ranjit, i am all with ashley in this issue. (but i can't help wishing that this piece too had predated the abvp violence, in which case we would all have been wiser and more prepared....)
however, i can't agree with ashley when he says that the organizers should have sought police protection because of two reasons: i. the police has given us no reason to believe that they are capable of acting sternly against right wing goons. in fact the way police stood as silent spectators to the vandalism and rabid slogans targeting a particular community only reinforced this lack of faith. ii. i believe that it is only when such incidents happen that there is consolidation of the counter forces. the problem, as ashley rightly said, is that such a consolidation never goes beyond such demonstrations. having said that, i should also say that this incident has forced the DU administration and the DUTA to take a public stand against the lumpen behavior of the abvp goons.and we can't underestimate the role played by today's demonstration in achieving this. and my final word to ashley about the audience. i am surprised that ashley has raised such questions about the audience without bothering to find out what transpired in the meeting. in spite of the violent attack, not a single member of the audience left the room. everyone insisted that the meeting should be continued in spite of the proctor of the university trying to cancel the permission of the meeting. a group of students formed a ring around geelani and started shouting slogans upholding civil liberty. the speakers spoke with courage and conviction in the midst of glasses and window panes breaking all around. it is unfortunate that ashley was not informed of the brave response from the audience. hany babu. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
