More than a hundred writers, translators and publishers have written an open letter condemning the “blatant hypocrisy” of JCB, the British bulldozer manufacturer, in “awarding a literary prize celebrating the diversity of Indian writers” while “uprooting of the lives of so many Indians from poorer and marginalised backgrounds – including Muslims, Dalits and others – not to mention its enforcement of occupation in Kashmir and Palestine.”
The letter, released on 21 November notes that JCB has “created a literature prize aimed at marginalised and diverse writers whilst simultaneously remaining complicit in destroying the lives and livelihoods of so many as a form of ‘punishment.’
The JCB Prize for Literature, 2024 winner will be announced on 23 November.
The letter goes on to state that “As writers, we will not stand for such disingenuous claims of support for the literary community. This prize cannot wash off the blood on JCB’s hands. India’s up-and-coming writers deserve better.”
The signatories include well-known Indian names such as poet and critic K. Satchidanandan, Hindi poet and publisher Asad Zaidi, Adivasi poet Jacinta Kerketta, poet and novelist Meena Kandasamy and Dalit poet and activist Cynthia Stephen. There are in addition many distinguished names from Palestine and the Middle East including Palestinian novelist Isabella Hammad and poet Rafeef Ziadah, Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, Iraqi poet and novelist Sinan Antoon and Omar Robert Hamilton, novelist and Director of the Palestinian Festival of Literature.
There are also a host of signatories in Britain, where JCB is based, owned by billionaire businessman Lord Anthony Bamford, a ‘superdonor’ to the Conservative Party. They include well-known Irish novelist and screenwriter Ronan Bennett, novelist Andrew O’Hagan and novelist and screenwriter Nikesh Shukla.
“We, the undersigned, are writing to expose the deep-rooted hypocrisy of the JCB Prize for Literature, on account of the company’s major role in the horrifying destruction of homes and livelihoods across India, Kashmir and Palestine. We condemn the obscuring of violence that this prize stands for. JCB (India) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British construction equipment manufacturer JCB, which has been one of the most influential donors to the British Conservative party. The employment of JCB equipment within far right Hindu supremacist projects in India comes as no surprise in this context,” read the letter.
It went on to say: “For years, Narendra Modi’s Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has consistently used JCB bulldozers in a systemic campaign to demolish Muslim homes, shops and places of worship across various Indian states – an ongoing project disturbingly named ‘bulldozer justice’. These same bulldozers and backhoe loaders are also responsible for home demolitions and settlement expansion in occupied Palestine, due to a contract between JCB’s agent and the Israeli Ministry of Defence, thus playing a key role in Israel’s continued attempts at ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Unsurprisingly, JCB exports its support for occupation and displacement to Kashmir, where its equipment is deployed to demolish Kashmiri homes.”
“According to its website, the JCB Prize for Literature ‘aims to celebrate Indian writing’ and has appointed a jury ‘from various areas of Indian social and intellectual life’. This apparent championing of diversity is deeply hypocritical from a company responsible for the uprooting of the lives of so many Indians from poorer and marginalised backgrounds – including Muslims, Dalits and others – not to mention its enforcement of occupation in Kashmir and Palestine. The website for the JCB Prize further mentions the company’s ‘longstanding involvement in the country’s social and economic life’. However, this involvement has in fact been hugely destructive. Between April and June 2022, researchers from Amnesty International found that authorities in five states – BJP-ruled states of Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governed state of Delhi – carried out demolitions as a ‘punishment’ following episodes of communal violence or protests against discrimination by those in authority against Muslims. (In Delhi, the demolitions were carried out by the BJP central government-controlled Delhi Development Authority.) Out of 128 documented demolitions, at least 33 instances of the repeated use of JCB’s equipment were verified,” the letter states.
“The JCB Prize website claims to create a ‘cultural legacy’ and champion Indian writers on the world stage. However, a prize awarded by a company responsible for the destruction of human lives globally is not a meaningful celebration of a country’s literature. This destruction is JCB’s true legacy in India and beyond. We condemn JCB’s hypocrisy in creating a literature prize aimed at marginalised and diverse writers whilst simultaneously remaining complicit in destroying the lives and livelihoods of so many as a form of ‘punishment’. Through bulldozer demolitions, JCB is punishing the marginalised communities which it claims to be rewarding through the literature prize. As writers, we will not stand for such disingenuous claims of support for the literary community. This prize cannot wash off the blood on JCB’s hands. India’s up- and-coming writers deserve better,” the letter concludes.
Meena Kandasamy wrote on X: “When corporations like JCB fund literary prizes while simultaneously operating machinery that demolishes homes in Kashmir, bulldozes communities in Palestine, or enables state violence against Muslims in India, they are not promoting culture—they are performing an act of profound immorality. The veneer of cultural sophistication that comes from sponsoring the literary prize will not take away the fact that JCB has now come to stand-in for the image of a ubiquitous yellow bulldozer that perpetuates displacement and violence. Showcasing itself as a patron of literature is nothing but a calculated strategy of reputation management.”
“How ironic that the term JCB is more popular in India as the machine that has aided the demolition of literally hundreds of thousands of houses of the common citizens of India in certain states of India. To see it associated with a very “prestigious”, (read large) literary prize for Indian literature is surreal. Heavy earthmoving equipment is like a knife. It can be used to build infrastructure for human comfort, but in recent years has been more used to destroy the lives of the poor and marginalised. We condemn such hypocrisy on the part of the company and those administering the prize,” says Cynthia Stephen.
“I have witnessed since 1961 – either in real life or on television – the appalling impact of Israeli forces and Settlers with their destructive machinery (made by JCB among others) in the Occupied West Bank and Jerusalem and Gaza, including the murder, by bulldozer, of Rachel Corrie. The same is true of Kashmir where nearly half a million Indian soldiers are currently stationed, and from which, in August 2019, the Indian government unilaterally removed its special status as an autonomous state,” Brigid Keenan, writer and founder of the Palestinian Festival of Literature, said.
“Israel has violated every international criminal law since the Nakba of 1948, to the present time, and continue to do so with even more urgency and more and more demolitions by JCB. This is why I have signed this letter,” Keenan added.
“JCB has become a symbol of state-sponsored hate and intimidation of minorities and marginalized groups in Modi’s India. It is trying to gain legitimacy with the literature prize. This has nothing to do with promotion of free speech, diversity and pluralism. As writers it’s critical that we speak up against this flagrant violation of human rights. This letter is a silent protest which is a small but important beginning,” said journalist and author Zia us Salam.
The letter is part of an ongoing campaign to stop JCB’s destructive activities in Palestine, India and Kashmir.
