We, the regional group Lüneburg, want to draw attention to the following lecture series. We did not organize the lectures ourselves, but support it as a regional group. For some months now, there has been a huge farmers uprising in India, which did not receive a lot of attention in Germany. In the lecture series, Indian activists and scholars will speak about the farmers protests and increasing neoliberalism and nationalism in India.
Digital Lecture Series
Introduction: For last several months, India has seen huge farmers’ uprisings that not only challenge the Hindu nationalist government, but also the on-going process of neo-liberalization that has especially picked pace under the present ruling government. This rise of nationalism and neo-liberalization has meant persecution of minorities, an increased precarity of the general masses and increased exploitation of the natural resources. However, we perceive a lack of awareness on these issues within the German society. Moreover, there is hardly any space for Indian activists and scholars to address such issues to a German audience.
Plan: With an objective to create awareness, we are organizing a digital lecture series covering five issues mentioned below. These lectures will be presented by Indian activists and scholars who have been working on issues relating to authoritarianism and neo-liberalization in India.
• 03.04.21 (Saturday) o India’s Farmers Protest – By Inderjit singh
• 10.04.21 (Saturday) o Human and Civil rights violations and the dismantling of democratic institutions – By Anjali Bhardwaj
• 17.04.21 (Saturday) o Dilution of the Labour laws and the Worker’s rights – By R. Karumalaiyan
• 24.04.21 (Saturday) o Persecution of socio-cultural and political minorities – By Kavita Krishnan
• 02.05.21 (SUNDAY) o Slowing economy, rising unemployment and the rising precarity – By Pratyush Nilotpal
The lecture will take place from 5 to 7 pm (German time) and will be conducted in English. For every topic there will be one speaker who will speak for 45 minutes to one hour. Thereafter, the speaker will take questions from the audience for further discussion. The entire event will be hosted by Zugvögel, the Local Group of Germany wide “Zugvögel” (Postcolonial network).
About the Speakers: Mr. Inderjit Singh is a political activist and has been active with the worker’s and Farmers’ movements in India. Ms. Anjali Bhardwaj is a social activist working for the people’s right to transparency and accountability. Mr. R. Karumalaiyan is the National Secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions. Ms. Kavita Krishnan is a women’s rights activist and is the Secretary of the All-India Progressive women’s Association. Mr. Pratyush Nilotpal is long time worker activist and is currently working on re-imagining worker’s politics.
Zoom link: https://leuphana.zoom.us/j/96920582887…
Meeting ID: 969 2058 2887 – Passcode: 448092
