CHENNAI: Neelam Social, an online channel run by director Pa Ranjith, is set to host a global virtual concert titled Radical Rhythms on August 10. According to reports, Dalit artists across the globe will perform songs against caste-based oppression.
Dalit artists will host the concert to raise awareness and demand that big tech companies like Google actively protect their caste-oppressed workers by making them a protected category in all the countries in which they do business.
Radical Rhythms is organised by Equality Labs, a Dalit civil rights organisation in the US, in partnership with Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), Ambedkar Association of North America and Neelam Social, said Greeshma Kuthar, an organiser at Neelam Foundation.
“This is a historic moment as we host internationally recognised Dalit artists and speakers to show that the impact of Google’s unwillingness to address caste in its workplaces and products is a global workers’ and human rights issue,” Alphabet Workers Union said in a statement on Monday.
Sumeet Samos, an Indian anti-caste scholar and a rap artist said, “This event holds great significance in bringing attention to caste in a global context which has been time and again thwarted by dominant caste Hindu groups and bureaucracy.”
The lineup for the show includes Chennai-based gaana singer Isaivani, Seyilrani and Lalitha; oppari artists from Gangai Konda Cholapuram; Sumeet Samos, writer and anti-caste rapper from Odisha (currently at Oxford); rapper Mahi from Maharashtra; and Abisha, filmmaker and rapper from Chennai.
Director Pa Ranjith said, “It is crucial time to realise that caste is practised outside India, or rather wherever Indians go caste goes with them. And it is a moral commitment for Dalits and people in the progressive movement to call out caste outside India. Neelam is more than proud and morally compelled to collaborate with the organisers at the US.”
(with inputs from PTI)