[IN SOLIDARITY WITH STUDENTS OF AMU] Here is an article from an AMU alumna critically examining the issue and laying out what is at stake with a level of articulation we wish we had. Very impressive. We quote the conclusion of it below, but we recommend you read the entire article: By Asiya Islam: In this current political climate, we need to realise that inequalities are multifarious. But demands for gender equality do not compete with other social justice issues at hand – rather, they are complementary. We cannot excuse continued discrimination against women while asking for minority rights. Therefore, we should question the government’s and media’s sudden concern with gender equality in AMU (this is after all a deeply conservative government), but let us not discount the gravity of the library issue for women who study and work there. [Editors Note to Jamia Students: In case youre wondering why Jamia Journal is paying so much attention to an issue that has nothing to do with Jamia, then let us explain to you why. First, as most of you must already know, for JMI, AMU is not just any other university in India. Like we had said earlier, we consider JMI and AMU to be sister universities. Our institutional histories are interlinked. Our concern for the well-being of AMU is as much as it is for JMI. And we also know, AMUs concern for the well-being of JMI is equally important, despite what some might have felt on reading the comments in the comments section of our previous AMU related post. Second, since AMU and JMI are minority institutions, our institutional culture, our concerns, our problems, our issues are also very similar. We thankfully might not have the same exact library issue, as AMU does, but we have similar conservative retrograde tendencies as AMU. However, since we are part of the institution, fear of reprisal from our own administration makes it difficult for us to be vocally critical of it. We are sure it must be the same for students of AMU. So we hope, in the event we face a similar situation in Jamia, students of AMU will come forward in our support as we are doing for them now. And we can only expect that support if we were to offer it first. And this is our opportunity to set the precedent. So for the reasons stated above, we pursue this issue on Jamia Journal. On a side note; with reference to our previous AMU-related post, we would like to say, our words might have given the impression that we consider Jamia to be somehow better or superior to AMU. That is not at all the case. We do not advocate any kind of JMI vs AMU rivalry. All we wanted to express was our appreciation for the conditions we happened to find ourselves in at Jamia today. Conditions that we know can change at any point in time, depending on who we have as a vice-chancellor. It was our good fortune we did not get AMUs current VC as our own. Otherwise, we would have been suffering through what the students of AMU are suffering through right now.]
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 09:14:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015