CHENNAI: The Anna Centenary Library was witness to many ‘firsts’ of the dynamic youth movement that is Young People for Politics. It was the first time such a nonpartisan, grassroots organisation could make its way to the library to host a conference on politics and youth participation. For many of its members and volunteers, this was the first time at the library itself. For many more, it was their first foray into the duties of hosting and organising such an event. For almost everyone, it was their first time interacting with a minister, that too on aspects of governance and politics itself.
It was the first time YPP rolled out its awards to acknowledge and augment the work of young, emerging leaders in several areas of community work and education. For many of the awardees, it was the first such recognition for their labour. All this is in keeping with one of the central themes of the organisation — consistently encouraging young leadership, especially of people from vulnerable backgrounds.Radhika Ganesh, YPP’s founder, couldn’t be more proud. “The entire cohort of Young People for Politics is a very diverse community of people. There were so many important ‘firsts’ happening (for us) yesterday and we are very proud of having created that,” she shares.
Of debates and discourse
The evening opened with a spirited discussion on the state of youth politics in Tamil Nadu, in the presence of an interesting array of panellists — Mano Thangaraj, Minister for Information Technology of Tamil Nadu, Narthaki Nataraj, Bharathanatyam dancer and member of TN State Development Policy Council, Suresh Sambandam, founder and CEO of Kissflow, Oliver Ballhatchet, British Deputy High Commissioner, Chennai. Even as the minister reminisced about his young years in politics and gradual ascent to the current position of power, he was subjected to questions about the government’s stand on political education and participation — why do we not have room for active student politics like in Kerala? What is the government prepared to do to encourage student body elections in every college and university in the state? What can it do to make it easier for the common man to register their grievance against governance and bureaucracy and see it through till the end? What is the assistance and protection that the government can offer when an average citizen is pitted against the entire system?
While there was only so much the minister could answer, many of whom have had years of experience in community work and grassroots movements, the discussion made apparent the gaps in our present way of political life. The minister himself pointed to the disturbing dearth of young members and leaders in politics. Perhaps, this will be the start of more such conversations with governance and in future, result in more direct action.
New-age journalism
The session aside, the day’s prime time was reserved for the launch of YPP’s homegrown news YouTube channel titled Link, created for and by its members from marginalised backgrounds. With eight members at the helm, the programme has been centred in Delhi to begin with. After a year of training, primarily with documentary filmmaker Anurag Singh and veteran journalist Sushil Kumar, the team has already started doing news on the ground. “All of them are from some kind of vulnerable backgrounds — most of them are Muslims, there’s one Dalit person, many of them are women. The vision is to replicate this in other places (where YPP has a presence).
However, this is a very small venture without funds or institutional backing. Since it happened primarily through independent support and goodwill, the scaling up will be slow. But Tamil Nadu is definitely a place we want to bring this to; we are especially looking at young Dalit people here. Over the next one year, however, we are looking to strengthen the operations in Delhi. Give these young people the platform they need to thrive, create an environment where they feel safe and nurtured to start putting out news as active journalists,” explains Radhika. Given the intergenerational learning process inherent to the organisation, their learning would be augmented by more than just the two designated veterans of the field, she adds.
YPP Champions Awards - 2022
Sumaiya
Emerging Leader in Cultural Reconciliation
What began as an exploration into the intangible heritage of her community in the Islamic town of Kayalpatnam in Thoothukudi, has led Sumaiya into the world of chronicling the non-mainstream. The writer has devoted much of her work to uncovering diversity through food. Someone who believes there is no one mainstream, she wants to pay attention to the multitudes in our identity through her work. “I focus on the politics around food. We think the food we eat is out of choice. But there’s a lot of politics to why Dalits eat what they do and the upper castes have their own food. Everything boils down to caste in India,” she points out.
Instagram: @readingtv
Yuvan
Emerging Leader in Environmental Justice
A writer, naturalist, educator and activist, Yuvan’s years of research and documentation — particularly in the area of coastal biodiversity — has never been without the additional responsibility of educating young minds. It recently resulted in the birth of his dream project, Palluyir Trust for Nature Education and Research. “My core exploration in the work I do is to see if it’s possible for our political and education systems to be centred fundamentally around ecological and human values. And I believe in the energy of young people as key to any such kind of cultural, socio-political reformation,” he shares.
Instagram: @a_naturalists_column
Thilagavathi
Emerging Leader in Upholding Constitutionalism
An advocate and law tutor, Thilagavathi also dons the roles of writer, poet, women’s rights activist and feminist. She has been training students and teachers in government schools and colleges on gender sensitivity, prevention of child sexual abuse and more. Making use of her space within the judiciary, she has been actively working on social justice cases too. “The idea is to plant the ideas of gender and justice in the minds of young people. How we empower the girls and how we educate the boys is important and both have to be done together. For this, we have to work to bring equality in terms of caste, class and much more,” she suggests.
Instagram: @thilo_rebel
Shajan
Emerging Leader in Innovative Use of New Media
An illustration artist and aspiring filmmaker, Shajan relies on the digital medium to express his social justice politics. His art has served to raise awareness about Dalit leaders and call for a deeper understanding of their work. He believes that the medium has great potential in delivering the politics of equality. “This society continues to be in an unequal state in every manner. It is here that we have to question the norm and our art should do the same. In a place of status quo, art can create the disturbance we don’t want to have. Art for the sake of art is only for the privileged. Art should always be for the people,” he offers.
Instagram: @shajan_kafka
Alagu Jegan
Emerging Leader in Gender Justice
This Madurai-born queer activist and writer set out to form the non-profit Aniyam and begin much needed service through its helpline Sevigal to make life easier for LGBTQIA+ folk. His work began with the bare-bones publication of Paalmanam, a Tamil e-magazine that offered real stories of queer experiences. A compilation of this became the book, Seruppai Thingiren. And there’s much more that he would like to do. “The final step is welfare. We want to set up temporary shelter homes for LGBTQIA+ people in need. With this we can prevent suicide in our population and also provide welfare. Meanwhile, we are creating the literature for us too,” he details.
Instagram: @alagujegan
Arjun & Rishi
Emerging Leaders in Anti-caste Politics
These two digital creators gave voice for their anti-caste politics through their YouTube channel, Therukootam. Their ideas and understanding of Ambedkarite, Periyarist and Marxist ideologies and their take on present issues of import make it to 26,000 subscribers and counting. “Even today, there are many problems based on caste — from caste-based killing to student harassment. We should be treated as equal humans and respected for who we are. After being denied education for so long, we don’t want it to affect Dalit students in schools and colleges still,” says Arjun.
Instagram: @anbudan_arjun_ & @ivan_rishi