Huma Dar
JNU Faculty, Students, Alumni, SFI, CPI(M), AIDWA, other self-professed “progressive Indians” can either side with the unfettered right to self-determination of Kashmiris, our inalienable right to Azadi, or concede being colonialists.
#YouCannotHaveYourCakeAndEatToo
from Palestine to Kashmir #EndAllOccupations (lemme spell it out: it is EXTREMELY hypocritical of you, comrades, to turn a blind eye to the latter genocidal Occupation, BY YOUR OWN COUNTRY while you attempt to spearhead the freedom movement of the former.)
of course, I do NOT desire anyone to is imprisoned or harassed even for their lily-livered & selfish colonial politics, and stand with them in favor of freedom of speech and their academic freedom, however, I do also demand the same of my comrades & myself.
that said, here are excerpts from a recent statement of the Central Executive Committee of SFI [the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)] on the developments in JNU, that demand scrutiny (the emphases & comments embedded throughout are all mine):
“The Central Executive Committee of Students’ Federation of India strongly condemns the *secessionist slogans raised by a section of students.* [dear comrades: DECOLONIZATION, the dismantling of an Occupation,
is NOT a secession!] Such *irresponsible* slogans *cannot be accepted at any cost.* [since when did calls for the right to self-determination, as agreed to by India before the United Nations, become “irresponsible”? who are you to not accept the call for freedom, for Azadi, from an Occupied people?! ] We are against all kind of separatist tendencies. [“separatist” implies an agreed-to mythic “togetherness” sometime in the past! when? how? between whom? please do check the records of ethnic cleansing, massacres, torture, lynchings & disappearances conducted in your names, comrades, from day 0 of the Indian Occupation to concede the irrepressible resistance of Kashmiris from the very beginning!]
SFI has had a *glorious history* of struggle against the *secessionist forces* [see comments above] across the country. Hundreds of SFI activists have given the supreme sacrifice of their lives while fighting against the *secessionist forces in Assam and Punjab in the 1980s.* [you mean the Khalistan freedom movement & the freedom struggle in Assam?! the counterinsurgency moves against which include the genocide of Sikhs, 1984-now, and the Nellie massacre of 1983?!] SFI was the only organization which had the courage to give the slogan “We will let our bodies be cut into pieces, but not allow to break this country.” [ehmm!] We not only cherish this rich history but are carrying it forward as well.
…
We can’t allow fascist outfits to use the actions of some of the *misguided* elements to attack the entire university.” [comrades: do check the definition of “misguided” – to be guided by the love of freedom, justice, and self-determination is anything but.]
Huma Dar, Lecturer, Asian American & Asian Diasporas Studies Program, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA and leading kashmiri intellectual
