Shor Macha, a student-led campaign to break taboos and posit alternative views by harnessing the potential of campus engagement and active discourse has been running for over two months now.
The campaign is being run by students from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). The initiative garnered significant publicity in the wake of the release of its video marking the Guy Fawkes Day. The short video showed students walking around the campus wearing Guy Fawkes masks and featured Entity Paradigm’s (EP’s) song Shor Macha playing in the background.
A message reading the statement When Bigotry is a Fact, Revolution is a Right is also displayed at the end of the video.
Though the video went viral on social media the organisers said there was more to the idea than merely commemorating the Guy Fawkes Day. Debates and Recitation Society at LUMS (DRUMS) President Shahzar Ilahi said the idea was conceived to further freedom of speech and raise public awareness. He said the campaign had been launched to provide students with a platform to debate social issues and hone their public speaking skills. Ilahi said alot of attention had been devoted to parliamentary debates earlier. He said they wanted to provide students with the opportunity to engage in an informal atmosphere. Ilahi said the problem with parliamentary debates was that the format of the style happened to impede the flow of free speech due to its formal nature.
Various talks have been held under the campaign’s auspices at dorms and auditoriums across the campus. Students gather every Thursday to deliberate on any issue they deem pertinent to discuss.
‘The entire purpose of debating is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and opinions in a conducive environment. Why avoid ideas and topics that are pertinent to the average Pakistani,” Ilahi said.
Topics including the legality of drone strikes, curricular and extra-curricular activities in the education system, student activism and its impact on society, peaceful coexistence and sexual harassment have been covered in the talks held under the auspices of the campaign and over 1,000 students have attended them.
A vigil and a talk have also been held on the persecution of religious minorities in the wake of the Kot Radha Kishan incident. The event was titled Not In My Name. Hamza Ayub, an accounting and finance major, said the entire campaign was premised around fostering a culture of dialogue. He said the campaign aspired to enable to speak at campuses nationwide and globally by securing funding. Ayub said the campaign would be organising talks regarding freedom of speech at 20 different schools in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi.
He said the response to the campaign from the student body and the faculty had overwhelmed the organisers.
Ayub said the organisers intended to expand the campaign to other campuses by the end of the year after consolidating it at LUMS.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2014.
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