‘Politics’ and
‘protest’ in my mind are two of the most thinly defined terms in usage our
vocabulary. To most they are negatives and things that the ‘good’ among us do
not take on. Yet, these two words given new meaning to explore its true
potential can indeed be most meaningful and beneficial to human kind. This
column written and published in February 2012, attempted to explore this
proposition and I share it with you today to place it for your critical
thought.
I had
a friend who often spoke of politics and of protest. One could call him a ‘political
activist’ for he ventured to publish a monthly journal on politics and dissent
and from time to time helped groups of people and individuals who could not
help themselves achieve ‘common good’ social objectives. Such were done by him through
mobilising financial help from likeminded others for he did not have the means
to carry them out himself.
With
the oil price hikes and the resultant fall-out ‘protests’ taken on by political
parties and other interest groups, I took on to examining what this phenomenon
meant at its very basic level. Herein, I recall some of the anecdotes associated
with my friend dating a decade or so ago.
Defining
politics
One
day, I asked him what he meant by ‘politics’ if it was not the usually defined “art or science of running governmental or
state affairs or as it applies to institutions, fields, and special interest
groups such as the corporate, academic, and religious segments of society or social relations
involving authority or power”.
My friend’s
position was that all of this defining did not deal with the day to day
realities of the need for justice and fair play or the protection of the
powerless and the vulnerable within a society. For him and till this day for me,
the term ‘politics’ brings a deeper and a more personal meaning, different to
what I was made to believe through the Laskian tradition. It is more on
empowerment of people in distress and in providing opportunities for the
marginalized to be partners in the process of development, while protecting
them from the forces of injustice, waste and corruption.
He explained that a
task he undertook in helping a fatherless child regain the ownership of a
property left for her by her late father was ‘politics’. A tenant who occupied
that property had fraudulently attempted to gain its ownership through a
crooked lady lawyer who had helped him design a false-deed for the property. The
child and her mother did not have the means to seek resolve though the judicial
process and the tenant and the lawyer both knew this. My friend, having learnt
of this situation simply printed and pasted a few posters around the lawyer’s
residence warning that this fraud would be exposed. There were no names mentioned
or specific references made. It resulted in a happy ending to the episode with
the tenant dropping his claim of the property at the insistence of the lawyer.
You there
On another
occasion, he together with a few likeminded friends supported a group of
villagers living close to a face of a granite rock used for quarry mining. Blasting
of this rock for boulders, using dynamite was causing immense hardship to the
villagers. He used his influence with the television media to expose this
situation and saw to it that the license given earlier for the activity was reexamined
and revoked by the relevant authorities. This was done with much hardship
working against attempts of a few powerful people associated with party-based
politics, who were bent on maintaining status-quo.
On yet another
occasion he told me of how he was able to mobilize a group of otherwise docile
passengers to rise against a drunkard bully in a crowded bus, attempting to
hurt an innocent passenger. In an instance and on a call of ‘Ado Ado
Common good
The dictionary
definition of protest is “the expression or declaration of objection,
disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless
to prevent or avoid”. Within the framework of democratic governance, protest is
a sacrosanct right of a citizen when it is done within the bounds of that
allowed by the law of that land. It must also have a morally rightful stance in
the declaration of the said objection i.e. only being motivated by the need and
will to make things better for the common good, without allowing gains that are
personal or of an interest group. In essence, it must not have any other petty
agenda forming the basis for such protest.
Satyagraha or "truth force" is defined in the Wikipedia as
a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category
generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance.
The term was conceived and developed by Mahatma Gandhi and was deployed in
the Indian independence movement and as well as during his earlier
struggles in South Africa . Satyagraha
theory influenced Nelson Mandela's struggle in South Africa United States
Most recently we
saw similar movements take on issues of corruption in governance and in
corporate affairs such as the Anna Hazare campaign in India USA
Power of One
Interestingly the protagonists
of both these campaigns have attributed its widespread success to the power of
info-communications and the intense and widespread reach the social networks
have in the current context of its development. With the Internet based social
networks political issues gain momentum of proportions never before seen. The
concept of ‘power of one’ in political protest is now a reality and need be
recognized for its potency and productive mobilization.
Protests are often
masterminded or orchestrated by external forces that are only interested in
gaining access to resources within countries through creation of disharmony and
mayhem. These are often presented and justified laying them on platforms of
‘protecting human rights or democracy’ when the real intent is to destabilize
nations and their economies. The ‘Arab Spring’ conflicts and last week’s,
bloody protests in Afghanistan
It is sad that we
once again live in an era of human existence where waging war and cultivating
separatism and dissent have become lucrative business propositions, just like
it was during the phase of colonialism we were subjected to during the last few
centuries.
Positive
protest
In
the alternative, I wonder why our protests should not take a more positive note
and become part of the routine of our daily life, like my late friend had
demonstrated. Here are some examples of the possibilities therein, as he would
have prescribed.
To refrain
from ever giving or taking bribes or using undue influence to get things done (e.g.
those tenders, jobs, entering your child to school, a patient to a hospital or
sharing of insider information for making undue gains in the corporate world). Such
often deprive the deserving from getting their due, even within systems where
meritocracy once reigned. In each instance, when this is violated by another, we
must be able to raise our voices, take action and protest vehemently through
all peaceful means available to us.
Wherever
and whenever a corrupt or an anti-social practise such as that of drug dealers,
unethical medical practitioners, corrupt politicians, heads of schools and the
like is observed raising your voice against it, regardless of how powerful
those behind such practises may seemingly be, is another way to ensure that meaningful
‘protest’ is made .
When
there is hardship felt during price hikes and shortages of goods, why not
initiate and take on austere practices such as community ‘car pooling’ to save
on fuel, make citizen’s calls on the political leaders to cut back on their
show-offish and wasteful use of resources including fuel guzzler clusters of
vehicles and security personnel. Sharing whatever one has in excess with others
less fortunate, helping those in need with opportunities to regain their lives,
providing educational support sharing your knowledge and skills without
expecting pecuniary benefits for it will be another. Venturing to help the
marginalised and the vulnerable living in the community around you in even in
the smallest possible way are some great ways to register our ‘political
protest’ against the wrong we see and agitate about.
We must
not underestimate the ‘Power of One’ in ‘political protest’ and the
phenomenon’s potency as a tool to even get those who haul party lines, other cronies
and interest groups to change their selfish and self-seeking ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment