Solidarity With The Cultural Activists
Posted by admin on September 27th, 2013
(First
of all, we condemn the state repression on cultural activists and
strongly support the movement waged by Daman Birodhi Sanskrit Manch,
against the reactionary government of India. We writers and cultural
activists of Nepal, who lost more than 160 cultural activists,
including Krishna Sen ”Ichchhuk” a great cultural martyr, a renowned
poet and the Chairman of All Nepal People’s Cultural Association, during
10 year People’s War, always stand on the side of cultural activists,
who are fighting on the side of oppressed people. Recently
the Indian reactionary government has arrested the cultural activist
Hem Mishra and raided the house of Prof. GN Saibaba. We demand
immediate release of Hem Mishra and condemn the state terror on GN
Saibaba. With strong solidarity, we are posting the following
statement by Daman Birodhi Sanskrit Manch, India)
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Protest against State Repression on Cultural Activists
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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