LEARNING FROM POOR CLASS DALITS - 6
Survival Through Solidarity And Sharing
- Parattai
Once I visited a Dalit group of poor landless laborers. The caste fanatics have destroyed the meagre properties they had. Even their cooking vessels have been destroyed. Their survival is threatened. They ran away from their village and found asylum in another Dalit village. When I visited them I asked, “How are you?” All of them replied, ”Oh! We are fine.” “Fine?” I thought, “How?” They have nothing. The caste fanatics were trying to threaten them even at their hide out. Neither the government nor the police were ready to help them. Even their survival seemed miraculous. .
Later I found that since the individual family cooking vessels are destroyed they had to cook in common. This sharing of common food and the solidarity that arose out of that sharing has contributed to their ‘fineness’ and survival. But, World Bank, IMF, and MNCs are working on the basis of Darwin’s evolution theory of Survival-of-The-Fittest. They care only about the development of the so called fittest but not about the poor. All their projects such as development of electronic governance, cater only to the upper middle class. They discourage relief programs to the poor such as low priced food grains through PDS.
But poor class Dalits taught me that this theory is wrong. We can survive and be fine if we have solidarity and sharing. I think that their theory is true. The dinosaurs are much more stronger than the ants. But they did not survive. Only the ants and other animals that have solidarity and sharing have survived. The poor class Dalits and the poor in general might have learned this theory of Survival-Through-Solidarity-and-Sharing
- Parattai
Once I visited a Dalit group of poor landless laborers. The caste fanatics have destroyed the meagre properties they had. Even their cooking vessels have been destroyed. Their survival is threatened. They ran away from their village and found asylum in another Dalit village. When I visited them I asked, “How are you?” All of them replied, ”Oh! We are fine.” “Fine?” I thought, “How?” They have nothing. The caste fanatics were trying to threaten them even at their hide out. Neither the government nor the police were ready to help them. Even their survival seemed miraculous. .
Later I found that since the individual family cooking vessels are destroyed they had to cook in common. This sharing of common food and the solidarity that arose out of that sharing has contributed to their ‘fineness’ and survival. But, World Bank, IMF, and MNCs are working on the basis of Darwin’s evolution theory of Survival-of-The-Fittest. They care only about the development of the so called fittest but not about the poor. All their projects such as development of electronic governance, cater only to the upper middle class. They discourage relief programs to the poor such as low priced food grains through PDS.
But poor class Dalits taught me that this theory is wrong. We can survive and be fine if we have solidarity and sharing. I think that their theory is true. The dinosaurs are much more stronger than the ants. But they did not survive. Only the ants and other animals that have solidarity and sharing have survived. The poor class Dalits and the poor in general might have learned this theory of Survival-Through-Solidarity-and-Sharing
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