European Solidarity Statement with Academics and Students in India
We are students, scholars, and academics at European universities who unequivocally condemn the violent attacks on student and faculty members of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi that took place on 5th January 2020. We see the attacks as part of the larger pattern of systematic violence that is being consistently inflicted on students across Indian universities for the past month by the Indian police in collusion with far-right organisations. We are shocked by the proclivity of the Indian State to turn upon its own students, and by the failure of universities and other academic institutions to protect their members; the cases are too many to be all listed here, but along with JNU, this inhumane orchestration of violence has extended to Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University in Uttar Pradesh, and Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi.
Even as the students and faculty members of these institutions have been peacefully protesting against a new legal framework that seeks to complicate and possibly exclude Indian citizenship for Muslims, the Indian police have wantonly stormed, stoned, shot, hit, gassed, and injured participants of these peaceful interventions. Several reports by independent news sources and civil rights organisations have detailed the reckless and vicious violence that was unleashed on students at Jamia Millia Islamia, and subsequently also at Aligarh Muslim University on 15th December 2019 when the police used sticks and tear gas shells to injure peaceful protestors. On the night of 5th January, far-right political groups with ties to the current Indian government, vandalised the campus and severely injured students and teachers at JNU, who also could not get immediate and proper access to medical attention for their injuries. Gripped by fear of violence, many students are still reportedly locked in their hostel rooms without food and drinking water. The situation is compounded by the fact that many journalists who tried to cover the incident were hindered and assaulted.
Across European pasts and presents, we have seen the rise of fascist States and the erosion of democracy go hand-in-hand with the oppression of students and media. In the current global and European climate, we are also especially cognizant of the Islamophobic undertone which characterises the targeting of these particular universities that have a long history of championing the rights of the minoritised in South Asia.
Given the importance of universities for generating democratic discourse and contestation, we are deeply troubled by the undermining of these spaces by the Indian State. As academics, students, and humans, we assert our right of freedom of expression, right to dissent, debate and engage in democratic protest, and demand the same for our colleagues in India. We defend the intellectual autonomy of academic institutions and their ability to function fearlessly. Accordingly, we call upon the Indian government to:
(1) Immediately end police brutality against peacefully protesting students and all others protesting peacefully.
(2) Provide prompt medical aid to all the injured.
(3) Ensure media coverage of the situation is not hindered.
(4) Conduct fair and independent inquiries into the violence.
(5) Restore democratic, safe, and peaceful university life.
We stand in solidarity with our colleagues, students and faculty across Indian universities.
The original statement was published here. Please co-sign!
Signed (1/8/2020, 6:00 pm):
1. Smarika Lulz, Ph.D. Researcher, Humboldt University, Berlin
2. Medha Srivastava, PhD student, Humboldt Universität
3. Katharina Wommelsdorff, PhD Candidate
4. Nishant Shah, Vice President, ArtEZ University of the Arts, The Netherlands
5. Philipp Dann, Professor, Humboldt University
6. Zeenath Hasan, Senior Lecturer, Linnaeus University
7. Rupsha Paul, Student at ISS(International Institute of Social Studies)
8. Luca Brennecke, Student, Leuphana University Lüneburg
9. Saanika Patnaik, Student, Leiden University
10. Sheena MacRae, PhD Student – University of Hull
11. Carin Rustema, Director @ArtEZ University of the Arts
12. Jenneke Evers, PhD candidate, Leiden University
13. Reetu Vishwakarma, Lawyer, Goethe University, Frankfurt
14. Seda Gürses, TU Delft
15. Jess Bier, Assistant Professor, Erasmus University
16. Kalika Mehta, Doctoral Researcher, University of Hamburg
17. Dr. Swastika Sanyal, Postdoctoral Researcher, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
18. Ashrita Prasad Kotha, Research and Teaching Associate, Vienna University of Economics and Business
19. Maya Indira Ganesh, Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany
20. Anjana John, PhD Scholar, Central European University (CEU)
21. Sunil Abraham, Endowed Professor, ArtEZ University of the Arts
22. Emy Merin Joy, PhD Scholar, CEU, Budapest, Hungary
23. Angela Daly, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), Strathclyde University Law School (Scotland)
24. Hendrik Steppke, Humboldt University
25. Thomas Dollmaier, Research Fellow, HU Berlin
26. Ritumbra Manuvie, Research Fellow, University of Groningen
27. Rachit Agarwal, MS in Finance Class of 2020
28. Rutuja Shinde, Student, CEU
29. Kanishka Waghmare, PhD candidate, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam
30. Rachael Marshal, Student, University of Twente
31. Gabriel Noll, Doctoral Researcher, Humboldt University, Berlin
32. Devisha Poddar, Masters student at Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
33. Milan Tahraoui, Ph.D. candidate Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne/FU Berlin
34. Tatavarthi Mrudula, Master’s student at Vrije Universiteit
35. Souloke Sen, PhD student Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
36. Tobias Berger, Jun Prof. Political Science, Freie Universitaet Berlin
37. Sriram Govind, PhD Candidate, Vienna University of Economics and Business
38. Sai Praveen Madireddi, PhD student CEU
39. Sahil pawade, Student VU Amsterdam
40. Jelena Achenbach, Junior Professor, Giessen University
41. Maximilian Steinbeis, Chief Editor, Verfassungsblog
42. Yashjit Gangopadhyay, Master’s student – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam & Universiteit van Amsterdam
43. Inder kumar, Student at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
44. Karen Gregory, Lecturer, University of Edinburgh
45. Nguyen Khanh Vu, Student
46. Vladimir Bogoeski, PhD Candidate, Hertie School
47. Arijit Laik, PhD Candidate, VU Amsterdam
48. Karthikeya Acharya, PhD, Design Provocateur, Aarhus University, Denmark
49. Ksenija Hanacek, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona
50. Shreya Tewari, Masters student, London School of Economics
51. Vivek kumar Shukla, Assistant Professor , Aarhus university , Denmark
52. Nadja Baumert, Student, HU Berlin
53. Stuti Gadodia, LL.M. Class of 2016, The Graduate Institute / University of Geneva
54. Sreyasi Nag Chowdhury, Doctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Informatics
55. Tonny Nowshin, Global Diaspora Organizer, 350.org
56. Sukanya Deepak, Masters Student, KISD, TH Köln
57. Enes Kaya, PhD Student, Universität Kassel
58. Francis Mianzhi CAO, PhD researcher, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main
59. JeeHee Suh, Masters Student at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
60. Palak Arora, Master Student, Stäedelshule Frankfurt
61. Meenakshi Nair And, PhD Student, Graduate Institute, Geneva
62. Sonali Dhanpal, PhD Scholar, Newcastle University
63. Sirin Knecht, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
64. Nina Schmidt, Postdoctoral researcher, Freie Universität Berlin
65. Sudhir Ambasana, Master student at Städelschule, Frankfurt
66. Alisha Suhag, Masters Student, University College London (UCL)
67. Jyotsna Chowdhury, LLM student (Class of 2015), University of Saarland
68. Ayush Pant, Associate Tutor, University of Warwick
69. Bhoomika Tiwari, MPP, Hertie School of Governance
70. Donika Muji, Master‘s Student at Hertie School, Berlin
71. Vlera Beqa, Student at Regensburg University, Germany
72. Amran Abo Houf, MIA Student, Hertie School
73. Iris van der Lugt, Master’s student, Hertie School
74. Peter Noorlander, lawyer
75. Syed Tanveer Ahmed, Masters student – Hertie School of Governance
76. Anamika Iyer, Master’s student, Hertie
77. Mahima Shah Verma, Masters Student, Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany
78. Lukas Knüsel, Master’s Student (MPP)
79. Sofia Diogo Mateus, Masters Student, Hertie School of Governance
80. Megha Majoe, PhD Candidate University of Freiburg
81. Sailee Sakhalkar, PhD student, Charles University in Prague
82. Rishabh Malhotra, Student, LSE
83. Brototi Roy, PhD Candidate, Autonomous University of Barcelona
84. Muskan Jain, Masters Student, LSE
85. Kanad Bagchi, Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
86. Shantanu Sanjiv Bhat, Student, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, United Kingdom
87. Florian Matthey-Prakash, PhD alumnus, Justus-Liebig University Gießen
88. Manjusha Nadgouda , Msc. Student TU Berlin
89. Ioannis Kampourakis, Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate Tel Aviv University/University of Oxford
90. Sujatro Ghosh, Research Scholar and Resident Artist at the Goethe Institute
91. Meghdut Sengupt, Masters in Computational Linguistics, University of Stuttgart
92. Prof. Dr. Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer, Vice-Dean Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig
93. Ratan Sebastian, Masters Student, University of Edinburgh
94. Vinit Dharia, Staedelschule Architecture Class, Frankfurt, Germany
95. Sudarsha Venkatachari, MSc Student, University of Southern Denmark
96. Angelo Jr Golia, Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
97. Julie Wetterslev, PhD Researcher, European University Institute, Department of Law
98. Rajat Rai Handa, German Chancellor Fellow, Humboldt Stiftung
99. Joris van Hoboken, Professor of Law, Vrije Universiteit Brussel; Senior Researcher, University of Amsterdam
100. Nahed Samour, Humboldt University Berlin
101. Kyara Klausmann, PhD researcher, Humboldt University
102. Amanda Haraldsson, PhD researcher, European University Institute
103. Melisa Ross, Doctoral Researcher, BGSS Humboldt Universitaet, Berlin, Germany
104. Noby Thomas Cyriac, PhD Candidate,University of Hamburg
105. Siddharth de Souza, PhD candidate , Humboldt University
106. Maja Hohmann, Bachelor Student, University of Hamburg
107.Paul Friedl, PhD researcher, Humboldt-University Berlin
108. Ezgi Guler, PhD researcher, European University Institute
109. Tasneem Balasinorwala, Berlin
110. Saraswati Bhushan, Student, Utrecht University
111. Mark Graham, Professor, University of Oxford
112. Luna Sabastian, Smuts Research Fellow, University of Cambridge
113. Chris Wilson, Lecturer, University of East Anglia
114. Leila Essa, Teaching Fellow, Trinity College Dublin
115. Amalie Muir, Bachelor student, Vrije University Amsterdam
116. Doriane Zerka, Lecturer, Queen Mary, University of London
117. AyÅŸe Polat, PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge
118. Saboura Naqshband, German Center for Migration Research
119. Trudi Tate, Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
120. Swapnil Chaudhari, Independent consultant
121. Sinéad Murphy, Lecturer, King’s College London
122. Diya Gupta, Postdoctoral Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of English Studies, University of London
123. Razak Khan, Dr., Göttingen University
124. Anja Rekeszus, PhD, King’s College London
125. Lauren Wilks, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Edinburgh
126. Lina Dencik, Reader, Cardiff University