Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network stands in solidarity with Indian political prisoner, Delhi University professor, and Revolutionary Democratic Front leader, Dr. GN Saibaba, and urges his immediate and unconditional release by Indian authorities.
Dr. Saibaba is well-known for his leading advocacy and activism in supporting the movements of the most oppressed: Dalit people, Adivasi people, women, and the poor. His organization, the Revolutionary Democratic Front, has been targeted by Indian police and officials using an “anti-terror” framework that has been a major weapon of the Indian state in suppressing dissent and organizing.
Dr. Saibaba has been suspended by Delhi University and held in solitary confinement; his bail was denied on June 13. Prior to his arrest, his home was raided four times since September 2013. He has been denied medical accommodations for his disability; he has used a wheelchair since he was a child.
He has been charged with being a member of a “prohibited ‘terrorist’ organization,” the Communist Party of India (Maoist). These types of laws and designations of political parties are one of the most common charges faced by Palestinian political prisoners, as the Zionist occupation has labelled every Palestinian political party (and the students’, women’s, labour and charity organizations associated with them) “hostile prohibited organizations,” and membership or support to such organizations can see Palestinians serving years in prison.
In the United States, Canada, the European Union and elsewhere, so-called “terror lists” have created lists of international organizations – many of which are progressive or revolutionary organizations or national liberation movements whose organizing challenges imperialism and corporate hegemony – and used those lists, and prohibitions of “material support” to target Palestinian, Lebanese, Filipino, Tamil and other communities, leaders and organizations for prosecution and suppress community organizing. Indigenous organizing against land grabs, displacement and colonization has long been branded as “terror,” while Black and Latino resistance organizations (like the Black Panther Party) have been hunted and criminalized.
In India, the Revolutionary Democratic Front has been known for its active organizing with the most oppressed forces in the country challenging mining corporations’ land grabs and displacement of Adivasi people. Indian activists have pointed out that the “anti-terror” law in India is a mechanism for suppressing exactly such resistance.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins the call from Indian and international organizations for the release of Dr. GN Saibaba, and his return to teaching at Delhi University!
Related statements:
- National Lawyers Guild International Committee
- Alliance for People’s Health
- South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy
- International League of People’s Struggles
- BASICS News on Vancouver Protest
Speakers at Vancouver rally call for freedom for Dr. Saibaba (Via Red Sparks Union):
Chinmoy Bannerjee, South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy
Erie Maestro, Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights
Lakhbir, East Indian Defense Committee
Tom Warren, Alliance for People’s Health
