In week #19, I introduce you to the brilliant eco-feminist theologian that is Dr. Aruna Gnanadason, from {Chennai, India}. It was an honour to meet her, learn from her wisdom, and adventure with her to the tops of the Alps in Italy. Her beauty comes from within.
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"Added
to this we have an Indigenous and religiously sanctioned form of
graded subjugation of people, called the caste system. Some 25% of
the population of the country are relegated as
"outcastes" because they engage in the most degrading and
"polluting" tasks, cleaning the toilets, the roads, the
drains. These are birth based occupations. Dalits (as
they call themselves now) are getting organized and demanding justice for
themselves."
"Working
for justice is a daunting task in India today.
There is huge global publicity about India being a incredible
country; to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the
producer of generic drugs, of alternative energy sources (we have
one of the only fully solar energy powered airports in the world!). But
then we have gross levels of poverty; of farmers committing
suicide due to indebtedness, of soaring prices that leave the
majority of the people with no access. Today millions of people do
not have access to clean drinking water, to health, to education."
"Added
to this we have an Indigenous and religiously sanctioned form of
graded subjugation of people, called the caste system. Some 25% of
the population of the country are relegated as
"outcastes" because they engage in the most degrading and
"polluting" tasks, cleaning the toilets, the roads, the
drains. These are birth based occupations. Dalits (as
they call themselves now) are getting organized and demanding justice for
themselves."
"To
this, one has to add patriarchy, which is strongly embedded into
Indian society - recently dubbed the "rape capital of the
world.” Indian women experience the worst forms of discrimination
and violence. Working for justice is hard because so often
economic structures interplay with caste and patriarchy giving us
a complex and difficult agenda."
---
"About
3% of Indians are Christian (that is about a huge number given the
population of India which is roughly 1.3 billion!). But then
our minority consciousness strangles us! Additionally we
are a fragmented community, as much of what exists in the society of
economic disparity, caste and patriarchy has been infused the
churches too! Our
theology too is still very much a slave to our colonial past. (There
is of course and ecumenical movement and a liberation theology
movement particularly Dalit, Indigenous Peoples' and feminist
theology posing strong questions to the church.)"
"We
do today face some real threats from the Hindu majority
(not all Hindus....the majority have lived in harmony with minorities
for all our history as a nation. But a core of Hindu
fundamentalists with a huge following have disturbed the equilibrium
of the country by claiming that this is a Hindutva (a country
for Hindus). What makes it frightening is that this is the
ideology that undergirds the ruling party that is in power -
cultural nationalism is a real threat as they try to influence
education, the media, the right to propagate one's faith, etc."
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Tell me something beautiful you have witnessed in your country:
“This
story is on going. One of the insidious efforts by the Hindutva
ideologues and their followers was to call for a ban on cow slaughter
and the eating of beef! It is based on a conviction that
the cow is a sacred symbol in Hinduism. What
makes it difficult is that cow slaughter has been for centuries
the occupation of Dalits additionally for farmers who depend on
rearing cows. Literally thousands will lose their livelihood if
this becomes a national law,as is being proposed. Just a few
days ago a Muslim old man was murdered for eating beef!" Additionally
it is the cheapest form of protein for millions of Dalit and
Indigenous people and Muslims (and many others like me!)."
"It
has been amazing the amount of support those opposing the slaughter
ban have received from eminent Hindus, journalists and others,
who are demanding the rights of Dalits, Muslims and others be given more serious attention than cows! “
"The
other good story is a campaign started by a prominent film star
Farhan Akthar, called "Men Against Rape and Discrimination" (MARD), the symbol of which is a moustache! He has been
mobilizing Indian men to think and act against the horrific forms of
violence Indian women experience."
Appreciate these stories? Leave a comment with your curiosities!
Beautifuldepiction of India today. Tq Dr. Aruna Gnanadason.
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