In India, students project “Palestine 36” despite tensions with their university

In New Delhi, Palestinian cinema is at the heart of student mobilization. On Tuesday evening, October 6, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) organized a screening of Palestine 36 at the very site of a hunger strike. The university administration indicated that it had not granted any authorization for this session. The film traces the Palestinian revolt of 1936 against the British Mandate, a major episode in the anti-colonial struggle in Palestine. By programming this work, the organizers wanted to “celebrate Palestinian resistance”, in the words reported by The Tribune.

This screening takes place in a context of tensions on campus. Seventeen students, including union officials, began an indefinite hunger strike on October 3. They notably contest the disciplinary sanctions pronounced against their representatives and demand several changes in the functioning of the university. Their demands include the reestablishment of a body for the prevention and fight against sexual harassment, as well as that of the entrance examination specific to the establishment. The union also accuses the administration of intimidation and denounces a refusal of medical monitoring for certain strikers. These accusations are reported as such by the Indian daily.

This is not the first time that the broadcast of Palestine 36 raises tensions in India. According to The Tribunethe Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had initially refused its screening at the Kerala International Film Festival the previous year before finally allowing it. At Jawaharlal Nehru, this session combines the discovery of Palestinian history with the demands made on campus. The choice of film gives this gathering a dimension of international solidarity, beyond just academic issues.