POSTED BY JOHN K. WILSON
We are members of a collective called International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF India) and are a diverse group of diasporic Indian academics who are deeply concerned about the increasing assaults on academic freedom in India, in particular the attacks on, and incarceration of, anti-caste academics and scholars from minority backgrounds. We, strongly condemn the repression of academic freedom in India by the Indian state and its representatives, including the unlawful arrests of academics, scholar-activists, students and artistes against the charge of “sedition”. We note with deep concern that several of the arrested academics belong to oppressed caste and minority backgrounds. Many have been active as educators in raising awareness about the damage done by developmental and corporate-friendly policies to rural communities and the urban poor, Dalit and Adivasi communities in particular.
The arrests are an alarming development in a country that is struggling with the public health, economic and social impacts of the pandemic. They are part of a larger picture in which voices dedicated to the critical observation of India’s democratic executive power structures are being silenced. The repression of academic freedom is, moreover, affecting educators at all levels – for example the cancellation of a play on the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) in a secondary school in Karnataka, repressions against Adivasi school teachers, sanctions on research in Kashmir and governmental interventions in rewriting text books and language policies (see annex 1).
We appeal to fellow international academics and organizations to unite to:
– demand the immediate release of all arrested scholars and civic activists
– demand a complete withdrawal of state interference in educational institutions and
– to address cases of violation of academic freedom in any collaborations with Indian educational institutions and governmental agencies as well as in transnational contexts
Please read and sign our complete statement here: https://www.academicfreedomindia.com/campaigns
Support for your struggle should, of course, be gathered wherever possible. But be aware the AAUP is no longer a defender of academic freedom. It has succumbed to the insanity of Political Correctness. A shame, but in concert with the on-going corruption of American academia.