Solidarity – Page 68 – free them all

Students’ Statement of Solidarity: Release Prof. Hany Babu

31/07/2020 Rani

Solidarity at Delhi University in 2019

By Students in Solidarity With Prof. Hany Babu / @WithHanyBabu

We, the 322 undersigned former and current students of Prof Hany Babu M.T., condemn his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday and stand in firm solidarity with him.

We, the undersigned former and current students of Prof Hany Babu M.T., condemn his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday and stand in firm solidarity with him. …

765 Telugu journalists urge: VV Rao asset to nation, release him on bail

29/07/2020 Rani

The New Indian Express / by Express News Service

Hyderabad: As many as 765 Telugu journalists on Wednesday urged the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and Bombay High Court and the Maharashtra Chief Minister to take steps for the release of ailing revolutionary writer Varavara Rao from jail on bail.
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Condemn the arbitrary arrest of Prof. Hany Babu!

28/07/2020 Rani

By Campaign Against State Repression

Stop the witch-hunt of human rights defenders by the NIA!
Immediately release all political prisoners!

July 28th 2020: The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) condemns the arrest of Professor Hany Babu MT at Mumbai by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Bhima Koregaon-Elgaar Parishad case. Despite the surging cases of COVID-19 in both Delhi and Mumbai, Prof. Babu of the Department of English in Delhi University was summoned as a witness and forced by the NIA to travel to Mumbai after being denied the option of video conferencing. Cooperating with the NIA since July 24th 2020, it quickly became clear that the questioning was merely a ruse to force Prof. Babu into providing false testimony against other persons and accepting allegations of being a functionary of the Maoists. …

Where are the Humane People Among Those in Authority Today?

28/07/2020 Rani

News Click / by Romila Thapar

Varavara Rao, 80 years old, became seriously ill. His illness was aggravated by the terrible living conditions in Indian prisons, not to mention the rank over-crowding in jails.
As citizens of India, we need to know what is happening to other Indians. We have the right to know what is happening to them. Why were these eleven Indians arrested?
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Solidarity from Greece: Save the life of Varavara Rao!

26/07/2020 Rani

Statement by Greek activists, academics, writers and students

Save the life of the Indian writer and activist Varavara Rao!

Varavara Rao, a poet, a writer, an activist and an advocate of democratic and social rights for decades against the arbitrariness of Indian governments, has been jailed for almost two years along with ten other activists, lawyers, journalists, etc. …

Why Varavara Rao matters

26/07/2020 Rani

The New Indian Express / by T J S George

There was neither common sense nor political sense in putting Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao in jail two years ago without trial and bail.
There was neither common sense nor political sense in putting Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao in jail two years ago without trial and bail. He did support Naxalite excesses, but jailing a writer for that is equivalent to giving his writing more mileage. As it happened, authorities excelled themselves in foolishness.
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We must protest both Vikas Dubey murder, risking of VV Rao’s life

24/07/2020 Rani

Solidarty poster, July 2020

The Indian Express / by Satish Deshpande

The fact that Dubey was yet to be charged under any law while Rao has been charged under a special law should not blind us to the essential similarity they share — the state took unfair advantage of its custodial power over them. But the real danger such cases pose is that they always carry in their background the suggestion of popular support, which sometimes ripens into an explicit claim.
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Writers, artists urge CJI Bobde and Uddhav Thackeray to release jailed poet Varavara Rao

23/07/2020 Rani

Solidarity poster

The Indian Express / by Express News Service

Hyderabad: As many as 520 Telugu poets, writers and artists on Wednesday urged Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde, Chief Justice of the Maharashtra High Court Dipankar Datta and the State’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ensure the release of jailed revolutionary poet Varavara Rao and Delhi University professor GN Saibaba.
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Writing as Righting: The Politics and Poetics of Varavara Rao

23/07/2020 Rani

The Wire / by Indradeep Bhattacharyya

A deep commitment to revolutionary humanism runs through Rao’s literary oeuvre – one that successive governments have relentlessly tried to muzzle.
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NDTV Reality Check: Despite COVID no Bail for Activists

22/07/2020 Rani

NDTV / Sreenivasan Jain asks

Videos

en | 1:17 min
N Venugopal, nephew of Varavara Rao: “Varavara Rao was lying in a pool of urine, I changed his clothes and the bedsheets. The nurses and constables came and threw us out”
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en 2:48 min
Suchitra Vijayan, Founder and Executive Director, The Polis Project: “Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it is just”
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en | 1:56 min
Colin Gonsalves, Senior Lawyer: “Strategy of government and NIA seems to be, ‘let us try and have these guys die in jail, before their trials begin’”
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