Wed. June 22, 15.30-17.30.

Social movement has gradually re-centered back to the college campus in recent years in response to neoliberal globalization and xenophobic nationalism. Campus protest against racism, bigotry, social injustice, forced fee hikes, and authoritarian regimes is becoming a commonplace. For example, in the U.S. Tufts students lay down in the middle of the road to protest against the police shooting and killing of a young black man, Michael Brown; in India, Jawaharial Nehru University students showed solidarity with Student Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, charged with sedition because of their dissident voice against the capital punishment meted out to Afzal Guru, convicted for the 2001 Indian Parliament attack; Hong Kong University students occupied the University Council meeting in protest against erosion of university autonomy after the appointing of Arthur Li as Chair of Council Member by CY Leung -- the Chief Executive of Hong Kong who is seen as a puppet of the Chinese Communist Party.  This salon will discuss the common ground and the differences in campus activism shared by students and scholars involved in these movements.

CHOW Yong-Kang, Alex:  Ex-General Secretary of Federation of Students in Hong Kong who is the spokesperson of the Umbrella Movement in September 2014. He studies Comparative Literature and sociology at the University of Hong Kong.

Madhuja MUKHERJEE teaches Film Studies at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. She also works as artist and filmmaker. She has published on the Indian film industry, soundscapes of Indian films, genre, gender and urban cultures. The author of 'New Theatres Ltd., The Emblem of Art, The Picture of Success' (2009), she has edited 'Aural Films, Oral Cultures, Essays on Cinema from the Early Sound Era' (2012) and 'Voices and Verses of the Talking Stars, Readings in Gender Studies' (forthcoming). Her films and installations have been showcased at international platforms. Currently doing her second graphic-novel, she will discuss the import of the 'Hok-Kolorob' (“Let’s Make Some Noise”) Movement from Jadavpur University in 2014.

For background please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Jadavpur_University_protests and http://qz.com/269774/hokkolorob-the-hashtag-thats-defining-an-indian-student-protest-against-violence/