Today marks the 56th anniversary of Algeria’s independence from France on 5 July 1962.

Never forget the 1.5 million martyrs slaughtered by the French.

Never forget the millions of Algerians raped, tortured and dehumanised by the French.

Never forget the 200+ Algerian civilians drowned at Seine by the French.

Never forget the millions of Algerians dehumanised till this day in France for simply being Algerian.

– Stan Swamy

Inside the daunting prison gates

All belongings taken away

But for the bare essentials

‘You’ comes first

‘I’ comes after

‘We’ is the air one breathes

Nothing is mine

Nothing is yours

Everything is ours

No leftover food thrown away

All shared with the birds of the air

They fly in, have their fill and happily fly out

Sorry to see so many young faces

Asked them: “Why are you here”?

They told it all, not mincing words

From each as per capacity

To each as per need

Is what socialism all about

Lo, this commonality is wrought by compulsion

If only all humans would embrace it freely and willingly

All would truly become children of Mother Earth

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Fr. Stan Swamy, SJ, was involved in tribal rights activism for 5 decades. He was arrested on October 9 under the UAPA, being the oldest arrested for the Elgar Parishad case. The charges against him were never proven. At the time of his arrest, he was already not keeping well. However, his bail appeal on medical grounds was rejected, despite his documented suffering from Parkinson's and bilateral hearing loss. Fr. Swamy was imprisoned in Mumbai's Taloja jail, where his health declined to a point where he could not even eat or bathe by himself. Today, on July 5, 2021, he passed away in custody after a cardiac arrest.