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History of the defeated

In his famous poem, Kadamanitta Ramakrishnan makes his protagonist, Kurathi — the representative of the downtrodden, point an accusatory finger at mainstream society and tells it to recall how they became what they are now. Lost in the collective forgetfulness on the part of society about silent communities that once inhabited the world is the history of the indigene population; the history of the defeated.

On Wednesday, Changampuzha Cultural Centre, Nattarivu Padana Kendram, Thrissur and Moozhikulam Sala observed World Indigene Day and Quit India Day at the Changampuzha Park.

Despite the heavy rains in the evening, the meeting had a good crowd listening to speeches and adivasi songs.

Speeches, however, were different from what one gets to hear at any public function; they were made a long time ago and read out again to mark the occasion.

One was by Chief Seattle, the Red Indian chief, in reply to the offer made by the United States of America to buy their land and keep some area "reserved" for the natives. The second was the Quit India speech made by Gandhiji.

The organisers went by the translation of the first speech as it appeared in a book on politics of environment. This, unfortunately, was a translation of the popular version of the Chief's speech, which was later found to be a hacked one by a Hollywood scriptwriter.

But the authentic version of the speech, made in 1854, clearly outlines the conflict between lives of indigenes and modern men. "Your religion was written upon tablets of stone by the iron finger of your God so that you could not forget. The Red Man could never comprehend or remember it. Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors — the dreams of our old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our sachems, and is written in the hearts of our people," the Chief told the world.

The essence of the message — having love in hearts to understand each other and Nature — was echoed when excerpts of Quit India speeches made by Gandhiji were read out.

At the valedictory address made at AICC meeting, Bombay in 1942, he said, "I carry no other weapon than love to rule others. I have only a walking stick, which could be easily broken."

C.R. Rajagopalan of Nattarivu Padana Kendram spoke about History of the Great Massacre — global view of indigene communities. He sketched the systematic, silent elimination of people who failed to keep pace with modernity.

He said, "around 60 lakh Jews were killed in Nazi concentration camps. History has records of their names and the date of their murder. More than 60 lakh indigenes have been killed across the world. No records are available about them. And the elimination continues even today."

A group of youngsters from Vayali Nadan Pattukoottam, Arangottukara presented songs from the repertoire of Adivasi lives.

<167,3p>Anand Haridas

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