The students, faculty members and campus residents of the IIT Bombay are registering their dissent of the association of Mood Indigo (Cultural Fest of IIT Bombay) with the state of Israel as sponsor of an event. We, the students and faculty of IIT Bombay, are shocked to see the association of Mood Indigo 2014 with the state of Israel. It is disturbing to see that the Consulate General of Israel, Mumbai has been named as the one of the official event associate in the sponsor section of the official mood indigo, 2014 web page and that it was a co-organiser for the Afternites SPEECHLESS event. We, the students and faculty of IIT Bombay believe that it is highly unethical to take any kind of sponsorship from the state of Israel. We do not have anything against Hanoch Rosenn, the beautiful mime artist who enthralled us with his charm and skill. In fact we believe that these kind of programs by the Israeli performers will help us understand the culture of the people of Israel and help us recognizing the other face of the nation which stands opposite to its war monger state authorities. But these programs should be funded by a less controversial funding agency than the Israeli state. We are standing against the foreign policy of the state of Israel. In that beautiful promotional music video, screened in the convocation hall, we saw many happy Israeli people and beautiful locations. But the faces of the 2060 Palestinian children, brutally murdered since September 29, 2000 upto 21st July, 2014 (According to Remember These Children, a coalition of groups calling for an end to the killing of children and a fair resolution of the conflict) [1] and many more, murdered everyday for the almost last 50 years, were nowhere. Even the 133 children of Israel who died in this conflict were nowhere. We find it nauseating to promote a cultural festival by a country waging a one-sided war, which has been described by many eminent personalities including Prof. Noam Chomsky, Prof. Stephen Hawking, and Prof. Edward Said as a genocide. In this context we want to remind you that Prof. Stephen Hawking boycotted the prestigious Presidential conference organized by the President of Israel in May, 2014[2]. Prof. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said on Israels activities- In the Occupied Territories, what Israel is doing is much worse than apartheid. To call it apartheid is a gift to Israel, at least if by apartheid you mean South African-style apartheid. Whats happening in the Occupied Territories is much worse. Theres a crucial difference. The South African Nationalists needed the black population. That was their workforce. The Israeli relationship to the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories is totally different. They just dont want them. They want them out, or at least in prison.[3] In 2012, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, along with other notable authors, poets and artists boycotted the program of legendary music conductor Zubin Mehta and his Philharmonic Orchestra, on the ground that they are being funded by Israeli state[4]. It should also be noted that these kind of cultural promotion by Israel Government is a part of their policy from 2006 to make the world forget about their war activities[5]. Not only that, Israel’s organized attack on Palestine society extends to every part of the society- working class, teachers, doctors, authors and artists. Hana Awwad, former dancer with El Funoun Popular Dance Troupe, explained to Adalah-NY. “Exhibits and performances by Palestinian artists are systematically banned, sabotaged, and closed down by the Israeli occupation. Artists themselves are targets of violence, arbitrary arrests, and deportations. Israels three-tiered system of occupation, colonization, and apartheid ruthlessly suffocates the livelihoods of Palestinian communities, including our right to artistic and cultural expression.” That’s why we can never see any Palestinian artist performing in Mood Indigo, whereas every year one or more artists come from Israel. As responsible members of the IIT Bombay community, we believe that Mood Indigo, being the biggest cultural festival of Asia, has some social responsibilities and we believe that Mood Indigo observes those responsibilities pretty well. Therefore, we suggest that the Mood Indigo organizing committee should be more careful and responsible about choosing sponsors and inviting people from the next time. If necessary, they can organize dialogues and debates in the campus to decide on these. References: 1. ifamericansknew.org/stat/children.html 2. theguardian/science/2013/may/08/hawking-israel-boycott-furore 3.democracynow.org/blog/2014/8/8/noam_chomsky_what_israel_is_doing 4.adalahny.org/web-action/1002/open-letter-artists-carnegie-hall-cancel-israel-philharmonic-orchestras-performance 5. nytimes/2009/03/19/world/middleeast/19israel.html?_r=0 Sincerely, Ushak Rahaman Uddipta Chatterjee Antara Chakraborty Sohom Chakrabarty Rahul Maganti Nitin Singh Sk Ashif Akram Paankhi Agrawal Prudhvitej Immadi Ubaid Mushtaq Gouri Saha Ashutosh Namdeo Prof. Abhijit Majumder (Supports the spirit of the letter) Prof. Dibyendu Das (Supports the spirit of the letter) Prof. Mukta Tripathy Arpita Phukan Biswas Aditya Shankar Prof. Sharmila Sreekumar Biswanath Bhoi Janisar Sheikh richa mishra Radha M. N. Prof. Ramesh Bairy T S Maithreyi M.R. Sarbani Bandyopadhyay
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 07:31:08 +0000
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