Browsed by
Category: Solidarity

PUCL and other National Organizations Call for a Week of Protest

PUCL and other National Organizations Call for a Week of Protest

Mainstream Weekly / by Mainstream

Organizations from All Over India Issue a call for a Protest Week (Aug 28 – Sep 5), Urging People to Stand Up for Civil Liberties
Over 70 organizations and several individuals from around the country endorsed the call initiated by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties to conduct protest actions from August 28 to September 5, considering the deterioration in Civil Liberties in the recent past. This call was given marking August 28 as the day when two years ago, 5 human rights activists — Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferriera and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested in the Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case.
Read more/ full call with signatories

Rights Bodies Urge President Kovind to Note Several Blatant Human Rights Violations

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

New Delhi: The PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), Janhastakshep and Citizens for Democracy have collectively authored a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, urging the release of intellectuals, writers, professors, students, anti-CAA activists implicated in the Elgar Parishad case and for the February Delhi violence. The signatories have also requested the repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, along with the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.
Read more

Video: DISSIDENT STUDENTS ON ROAD! For their beloved dissidents imprisoned!

Video: DISSIDENT STUDENTS ON ROAD! For their beloved dissidents imprisoned!

By Release The Poet

bengali song | 4:19min | 2020
THE VOICE OF DISSIDENCE!
For the dissidents imprisoned! The ‘Release BK-12’ Protest at Jadavpur, Kolkata
Watch video

Organised by
RELEASE THE POET COMMITTEE & CRPP
Supported by
RSF, APDR, PUCL, BMC, BHIM ARMY, PFI, IFTU, NAREE CHETONA, GANATANTRIK SANGRAMI UDYOG, AIPF & NO NRC MOVEMENT
LAL-ON, LAL LANTHAN, JANOGANOMANO, PRATISARAN, EBONG JALARKA, UBUDASH & UNIT THEATER
NAPM stands in solidarity against state repression of activists, lawyers and progressive persons

NAPM stands in solidarity against state repression of activists, lawyers and progressive persons

By National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

Release all political prisoners, including Sudha Bharadwaj who has been imprisoned for 2 years!
Arrest the real criminals of ‘Bhima Koregaon’!
Repeal the UAPA Law!

28th August 2020: In India’s dark history of human rights violations, 28th August 2018 has become a very important day. On this day, Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested by Pune police from her home in Faridabad. On the same day, Gautam Navlakha from Delhi, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves from Mumbai and Varavara Rao from Hyderabad were also arrested. Although Gautam Navlakha was granted relief from arrest for a while by the Delhi High Court, he was also arrested a few months ago. In the ‘Bhima Koregaon case’, baseless and false facts have been used to fabricate a criminal case. …

Read More Read More

The Sudha Bharadwaj the Govt Doesn’t Want You To Know

The Sudha Bharadwaj the Govt Doesn’t Want You To Know


Pic by www.karinscheidegger.ch

Article 14 / by Chitrangada Choudhury

India’s National Investigative Agency describes her as the shadowy leader of the banned Maoist party, smuggling arms, planting booby traps and guiding strategy on armed operations. That contrasts sharply with her life of public service among some of India’s most exploited people.
Read more

Why the State Fears My Friend, Sudha Bharadwaj

28/08/2020

The Wire / by Smita Gupta

They cannot fight her in court, so they are calling her a Maoist. They don’t have any real evidence against her, so they are converting the process itself into punishment.
Exactly two years ago, Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case.
It is very painful for me to read about her declining health and the several serious ailments she has been suffering from during her imprisonment – heart disease, arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, depression. Even after two years, she has been denied bail and is being held without a trial.
Read more

‘Maa chose to serve her people. Is that anti-national?’ Sudha Bharadwaj’s daughter

28/08/2020


Maaysha and Sudha Bharadwaj

The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal

Daughter pens heartfelt note as Sudha Bharadwaj completes two years in prison.
Noted human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj was arrested by the Pune police from her residence in Faridabad in August 2018 in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence case.
Read more

Human rights organisation calls for immediate release of Sudha Bharadwaj on second anniversary of her arrest

Human rights organisation calls for immediate release of Sudha Bharadwaj on second anniversary of her arrest

By CIVICUS

August 28 2020 marks two years since the arrest and detention of Indian activist and human rights lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj. Ahead of this second anniversary, global civil society organisation CIVICUS calls on the Indian government to immediately release Bharadwaj and drop all charges against her:
– CIVICUS urges authorities to drop baseless charges against Sudha Bharadwaj
– There are concerns for Bharadwaj’s health in prison during COVID-19 pandemic
– Bharadwaj is featured in international campaign #StandAsMyWitness calling for release of human rights defenders
Read full statement

The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Two & Three

The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Two & Three


Pic: Rao with K Balagopal, Gaddar, and Vangapandu / ICF

Indian Cultural Forum / by N Venugopal Rao

I wouldn’t have been who I am without Varavara Rao, and it is true for the generation I come from and the one that followed. Today’s Telangana wouldn’t have been what it is without him. I have written and spoken about him and his poetry in the past, but now he is on the deathbed, in a faraway hospital, being subjected to retributive torture by the powers that be. Now, with a never-before urgency, I want to speak and write about him, through an interminable torrent of words.
Read more

An Irish Poet Sends the Fragrance of Invisible Flowers to Varavara Rao

An Irish Poet Sends the Fragrance of Invisible Flowers to Varavara Rao


Stills from Masood Hussain’s poetry film, ‘Flowers for Varavara Rao’. Photo: Masood Hussain

The Wire / by Gabriel Rosenstock

Recently, Dublin-based poet Gabriel Rosenstock sent Srinagar-based artist Masood Hussain a poem in Irish and English, titled ‘Flowers for Varavara Rao’ – a tribute to the ailing 81-year-old poet-activist who has been imprisoned since 2018, arrested in the Elgar Parishad case.
Read more

Flowers for Varavara Rao

en, irish | 2:44 min | 2020
Watch video