Jan Azadi: Year-long nation-wide campaign to recapture our freedom

Jan Azadi

National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has initiated a nation-wide, one-year long campaign called Jan Azadi 75: On the Path to Freedom, from 9th Aug 2021 to 15th Aug, 2022, to remember the values and aspirations of the freedom movement, re-assert the role, contributions and challenges of people’s resistances in the past 75 years and campaign across the country to intensify our contemporary struggles and visions for a democratic India. The Campaign was inaugurated on the historic day of 9th Aug, marking the Quit India Movement and International Indigenous People’s Day with hundreds of localized week-long actions by people and organizations across the country.

We invite you to be part of the Jan Azadi 75 campaign, to reach out to people of the country and build a discourse around protecting our democracy, plural ethos, human rights, social – ecological justice and constitutional values.

We believe that there is an imminent need to engage with people at a larger level on:

a) Looking at the unfinished agenda of the aspirations of the freedom movement and the various people’s struggles before and after independence;

b) Taking inspiration and energy from the ideals of the freedom movement and its diverse strands, and the fundamental values of our Constitution;

c) Reminding ourselves of the many gains of the past 75 years, achieved through numerous struggles of the people, not as a dole from the ruling powers;

d) Deepening understanding of today’s challenges and building stronger movements for socio-economic and ecological justice and to counter the onslaught of communal, capitalist, criminal, corrupt and corporate forces as well as fascist impunity.

Through a series of year-long action programmes, Jan Azadi 75 hopes to bring before the people the true history of the freedom struggle and those who actually contributed to nation-building, till date. We also propose to bring forth a People’s Charge Sheet against the power holders, in particular the current regime which is all set to destroy our democracy.

This shall be a year of intensifying public engagement in numeorus ways and we shall strive to reach out to organizations and people from different walks of society including women, youth, students, teachers, parents, employees, academics, workers, farmers, dalits, adivasis, vimukta communities, religious, ethnic and linguistic minorities, persons living with disabilities, transgender and queer persons, trade unions, people’s organizations working on struggle and alternatives, and other sections.

We look forward to your organizational endorsement, active participation and collaboration in this Campaign. 

(Endorse on behalf of your organization by clicking on this link https://bit.ly/3yJHSj5 and filling in the requisite details)

In solidarity,
National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

Please scroll down to read the detailed Appeal for Endorsement, ways of connecting with the Campaign and access other resources. 

FULL TEXT OF THE APPEAL 

Appeal to People’s Organizations & Movements to 

Endorse and Join the

‘Jan Azadi 75’ Campaign

initiated by

National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

Link to Endorse:   https://bit.ly/3yJHSj5

Jan Azadi 75: On the Path of Freedom…

9th Aug 2021 to 15th Aug 2022

Dear comrades,

On 15th August, 2021, we will enter into the 75th year of Indian independence. The independence from the British empire and from the oppressive rule in hundreds of kingdoms was achieved through the valiant struggles and sacrifices of millions of people from various sections of the society, over a very long period. The independence movement was not just a monolithic fight against the politics of deceit, plunder, and exploitation of the British, but encompassed the struggles of adivasis, dalits and oppressed castes, women, farmers, landless peasants, workers, students, youth and people of all religions for democratic self-determination, equality and fundamental rights.

The aspirations of these struggles have only been partly realized and we have a long way to go to achieve true freedom, equality, dignity, social justice and human rights for all. At the same time, we see today a concerted attack on the basic ideals with which India was formed and the fundamental principles of our Constitution, drafted laboriously by Dr. BR Ambedkar. While having no constructive role in the freedom movement itself, the religious fanatic entities that slandered the freedom movement, flattered the British and even killed Mahatma Gandhi, are unfortunately running the country today.

These regressive forces are now rewriting history, spreading fake narratives, politics of hatred and targeted violence against minorities and progressive sections, taking false credit and brazenly twisting the real legacy of the freedom movement, using the state apparatus with brute force, surveillance and propaganda machinery. By destroying the socio-political-economic system of the country, putting out the nation and its natural – public sector resources on sale, compromising all democratic institutions including the Parliament, Election Commission and Judiciary, diluting progressive laws, bringing in a slew of anti-people laws and violating the federal spirit repeatedly, they are hell-bent on attacking the very idea of ‘citizenship’ and ‘Idea of India’, with a plural ethos.

The freedom movement, as we know, has always stood on the foundations of a common and shared heritage & history and true people-oriented democratic nationalism, even though the British adopted the strategy of spreading communal hatred and division. Movements have taken this legacy forward in independent India firmly through the Constitution, born out of the revolutionary stance of the freedom movement and visionaries like Shaheed Bhagat Singh.  There is also a sustained mis-information campaign that ‘nothing worthwhile happened’ in the country until 2014 and it is the Modi Govt that is trying to usher in the ‘lost glory’ of India and take it on the ‘road of progress’! While the citizens of this country have always had to resist authoritarianism of the power-holders, it would be a total disservice to the millions of ordinary people to state that their struggles over seven decades did not significantly transform the country.

It needs no emphasis that, both before and after 1947, whatever positive changes we have witnessed as a nation in the socio-political, legislative, institutional and economic spheres are primarily due to the mass movements of the common people. Even in the past 7 years, despite intense state repression, use of draconian laws like UAPA and arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders, we have witnessed historic uprising by farmers, workers, dalits, adivasis, women especially from the muslim community, students, transgender persons etc. There have been many inspiring examples of the collective urge for deepening democracy and securing freedom, peace, equity for all people.

Thus, as the current dispensation tries to use the ‘75 years of independence’ as an ‘Amrit Mahotsav’, to further expand their narrow, divisive version of nationalism, while having miserably failed to protect the right to health and livelihoods of millions of people, as witnessed during the pandemic, it is time for We The People to assert ourselves as the true inheritors of the legacy of the freedom movement. We became a free nation because people across diverse religions, genders and social identities as well as farmers-workers, dalit-bahujan adivasis, minorities, youth and women fought shoulder-to-shoulder. Even today, all these classes are standing in the frontline in the ongoing independence movement against neo-imperialism and manuvad, paying enormous price.

It is in this backdrop, that NAPM has initiated a nation-wide one-year campaign called Jan Azadi 75: On the Path to Freedom, from 9th Aug 2021 to 15th Aug, 2022, to remember the values and aspirations of the freedom movement, re-assert the role, contributions and challenges of people’s resistances in the past 75 years and campaign across the country to intensify our contemporary struggles and visions for a future democratic India. The Campaign was inaugurated on the historic day of 9th Aug, marking the Quit India Movement and International Indigenous People’s Day with hundreds of localized week-long actions by people and organizations across the country.

We invite you to be part of the Jan Azadi 75 year-long campaign, to reach out to people of the country and build a discourse around protecting our democracy, plural ethos and constitutional values. This is an initiative to look at the past, present and future of this country, talking about 3 key aspects: political freedom, political journey and political challenges. While we are conscious that many of us share diverse ideological positions, it is time to join hands in a broader fight for preserving our democracy and Constitution against the corporate plunder and fascist forces, striving for socio-economic justice for all.

We believe that there is an imminent need to engage with people at a larger level on:

a) Looking at the unfinished agenda of the aspirations of the freedom movement and the various people’s struggles before and after independence;

b) Taking inspiration and energy from the ideals of the freedom movement and its diverse strands, and the fundamental values of our Constitution;

 c) Reminding ourselves of the many gains of the past 75 years, achieved through numerous struggles of the people, not as a dole from the ruling powers;

 d) Understanding today’s challenges and building stronger movements for socio-economic and ecological justice and to counter the onslaught of communal, capitalist, criminal, corrupt and corporate forces as well as fascist impunity.

Through a series of year-long action programmes, Jan Azadi 75 hopes to bring before the people the true history-sheet of the freedom struggle and those who actually contributed to nation-building, till date. We also propose to bring forth a People’s Charge Sheet against the power holders, in particular the current regime which is all set to destroy our democracy. This shall be a year of intensifying public engagement and we shall strive to reach out to people from different walks of society including women, youth, students, teachers, parents, employees, academics, workers, farmers, dalits, adivasis, vimukta communities, religious, ethnic and linguistic minorities, persons living with disabilities, transgender and queer persons, trade unions, people’s organizations working on struggle and alternatives, and other sections.

We look forward to your organizational endorsement, active participation and collaboration in this Campaign. 

In solidarity,

National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)

You can join the Jan Azadi 75 Campaign in the following ways:

1.    Endorsing the Jan Azadi Campaign: You can endorse the Campaign by reading and filling-in this form (https://bit.ly/3yJHSj5) and formally urging members of your organization to participate in the local actions at the state level.

2.    Campaign Oath: Kindly adopt, translate and propagate the Campaign Oath and ensure that it is collectively read out during gatherings. 

3.    Organizing Local Actions: Since this is a year-long campaign, we urge you to feel free to plan and organize your own local, village-basti level meetings, district, state-level actions including peaceful protests, dharnas, press conferences, candle light vigils, submitting memoranda to authorities, writing open letters, yatras, discussion forums, workshops, webinars etc both in physical and virtual mode, under the banner of Jan Azadi 75. Kindly note that these actions must be within the constitutional framework and only for upholding democratic demands.

4.    Creating Content: One of the best ways to collaborate is through creating and sharing people-friendly content in different languages on issues that your campaign / organization has been working on, with the Jan Azadi team as well as a wider mass of people.  You can also contribute by way of audio-visual materials, posters, pamphlets, songs, slogans, memes, analytical articles etc.

5.    Campaign Hashtag: We urge everyone to use #JanAzadi75 as the campaign hashtag on all content produced (such as posters, tweets, facebook posts, insta stories, videos etc) across all platforms while curating and amplifying your issues.

6.    Profile Picture Frame: You can urge members of your organization to have Jan Azadi 75 as their social media profile picture frame.

7.    Media Coverage: Make concerted efforts to ensure that the Jan Azadi 75 Campaign as well as the specific issues raised by your network as part of the Campaign receives due coverage across media portals including print, television, digital and social media.

8.    Social Media Solidarity: We urge you to share all your physical and digital actions across social media platforms and tag @napmindia in your posts with the hashtag #JanAzadi75, so that we can create more virtual solidarity for the issues. You can also initiate twitter storms, Facebook content sharing etc with the above hashtag.

 

Links to Key Campaign Materials:

(Hindi & English)

 

A Basic Pamphlet, keeping in mind, the people at large of the country:

https://janazadi75napm.wordpress.com/pamphlets/

Oath / Resolve of the Jan Azadi Campaign:

https://janazadi75napm.wordpress.com/campaign-oath/

Press Release & Pictures of the Campaign Inaugural Week:

https://janazadi75napm.wordpress.com/inaugural-week-actions/

===============================================

National Alliance of People’s Movements

National Office: 6/6, Jangpura B, Mathura Road, New Delhi 110014

Phone: 011 24374535 

E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.napm-india.org

Blog: https://napmindia.wordpress.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/NAPMindia

Twitter and Instagram: @napmindia

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