Students For Society (SFS) is a student organisation (based in Chandigarh) founded on 28th september, 2010.
Hereby we present our Students' Proclamation, the basic understanding of the organisation.
Students' Proclamation
"When a long train of Abuses
and Usurpation pursuing invariably the same object (to exploit and oppress),
evinces the design to reduce people under absolute despotism, then it is their
RIGHT, it is their DUTY to throw, to alter, to abolish such government." -THOMAS JEFFERSON (1776)
Students come in educational institutes with some aspirations to
identify themselves in society as engineers, professors, teachers, officers and
doctors etc. For this they have to compete continuously with the challenges of
prevailing socio-political and economical conditions. Their fates play in cruel
hands of ‘market’ controlled by demand and supply. Market compels the individuals
to struggle with each others to achieve their goals. But in their whole life
they never understand the thread-force that makes them dance like a puppet.
Actually, the position of students in society is responsible for abstract
nature of their thinking as the students are not involved in any production
efforts. This is a basic nature of human being that he/she tries to imagine,
what is happening in surrounding and also, tries to materialize his/her
thoughts and ideas in such a surrounding.
The reality of life can be manifested only when one goes to identify himself as the real member in the process of production. Students in fact, have no such base and thus their ideas are the manifestation of crude imagination based on the sources like education institutions, internet, T.V and newspapers etc. which gives impression on the mind of student as the ruling class chooses. But problem arises when these utopian impressions created by media and peer groups, crash like the peck of cards on the platform of real social system. The impression of the 20-22 years mind-feeding is so intense that the ‘ideal student’ mostly fails to deal with these problems since our education system shows ‘fair-side of the world or the dark side fairly’. It provides the ‘fancy goggles’ to youth which shows only the richness of the world and presents the poor as the genetically modified creatures that are happy with the darkness!
The educational system never talks of the real essence of richness and
poverty and relation between them. It never recognizes the root cause of troubles
faced by all the sections of society that lies in the policies pursued by
government in favor of imperialist capital and feudal forces. It is propagated
that over-population is the cause of poverty! But as student enters to
solve the question of over-population he finds himself to be trapped in the
unending vicious circle of cause-effect relation i.e. “poverty means population
means illiteracy means unemployment means poverty means……………..”. At the end
he concludes with the naive middle class idea of “kuch nahi hota”
(nothing can be changed), “all is well!” or finally he gets entrapped in
the cobweb of NGOs that are generally financed and used by the big corporate
(who themselves are one of the biggest exploiters) in order project themselves
as philanthropists.
But considering the ever-changing
nature of world we know that throughout the evolution of history in opposition
to the exploitative and oppressive ruling class thought, the alternative and
progressive thought has always existed. Through the contradiction of these two
schools of thought, the society has enriched and enlightened itself. One of the
systems/schools of education has always been preached by ruling class which has
tended to control and mould the consciousness of society in its favor, such as Brahmanism,
Casteism, patriarchy, consumerism, individualism, self centeredness, hatred
toward physical labor etc. And on the other hand other school of thought is
the one which has arisen and surfaced every time in the society as a reaction
to the exploitation and oppression, which have expressed the progressive
consciousness, which has brought the change in every aspect of life. In ancient
time Buddhism and Lokayat fought against Brahmanical thought and system. In
medieval period the teachings of preacher like Nanak, Kabir, Ravidas, Tukka ram
raised their voice in favor of exploited and oppressed classes, opposing feudal
tyranny along with casteism and women suppression. Their ideas became the basis
of revolutionary movements of Satnamis, Guru Gobind Singh, Banda Singh Bahadur
etc. In colonial period, numerous legendary leaders and movements emerged with
a thought to liberate society from the clutches of foreign colonial authority
like Kooka movement in North, First War of Independence 1857, Gadar party,
Kirti party in Punjab and, movement of Birsa Munda and Gundadhar in Eastern and
Central India. Idea popularized during French Revolution i.e. Fraternity,
Equality and Liberty also impacted in India’s Progressive mindset and gave
birth to a generation of leadership like Ambedkar, Kartar Singh Sarbha etc. who
imagined democratic, equal and free society.
The Russian revolution of 1917
established the socialist state under the leadership of working class. Inspired
by this revolution many groups were formed to achieve the goal of Socialism in
India. Under its influence Hindustan Republican Association also changed
its name to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, was the torch
bearer of India’s freedom movement. It under the leadership of Bhagat Singh and
Chander Sekhar Azad, who fought with the idea to liberate Indian people not
only from colonial power but also from the domestic exploiter and oppressor. As
they imagine a Society in which man will not exploit man and nations shall not
exploit nations. Bhagat Singh declared, “What difference
does it make to them (peasants and workers) whether Lord Reading is the head of
the Indian government or Sir Purshotamdas Thakordas? What difference for a
peasant if Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru replaces Lord Irwin! It is useless to appeal
to his (peasants’ or workers’) national sentiment. You can't "use"
him for your purpose; you shall have to mean seriously and to make him
understand that the revolution is going to be his and for his good”. These are the ideas which serve
people these most. Yet after more than 60 years, dependency continues and
plunder of India’s resources of all sorts is rampant by imperialist forces in
renewed form (Finance Capital) and their domestic underdogs - Indian Corporate.
Feudal authority’s cruel face reflects in caste based atrocities which happens
on daily basis. The system far from serving people has become an excellent
weapon of oppression in the hands of ruling classes.
The existing Education system
hides these cruel realities of society and presents only a glamorous picture to
us, preventing any idea to become a social force that can change it. The
educational system of Lord Macaulay which prevails today in essence is ‘Indian
in flesh, British in mind’. After the transfer of power 1947 from British
imperialists, the ruling class of India found it very convenient to carry on
the same educational system since it was perfect continuity of their
exploitative rule.
Today in the era of globalization,
modernization, the role of Brahmanism, feudal repressive ideas is co-opted by
imperialist, capitalist forces that are desperate enough to wash the mind of
youth. Due to these anti-people policies, a large section of educated youth is
unemployed and also un-implemented land reforms contributed to the vast
unemployment in the rural areas. The whole education system is nothing but in
favour of market forces that encourage ‘careerism’ and ‘consumerism’.
Consequently forcing the youth to develop anti-human characteristics best
expressed as cut throat competition and student/youth steps away from his/her
natural ‘being’ and alienates itself from his/her own creativity. Hence
youth ends up in depression, drug abuse and even suicides. This is the
manifestation and ugly expression of our rotten, stagnant society. And as
Bhagat Singh said, “When the condition of stagnation grips the society and
society fears any change, then to break such condition revolutionary ideas and
spirits are needed.”
In his letter which Bhagat Singh
sent to conference of Punjab Student Association, Lahore he call students, “Youth
are to carry on the message of Revolution to each and every corner of country.
They are to raise the Revolutionary spirit in people in crores residing in
broken houses in factory areas, slums and villages. It will leads to freedom
and then exploitation of one person by other will become impossible.”
Students For Society works according to education preached by our beloved legendary
leaders and work to realize their dream of Revolution and Radical change.
We stand for:-
1. Though the constitution of India
does spell out equality as fundamental right but it remains a distant dream for
Indian society. Education is one such sector. The education system is marks-oriented
and irrational itself; and is continuously isolating the students from society.
India is country where ‘double standard education’ exists. Even for
primary education majority of people are deprived. The neo liberal policies
pursued by our governments are rapidly stressing on privatisation and commercialisation
of education that will continue to reduce the opportunities for broader section
of society. We oppose this disparity in educational standards that is
different for poor and different for rich and struggle for a free, rational,
scientific and equal education for all.
2. We stand against all the
imperialist and pro feudal policies which have brought havoc on all the
sections of Indian society. From agriculture sector and dying peasantry,
exorbitant money lending, concentration of land in jagirdari, crippled
industrial production, retrenchment of working class, disinvestment in PSUs
(Public Sector Undertaking), privatization and commercialization of education,
destruction of ecological system, degradation of environment etc are all products
of such policies. People have been displaced for land acquisition under the
garb of development. We acknowledge that form of imperialism has prominently
changed and its main vehicle is finance capital (FDI (Foreign Direct
Investment), FII (Foreign Institutional Investment) etc.) which dominates
developing counties like ours but imperialism still manifests itself sometimes
in its classical form such as in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. Hence it is
the enemy of world peace and democracy and we oppose every decision or policy
which is in favour of this anti-human tendency.
3. We envision the unity of students
with the working class and peasantry the most exploited of all the oppressed
classes of India. We will support and participate in their struggle for social, economic
and political demands. Working class is that section of society on whose labour
whole infrastructure exists and works. Yet this same section lives in horrible
and inhuman condition in our country. Similarly the peasantry of India is
backbone of Indian economy and social fabric; the rampant suicides do alarm us
towards deteriorating conditions of peasants. Hence we as students in order to
make progressive changes in our social and economic dynamics have to understand
their problems and support the cause of this oppressed section.
4. We oppose all forms of caste based
exploitation, oppression and discrimination. We will fight against prevailing Brahmanical
ideology and practices like untouchability, social boycott of dalits (in any
form), honour killings etc. at ideological level and ground level. We stand
for reservation for dalits, adivasis and other oppressed castes but
strongly oppose the caste based politics in the name of reservation. We strive
to fight against discrimination with oppressed castes particularly dalits in
education institutions. But only reservation cannot completely solve caste based
exploitation and oppression and Abolition of caste is linked with the
liberation of whole society.
5. Women are one of the most repressed
sections and their repression has existed in our society for thousands of years
and has manifested in every possible form. The imperialist culture has
aggravated the situation by presenting women as consumable commodity. We not
only stand against anti-women ideology and practices but also will participate
in every effort to negate and wipe out all the institutions, traditions and
mentalities which are offensive to women in any manner. Prostitution
is one such phenomenon of sexual violence against women that must be opposed. The
situation of Dalit women is the worst as they face Double discrimination for
being a Dalit and also a woman. Also we stand against all such social practices which
are undemocratic, immoral, and shameful and express feudal and patriarchal
repression such as honour killings, check on freedom of love and right to
marriage. We also strongly oppose institutions which propagate and are hub
of feudal consciousness, such as Khap panchayats.
6. We strive to counter the Fascist
forces of saffron brigade of Sangh parivar. We stand for secularism and will
also fight for the rights of religious and linguistic minorities in India along
with condemning all type of religious fundamentalism.
7. We as conscious students of a
democracy stand for and uphold all democratic Rights. India is country of wide
languages and ethnicities which has come into being because of varied patterns
of historical evolution in various geographical terrains giving birth to different
cultures. Hence to respect this situation we acknowledge and support ‘Right
to Self Determination’ for nationalities which are 3rd generational Human Right
as adopted by United Nations charter of Human Rights in 1966.
8. We stand for the tribal people of
India who have faced the exploitation right from the ancient times. Their culture, language,
customs, and traditions everything has been very cleverly wiped out and has
been termed as ‘Asurs’ (demons) in our ancient literatures. Now when
eras have changed, ruling classes are doing their best to displace them from
their last hope to survive i.e. jungles. The rampant violence in the central
India and gross human rights violations shows the will of tribal people against
the intentions of imperialists who want to grab their land.
9. We stand for the protection,
propagation and strong implementation of Fundamental and Democratic rights. In
word every citizen of India is granted with these rights yet in reality at
grass root level there is wide spread violation of these rights. Either it be
through some evil social custom such as Khap panchayats or vulgar feudal set up
in countryside always crushing the voice of majority of people usually with
force, like existence of bonded labour (in different forms) etc. We also oppose
Draconian laws (such as AFSPA, UAPA etc.) and capital punishment as they
themselves curb the Democratic rights of the people. Hence we support any
such movement which exposes and opposes such gross violations of the Democratic
rights in our country.
10. We live in a democracy and as
educated section of society it’s not only our right but duty to participate in
political opinion making and expressing our views. Hence to manifest the same we
stand for complete democratization of University Campuses of India and students
elections. We also oppose the Lyngdoh norms and imposition of section 144
in educational institutions that curtail democratic space of the campuses.
Though we oppose strongly the pomp and show, violence, criminalization of student’s
politics and all which is not progressive and is not issue based. It is only
students who have always raised their voice against any repressive bill or
action of government of India. Be it freedom struggle or imposition of
emergency in or opposing black laws the students in university campuses have
always responded strongly and loudly. We not only intend to continue this
radical tradition of student community but also accelerate and expand this
democratic consciousness among students.
11. We stand in strong opposition to
the prevailing consumerist, patriarchal and feudal culture. Imperialism thrives
to exploit every aspect of market and propagates these ideas through mass
media, songs and cinema etc. Pornography, drug abuse, projection of anti-women
ideas also promotes sexual orientation that manifests itself into increased
incidents of sexual violence. The propagated culture induces careerism,
self-centeredness, individualism, hatred towards physical labour and other anti-human
tendencies. We oppose all this reactionary
culture and will work for the development of a progressive peoples’ culture.
Inquilab Zindabad