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Stark images of hidden apartheid
HIGHLIGHTING THE trials faced by the Dalit community and asserting their identity as a distinct people with their own culture and history is "Hidden Apartheid", a travelling exhibition of photos and posters, currently on display in the Capital.
A joint effort by Act Now for Harmony And Democracy (ANHAD) and the NCHRD (National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights), the 50 posters on display at the exhibition deal with a variety of issues central to the Dalit human rights struggle.
Over 160 million people in India remain segregated by a social structure that was abolished over 50 years ago. At every moment of their lives, these people - the Dalit community - are discriminated against. They are forced to live in colonies away from `upper caste' dominions, made to drink out of tea cups that no one else touches, prohibited from drawing water from their village wells, deprived of land that is legally theirs, pushed into scavenging and increased sexual harassment by `upper castes' and made unwilling recipients of the fallout of globalisation.
Untouchability is the theme of many of these exhibits. The posters tell a stark story - even in this century, for example, Dalit bridegrooms are prohibited from riding a horse during the marriage procession and they are forced to render services thought to be too polluting for other castes.
A section of the exhibits is devoted to violence perpetrated by police forces employed to protect and by private armies of upper castes. Also highlighted is the plight of Dalit women, who are subjected to sexual harassment, exploited as Devdasis and often the target of ire directed at their community.
The statistics on display paint a bleak picture as far as employment for Dalits is concerned. Literacy rates are low and dropout rates high. However, all this is not just part of a rural landscape. Even in High Courts and embassies, the number of Dalits employed is a fraction of upper caste staff. The posters tell us that even where rights to education and earning a livelihood are granted, they are snatched away under the flimsiest of excuses - a case in point being the rustication of 10 Dalit students of the Hyderabad Central University on charges of violence.
The exhibition outlines an action plan for the 21st Century to ensure the socio-economic well being of the community. Bearing testimony to the peaceful protest are the words of poet Sharankumar Limbale adorning one of the posters: "You'll beat me, break me,/ Loot and burn my habitation/ But my friends! How will you tear down my words planted like a sun in the east?"
"Hidden Apartheid" has been conceived and researched by Shabnam Hashmi and Parvez, a young graphic designer based in Baroda. A large number of photographs used in the exhibition are by Sahir Raza, a Class XII student from Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan.
Various individuals and organisations who have made the exhibition possible include Cognito Advertising, Vadodara; Dalit Research Institute, Madurai; Gauhar Raza, Harsh Mander, Harsh Purohit, Martin Macwan, Navsarjan, Paul Diwakar and Sakshi - Hyderabad. The exhibition will be on at Anhad, 4 Windsor Place, till December 20.
The exhibition is also accompanying the Dalit Swadhikar Rally, that started out from Jammu, Delhi, Kanyakumari and Kolkata, on December 6 and would reach Mumbai by January 15, to participate in the Fourth World Social Forum.
By Kannan K
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