The Pondicherry University Students’ Council has come up with its annual magazine under the name ‘Widerstand’ which means ‘resistance’ in German. The students said that the magazine stands in solidarity with students movements in campuses and movements against draconian laws.
On Thursday, the Dean of Students’ Welfare Prakash Babu, Hyderabad Central University, released the magazine in the presence of Pondicherry University Vice-Chancellor (in-charge) Anisa Basheer Khan, Dean of Students’ Welfare P. Moorthy and students’ council members.
The organisers said ‘Widerstand’ was a magazine published from Berlin since 1926 to advocate National Bolshevism under the editorship of Ernest Niekisch, a German politician and socialist. The magazine stood against the fascist Nazi rule and eventually shut down in 1937. Likewise, our magazine stands against the imposition of majority belief on minority.
“The magazine aims at upholding the freedom of speech in particular. The content of the magazine evaluates how the current governmental regime affects the educational system of our nation. It evaluates how the students are deeply affected by the ‘saffronisation of education’, said Anjali. G, student editor.
The magazine also deals with contemporary issues, like how India is progressing towards a better democratic system, the protest against non-NET fellowship, how casteism still prevails in the nation and the historic struggles led by the students of JNU, HCU and FTII. It also includes students’ literary works such as poems, essays and short stories.
“As Neruda sings ‘Come, see the blood in the streets’, this magazine would like to stand with those who had shed blood for gender equality, casteless society and right to choose their own food habits,” wrote the magazine committee in the foreword.
