Video: Merry Xmas – Remember Hope, Struggle against Injustice in India
en | 2:17min | 2020
In solidarity with all unjustly incarcerated, charged under a terrorism law, imprisoned without trail.
How Does an 83-Year-Old Jesuit End Up in Prison? / Video: In Conversation with Fr Stan Swamy
Solidarity poster & Crib in Mumbai
Christmas message: Where are we heading to?
25/12/2020
The Telegraph / by Fr J Felix Raj, SJ
It is now a global festival that has transcended the perimeters of religion and symbolises different sentiments – love, friendship, hope, benevolence, forgiveness and amity.
This Christmas, I remember my fellow Jesuit, Fr. Stan Swamy. December 25 is his 79th day in jail. I wonder how he is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ at Taloja.
As a true Jesuit, I am confident that he is reaching out to the fellow prisoners and sharing with them the joy of the newborn divine Baby Jesus, and if the jail authorities do not ask him to appeal to the court for permission, he would distribute some sweets and wish them all a Feliz Navidad.
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How Does an 83-Year-Old Jesuit End Up in Prison?
24/12/2020
The New York Times / by Nikhil Kumar
Father Stan Swamy spent decades fighting for the rights of India’s marginalized people. In October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imprisoned him under antiterrorism laws…
Before he was arrested in October under India’s antiterrorism laws, Father Swamy spent decades championing the welfare of the Indigenous tribespeople who account for around a quarter of the population in Jharkhand, one the country’s most resource-rich yet impoverished states.
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In Conversation with Father Stan Swamy
24/12/2020
Countercurrents / by Vidhya Bhusan Rawat
None would ever have imagined that an octogenarian Stan Swamy would face such a harsh treatment for his committed work for the Adivasis of Jharkhand. When the governments of the world over honor activists who work in tiring circumstances and devote their time to areas far away from their places than we must realise that it is not for money or fame but for pure committment and convictions. Father Stan Swamy was born in Trichy and as a Tamilian Christian he had enormous opportunities for him but he dedicated over thirty years of his life to the service of Adivasis in Jharkhand.
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Video: In Conversation with Father Stan Swamy
en | 34 min | 2017
This conversation was recorded about three years back at the Ranchi office of Father Stan Swamy when I visited Jharkhand. Hailing from Trichy district in Tamilnadu, Father worked tirelessly for the Adivasis in different parts of the country. He was also associated with Indian Social Institute, Banglore but his love was Jharkhand where he dedicated his entire life since 1990s.
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Christmas crib themes revolve around hope amid Covid-19 and imprisoned activists
The Times of India / by Bella Jaisinghani
As the Christian community returns to church at Christmas time after months of lockdown, parishes are devising topical cribs with themes ranging from Covid-19 and the vaccine to the imprisonment of Jesuit activist Fr Stan Swamy among others.
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Joginder Ugrahan says ‘Naxal’ tag is only to divide farmers
The Print / by Fatima Khan
Joginder Ugrahan, 75, has been stationed at Tikri border since 28 November. His union’s protest demanding activists’ release created a row, but he says his words will be his legacy.
… On 10 December, the union marked the international human rights’ day by holding up posters of activists and scholars who have been arrested under stringent laws such as the UAPA in the last few years – Sudha Bhardwaj, Varavara Rao, Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, among others.
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Varavara Rao in Prison: Maoists and Other Enemies of the Indian State
VERSO / by Aditya Bahl
Aditya Bahl protests against the continued imprisonment of the Marxist poet, Varavara Rao, and examines how the current cycle of rightwing repression is part of a much longer political history, shaped by the changing relationship between the Indian state and capitalism.
In Captive Imagination, a collection of essays written in the prison during the late 1980s, Varavara Rao, the Telugu poet and a leading Maoist ideologue in India, narrates a rather uncanny state of affairs.
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Rights award for jailed Stan Swam
The Telegraph / by Animesh Bisoee
The award would be sent to the priest at Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai and the money to his organisation in Ranchi.
Father Stan Swamy, the 83-year-old jailed priest, has been selected for an award honouring the late Mukundan C. Menon, journalist and founder of the human rights organisation People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
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For those dividing Indians to rule them, adivasis are clearly not farmers / Video: Protesting farmers
Drawing by Arun Ferreira
The Wire / by Nandini Sundar
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) decided to mark December 10, International Human Rights Day, by remembering several prominent activists arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), especially those arrested in the name of Bhima Koregaon, and the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act…
Mahesh Raut, one of the youngest of those arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, is a graduate of TISS and was a PM Rural Development Fellow in Gadchiroli.
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Video: Protesting Farmers Demand Release of Arrested Intellectuals and Activists
hindi | 11:30min | 2020
The Wire / by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
Why do farmers wish to broaden the scope of their protest?
Farmers protesting at the border on International Human Rights Day demanded the release of all activists who have been arrested. The Wire‘s Political Affairs Editor Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta spoke to the farmers to find out why they wished to broaden the scope of their protest.
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Jesuit priests voice active support for jailed senior Fr Stan Swamy / NGO urges ‘Star for Stan’
Jesuit priests voice active support for jailed senior Fr Stan Swamy
16/12/2020
The Times of India / by Bella Jaisinghani
Mumbai: The Society of Jesus, which runs prominent schools and colleges in the city, has expressed solidarity with their jailed senior colleague Fr Stan Swamy and decried the “abuse” of the UAPA law. The ailing 83-year-old priest remains in Taloja Jail facing UAPA charges in the Bhima Koregaon case, and had to battle for basic amenities like straw and sipper.
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NGO urges ‘Star for Stan’ with straws and sippers, or banners
16/12/2020
Times of India / by TNN
A unit of NGO, Bombay Catholic Sabha (BCS), affiliated to St Peter’s Church, Bandra, urged citizens to signal support for jailed activists, including the elderly Fr Stan Swamy through their Christmas Star.
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Elderly Indian Jesuit’s bail hearing postponed again
16/12/2020
UCA News / by Saji Thomas
Federal probe agency opposes Father Swamy’s bail after claiming it has serious evidence against him.
An elderly Indian Jesuit priest remains in jail after a special court deferred hearing his bail plea for a fourth time following opposition from the federal probe agency that arrested him two months ago on charges of sedition and links to Maoist rebels.
The bail application of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy came up for hearing on Dec. 14 before the special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) based in Mumbai, capital of western India’s Maharashtra state.
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Also Read: NIA OPPOSES BAIL PLEA OF STAN SWAMY / STAN SWAMY LIKELY TO BE SHIFTED TO ARTHUR ROAD JAIL (Dec 15)
Farmers’ Union Explains Why it is Demanding Jailed Activists’ Release / Ugrahan rights rally hurt cause
Ugrahan rights rally hurt cause, admit 32 groups, underline repeal demand
14/12/2020
The Indian Express / by Express News Service
Carefully calibrating their distancing from the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), the joint resolution said: “The function organised by BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) has no relation with the farmers’ struggle. Their action has harmed the farmers’ struggle.”
With union ministers attributing ideological opposition to the farm protests and equating some of them with “Left and Naxal elements,” as many as 32 farmer unions passed a resolution Saturday making it clear that their only issue is the repeal of farm laws and nothing else.
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Won’t Pursue Narrow Interests: Farmers’ Union Explains Why it is Demanding Jailed Activists’ Release
12/12/2020
The Wire / by The Wire Staff
‘It is important to build solidarities around people who are the target of sectarian and communal state policies.’…
A section of mainstream media had been quick to brand the demand a “hijacking” of the farmers’ movement by Leftist intellectuals. The following statement, released by the BKU (Ugrahan), offers an idea as to why the protesters decided to add another cause to their agenda.
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It’s Time We Speak up For Each Other: Farmers’ Group Supports Political Prisoners
11/12/2020
The Wire / by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
“We are confronting a prime minister who is behaving like an exploitative king. All these activists and intellectuals have been arrested on false charges merely because they highlighted the plight of the poor,” said the head of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan).
A day after farmers’ unions rejected an elaborate proposal by the Union government to address multiple concerns related to the three contentious farm laws, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan), the biggest group among the 32 organisations, marked Human Rights Day by demanding the release of several democratic rights activists and intellectuals who are lodged in prison.
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Bharti Kisan Union – Ekta Ugrahan
Posters demanding release of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Elgar Parishad activists seen at farmers’ protest
10/12/2020
Free Press Journal / by FPJ Web Desk
Lawyer and coordinator of the BKU N K Jeet said the release of these activists has been part of their demands from the very first day.
As the farmers’ agitation in the national capital entered Day 15 on Thursday, the ongoing protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws also turned political with a farmer union body–Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan)–demanding the release of writers, intellectuals, rationalists mainly arrested in Elgar Parishad and Delhi Riots case.
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BKU (Ugrahan) to seek release of ‘rights activists’, Delhi riots accused
10/12/2020
The Indian Express / by Kamaldeep Singh Brar
Pictures of more than 20 accused, including Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, booked under the stringent UAPA, will be installed on a stage near the Tikri border.
Despite the farmer unions’ decision to keep their ongoing protest in Delhi against the farm laws “apolitical”, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) plans to use this platform to demand the release of several accused booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for allegedly having links with Naxals, on Human Rights Day, to be observed Thursday.
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Farmers hit back at Union minister’s ‘protest backed by Pakistan’ allegations
10/12/2020
Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff
The farmers’ protest against the agricultural legislations entered the 15th day on Thursday…
Live updates
2.18 pm: Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan observe human rights day at Tikri border, demanding release of writers, rationalists and intellectuals, mainly arrested in the Elgar Parishad case, including Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bhardwaj, Varvara Rao and others, reports The Times of India.
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Calls for Indian Jesuit’s freedom fill Rights Day
UCA / by Saji Thomas
A demand to release an elderly Jesuit priest and 15 other activists was prominent among calls made at programs marking international Human Rights Day in many parts of India.
Several rights groups joined with citizens to organize demonstrations, webinars and marches across the country on Dec 10, expressing their concern over what they said was a governmental attempt to throttle dissenting voices against its policies and programs.
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