Video: Unless we wake-up India will enact Hitlerite Germany: N Venugopal Rao
Kulukkai TV / by N Venugopal Rao
en | 15:31 | 2022
Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case Book Release – Conference
Watch video
Is India Really a Democracy? The Answer, My Friend, Is Blowing in the Wind: Nayantara Sahgal
The Wire / by Nayantara Sahgal
The author’s lament about the attacks on individual rights and freedoms in present-day India.
… Recently I heard that the government wants a strong opposition. But when members of the opposition such as the Elgar Parishad prisoners, to name one case, are in jail for criticising some official measure or not falling in line with the ruling ideology, is this the way that a democracy treats dissent?
Read more
‘Unjust’ jail and death can’t eclipse Stan Swamy’s work / What is the Martin Ennals Award?
‘Unjust’ jail and death can’t eclipse Stan Swamy’s work
04/06/2022
The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent
Jesuit priest has been honoured by Martin Ennals Foundation in Geneva for showing exceptional commitment to defending and promoting human rights.
Stan Swamy, the human rights defender and Jesuit priest who died in judicial custody in Mumbai at the age of 84, has been posthumously honoured by the Martin Ennals Foundation in Geneva.
Read more
What is the Martin Ennals Award, the ‘human rights Nobel’, which honoured Father Stan Swamy?
04/06/2022
The Indian Express / by Dipanita Nath
In a special move this year, the Martin Ennals Foundation posthumously honoured Father Stan Swamy for his “many contributions to human rights”. Who was Martin Ennals, and what is the intention of the award?
Every year, the Martin Ennals Foundation, based in Geneva, Switzerland, gives out an award that is regarded as the Nobel Prize for human rights defenders. The recipients of this year’s awards include Daouda Diallo from Burkina Faso, Pham Doan Trang from Vietnam and Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja of Bahrain.
Read more
Late Indian Jesuit honored with rights ‘Nobel Prize’
04/06/2022
UCA News / by UCA News reporter
Father Stan Swamy, the late Indian Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist, has been posthumously awarded the Martin Ennals Award, regarded as the Nobel Prize for human rights defenders…
Though the award was presented posthumously, the priest was chosen for it while he was still alive. “Father Stan was nominated for the award in spring 2021, but he sadly passed away before it could reach him,” said Hans Thoolen, chair of the award jury.
Read more
Bust, book honour for Father Stan Swamy on birth anniversary (video)
Bust, book honour for Father Stan Swamy on birth anniversary
26/04/2024
The Telegraph / by Animesh Bisoee
The Hindi version of the memoir, written by Ranchi-based Jesuit priest James Toppo, would be released on the occasion.
The birth anniversary of Father Stan Swamy would be observed with the installation of the Jesuit priest’s bust and release of two books at Bagaicha, a training and social action centre, in Namkum, Ranchi, on April 26.
Read more
Video: Unveiling of the Bust of Stan Swamy & Release of Three books
hindi + en | 2h 57min | 2022
By Jamshedpur Jesuits
Unveiling of the Bust of Stan Swamy & Release of Three books
– The Memoirs of Stan Swamy (Hindi Translation)
– If Not Now, When?
– Fr Stan Swamy: A Maoist or a Martyr?
Watch video
NIA Can’t Besmirch Stan Swamy’s Reputation or Place in the Hearts of People
26/04/2024
NewsClick / by John Dayal
Peaceful resistance was the cornerstone of Stan’s work, and that is why the state failed in breaking his spirit.
It may take time to get the Bombay High Court to clear Jesuit Father Stanislaus Lourduswamy’s name in the so-called Elgar Parishad case.
And it may take longer to get the Vatican machinery to launch the formal process to grant Sainthood to the 84-year-old priest, whose work among the Adivasis of central India and the poorest of the poor earned him the ire of mine-owners, state governments, and finally the central government.
Read more
Video: Revolutionary greetings to Shahir Sagar Gorkhe on his birthday
By Kabir Kala Manch
1:58min | 2022
Watch video
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.
Watch video
Also read:
● Who are the three Kabir Kala Manch artistes arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case? (Scroll.in / Sep 2020)
Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha is holding the state accountable
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.
Read more
India among top 10 countries to jail writers, academics in 2021, shows Pen America’s report
India figures on list of top 10 ten countries that jail writers, academics & intellectuals
16/04/2022
The Federal / by The Federal
The 2021 Freedom to Write report recently published by Pen America, an NGO, has detailed the arrests of eight people in the country, which includes comedian Munawar Faruqui and those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case.
India has the dubious distinction of figuring among the top ten list of countries that jail writers, academics and intellectual for their writings, works and advocacy.
Read more
India among top 10 countries to jail writers, academics in 2021, shows Pen America’s report
15/04/2022
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
This is ‘one element of the ruling party’s attempts to quash dissent and entrench political control’, the United States non-profit organisation said.
… According to the report published on Wednesday, 277 writers and academics were detained or in prison in 36 countries last year. Of them, eight are from India – comedian Munawar Faruqui and Bhima Koregaon accused persons Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Hany Babu, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Ferreira and Anand Teltumbde.
Read more
PEN America’s Writers at Risk Database (India, 2021)
Also read:
● International Mother Language Day: Take Action for Hany Babu (Pen International | Feb 2022)
● Joint Statement: Freedom for Varavara Rao (Pen International | Oct 2021)
● A Dark Day for Democracy and Freedom of Expression (Pen International | Aug 2018)
PUDR: When The Process becomes The Punishment
Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) / by PUDR
Tomorrow, 14th April 2022 marks the completion of two years of PUDR activist Gautam Navlakha’s surrender before the NIA. One of sixteen accused in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case, Gautam has been imprisoned in Taloja Central Jail, Navi Mumbai since 25 May 2020. For more than six months now, since 12 October 2021, the nearly 70 years old Gautam, an undertrial suffering from multiple health problems has been in solitary confinement in one of 33 cells in the ‘anda’ circle, the High Security Area of Taloja Jail, a space meant to segregate those guilty of heinous crimes.
Read more
Also read:
● How the ‘anda cell’ is used to discipline prison inmates (The Indian Express │ Oct 2021)
● System of solitary confinement, ‘Anda Cell’, inside the jail be stopped (Groundxero │ Oct 2021)
Protest for release of activists
Left groups protest across Punjab, seek to revive spirit of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom
17/04/2022
Counterview / by Harsh Thakor
Despite political change of guards, which brought Aam Aadmi Party to power, recent events suggest that Left-wing forces of different shades appear to be steadily gaining ground in Punjab.
… Held on April 8 in Singrur on the very day Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru flung a bomb in the parliament house to symbolise liberation from colonial slavery, the Kirti Kisan Union, Punjab Students Union, Naujwan Bharat Sabha and Zameen Prapti Sangharsh demanded unconditional release of political prisoners. Speakers summarised how activists like Gautam Navlakha , GN Saibaba, Rona Wilson, Anand Teltumbde, Varavara Rao, Umar Khalid, Sudha Bharadwaj, Devinder Ghullar etc. were branded for waging a conspiracy against the state as they were posing a question to the autocratic character of the rulers or confronting fascism.
Read more
Protest for release of activists
09/04/2022
Times of India / by TNN
The farmer and student organisations protested in Faridkot on Friday for the release of those who have completed their sentences and of activists who have been arrested on flimsy grounds. Activists of Kirti Kisan Union, Naujwan Bharat Sabha and Punjab Students Union raised slogans for the release of Prof GN Saibaba, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Umar Khalid, Devinderpal Singh Bhullar and others.
Read more
Left leaders protest, seek release of political prisoners
08/04/2022
Tribune of India / by Tribune News Service
Members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) New Democracy on Friday held a protest against the non-release of Sikh prisoners who had completed their sentences and imprisonment of political prisoners, intellectuals, writers, journalists and activists in false cases.
Read more
Video: Congressional Briefing on „Indian Judiciary and the Persecution of Minorities“
en | 1:26:48 | 2022
By Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC)
Listen this briefing to hear experts detail the inadequate response of India’s courts to the escalating religious persecution and human rights violations under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Watch video