Cornel DaCosta, London.
Dalit Means Broken: Caste and Church in Southern India.
By John Francis Izzo S.J. In America, [the journal], February 14, pp 11-14, 2005.
1. "In a lecture referring to the problem that Dalits, even Hindus, are forbidden in the temple in Andhara Pradesh it was noted that ...the professor, an international expert in conflict resolution, had just given a talk to Indians on solving differences between Hindus and Muslims--unaware that in India the fundamental conflicts are not interreligious, but caste-based."
2. "When asked about the horrible atrocities committed in the name of caste, day after day, and the violent anti-Christian, pro-caste campaign waged by Hindu conservatives, ...the European woman who spends half her days in the Hindu Rahman ashram and half in the Jesuit-sponsored Bodhi Zendo ashram, drifted off seeking solace in her devotion to Jesus and her Hindu practices...the common misconception seems to be that caste is no big deal--certainly not for Christians."
3. "According to the New Delhi's Indian Social Institute, recent Hindu-Muslim riots and attacks on Christians are instigated by affluent, elite, high-caste Hindus who are trying to expel threats to the brahminic caste system, or Varna--the Hindu ideology of superiority and inferiority based on birth, profession, pollution and purity."
4. "Power and control are what Varna and caste are all about. Brahmins, at the top of the pyramid, write the script. As long as no one tinkers with the action and dialog (sic) they are unthreatened, protected by hundreds of layers of caste and outcaste communities, each subjugating the layer below. And the power-caste Brahmins are particularly prominent in the media, a critical position for forming India's beliefs and prejudices."
5. "Untouchability was outlawed over 50 years ago, but village Dalits are regularly made to drink human urine and eat human feces (sic)for not showing proper respect for caste taboos, and every week Dalit girls are raped by upper-caste men with little fear of the law."
6. [Re the Christians]... "When India's founding Constituent Assembley debated making concessions for Outcaste-Christians, Jerome D'Souza S.J., representing the Christians, rejected them, claiming there is no caste in Christianity. No caste in Christianity? Fifty-five years later, Fr. Yesumarian so infuriated caste Catholics of Tamil Nadu's Pondicherry Archdiocese that in October 2004, 33 priests signed a letter to the archbishop, with copies to all 16 Tamil Nadu bishops, charging Fr. Yesumarian with criminal, disruptive and un-Christian behaviour. The letter demanded that neither he nor any other Jesuit be allowed in the archdiocese. Why? Fr. Yesumarian is helping Dalits reclaim land taken illegally by caste-parishoners, and the bishops and priests are all caste men."
7. "Not only has the Church failed to eradicate caste; it has accommodated itself to caste, charges Fr Antoniraj. Caste-consciousness has been part of Catholicism as long as the Church has been in India."
8. "When priest-sympathesiers tried to help [the Dalits], they were disciplined. Fear dominated. Priests were afraid of caste-parishoners and bishops; bishops were afraid of caste reprisals."
9. "Casteism must be internationalized. For too long, Indians have been hiding it... Indians downplay the issue, say it's not a problem, and say are you hanging out our dirty laundry."
10. " The Holy Father told the Tamil Nadu bishops to take the the Dalit problem seriously and take steps to correct it..."
11. " During the 1970's and 80's the American church helped to force South Africa to end apartheid... Dalits in India, said Prakesh Louis, have suffered more severe and sinister apartheid, and in today's context, caste discrimination is more horrendous than racial discrimination."
12. "To date, the Catholic Church has failed to act."
