Let’s not make revolutionaries of the revolt-ers

I was personally ambivalent of the protests against the ban of jallikattu in the state, but I knew that I would still defend unto death, the right of the people to protest.

I was personally ambivalent of the protests against the ban of jallikattu in the state, but I knew that I would still defend unto death, the right of the people to protest. Though I was upset that the focus was on the sport while we live amid a thousand other pressing issues, I also discerned that any politicisation was good, that taking to the streets would only change people’s purview of the world and the state, and the site of protest would be a site of learning, more so than institutions of education. I was at Marina Beach two nights for short periods, and here are a few observations from the last few days, as seen through a feminist lens:

• On the second day of the protests, thousands of people, including women and families with children, had gathered on the beach. I saw a photograph being carried…it was a screen shot of a message sent by a woman on the beach, explaining how women were safe during the protest and how this would have never been possible in Delhi or Mumbai. That there was no harassment of women at the protest was making news, and we were taking pride in a non-event, while we forgot that everyday women of everyday Chennai were not safe from probing fingers, groping hands, and rubbing bodies in trains, buses, roads and workplaces. Should the pride in not harassing, as a Tamil man, extend itself to daily life till that becomes the normal?

• I’m unable to ascertain if prefixing Avvaiyar and Kannagi with ‘Veera Thamizhachi’ and passing around stories of the valiant Tamil women who chased away tigers with broomsticks would do us any good. Can’t fearlessness and the Tamil identity be separate from the other, especially when we’re in the dark about what being a Tamil woman entails? Can a Tamil woman fall in love outside her caste? That would make her fearless, but would that be Tamil enough?

• At the protest, a little girl held a poster that read, “I will marry the man who tames a bull”. And then a little boy held a poster that said, “I will marry only after I tame a bull”. I’m hoping kids did not come up with this by themselves, and if they hadn’t, is it fair to thrust one’s idea of masculinity and marriage on children? 

• While all groups were not similar in their sloganeering, several made use of derogatory slogans, especially against women. Those at the receiving end included actor Trisha, activist Radha Rajan, and AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala. It was quite a mudslinging earful. The internalised misogyny of women protestors too came out in their choice of words — most insults were in words of womens’ body parts. All the women in question have apologised for what they said (or did not), but will protestors apologise for using bad language?

• Two of my friends, who were on bikes along Marina beach for reasons unrelated to the protest, were addressed as ‘Sister’ by male protestors riding alongside, before being asked to adjust their clothing, be it bra strap or a blouse flying in the air. I will buy the ‘concern’ when Tamil brothers also care about their very ‘Tamil’ dalit sister who was found raped and murdered in Ariyalur district this week, and for every Divya and Swathi there is. Till then, I will be concerned about men emerging as the safekeepers of ‘Tamil Pride’ while women are treated as mute objects of honor.

• Though the protests were non-violent in act, it was violent in its rape and death threats, derogatory sloganeering and shutting down of dissent. On Monday evening, I took a long walk and within a few minutes, I got cat-called and hooted twice by men. 

In the face of unprecedented solidarity and a victory for the issue, we can hope that it will snowball into a revolution for systemic change. But until we kick misogyny out of the movement, we shouldn’t be making revolutionaries of the revolt-ers.