“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”
This quote by Henry David Thoreau is what I stand by. This quote is especially appropriate amidst the face of the constant attacks by authorities on dissent, and freedom of expression. To be able to register your dissent and express your opinion on certain things has been the true essence of any democracy, be it in the University spaces or across the country in general.
The recent news of JNU authorities banning protests on campus says a lot about the fear that authorities have when students expose the gaps and issues within the university space. There was a time back in 2019 when the authority had come out with a regressive hostel manual and exponential fee hikes and I was only one semester old back then. I was new to the world of students’ movements. I was still learning what dissent meant and what making yourself heard truly was. I was only one semester old. However, the connection and attachment I felt when the entire movement started cannot be explained in words.
Maybe that’s what JNU does to you. It pokes your conscience. It shakes your age-old beliefs and pre-conceived notions regarding everything that you have believed in until now. I got goosebumps when thousands of students echoed the same slogan. The slogans felt like a song to my ears—a song of revolution. The sound of the tambourine, the wall paintings, the posters being drawn by students day in and day out for protest marches made me feel like I was a part of the revolution that was about to come. It gave vigour and enthusiasm to my otherwise hopeless dreams of seeing a world where students were free and happy.
Ultimately, it was the students’ resistance that led to the withdrawal of the fee hike and the hostel manual. Had it not been for the thousands of students taking to the streets, had it not been for the relentless resistance and resilience of thousands of students, JNU no longer would have been a public university accessible for all. JNU’s doors wouldn’t have been open to students from all walks of life. And do you know what stopped JNU from becoming another private money-sucking black hole? The resistance shown by students and the protests led by students and professors.
When you take away the right to dissent, you ruin the ability of students to become active citizens.