Whither........ the first milestone

The choice of the word “Woman”& “her” is reflective of the term ‘man/men- him/his’ having subjugated political discourse for long.

A lot of us today who face a crisis within the Civil Society. They get disillusioned, and either trudge on or move out. This I believe happens as we do not cross certain essential milestones. Unless of course your work and belief is seeped in charity by religion, which promises eternal salvation, though post death.

The first milestone is the comprehension of the situation and it’s history. The second milestone is the comprehension of the fact that the situation we intend to remedy is political and charity is not the cure. Both these milestones are seemingly very close to each other and yet a world apart. The third mile stone follows soon, where you grasp the need of totality to your approach and work. The fourth mile stone is a rather distant where the self comes into question. The fifth milestone is confrontational and interesting.

The First Mile Stone

When confronted with the disparity that we face that we intend to remedy it is very necessary that we correlate some of the factors with the current dynamics prevalent today. Essentially patriarchy, the caste system, and their evolution during the period of colonization and post colonization to date, into partly manifestation of class.

It is interesting to approach a few of the core beliefs that have and will sustain for some more time.

She is weaker. They are inferior. People are illiterate. People are poor. People deserve to be hungry.

This conditioning of such belief and approach has historical legitimacy. Equality is a very alien concept to our history and tradition.

She is not weaker, she is made weaker. People are not inferior. People were and are made inferior. People are not poor. People are/were made poor. People are not illiterate. People are/were made illiterate. People are not hungry. People need to be kept hungry – to starve.

We are usually seeped in paradigms that emphasize on the survival of the fittest and hard work. Success stories are sold of these essential characteristics of the successful. The majority aspires on these lines and does not make it. Even then the inequity that crushes aspirations is a matter of fact that is not addressed. That cartel that kept them out is made invisible. Most traditional structures were feudal, and authority was exercised through violence or religion. The philosophy that developed in India has also lent a sense of divinity to the feudal structure. Here God were Men, Men were God.

While patriarchy is a cross cutting discrimination and excludes over half of the population, while the caste system a reflection of the supposed superficial integration of the races in India, and effects the larger portion of the remaining half. The dynamics of power is the constant in the above factors and the situation of today.

The beauty of the situation is that when we pitch the rights of the have-nots as against the haves it is not the isolation of one from the other, it is the synthesis of the two where the integration was and is the plunder of woman/others and her/their property, and this plunder is/was and is institutionalized through and in the caste system.

The key to the current design of hegemony and oppression, is its replicability, the smallest structure is reflective of the larger picture and other parts of the picture and vice versa. Once you encode some of the current structures all else will start to fall into place,

That when it happens, is your First Mile Stone