In Solidarity with Indian protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC)
Joint Statement By:
SIPA Students of Color (SSOC),
Working Group on Race, Inequality, Solidarity, and Economics (RISE),
SIPA Muslims Commons (SMC),
Latin American Student Association (LASA),
SIPA Pan African Network (SPAN),
Human Rights Working Group (HRWG),
Humanitarian Affairs Working Group (HAWG),
UN Studies Working Group (UNSWG),
Gender Policy Working Group (GPWG),
Women in Leadership (WIL),
Spectrum (LGBT+ and Allies Group),
Civil and Voter Engagement Coalition (CiVEC),
Palestine Working Group (PWG),
Taiwan Focus (TF),
Migration Working Group (MWG),
Middle East and North Africa Forum (MENAF),
Filmmaking For Policy Change (FFPC),
Eurasia Group (EG),
Southeast Asian Student Initiative (SEASI),
Technology and Innovation Student Association (TISA),
Conflict Resolution Working Group (CRWG),
Columbia Impact Investing Initiative (CI3)
Dear Columbia SIPA Community,
We stand in solidarity with University students across India, including the ones who faced police brutality at Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University, as well as citizens who are exercising their democratic right of protesting the Islamophobic Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and the internet bans that have curtailed freedom of speech in Kashmir and across the country.
We hope to be a safe space and allies for South Asian, Indian, Indian Muslim, Muslim and other marginalized students at Columbia SIPA who are under particular distress during this time.
In Strength and Solidarity,
SSOC, RISE, SMC, LASA, SPAN, HRWG, HAWG, UNSWG, GPWG, WIL, Spectrum, CiVEC, PWG, TF, MWG, MENAF, FFPC, EG, SEASI, TISA, CRWG, CI3
Call to Action: How Students at SIPA and Columbia University can support anti-CAA, anti-NRC, anti-NPR movements in India***
Nationwide protests are still in full swing against India's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) that would persecute Muslims and marginalized individuals in India on an unprecedented scale.
Apart from Muslims, the cumbersome documents to prove one’s citizenship and religion that NRC, NPR, and CAA require also put poor, transgender, orphan, refugee, indigenous tribal Indian (Adivasi) and Dalit individuals under particular risk of becoming stateless and being forced into camps.
Therefore, nation-wide protests have broken out. Unfortunately, the State apparatus has brutally come down on democratic protests. Peaceful protests have been met with stun grenades, bullets, teargas, random seizure of property of minorities, and detention of dissenting activists, intellectuals, and citizens alike. There have been over 20 casualties in a week, with the youngest one being as young as 8 years old. The State is doing a disappointing job of upholding democratic values of the world's largest democracy.
This is why we believe we need to continue to organize, agitate, and educate against CAA, NRC, and NPR.
In the past weeks, students at Columbia University have been active allies to the protests against NRC, NPR, and CAA in India. Columbia University's South Asian Feminist Association spearheaded a petition against NRC and CAA that has been signed by professors, students, alumni, and the university administration. We also had a solidarity gathering on Thursday, 19th of December 2019, that nearly over 100 individuals attended despite the frigid cold and finals week.
We have another solidarity gathering planned on Thursday, 30th of January 2020, at 1 PM on the Low Library steps where we hope you will stand with us in solidarity.
***Please note this call to action excerpt is separate from the joint solidarity statement.
