Whither Dalit Politics?
By Neerja Dasani
11 June, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi was said to have played the
Dalit card to save the scam-tainted Union Telecom Minister A. Raja. In
February Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar played the Mahadalit card
at a 'Mahadalit ekta' rally in Patna. Also in February Nitin Gadkari,
leader of the Hindutva-toting upper-caste Bharatiya Janata Party,
played the Dalit card in Indore to counter the Dalit-Brahmin card
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi played in Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, elite analysts believe Mayawati has overplayed the Dalit
card by placing all bets on her self. Isn't it time to shuffle this
pack of canards?
Dalit politics as conducted in the mainstream media (now
interchangeable with PR, post paid-news) is all symbolism and no
substance. This might explain the lack of outrage at the government's
opposition to the inclusion of caste in the United Nation's 2009 draft
principles and guidelines for the effective elimination of
discrimination based on work and descent. The comprehensive framework
– the first of its kind – could have lead to the establishment of an
international monitoring mechanism on caste discrimination.
Some might question the need for global guidelines, believing that we
live in a peaceful post-caste world with the occasional cacophony of
vote-bank politics. But a three-day documentary film festival in
Chennai called 'Imaging Dalit Reality: Politics of Visual
Representation' challenged such notions.
In his inaugural address M. Madhava Prasad, Professor of Cultural
Studies at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad,
pointed out that in their current nascent form, Dalit films are
primarily inward-directed expressions of dissent, a chronicling of
marginal lives with a searing sense of humiliation. What is needed
now, according to him, is for a critical language of film-making to be
developed, a Dalit perspective through which 'everything in the world
can be discussed.'
Perhaps a reason for the insulation is that at present to be
outward-looking means seeing either miles of empty rhetoric or row
upon row of silent stone walls. For instance not one of the English
papers carried a single report on the festival, which, ironically,
coincided with Republic Day.
At the festival the ruthlessness of this power structure was the
sinister background score to each film.
'Of Inhuman Bondage', Gopal Menon's 2005 film on manual scavenging,
showed women and children cleaning up the shit of shining India,
determined to salvage their soiled prides. After 17 years of the
Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines
(Prohibition) Act, there are still officially 6,76,000 people
(unofficially around 13 lakh) engaged in this work.
'Nadantha Kathai', Pon Sudha's short film in Tamil, portrays the
anguish of a child unable to understand the upper castes' 'ban' on
footwear. Why is it that those who make the shoes are prohibited from
wearing them? The question enrages him to the point of rebellion. In
real life such assertions can lead to horrific consequences as the
recent case of a young boy in Tamil Nadu, who was beaten up and forced
to eat human excreta by the upper castes, clearly shows. The police
took one week to file an FIR claiming that the boy had incited the
upper caste group.
Such impunity is the result of the institutionalisation of caste
prejudice – the Melavalavu massacre in Tamil Nadu being one of the
cruelest examples of this. In 1997 six Dalits, including the Panchayat
president and vice president were hacked to death in broad daylight
for daring to assert their political rights. Santha and Balan's film,
'Melavalavu', shows how the government's half-hearted attempts at
'reform' facilitate this violence. The 73rd and 74th constitutional
amendments in 1992 provide reservation for scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes in every panchayat and municipality. The panchayat
offices though continue to remain in the upper caste areas with
inadequate security provisions. The constant threat of violence
results in many being forced to forfeit this mirage of a right.
Since these cases do not lead to candlelight vigils and television
news campaigns, justice, if delivered, is usually an impostor. The
police avoid registering them under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled
Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which although rife with
contradictions, attempts to hold accountable police and enforcement
authorities who fail to cooperate with the victims. Not that
registration under the Act insures justice either. The less than 30
per cent conviction rate has 'shocked' even Dr. Manmohan Singh.
The very act of participating in films depicting this injustice is
fraught with danger. French anthropologist Nicolas Jaoul in his
article 'The 'Righteous Anger' of the Powerless: Investigating Dalit
Anger over Caste Violence', notes that any public display of anger
involves expressing a conflictual emotion, one that the powerless are
inclined to avoid in order to facilitate social integration and
prevent repression and further hardships. For the oppressed therefore,
this is not merely cinema, but a tool for social assertion.
Festivals such as these serve as sites for reviewing and creating
movements in this direction. The post-film discussions revealed the
complexity of identity politics. One discussant suggested the next
edition of the festival be called 'Imaging Heterogeneity', to debunk
the mainstream myth of a 'united Indian civilisation.'
But is Dalit politics itself being appropriated into the mainstream
even while it celebrates its significant successes? "What is Dalit
politics if all one wants is a slightly larger share in an oppressive
political state?" asked cultural critic Sadanand Menon. In his
valedictory address he urged for film festivals to be directed at the
oppressors.
For that we need to break out of the comfortable festival format where
a group of largely like-minded and privileged people deliberate on
'Dalit liberation'. These issues are not 'Dalit issues'. The images of
exploitation lay bare the hollowness of a representative democracy
that greases its palms with the sweat and tears of its own people.
That these images haven't percolated the national consciousness proves
the much-touted 'trickle-down effect' to be mere trickery.
------------------------------------
----
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment