Kerala University Vice-Chancellor Mohanan Kunnummal has barred the university’s students’ union from using the name Intifada for the upcoming youth festival.
The controversy surrounding the arts festival, slated to be held in Thiruvananthapuram from March 7 to 11, appears likely to become another flashpoint in Professor Kunnummal’s tussle with the Syndicate and Left-aligned students’ organisations.
The term, which stands for rebellion, has been associated with the armed uprisings of Palestine against Israel’s occupation in West Bank and Gaza Strip. In line with the pro-Palestine political stance of Left parties, the students’ union had decided to name the annual festival Intifada with a tagline “cultural resistance against colonialism”.
