The campaign comes a few weeks after civil rights activist Irom Sharmila and the Kuki Students’ Organisation expressed their solidarity with the African students community facing racial attacks in Delhi-NCR.
Go-karting, football, basketball and cricket matches, as well as a unification concert are some of the events that have been planned by the Association of African Students in India (AASI) over the next three months.
This “campaign against stereotypes and discrimination” brings to the fold Manipur Students Association Delhi (MSAD) and the North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) as well.
“We’ve begun a blog on the website, wherein African, Northeastern and Dalit students can write about their experiences in India; and are working on the concert and matches. There will also be photoshoots and videos to spread the word,” said Ezeugo Nnamdi Lawrence II, university coordinator, AASI.
Interestingly, the word “racism” is missing from the campaign. “We want it to be all-inclusive; if it’s just racism, it will only be limited to the African community here. We are not fighting India, we are fighting with India,” he added.
This comes a few weeks after civil rights activist Irom Sharmila and the Kuki Students’ Organisation expressed their solidarity with the African students community facing racial attacks in Delhi-NCR.
Apart from the music and sports-related activities the groups are working on, there will be inter-community exercises involving locals too. “We have been called chinki, momos and Chinese by locals here.
The African students face the same problems we do. We stand with them, and the best way forward is through sports and culture,” said 21-year-old Bideshwori, president of MSAD.
