Over 400 Academics, Activists, Journalists Object to Silencing of Discussions on Palestine on Campuses
Representational image. Image Courtesy: Flickr
More than 400 signatories, comprising sociologists, political scientists, academicians, and journalists, have expressed strong objection against discussions on Israel’s war on Palestine are being suppressed on university campuses in the country.
Issuing a statement, the signatories called upon university administrators and the government to respect academic freedom. The statement also underlined “India’s long history of anti-colonial struggle which has historically provided the lens through which the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, equality and human rights has been viewed in India.”
“We object to the way in which any discussion of the historical context of the occupation of Palestine and the barbaric Israeli assault on Gaza, along with the denial of food, fuel and water, since October 7, 2023, is being projected as support for the brutal terror attack on civilians in Israel by Hamas on October 7,” the statement said.
It called on university administrations in India to uphold their statutory and constitutional obligations to respect the rights of faculty and students to organise discussions and invite speakers without interference.
The signatories further objected to the Israeli ambassador’s “interference with academic freedom” and said his actions disregarded the competence of Indian scholars to analyse historical and political situations.
The objection refers to the incident wherein former Delhi University professor Achin Vanaik gave a lecture on Palestine at O.P. Jindal University on November 1. Following the lecture, the university asked Vanaik to “express regret” over his remark, but he refused.
Vanaik’s lecture led to the Israeli Ambassador to India, Naor Gilon, writing to the founding vice-chancellor of the university, Prof. C. Raj Kumar. In the letter, he said, “I cannot understand why an event delegitimizsng the State of Israel was hosted at the University,” The Wire reported.
“Defending the right to life and dignity of Palestinians, or pointing out the links between Zionism and Hindutva as supremacist ideologies, is not equivalent to antisemitism,” the statement of the over 400 signatories said.
The statement also slammed the alleged appropriation of Palestine’s issue to fuel Islamophobia in India.
“In all the attacks on campus events on Palestine, we see the Hindutva ecosystem at work – known Hindutva individuals who tweet against the faculty members concerned, groups which organise protests against them on campus, and a pliant media which engages in defamation of the academics as terror supporters,” it said.
The statement further asked the Indian government and political parties to stop criminalisation of solidarity protests with Palestine, and gave examples of FIRs lodged against students and their detentions.
Read the full statement below:
Statement of Solidarity with Palestine and Condemnation of Attacks on Academic Freedom Related to Palestine
As academics and other concerned persons, we, the undersigned, are outraged at the manner in which discussions on the ongoing war against Palestine are being silenced on Indian campuses, and in the public sphere more broadly. We are issuing this statement to call upon university administrators and the government to respect our academic freedom. We would also like to remind everyone of India’s own long history of anti-colonial struggle which has historically provided the lens through which the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, equality and human rights has been viewed in India.
We object to the way in which any discussion of the historical context of the occupation of Palestine and the barbaric Israeli assault on Gaza, along with the denial of food, fuel and water, since October 7th 2023, is being projected as support for the brutal terror attack on civilians in Israel by Hamas on October 7th.
We object to the Israeli ambassador’s interference with academic freedom on Indian campuses. This disrespects the competence of Indian scholars to analyze historical and political situations for themselves. Defending the right to life and dignity of Palestinians, or pointing out the links between Zionism and Hindutva as supremacist ideologies, is not equivalent to antisemitism.
We strongly condemn the hijacking of the Palestine issue to further Islamophobia within India. In all the attacks on campus events on Palestine, we see the Hindutva ecosystem at work – known Hindutva individuals who tweet against the faculty members concerned, groups which organize protests against them on campus, and a pliant media which engages in defamation of the academics as terror supporters.
We demand that the Indian government, as well as all political parties in power in different states stop criminalizing protests in solidarity with Palestine. The FIRs filed against students of Aligarh Muslim University, and detentions of youth and students in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Coimbatore are examples of this. ManyOpposition parties have failed to show sufficient solidarity with the people of Palestine and have thus betrayed the history of India’s own freedom struggle.
We call upon University administration to uphold their statutory and constitutional obligations and respect the intelligence, competence and integrity of their own faculty and students, and their right to organize talks and invite speakers as pedagogical interventions.
List of Signatories:
Nandini Sundar, sociologist
Nivedita Menon, political scientist
Ravi Sundaram, media scholar
Rajshree Chandra, political scientist
Rohan D’Souza, historian
Pamela Philipose, journalist
Maya John, historian
Karen Gabriel, English literature
Achin Vanaik, political scientist
Apoorvanand, Hindi literature
Ayesha Kidwai, linguist
Atul Sood, regional development
Anita Rampal, educationist
And 457 other:
1 A. Wilson Baskar Educationist
2 A.Mahaboob Batcha, Managing Trustee — Justice Bhagwati Foundation
3 Aabid Surti Author/Cartoonist/Water Warrior
4 Aashish Gokhale Researcher
5 Aashita Dawer Associate Professor
6 Abdul Mabood Snehi
7 Abdul Rahman Instrumentation engineer
8 Abhijeet Yadav Student
9 Abhinav Mishra Student
10 Absar Hazarika Retired Civil Servant
11 Adil Tyabji Freelance Publishing Editor
12 Adwait Madkaikar Independent Researcher
13 Afaque Azad Sound engineer
14 Aflatoon Editor,Samayik Varta
15 Ahammed Zayan Philosophy Research Scholar
16 Aishe Ghosh President, JNU Students’ Union
17 Aishwarya Kothare Research Student
18 Ajay Parasram Political scientist
19 Ajit Patil Social and Political activist
20 Ajmala Psychology Research scholar
21 Ajmer Chouhan Science Communicator
22 Akash Bhattacharya, Independent Academic, Ex-Faculty Azim Premji University
23 Akriti Assistant Professor
24 Albeena Shakil Academic
25 Ali Haidar Laskar Retd Principal
26 Alia Zaman Political science
27 Alok narah Student
28 Aman Legal Academic/Lawyer
29 Ambar Ahmad Academic
30 Ambreen Agha Faculty, Jindal
31 Ameet Parameswaran Assistant Professor
32 Amir Rizvi Designer
33 Amit Sengupta Journalist
34 Amitabha Basu Retirwd scientist, CSIR-NPL, New Delhi
35 Amitabha Chakrabarti Consultant cardio Thoracic surgeon
36 Amitava Das Service
37 Amritha Sruthi Research Scholar
38 Anand K. Sahay Columnist
39 Ananya Vajpeyi Scholar and Writer
40 Anil Singh Journalist
41 Animesh Das Indian Federation of Trade Unions
42 Anirban FAN
43 Anita Cherian Academic
44 Antara Datta Associate Professor
45 Antara Dev Sen Journalist
46 Anuja Mital Ecologist
47 Aparajita Datta Wildlife biologist
48 Aparna, President, Indian Federation of Trade Unions
49 Aparna Sundar Political Scientist
50 Apeksha Priyadarshini Ph.D Scholar, JNU
51 Appandairaj Ananthakumar Student, JNU
52 Apurbba Kumar Baruah, Teaching Assam Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research
53 Ar Feroz Khan Architecture
54 Arihant Kumar Maleri Association for Democratic Rights pb.
55 Arjun Dasgupta Retired Executive
56 Arkadip Mahapatra Crtical Care Technologist
57 Arker creations Film maker/Digital creator
58 Arman Hazarika Research Scholar
59 Arul Singh Student
60 Aruna Gnanadason Consultant
61 Arunachalam Angappan Rtd
62 Asad Abesi Business
63 Asha Mishra All India People’s Science Network/BGVS
64 Ashish Mital G.S. AIKMS
65 Ashish Reddy Advocate
66 Ashok Kumar Student, IIT Kanpur
67 Ashok Kumar Pandey Author
68 Ashwin Sreekumar Banking Professional
69 Ashwin Thomas Student, St. Stephen’s College
70 Ashwin Viswanathan Scientist
71 Astha Chaudhary Research scholar
72 Atif Ahmed Student
73 Avinash Kumar Faculty, JNU
74 Avishek Konar O.P. Jindal Global University
75 Azra Caretaker
76 B Rajasekhar Rahul Teacher
77 Bhavna Sharma Social Activist
78 Bhimrao Khetre Freelancer Artist
79 Biplab AIPSN
80 Brij Tankha Historian
81 Brijesh V K Teacher, KSSP
82 C P Chandrasekhar Former Professor JNU
83 Carol Upadhya, Visiting Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore
84 Cedric Prakash, Human Rights Reconciliation and Peace Activist/ Writer
85 Chandni Mehta Jawaharlal Nehru University
86 Charu Mishra Scientist
87 Charu Singh Educator
88 Chitra Harshvardhan Retired Professor from JNU, New Delhi
89 Clifton D’ Rozario Lawyer
90 Deepak Goswami AIPSN
91 Deepti Bharti Social work
92 Devathi Parashuram conservationist
93 Devika Bordia Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence
94 Dhiman Chatterjee Faculty IITM
95 Dhruv Raina Historian and philosopher of science
96 Dipendra Nath Chakraborty Retired
97 Divya Mudappa Wildlife scientist
98 Divyajyoti Ganguly Wildlife Biologist
99 Dr Mira Shiva Public Health Physician
100 Dr Rizwan Rafeequi Arabic Literature
101 Dr Sunilam, Ex MLA , KSS NAPM SKM , Samajwadi Samagam
102 Dr Sushanta Kar Teaching
103 Dr. G. Ramachandram, Professor of Political Science and retired Principal
104 Dr. M. Geyanand, State president Jana Vignana Vedika, Andhra Pradesh
105 Dr. Mihirlal Roy Science Activists, Bijnan Mancha – Tripura
106 Dr. S. Anandha Krishna Raj International law
107 Dr. S. Kanitha Retired Professor
108 Dr. S. Vijaya Prabhu Assistant professor, NCT
109 Dr. Salman Journalist
110 Dr. Shikha Kapur Academic
111 Dr. Soma Marla Principal scientist Genomics ICAR
112 Dunu Roy Coordinator Hazards Centre
113 Ekadh Ranganathan Wildlife Biologist
114 Eric Pinto ANHAD Goa
115 Faizan
116 Fakhruddin Yusuf Bhai Jasupurawala
117 Farah Naqvi Independent Writer and Activist
118 Farai Divan Patel Ecologist
119 Feroze Mithiborwala Freelance Writer
120 Fiza Student
121 Fozia Sodawala Writer
122 Frazer Mascarenhas Sociologist
123 Freny Manecksha Independent journalist
124 G Arunima
Historian, Kerala Council for Historical
Research
125 G. Muralidhar JVV AP
126 Gautam I Menon, Professor
127 Ghanshyam Shah, Independent Reasercher, formerly professor JNU
128 Githa Hariharan Writer
129 Goldie Osuri University of Warwick
130 Gopinathan A N Pensioner
131 Gopinathan VG KSSP/AIPSN activist
132 Gowtham Raja Sathish Professor, Voorhees College
133 Guruprasad Kar Indian Statistical Institute
134 Habravysh PhD scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University
135 Harbans Mukhia Historian
136 Hasina Khan Gender activist
137 Henri Tiphagne Human Rights Defenders Alert _India
138 Himanshu Jawaharlal Nehru University
139 Hoimi Mukherjee Jawaharlal Nehru University
140 Ilan Kapoor Professor, York University, Toronto
141 Imrana Qadeer Public health professional
142 Imtiaz Quadri Political Scientist
143 Inamul Hasan Social Activist
144 Indira Public Health academic
145 Indranee Dutta Retired Professor
146 Indu Chandrasekhar Publisher
147 Ira Raja University of Delhi
148 Ishita Chatterjee Academic
149 Ishupal Faculty, JGLS
150 Jai Singh Service
151 Jaideep Ahuja Engineer
152 James Masih Hotel Construction Management
153 Janhavi Rajan Designer
154 Jasjit Social worker
155 Jayaprakash cherupally Social work
156 Jayati Ghosh economic
157 John Cherian Journalist
158 John Dayal Writer
159 John Scaria Student
160 Jose PI Advocate
161 Joseph Mathai social worker
162 Joseph PV KSSP
163 K P Sarma Teacher’s
164 K. Sudhir Architect/PUCL
165 K. Trimurtulu Science activist/RTD.librarian
166 Kajri Jain, art history/visual studies, University of Toronto
167 Kalpana Kannabiran Sociologist
168 Kamal Sarma Social activist
169 Kamala Kempadoo sociologist
170 Kamini Tankha Concerned Citizen
171 Kanta Khurana Retd Associate Professor
172 Karen Haydock retired TIFR/HBCSE
173 Karthick Narayanan Linguist
174 Karthik Teegalapalli
175 Karuna DW Historian
176 Kashish
177 Kaveri Gill Political economist
178 Kavita Srivastava Human Rights activist – PUCL
179 Kedar Soni Educator
180 Kishwer Retired Banker
181 Komal Mohite Doctoral Candidate, McGill University
182 Komal Saigal Individual
183 Krishnakumr Retired professor
184 Krittika Chakraborty, Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad
185 Kumar Prashant Gandhian activist
186 Kunal Kumar Doctoral Research Scholar
187 Lara Jesani People’s Union for Civil Liberties
188 Lata Singh Associate Professor, JNU
189 Lipi Bag Research scholar
190 Lotika Singha Writer
191 Lovish Gautam Private Service
192 M Madhava Prasad Retired Professor, EFL U
193 M. Gauhar Iqbal India Palestine Friendship Forum
194 M. V. Ramana Professor
195 M.Radhamurugesan Tamilnadu science forum
196 Madhu Sahni Literary academic
197 Madhusmita Rawooth Product Manager in Healthcare (Dozee)
198 Madhusudan Katti Professor
199 Mahesh Gaur Administrative Officer
200 Maimoona Abbas Mollah Women’s rights activist
201 Malaika Mathew Chawla wildlife biologist
202 Malavika Kasturi Historian
203 Manali Chakrabarti Academic Independent
204 Manisha Biswas Student, Jawaharlal Nehru University
205 Manisha Hans Social Activist
206 Manorama Sharma Historian
207 Marcia DCunha Teacher
208 Mary Advocate
209 Mary E John women’s studies
210 Maya Krishna Rao Theatre Artist
211 Md. Ali Shariff The Lifeline Foundation
212 Meena Dhanda Philosopher
213 Meera Samson Research
214 Meera Sanghamitra, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)
215 Meghna Roy anthropologist
216 Minakshi Singh Activist
217 Mini Mathew Lawyer
218 Mira Sadgopal Medico Friend Circle
219 Mohammed Alam Khan Business
220 Mohammed Ali Private Service
221 Mohan Dutta Professor of Communication
222 Mohan Rao Public health
223 Monika kshatriya Journalist
224 Moushumi Basu Academic
225 Mridupankhi Rajkumari PhD scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University
226 Mrigank Indian Federation of Trade Unions
227 Mritiunjoy Mohanty Economist
228 Muhammed Kuttiyatle Free lance artist
229 Muneer Mukhdoomi Service
230 Munnee Sen Content writer
231 Muralidharan, National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD)
232 Mwajuma Alice Abok Human Resource Consultant
233 N Sai Balaji Doctoral Student, JNU
234 N. Mani Teaching
235 N. Raghuram Biotechnologist
236 N.K.Saraswathi Teacher
237 Nabanita Samanta Doctoral Researcher, IIT Bombay
238 Nadeem Khan India Palestine friendship forum
239 Nageswar Y S JVV AP
240 Naina Dayal Historian
241 Naiyer Razzaqui Defence Pensioner
242 Najibuddin Ahmed AIPSN, Assam ,Secretary
243 Nalini Nayak, PGDAV College, Delhi University (Retd Associate Professor)
244 Naman Murliwar Student
245 Namita Khare researcher
246 Nancy Vaz Retired Teacher
247 Nandini Velho Scientist
248 Nandita Narain, Associate Prof( Retd), Dept of Mathematics, St Stephen’s College, Delhi University
249 Narender Nagarwal Professor University of Delhi
250 Naveen Gaur University of Delhi
251 Navsharan Singh
252 Nazneen Activist
253 Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor (Rtd) Jawaharlal Nehru University
254 Neelima Sharma Street theatre person
255 Neeraj Malik University Professor
256 Neerja Prasad Director administration
257 Neha Student
258 Neha Student
259 Nidal Abuzuluf Director, JAI
260 Nikita Climate Action Consultant
261 Nirangkush Nath Political Activist
262 Niyati Student
263 Noor Enayat Publicist
264 Noorjahan Abdul Hamid diwan Activities
265 Nupur Asher Research Scholar
266 Oishik Sircar legal scholar
267 P A Azeez Freelance Academic
268 P Jeganathan Wildlife Biologist
269 Padma Kondiparthi Advocate
270 Padmini Smetacek Editor
271 Pamela Philipose Journalist
272 Pariplab Chakraborty Visual artist and journalist
273 Parnal Chirmuley German Studies
274 Partho Sarothi Ray Molecular biologist
275 Parvathy Rajendran Freelance Editor
276 Parveez Asghar Retired
277 Parwati, Housewife / Haryana Gyan Vigyan Samiti , Hisar
278 Peggy Mohan Linguist
279 Pia Sethi Conservation biologist
280 Ponniah Rajamanickam All India People Science Network
281 Poorvi Gupta Journalist
282 Prabhu Mohapatra Historian
283 Pradip Kumar Datta Retired Professor
284 Pramod Ranjn Journalist
285 Pranjali Bandhu, Researcher, South Asia Study Centre, Nilgiris
286 Prateek Vijayavargia Research Scholar, JNU
287 Pratiksha Baxi Sociologist
288 Praveen Arora Media
289 Praveen Jha Professor
290 Preethi Krishnan Sociologist
291 Priya Dharshini Delhi forum
292 Priyamvada Iyer Business
293 Priyanka Prakash NCF
294 Qim Ahmed Designer
295 R Nagesh Retired LIC Employee
296 R. S. Vikal
297 R. Vivekaanandhan College Professor (RTD.)
298 Radha Kumar Writer and policy analyst
299 Radhika Singha Retired
300 Raghavendra Prasad President, IFTU
301 Rahul Roy Indian Statistical Institute
302 Rahul Varman Academic
303 Rajamathangi S Linguist
304 Rajarshi Dasgupta Political scientist
305 Rajat Kumar Sonkar, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi
306 Rajeev Singha Doctor
307 Rajender Kumar Theatre activiest
308 Rajni Palriwala Professor of Socioloy
309 Raju K Retired Professor
310 Rakesh Theatre activist
311 Ramakrishnan C Educationist
312 Ramani Atkuri Independent Public Health Physician
313 Ramanujam Ragavan Retired govt servant
314 Ramesh Chander Retired officer
315 Ramesh Chander, Retired Principal / Haryana Gyan Vigyan Samiti
316 Ramesh Dixit, Professor in Political science (retired) Lucknow University.
317 Ramneek Singh Playwright, Theatre Director, Teacher
318 Rana Student
319 Ranjani Mazumdar Cinema Studies
320 Rashmi Gera
321 Rashmi Pant Assoc. Prof. Retd.
322 Ratheesan T M Comon Service centre
323 Ravi Duggal, Independent Sociologist and Public Health Researcher
324 Ravi Srivastava Research
325 Ravinder Banyal Scientist
326 Raynah Marise ICWM
327 Raza Kazmi, Conservationist, Researcher, Wildlife Historian, Writer
328 Razia Quresh Bootwala Home maker
329 Reshma PhD Physics, University of Hyderabad
330 Richa Minocha Academic
331 Rita Manchanda Peace & Conflict studies
332 Ritu Ngapnon Farmer, Architect
333 Rohan D’Souza Professor, ASAFAS, Kyoto University
334 Rohini Muthuswami Professor
335 Rohit Azad Economist
336 Rohit Kumar Student
337 Rohith P English Literature
338 Ronak M Soni Physicist, University of Cambridge
339 Roop Rekha Verma Social activist
340 Rukaiya Joshi Professor
341 Runa Sarkar IIM Calcutta
342 Rupa Mehta Media Professional and Social Activist
343 Ruth Manorama Social work Professional
344 Rutuja Dhamale Science Educator
345 S .Mohana AIPSN EC member, Social Activist
346 S Viswanathan Watcher
347 S. G Dani Mathematician
348 S. Usha Professor
349 S.Krishnaswamy
Retired Senior Professor ex Madurai, Kamaraj University
350 Sabiha Shariff Retired
351 Sachidanand Sinha Professor Retd
352 Sachin Bhusari Citizen
353 Sachin N Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi
354 Sadiq Zafar Architect, Urban Policy Researcher
355 Saeed Ahmad Historian
356 Sahildeep Singh Student/Research Scholar
357 Sailen Bhattacharyya Social Worker
358 Samarth M Dahiwale
359 Samik Dasgupta, Assistant Professor, Ananda Chandra College, University of North Bengal
360 Samuel Asir Raj Professor
361 Sandhya Srinivasan Indian Journal of Medical Ethics
362 Sangeeta Social Activist, HGVS
363 Sangeetha K Assistant Professor/ A M Jain College
364 Sangita Das Associate Professor
365 Sanjaya Gupta Banker and independent consultant
366 Sanjit Chatterjee IISc
367 Sankari Rajappon CPI(M)
368 Sarah Actor
369 Saraswathi PUCL
370 Saravanan V Ph.D Candidate, JNU
371 Satbir Nagal Science Activists
372 Satish Deshpande Sociologist
373 Satish Kumar Singh Senior Advisor
374 Satish Suryan Journalist
375 Satyajit Freelance editor
376 Sedef Arat-Koc Politics professor / Toronto Metropolitan University
377 Seema Mustafa Journalist
378 Sehar Kidwai Production designer
379 Selvyn Jussy Linguist
380 Shabnam Hashmi Social Activist
381 Shafeef Ahmed Phd student
382 Shafeeq Mahajir Lawyer
383 Shalini D Student of History
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