‘End Israeli aggression immediately, take time-bound measures to end occupation of Palestine’

By Abdul Bari Masoud

New Delhi, Nov. 6, 2023:
Over 100 Indians as well as a number of organizations, including labor unions, feminist and civil liberties groups, student organizations, and kisan unions, expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle and their ongoing national cause against Zionist occupation. These groups demanded an immediate ceasefire and time-bound measures to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. They further urged “all likeminded Indians in the country and in the diaspora to take to the streets,” plan demonstrations, and “spread awareness” on Palestine.

They issued a strongly worded statement on Saturday amid severe repression of pro-Palestine protests across Indian cities, as protestors have been detained, assaulted, and booked under criminal charges by the police.

The signatories of the statement, including writers, artists, students and educators, queer people, and non-resident Indians across walks of life, called attention to what they called the Indian government’s “complicity in its ongoing war on Gaza”. India abstained from a UN General Assembly resolution calling for an enduring humanitarian truce on Israel’s barbaric war on Gaza, with the poor excuse that the resolution lacked “explicit condemnation” of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

With this statement, Indian citizens continue to push the government to “commit to a boycott of the Israeli state and military combined and immediately end all military, strategic, and industrial cooperation between the governments and private entities of India and Israel. End all arms deals between India and Israel now.”

The statement demands “immediate” and “time-bound measures on the ground to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination and, in particular, the right of dignified return of those Palestinians dispossessed from their homelands since the 1948 Nakba.”

The signatories, which include Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) and Kirti Kisan Union (Punjab), demand the unconditional release of Palestinian prisoners, as well as Indian political prisoners who have been incarcerated for “speaking truth to power and resisting oppressive imperialist forces”.

They have also called on Indian state institutions to end the criminalization of pro-Palestine activism in the country and, notably, to stop the harassment of Indian Muslims speaking out in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

They also asked to end the criminalization of Muslims and their political activity under spurious charges of ‘terrorism’, ’sedition’, etc., and the accountability of perpetrators of the Islamophobic attacks on Arabs and Muslims everywhere. Most news portals have recorded that the ongoing series of arrests and police harassment of protestors began with the police action against four students of Aligarh Muslim University (UP) who were part of a march for justice for Palestinians on campus, Naved Chaudhary, Mohammad Kamran, Mohammad Khalid, and Mohammad Atif, and other unnamed people who were charged on October 9 for “inciting hatred and enmity between different communities”.

Further, the statement asks the Supreme Court of India and the National Human Rights Commission to act against rising hate speech against Palestinians and fake news about the Israel-Hamas attacks since October 7, much of which, according to international media outlets, is being generated and spread by social media accounts based in India.

The statement is the first major articulation of common solidarity for Palestinians against “occupation”, made by Indian citizens living in India and abroad in recent years.

Finally, the statement also addresses the Indian judiciary and the International Criminal Court, seeking “unflinching and timely accountability for the crimes against humanity committed by Israel and its allies against the people of Palestine in a specially constituted tribunal” at the ICC.

The statement endorsed by:

1. Feminists In Resistance, Kolkata
2. Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization (FACAM), Delhi
3. Revolutionary Students’ Front (RSF), West Bengal
4. Bhartiya Kisan Union( Ekta Ugrahan), Punjab
5. Students For Society, Amritsar, Punjab
6. South Asia Solidarity Group, UK
7. Democratic Youth Students Association, Kolkata
8. Democratic Students Front (Arts), Jadavpur University, Kolkata
9. Peace in India, UK
10. Women against Sexual violence and State repression (WSS)
11. Akhar Baul, Silchaur, Assam
12. Vikalp Manch
13. Bhalachandra Shadangi, All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS), Berhampur
14. Hasina Khan, Bebaak Collective, Mumbai
15. Beant Singh, Kirti Kisan Union, Punjab
16. S.L Padma, Indian Federation of Trade Union (IFTU), Telangana
17. Shambhavi, Collective, Delhi
18. Sharanya, Rangmatipadar Adivasi Commune, Koraput
19. Ayush Singh, All India Students Association, Delhi
20. Debika, Xomonnoy, Delhi
21. Erumai Rajan, Student Of Adivasi Movements, Bhubaneswar
22. Ranjana Padhi, Feminist Activist, Bhubaneswar
23. Shailza, WSS, Delhi
24. Taniya Laskar, Akhar Baul, Assam
25. Anubha, Independent Researcher
26. Intekhab Siddiki
27. Sumedha Gupta, Ambedkar University, Delhi
28. Niranjan
29. Archisha Rai, Students’ Federation Of India, Delhi
30. Pranshu, Delhi
31. Sara H, Delhi
32. Tamanna, Delhi
33. Amit Kumar, Delhi
34. Nivita Arora
35. Swati Shikha
36. Satya Rajan, Ambedkar University, Delhi
37. Nishtha
38. Kaynat
39. Salman Nazam, Delhi University, Araria
40. Mohana, Student, Delhi
41. Vivek Poddar
42. Koel Chatterji, Feminists In Resistance, Kolkata
43. Amrita, FIR, Kolkata
44. Sherein Bansal, Chandigarh
45. Kanishka, Scholar, Delhi
46. Dhwajendra Dhawal, Delhi
47. Shreela, Advocate
48. Alok Laddha, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai
49. Rohan Poojary, Tu Wien, Wien
50. Ronak M Soni, University Of Cambridge
51. Madhushree, Artist, Chennai
52. Barasha Devi, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam
53. Aparna Banerjee, West Bengal
54. Radz, Queer Person, India
55. Saumya Dadoo, Columbia University, New York
56. Puja, Lawyer, Delhi
57. Kasturee Chakravarty, Student, Mainz, Germany
58. Sachin Kumar, Patna
59. Rukmini, Kolkata
60. Ammu Abraham, Forum Against Oppression Of Women, Mumbai
61. Manu Akavoor, SINP, Kolkata
62. Madhusudhan Raman, Delhi University, Delhi
63. Ila Ananya, Bangalore
64. Satyam Yadav, Independent Researcher, Delhi
65. Purnima Rao, Delhi
66. Deepshi Chowdhury, Noida
67. Dattaraj Dhuri
68. Indranil Bhowmick, Kolkata
69. Farhat Zeba
70. Sandra
71. Ansh Sharma, Ambedkar University, Delhi
72. Amit Suthar, IMSC, Chennai
73. Shri Bhagwan, Jaipur, Rajasthan
74. Mukta Ramola, New York City
75. Varenya Ganesh, Bangalore
76. Arunesh, Lgbtqi+, Bangalore
77. Upasana Bhattacharyya, Kolkata
78. Sreyashi Choudhury, India
79. H. M. Abu Nayeem, Bangladesh
80. Sambuddha Banerjee
81. Nisha Biswas, Kolkata
82. Freny Manecksha, Writer, Maharashtra
83. Shiva Shankar, Chennai
84. Sattik Sankho, Independent Artist, Bangalore
85. Sruti
86. Jabilli
87. Swagata Chatterjee, Kolkata
88. Suchetana Chattopadhyay
89. Kajal Kiran Singh, Delhi
90. Ilina, Dash Theke Dash Hajar, Kolkata
91. Satyaki Bhattacharya, Lund, Sweden
92. Subrata Sinha
93. Amit Wagh, Bangalore
94. Satyakaam, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru
95. Lara Jesani, Advocate, Mumbai
96. Samita Chatterjee, Bengaluru
97. Sujatha Subramanian, Independent Researcher, India
98. Aparna Jha, Delhi
99. Shyamalendubikas Sarkar, Howrah, West Bengal
100. Aloka Kujur, Jha