jueves, 24 de agosto de 2017

Grecia/India: Liberdade e Xustiza para o Profesor GN Saibaba!

Dende Grecia chega este chamamento da Federación de Profesores da Escola Secundaria:


The conviction of the English professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba has created sadness and indignation. The decision of the District and Sessions Court in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra to impose life imprisonement on Professor Saibaba and four other co-defendants is an unprecedentred decision in the judicial annals of India since its independence in 1947. Professor Saibaba, a 90% invalid since childhood, and restricted to a wheelchair, is accused, without any proof, that he had contacts with the illegal CP India (Maoist) and the naxalite guerilla movement. The accusations were based on his views and ideas as well as on his public political and social activities. It was indeed a rich activity, since his youth, alongside the poor and destitute Indians in the cities and the rural areas.
What mainly irritated the indian state authorities were his struggles and condemnations, in India and internationally, of the violent operations of the police and paramilitary forces against the indigenous people in the hinterland of India. It is about an operation that is combined with the looting of land and forests by the multinational mining and construction companies. The conviction of Saibaba was based on provisions and articles of the anti-terrorist law (UAPA) that incriminates ideas, articles, books and public speeches, considering them preparatory terrorist deeds that undermine national security!
Besides his invalidity, professor Saibaba, due to his long incarceration, faces additional health problems. His life imprisonment in the harsh conditions of indian jails, the denial of medical and pharmaceutical help are equal to a conviction to a slow and tortuous death. For the life and freedom of professor Saibaba international humanitarian organizations have been mobilized, as well as the Indian Chapter of Amnesty International, and personalities of the Arts and Letters in Asia, Europe, and America.

With this joint letter, that is addressed to the government and judicial authorities in India, to its diplomatic representation in Greece and every international organization for humanitarian and democratic rights, we ask for the revocation of the unjust conviction and the immediate release of professor Saibaba.
We demand that during his incarceration he must be under full medical and pharmaceutical support and he must be admitted to a medical institution. We join our protestation with the international solidarity movement, the professors and teachers of indian universities and the democratic organizations in India and abroad that are already mobilized so that professor Saibaba will be treated with justice and get freed!

Chairman- Nikolaos Papachristos,
Gen. Secretary-Theodoros Malagaris,
Federation of Secondary School Teachers of Greece

Athens, 31/7/2017

Resolution proposed at the 18th Congress of the Federation of Secondary School Teachers (Athens, 1 - 4 July 2017) and approved by the Administrative Council of the Federation on the 31st of July 2017

lunes, 7 de agosto de 2017

INDIA: Poema ¿Donde esta la casa de mi amigo?dedicado al profesor Saibaba


A Powerful Poem on Prof G N Saibaba
Friends, A couple of days ago, Virasam's website carried this powerful poem on G N Saibaba written by Arasavilli Krishna. Please see an English translation:

Where is my friend’s house?
Arasavilli Krishna
I asked
The sprout bursting out of dilapidated walls
I asked
The flowers of grass going to sleep in the courtyard
I looked searchingly into
The awaiting eyes of the just-born calf
Where is my friend’s house?
Strolling on the path
I collected some red flowers in my pocket
I sought
The fingers of my friend
Amidst the chinks in the misty droplets
Falling out of the bars of the window
My friend’s love letter
Remained in my hands
The letter that was addressed to
Birds and pigeons
Sneaked into my books
In the hurry of closing school
Please tell me how to reach my friend’s house
How much I explored
In the poor huts of Amalapuram
In the midst of the stink of dry fish
I wanted to hand over
The love letter in my hands
With utmost tenderness
I waited in the dark at the ruined walls
Like a wounded old dog
To see the wet face of my friend
That looked like foam on the milk
With the sound of closing eyes of fish
I caressed the fallen bricks of my friend’s house
I asked politely
The brown coloured smiling lizard
And the falling pieces of the layers of lime
Please tell me whereabouts of my friend
I asked the tricycle
That carried my friend’s body and dreams
Where is my friend?
I pulled out the love letter from my pocket
And kept it at the entrance
My conversation with the walls was ended
When I moved on my way
A jail bird perched on my arm said:
Your friend is alive
He is greeting people
From the midst of walls built by state
People will remember your friend
In the spaces between specks of food on their plates

Published on Virasam website
http://virasam.org/article.php?page=544
(Translation from Telugu by N Venugopal)