Although we know that the colonial archive has been created guided by the needs of the colonizers, yet these narratives function as rays of light in the search for the role of dalits in the 1857 revolt. The narratives around dalit identity which the dalits are using to prove their role in the 1857 revolt are also based on the colonial archives that enlist the names of the people who were hanged for their role in the revolt, since the mainstream nationalist Indian history completely ignores the contribution of dalits in the revolt. For example Matadin Bhangi, a sweeper in the British army at Barrackpore, who is claimed by the dalits to have spearheaded the 1857 revolt since he was the first to make Mangal Pandey, the mainstream nationalist originator of the revolt, aware of the fact that the cartridges were greased with cow fat, has been overlooked by the official record of the revolt. However that he was not a figment of the imagination of the dalits can be proved by the colonial archives that show that he was hanged to death for participating in the revolt. In the same vein there is another myth about a dalit hero of the 1857 revolt which is popular in the oral memories of the region adjoining Kanpur and Bithoor. This is the myth of Gangu Mehtar who is also known as Gangu Baba. The people of that region say that Gangu Baba was a Bhangi who worked as a drum beater (nagarchi) in the army of Nana Saheb. He was built extremely powerfully and was also a wrestler. He himself owned a wrestling ring where many youths practiced wrestling under his tutelage. During the 1857 revolt Gangu Baba fought against the British along with his students at a place near Satichaura and killed many of them. After the revolt was quelled he was arrested by the British and hanged to death. The story of Gangu baba has transcended from the real world into the ethereal world and there is a popular story about him that is still circulated among the people in the region where he died which establish his supernatural qualities.

Link to Pratilipi via Publisher's Post. ]]> http://readerswords.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/caste-class-and-anti-imperialism-2/ Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:31:52 +0000 rw http://readerswords.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/caste-class-and-anti-imperialism-2/ Joseph D'souza reviews Anti- imperialism and Annihilation of Caste by Anand Telumbde.

Teltumbde is most provocative when he argues that the primary caste contradiction is between Dalits and all non-Dalits or savarnas and not between dwija and not-dwija. He also shows how one can and needs to perform a class analysis to show contradictions between castes. For example he boldly highlights Dalit and OBC class contradictions by showing how the dwija vs. non-dwija categories which place the large population of OBCs as allies of all Dalits, hide the real class contradictions between them. Thus, Teltumbde is not satisfied with opportunistic attempts to put together electoral formations of "bahujan" since these do not represent the "ground reality" of Dalits (218). Nonetheless, he is also careful to argue that each of these legalistic caste categories itself contains a heterogeneous class population.

Technorati Tags: Dalit, India, Class, Marxism, Imperialism, Anand Telumbde

It’s because I’ve been serving curry, rice and dahl and the scrubbing the endless amount of dishes, pots, pans and utensils at a fundraising dinner tonight. I don’t usually enjoy doing dishes (it’s definitely a chore!) but tonight I didn’t mind a bit. In fact I really enjoyed it. It was great to be able to serve my brother and sisters from MBC who are heading out to India this summer to work in a Dalit Education Centre run by Operation Mobilisation, and visit the site where a new centre is to be built which MBC is sponsoring after the Just Christmas initiative

I realised though once we’d finished clearing up (it was about 11.15 p.m. by this time) that I had no food in the house, so I headed to good old 24hr tesco. I was meandering through the aisles trying to figure out what meals to cook this week when I randomly got a text from a guy I was at university with in Aberdeen saying ‘Are u in tesco?’ I looked up and down the aisle thinking…weird…did he have spies? I text back saying yes I was indeed in Tesco, how did he know? ‘I just walked past you’ he replied.

A hunt ensued…was this guy I hadn’t seen or spoken to since last summer when I saw him at an Origin Scotland event secretly stalking me?! I couldn’t see him anywhere. I eventually found him at the checkout where I was greeted with a hug and introduced to his flatmate. They are both doctors, and I was delighted that it was just a freakish coincidence that we were both doing grocery shopping in the middle of the night!

Isn’t it funny how that happens. As he said – I can’t believe in a city of half a million people that we’d bump into each other in a supermarket at such a bizarre hour. Neither of us even lives in the area where the supermarket is located.

The self service checkouts were also on full form tonight causing massive trolley tailbacks as people fought to scan their shopping and get the evil machines to register that the items had been ‘placed in the bagging area’. I’m surprised no one has taken a trolley and thrown it at one of those things to smash it as a result of pent up anger and frustration…

(1) The widespread protest and anger actuated by the heinous murders in Khairlanji was subjected to brutal state repression in an organized government effort in many places in Vidarbha. Brutal lathi-charges, unlawful entry into people houses, violence in police custody are some of the instances of police high-handedness. Legitimate and peaceful protests were subjected to random beatings, severe baton charges, unprovoked arrests and widespread insults appealing to caste sentiments. As a result of this suppression, when some of the protest temporarily lost their peaceful character, this was used as an excuse for further widespread repression and mass arrests. We have come across numerous instances of adults, old people and women and in a few cases, children who have received serious injuries by the police- broken bones, long-term incapacitation.

(2) The police firing in Amravati, on 15th November, which took the life of a young man, Dilip Wankhede and injured 3 others, took place after the rally of the protesters had been officially closed by the organisers and the protesters were returning home.

(3) On the same day, a group of 25 women who were on their way to join the rally were arbitrarily arrested and beaten up and three of them as yet have not been released on bail. FIRs have been registered by the Amravati police against 12,000 unnamed participants of the rally.

(4) At Yawatmal, a peaceful rally initiated by Pramodini Ramteke, was instigated into a communal confrontation by upper caste elements in politics, due to which the police entered Dalit houses at random and subjected men and women to severe beating.

(5) Property has been destroyed, auto- rickshaw windscreen broken, TV sets broken in Nagpur and Kamptee. Due to the injuries and destruction of property, people have been deprived the means of their livelihood.

(6) A particularly disturbing feature of the violence was that it was accompanied by deliberate display of an extreme degree of caste prejudice. Photographs of Baba Saheb Ambedkar in people’s homes were broken and widespread caste based insults were freely employed.

(7) The team recorded some cases of malicious victimization such as the dismissal of lady constable Vishakha Bhaisana, resident of Kamptee, who was beaten up by both the police and upper caste communal forces. Sarkate, a schoolteacher of Navodaya Vidyalaya, Amravati, was arrested because he had, in his possession, some fact-finding reports and posters, after which, he suffered a heart-attack and has been suspended from his duties.

Analyzing the situation, the team feels that there is a deliberate attempt on the part of the state to teach the Dalit community trying to assert themselves, a lesson. The state machinery has played a partisan role by threatening people that they will repeat Khairlanji in their bustees. There were attempts to communalize the situation both in Bhandara and Kamptee by upper caste forces with the police turning a blind eye. Women who certainly were not part of any violence that may have occurred were brutally beaten up, their modesty outraged as they were even hauled out from bathrooms and abused. While there was no serious injury to any of the police, people have been charged under Section.307.

Demands:

(1) An independent judicial enquiry by a senior retired judge.

(2) The entire sequence of events starting from the murder at Khairlanji, suppression of the news of the murder by senior officials of the government and the subsequent widespread repression of peaceful Dalit protest should be placed before the National Human Rights Commission as well as International Tribunals devoted to the suppression of inequalities based on birth.

(3) All instances of grievous injuries and destructions of property should be registered in FIRs with immediate effects and a credible and transparent police investigation should be launched in all such reports forthwith.

(4) All sufferers of such unwarranted police violence should be compensated both for injuries and loss of livelihood. All false cases against those participating in the rally should be withdrawn-since none of the police were grievously hurt Section 307 is falsely applied.

(5) We demand that constable Vishakha be reinstated and suspension order against Mr. Sarkate be revoked.

(6) Cases under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act should be registered an action to be taken against the guilty.

Chhaya Khobargade, who has been actively involved in the agitation, felt that the congress government has not taken any action against the guilty. Instead it is taking action against the activists' who have been staging protest against the incident. 'If the Maharastra government does not take action against the culprits, the situation would go out of hand,' she warned.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Nitin Chaudhury, Convener, NACDOR, Maharastra asked the R.R. Patil, deputy chief minister of Maharastra must apologize to the Dalit community for his irresponsible utterances. Former Union Minister Sanjay Paswan also expressed his solidarity with the agitating members.

At the Dalit sector meeting in ISF2006, Mr Ashok Bharati, Convener, National Conference of Dalit Organisations expressed deep anguish over the attitude of Maharastra government which he termed was no different than the fascist government of Gujarat led by Narendra Modi. Bharati warned that Dalits would not rest silently if there dignity continues to be attacked by the upper caste goons. He also blamed the organizers of the World Social Forum with prejudices against the Dalits.

While protests in Delhi continue, and more so because United Dalit Student Forum in JNU along with other students organizations are planning massive protests against Mahrastra government's inaction. In Bhandara people expressed their anger against the visit of Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh who offered a job to the relative of the deceased family. 'We want honour and dignity and not job, was the categorical answer from the family. It is the tribute to Ambedkar's campaign for human Rights and dignity that dalits consider it too small to bargain a massacre of a family with a job. That may be possible in the Hindu system and not with enlightened Ambekarite Buddhists.

It is beyond any body's belief how four family members of Buddhist Dalit family were butchered to death mercilessly by the upper caste hegemonists of Khairlanji village who wanted to grab the land of this Dalit family. 'The Panchayat had already taken over about 2 acres of land in the name of common passage for the village and the upper caste were pressurizing that the family also get out of remaining 3 acres of land, says Sujata Parimita, a women's rights activist from Mumbai. How brutal and inhuman could these upper caste be, is reflected in the nature of the killing. Surekha (44 years), her daughter Priyanka 18 years, sons Rakesh 23 years and Sudhir, 29 years were first pulled out from their hut and stripped naked. According to Sujata and Chhaya Khobargade, 'these women were stripped naked by the upper caste women'.

Those women's right activists must understand who say that 'women do not have caste. Not all women are equal. Upper caste women can never understand the plight of Dalit women from their caste prism and would have to shed those prejudices before claiming to work for women's right movement of all. Surekha's sons were also stripped and asked to rape their mother and sister when they refused to follow, they were hacked to death. One of the son named Sudhir was a physically challenge person. Later, the mother and daughters were also raped and killed. Their bodies were found next day with brutal marks of killing on their body, lying naked.

Now, the attempt to wash the entire thing has already begun. The police say that they are not getting any eyewitness of the event while the medical report does not make a rape case. It is shocking beyond doubt, as Sujata Parimita says, 'When the Delhi High Court cold send Santosh Singh to the gallows using circumstantial evidences, why is police in Bhandara not doing its work and collecting the circumstantial evidences. Moreover, some of the family members including Surekha's cousin Siddhartha Gajbhiye have already told police what he saw on that fateful day. What does the naked body indicate?'

The upper caste feudal police is not interested in resolving the crisis. Siddhartaha was a political activist and living in another village and Surekha had contacted him to help her as the upper castes were putting a lot of pressure on them to relinquish the 3 acres of land that they possessed. To get rid of the intervention, the villagers alleged that Surekha had an illicit relationship with Suresh. But even if that was true, why the hell these upper castes were concern about that?

Complaints were lodged to the police and yet no action was taken. Dalits waited for so many days -- no media or the government officials visited them. It took nearly over a month and half when the patience of the Dalits boiled. And what one saw in the streets of various parts of Vidarbha was this Dalit frustration with rule of law. The government did not act but tried to shield its officials and politicians involved in the case.

It is more shocking that the high profile Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil was busy issuing statements on two counts. One his party has been going overboard over party president Sharad Pawar's alleged 'insult' by the Australian players. 'We respect our elders', was the general cry of the political activists in Maharastra. 'We must make the Australians apologize for they do not know what actually the culture is? 'If the Australian media had known and seen the Bhandara incident and how Indian media reports then they would have probably said that 'your culture is to publicly rape a woman and her daughters in front of her sons and do not ask for justice.' That atrocious upper caste prejudice is still prevalent in Mahrastra and that there is no outrage in the country is itself an outrage. This incident is a grim reminder of how our social system functions and whether the Dalits should now not blow up that super structure of democracy which gives one person equal voting right to elect our parliament or assemblies yet do not consider them equal.

R R Patil ordered a CID inquiry into the Nagpur incident but not what happened at Bhandara's Kharilanji village. Every body knows how an inquiry proceeds to save the skin of the political leaders. State CIDs are nothing but government's own mindset and Patil has already said that the entire incident of fire and rioting in Nagpur was orchestrated by the Naxal groups. Politicians seldom introspect therefore to expect that Patil and his cohorts would respond responsibly on the issue would be miraculous.

But Dalits taking the street for justice is not new in Maharastra particularly in Nagpur. The state apparatus has always shielded the corrupt upper caste officials, goons who exploit Dalits. There is pain and anguish and to say that it is the work of Naxals is again to relieve oneself from the responsibility. Maharastra's police is considered to be efficient yet it could not fill a sense of confidence among the Dalits. The political class did not find time to visit the place. In fact some of the people have blamed a BJP MLA's involvement in the entire incident.

In the 50th year of Dhammachakra Parivartan, thousands of people have already embraced Buddhism and standing tall with their new found enlightenment. The Bhotmanges family of Khairlanji was also a Buddhist and learnt to live with dignity which was not accepted by the upper caste Hindus. Their assertion was attacked in the most fascist manner of any system. One does not find parallel to such cruelty, may be during the Nazi assault on the Jews at the concentration camps in Germany.

The government is discussing things in home ministry about the growing influence of Naxalites in Chandrapur and other parts of Maharastra. This year during the 50th year celebration of Ambedkar's conversion, our friend Sunita Narain of Danish Publications, Delhi was arrested by Chandrapur police for 'clinching' evidence of her 'linkages' with the Naxalites. Sunita has a book stall, at the festival ground, which include Bhagat Singh's memoirs, a book written by Babu Ram Bhattarai, Nepal's Maoist leader, some others like Dr Ambedkar's work on riddles of Hinduism etc. She was released only on the condition that she would be available for further interrogation.

One would ask the ministers in Maharastra whether selling literature of revolutionaries any crime and as reported by Sunita, the police officer was asking her 'Why she sale Bhagat Singh when India has already become a democracy'. Yes, India is a democracy of the upper castes where they learn Gandhigiri from a Bollywood film but do not use it in their public life. Even Gandhi would have wept and cried seeing his 'followers'.

Dalits love literature. It is beyond doubt that Dalits today read much more than the upper caste Hindus study. All the revolutionary writings are liked by Dalits. Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar has given them strength of conviction and character and therefore they go crazy to read literature of revolution. Dalits are going for revolution. Embracing Buddhism is itself a revolt against the dominant caste culture of India. Dalits have saved Indian democracy. When the upper castes were busy in their work and money, Dalits voted in the slums and streets. What did they get in return? That their leaders are also purchased and co-opted by the mainstream. Dalits respect constitution of India because Dr Ambedkar drafted it. Anything that links Dalits to Baba Saheb has an emotional value.

We gave a political constitution which suggested two people are equal but in social life, what Ambedkar mentioned during those days, that the two people are not equal. Manu Smriti still rules India.

We must not forget how the Dalit women in Nagpur taught Akka Yadav a lesson of his life. Yes, Yadav was a local goon who would go to any house and ask for the prettiest girl to entertain him. For long the Dalit women tolerated his activities. Also, they realized well that the Akka Yadav had wide political connections and would get release once arrested. After lots of protest Yadav was arrested but the activist got to wind of the police that he might be let off to torture them again. And the massive crowd that swelled in the campus of the local court in Nagpur where Police brought the accused in the van, the crowed attacked Yadav and his friend and killed them on the spot. That was social justice that Nagpur women wanted for them. They were not interested in long arm- twisting tactics of the court and the police which ultimately made them victims and hence they killed the notorious gangster. Very unfortunately the Maharastra government has not learnt any lesson from the same.

It still feels that delay is the best way as people would forget the incident. It would be foolish to think in those terms. The anger of the Dalits in the Maharashtra is for dignity and honour and no government can do away with it. The golden edifice of Indian democracy would not survive if Dalits do not get justice in India. They have already tolerated humiliation heaped upon them related to their integrity, merits, reservation and everything. It is a wake up call for the government failing which they would only lose their credibility and masses would follow what they believe in like what happened to Akka Yadav. Government must not wait and act immediately to get the victims justice otherwise it will have to heavy price for which India at the moment is not prepared and cannot afford.

Activists of a Dalit organization Monday attacked offices of a Telugu daily here and in other major towns in Andhra Pradesh.
A group of about 30 activists of Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MPRS) attacked the office of Andhra Jyothi in the upmarket Jubliee Hills. The attackers, who came in two vehicles, ransacked the office and tried to set it afire.
They were protesting against an article published in Monday's edition of the newspaper.

Bago pa man nagsidatingan ang mga mananakop na Espanyol, matagal ng may mahusay na anyong panitikan ang mga ninunong Pilipino. Ito ay inilalarawan bilang may mataas na antas ng kalidad na nagpasalin-salin sa mga henerasyon sa pamamagitan ng pasalitang istilo.

Natural na makata ang mga Pilipino, ngunit dahil sa pwersang nag-impluwensya tulad ng pagkontrol ng mga Espanyol at dantaong pananakop ng iba pang kolonyang bansa, tila nabaon sa limot ang mga istilong sariling atin.

Tulad ng Haiku, isang anyong panitikan mula pa sa kulturang Hapon, na binubuo ng mga limitadong sukat ay nagpapakita at mayroong temang sumasaklaw sa kalikasan, karanasan, pamilya at iba pa. Ang pinaka-popular na anyo ng Haiku ay binubuo ng tatlong maiikling taludtod. Ang unang taludtod ay karaniwang mayroong limang pantig, ang ikalawang taludtod ay may pipituhing pantig at ang huling taludtod ay may limang pantig muli.

Halimbawa (www.everypoet.net)

grim water tumbles
messy wintertimes grin, clowns
recede, moons reproach

∞

dragonflies erupt
families blushing cinder
mellowing cowgirls

∞

legless rude snowy
ploughshare vanishes wetly
sadly, snowing eel

∞

unchained ape darkens
pig yearns, wet dried wasps regret
hoarsely, intense pink

∞

scornful door despairs
clean canoes rusting, grimly
riding, eccentric

Tulad ng bansang Hapon, nakalikha rin ang mga katutubong Pilipino ng mga anyong pampanitikan tulad ng Haiku, ilan sa mga ito ay ang Tanaga, Dalit at Diona.

TANAGA: Ang tanaga ay isang katutubong anyo ng tula na binubuo ng pitong pantig kada taludtod, apat na taludtod kada saknong na may isahang tugmaan.

Halimbawa:

Sa gubat na madawag
Tala'y mababanaag.
Iyon ang tanging hangad,
Buhay ma'y igagawad.
-Bannie Pearl Mas

Tumayo ka nang tuwid,
Ang kamay ay sa dibdib.
Awitin ating himig
Nang totoo sa tinig.
-Romualdo Verzosa Jr.

Noong malayo ako,
Nasa kabilang dako,
Itong puso't isip ko,
Bayan, para lang sa 'yo.
-Rachel Muyano

DALIT: Ang dalit ay isang katutubong anyo ng tula na binubuo ng walong pantig kada taludtod, apat na taludtod kada saknong at may isahang tugmaan.

Halimbawa:

Nag-aral siyang pilit
Nang karangala’y makamit.
Buong buhay s’yang nagtiis.
Makapagtapos ang nais.

Ang pera niya’y tinipid,
Sa guro ay di sumipsip.
Markang mataas, nakamit:
Tagumpay nga ang kapalit.
-Zoren Mercurio

DIONA: Ang diona ay isang katutubong anyo ng tula na binubuo ng pitong pantig kada taludtod, tatlong taludtod kada saknong at may isahang tugmaan.

Halimbawa:

Ang payong ko'y si inay
Kapote ko si itay
Sa maulan kong buhay
-Raymond Pambit

Aanhin ang yamang Saudi,
O yen ng Japayuki
Kung wala ka sa tabi
-Fernando Gonzales

Kung ang aso hinahanap
Pag nagtampo't naglayas
Ikaw pa kaya anak.
- Ferdinand Bajado

Lolo, huwag malulungkot
Ngayong uugod-ugod
Ako po'y inyong tungkod
- Gregorio Rodillo

Ilan lamang ito sa mga katutubong panitikan nating mga Pinoy na kinakailangang bigyang pansin upang hindi tuluyang mabaon sa limot. Kailangang maipamulat ito sa kamalayan nating mga Pilipino upang magkaroon ng kaalaman at yumabong ang kulturang Pilipino. Kung tutuusin, mas pabor ang anyong panitikang ito sa kahit sinong Pilipino, hindi kailangang magkaroon ka ng kasanayang akademiko upang makalikha ng mga tulang ito. Kahit anong tema ay maaring uminog sa mga linya, nararamdam, kapaligiran, pamilya, kaibigan at kung ano-ano pa.

While traveling abroad I didn’t expect to do any recreational trekking, as there’s a documentary to be made, people to help, and more fiscally responsible ways to see Nepal. To my delight, we spent the afternoon climbing up a steep set of stairs, past huts, fountains, and mineral springs, to reach the Dalit settlement at the top. An hour and a half climb from Baglung would be a veritable journey for the elderly Nepalis we met on their way down to town bearing walking sticks and weather lines.

Mounting the top, we all took a rest under a huge Buddha tree and talked with a few female villagers who were gathered around a fountain. From our hilltop vista of the town below, they told us about the legal complications of the drinking water, as well as showing us a temple where Dalit have been restricted from worship. Their story of discrimination was disheartening, but their eyes and spirits seemed strong. Children herded buffalo and old women came out from their home to greet us with their palms pressed together and their heads bowed offering us water and shade. Humbled can’t begin to describe...

Mahesh and Purna came to the settlement to interview a woman for an article who married a man from a higher caste. She was attending university in Baglung when her landlord evicted her for the trespass, and she was forced to move to this remote settlement. Although her story was gathered in Nepali, her body language and inflection crossed all language boundaries, and was powerful to witness and record. Mahesh and Purna took copious notes, asking her to elaborate. Before we left she offered us water, and I pondered her sacrifice to fill our cups.

Traveling back to Pokhara from Baglung my legs shook gently, reminding me of the climb and my heart reminded me of the people who were already home. Traveling is not only imperative for philanthropy and to tell a story, but to craft my own and develop into the self I want to be. Slowly, I think I’m becoming that person. Gradually, I'm home.

We hired a taxi for the afternoon and drove 15 kilometers out of Pokhara to reach the Dalit settlement. To get to the community, we walked 10 minutes from the road, then descended through a steep cavernous gorge to a patchwork of paddies. Small clay huts were interspersed with rice fields full of men, women, children and oxen. Men and boys were plowing, yoking the oxen in parallel lines, while women and girls cut the grassy paddy and shook the loose earth from their fibers.

After interviewing a woman about her life and experiences, she looked me deeply in the eyes and touched me on the back. She said something to me in Nepali, and Prakash said, “I’m having some trouble with language... she said she really liked you and loved you and would like to smoke corn and eat it with you.” Her eyes were dark and shining as we both placed our palms together, bowed our heads, and joined momentarily.

The taxi driver came with us down to the settlement; he watched us with unabashed curiosity as the bags which were just in his trunk contained cameras not clothes and camping supplies, and we spoke with people open heartedly rather than in the cold, distant language of trekkers. Down in the fields, he was attentive and engaged, and even offered to carry Jes’ camera bag on our way back up the steep stairs through the gorge out of the settlement. Of course, Jes declined but was touched that he was as giving as the people we’d just interviewed. I hope the taxi driver had a good tale to share with his family, or at least experienced something as new as I did.

While talking with the community, visiting their homes, and spending time with them in the field, I was invited into a man’s clay hut which he’d built with his own hands. How humbling to see the one room he and his family shared, with one light bulb, and small fireplace to cook their daily meals. The entire ceiling was covered with corn in the husks, drying in spiky stalactites. Their toilet was in a shack outside, shared with their neighbors. Mine was connected to my room glossed in white porcelain with a bath tub and shower head.

-introvoys

:lol:

----------

para sa aming ikalawang takda, inassign uli kaming gumawa ng sampung maiikling tula. muli, 4 na tanaga, 4 na dalit at 2 awit. sa pagkakataong ito, hindi na ang tugma lang ang dapat naming intindihin habang nagsusulat. kailangan na rin namin siguraduhin na nakasunod ang mga tula namin sa ibinigay na balangkas, tono, at ang pinakamababang uri ng tugma ay pantigan dapat (ang huling kp/pk ng salitang pantugma ay magkaparehas at magkakaparehas na maragsa/malumay/malumi/mabilis ang pagkabigkas).

syempre, marami pa rin akong mali... kasi ang engot, hindi nagreview bago sumulat so nagkahalo-halo yung tugma ng iba (may maragsa na napahalo sa malumay etc.) may dahilan naman ako, ang toxic kasi sa opis netong mga nakaraan dahil may event... (trabaho talaga, istorbo sa workshop), kaya hayun isa lang ata nakapasa :lol: pero ipopost ko na rin miski mali (para may pagtawanan tayong lahat pagdating ng panahon) BWAHAHAHA!

game.

mga tanaga

dahil mapangarap ako, gumawa ako ng isang mahabang tula na binuo ng mga tanaga. dapat dito ang balangkas ay pasuhay. pag pasuhay yung unang line may general statement na susuportahan ng mga susunod na linya ng tula.

Ang bayan kong kawawa

Sa bayan kong kawawa
Marami na ang sawa; (mali kasi mabilis ang "sawa")
Para kang nasa kawang
Tinututong ng yawa.

Sa mga datung piling
Bumibili ng dili—
Bawal kang mananghili.
Bubusalan ‘yong tili.

Salubungin ng kalo,
Piliting makihalo!
Kung ayaw mong mapalo’t
Sabihang naglalalo.

Pagkat bayan mong mahal
Mga mata’y may tapal,
Inasa na sa dasal
Ang pantubos ng dangal.

actually, di namin chineck ang mga tanaga, kasi zinero na kami ni sir Rio dito :lol: ayaw kasi namin mag-comment sa gawa nung naunang nagbasa... so yan lang ang obvious kong mali ko. kung may nakikita ka pakisabi na lang. hehe (utusan daw ba kita?)

mga dalit

dito naman, dapat patimbang ang balangkas... 2 lang yung napasa ko sa tugma, kaso isa lang yung na-sakto sa patimbang na balangkas... (ang patimbang, may dalawang bagay kang tinitimbang sa saknong) napulaan pa kasi, "bakit yeso yung ginamit mo? pantugma lang 'to 'no?" hahaha.

Leksyon

Panganib ay nakaamba (mali)
Sa kanilang mga aba.
Pinili kasing sumamba
Sa pera na dumadamba.

Hitik sa pamamarali, (mali)
Pinagbabakasakali
Ang kakaunting pambili;
Sinasagad hanggang huli.

Pa’no makakaprogreso (eto lang ang keri)
Kung laging kulang sa Piso?
Marami ka nang atraso,
Upod na lahat ng yeso.

Bago malagas ang buhok (pasuysoy dahil sa "pagkat")
Mag-aral ka nang magsuksok.
Pagkat paggastang mapusok
Tiyak mong ikalulugmok.

eto naman...

mga awit

mali yung una dahil sa tugma :D pasuysoy naman ang balangkas na dapat dito. pag pasuysoy ine-inumerate mo yung details/ideas sa mga unang taludtod, tapos sa huling saknong yung generalization. kabalikataran siya ng pasuhay.

ang bigo

Di s’ya mapakali’t lagi nang balisa, (mali)
Dinaluhan na rin ang lahat ng misa.
Kaya sinubukan niyang mapag-isa
Hayun, malamig nang nakita nung pista.

Ang akala nila sadya lang s’yang sabik
Pagkat kan’yang irog muli nang nagbalik.
Inihanda na n’yang matamis na halik,
Ngunit nakita ‘tong may ibang katalik.

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siguro nagtataka kayo kung bakit ganun ka-particular sa tugma ang bawat takda, ganun talaga... kasi nagsisimula pa lang kami. kailangan pa naming yakapin ang tradisyunal. kailangan munang isapuso ang sukat, AAAA, etc. sabi nga ni sir Mike, kailangan mo munang makulong bago ka lumaya.

and because i can only share so much.

kung gusto nyo talagang matuto tumula sa Filipino;
1.bumili kayo nung libro ni sir Rio, yung Taludtod at Talinhaga (malapit nang magkakaroon nito sa National Bookstore kasi pinapublish pa lang ang bagong ed.) o tignan ninyo sa library ninyo ang mga lumang edition.
2. bumili din kayo ng UP Diksyunaryong Filipino (kasi bukod sa mga ibig sabihin, dun nyo rin malalaman ang tamang bigkas sa mga salita. medyo may kamahalan pero ganun talaga kung gusto ninyong matuto... matagal nyo naman magagamit, pero kung wala talaga kayong anda, yung Viccasan Dictionary ayos na rin daw (actually yun ang gamit ko dahil wala akong P1800 na pambili nung una kong binanggit)
3. masmaganda kung sumali kayo sa palihan next year :lol: kasi marami talaga kayong matututuhan pramis! (gaya nyan, "matututuhan" dapat at hindi "matututunan" sabi ni sir Rio, kasi wala naman daw hulaping -nan)
4. dapat rin alam nyo yung kanta ng Silverchair... yung,"c'mon, abuse me more i like it..." kasi kung bibigay ka kaagad, wag mo nang simulan. bawal din pala ang committed (kumitid ang utak) :lol:

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tambling!

Thursday, June 19, 2008 (Mumbai)

A team of officials from Hungary, which has a high population of itinerant gypsies, was in Mumbai to study the work being done to improve the lives of Dalits and to take some lessons back home.

''Gypsies were looked upon as strange people when they were nomads, and that was 200 years ago. The alienation continues,'' said Timea Borovzsky, chief of the Directorate General for Equal Opportunities (DGEO) of the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture.

''It is like the caste discrimination against Dalits in India,'' said Borovzsky.

Borovzsky along with two other members from the DGEO extensively toured the dry rocky interiors of the Vidarbha region in northeastern Maharashtra.

During their quiet visit, they studied how Dalits live in huts lit by hurricane lamps and cope with caste prejudices.

''We wanted to personally see the kind of projects that have been implemented in India to help Dalits come up,'' said DGEO deputy director general Gabor Sarkozi.

''In Europe, there are 15 million gypsies and in Hungary, the population ranges somewhere between 600,000 and 700,000. They are the biggest ethnic minority and the most slurred community,'' Sarkozi added.

Suri Szilivia, a researcher and interpreter with DGEO, said, ''Gypsies or Cigan as they are called in Hungary have a thousand-year-old connection with India. The semantics of their language is similar to Sanskrit.

''But more than this, Indian social reformer Babasaheb Ambedkar is a revered figure to them as well as to us researchers in Hungary,'' said Suri.

''In any public place, most majority ethnic community members would just sidle away rather than be seen with a Cigan. The Romas are reluctantly served in hotels or given respectable jobs. Even the tone towards them has a derogatory tint,'' Suri added.

Sarkozi pointed out that in Hungary, ''gypsies (a political incorrect word) or Roma or Cigan are forced to live with mythical social stereotypes like the way you (India) have the so-called criminal tribes.''

''They are brown-skinned and they have the highest school drop-out rates. They are looked down upon and people shun them. They live in ghettoes, though these slums are not as bad as we saw in villages near Nagpur,'' said Sarkozi.

Sarkozi also said that the Hungarian government has for the past few years been trying to uplift this community which, at present has the highest unemployment rate and gets seasonal employment at construction sites or as daily wage farm labour.

According to Borovszky, ''One of the reasons we selected India was precisely because the nature of discrimination is so similar between them and the Dalits.

''We found several projects extremely interesting, innovative and socially relevant for bringing a change in any depressed or marginalised community,'' said Borovszky.

Sarkozi said that the discrimination has become more overt in the last 20 years. ''Earlier during the communist regime it was never there. But now parallel structures of discrimination have come up. We want them to be absorbed in mainstream society and to be treated equally.''

So what about reservations for this community in institutions? 

''Though we do not have any such policies, a similar project was introduced earlier but it was not successful. In the last 20 years, several groups like Neo-Nazis and Skinheads have come up. So far they have not become violent but they are extremely virulent about such policies,'' Sarkozi said.

Talking about the projects that the study group intends to introduce in Hungary for gypsies, Szilivia said, ''We intend to implement the book bank project and moreover introduce workshops for teachers so that they learn to empathise with these marginalised people.

''In our tour, we found Ambedkarites and NGOs working with Dalits having empathy coupled with irrepressible zest. This is one thing we want to infuse among teachers working in schools meant for gypsies,'' added Sarkozi.

One of the most dramatic, beautiful, and geographically diverse countries in the modern world is also one of the poorest and most socially divided. Nepal, renown for its pristine Himalayan backdrop, has annals of untold and unrepresented stories of caste discrimination. The practice of untouchability, where upper castes will not consume anything ‘polluted’ by the touch of a Dalit (lowest caste, untouchable), has been illegal for fifty years but often remains a way of life for the fifth of the Nepali population who are Dalit. Clean Hands explores a variety of Dalit experiences throughout rural and urbanized Nepal with a focus on the young activists who are raising their voices for equality for all Nepalis.

The documentary follows my own experience of teaching a group of young Dalit journalists, all age 20-30, to use digital media to create narratives. Often excluded from the privilege of image creation, Dalits have relied on others to tell their stories. By teaching this outcast population how to use visual media, we learn about their successes, hardships, failures, joys and griefs, directly through their own unique voices. The characters include: the first Dalit woman journalist hailing from the prostitution caste, a teacher turned journalist after being disfigured for his low caste, an actress in the first Dalit-based nationally televised tele-serial and human rights activist, and the editor in chief of an internationally distributed e-bulletin. The final version of the film will weave the co-production of all our stories.

Widows may not wear colorful dresses, bangles, makeup, and are frequently not allowed to speak with other men. If a widow speaks with a man, or marries another man, her deceased husband's soul moves from heaven to hell. These practices are not mentioned in the holy books but are taught by Hindu religious leaders and obeyed. Widows have no legal rights, no inheritance, no pensions, and are frequently outcasts from both their family and society, especially if they choose to not follow these rules. They are third class citizens, and are seen as bad luck.

Lily told me, "Many women who are widows will say, 'I am socially dead, even though I'm physically alive.'"

In Saptari District of Nepal girls are frequently married at age 8 or 9 to boys of 10 or 12 years old. The girl continues to live with her parents until she menstruates, and then moves to live with her husband at his home. If a nine-year-old's husband dies of a snake bite or illness, she will be a widow for the rest of her life. These children usually end up living with their parents for and relying on them entirely for support.

Through Women for Human Rights, I hope to meet one of these girls on our journey through Saptari and have her as a participant in the documentary. Being a widow is a difficult plight in itself, but being a widow, Dalit, and under 20 years old is an incredibly difficult life.

The Red Movement, which Lily has participated in greatly, is attempting to break down the taboos and barriers built for widows. A widow herself, Lily has fought for women's rights through the legal system. She is optimistic that the new Maoist government in Nepal, will support widow's rights for a more equitable and compassionate approach to the death of a partner.

[The transformation of the agenda of the mainstream left in Kerala is beginning to produce resistance, and nowhere is this more visible than at Chengara in the south eastern Pathanamthitta district. The ongoing struggle for land there brings into relief not just the denial of productive resources to the real tillers of the soil – the Dalits – in Kerala’s land reforms, but also the shift of the left from the fight against inequality to the distribution of ‘minimum entitlements’. It also draws attention to the manner in which a ‘state-centric’ civil society, mainly the large network of poor women’s self-help groups sponsored by the State’s poverty eradication “Mission’, has been authorized as ‘authentic civil society’. All claims made outside these formal institutions are thereby rendered illegitimate and indeed, ‘against the law’. At Chengara, the protestors have been resisting the combined force of the state and the major political parties, laying claims to productive resources – and rejecting ‘minimum entitlements’. Indeed, the darker side of ‘democratic decentralization’ in Kerala, the ‘new Kerala Model’, as it has been called by its admirers, is the implicit legitimacy it grants to blatant violence unleashed upon people who struggle for economic equality, who do not find ‘minimum entitlements’ the solution to rampant and growing economic inequalities in contemporary Kerala. No wonder, then, that the Chief Minister of Kerala felt no qualms in warning the leader of the Chengara land struggle, Laha Gopalan, that if the protestors did not peacefully return to their villages (where they could put in applications for 3 or 5 cents of land for housing), they would have to encounter “police with horns and thorns” – in other words, not just armed police, but a bestial force. Nandigram, in short.

The struggle, however, remains vibrant and growing. Below is a translated version of a speech made by leading Dalit activist and intellectual, Sunny M Kapicadu, at a night-vigil organized in support of the ongoing land struggle in Thiruvananthapuram on 7 March 2008, in which he defends the struggle against powerful efforts to malign and undermine it.]

Friends,

The land struggle at Chengara, the circumstances that led to the struggle and the government’s attitude towards it urgently demand our attention today. According to available information, in the past seven months or so, more than 7,000 families have settled down there and built hutments. Till today, no official attempt has been made by the government to approach those who are struggling with the intention of inquiring about their demands; no democratic talks have been initiated. It was on 4 August 2007 that 300 families entered the Chengara Estate, which was being held by Harrison Malayalam Plantations and began to live there. After that there has not been much of organizational work around this move. In other words, the struggle did not grow in force because the Sadhujana Vimochana Munnani, which leads the struggle, went about the length and breadth of Kerala, inviting landless folk. In fact, the reverse. The intensity of struggle was maintained by the 300 there, and because they successfully overcame the first crisis – a crisis that arose when organized plantation workers belonging to the CITU, AITUC, INTUC and other trade unions attacked them – landless people began to flow there, finding it to be a site of struggle in which violence had been beaten back. Thus, after two months, the number of families grew from 300 to more than 7000. The newly arrived folk have all built huts and settled down. People from many districts of Kerala – Alapuzha, Pathanamtitta, Kollam, Kottayam, Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kasaragod – have reached Chengara – large numbers of folk who have no land, who live on the streets, who lived paying rent in small rooms. They are not spending their lives there shouting slogans for all twenty-four hours; they lead lives as families, husbands, wives and children. The husband goes out seeking work outside the plantation; he returns with a few days’ earnings from manual labour. The next week, it may be the wife who goes out seeking work. So the 7000 families here live from their labour alone. I stress this because there is the idea that such a massive struggle can happen only if supported by crores of rupees flowing in from here and abroad. But the struggle has a very different ethical stance, and this is proof of that: the struggle committee constituted there is not one that helps those of come there to hang on through handouts of money and food. Rather, each person who lives there has survived on his or her own labour for all the past seven months.

The second point I want to stress is that people from all castes and creeds are to be found among these 7000 families. I think there are no Nambutiri Brahmins , but there are Nairs, Syrian Christians, Muslims, members of the Scheduled Castes, Dalit Christians, Adivasis, and all others. But about 90 per cent are Dalits and Adivasis. Next come the Muslims. This is not the case in Chengara alone; in our visits to colonies of landless people in Kollam district and other places, we saw that next to the Dalit community, Muslims constitute the largest chunk of landless people. In Punalur, there are landless people living on both sides of the road, for kilometers altogether, most of who are Muslims. But in Chengara, the majority is Dalits, Dalit Christians, and Adivasis. In reality, this is a cross-section sample of the landless in Kerala. Sample surveys have shown that the Dalits constitute 85 per cent of the landless folk in Kerala. There is good reason to believe this. Thus wherever struggles around land occur in Kerala, the majority of the participants will be Dalits and Adivasis. Chengara is no exception.

The struggle at Chengara is undoubtedly one of the major land struggles in Kerala’s history. Ten years back, such a struggle would have been unthinkable. Ten years back we all thought that there was no scope for another land struggle in Kerala. That there was no land to be redistributed in Kerala. Even social activists thought that all the land that could have been legitimately redistributed had been exhausted. It was the Adivasi land struggles that revealed to us that this notion was false, and that there is arable land in Kerala that may be redistributed. For whole of forty-eight days, the Adivasis laid siege by building little huts here, in front of the Secretariat where we have now gathered, and in front of the Chief Ministers’ House. An agreement was reached only on the forty-eighth day. In those days, when hundreds of Adivasis camped here demanding arable land, political leaders of both the ruling and opposition parties were united in proclaiming that C K Janu and her group were being propped up by funds from abroad. It is only natural that a political party thought that way. The parties may have assets worth crores, but they lack the ethical will to support 500 people for 48 days in this city. For that the daily expenses of these people will have to be met. As someone who had actively intervened in the organization of that Adivasi struggle, I can tell you that it was the colonies in this city that made it possible for the struggle to survive. It was from the dalit colonies in this city that sacks of rice arrived at the cooking shed here. A jeep used to go around for that purpose. The situation would be explained to folk there, and each house would contribute handfuls of rice to make sackfuls. After the struggle ended, after the forty-eighth day, there were just two sacks of rice left. I am saying this because the politicians were sure that the struggle was supported by foreign hands. My point here is that it was this struggle that taught the people of Kerala that arable land was indeed available for redistribution.

It is in the context of this struggle that landless people of other communities entered the land struggle at Chengara. How the majority of such people happen to be Dalits and Adivasis is something that must be examined historically. It is not enough to understand this struggle as if it were merely a struggle for land by the landless, a united fight by all those who have no land. For it is those people who did not receive land in Kerala’s land reforms who are coming here. However may we idealise the land reforms, it has been proved beyond doubt that they failed to make available land to some social groups in Kerala. The crux of the land reforms that were put forward by the government in 1957, which were implemented on 1 January 1970 was the fixing of ceilings on the amount of land that a family could possess, and the promise that surplus land would be taken over by the government and redistributed among the landless. However, the plantation sector was exempted from land ceilings. We have to realize that once the plantation sector was exempted, all that was left for redistribution were some paddy land towards the west, some land in the midland areas, and some fallow fields that belonged to the Nilambur royal house. These famous land reforms that we’ve all heard of is actually a law that gave full ownership rights to tenant cultivators. The Dalit and the Adivasi who could never even once become a tenant within Kerala’s traditional caste system, they did not receive any protection from this law. Thus the historical fact about Kerala is that lakhs of people had to live outside the land reform law. The Hutment Dwellers’ Act was passed to deal with these surplus folk.

It is estimated that 25 lakh families benefited from Kerala’s land reforms; we need to be clear about this. Nearly 5 lakh families gained from the Hutment Dweller’s Act. Of this, 4, 25,000 lakh families are Dalit or Adivasi. When the land reforms were interpreted by government officials in Wayanad, the Adivasi became the land lord, and the migrant farmer, the tenant! Besides, the person claiming ten cents of land as per the law had to prove that he had been residing there since 1968. These crafty fellows persuaded the Adivasis to move out of their traditional habitations, convincing them that they would be made possessors of the best land if they resided there at the time of the reforms. When the law was passed, evidence was produced that showed that the Adivasis had been residing in those lands only since 1970; and thus, in this strange way, they were dispossessed. Many more such frauds were perpetrated as part of the implementation of the land reforms. In 1968 the government had estimated that some 8, 75,000 acres of surplus land would be available for redistribution. However, till date, the government has been able to acquire just 1,24,000 acres. The rest has all been usurped through underhand practices. Trusts had been exempted from ceilings. Overnight, hundreds of trusts were formed in Kerala. Through creating trusts and registering deeds in false names and other ways, all this land was spirited away. Out of the roughly 1,25,000 acres acquired only 96,000 was redistributed. This is how land redistribution in Kerala is. The Dalit, the Adivasi, and the coastal people, who could not be tenants within Kerala’s traditional caste system did not gain anything, not even a cent.

The Hutment Dweller’s Act was passed to accommodate this section of the people. According to this Act, 10 cents of landing the panchayat area, 5 cents in municipal areas, and 3 in corporation areas could be claimed by a family. But many people were yet to receive land even after such distribution. Because lakhs of people were still outside this law. The One Lakh Houses Scheme was announced in 1972 for these people. In 1970, a revolutionary land reform was implemented. The One Lakh Housing Scheme was announced only in 1972! One Lakh houses. A wall in the middle. A house on each side. Two houses in one building. Five cents per house. The government came forward to build one lakh houses with this calculation. Naturally, in those days all of us thought that this was a progressive scheme to provide housing for all people in Kerala. Actually, this was a scheme to accommodate all the people who had been excluded by the land reforms. And there were still more people left after the One Lakh Housing Scheme was implemented. It is for these people that hundreds of Harijan colonies were established in Kerala. The first Harijan colony in Kerala was formed in 1938. From one in 1938, their numbers have gone up to more than 12500 Dalit colonies in 14 districts, as the SC/ST Department’s figures admit. The Revenue Department has announced that there are 4083 Adivasi colonies in Kerala. Thus lakhs of people live today crowded into two and three cents of land in some 16000-20000 official or unofficial colonies. Besides, tens of thousands of people live in huts beside roads, canals, and other unoccupied marginal land – as we see when we travel in Kerala. These are the people who have become the focal point in a struggle like Chengara. Thus it is the people who, historically, have been excluded from land reforms, who have come forward with claims upon land today. We will be able to see why the government has taken such a hostile stand against the struggle only if we understand it from such a historical context.

We need to take very seriously the fact that even though this section of society has waged a struggle since the past seven months and a half, the democratic government in Kerala has not bothered to invite them for talks. This is so, because land has always been a major issue. The intellectuals who asked us why we need land in this digital age need to understand that in Kerala, even a dispute over title deeds would make sparks fly. This means that the organized sections of society need their land, consider it valuable. If there is a dispute over title deeds in the hilly areas of Kerala into which migration has taken place from the plains, both the ruling party and the opposition would surely pitch in heavily. It would grow into a fiery issue. Why is it, then, in this politically-enlightened Kerala, that the powerful lack the democratic ethics, which would have made them go to the group that has struggled persistently for the whole of seven and a half months to ask what their struggle was for?

Here we need to see deeper. We know from experience that Kerala’s society is shaken only if some particular groups struggle. That’s something we can’t miss. In a particular part of Kozhikode district, around 200 families have occupied some land, and have been staying there. It’s been many years since the High Court of Kerala ordered their eviction in clear terms. The government of Kerala has not yet evicted them, and further, their right to stay on has been protected through a special order. There’s something in this. These people have occupied land under orders from a certain church in Pala. Neither the LDF nor the UDF have any problems about offering them protection. But the government’s stand is that it will not respond justly when the Dalits, Adivasis, and those who sleep on the roadside take to the streets.

The second experience comes from Muthanga. The then-Chief Minister, A.K. Antony had signed an agreement with the struggling Adivasis that land would be distributed to them, and that the constitutional provision for Adivasi self-government would be recommended. The same Chief Minister then deployed thousands of policemen against those who conducted another struggle to get the agreement implemented, not caring to find out why the struggle had been re-kindled, leading to the police firing. Four days before the firing, all four political parties in Wayanad held a joint hartal. It demanded that the Adivasis should be evicted from Muthanga. So it is clear that this enlightened Kerala, this Kerala which is considered the very home of political alertness, its legacy is one that turns away from the completely legitimate demands of Dalits and Adivasis.

There is not even the recognition that such a struggle has been on since the past seven months and a half. The members of the Chengara Land Struggle Solidarity Committee met the Kerala Chief Minister, the convener of the Left Democratic Front, and the CPM State Secretary, with the demand that the government should redistribute land to the struggling families and bring their struggle to an end.I was a member of that group. All three told us, in the same voice, that this was no struggle, this was illegal land grab. We have plans to give land to the landless, they said, and we will indeed give. But we will not countenance your struggle; we will not accept it. This is a very important thing. The Dalits and Adivasis are trying to create a dialogue with the Kerala government, are trying to exercise collective social agency, within a democratic society. But the government tells us: you aren’t social agents. We are here to do all these things, and we will do them, they proclaim. This is illegal occupation. Indeed.

Kerala is ruled today by a person who’d demanded that those who possessed land by illegal means should be blacklisted. If that list is even prepared, Harrisons Malayalam will figure topmost in it. Harrison has not paid a pie as rent on the Chengara Estate since 1994. And so, the lease agreement is invalid now. If I lease out land, I should pay rent. If I default voluntarily, then the lease expires. The Harrison lawyers have moved the law on an estate for which the lease has expired. The government, which ought to use the strong evidence against Harrison to take back the estate, is accusing us of illegal occupation! The same company sold 3500 acres of leased land held by it in the Cheruvally estate at Kottayam to an individual — a priest called Yohannaan — for 126 crores; it has sub-let leased land at an estate in Thrissur. The government’s own enquiry commission discovered that Harrison had amassed 99 crores this way. Yet the government’s ire is not against such persistent law-breakers, but against the struggling landless poor. It continues to argue that they have grabbed land, and that such actions are unacceptable.

The other day, Kerala’s Minister in charge of SC/ST affairs said that we should not occupy land as part of political action. Balan, the communist, talks just like the pastor. Kerala is not going to find any respite as long as people of this ilk rule. These people ought to realize that India itself was born out of massive civil disobedience. It can happen only that way, that’s how history is. So I don’t claim that we aren’t breaking the law. We aren’t going to bow low and touch the government’s feet. We are indeed law-breakers. Balan tells us, don’t do it. Remember, this is a Minister who represents a movement that was born out of the successive waves of law-breaking initiated by many different groups of people in Kerala in their fight for rights. So in effect, what they are saying is this: if the law has to be broken, we are the ones who can do it. We alone. This Dalit, this Adivasi, they haven’t grown tall enough to do it. Balan reminds us that we aren’t citizens enough to break the law. The Home Minister declared that the people in Chengara don’t belong to those who hunger for land. According to the positions that the government has taken hitherto, Harrison and other similar players are the ones who hunger for land.

The second announcement was that these struggling folk are actually land owners. That comes out of a conspiracy. Nowhere in Kerala does a struggle take life for land to land owners. Not in Chengara, not in Aaralam, or Aalakkot. ‘Land to the Landless’ is indeed the major demand of the struggle. The Struggle Committee, too, demand that if there are any land owners among the people demanding land, they should be identified and excluded. The very government that ought to inquire about this and exclude such elements, is indulging in slander. Laha Gopalan has land, they say. Laha Gopalan, who is the State President of the Sadhujana Vimochana Samyukata Vedi is not trying to communicate his domestic wants and lacks to the Chief Minister. The people who agree that EMS Nambutiripad, who owned tens of thousands of paras [a traditional measure] of land, could speak for the landless, they can’t accept that Laha Gopalan, who owns one and a half acres,can do so, too. This is what I call the Dalit issue. Do you know, the night the firing took place at Muthanga, Janu and Geethanandan went missing. After the rumour that he had been killed spread, press reporters went looking for Geethanandan’s house and ended up near a two-storied house in the Tayyil area of Kannur. They came back, saying that it can’t be Geethanandan’s house! I call this the Dalit issue: the idea that Geethanandan, who struggles for Adivasi land rights, must necessarily live in a run-down hovel. We can’t discuss political issues in Kerala without getting rid of such baggage. Laha Gopalan represents the Sadhujana Vimochana Samyukata Vedi and its demand that all landless people in Kerala should receive land. He doesn’t say, I don’t have land, give me some. The Chief Minister should understand that. He isn’t advancing a simple basic necessity of life. He is talking politics. The Chief Minster’s refusal indicated that he does not accept this.

Finally the government says that it will give land only to the Adivasi. This is a strange defense, indeed. In 2001, when the Adivasis slept on the streets of this city for full 48 days, all these politicians said that they won’t be given land. Six years hence, when all the landless – Dalits, Dalit Christians, Muslims, and all others – joined together to struggle for land, they say that only the Adivasi needs land. This move is a well-planned one. In effect the government says that other than the Adivasi, there are no landless people in Kerala. That is, it does not accept that those of live in Harijan colonies, One-Lakh houses, by the roadside, and so on are landless. It does not accept that the fish workers who lead hellish lives in one and one and a half cents, without the land to even build a shelter are landless. By ignoring these landless groups, and picking out just the Adivasis, the government is trying to scatter the political action building up at Chengara. But someday the government will have to concede; it will have to accept the claims of these landless groups.

The numbers of women and children who were ready to immolate themselves with kerosene there last week ran to hundreds. We do not favour self-sacrifice. We want all the landless in Kerala to gain land without a single life lost. But after a seven-and-a-half month long struggle in the face of social neglect, if the police march in there, these people have no other way. No other way but say, I sacrifice my life. We must understand that if one life is lost there, we will have to witness hundreds of deaths. I say this as someone who knows the place directly, who knows the tension the people there have been living through.

If the news gets out that people sacrificed their lives for land in a place like Kerala, that will be counted as a tragedy in history. That’s why there should be pressure from the general public to resolve the issue without provoking unfortunate incidents there. Today we need such pressure that will force the government to deal with the issue democratically, to redistribute land to the landless without causing any loss of life. That is the only way this struggle can succeed. But today no such pressure exists. Kerala did not react to the terrible violence of the state at Moolampally. In Chengara hundreds of people came to the brink of self-sacrifice; Kerala has looked away.

It is hard to be proud of this Kerala. We need to see Chengara as a struggle for a new Kerala, one that dismantles the old. This is new Kerala would be one in which the social agency of all marginalised groups including Dalits and Adivasis are recognized. We must reconstruct our sense of citizenship. Kerala needs to be turned into a physical and cultural space that includes all sections of society. A major task has been initiated at Chengara, one that exceeds the amount of land the occupants get. Our actions in solidarity need to be attentive to this fact. I end my words, with the plea that we need to think of the various forms of activism possible, and that individuals and organizations should take them forward.

Spreading the light of humanity & freedom

Editor: Nagaraj.M.R....vol.4…issue.23......07/06/2008

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Editorial : the most backward , neglected among the backward caste people - SCAVENGERS
- an appeal to honourable supreme court of india

In India, since independence certain affirmative actions by the government like job reservations , reservations in educational institutions , loan facilities , etc are extended to the backward class , oppressed people. However , the persons who have economically, socially become stronger on the basis of these government affirmative actions are not letting their own brethren - scavenging community  to utilize the same. The politicians are just making noises about  sub
caste reservation for scheduled castes & tribes , but doing nothing. As a result , today we find some sub-castes & tribes of SC / ST better off than their previous generation, some other sub-castes & tribes of SC / ST are reeling under utter  poverty , social ostracism , etc.

A human being can be in a civilized form , healthy -  if we have scavengers to clean our toilets , drainages , if we have barbers to cut our hairs. The very same people who keep us healthy & civilized are not treated in a civilized manner by the society , why ? most of the town municipalities , city corporations are employing scavengers on daily wages without any statuotary benefits & are paid less than the statuotary minimum wages. every  towns & cities in India are
bursting with population growth , however the number of scavengers has not been increased in proportion to the growth of population , In most of the cases the existing scavengers are overburdened with the work load. ,  Most of them are suffering from occupational health hazards ,
are dying at young ages leaving their families in the lurch.

Hereby, we appeal to honourable supreme court of  India to treat this as a PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION & to order government of India , all state governments , statuotary bodies like city corporations , town municiapalities , etc,

1.      to regularize the jobs of all scavengers , to provide all statuotary benefits like ESI,PF, etc.

2.      to take all necessary steps to eradicate manual scavenging - carrying human excreta on heads.

3.      to take all necessary steps to protect their health & occupational safety.

Bottomline : all the citizens , the society must learn to respect their brethren who keeps them healthy , tidy & civilized. JAI HIND.VANDE MATARAM.

Your's sincerely,
Nagaraj.M.R.

AN APPEAL TO H.E.PRESIDENT OF INDIA - TO STOP ATROCITIES AGAINST DALITS

In India , even today after  59 years of independence & democratic governance , the plight of DALITS , TRIBALS , DOWNTRODDEN & POOR has not improved . in fact it has worsened . the government & public servants just pay lip service to dalits & have totally failed to uplift them in 59 years of independence . the public servants want dalits to be as such to ride over them & to use them as pawns in power politics , as a vote bank. let them answer how many dalits have  become supreme
court judges in india . even today in india , the practice of carrying human excreta on head still persists . what is the use if india becomes an IT POWER or knowledge base . what is the use if india sends it's own satellites on it's own rockets ot space . did those scientific achievements has devolved , percolated to dalits & poor in the society , has it benefitted them  ? NO . JUST SEE THE RECENT ATROCITIES AGAINST DALITS IN KADAKOLA , KARNATAKA & KARLINJARA , MAHARASHTRA. HAVE YOU
FORGOTTEN THE PAST ATROCITIES AGAINST DALITS IN BADANAVALU & KAMBALAPALLI , KARNATAKA.

THIS IS AN APPEAL TO OUR HUMBLE , HUMANE FIRST CITIZEN H.E.PRESIDENT OF INDIA , TO HELP DALITS & POOR IN DISTRESS . JAI HIND. VANDE MATARAM.

YOUR'S SINCERELY,
NAGARAJ.M.R.

PRACTICE OF UNTOUCHABILITY BY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN INDIA
- VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF DALITS

In india , rich people belonging to forward castes form educational trusts , proclaiming that they want to serve the society by providing education to all irrespective of caste or creed. By this declaration they get Civic Amenity sites from government authorities at concessional rates. Further they get tax , duty exemptions on materials , machines they import for the educational institution. However , while admitting students they are purely commercial minded , the highest bidder gets the seats.

IF AT ALL THE SOLE AIM OF THESE INSTITUTIONS IS COMMERCIAL – LET THEM BE REGISTERED AS COMMERCIAL BODIES , ASK THEM TO GET SITES AT COMMERCIAL MARKET RATES , ASK THEM TO PAY TAXES ON MATERIALS , MACHINES & THEIR YEARLY INCOME. ENFORCE MINIMUM WAGES ACT , GRATUITIES ACT , P.F & ESI ACT TO THESE INSTITUTIONS WHO ARE PAYING A PITTANCE TO THEIR STAFF.

Some institutions like industrial training institutes ( I.T.I) , polytechnics , engineering colleges & medical colleges run by trusts floated by forward castes lack basic infrastructure , to teach students properly , they only appoint staff belonging to thier castes. Dalits ,minorities , weaker section people are not at all selected. They don't publicly advertise for vacancies. They fill all posts with thier own caste people & finally even get government grant in aid. How ? These
institutions are getting affiliations , yearly approvals form the government , how ? actually they should have been shut. These trusts want government backing for tax exemptions , lands at concessional rates ,monetary benefits , etc , however the same trusts are not willing to implement the social welfare objectives of the government , by providing seats to weaker sections , by providing appointments to dalits few posts in all category of positions ( not just group D - dalits are also brilliant & capable of performing all jobs, they have proved it ).

Hereby , we urge honourable prime minister of india , government of india & honourable chief minister of karnataka , government of karnataka to :

1. before giving lands at concessional rate , tax exemptions , to any educational trusts the government must ensure that the trust must adhere to the social welfare norms of the government from day one.

2. Before giving affiliations to educational institutions the govt must ensure , are the institutions are providing sufficient infrastructure to students ?

3. Before giving grant in aid to any institution , the government must ensure have the management provided jobs to dalits , minorities , etc as per norms from the day one . if not grant in aid should be rejected. Here there is no meaning in giving reservation of jobs in future appointments in those institutions , as all the posts are presently filled with forward castes , there is no expansion projects. So , dalits have to wait for another 30-40 years to get the vacancies in those institutions after the retirement of forward caste employees , which is not at all practical or realistic .

4. In karnataka state , numerous Industrial Training Institutes ( ITI) have mushroomed , some don't even have basic infrastructure. Still they are running the show , how ? these ITIs run by forward caste people have appointed only their caste people to all posts , not even a single dalit is there. Still they have got government grant in aid , how ? we urge honourable chief minister of karnataka , to look into this & in future to provide grant in aid in aid to only those I.T.Is which have proper infrastructure & dalits , weaker section employees on their pay-rolls.

5. To order all educational institutions to make public announcement of vacancies in their institutions even though not covered under grant in aid , as they have already taken sufficient monetary benefits from the government.

6. To order all educational institutions , to admit students as per government rates of fees. Some institutions are fleecing higher fees from the students , but are giving receipts for lesser amount only.

7. If any educational institutions don't agree with the government norms , those institutions must be asked to be registered as commercial bodies , no tax exemptions , lands at concessional rates ,
allotment of CA sites should be given to them by the government.

By these measures alone poor & weaker section people will get justice . you are aware of merited but poor students committing suicides year after year , CET fiasco - due to their financial inability to join medical or engineering colleges. Numerous similar cases are there with regard to admission to ITIs . polytechnics. The greed & casteism of these educational institutions is reigning high. In the positive hope that you will be kind enough to put an end to this menace. Jai hind. Vande mataram. Thanking you.

Your's sincerely,
Nagaraj.M.R.

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

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