Students Of Three US Universities Extend Solidarity To Striking JNU Students

By Concerned Students

17 February, 2016
Countercurrents.org

We, the undersigned at Syracuse University, Colgate University, and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, are in solidarity with our comrades at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India against the ongoing anti-democratic actions by the Indian state. We demand an immediate end to the police action against students on campus, and withdrawal of all charges against Kanhaiya Kumar, President of the JNU Students’ Union. We further demand that the Central Government put an immediate end to its prejudiced persecution of student activists on campuses across the country.

We strongly believe that the charge of sedition against Kanhaiya Kumar follows spurious claims. This arrest is an excuse for the state to root out dissenting voices on JNU campus, a move towards converting educational institutions like JNU into an arm of the authoritarian state. Attempts of a similar nature have been witnessed recently at other Indian educational institutions such as Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Hyderabad University. The growing threat to academic freedom posed by the current political climate is transnational, and extends beyond India to other parts of the world--it is a threat we face here in the United States, too.

For any word or action to qualify as being “seditious” under Indian law, it has to directly issue a call to violence. This was not the nature of the protest held by JNU students against the judicial killing of Afzal Guru, who was convicted of an attack on the Indian parliament. The peaceful protest held on February 9 on campus was not unlike other protests convened at the university over the last several decades. Dissent is an essential part of a healthy democracy. We therefore strongly condemn the Indian government’s response to the students’ protests and demand that the state refrain from authoritarian behaviour. In this spirit, we urge the Vice Chancellor of JNU to protect members of the university community and safeguard their democratic rights.

Natasha S.K., Social Science, Syracuse University

Taveeshi Singh, Social Science, Syracuse University

Mitul Baruah, Geography, Syracuse University

Sean Wang, Geography, Syracuse University

Miguel Contreras, Geography, Syracuse University

Manuela Ruiz Reyes, Geography, Syracuse University

Carolina Arango-Vargas, Anthropology, Syracuse University

Tina Catania, Geography, Syracuse University

Linh Khanh Nguyen, Anthropology, Syracuse University

Jon Erickson, Geography, Syracuse University

Tom Perreault, Geography, Syracuse University

Jessie Speer, Geography, Syracuse University

Sravani Biswas, History, Syracuse University

Don Mitchell, Geography, Syracuse University

Tod Rutherford, Geography, Syracuse University

Jacquelyn MicieliVoutsinas, Geography, Syracuse University

Sturdy Knight, Information Studies, Syracuse University

Jenna Sikka, Sociology, Syracuse University

Jaisang Sun, Social Science, Syracuse University

Madhura Lohokare, Anthropology, Syracuse University

Brian Dobreski, Information Studies, Syracuse University

Sujata Bajracharya, Religion, Syracuse University

Chandra TalpadeMohanty, Women’s and Gender Studies, Syracuse University

Alisa Weinstein, Anthropology, Syracuse University

Li Chen, Mass Communications, Syracuse University

Taapsi Ramchandani, Anthropology, Syracuse University

Laura Jaffee, Cultural Foundations of Education, Syracuse University

Tula Goenka, Television-Radio-Film, Syracuse University

Romita Ray, Art and Music Histories, Syracuse University

Dorothy Kou, Sociology, Syracuse University

Kriangsak Terrakowitkajom, Geography, Syracuse University

Susan S. Wadley, Anthropology, Syracuse University

Emily Mitchell-Eaton, Geography, Syracuse University

Scarlett Rebman, History, Syracuse University

Matt Huber, Geography, Syracuse University

Brian Hennigan, Geography, Syracuse University

Parvathy Binoy, Geography, Syracuse University

Liz Mount, Sociology, Syracuse University

Himika Bhattacharya, Women's & Gender Studies, Syracuse University

John Western, Geography, Syracuse University

Vani Kannan, Composition and Cultural Rhetoric, Syracuse University

Ani Maitra, Film and Media Studies, Colgate University

Diane Swords, Cultural Foundations of Education, Syracuse University

Alejandro Camargo, Geography, Syracuse University

Cecilia Van Hollen, Anthropology, Syracuse University

Alexandra Jebbia, Documentary Film & History, Syracuse University

David Gustavsen, English, Syracuse University

Michael Gill, Cultural Foundations of Education, Syracuse University

Tiago Teixeira, Geography, Syracuse University

Nimanthi Rajasingham, English, Colgate University

Kimberly E. Powell, Women’s & Gender Studies, Syracuse University

Sharon Moran, Environmental Studies, SUNY-ESF

Adam Fix, Environmental Studies, SUNY-ESF

Alvaro A. Salas, Public Administration, Syracuse University

Diane R. Wiener, Division of Student Affairs - Disability Cultural Center, Syracuse University

Brett Keegan, Composition and Cultural Rhetoric, Syracuse University

Jyoti G. Balachandran, History, Colgate University

Barbara L. Regenspan, Educational Studies, Colgate University

Deborah J. Knuth Klenck, English, Colgate University

Suzanne B. Spring, Writing & Rhetoric, Colgate University

Cristina Serna, Women’s Studies, Colgate University

Joel Bordeaux, Religion, Colgate University

Mark Stern, Educational Studies, Colgate University

Susan Thomson, Peace and Conflict Studies, Colgate University

Kapil Mandrekar, Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY-ESF.

Jackie Orr, Sociology, Syracuse University.