ISSUES
Artistes as activists
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Can writers or filmmakers register their protests against social injustice? K. KUNHIKRISHNAN ponders over the controversy about Sara Joseph's Sahitya Akademi award.
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IT is a perennial problem. How should writers respond to social issues that plague society on a continual basis, especially when it happens in a state, which has the highest literacy rate and a very high media penetration? Should litterateurs be silent spectators of serious social issues or only pen their inner feelings?
The best example of a celebrated writer taking up social activism is Arundhati Roy. Her involvement with the Narmada Bachao Andolan and opposition to India's N-bomb are well known.
Writers have always contributed substantially to social issues. But the institutions and organisations that govern writers and artists are within the administrative purview of various Governmental departments.
Financial help is extended as grants in aid or through direct funding. But apart from providing a general policy framework, the Government has no control over these autonomous institutions.
A Chairman/President and Executive Committee are responsible for running the show. Most of the members are political appointees by the government of the day.
RAMESH KURUP
The struggle at Muthanga ...
In Kerala, the Department of Culture controls academic institutions like the Sahitya Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi, Kerala Kalamandalam, Chalachitra Parishath, State Film Development Corporation and others.
The annual budget grant for these institutions amounts to less than Rs. 10 crores. Much of this amount is spent on salaries and other establishment costs.
Unfortunately in our system, Ministers are known to, directly or indirectly, meddle in the affairs of these bodies. No less a person of the stature of Adoor Gopalakrishnan resigned the office of Chairman of State Film Academy after run-ins with the State Minister for Culture.
Many eminent writers also protested against the brutal manhandling of the tribal people in Muthanga, Wayanad district. M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Kerala's well-known writer and film personality, chose to step out of the position of Chairman of an international video film festival.
Sara Joseph, a leading writer, opted to return her State Kerala Sahitya Akademi award, as a symbolic protest. However this was not taken in the right spirit. Sara Joseph is a writer who empathised with the underprivileged tribal people. Her books take up the cause of the marginalised but while the book as a piece of literature receives appreciation and awards; the issue at large is not addressed. She has now been awarded the Central Sahitya Akademi Award, which will be presented on February 24.
The question remains: how should the political executive react to such protests? Is it right to condemn writers or filmmakers because they choose to protest against social injustice? Does this not amount to stifling dissenting voices?
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