Please Watch d play........... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0unTKPNdcY
On 21 June 2010 11:08, Ajay <[email protected]> wrote: > > > -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [PMARC] Dalit, Feminist and > Gay ? Date: 21 Jun 2010 04:19:45 +0200 From: koolkamayani > <[email protected]> <[email protected]> Reply-To: Dalits Media > Watch <[email protected]> <[email protected]> To: Dalits Media Watch > <[email protected]> <[email protected]> > > Dear All > > In an AMU redux south of the Vindhyas, Indian Institute of Technology > (Hyderabad) management sacked gay rights activist and faculty member Ashley > Tellis, apparently discomfited by his sexual orientation. The academic, with > around 20 years of experience, was shown the door last fortnight less than a > year after joining IIT-H. This Article he wrote 2 years back in indian > express > > > > > Dalit, feminist and gay? > Ashley Tellis <http://expressbuzz.com/searchresult/ashley-tellis> > First Published : 13 Dec 2008 11:38:00 AM IST > Last Updated : 13 Dec 2008 12:42:13 PM IST > > My father was a Dalit from Amravati in Maharashtra, a bonded slave on the > streets of Bombay who was adopted by my maternal grandparents, Roman > Catholic once-upon-a-time Brahmins. My mother was a schizophrenic who not > supposed to marry at all and was technically his sister but went on to marry > him. I am a gay activist. All my life, these three markers — my > ‘untouchable’ father, my ‘mad’ mother and my ‘sick’ gayness have haunted me, > hindered me, marked me. > My father’s caste, his skin colour (he was pitch black; my mother snow > white, and I am pitch black and have been racially abused by upper-caste > ndians from all religious backgrounds all my life), his dubious origins > followed me through the implicitly caste-ridden, racist, prejudiced world of > Goan Catholics in which I grew up in Bombay; my mother’s mental illness has > been used to pity me, pathologise me, explain me, contain me; I am gay and > have been harassed as a gay man, by Brahmin and Dalit alike, all my > life.Over the years, through a painful processes of recognition, questioning > and processing, I brought my gayness, my Dalitness and what became my > feminism to speak to one another and my politics is built from a > conversation between these three axes of my formation. This has made all > three constituencies — gay politics, dalit politics, feminism — deeply > uncomfortable with me.Gay politics in India has not even begun to grapple > with caste; Dalit politics remains as homophobic as any other politics; > feminism in India is lesbophobic and homophobic and implicitly upper caste. > I have sought and continue to seek to build bridges between these three > kinds of politics, to show the connections between the forms of oppression > they are against and to put pretentious NGO terms like ‘intersectionality’ > and ‘lateral linkages’ in action.As a Delhi University teacher, for example, > I surprised Dalit student organisers and Dalit students in general both by > my ‘colourful’ presence at all their struggles against the feudal and > casteism-ridden university, students and institutions, as I was a publicly > known homosexual and dressed unconventionally.The surprise was not pleasant > for them; they did not want me around. Dalits share the general homophobia > of the Indian populace — lower and upper caste — with not much difficulty. > How are Dalits not able to see the obvious connections in the oppression of > gays at the hands of heteropatriarchy and their own suffering of at the > hands of Brahminical patriarchy? How is my host at a dinner party being > upbraided by his roommate for offering me food in the house and polluting > the dishes because I, as a homosexual, had eaten from them different from > and similar to alower-caste person polluting an upper-casteperson by his > shadow?How do I change this unwillingness to see and learn from each other? > How do I fit in? How do I find a place in Dalit politics which is as close > to me as my gay politics or my feminist politics and how to make each of > these politics learn from each other? What does a same-sex, feminist Dalit > critique look like? How do we put into practice a politics based on all the > complex histories of the marginalised that form us?Even as I speak from a > position of “experience-based authenticity” (as the son of a Dalit, the son > of a ‘mad’ woman, a gay man), that great weapon with which to stop all > introspection and debate, I want to build a politics from a recognition of > the multiple marginalised histories that form me without the arrogance of > the authenticity claim.Each of these marginalised identities teaches me the > importance of self-reflexivity, change, the need to listen to other kinds of > oppression and learn from them, work with them.I think all of us should > reflect on the multi plicity of oppressions and work together rather than > become gatekeepers of Dalit or gay or this or that form of politics. > > > -- > Kamayani Bali Mahabal > > The world does not need a war against ‘terrorism’, it needs a culture of > peace based on human rights for all. > -- Irene Khan > > www.otherindia.org > www.binayaksen.net > www.phm-india.org > > I carry a torch in one hand > And a bucket of water in the other: > With these things I am going to set fire to Heaven > And put out the flames of Hell > So that voyagers to God can rip the veils > And see the real goal....... > Rabia (Rabi'a Al-'Adawiyya) > > > > Visit web site <http://dgroups.org/groups/PMARC> | Reply to > sender<[email protected]>| Click > here <[email protected]> to unsubscribe > The email is intended only for the recipients. The owners of the Dgroups > cannot be held responsible for the contents of the email message. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Green Youth Movement" group. > To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<greenyouth%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
