On Friday (19th July), a graduating student, Dhananjay Balakrishnan used IIT Madras as a platform to give a pro-Palestine speech during the institute’s 61st convocation. Notably, Dhananjay won the prize for best all-around proficiency in curricular and extracurricular activities in a dual degree in mechanical engineering. While accepting the Governor’s prize, he delivered the Pro-Palestine speech where he claimed that a “mass genocide” was taking place in Palestine and also went on to give a “call for action”.
In the acceptance speech, which is now going viral on social media, Dhananjay said, “I feel like I would be doing myself, and everything I believe in, a great injustice if I do not use the stage I am presented with to say something important. This is a call for action. There is a mass genocide going on in Palestine. People are dying in vast numbers, and there is no end in sight.”
He argued that students gathered there should be bothered because “STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) as a field itself has historically been used to advance the ulterior motives of imperial powers, such as Israel.”
He noted that the tech giants offer very lucrative space and great benefits for hard-working engineering students but he claimed that they have played their role in the war against Palestine.
He added, “However, these tech giants control various aspects of our lives today, as you know better than anyone. Many of these prestigious companies are also directly and indirectly implicated in the war against Palestine, by providing the state of Israel with technology—technology used to kill.”
He further stated that he doesn’t have all the answers to these problems but as engineers graduating into the real world, it is our job to be aware of the consequences of the work we do. And, also intricate our position in these complex systems of power imbalance, he argued.
IIT Madras student talking of ‘Palestine genocide’ at convocation
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) July 20, 2024
No words for Hindu elimination from Pakistan/Pakistan’s proxy war that kills Indians on daily basis
This is just regurgitating Islamist propaganda. This is education without direction pic.twitter.com/XWh1Esj5Bm
“I hope that we can incorporate this awareness more into our daily lives, attempting to understand what we can do to liberate the oppressed, on lines of caste, class, creed, and gender. That is the first step to put an end to the never-ending cycle of suffering,” the graduating IIT-Madras student added.
He concluded by saying, “Isaac Newton said that he stood on the shoulders of giants to take him where he wanted to go. I want to say this – I am here, we are here by standing on the magnanimous shoulders of the great Indian populace. We owe it to them to lift every single person out of their misery. Inaction is complicity. I hope you and I and all of us can take action to make the right decisions—however hard they may be.”
It is pertinent to note that IIT Madras held its 61st Convocation on 19th July 2024. This year a total of 2,636 students graduated while as many as 3,016 Degrees including Joint and Dual Degrees were awarded to the students on the occasion. The Chief Guest, Dr. Brian K. Kobilka, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (2012), presented the degrees to the graduating students.
However, the recent pro-Palestine speech during the convocation ceremony at IIT Madras is not a one-off incident where woke students made pro-Palestine remarks in the academic institutions.
Past instances of students raising Pro-Palestinian slogans in academic institutions
On 19th July 2024, the University of Melbourne initiated disciplinary proceedings against several students who had been involved in pro-Palestine protests. According to The Age, 21 students were facing suspension or expulsion following the occupation of the Arts West building during a multi-day sit-in.
According to a Turkish media outlet Anadolu Agency, Dana Alshaer and hundreds of others have been staging pro-Palestine protests and raising remarks at the top Australian university.
#Melbourne University Gaza solidarity encampment. pic.twitter.com/NF7RBUF7CU
— Gaza Under Attack_🇵🇸 (@Palestine001_) April 25, 2024
While we might be packing up our sit-in and encampment for now, this will always be Mahmoud’s Hall, in honour of all of the students who have been martyred in Gaza.
— Unimelb for Palestine (@Umelb4Palestine) May 24, 2024
We will not stop, we will not rest, until the University of Melbourne divests! pic.twitter.com/Z9HJoaUND5
Alshaer is one of the founders and main organisers of UniMelb for Palestine. It is a collective group of students, staff, and alumni of the University of Melbourne and it was established last November. They had staged pro-Palestinian protests demanding that the University should cut ties with weapons manufacturers, divest from Israeli firms, and, “end its complicity in the genocide in Gaza.”
Earlier this year, on 24th May, students of Ashoka University displayed pro-Palestine placards during their convocation ceremony. A video of the ceremony has gone viral on social media platforms showing students dressed for receiving their degrees holding placards that read “Free Palestine” and “Stop Genocide” above their heads.
Ashoka University students displayed pro-Palestine placards during the graduation ceremony, including posters that read: “Free Palestine”, “Stop genocide” and “cut ties now.”
— Maktoob (@MaktoobMedia) June 30, 2024
The students have been protesting Ashoka’s collaboration with Israeli institutions.
Watch: pic.twitter.com/VuV5OYvWr4
Notably, the student union of Ashoka University (Ashoka University Student Government or AUSG) has been demanding to cut ties with Israel-based Tel Aviv University since May this year. It was reported that a petition by the student’s body was submitted to the college authorities expressing concerns over its ties with the Israeli university. The students’ body urged the University to cut ties with its Israeli counterpart. Notably, Ashoka University and Tel Aviv University have a research partnership that includes faculties from the Israeli University to give lectures in India.
The petition was rejected by Ashoka University saying that the institution is not involved in political stands.
Earlier in April, Harvard students staged protests on the campus premises for several weeks and held an encampment. This forced the university management to take stern action against 13 students who took part in the protest encampment and it announced that these students would not receive their diplomas alongside their peers.
❝Our freedom of speech and our expressions of solidarity became punishable❞
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) May 26, 2024
Shruthi Kumar, speaking at Harvard University's graduation ceremony, diverged from preprared text to criticize university administration's stance towards Palestine pic.twitter.com/nsRIJIWVUh
Students at Harvard University dropped banners at their graduation to call for a free Palestine and divestment. pic.twitter.com/ypKJe5uoya
— Yogi (@ramrajya_pro) May 26, 2024
However, a day later, hundreds of students wearing graduation robes marched out of the Harvard commencement, chanting “Free, Free Palestine.” Some of the students chanted, “Let them walk, let them walk,” advocating that the 13 students should be allowed to receive their diplomas alongside other graduates.
Additionally, universities across the United States were rocked by Pro-Palestine protests for several weeks earlier this year.
