If 2018 was a year of assaults on citizens’ rights, it was also a year that marked collective resistance. Here is a look at some of the movements where artists, writers, teachers, students, women, farmers, and workers came forward to express solidarity with each other:
“The hands that grow food give life to the nation”
The All India Kisan Struggle Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), representing almost two hundred farmer organisations, organised the Kisan Mukti March to Delhi to highlight the worsening agrarian scenario and the continued neglect of the agricultural sector by the government.
Rhythm of Resistance: When T M Krishna Did Sing
T M Krishna made a public announcement asking for a stage, anywhere in Delhi for him to come and sing and three days after his performance was cancelled, he did perform.
Letter Sent to the President of the Sahitya Akademi in Support of Damodar Mauzo
It is with a sense of considerable anxiety and dismay that we who belong to the community of writers, a community which holds fast to democratic and secular values enshrined in our constitution, have noticed recent developments relating to writers. We are specifically pointing to the news that Konkani writer and Sahitya Academy award winner, Prof. Damodar Mauzo has been so badly trolled and threatened that the Goa police on its own decided to provide him and his family police protection.
All India Women’s Protest Rally
Thousands of women marched towards the Parliament on September 4, chanting slogans and singing songs of resistance. Women from 20 different states participated in the march in New Delhi, protesting against the ever-increasing culture of violence and injustice against women in the country and the insolent silence of the government on this matter.
Writers against Self-censorship
The thugs policing our cultural fraternity have struck again. In response to the violent threats against his family, Malayalam writer S Hareesh has now withdrawn his novel Meesa (Moustache) being serialised by Mathrubhumi, stating that he will publish it when “the climate is congenial”. Writers from across India express their solidarity with S Hareesh.
Artists Respond to the Kisan Long March
The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) mobilised over 25,000 farmers across Maharashtra to come together for a march from Nashik to Mumbai, covering a distance of 200 km, by foot. They began the march on 6 March 2018. The Kisan Long March, as it is being called, demanded loan waivers and implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report, according to which farmers should be paid one and a half times the cost of production for what they produce.
Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum