New Delhi: On 21st September (Saturday), a joint protest against
growing ‘State Repression on Cultural Activists’ was organized by a
number of cultural, political and student activists of the city under
the banner of Daman Virodhi Sanskritik Manch
despite heavy rain between 2 pm to 5 pm at Mandi House, the Cultural hub
of the national capital. Following is the note circulated by the group.
Pictures by POOJA PANT.
Repression
of people’s movements and struggles of workers and peasants have
intensified across India. A recent manifestation of this is the
crackdown on cultural activists and intellectuals – numerous cases of
sanctions, physical attacks, incarceration and arbitrary arrests have
surfaced in the last few months.
Repression on cultural political activists
Recently, Hem Mishra, well known cultural activist and former student of JNU, was arrested by Maharashtra police on false charges of being a Maoist courier. As per police sources, Hem was arrested in Gadchiroli along with two other youth Pandu Narote and Mahesh Tirki. It is not a coincidence that Gadchiroli is one of the epicentres of so called ‘Operation Green Hunt’, a state and corporate led war that intends to evict the tribals from their land so that multinationals can lay siege to huge mineral deposits. Cultural activists like Hem are a threat to the state because they carry untold stories of horrifying atrocities; forcible eviction, loot, murder and rape, to the outside world and forge solidarity between the people struggling over different issues.
In
Pune, Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) active since 2002 sang songs and poetry
and staged street plays on caste oppression, atrocities on Dalits, class
inequality and farmer suicides among other issues. In 2011, two of its
members Deepak Dengle and Siddharth Bhonsle were branded as Naxalites
and arrested under the UAPA. Cases were also filed against other members
which forced Sheetal Sathe, Sachin Mali, Sagar Gorkhe and three others
to go underground. Presently, Sachin Mali, who along with Sheetal Sathe
had voluntarily appeared before the court in April, continues to be
imprisoned while Sheetal was granted bail. Last month, when FTII
students invited KKM to pay homage to Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, an
anti-superstition activist who had been targeted by Hindu fundamentalist
groups and was killed in broad daylight, they were attacked by Sangh
affiliated ABVP goons. FTII Students and KKM members were thrashed and
were asked to chant praises of Narendra Modi to prove their ‘nationalist
credence’. In a similar incident, Kanwal Bharti, an eminent Dalit
writer, was arrested for his critical comments on the Uttar Pradesh
government last month.
Jiten
Marandi, a cultural political activist involved in mass movements in
Jharkhand, has been militantly protesting displacement, loot of natural
resources and exploitation of the adivasis by the state-corporate nexus
in Jharkhand, through his songs. Jiten was arrested on fabricated
charges and was awarded death penalty by the sessions court. Jiten was
finally released this year but he spent five years in prison, solely for
being a political cultural activist. On 30th August 2013, another
cultural activist from Jharkhand Utpal Bhaske and anti-displacement
activist Ispat Hembram were kidnapped by Jharkhand police. Utpal was in
fact travelling from his village to Ranchi to attend the hearing of a
previous case. He has been arrested several times and had also faced
brutal torture in the police custody for being a member of the
revolutionary cultural group led by Jiten Marandi.
Imperialist attack on culture
Repression
on cultural activists is not isolated from the broader political
events. It is part of the systematic persecution of voices of dissent
that have resisted an all-out attack by imperialist forces not only on
our livelihood but also on our cultural beliefs and values. The wide
reach of television is being used to propagate a deadly cocktail of
consumerist ideas and feudal ideologies, particularly catering to
regressive dominant caste/brahmanical sensibilities. This is in tandem
with the celebration of archaic elements like astrology and mythology to
divert attention from the excesses of feudal and capitalist
exploitation. The loot of economic resources then gains its power and
legitimacy precisely from the new cultural and social forms generated by
the caste biased-corporate media.
While the corporate media increasingly sensationalizes issues of violation of ‘freedom of speech’ of celebrities and privileged writers, it intentionally ignores the suppression of the cultural freedom of anti-establishment and radical artists. But the issue at hand is not just of an assault on freedom of speech and creative expression. These are people’s artists who are engaged in a life and death struggle to expose the anti-people policies of the state.
We
must strive to secure the right of cultural and political activists to
sing, perform and produce revolutionary cultural forms. We believe that
cultural activity is not separate from political action. Neither is it
merely a front to political resistance. It plays a very specific role in
the people’s movements, in unmasking structural exploitation, to
protect which state terror is being daily waged. It speaks to and is one
with the aspirations and struggles of the toiling and struggling
masses.
We invite cultural-political groups, students, teachers, workers, pro-people intellectuals to join the public meeting to express their solidarity with incarcerated cultural activists and people’s struggles.
On behalf of Daman Virodhi Sanskritik Manch,
Revolutionary Cultural Front, Paltan, Viplav Sanskritik Manch, Jan Rang, Jan Sanskriti Manch, Sanhati Delhi
Repression
of people’s movements and struggles of workers and peasants have
intensified across India. A recent manifestation of this is the
crackdown on cultural activists and intellectuals – numerous cases of
sanctions, physical attacks, incarceration and arbitrary arrests have
surfaced in the last few months.Repression on cultural political activists
Recently, Hem Mishra, well known cultural activist and former student of JNU, was arrested by Maharashtra police on false charges of being a Maoist courier. As per police sources, Hem was arrested in Gadchiroli along with two other youth Pandu Narote and Mahesh Tirki. It is not a coincidence that Gadchiroli is one of the epicentres of so called ‘Operation Green Hunt’, a state and corporate led war that intends to evict the tribals from their land so that multinationals can lay siege to huge mineral deposits. Cultural activists like Hem are a threat to the state because they carry untold stories of horrifying atrocities; forcible eviction, loot, murder and rape, to the outside world and forge solidarity between the people struggling over different issues.
In
Pune, Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) active since 2002 sang songs and poetry
and staged street plays on caste oppression, atrocities on Dalits, class
inequality and farmer suicides among other issues. In 2011, two of its
members Deepak Dengle and Siddharth Bhonsle were branded as Naxalites
and arrested under the UAPA. Cases were also filed against other members
which forced Sheetal Sathe, Sachin Mali, Sagar Gorkhe and three others
to go underground. Presently, Sachin Mali, who along with Sheetal Sathe
had voluntarily appeared before the court in April, continues to be
imprisoned while Sheetal was granted bail. Last month, when FTII
students invited KKM to pay homage to Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, an
anti-superstition activist who had been targeted by Hindu fundamentalist
groups and was killed in broad daylight, they were attacked by Sangh
affiliated ABVP goons. FTII Students and KKM members were thrashed and
were asked to chant praises of Narendra Modi to prove their ‘nationalist
credence’. In a similar incident, Kanwal Bharti, an eminent Dalit
writer, was arrested for his critical comments on the Uttar Pradesh
government last month.
Jiten
Marandi, a cultural political activist involved in mass movements in
Jharkhand, has been militantly protesting displacement, loot of natural
resources and exploitation of the adivasis by the state-corporate nexus
in Jharkhand, through his songs. Jiten was arrested on fabricated
charges and was awarded death penalty by the sessions court. Jiten was
finally released this year but he spent five years in prison, solely for
being a political cultural activist. On 30th August 2013, another
cultural activist from Jharkhand Utpal Bhaske and anti-displacement
activist Ispat Hembram were kidnapped by Jharkhand police. Utpal was in
fact travelling from his village to Ranchi to attend the hearing of a
previous case. He has been arrested several times and had also faced
brutal torture in the police custody for being a member of the
revolutionary cultural group led by Jiten Marandi.Imperialist attack on culture
Repression
on cultural activists is not isolated from the broader political
events. It is part of the systematic persecution of voices of dissent
that have resisted an all-out attack by imperialist forces not only on
our livelihood but also on our cultural beliefs and values. The wide
reach of television is being used to propagate a deadly cocktail of
consumerist ideas and feudal ideologies, particularly catering to
regressive dominant caste/brahmanical sensibilities. This is in tandem
with the celebration of archaic elements like astrology and mythology to
divert attention from the excesses of feudal and capitalist
exploitation. The loot of economic resources then gains its power and
legitimacy precisely from the new cultural and social forms generated by
the caste biased-corporate media.While the corporate media increasingly sensationalizes issues of violation of ‘freedom of speech’ of celebrities and privileged writers, it intentionally ignores the suppression of the cultural freedom of anti-establishment and radical artists. But the issue at hand is not just of an assault on freedom of speech and creative expression. These are people’s artists who are engaged in a life and death struggle to expose the anti-people policies of the state.
We
must strive to secure the right of cultural and political activists to
sing, perform and produce revolutionary cultural forms. We believe that
cultural activity is not separate from political action. Neither is it
merely a front to political resistance. It plays a very specific role in
the people’s movements, in unmasking structural exploitation, to
protect which state terror is being daily waged. It speaks to and is one
with the aspirations and struggles of the toiling and struggling
masses.We invite cultural-political groups, students, teachers, workers, pro-people intellectuals to join the public meeting to express their solidarity with incarcerated cultural activists and people’s struggles.
On behalf of Daman Virodhi Sanskritik Manch,
Revolutionary Cultural Front, Paltan, Viplav Sanskritik Manch, Jan Rang, Jan Sanskriti Manch, Sanhati Delhi
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