New Delhi, :  University Community, a group of students and teachers of the University of Delhi, organised a public meeting on ‘Palestinian Liberation Struggle’ and a film screening titled ‘Gaza: The Killing Zone’ on February 10 in room number 22, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi, North Campus.

Speaking on this occasion Professor Achin Vanaik, Head, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi, went back in the history and said Palestine has repeatedly been made a pawn for the furthering imperial designs of various colonisers- the French, the British and now the United States. The Balfour Declaration of 1917, whereby Britain declared support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, laid the foundation for the ethnic cleansing that was to follow.

“Following the fall of the Ottoman Empire, France and Britain divided the Arab countries amongst themselves, and Palestine was placed under the British mandate. In the process, a cruel and absurd history was written, as the two colonisers decided between themselves to give away Palestine to the Jews, with the Palestinians having absolutely no say in the matter. The Palestinians did not take this colonial meddling lying down, and the large-scale unrest took the shape of a massive uprising in 1936. This was brutally crushed by the Hagenah (which was originally trained by the British), and Irgon, Zionist terrorist brigades. Since then, Palestine saw a systematic immigration of Jews, mostly from Europe. In 1923, Jews constituted 12% of the population, and owned 3% of the land. By 1945, these were 31% of the population, and owned 6% of the land,” he added. He further said that in 1947, the United Nations carved the state of Israel for the Jews out of Palestine, giving Israel 55% of Palestinian land. The period following World War II is acclaimed to be the era of ‘independence’. “Ironically, it is in this era that the UN decided to snatch an entire peoples’ land and “gift” it away, an event that will probably go down as the most audacious legalised thievery of our times”, Vanaik maintained. “In the bloodbath that followed the UN mandate, thousands of Palestinians were killed and millions brutally evicted from their homelands in 1947-48 to make way for the Jewish settlers. The indigenous population in hundreds of villages and towns was either wiped out or driven away, in one of the most barbaric instances of ethnic cleansing of our times. At the end of it, Israel had occupied 80% of Palestine, far exceeding even the UN mandate”, said the professor. He said far from fighting for its legal and moral “right to exist”, Israel is waging a virtual holocaust against peoples struggling to protect their lands. The history of the Israel-Palestine conflict is painful history of Palestinians struggling to retain lesser and lesser portions of their lands, of Israel repeatedly illegally occupying their territories, and of Israel forcing millions of Palestinians to live in dehumanising conditions in walled, heavily armed ghettos. Each and every so called peace agreement has paved the way for more Israeli settlements, more Israeli control and more Bantustans. For the past six decades, Israel has stubbornly insisted on being a jailer, and a settler coloniser and not a neighbour.

              Marking Israel arrogance as “targeted assisination” he said that this was longest running illegal military occupation in 100 years. Israel wanted to destroy Hamas and strengthen Mohammad Abbas but failed in its mission. “The prestige and support of Hamas has increased”, he added. Justifying Hamas attacks on Israel he said the country having illegal military occupation has a right to resist. Lambasting on those countries which considers Palestinians struggle as “Islamic terrorism” he asked as to why these countries do not demand Israel to end its occupation and pull out its forces from Palestine. “Israeli accord was violated by Israeli army. They fear if Palestinian regains their power their Zionism will be ended,” he added.

Vanaik suggested we should show solidarity with Palestinians as a measure of our humanity and dignity. Responding to a question Vanaik said if Palestinian struggle for freedom is terrorism then what can be said about Israel which is killing innocents in Palestine. “If India is saying that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism then what about that which India is doing in North-East and Kashmir? Was that not a terrorism when more than 2000 people brutally killed in Gujarat in 2002”, he asked. He also added that the new US President Barrack Obama might do better than his predecessor George W. Bush in a number of things but Palestine was certainly not one of them. Obama infact holds Hamas as a guilty party for the bombings in Gaza.

            Addressing the gathering, Dr Zafarul Islam Khan, editor in chief, Milli Gezatte Weekly and an Expert on Palestinian issue, said Israel has not only targeted Palestine but also several countries like New York, Argentina etc. This violence was started since 1948, not today or tomorrow, he said. Referring to the Oslo accord Dr Khan said Palestinians had been given authority only on 22% of their own land and disappointingly this small portion is also under illegal occupation of Israel. Describing pathetic condition of Palestinians he said 98% of people of Palestine are unemployed, 99% industries are closed due to shortage of its necessities. Since Israel imports everything from different countries and due to severe blockade they are facing this pathetic condition.     

“This war was a one-sided one fought between two dissimilar forces. Israeli forces in the beginning targeted Palestinian police stations which are civilian force used for maintaining law and order and not a part of army. One after another the Israelis attacked all government buildings including the parliament . Then they wiped out everything and when they got nothing to attack, they started targeting civilians and their buildings including schools, hospitals. The United Nations Head Quarter in Gaza was also attacked by them. This was nothing but a war crime,” Dr Khan asserted asserted.

Describing the Quasam rockets, which Isreal wants to destroy, he said these rockets are more like fire crackers made up of explosives in water pipes. Its maximum range is 15 Km and when it lands causes only noises and no casualties.

            The programme was chaired by Arjumand Ara, Department of Urdu,University of Delhi. Around 150 students and teachers attended the meeting. The meeting ended with the formal vote of thanks by Shikha Pandey, a student of Law at Campus Law Centre, DU.

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act…..George Orwell

The serial blasts that shook Delhi on the 13th of September killing around 40 people created yet another opportunity for the state to target and incarcerate Muslims, while the sangh brigade went on spreading their communal-fascist politics of hate and violence. The mainstream media has once again demonstrated its loyalty to the state by parroting the police version of the incidents and contributing in the state endorsed profiling of all Muslims as potential ‘terrorists’. The media’s follow up to the blasts and the ‘encounter’ in Jamia Nagar on the 19th of September—leaving two young Muslims and one police personnel dead—with a few exceptions, have conveniently remained silent on the possibilities of this incident being orchestrated by the state and the communal-fascists. With state-sponsored genocides and free-reign of Hindu fascist terror in different parts of the country getting routinely executed, at the same time state and media-run propaganda against the minorities, we need to carefully differentiate the rhetoric from the reality. From Malegaon, Jaipur, Bangalore, Hyderabad to Delhi at least the script of the rhetoric has been the same with the demonizing of the Muslim community attaining a shrill tone.

The Rhetoric and the Reality: In Kanpur this August, two Bajrang Dal activists Bhupendar Singh and Rajeev Mishra were killed while the bomb they were making accidentally exploded. The Kanpur SP admitted to the press that the material used (Ammonium Nitrate) in making these bombs were the same as the bombs that were used in Delhi. The police have deliberately overlooked this aspect and never pursued the links except interrogating a couple of VHP activists. The investigations lead to Awadh Behari (the provincial general secretary of VHP) and Vishwas Kulkerni, an IIT professor and the Vibhag Sanchalak of RSS as being involved in the whole incident. The police however did not pursue these links and investigate their involvement in the subsequent blasts or any other unlawful activities. The recent arrest of ‘sadhvi’ Pragya Singh Thakur and her associates in the sangh-parivar for their involvement in the Malegaon bomb blasts have once again brought to light the right-wing conspiracy to create communally charged atmosphere where it can unleash attacks on the religious minorities, be the Muslims or the Christians. The Hindu fascist murderers responsible for persecuting minorities in Gujarat, Orissa or Karnataka have been left unpunished, and the state has not brought the RSS, Bajrang Dal and VHP to book but came down heavily on the Muslims. No action has been taken against the criminals of RSS, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Munnani or Hindu Jagran Manch, whereas SIMI has been banned without an iota of evidence for its alleged ‘anti-national’ activities. The Jamia Nagar ‘encounter’ in September is only one among a series of pre-planned and cold-blooded murders by the state that has unleashed complete terror in these areas. A feeling of ‘who is next’ plagues the minds of the minority communities. This is further accentuated with the recent arrests of three policemen belonging to the Ghaziabad area (of which two escaped) by the people of Jamia Nagar while trying to kidnap a Muslim youth in a vehicle without number plates. SIM cards and fake ID cards were seized from these guardians of law.

The politics of the ‘War against Terror’: The systematic and well thought out targeting of Muslims and Christians is not just the domain of the fascist Hindu right. The state equally played its part in persecuting minorities, especially targeting the Muslims. Maulana Abdul Haleem, a cleric in Ahmedabad, for instance, had been picked up after the Ahmedabad blasts with far fetched claims that he is a ‘terrorist’ without any concrete evidence. His attempts to rehabilitate some children, orphaned during the 2002 Gujarat riots to an UP orphanage had been deemed by the state as a conspiracy to send potential terrorists to UP for training in seditious activities. Maulana Naseeruddin of Hyderabad has been framed and put behind bars for his crime of ‘leading anti-Bush protests’ in the city! All the male members in his family have been put behind bars under one pretext or the other! Such instances abound all over the country. Even though it is the most fascist manifestation of minority persecution in India, the ruling class is Hindu fundamentalist in nature. This is why when murderous mobs of the sangh-parivar goes on a blood-bath in Gujarat or Orissa against the Muslims and the Christians—killing, raping, burning and destroying—the state remains a silent spectator or even actively participates in such carnages. Mere slogans of ‘secularism’ or ‘communal peace and harmony’ alone therefore is not going to counter this state-sponsored onslaught on the minorities or address the deep fissures of caste in our social fabric. There is no doubt that we must demand the punishment of the perpetrators of the recent attacks on minorities. At the same time, we must also intensify the ongoing anti-feudal and anti-imperialist struggles for a decisive victory over the fascist and communal forces in India backed by its imperialist masters.

Ms Nupur Sharma has also gone on record saying that she herself would have spat on SAR Geelani. This also shows that the DUSU President has no respect for the law or the judicial system of the country, let alone codes of civilized conduct in public places. We should all think whether such a person has any right to hold a responsible office. It is the typical duplicity of politics of the Hindutva brigade to take recourse to the law when it is convenient for their divisive politics and to break it to run their writ as they are against all forms of democratic functioning or accountability.

It is also interesting to see the ABVP student who resorted to a heinous act of spitting on respected Geelani is trying play another drama in sections of media that  like Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, another ABVP goon, arrested in connection with the Malegaon blasts, that he doesn’t belong to ABVP. Another false claim made by ABVP, which appeared in sections of newspapers is that the seminar was organized by outsiders. The University Community comprises a group of students and teachers of Delhi University who thought it is high time that we started discussing some of the burning issues that are threatening to incinerate the secular and democratic fabric of our society. It is only natural that some people who are interested in the topic would have decided to attend the seminar as is the tradition in all universities whether it is DU, JNU or Jamia Millia Islamia. Since DU has no policy to hold all the events inside closed doors, it is surprising that the DUSU President takes objection to the presence of some “outsiders”. Perhaps for the likes of Nupur Sharma and ABVP  and to the politics of communal fascism which she owes her affiliation, anyone who talks for the oppressed or incarcerated or anyone who dares to raise the voice against a highly patriarchal, oppressive, casteist, and communal Hindutva brigade is an “outsider”.  
 
University Community

Mr. Arjun Singh

Union Minister for HRD

Government of India

New Delhi

Sub: Attack on Teachers in a seminar and vandalism by ABVP activist in Arts Faculty, University of Delhi on November 6, 2008

Dear Sir,

We, the teachers and students of Delhi University express our shock and dismay at the acts of vandalism perpetrated by activists of ABVP during a seminar held on Communalism, Fascism and Democracy: Rhetoric and Reality by University Community on 6 November at room number 22 of Arts Faculty. The attack was preplanned as they had circulated a leaflet asking their activists to disrupt and stop the seminar. They came inside the hall and many of their activists were sitting at different places among the audience. The attack was synchronized by DUSU president Nupur Sharma’s arrival (who is a member of ABVP) with her brigade. As soon as Dr. SAR Geelani came inside to chair the seminar and took his seat, one of the miscreant came up to the dais and spat on his face twice. Immediately all their brigade stood, rushed towards the dais smashing mikes and hurling water bottles towards the dais. Some of them physically attacked students, including girl students and verbally abusing minorities. They were drawn out of the hall by the audience and organizers who then closed the door and continued the seminar. At this the miscreants resorted to smashing windowpanes and door-glasses. They continued hurling abuses and threatening Dr. Geelani and others for organizing a seminar on a topic that was against the sentiments of Hindutva forces. Police was mute spectator to all this. The most shocking thing was that instead of taking stern action against the attackers, the University proctor asked the organizers on telephone to close the seminar as he was canceling the permission to hold the seminar since there was a law and order problem. Meanwhile supply of power was cut for the remaining event. We are pained to note that it implied that the University would yield to any of the whimsical demands of Hindutva forces. This also implies that now these forces would decide what we should teach and on what topics we would hold debates.

It is to recollect that this comes in the wake of these forces having vandalized the department of History on the issue of inclusion of an article in the reading list five months ago which they thought was hurting their sentiments. Since no disciplinary action was taken against them, they feel encouraged to continue their nefarious activities. This is much in keeping with the history of violence of ABVP as they were responsible for the murder of Prof. Sabbarwal in Ujjain.

We are deeply concerned about these developments. We are apprehensive that the democratic space is rapidly shrinking in the university campus and there is a growing intolerance towards differences of opinion. These are bound to undermine the very fabric of the university system.

In view of the above, we demand that:

·        stern action against the culprits so that democratic academic atmosphere of debate in the campus is maintained.

·        That the University must discharge its responsibility so that free and fair discussions can take place without intimidation and violence.

University Community

An Eye-View Account

By: Gauri Patwardhan

An eyewitness’ account of what happened in room no. 22 of Arts faculty on 6 November, 2008 at the conference on “Communalism, fascism and Democracy: Rhetoric and Reality”

The conference “Communalism, fascism and Democracy: Rhetoric and Reality” organized by some Delhi University teachers and students of DU. There were 5 speakers. Two journalists (Ajit Sahi from Tehelka and Rajesh Ramchandran from Mail Today), Arjumand Ara from Department of Urdu (DU),Nishat Qaisar from Jamia. SAR Gilani was in the chair.

The first speaker, Sahi was midway through his speech when around 12 p.m. a boy from audience walked to the stage and spat twice on Gilani and then shouted shame ‘shame’. Everybody was stunned. Then the people on the stage shouted at him and some students led him out. In 5 minutes two more boys came in shouting shame…bharat mata ki jay etc. more goons started pouring in from the door in the front that was open and shouting. They broke mikes, threw chairs, water bottles towards the dais. They gheraoed it from all sides and started throwing chairs and intimidating everyone with loud shouts, very aggressively.

The students inside started to push them out and there was a scuffle in which some students gothurt. then some students started giving slogans—pro democracy and civil rights. The president of Delhi University Students Union (ABVP)- Nupur Sharma leading them was almost threatening Gilani asking him to come out-otherwise they couldn’t take responsibility of what would happen. Police was silent spectator to all this drama staged by ABVP goons.

Then there was a lot of tension near the entrance doors-they were shut from inside but there was a lot of pressure from outside, all the attention was focused there. The organizers urged us to sit down- saying that the conference would continue without mikes. It was difficult to concentrate for speakers as well as the audience but

The audience drew chairs closer to the speakers who spoke extempore. They were very emotional and agitated because the sloganeering from outside disrupting and it seemed very threatening. At the same time they were breaking window-panes all the time, hurling abuses and daring Gilani to come out.

DU proctor called on the telephone of some organizer saying the permission to the event has been cancelled and we should vacate the hall but the faculty present refused to comply with. The proctor and police came in requesting the conclusion of the meeting and safe exit of Gilani which was politely refused. And thus the meeting continued. Meanwhile sloganeering outside continued/sometimes thinning down. Inside people were clapping at every opportunity. Gilani spoke in the midst of many cameras (somehow media had arrived). he spoke well. By then there were no lights but people listened in pin drop silence. Then the organizing faculty gave vote of thanks. He specially thanked ABVP goons for practically showing the face of fascism, to the police for remaining silent spectator, and to DU administration for canceling the booking of the hall and putting pressure on the organizers to wind up the conference and thus implementing the agenda of ABVP goons.

Prof.Geelani coming out after successful meeting

After the meeting, students and teachers marched to the VC office shouting slogans where they submitted a memorandum to the VC (he didn’t meet them).

Tomorrow, on 7 November 2008, they have planned a big procession to be taken to all the collages around. Students and teachers will gather near Vivekanda Statue near Arts Faculty of Delhi University at 11:00 a.m.

A call has been given to the concerned citizens to unite and take part in the march.

(Gauri Patwardhan, present among the audience)
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