The Courage to Think and the Spectre of Dissent
Dissidents reject living a lie. That is why they come into conflict with the state, not deliberately but simply because they do what they feel they must do.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Rights20/Feb/2021
The dramatic opening lines of Vaclac Havelâs pathbreaking essay ‘The Power of the Powerless’ (1978) read thus: âA spectre is haunting Eastern Europe, the spectre of what in the West is called âdissentâ.â Havel, the well-known Czech playwright, essayist, politician and one-time dissident was the tenth and the last president of Czechoslovakia, and the first president of the Czech Republic. He wrote this essay for a joint Polish Czechoslovak project on freedom and power.
The increasing intolerance of the ruling dispensation at the centre towards legitimate dissent is a reflection on the state of democracy. This has been borne out by the arrest of journalists, activists, lawyers, poets, and students, trolling of public intellectuals, and hounding of public-spirited media organisations. The government, using its ever-present spectre of policing, is wielding imprisonment, suspicion, and direct violence as its strategy to deal with dissent and protest. The government has become more intolerant, particularly of the farmers’ protests, because these represent a solidarity of conscientious activists across caste, class, and gender backgrounds. This solidarity is rooted in a democratic assertion against the incarceration of these activists, as well as challenges the state and party nexus aimed at dismantling the farmers’ protests.
One is unsure where and by whom a conspiracy is being hatched. Under these conditions, to trust is to be foolish and to think of a possible conspiracy lurking is the more prudent thing to do.
Toolkit Case: Delhi Court Asks Police to Give FIR Copy to Disha Ravi
The court also allowed Ravi to speak with her family members over phone for 15 minutes a day and meet with her lawyer for 30 minutes a day, while she is in police custody.
Disha Ravi. Photo: Twitter
Rights16/Feb/2021
New Delhi: A court here on Tuesday directed Delhi Police to hand over to 21-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi a copy of the FIR and other documents related to her arrest in connection with sharing a “toolkit” on social media aimed at organising peaceful protests in support of the ongoing farmersâ movement in India.
Disha Ravi s Arrest Is Yet Another Example of Police s Disregard for Checks and Balances
The existence of statutory and constitutional safeguards has not prevented unfettered executive power from cracking down on activists and rights defenders.
Students and members of the NSUI display placards during a protest to condemn the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi in Bengaluru, February 16, 2021. Photo: PTI/Shailendra Bhojak
Rights16/Feb/2021
The Haryana home minister, 67-year-old Anil Vij, took to Twitter against the 21-year-old environmental activist Disha Ravi, saying ‘anti-nationals like her should be destroyed from the roots’. Ravi was arrested by the Delhi Police from Bengaluru and later sent to five-day police custody for allegedly editing a ‘toolkit’ shared by Greta Thunberg. The charges include sedition, criminal conspiracy, spreading disaffection against the Indian state, and promoting enmity.