Silencing The Moral Police Peacefully

Dear Friends

Once again there has been an attack on ordinary citizens - young women in this case unwinding at a Mangalore pub - by an extremist group with no accountability, respect for the rule of law and rights of the citizen.

There is every likelihood that their actions are at the behest of mainstream organisations operating within the parliamentary process that can conveniently deny any association with such 'Senas' - although they are tarnished with the same hue.

Once this issue is off the front pages, the prosecution process proceeds lethargically enough to employ the lumpen to execute the next such operation with impunity - to protect 'their culture and heritage' against fellow Indians.

In the meantime, we shall develop amnesia, engage in similar knee jerk reactions to greet the next attack in Mangalore, Karnataka or, perhaps elsewhere in the country.

The extremists are confident with an arrogance that urban middle class India will bark much but never bite. There will be a profusion of electronic messages exchanged but thereafter the matter vanishes off the columns inches and public mind.

Such extremists treat our reactions with as much scorn as who we are and what we represent. Elections are around the corner and the same gentlemen shall soon be visiting our doorsteps seeking our votes with hands folded.

Yes, at the earliest opportunity Mangalore should and must organise a non-violent show of strength.

On the day the Shree Ram Sena calls a bandh demanding the release of Pramod Muthalik the people of Mangalore - particularly the young women should gather peacefully on the streets in an endless programme of song and dance from sunrise to sunset - defying the bandh with a vengeance

February 14th is another option when the young boys and girls should gather on the streets walking hand in hand in lakhs in a peaceful procession shouting no slogans but ensuring the highest standards of public decorum.

Finally, all the youngsters - especially the women eligible to vote in the forthcoming elections should demand an unconditional apology from the Shree Ram Sena and an unconditional apology from the Chief Minister of Karnataka for violating their fundamental rights and failing to provide the safety and protection of the state machinery respectively.

This is what I consider a pro active strategy; it is for the people of Mangalore to consider and execute. Perhaps, the citizens of other towns and cities might consider a similar strategy to silence the moral police?

Seize The Day_ Liberty Through Non-Violence

Dear Friends

Please find below the YouTube link to the Mangalore pub attack on women:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEbD2aXs-XU

This could happen in any city and town of India because these lumpen elements have been given the sanction to do what cannot be done within the realms of the rule of law.

There is a reactive choice of carrying Mace on your person, learning Krav Maga, or living in a perpetual state of paranoia every time you wish to unwind with friends or colleagues in a public environment.

There is a pro-active choice with a strategy like Love Your Neighbour Day/ Padosi Divas where you work on neutralising such antipathy with a gesture of non-violence.

When citizens work together, then we can become a force of peace to be reckoned with shaming those who embrace paths to violence.

It is time we secure our freedom in our own democracy to read a Pakistani author if we so choose, name a sweetmeat store after Karachi or Kinshasa, or enjoy an evening in a pub without disturbing the public peace.

We could discuss ad nauseum on Facebook and other networking sites wishing the problem away or we take the initiative to address the issue through engagement, dialogue and work towards a resolution.

The choice is ours...

A Civic Society That Never Sleeps

Dear Friend and Fellow Citizen

The Indian citizen has been incessantly buffeted and bullied over decades by the political and corporate class of the country.

Over sixty years we have mutated from citizen to mere consumer. We have been reduced to a herd of cattle, milked frequently off votes, while we are prodded to further nourishment on a diet of consumerism. As a consequence we citizens have been anaesthetised into apathy and indifference. Our minds have been progressively dulled by apparent prosperity into shirking our duties and responsibilities as citizens while the nexus of political and corporate establishments arrogantly pursue their machinations.

We are being marginalised within our physical, psychological and most importantly civic spaces, fed on an illusion of the greatest good for the greatest number while the contrary is happening.

We are terrorised from without and within our borders, expected to follow diktats on who is Indian and who is not, who is a patriot and who is not, who is secular and who is not, what we can read and see and what we cannot, what is and is not our heritage, who should and should not be our Prime Minister while the perils of the global economy keep us busy eking a livelihood.

It is time we proved our strength on the floor of the country by giving ourselves a much needed vote of confidence, proving our majority and using the same with responsibility to the greatest benefit of all.

In striving for that majority we citizens must conceive, design and implement strategies that are non-violent in word and deed; engage in dialogue and relentlessly pursue the path of conflict resolution towards consensus in a world replete with combative language and violent deeds.

In times of moral and ethical poverty in all walks of life we require to engage the conscience of fellow citizens and work towards a consensus no matter how cumbersome and insurmountable the task might appear.

We might not wish to engage in active politics for myriad reasons but we can easily restore to ourselves a citizens’ democracy built on the foundation of transparency, ethics and compassion.

Love Your Neighbour Day / Padosi Divas_ March 1

Dear Friends

A fellow film maker proposed the commemoration of the Gujarat Riots on Feb 27th as Anti Hate/ Anti Violence Day

On the same day I was asked if I could conjure up a strategy akin to 'Cellular Silence' to address the issue of widespread communalism.

My immediate response was that there is an increasing de-sensitisation and indifference to terms like communalism, which also results in an immediate polarization of views and opinion thus making most efforts counter-productive.

However, twenty fours later, a strategy did occur to me which could be significantly enhanced by our nationwide community of film makers, photographers, visual artists - professional and amateur - which I now propose to share with you.

In English, it would be "Love Your Neighbour" day and I believe "Padosi Divas" would be an appropriate Hindi translation.

If this is something we could commemorate annually hereafter, then we need a 'clean date' like March 1st. Besides, March 1 is a Sunday in 2009.

While we commemorate and reflect on all conflict, not just anti-Sikh riots, Mumbai 1993, Gujarat 2002 or Kandmal or Mumbai 2008. We employ non-violence as a pro-active strategy to neutralise those that attempt to profess hatred, violence, division, separation and alienation in any form.

We make flowers out of any recycled material be it paper, cloth or plastic. or even edible flowers as an acquaintance suggested.

We choose to make a single flower or a garland.

We might even choose to send a virtual flower or garland by email within India or to anyone anywhere you consider a neighbour.

We choose to give that flower to a neighbour next door, or exchange it with a Pakistani citizen at the Wagah border or a Bangladeshi or Chinese citizen for that matter, at any of our international borders .

We choose to send flowers to Narender Modi, the Bajrang Dal, Raj Thackeray, SIMI, the LeT, Maoists, Ajmal Kasab or to anyone else who supports, professes the language of hatred, violence and alienation through thought word and deed.

For those who have lost loved ones or been at the receiving end of violence, in any form this strategy might be anathema and repugnant but the question is where and when will this escalation of violence and hatred end, unless someone says "NO MORE"

If we film makers, photographers, artists and members of the media work in tandem with individuals, groups, NGO's, who might wish to voluntarily participate in this initiative, we could document this day and provide a sense of security and encouragement to those who wish to participate

Once again, I might be a voice of one but I would like to know if there are others who would want to make this work. If so, I would be only to happy to facilitate the process.

This is an 'open source' strategy, so you are most welcome to 'tweak' it as long as it is pro -actively non-violent, in word and deed.

Cellular Silence Day_ Why?

Dear Friends

I wish to share with you a letter I wrote to my fraternity of film-makers.

Thank you for lending your voice in support.

As part of the middle class we've been incessantly buffeted and bullied by the political and corporate class of the country. They treat us like cattle to be milked off votes fed on a constant supply of consumerism, confident that they will dull our minds into apathy and indifference while they arrogantly pursue their machinations.

It is high time we showed our strength on the floor of the country by giving ourselves a much needed vote of confidence, proving that we can be a majority to be reckoned with.

In striving for that majority we shall adopt strategies that are non-violent in word and deed; engage in dialogue and relentlessly pursue the path of conflict resolution. What we need to do in times of moral poverty is engage the conscience of fellow citizens no matter how impossible it seems at present.

We might not wish to engage in active politics for a myriad reasons but we can easily restore a citizens' democracy to ourselves built on ethics and compassion. This we can do with a 'zero tolerance' for corruption beginning within the four walls of our home, zero tolerance for tainted officials and peoples' representatives; respect for the rule of law; respect for rules of the road; ethical investments only in companies that have best practices in fair trade and social responsibility.

We show our 'zero tolerance' through sustained campaigns like Cellular Silence, gaining in numbers as we go along,

I have remained quiet for way too long and I want to find my voice. Most importantly ,I refuse to "say die" without trying.

So, let's wake up India and be the change we wish to see in the world

Cellular Silence Day_30th January 2009

Dear Friend

The collective amnesia of the captains of Indian industry with Ratan Tata embracing Narendra Modi and Messrs. Sunil Mittal and Anil Ambani endorsing his candidature as future PM of India, disturbed me immensely.

This petition is my humble effort to engage the conscience of corporate India and make it known to them that the Indian citizen is not to be trifled with.

Just as we can vote for or against the politician, we can pinch the corporate bottom-line in order to engage their attention to mend their ways.

It is not an easy task for us to keep our cell phones and Blackberries switched off for an entire day on January 30th - the 61st anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

However, it ought to be sufficient to get the message across to corporate India that we will not tolerate the endorsement of fascists as future Prime Ministers.

May I request you visit the link below to sign and thereafter circulate the petition, if you feel as strongly about this matter.

Remember, if we wish to" be the change we wish to see" we have to have a few million signatures on this petition by January 30th 2009

sincerely
Ranjan Kamath

PETITION

To: India Inc.

Dear Messrs, Ratan Tata, Sunil Mittal and Anil Ambani

I am one of a billion Indian citizens.

I am somewhere in the middle of that pyramid that you wish to give voice - from bottom to top - through wealth creation.

I am proud of the brands you represent that have made India proud.

I am one of the burgeoning Indian middle-class that share your aspirations of mutating India from indolent elephant to thundering tiger.

It ends there...

I have hitherto been accused of being indifferent and apathetic, simply because I am overawed and felt overwhelmed in a system replete with Goliaths.

But when I saw you embrace the fascist mastermind of state sponsored genocide as a future Prime Minister and endorse the Modi-fication of India, it was disappointingly apparent that the brands that aspire to make India rich shall continue to languish in ethical poverty.

While I am filled with revulsion at your endorsement of Narendra Modi, I must respect your right to do so as a fellow citizen.

In writing this petition I am a mere David amongst the mightiest corporate Goliaths but I feel empowered to address your collective amnesia - through recollection of the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 - by the true Goliath among Gujaratis in particular and Indians in general - Mohandas Gandhi.

All those who sign this petition will switch off their Tata Indicomm, Airtel and Reliance cellular phone and broadband connections from midnight on January 30th 2009.

It is eminently possible that I might be the one voice in a billion who will observe the 61st death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on as Cellular Silence Day.

Then again, there might be close to a billion who could join me on January 30th, 2009 expressing their solidarity and silently insisting that the captains of India Inc adopt an ethical, compassionate path to wealth creation rather than the single-minded pursuit of the bottom-line.

We shall know that by the end of 30th January, 2009