|
Another World Is
Possible—Thoughts about a Fourth World
By M.P. Parameswaran
A
Programme for Action
A new
world is not the result of one single creative act—call
it revolution, call it change. It is an evolutionary
product, a product of hundreds of thousands of small and
big, local and wide spread struggles, a product of meso
and macro creations, a product of making and breaking of
mutual faiths and alliances. In an overall sense, yes it
is a qualitative change in the economic system,
political system and in ethics and culture. This change
cannot be brought about by 'annihilating a few class
enemies'. The class enemy is not a person or a few
persons alone.
It is
also present in ourselves in the form of alien class
consciousness and desires. In what form the final
collapse of neo-liberalism will take place in any
country, it is difficult to forsee now. All that can be
said now is that an extended period of incremental
changes, or small, small revolutionary struggles will
have to precede any major qualitative change in the
socio-economic system. The subject matter of this small
final chapter is an exploration into the form and
extent of these small transitionary struggles. Broadly,
we can classify them into two categories: direct
struggles and indirect struggles.
Direct Struggle
This could be direct armed resistance as it took place
in China, Vietnam, Cuba, etc., and is taking place in
Colombia and elsewhere. But it could also be an open
economic war. As far as India is concerned, the enemies
are the Indian ruling classes, together with the
imperialist countries, led by the US. A direct military
confrontation with them at this junction is out of
question. Even the capture of the Indian State through
an armed struggle cannot be thought of, not only because
it is unrealistic but also because the resulting India
may not be much better than the present one.
The great manthra of globalization is "Free Market."
That is the great battle-ground. The enemy is strongly
entrenched there. We have to face it there itself. They
have forced all countries in the world to open their
markets and obtained the right to sell anything,
anywhere, anytime at any price. Normally, national
governments can control them through duties or taxes,
quantitative restrictions etc. Contemporary national
governments, including the Indian government , are not
interested in imposing such restrictions. But we, the
people, can impose restrictions.
The imperialists have compelled the national governments
to yield them the right to sell. But no national
government or any body else can compel us to buy. Our
right not to buy their goods remains sovereign, provided
we can obtain other goods which satisfy our wants. The
moment we feel or decide that we cannot live without
colas, mineral waters, packed foods, durable consumption
goods, etc., marketed by them, we lose this sovereignty.
If we can assure our own food to abate our hunger, good
potable water, soft drinks like coconut water, butter
milk, sherbot, etc., to quench our thirst, enough cloth
to cover us, a decent space to live in—and all these we
can—we keep our sovereignty. We use this as our weapon
to fight them. We decide that the money in our pocket
will not go into their hands.
There might be instances
when we might be forced to do so, for example
life-saving drugs, component parts of many equipments
daily used by us, instruments for research, certain
types of machinery for manufacture . . . these we
accept. But we can reject a much larger number of
items—all toiletries, all soft drinks, coffee and tea,
packaged foods, including drinks, cloths, bulk of the
medicines, construction materials . . .
This list is quite long. The entire class of consumer
products and substantial chunk of productive equipment,
currently imported can be totally boycotted. A back of
the envelop type of calculation shows that the amounts
involved are enormous. The consumption of transnational
consumer products by an average middle class/rich family
could be anywhere between Rs 200 to Rs 1000 per month.
Assuming a figure of Rs 400 and assuming 100 million
families (out of 200 million) the monthly loss of
turnover for them could be Rs 4000 crore. This is not a
small amount. Assuming 60% of this as integrated labour
component, this means 10 million 'jobs' providing Rs
2400 per month.
It is about 15 years since India capitulated to the
world’s imperialist powers. The people have experienced
its impact. Our products are devalued. Lockouts,
layoffs, loss of employment, insecurity, bankruptcy,
suicides . . . these are our daily experience. And we
are more than 80% of the society. We are against this
neo-liberal globalization. The various groups which
participated in the WSF in Mumbai opposing globalization
belonged to the poor and middle classes. They
represented organizations and movements, of women,
organized and unorganized workers, service personnel,
peasants, agriculture labour, youth, women, etc., whose
total organizational membership may exceed 100
million—about 20 million families. If they decide to
boycott products of transnational like Hindustan Liver,
Nestle, Cadbury, etc., and go for equally good Indian
products, the impact will be beyond description.
This is direct engagement with the enemy on its own
battleground, the market. We find no reason to believe
that this will go against the interest of the poor, will
cool down revolutionary vigour or anything of that sort.
Only armchair revolutionaries, who don't want any
revolution in the near future, can oppose it.
The impact of such a massive boycott can be really
painful to the enemy. It may be painful also to a
minority which are enjoying five- star global comforts
today. They will oppose us. That is understandable. It
is instructing to note that boycott of colas as a symbol
of boycott against neo-liberal globalization, is
becoming increasingly popular in Europe too.
There
are hundreds and hundreds of products that could be
boycotted. The problems to be faced are:
a)
Paucity of good quality alternatives.
b)
Weakness of marketing mechanism for alternative
products.
c)
Entrenched consumerism brought about by the media.
How do
we overcome these problems?
We
have to and we can improve the quality of local products
considerably. Those scientists and technologists working
in the society (government)—supported R and D
institutions in the country, who have some commitment
towards the people, can help in this. Many can make this
as their official work. Others can help voluntarily.
Continuous quality upgradation of local consumer
products is one important element in this battle against
globalization.
The second element is marketing. For this, two
strategies can be envisaged. One is to bring the
producer and the consumer as close as possible. What may
be generally called localization of production. This
localization would depend on many factors:
technology, presently feasible scales of production,
consumption intensity, raw material availability etc.
etc. Certain thumb rules can be used. As far as food
items are concerned, 'local' could mean very small
communities. As far as computer assembly is concerned,
the area could be as large as a district or State. As
far as computer components are concerned it could be the
entire nation or even global. As demand intensity
increases and small-scale technology improves, the local
becomes smaller and smaller in area. The
haulage—wastage-index comes down and social control
becomes stronger.
The strength of the trans-nationals, mainly, is their
marketing ability. The producer should establish contact
with the consumer. This is the essence of marketing.
They do this through media, through wholesale/retail
shops, commissions etc. By far, the strongest element in
all these is the communication with the consumer,
prompting him to take a decision to buy. We too shall do
this. Our mode of communication is not the media but
face-to-face communication. Also intensive citizen
education. A proposal that is being worked out in Kerala
has the following components:
?? In
selected panchayats, form all-women marketing
federations. The members of this federation shall all
work, basically in door- to- door distribution. For
every 200 households, there will be one member in this
federation.
?? These
members will be formally introduced to the relevant
families by respected citizens of the panchayat. They
will wear approved uniforms, badges and caps while they
visit households.
?? An
assurance committee of 'elders' will be formed in each
of these panchayats. They will take the responsibility
of replacing defective goods and other losses caused to
consumers.
?? The
'sales person' dedicated to a set of households will
collect their orders, for monthly or weekly delivery and
deliver the goods on the appointed day and time.
?? The
customer can pay an advance or pay on delivery if they
wish so. Those who pay in advance will be paid interest.
??
To begin with, the Marketing Federation will
estimate locally available products, products that could
be later manufactured locally, products from the same
block or district, products from other parts of the
State or country. Bulk purchase some of them, clean them
and repack them. To begin with, they may have 30 to 40
items for sale—some choice in toiletries, tea, etc.
?? Part
of the monthly profit will be set apart for possible
guarantee payments, part for benefits likes ESI,
provident fund, leave salary, maternity leave, etc. The
balance will be paid in cash as monthly salary not as
daily wage.
??
The entire programme in the pilot panchayats will
be serviced by a professional marketing organization
specially set up for this, with experienced
professionals. Initially, the expenses of this
organization will be met from some project support.
Later, the panchayat which it is serving should be able
to sustain it.
??
Massive local campaigns exhorting the people to support
this programme for self-reliance and against
globalization, will be carried out using various means
of communication. Through such activities, every village
will become a battlefront. The multinationals can hardly
face us except through buying off some of us.
The second form of direct struggle against
neo-liberalism is what is called people- to people
trade, fair trade, etc. This is, in fact, an extension
of internal trade to international trade. Essentially it
means keeping the trans-nationals and liberalizers out
of the production and trade lines. Many groups are
already involved in this. It can be strengthened.
Thirdly, a campaign to impose penal taxes on the
high-end consumers who earn a disproportionately large
income and so are inclined to spend it in conspicuous
consumption. A 50 per cent surcharge on all bill items
of five- star hotels, a steep hike in the sales tax on
private cars, a high surcharge on other high-price
single items, a surcharge on star type of schools and
hospitals, etc., can be thought of. In the long run the
income disparity between the poor and the rich should be
brought down. Continuous campaigns for this can be held.
Ultimately the national governments have to be
responsible and responsive. People should have control
over them. First, the people should become capable of
intervening and controlling the grama sabha and the
panchayat. At the national level, to assert the
sovereignty of the people, political struggles of a new
type will have to emerge. There will have to be a new
class realignment, the genuine stake holders—the
workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie have to re-form
their political platform. Instead of fighting each
other, rallying under caste, religion, loyalty to
leadership, etc., they should form a united platform or
party of their own. Politics should reflect class
interests more genuinely.
Besides direct political struggles, different social
groups like, say teaches, researchers, government
servants, doctors etc. can organize their own indirect
struggles.Some examples are given below.
Indirect Battle
Administration: Those who are employed in State
institutions from panchayat to national government can
use their own office files as a weapon to fight the
class enemies. Each issue, each file, will have a class
content in it. According to current administrative
practice, the 'notings' start from LDC/UDC (Lower
Division/Upper Division Clerk) and then travel
hierarchically upwards. What the LDC/UDC writes on the
file has great power. There are files which conceals
great frauds on the people, big vested interests follow
them, up to the secretary and to the minister. The
illegal/anti- people elements in the transaction can be
noted down by the LDC/UDC on the file. It will make
matters more difficult for the enemies of the people.
Similarly, they can expedite the decisions in favour of
the deserving ordinary citizens. A government servant
can be citizen- friendly, opposed to corrupt contractors
and even corrupt politicians. This is the meaning of a
united front of all the exploited.
Teachers: Today's teachers groom tomorrow’s
citizens, tomorrows world. The leaders of the freedom
struggle were mostly all groomed by their teachers. All
the ills of the present society, all the threats faced
by human species, can be incorporated into the informal
curriculum. Secular, democratic and egalitarian values
can be best imparted by teachers. They can transact
lessons critically in the classroom,. so that even the
worst communal text books can be turned against their
authors.
They can educate the children about antipeople policies
of the government, who loses and who benefits from a
particular developmental project, how skewed cost
benefit analyzes can become. There is no dearth of
opportunities to them. The political struggle of
teachers has to be expressed in their classroom
transactions. Trade union struggles are economic
struggles. Teachers of institutions owned by the
government or aided by the government can attract back
all the children from commercial, so- called recognized
or self- financing, schools.
Doctors: They can make primary health centres
effective and efficient, shall refrain from playing
games with representatives of multinational companies,
shall stop prescribing unnecessary drugs, can become
proactive in peoples' health care.
Research workers in R and D establishments can
consciously occupy themselves in the problems of benefit
to poor masses and not to the rich minority. They can
argue and fight with their superiors if they are not
allowed. Solar energy, wealth from waste, total
recyclability.... There is no dearth to exciting
problems. Engaging herself or himself in such topics of
research is their form of political struggle.
The point to be emphasized here is that it is necessary
to improvise more and more new forms and weapons of
struggle. The old forms have been mastered by our
enemies long ago and are becoming increasingly
ineffective.
Afterword
A
Tsunami of Criticisms
During the period from mid- 2003 to 2004-end , the term
‘Fourth World’ attracted much more media coverage than
any other single issue. The total number of references
will run into a couple of thousand. There are plain
abuses and seemingly academic critiques from the
so-called militant Left, media references to them,
media’s own conjectures and occasional rejoinders. The
abuses generally take the following tone:
The author of the Fourth World is a revisionist, is an
imperialist agent, has received crores [a
unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million]
of rupees from the CIA and betrayed the
revolution, has penetrated the CPI(M) to subvert it ( he
was not even a branch secretary, but only an ordinary
member) has conspired with leaders like Dr. Thomas Isaac
to destabilize the Party and so on. The people of Kerala
know the author for the past three-four decades; such
abuses will not cut ice with them.
However, criticisms of friends like Comrade P.Govinda
Pillai, Dr. Thomas Isaac, etc. upset the public. Their
chief criticism is that Fourth World is not a Marxian
concept, that it is utopian and hence to be rejected,
etc. Even they have not offered any substantive
criticism of the economics, politics and culture of the
future society as indicated in the book. Given below are
the main points raised by them and the author’s
rejoinder.
1. There is no Marxian philosophy in the Fourth World
concept. The analysis is un-Marxian.
Marxism is not something which some ‘high priests’
declare it to be. Marx has been subjected to
interpretation and enrichment. There have been
‘official’ interpretations like that of Lenin, Stalin,
Mao, etc. There have been heretic interpretations like
that of Rosa Luxumburg, Trotsky, Gramsci, etc. Mine may
be counted as one more heretic interpretation. Marxism
is a science and not a religion as the high priests make
it to be. I maintain that the relationship between means
and ends, as well as that between productive forces and
productive relationships are dialectical. Dictatorship,
even if it is of the proletariat, cannot lead to
democracy. There is no democracy without participation.
Very little participation is possible in giant
enterprises, whether in economics or in politics.
There is the following oft- quoted sentence in Marx’s
preface to ‘A Contribution to the Critique of Political
Economy’: “It is not the consciousness of men that
determines their existence, but their social existence
that determines their consciousness.” The social
existence is defined by the mode of production
consisting of both forces of production and
relationships in production. There is a tendency to
equate social existence to production relations and to
disregard the role of productive forces. Productive
forces are supposed to be autonomous, as if they grow
almost on their own, either facilitated or obstructed by
production relations. Their growth is considered linear
and quantitative.
The transformation from quantitative to qualitative is
supposed to be confined to production relations. The
official interpreters of Marx do not recognise any
qualitative change in productive forces.
The linear growth of productive forces leads to larger
and larger enterprises with less and less control by the
workers, leading ultimately to the formation of a new
class—the managerial class who soon graduates into the
“owning class”, as it happened in the erstwhile USSR and
other socialist countries. Increasing levels of control
by the workers demand ‘production by the masses instead
of mass production’ or, in the words of Marx, “network
of associated producers,” instead of giant State-owned
enterprises. This demands small-scale, yet efficient,
production for consumption—strengthening of local
economies. It demands technologies which make small
powerful, not merely beautiful.
It demands cent per cent recycling of resources and also
transition to Sun as the only source of energy in the
long run.
These demand conscious intervention in the development
of productive forces, both in its contents and in its
direction. To argue that the growth of productive forces
is totally controlled by the present capitalistic
relations of production is to deny its revolutionary
potential. This is what the critics are doing. This is
not a Marxian approach. Further, the critics make
consciousness a mechanical byproduct of social existence
and equates it to their own consciousness. They refuse
to recognise that the social existence of humans have
engendered not one official consciousness but several
heretic consciousnesses –environmental, gender,
marginalised, etc. They are transforming Marxism into
‘fatalism’ by denying the influence of ‘being’ on
existence.
2. The Fourth World Theory rejects class struggles,
promotes class collaboration.
Nothing can be farther from truth than this statement.
Here my detractors show least respect to facts. True, I
have questioned their narrow concepts of class and class
struggle. For them, the proletariat, in the phrase
‘dictatorship of the proletariat’, means only those
organised workers in modern industries rallied under the
CITU and the CPI(M). Peasants, agricultural workers,
workers in unorganised traditional industries, teachers,
clerks, and those rallying under other parties—none of
them belong to the working class. Bringing all of them
together is branded as “class collaboration.” The
relevant sentence in the book is this: “Instead of
fighting each other rallying under caste, religion,
loyalty to leadership, etc., based on parties and
movements, they should form a united platform or party
of their own. Politics should reflect class interests
more genuinely.”
The concept of class struggle requires enrichment.
Presently it is limited to protest rallies, bandhs,
hartals and strikes. In a class conflict, the class
enemy has to suffer and not the ally. Today, often the
allies or the initiators of the fight themselves are
getting hurt and not the enemy. Additional forms of
struggle are indicated, such as boycott, strengthening
local economy, using class rooms, offices, etc., as
arenas of class struggle. All these are dismissed as
revisionism, utopianism, etc. For them, the job security
of the workers in Cola factories and other factories
owned by transnationals and Indian big capital is more
important and so boycotting their products is an
anti-working class activity! I do not agree with this.
3.
According to the CPI(M),China is a socialist country. I
question this Party position.
I plead guilty. I do not consider China to be a
socialist country. Neither do they claim it to be.
Further, I do not believe that China is moving towards
socialism. The opposite is the truth. I do not question
their subjective intentions. But I do not accept that
the ‘concept capitalism in economy and socialism in
politics’ is Marxism.
Objectively, they are driving towards capitalism. I
agree with the analysis of Paul Burkett and Martin Hard
Landsberg (‘China and Socialism’—Analytical Monthly
Review July-August 2004) that market socialism is an
unstable formation whose internal logic tends to
marginalize socialism in favour of the market and full
restoration of capitalism, that by measuring progress in
terms of mainstream criteria of success, leftists tend
to discount the importance of various social
ramifications of Chinese policy. The growing
unemployment, inequality and insecurity, the cutbacks in
communal health care and education, the worsening
oppression of women, the marginalization of agriculture,
and the multiplication of environmental crises, all of
these have come to be treated as inessential side
effects rather than essential preconditions and
inevitable outcome of Chinas capitalist development. I
plead guilty of agreeing with this analysis and of
differing from the Party’s understanding.
4.I promote de-politicisation of the society.
Equally far from truth. Today politics is reserved for
politicians—leaders of political parties. Ordinary
citizens and even the rank and file of the Party are
supposed to vote, to contribute to fund collection, to
swell the rallies in numbers and to ask no questions. I
do not agree with this subconscious understanding. I
consider the grama sabha (village gathering) as the
battle ground for the people, I consider neighbourhood
groups as ideal schools for the political education of
the citizens. Politics is too important to be left alone
with career politicians.
5.
There is no such thing as Fourth World in the CPI(M)
Programme. Its economy and politics are against Party
programme. It is not people’s democracy. The economic
agenda of people’s democracy is “rapid economic growth.”
Fourth World envisages something totally different.
True,
I agree that, there is no reference to Fourth World in
the Programme. It is only quite natural. It is, also
different from People’s Democracy – if the latter is
defined as ‘rapid economic growth’ as its predominant
major objective. But it is not against the spirit of the
Programme which envisages an intermediary stage between
capitalism and socialism. Fourth World is suggested as
the generic name for such an intermediary
postcapitalistic, pre-socialist society.
The
Fourth world gives more importance to equity and
sustainability than to ‘rapid growth.’ But, the Party
programme too speaks about equity and sustainability.
When this comes into conflict with ‘rapid growth,’ what
position will be taken? Dr Thomas Isaac asserts that
‘rapid growth’ is the goal. I differ. Reducing inequity
is the goal even if it leads to reduction in the growth
rate.
6.
The concept of ‘welfare value’ is alien to Marxism. It
has only use value and exchange value.
True,
there is no such term as ‘welfare value’ in Marxist or
even in capitalist literature. But one can derive such a
concept from his writings. I plead, again, guilty of
introducing such a term. There is, however, nothing
anti-Marxian and anti-people in it.
Of the
millions of separate and distinct consumer products and
services, there are only a few which add to the welfare
of human beings. A much larger number like war
equipment, narcotics, etc., are positively harmful. By
far, the majority belong to the category which are
wasteful, which add nothing to welfare, but for the
production of which humans spend a lot of time thereby
reducing leisure and increasing alienated work.
The
people of the US can achieve even a higher quality of
life if they reduce the production of such goods. They
can reduce their working time to less than half of the
present. This concept needs a more rigorous development,
but it deserves such an effort.
7.
The concept of participation is a subjective one.
If the
type of neighbourhood democracy as indicated in the book
(somewhat similar to what is adopted in Cuba) is highly
objectionable because it will pass on the initiative
from a few self-appointed Party leaders to the people at
large, there is every reason to fear objective
participation.
Source:
Geocities
* * *
* *
Dr. M. P.
Parameswaran, author of
Empowering People: Insights from a Local Experiment
in Participatory Planning, received a
Bachelor's degree in Engineering from the College of
Engineering, Kerala, India in 1956, and a Ph.D. in
Nuclear Engineering from the Moscow Power Institute
in 1965. He was a scientist with the Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre, Bombay, from 1957 to 1975. Since
1975 he has been a full-time activist with the
Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad
(KSSP). Dr. Parameswaran also currently serves as
the Vice-Chair of the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS)
and as the Chair of the Total Health and Sanitation
Mission, Kerala.
The
Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad
(which literally means the Science Writers' Forum of
Kerala) has earned wide acclaim for activities
related to generating environmental consciousness,
literacy campaigns, and decentralized, micro-level
planning. The KSSP is a recipient of the Right
Livelihood Award (dubbed the alternate Nobel Prize)
in 1996, the UNESCO Literacy Award (King Sejong
Prize) in 1990, the UNEP's Global 500, and the
Vriksha Mitra award.—IndiaTogether
M. P.
Parameswaran is an
Indian
nuclear engineer and eminent science
contributor. He is an atomic scientist and
educationist of India. He played an important role
in Indian Nuclear program. He was born on January
18, 1935 in
Kerala. In 1956, he received
Bachelor’s degree in
Engineering from the College of Engineering,
Kerala. He then joined
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre,
Bombay in 1956 as a scientist and continued
there up to 1975. From 1969 to 1973 he also worked
as the assistant director of the State Institute of
Languages in Kerala, on a deputation from BARC. He
got PhD in
Nuclear Engineering from
Moscow Power Engineering Institute in 1965. . .
.
MP is also a
prolific writer. He has written 29
popular science books in
Malayalam and two in
English. His books give a panoramic view of
science.
Radioactivity, atomic science,
Astronomy,
Mathematics,
political science,
social science,
ecology—these
are some of the varied subjects he has dealt with in
his books. A vision of "A New World—A
New India" guides his thoughts and actions. He was
the recipient of two national awards, one for
science popularisation and another for literacy.
Articles written by him in various
periodicals run to more than 300. He has
received
Government of India awards for Books for
Neoliterates (1962) and Basic and Cultural
Literature (1964). He also received an Award for
Children's Literature in 1982.
He was also an
active member of Communist Party of India (Marxist)
for 33 years, before being expelled for writing an
ideological book 'Fourth World' which envisions a
world based on decentralised democracy and an
economic production that is detached from
consumerism, but the party views it as a rejection
of Marxist principles. In 2007, he also acted in a
Malayalam movie named 'AKG' about the Communist
leader A K Gopalan in which M. P. Parameswaran
donned the role of Kerala's first Chief Minister E M
Sankaran Namboodiripad (EMS).—Wikipedia
* * *
* *
Social ideas of an n-scientist
While suggesting alternatives to globalisation, he
said direct action, both defensive and offensive,
was required and we have to clearly declare it a
war-like situation. "Let us declare a people's war
against sell-out policies, against fundamentalism,
against cultural degradation, against consumerism
and against mafias of all form. This is a war to
save the human species from self-destruction, to
free human beings from animal limitations, to
realise the true human potential," says Dr.
Parameswaran, the spirit behind the formation of the
All India People's Science Network
Dr.
Parameswaran, who has blended Gandhism with Marxism
and his own type of Socialism, has devised new forms
of offensive defence against the aggression by the
so called corporate world, which he calls
``corporate mafia''. He suggests an extensive and
intensive boycott of goods produced by the
trans-national corporations. He preferred developing
smaller technologies for producing quality goods for
all and organising a mega network of consumers and
cooperative societies involving millions of
households.
He suggested
that a massive citizen education programme of more
than one year's duration be envisaged to educate all
about the ill-effects of forced globalisation and
the benefits of local self-reliance. A cultural
offensive to be used against cultural imperialism by
organising scientists, artists and writers. The
natural resources available in various States, he
said, should belong to the people and shall not be
allowed to be sold over to private profiteers.
Luxury, conspicuous and extravagant consumption
should be considered as unethical and anti-social.
It is immoral to have a star or stylish living in a
country with so much of poverty, ill health and
illiteracy, he said.
* * *
* *
A Fourth World outlook
To know the
world does not mean knowing only the word. One has
to learn from interactions with the world. The
literacy campaign was initiated in 1989. At a
discussion in Delhi, where the UNESCO director
general and many important people from the
Government of India were present, it was argued that
it is not possible to mount a campaign for literacy
in India. This is because, elsewhere where there was
such a campaign—Cuba, China , Tanzania, Burma or
Russia—there had also been a major social upheaval.
So a literacy campaign could only succeed either
with or after a social revolution, but not before
it. Since there was no semblance of any revolution
in India, such campaigns could not succeed. Our own
experience has been that on the basis of science we
have been able to mobilize people for campaigns,
ranging from the silent valley movement to lectures
on astronomy. In fact, in 1987 we mobilized tens of
thousands of people for a major science campaign,
the Jan Vigyan Jatha. So we argued that it is not
necessary for literacy to follow social revolution.
Rather, literacy could accelerate social revolution.
They said there was no precedence for that. I said
that anything which is first cannot have precedence.
So, let us try it first.
However the
initial trial should be in a place where it is
easiest to achieve success, viz. Kerala. This is
because in Kerala, the literacy level was higher
than in other places. In addition, the KSSP was a
very large organization with 40,000 members and
units everywhere. It had a lot of credibility, and
the Ernakulam district collector at that time was a
former vice president of the KSSP. He said that he
would be game to such an experiment which would help
make Ernakulam 100% literate. So, we joined forces
and the government of India gave about Rs. 1 crore.
We then had to mobilize about 15,000 volunteers to
educate approximately 170,000 people. These
volunteers conducted saturation propaganda through
face to face discussions, multimedia and street
theater. They visited every household. Ultimately
160,000 people enrolled, and of these, 130,000
became literate. This meant that they could read and
understand around 35 words per minute, write 7 or 8
words per minute without mistakes, and perform
numerical calculations with two digit numbers.
Beyond this, we took each of them on 3-4 visits to
the police station, post office, bus stand,
collector's office etc. Most of the villagers were
afraid to go to these places. So this exercise
helped to increase their confidence level, and
reduce their fear of the bureaucracy.
This
achievement in Ernakulam caught the imagination of
people all over the country. Similar campaigns were
started in Pondicherry (Tamil Nadu), Bijapur
(Karnataka), Midnapore (West Bengal), and Durg
(Madhya Pradesh). The following year, it spread
nationwide.
However, the
term 100% literacy is used figuratively. In reality,
nothing is 100% - about 70-80% of people may be
functionally literate, while the other 20% may be
marginally literate. So anything above 90% should be
known as total literacy and not 100% literacy. But
even that term is a misnomer when expanded to the
rest of India, and should instead be referred to as
a mass literacy campaign.
Nevertheless,
total literacy became a fashion and about 400
districts in India took it up. Every collector and
minister took it up as a prestige issue. The result
is that about 120 million people participated in the
literacy campaign. Of these, about 20% became
totally literate, while the rest could only sign
their name. But even this was a massive process
which required a volunteer force of more than 10
million. Each volunteer committed about 400 hours
per year. During the process, the outlook of the
volunteers changed by discussing with and learning
from groups of people who had enrolled in the
campaign. Many of the learners were more
knowledgeable than the volunteers. The volunteers
knew only the alphabet. So, an interesting
relationship started. As a result, the demand for
primary education shot up since these people wanted
their children to be literate. Initially there was
extreme cynicism, and to break that we needed plenty
of optimism.
This achievement may not be called literacy per se.
Rather it could be referred to as an increased level
of awareness because of the increased demand for
education and active involvement. For instance,
movements like the Nellore anti arrack and the
quarry workers' women's movement developed as a
result of this campaign
* * * * *
Fourth World Essays
Afro-America
& The Fourth World
The
Black Middle Class & a Political Party of the Poor (essay)
Dark
Child of the Fourth World
The
Fourth World and the Marxists
The
Fourth World: In the Belly of the Beast
New
Orleans: The American Nightmare
On
the Fourth World: Black Power, Black Panthers,
and White Allies
Why I Support
the Latino Demonstrators
Other Fourth World Essays
African
America –
A Fourth World (Waldron H. Giles)
Dark Child of the Fourth World Reaches Out
(Dennis Leroy Moore)
Fourth World Introduction (M.P. Parameswaran)
Fourth
World: Marxist, Gandhian, Environmentalist
(M.P. Parameswaran)
The Fourth World Multiculturalism (Rose Ure Mezu)
Fourth World Programme
M.P. Parameswaran)
Neo-Liberalism Dictatorship of the Market
M.P. Parameswaran)
The Rise and Fall of the Socialist World
M.P. Parameswaran)
* * *
* *
* * * * *
|
The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
 |
*
* * * *
 |
Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
|
* * * * *
The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
* *
* * *
Ancient African Nations
* * * * *
If you like this page consider making a donation
* * * * *
Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
* * * * *
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
* *
* * *
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
* * * * *
* *
* * *
posted 26 November 2011
|
