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Alternative media/ media debate
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Postings not related to the writing of the Manifesto or policy chapters
are likely to be summarily rejected. Thanks for your understanding. IPI
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The following is a paper read at the Seminar on Fourth World a few years
ago. I was was able to find a copy of it and produce some extracts
from
it, which may be of specific interest to people debating media. Henry
ALTERNATIVE MEDIA URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR
DALIT LIBERATION IN INDIA by HENRY THIAGARAJ
The subject of "Development Communication in Fourth World" has been
dealt in
my paper with an international perspective. After listening to the
participants in the Seminar, I would like to share my own experience in
India of actually working with the people in the Fourth World - the
Dalits.
At the outset I would like to draw a distinction between the context of
communication and contents of communication. The context deals with a
vision, broader perspectives, principles that govern the contents
purpose,
values like justice in communication, etc. Whereas contents of
communication deal with specific media, specialties like print media,
electronic media, audio-visuals, mass media like movies, T.V. Radio,
spoken
- world communication, Folk Theatre, etc.
THE PAST
Speaking of Development communication in India - the Fourth World people
like Dalits have been left out of the communication process. Most of
the
communication in India have been elitist oriented, the upper caste
people
monopolised the field of communication. Whereas in segregated housing
colonies Dalits languished without communication. They were robbed of
the
opportunity to communicate. Discrimination deprived them the power of
communication and condemned to a dehumanised condition - wherein human
communication was denied to them. In the process the communication
skills
of Dalits were suppressed. A friend yesterday spoke of "Dalit
Heritage". I
want to add to that statement that in South India, Dalits were integral
part
of communication in society. The word "Paraiah" comes from "Parai" "to
speak" to announce - to people. Paraiahs were originally spokesmen of
the
Kings and rulers, as they communicated the decisions of the Court and
the
pronouncements of the monarchs to the people. Paraiahs were also great
drummers, leading the procession of the Kings, the leading band of war
battles.The great heritage of pariahs were suppressed by the dominant
community that they were made to beat the drums for funeral processions,
as
part of the dehumanising process. In this exercise of dehumanising
people,
their heritage and communication skills were robbed. They were
conditioned,
brainwashed as their Karma made them to live a miserable life-denied of
joy.
As slaves they are to live in sorrow, condemned to their fate with no
music
and dance in their life as they toiled on the soil. The
mainstream,dominant
community people enjoy music and dance and access to these were denied
to
dalits.
In the ancient region of Tamil Nadu, Ramanand area, one can see the
rural
Paraiah Drummers, still with their age old musical instruments like long
pipes, different kinds of drums, etc. Great poets like the sage
Valluvar,
Avaiyar, were Dalits and gave great values, golden words of wisdom and
gave
ethics to the society. Therefore, it is important for us, Dalits to
re-discover our ancient heritage and in the process regain the dignity
of
the Dalit heritage.
THE PRESENT
Communication is real power. It gives power over other. Those who own
media like Newspaper, Television and Movie Studios, etc. wield enormous
powers in society. This power was denied to the Dalits, who became as
landless labourers.
Communication can be classified into personal, inter-personal and
social.
It can extend to national and international spheres to a great extent.
The
world has shrunk into a village - global village because of
communication.
What happens in America through the satellite communication is brought
to
our drawing rooms - similarly what happens in India reaches all parts of
the
world. Now a days we have to think globally and act locally. News of
local
action are developed into a global communication. It is this
perspective
the UN Declaration of Human Rights highlights the plight of the Dalits -
the
people of the Fourth World. It is to communicate the dehumanised
condition
of the Dalit people and the atrocities committed on them, we have
launched
the Human Rights Education Movement of India which has two aspects: (1)
First, Humanising process of Dalits, to awaken them, to make them aware
of
their Human Rights, guaranteed by our Constitution and reinforced by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Mr.Bhagawan Das pointed out that out of 3,500 communities in India 900
of
them are classified as Scheduled Castes. He also said that among the
"Chamar" community there are at least 62 sub-groups which are endogenous
-
yet there is no communication, especially social communication, among
them.
The bane of caste and caste consciousness really plays havoc on the
human
and social progress of our Dalit people. It is to break the barriers of
man
and man among Dalits , to break the barriers between man and woman in
society human rights education and humanising education is much needed
among
the people of the Fourth World. This humanising education for which
humanising communication is required to create a new social order with
justice and equality of people. A new humanity requires human
communication
which should become really free from the prison, which man has created
for
himself through social taboos.
Listen to the words of Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar on "WHO IS FREE MAN" "I
call him free who with his conscience awake, realises his rights,
responsibilities and duties. He who is not a slave of circumstances and
is
always ready and striving to change them in his favour. I call him
free,
one who is not a slave of usage, of customs, of meaningless rituals and
ceremonies of superstition and traditions, one who has not got blind
faith
in the teachings of saints and religious teachers, simply because these
have
been passed generation to generation, whose flame of reason has not been
extinguished, I call him a free man..... He who does not lead his life
under the direction of others, who sets his own goal of life according
to
his own reasoning and decides for himself as to how and in what way life
should be led, is a free man. In short a man who is the master of his
own
free will, him alone I consider a free man.
"BABASAHEB DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR Speech delivered on May 31, 1936 Mahar
Conference held at Bombay.
Freedom from fear leads to, freedom from oppression - as Franklin
Roosevelt
observed. Freedom from fear is an important freedom to be realised in a
democracy. Dalit have to be freed from fear for true liberation. Only
the
courageous will have the strength to break the chain of slavery - both
mental and physical.
In our Dalit Liberation Education Trust, we are providing an opportunity
to
empower Dalits Youths - men and women - to experience Babasaheb's
definition
of a free human being to create a new humanity - to live free from fear
and
oppression. We run Dalit Youth Leadership Camps - an intensive
experience
oriented course to realise the new human being - free from the
oppressing
conditions - to experience the dignity of human life.
In order to express our real condition we have produced videos on the
plight
of Dalit Christians and published small books, and organised liberation
camps to awaken our people. These are our attempts in Development
communication both personal and inter-personal, with mass media emphasis
like production of Audio - Cassettes in Tamil e.g.: songs of Liberation
entitled: "Open yours eyes" to see real world of knowledge,The privilege
of
being born a girl-child to change society, etc
SOME MEDIA ASPECTS IN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Our Television caters most to the urban elitist people. To prove this
point
let me take the example of a movie entertainment scheduled on every
Sunday
which rural and urban poor look forward to with great expectation.
Suddenly
this film programme is either shifted or cancelled for a live telecast
of
Wimbldon Tennis played in U.K. or Cricket Match in Australia - just to
please the urban elitists and ruling classes, while the poor in rural
area
go disappointed. We do not really care for the rural poor!
In our country the literacy rate is low. The Fourth World people
struggle
to get literacy as seen below:-
SC'S AND LITERACY
State-wise breakup of Scheduled Caste population and literacy in 1991
SC% of total Total Literacy(%) SC Literacy(%)
Population
India 16.48* 52.21 37.41
Bihar 14.55 38.48 19.49
Gujarat 7.41 61.29 61.07
Haryana 19.75 55.85 39.22
Karnataka 16.38 56.04 38.06
Kerala 9.92 89.81 79.66
Madhya Pradesh 14.55 44.20 35.08
Maharashtra 11.09 64.87 56.46
Orissa 16.20 49.09 36.78
Punjab 28.31 58.51 41.09
Rajasthan 17.29 38.55 26.29
Tamil Nadu 19.18 62.66 46.74
Uttar Pradesh 21.05 41.60 26.85
West Bengal 23.62 57.70 42.21
*excludes Jammu & Kashmir
Source: 1991 Census, Govt. of India Publication
THE DUBIOUS ROLE OF THE MEDIA
I quote the following from the recent article in the Indian Express to
formulate your own objective conclusions.
"Media today creates events. Reporting has almost become an ancillary
activity" ...
"I remember reading of the editorial page of national daily an article
by a
women activist which contained this sentence: "90 per cent of the
prostitutes are Muslims". What a way to preserve an identity! That
sentence could as well have been written by an RSS activist...
"The danger with the instant judgement of the media is that they can on
the
one hand increase a minority group's feelings of alienation and on the
other
encourage the majority group's sense of self righteousness".
The media have just that in Mandal and Mandir happenings.
MEDIA AND MANDAL
Two articles "Twice Born Riot Against Democracy" by Gail Omvedt
(Economic
and Political Weekly September 24, 1990) and "Mandal Mandir and Masjid:
Dubious Role of the Media' by S.Shivanandan (Mainstream October 20,
1990)
have exposed shocking prejudices, cliches, untruths, incitement and
manipulation by sections of the media in recent months.
"Certain basic issues raised by Omvedt need to be kept in mind: Opinion
in
the Mandal issue is totally predictable from caste status. The twice
born
out number the Dalits and Shudras in forums which produce the "War of
words". Those who oppose the Mandal commission are invariably the twice
born, the high castes, plus Parsis and high caste Christians. These
sources
also attack the kulak lobby favoured by Mandal".
"A second strand is the lament over ignoring of "merit" and its adverse
effects on "development", efficiency and marching into the 21st century.
It's here that the worlds of the yogi and the yuppie meet - after all,
an
updated caste system is the best guarantee of the The New Economic
Order."
"The curious fact is that when V.P.Singh played the game of the
mainstream
he was the darling of (most of) the media - postponing Punjab elections,
taking tough line in Kashmir ("needs a smack of firm Government" - TOI),
and
towards Pakistan, and a soft line on liberalisation. But when he took a
tough line on the "Untouchables' he became an "untouchable".
The ELECTRONIC MEDIA
"Doordarshan did not exactly cover itself with glory. Under BJP
pressure it
became chauvinistic on Kashmir, hard on the minorities (see its
documentary
on the death anniversary of S.P. Mukerjee). It became slightly more
objective as the BJP influence waned but it never brought on the
pro-Mandal
debaters - Arvind N.Das, Jug Suraiya, Gail Omvedt and others to give
focus
to the debate.
Top editorials on real life police excesses, grimly suicides, were used
to
ram home one message - "V.P. out!" The magazine played to the "Mandal
deprived" yuppie teenagers - who are also consumers of its ad-product
(see
the ad of a girl, whooping at admission to New York University - triumph
of
"merit").
AN ALTERNATIVE PRESS
The general pattern of press reaction seems to confirm rather than deny
the
Mandal thrust. Is major dissent - a modern "Buddhist" revolt - possible
in
the present media dispensation?
"As Gail Omvedt says, the Shudras and the Dalits need a press structure
of
their own".
[All above the Extracts from the article on "Mandir, Masjid, V.P. and
the
Media - INDIAN EXPRESS dated Sunday, November 25, 1990]
>From the readings above, its is obvious the media in India represents the
unjust world and we the Dalits are the victims of injustice in the media
world. Wherever we go injustice and oppression haunts us.
The curious fact is all our oppressors are a small percentage: All the
1200
Cinema Theatres in India screening three (3) shows a day for 750 persons
per
show can reach only 3.20% of our population. Similarly assuming one
newspaper is read by 5 persons, only 3.33% of the total population are
covered by the circulation of Dailies - as per the 1990 circulation
figures.
With 48.78% illiteracy, the newspapers do not touch the Fourth World
people,
the rural poor. The communication gap between the educated and the
illiterates are widening despite all our development efforts! Our task
is
very clear: to empower our people, to create justice and equality in
development communication to achieve real freedom and progress.
-----end
Henry Thiagaraj
Managing Trustee, Dalit Liberation Education Trust
46 Main Butt Road, St. Thomas Mount, Chennai 600016, India
Phone +91- 44-2341146 / 2331199 Home phone 4421676
Fax +91-44-4913365
email: hremi@giasmd01.vsnl.net.in
Website: http://www.pcsadvt. com/dlet/
and
http://www.pcsadvt.com/dlet/thedelta.htm
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