Persecuted – Page 17 – free them all

Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha is holding the state accountable

23/04/2022 Asha

Youthkiawaaz / by Harsh

Established just a few months ago, Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha (JJSM) is currently acting as an umbrella for over two dozen provincial-local people’s organisations of Jharkhand to raise voices against injustice, exploitation, corruption and to resolve the public problems in the region …
“Father Stan Swamy, who was one of the founder members of Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan, lived for the Adivasi and moolnivasi communities of Jharkhand.
Taking inspiration from him, various people’s organisations have formed this front as a tribute to him to fulfil his dream of bringing all the movements of Jharkhand on one platform,” says Satyam, a social activist associated with the front.
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Also read
● Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents (Jacobinmag / April 2022)

Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents

21/04/2022 Asha

Jacobinmag / by P.M. Tony & Lotika Singha

Radical priest Stan Swamy was one of India’s leading social activists. Modi’s government is to blame for his death while awaiting trial on bogus terror charges, but the clampdown won’t snuff out the inspiring legacy of Swamy’s work with Adivasi communities.
Under the rule of Narendra Modi, the Indian state has launched a sweeping authoritarian clampdown on political dissent. One of the manifestations of this onslaught has been the jailing of opponents on trumped-up charges of terrorism and conspiracy.
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Video: Songs of Defiance – A Short Documentary on Kabir Kala Manch

18/04/2022 Asha

Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance)

Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

This short documentary tries to trace the personal and collective journeys of artists of Kabir Kala Manch, a People’s cultural troupe consisting of youth from marginalized backgrounds, who sing songs of resistance in the Vidrohi Shahiri tradition. This film profiles these artists and their lived experiences in the context of an unjust and hostile system they are struggling against.

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Video Statement by Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor (Sep 5, 2020)

hindi/ english subtitles | 2:20min | 2020
Kabir Kala Manch activists Sagar Gorkhe & Ramesh Gaichor have alleged that they’re being forced by the NIA to give confessional statements, claiming they are a part of Maoist organization. The two refused, and were arrested in The Bhima Koregaon case today. Their statement was recorded on Sep 5, 2020.
Watch their video statement

Who are the three Kabir Kala Manch artistes arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case?

12/09/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The National Investigation Agency arrested Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap from Pune on Monday and Tuesday.
In 2002, as a 19-year-old student in Pune’s Wadia College, Ramesh Gaichor was disturbed by the deadly communal violence in Gujarat that had claimed over 1,000 lives. Passionate about poetry and theatre, he soon found an outlet for expressing his anxieties: the Kabir Kala Manch, a cultural organisation founded by artiste Amarnath Chautaliya in response to the Gujarat riots.
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Also read:
● Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)

Reflecting on the most poignant moments of last two years during Anand’s incarceration

14/04/2022 Asha

The Leaflet / by Rama Teltumbde Ambedkar

This is part of a special issue on Ambedkar Jayanti 2022.

Anand and I concealed our pain before each other, at least during those ten minutes, writes Rama Teltumbde Ambedkar on the weekly mulaqat with her husband.
Anand and I were married on November 19, 1983. Ours was a typical arranged marriage – arranged through a common, well-meaning friend.
I played the role of a homemaker for 37 years, raising my two daughters, looking after their needs and managing our home. It was my way of supporting Anand, who could then freely and entirely focus on his professional life and social causes that he was devoted to.
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Contemporary challenges before the anti-caste movement / Crises in ‘Ambedkarism’ That Merit Deeper Reflection

14/04/2022 Asha

From the vault: Contemporary challenges before the anti-caste movement

14/042022

The Leaflet / by Anand Teltumbde

This is a republication of Dr Teltumbde’s address at an event by The Leaflet on Ambedkar Jayanti in 2019, which we had originally published on April 23, 2019, in which, taking stock of Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s anti-caste legacy, he called the anti-caste movement in India dead and reflected on the larger issues being faced by Dalits that are being ignored by the State.
AT the outset, I would like to thank Indira Jaising and the entire team of the Lawyers Collective and The Leaflet for having me here to speak on the eve of the 128th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar.
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Finding Ambedkar: Crises in ‘Ambedkarism’ That Merit Deeper Reflection

14/04/2022

The Wire / by Deepanshu Mohan

Since Ambedkar’s passing, Ambedkarites have been leaving a mark in various arenas, from politics to academia to employees’ organisations and more. Yet, as Anand Teltumbde puts it, “Every Ambedkarite, whether they are conscious of it or not, experiences some crisis.”
… It is beyond the scope of this reflective essay to go into each crisis that Teltumbde discussed in his speech. Rather, I shall take the illustrative case of four of these crises points.
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Also read:
● Dalit leaders condemn Anand Teltumbde’s arrest on 14 April—Ambedkar Jayanti (The Caravan │ April 2020)
● Crisis Of Ambedkarites And Future Challenges (Countercurrents │ by Anand Teltumbde │ April 2011)

Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression

04/04/2022 Asha

ritimo / by Gurlhosur Geetanjali

Kabir Kala Manch founded in early 2000s has been at the receiving end of the state. As it grew in popularity its members faced incarceration for long years and continued oppression under successive governments.
“I remember it was a rainy day. I was about 23 then. When I heard the group performing in our basti (informal urban cluster), I had goosebumps! I had never heard songs that spoke of the struggles of women, Dalits and the poor. I was enthralled.”
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‘Corporate is supporting communal agenda’: Sudha Bharadwaj

17/03/2022 Asha

hindi | 48:02min | 2022

By Satya Hindi

Was the corporate world the reason for the arrest of Sudha Bharadwaj, a social worker who fought for the underprivileged? Was there a conspiracy to implicate him in the Bhima Koregaon case? How was her experience during his three years in prison? How does she view the current times for socio-economic movements? Does she expect times to change? Dr. Mukesh Kumar talking to Sudha Bhardwaj.
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Exposing the machinations of authoritarian power: A profile of Vernon Gonsalves

17/03/2022 Asha

By The Polis Project

Profiles of Dissent is a series centered on remarkable voices of dissent and courage across the world. They are writers, poets, activists, human rights defenders and those who have been incarcerated for speaking truth to power.
Vernon Gonsalves is a human rights activist, writer and former professor in several colleges in Mumbai. As an advocate of the rights of marginalized communities, he is a vocal critic of India’s criminal justice system and of the State establishment. In 2007, he was imprisoned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Arms Act, but he was released in 2013 after most of the charges made against him were disproved in Court.
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Sudha Bharadwaj seeks court’s permission to shift back to Mumbai

01/03/2022 Asha

TOI / by pti

Sudha Bharadwaj, recently released on bail in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case, on Tuesday filed an application before a court seeking permission to live in suburban Mumbai.
Bharadwaj was granted bail by the Bombay high court in December 2021. The special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases, while passing the release order, had directed that she shall not leave Mumbai without permission.
Read more

● Sudha Bharadwaj interview: ‘I hope I can begin practising in Mumbai’ (The Indian Express │ Feb 2022)
● ‘I Am Ready To Put On My Black Coat’: Lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Out On Bail After 3 Years In Jail (article 14 │ Jan 2022)
● Sudha Bharadwaj speaks – A Life in Law and Activism. (PUCL │ Jan 2021 │ 316 pages)

3 years in jail have made me stronger, says lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj

13/02/2022 Asha

Times of India / by Priyanka Kakodkar

After being jailed for 3 years under the UAPA in the Bhima Koregaon case, human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj was released on bail on December 9, 2021. An IIT alumnus who gave up her US citizenship to work as a trade unionist among tribals in Chhattisgarh, she later qualified as a lawyer and was teaching at the National Law University in Delhi at the time of her arrest.
Bail conditions prevent her from speaking about the case but she speaks to Priyanka Kakodkar about her experiences in jail, the desperate condition of undertrials and life ahead.
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Also listen to podcast:

Interview With Sudha Bharadwaj, Bhima Koregaon Accused And Human Rights Lawyer

en | 30:48 min | 2022

Scroll.in / by Smitha Nair

In today’s episode we speak to Sudha Bharadwaj, human rights lawyer and trade unionist who has worked with the most marginalised in Chhattisgarh over the last three decades.
Listen to the podcast

Also read:
● Sudha Bharadwaj: My greatest strength were prison inmates (Rediff.com / Feb 2022)
● Sudha Bharadwaj: I was imprisoned in the phansi yard (Rediff.com / Feb 2022)