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The Karnataka government continues its appalling policy of preventing any public events in solidarity with Palestine. In Bengaluru, police shows up at venues before organizers do and even film screenings have been stopped.

So citizens groups are calling for people to light a candle, hold a poster and upload pictures publicly tomorrow (31 October from 6:30 pm.)

Please participate and SHARE this widely.

The Karnataka government has clamped down completely on protests for Palestine. In any case, in Bengaluru, space for protests is sharply restricted and protests are allowed only in Freedom park. For those who haven’t been there, this is a completely-out-of-the-way enclave, which ensures that no one sees the protest. (Worse, in my opinion, than Azad Maidan in Mumbai or Jantar Mantar in Delhi). But the government has refused to allow protests on Palestine even at Freedom park. A week ago, members of the Left parties intimated the police and staged a protest, only to be promptly detained. This follows an FIR that the police lodged against those who attended an event on 16 October in MG Road.

For almost 10 days, Bengaluru for Justice and Peace (a group that I have been part of) has tried to get permission for a protest. Some members of the group met the chief minister. Others met the police commissioner (after waiting for hours), and then the DCP in charge of freedom park. The police has denied permission each time.

This is completely unconstitutional. And clearly the police is simply implementing a decision that has been made by the state government. (Doesn’t take much to figure out what their political calculations are.)

Today is Hiroshima day. I was troubled by the discourse around “Oppenheimer” as we approached this anniversary. Here is my dissenting take on the movie.

The movie glosses over the fact that, during the second world war, Oppenheimer did not restrict himself to the technical aspects of the bomb. He advocated for its use in Japan, dismissed other options, and played a role in planning its delivery so that it would take as many lives as possible.

Most seriously, by glorifying the Manhattan project and the US victory in the technical race to build the bomb, the movie obscures the magnitude of the crime committed by the Truman administration when it decided to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The article provides more details.

https://thewire.in/film/oppenheimer-did-not-stop-at-building-a-nuclear-bomb-he-also-pushed-for-its-use-in-japan

an article on the recent events in IISc and IISER Mohali.

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/scientists-need-the-oxygen-of-free-speech/article67076627.ece

A letter from members of the academic community to the director of IISc protesting the events that I described in my last post.

This was signed by more than 500 academics and scientists, including several members of IISc. The list of signatories is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Oee1bwCWrbOGivqYZzvTpjg8JN6VXQP-3iDwVn9Ud_A/edit

and some reports are here: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/your-actions-have-damaged-iiscs-reputation-scientists-and-academics-protest-cancellation-of-discussion-on-uapa-8698246/

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/scientists-academicians-write-to-iisc-director-expressing-dismay-over-uapa-discussion/article67036627.ece

https://science.thewire.in/education/dismayed-academics-scientists-iisc-uapa-talk/

An update on the talks on the UAPA by Natasha and Devangana I posted about a few days ago. We had a talk at ICTS on Monday without incident.

A talk was supposed to take place in IISc today but, at the last minute, the registrar stepped in and cancelled the permission that the CCE department had already granted to the organizers. The registrar declared that “event cannot be permitted to be held within the premises of the Institute”.

It is somewhat puzzling that, in an academic institute, the registrar arrogates to themselves the right to decide what discussions can or cannot happen in a department.

The student organizers then decided to cancel the talk and have an informal interaction instead. See pictures below.

The IISc adminstration then sent the security to break up even this interaction and force people to disperse! Fortunately, after the intervention of IISc faculty who were there, the security back-tracked.

I am not a member of IISc, but given the place that IISc has in the Indian scientific and academic ecosystem, I feel this affects all of us. I am absolutely appalled.

As anyone who was present at the ICTS talk can say, the discussion was absolutely innocuous. The speakers discussed aspects of the UAPA and the injustice that they saw in prisons. Is this supposed to be beyond limits in our leading academic institutions?

Next week, we are planning to have three talks by Natasha and Devangana who will discuss the UAPA and its misuse through the lens of their own experience. Two of the talks are aimed at students in ICTS and IISc—a discussion we really need to have in our scientific institutions. Finally, there is a public talk at the Ashirvad centre. Please come for at least one of these events if you can. Please also share this announcement and spread the word to others who might be interested.

Schedule

ICTS: Date : 26th June (Monday) Venue : ICTS , Emmy Noether Seminar Hall Directions : https://goo.gl/maps/mFF8K3wkkP6vDGwh6 Time : 4pm

IISc: Date. : 28th June (Wednesday) Venue. : IISc, CCE Lecture Hall Directions : https://goo.gl/maps/NsFCKzeyEPG5ZYV7A Time : 5:30pm

Public Event: Date. : 29th June (Thursday) Venue. : Ashirvad Centre , 31, St Mark’s Rd, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru 560001 Directions. : https://goo.gl/maps/1yL9CKv3DMDkipek6 Time. : 5:30pm

The Injustice of Law: UAPA, Prisons and The Criminal Justice System" (29 June, 5:30 pm at Ashirvad)

Speakers: Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita

Details: Natasha and Devangana will take us through their journey of being charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) elaborating on how this draconian law which stands in violation of many fundamental constitutional values, has become an instrument for suppressing dissent by those in power. They will look at the history of the use of such ’exceptional laws’ and how they contribute to enhancing the power of authoritarian regimes. Drawing on their experiences of incarceration, they will also share their reflections on the urgent need for thinking politically about prisons – how our criminal justice system disproportionately incarcerates the most marginalised communities in our country, making access to justice contingent on one’s caste-class-gender locations.

This event is organized by Sthayi (ICTS), Breaking the silence (IISc), Academics for Democratic Rights (www.acdr.in) and the India Academic Freedom Network.

Contact: +91-9819165832

I have always found the Nature publishing model distasteful. Fortunately, in high-energy theory we have rid ourselves of these scientific gatekeepers and publication is largely via the arXiv, with peer-review being done through community journals. But I still sometimes get requests to review manuscripts when someone in HET decides to submit there.

I decided a while back that I would decline to review manuscripts for journals that forced authors to pay an exorbitant APC, as some of the Springer-Nature journals do.

It would be useful if more members of the scientific community were to do likewise.

Here is a sample email that I sent to Nature Communications a few months back.