, Right watch, State Terror

CAMPAIGN AGAINST STATE REPRESSION (CASR) DEMANDS THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF NEELAM VERMA, SAGAR SHARMA, MANORANJAN D AND AMOL SHINDE CHARGED UNDER UAPA!

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The following statement was issued by the CAMPAIGN AGAINST STATE REPRESSION (CASR) yesterday, 14 December 2023

It has come to light that the police have slapped the draconian UAPA on Neelam Verma, Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D, Amol Shinde, and Vishal Sharma, the five persons held for releasing gas canisters in both the outside premises and inside the Lok Sabha mid-session on 13th December. The Indian state is treating this incident as a ‘terror attack’ and is charging these five individuals under the draconian anti-terror laws. It’s pertinent to point out that all four individuals committed the act as a form of political protest and exploding harmless coloured gas canisters is part of their protest, not an act “terror.” Sagar Sharma is an e-rickshaw driver and the son of a carpenter, Amol Shinde comes from a family of Dalit landless peasants unable to get a job in the Indian armed forces while Neelam Verma and Manoranjan D are MPhil and Engineering degree holders respectively who are both unemployed, with Neelam even cleared the Haryana Teacher Eligibility Test but still not landing a job. Vishal Sharma has also been roped into this case after he provided shelter to the four individuals and was not even involved in the act. Lalit Ojha, a sixth accused and also an unemployed youth is yet to be brought into police custody but has been charged. The political protest of these individuals against the Indian state and its brahmanical Hindutva fascist nature represents the angst of the working class, the peasantry, the academics and the middle class, all of whom are bearing the brunt of the BJP’s Hindutva-corporate nexus politics. The protest slogans raised by the four were slogans of both patriotism towards the people of India as well as dissent against the dictatorial politics of the ruling class.

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