Dear friends,
Chittibabu asks about the relevance of internet activism.Please give your
comments
in solidarity,
Vishwanath
--- On Mon, 6/23/08, CK VISHWANATH <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: CK VISHWANATH <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Fwd: [humanhorizons] Seeking part time writers to write on Social
issues
To: "C.K. Vishwanath" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Monday, June 23, 2008, 10:59 AM
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CHITTIBABU PADAVALA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Jun 22, 2008 2:10 PM
Subject: Re: [humanhorizons] Seeking part time writers to write on Social issues
To: ck vishwanath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear Sachin and friends,
Your idea is basically very very interesting and the openness with which you
are approach the project is also encouraging. The idea of talking a resourceful
organization like Yahoo group helping you in this, if proved successful, would
be highly effective.
We really need very brief commentaries and right-ups in 100-200 word size. This
suits the needs and interests of the online communities very well. It also
trains many people otherwise hesitant to write sustained pieces despite having
flashes of insights in regularly communicating with larger readership
online. By quickly going through scores of 100 word snippets one could get a
overview of concerns very easily. Particularly, college students and activists
with basic english competence will also be encouraged to read things. This is
what we do very often, we we are busy or have less time: we skim through the
heddings of various postings to have an idea 'what is happening around' if only
to get back to the write-ups for at leisure to find out things in full.
Brief articles, notes, commentary are very effective because those recently got
conscientized about dalit concerns, less time or those without easy access to
internet and its language could also be encouraged look for information on
dalit issues. Of course, brief commentaries could serve many purposes but can't
substitute the need for indepth or full analysis and reporting that require
more space. But this problem could be easily solved by providing links to each
brief comment or post.
As saint rightly pointed out full details of the project are to be clearly
outlined so that the wonderful idea you proposed could get highest attention
and help it deserves. It needs readers, contributors, funders and of course, as
Sain't post implies, a direction.
Generally the standard practice of online groups of this kind is to come up
with an open request outlining one's ideas, the quantum of available resources
and the limitations and calling for suggestions and help. Such a method
makes it a really collaborative project which is a must for any social
activity. This is even more important these days because of a curious thing
happening these days: I noticed many grassroots and campus activists
resent what they call "internet activism".
Their complaint is, roughly speaking, that increasingly dalit activism is being
colonized, dominated and even replaced by those who do nothing other than just
forwarding the posts of others with scant regard for the struggles that happen
in the real world and the need for working with and among those majority dalits
who don't have any need or access to net. Though I don't agree with an
understandable but unacceptable feeling among them that online activism is
somehow a non-action or inferior activity or worse, armchair activism, their
feeling is based on one very distrubing feature many people noted. This is the
problem or the question of a new division - what could clumsily be put as-
between those online dalit activists and offline dalit activists. It would not
have been difficult to quickly recognize or reorganize this difference as
just another instance of compelemnetary work had it not been for the stupid NGO
funding principles and
practices.
This unfortunate situation is based on many misunderstandings, I contend.
However, I will focus now mostly on the validity of this suspicion against
online activism. Dalit sensibilities are increasingly being listened to NGOs,
academicians and even media not only because sensitization is happening and
they could no longer be supressed or ignored but also because they could be
money and career fetching 'projects', new academci topics or CV enhancing
activities. NGOs and Academic institutions tend to fund or favour those with
demonstrated activist backgrounds. There is problem with the kind of criteria
they stupidly work with. By demonstrated, they mean 'recorded,' while most of
the dalit activism does not leave traces on the paper or hypertext but on the
hearts and minds of people and the way they live. What is more, most of the
time, the best aspects of dalit activism can't be recorded for legal and
practical reasons. This is combined with a
much less serious problem- but nevertheless a problem- of dalit being becoming
an attractive and even a profitable label. In some very rare places like
academia and social sector which are relatively not overtly anti-dalit or have
a policy of giving some dalits some due, calling oneself is not always
dangerous and sometimes even immediately 'beneficial'. Of course, such is
our right and we should have more of it. However, this is not that
very simple. Dalit activism is increasingly being defined more by one's ability
to write and read and not by the patient and dirty work of doing legwork and
patient mobilization of people and waging struggles on the ground. Even a a
decade ago we could not have imagined a dalit activism being cosy and aloof
from the society and without experience of being a victim or at least a fighter
against caste oppression. Very frequently dalit activists used to be both. Now,
there emerged a new catagory of people:
children of those lucky enough to escape the worst of the caste oppression AND
have an access to better education and some means of decent living asserting
themselves Dalits and even dalit activists. We dalits are lucky enough to have
at least some of us escape the worst of caste based oppression and it
is a happy news that they see themeselves rightly as dalits and interested
in working for their less fortunate or disadvantaged dalit sisters and
brothers, to be sure. Yet, it is also true that many people escape the caste
oppression not always by assertion, struggle, education and some economic
advancement but also by running away from the community, hiding their identity
and adopting the oppressor's ways and some such less glorifying ways. There is
nothing fundamentally wrong in such survival strategies and it is the system
which imposes such not so dignified means on the survivors which is debased.
Thus qualified, this section poses a
danger to the radicality, humaneness and effectiveness of dalit activism. All
survivors could participate in the dalit movements but let us be clear about it
we should reserve the leadership only to those fighters against, not just
survivors of, injustice! Survivors are not the only problem, there is further
sub-catagory among them, beneficiaries: those who realized that being a dalit,
if you could rightly and cleverly use it, could be a means of career
making. Academia, NGOs and, now, cyber space are some exceptional places where
these people could gain modest benefits by invoking their dalithood. The
problem lies not in the benefits they get- every one of us deserve them- but
in allowing such people to define the dalit agenda and even dominating dalit
struggles. Such people can get these benefits only in some select limited
places which are a very small fraction of the world. But, many of them are
confined to this tiny world
and no intention to venture into uncomfortable places. Such people are not
very difficult to spot in the actual world of dalit activism because it
involves a lot of tiresom, thankless and risky, hardwork sometime a threat to
life and most of the time a sure damage to personal career and this kind of
people quickly disappear or don't know how to persist in the face of dangers.
But, they could pass for revolutionaries online. This wonderful medium, online
communication, has this particular disadvantage. Then, what is my contention?
Am I dividing dalits into authentic and inauthentic dalits? Or, previleging or
recognizing only suffering and fighting and denigrating those with less
experience in these? Definitely not. If these less unfortunate sisters and
brothers of us happen to make use of their relative advantage to gain
skills(education, positions, wealth, power, exposure) denied to the rest of us
and put them to the service of the
enlightenment of the society in general and dalits in particular, they
are most welcome. Otherwise, it is necessary to put them in place to save
the radical and revolutionary nature of dalit activism. This strategy is
particularly important because many not so responsible people among these less
unfortunate dalit sections make use of dalit identity as a means to defend
their failings which can't be attributed to caste or other oppressions. It is
precisely this catagory people who make the very mention of dalithood some sort
of begging strategy.
Well, this is mostly a caricature and an abstraction. It is necessary for
highlighting some important points but the reality is much more messy and
complicated. Sachin, I think you need to be careful with those who want to
serve themselves more than the cause. Of course, your both posts clearly show
that you are a capable and sensitive thinker and definitely do wonders with
your excellent project. Credibility comes over a period of time with consistent
maintainance of standards in the field of media. And, reach, resources are
secondary matters while the credibility is the thing for any medium. For this
to achieve, it is important not only to attract good content but even more
important is to keep away swindlers. You have already attracted so much
attention and inspired expectations( biggies like Saint have already taken
interest in your work) from activists.
If you prepare a note answering all the clarifications Mr.Saint asked you it
would become an annoucement with all necessary details. Please seperate vision
and procedure in your annoucement. What ideas you propose is a differnt thing
altogether from who are the members of editorial board and how frequently
content will be updated, who does the copy-editing and who pays for them and
what are the technical guidelines for the contributors, how do you do
fact-checking and how much the contributors are paid ( or do you call
for unremunerative contributions) and how do you get such huge money and who
are the funders ..... Such information is a must for running any credible
online journalistc enterpraise. Online dalit journalism is particularly prone
to attacks, those otherwise fear our repraisals in the real world could also be
emboldened to write things to discredit and malign us because they could afford
anonimity or impersonation online .
Obsolute transperency is a must for surviving such future dan
On 6/21/08, rajesh ingle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
jai bheem
do agree with you saint..
bye
sun shines against all odds!
Rajesh Ingle,Lecturer
College of Social Work
Mumbai
--- On Sat, 21/6/08, Saint <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: Saint <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [humanhorizons] Seeking part time writers to write on Social issues
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Saturday, 21 June, 2008, 4:39 AM
To Sachin and All,
I am still not clear about what this part time writers are for?
Ambiguity here?:
Where are you going to publish?
who is the so called editor or editors?
Is this is dalit media, if so, what is the background of this platform?
Are you starting something new or is it an existing media?
Is this for an online or offline publications?
such clarifications might help better understand the objectives of seeking
writers.
thanks,
Saint
--- On Thu, 6/19/08, sachin kumar chander <sachin_chander@ yahoo.com> wrote:
From: sachin kumar chander <sachin_chander@ yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [humanhorizons] Seeking part time writers to write on Social issues
To: humanhorizons@ yahoogroups. co.uk
Date: Thursday, June 19, 2008, 10:14 AM
Dear Chittibabu, and respected others,
Thank you for the kind words about this project.
I would like to remove the confusion that I am asking for any monetary
contribution. The request is only in terms of original written articles or
events at your local place or country or the world that impact people, mainly
of Bahujan Samaj, however its all inclusive. Also, currently its only on
regular voluntary basis, but will become a regular source of income going ahead
for regular or good contributers. But I know for sure that many people are
looking to contribute on a voluntary basis also.
We have a voluntary group who are also involved in local charities that I am
working with right now in US and this idea came up which got
everyone enthusiastic about. It will also encourage people to get their fears
and shyness away and work for their basic rights which get denied so often,
apart from getting right people to get in touch with them.
So, if anyone is interested within or outside this yahoo group, please get back
with your contact details or the details of the person you are referring, or
send them my details to contact me.
I am seeking this yahoo group's help in getting the messaage to anyone who may
be willing to contribute by writing just about 100-200 words about what they
read daily in their newspapers or see on the streets and news about things
impacting them or their community members directly or indirectly. These can
also be articles about the histories of their families and other members of the
Samaj, jobs, environmental impact, economic impact, networking within the
samaj, study, reservations, religion, dislocation, riots, and anything to do
with people who cannot get their voices heard a huge majority of whom belong to
the bahujan samaj or the tribes (from any religion).
I have recieved many emails from interested people and will be in touch in an
orderly and manageable fashion so it doesn't wastes anyone's time. Thank all
much for their interest, and looking forward to working together for an
equitable society.
Regards
Sachin
+1 248 250 4174 (Please contact through email first, if possible)
sachin_chander@ yahoo.com
--- On Thu, 6/19/08, CHITTIBABU PADAVALA <afchittibabu@ gmail.com> wrote:
From: CHITTIBABU PADAVALA <afchittibabu@ gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [humanhorizons] Seeking part time writers to write on Social issues
To: humanhorizons@ yahoogroups. co.uk
Date: Thursday, June 19, 2008, 3:08 AM
Dear Sachin,
This is a good idea in fact a very good idea. Please prepare a good
announcement that could attract most authors and contributions.
Chittibabu
Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now
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