Workshop on spread of violence held
‘Ahimsa’, a workshop on “spread of violence in society” and screening of the film ‘When Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame’ was held under the aegis of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism of St Aloysius College and Breakthrough, a human rights organisation, in the college premises on Monday.
Pattabhiram Somayaji, a lecturer in University College Hampankatta and Deepak Kamath, the editor of ‘Aseema’, presented different views on the spreading of violence in the society and the possible solutions for it.
In his address, Somayaji said the very concept of modern nation state and the idea of nationalism itself is atrocious. “There is a need to find out an alternative idea of how to live together and how to make the civil society powerful by defeating the idea of nationalism,” he emphasised.
“The concept of nationalism prevailed during freedom struggle was something different. It was a constructive battle against imperialism and colonialism. It was territorial nationalism as against the present-day cultural nationalism,” he said.
Somayaji said a language of violence is seeking legitimacy and has succeeded in it to a large extent.
Terming M F Husain “one of the finest artists of the contemporary world”, he said the concept of Bharat Matha painted by Husain was much different and sensible from the painting of Bharat Matha thrusted upon by the Hindutva ideologues.
“In fact, it was Raja Ravi Varma who presented women in the most obscene manner. His paintings tuned people into voyeurs, where women were treated as commodities,” Somayaji said.
Deepak Kamath said it is unfair to compare Husain and Varma. “It is the question of sentiment than logic that works in the issue of Husain. One cannot imagine one’s mother nude,” he said referring to the controversial paintings of the artist.
“Violence is there in each and every person. Finding out ‘who am I?’ like what Ramana Maharshi and Vivekananda did is the right way towards Ahimsa,” he stressed.
“It is the educated people who should try to minimise violence as far as possible. Let’s be pragmatic and look at the positive side of the issues,” Kamath observed.
Breakthrough Programme Co-ordinator Vani Perodi and student coordinators Bojamma B C and Sajna Aravind coordinated the discussions.
DH News Service
