YOUNG INDIA!!
DO WE NEED THE RADICAL YOUTH MOVEMENT FOR THESE NEW TIMES?
On Independence Day 2017, Lamakaan is proud to host a panel discussion with 3 emergent youth leaders for the 4th edition of The Hasan Memorial lecture.
The median age of the Indian population now stands at 27. Between 2004 and 2014, 150 million new voters were added to the Indian electorate. By 2019, it is projected that over 300 million voters below the age of 35 will be eligible to vote. Some commentators have suggested that the remarkable resurgence of fascism in 2014 was at least in some part produced by the consolidation of this new youth. As this trajectory gains even greater momentum what are the new questions that frame youth aspirations....
What are the ways in which the youth in India are expressing their concerns and frustrations?
How do we evaluate the state of the consolidation, post 2014-is it holding or is it falling apart?
What is a new language that a left youth movement can use to galvanize this young electorate?
What would produce a new organizing moment among this demographic?
How can the demographic dividend be encashed?
This year's Hasan Memorial Lecture, therefore brings together 3 emergent youth leaders, to articulate not just their vision but to engage each other's imaginary.
Our panellists for Hasan Memorial Lecture, will respond to these and other questions, on August 15.
“Lamakaan has always strived to ask questions and foster debate and dialogues on key issues in our society and there is no one better than our 3 young guests to engage with these questions”, says, Ashhar Farhan, one of the founders of Lamakaan.
The Panellists are:
Shehla Rashid Shora: Shehla, a former Vice-President of the JNU students' union (JNUSU) from 2015-16, was instrumental in leading the student agitation calling for the release of Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others.
She is also vocal about the human rights situation in Kashmir, particularly for ensuring justice to minor undertrials & was a key figure in the Occupy UGC mobilization.
Jignesh Mevani: Jignesh, is a young lawyer and firebrand organizer who was at the helm of remarkable mobilization in response to a brutal attack on Dalit youth in una, Gujarat.
In a fierce four-month mobilization the Una Attached Land Samiti and Jignesh opened up a vision for a renewed and militant Dalit movement in India, which was the catalyst for the formation of all India Dalit Adhikar Manch.
Pratik Sinha: Pratik and his team at AltNews are leading the crusade against manufactured “news”, with the aim of eliminating “deliberate underground political propaganda".
He is also involved with Jan Sangharsh Manch, a civil liberties organisation. Since 2013 he has also been running the “Truth of Gujarat” page, a site focused on news about the Gujarat carnage.
About The Hasan Memorial Lecture:
The Hasan Memorial Lecture was instituted in 2014 and is held each year at Lamakaan on August 15 with an eye to emergent political and economic crisis in India/South Asia or the world. It is our single most important programming effort each year and draws a very significant audience. The previous editions of the lectures were delivered by Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Prof.Gail Omvedt, Bharat Patankar and Prof.Kodandaram.
Mr. Moyed Hasan in whose memory the annual lecture is named, was a scientist, a photographer, an environmentalist and a person with deep concern for the lives of ordinary people. His house, that he named Lamakaan (as in the Sufi literary tradition to mean 'an abode for those who travel without any worldly possessions') has now become an important part of Hyderabad’s cultural and political life. Mr. Hasan left behind an imaginary of what an engaged life is. From science to art, and environment to international affairs he encompassed a vision of how we must live our lives meaningfully.
The discussion would be for a duration of 2.5 hours and is slated to begin at 7pm.