Call for Dalit, Afro-American movement to overthrow discrimination

A cross-section of social researchers have called for a global initiative of Dalits in India and African-Americans in the US, against discriminatory practices in the wake of common experiences of oppression and struggles against it.

They were speaking at a seminar on ‘Dalits and African-Americans in 21st Century: Learning from Cross-Cultural Experiences’, organised by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU). The seminar saw a prominent number of American and Indian researchers deliberating on the need to define and provide solutions to the continuing discrimination against the oppressed communities.

Though discrimination against Dalits has reduced in public spaces – like at fair price shops and police stations among others – it remains unchanged in private spaces – in homes and religious spaces of rural India, said Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairperson, Indian Council for Social Science Research. He emphasised that a movement to check and contain oppressive practices is crucial so as to eliminate deep-rooted discriminatory religious and caste-based beliefs and philosophies.

Thorat cautioned that the continuous withdrawal of the government in various sectors and the privatisation of major sectors will lead to a wide economic divide between the oppressed and oppressors.

He said: “Affirmative action suffers in privatisation. Though reservation is voluntary for the private sector, less than 12 per cent of any commerce body has consented to it.” He also mentioned the need for safeguards in the form of law and affirmative action in order to protect the interests of marginalised sections.

Prof R Venkata Rao, Vice Chancellor of NLSIU said the focus of the seminar was the reaffirmation of commitment on part of the law school to discuss, evaluate and provide for socially imperative topics.

Kevin D Brown, American author and academic who has researched race-based discrimination, said the deeply-entrenched caste system can be tackled only by targeting the belief that still upholds caste hierarchy - the belief in reincarnation. “A liberation movement that goes to the heart of religion is of need,” he said. Brown, a delegate from the Indiana University, USA, specifically focussed on the need to define what global culture meant from the perspective of the oppressed.

In a message read out at the seminar, Lok Sabha opposition leader M Mallikarjun Kharge said it has to be ensured that Dalits and women do not lose faith in the system.

“The experiences of race riots in America show that the Afro-American community may have lost faith in getting equal opportunity in front of the law. This must not happen in India,” he said. Losing faith in the system will result in chaos, breakdown of law and order, disillusionment about economic growth and in intensifying the economic disparity between the haves and have-nots.