Ambedkar King Study Circle
Mass violence and ideology of violence against the Dalits can be stopped only by mobilizing the progressive, democratic and secular forces, irrespective of caste identity, to challenge such violences.
Ambedkar King Study Circle (AKSC) and San Jose Peace and Justice Center joined hands to screen the documentary ‘Ramiahvin Kudisai’ (The Hut of Ramiah) on 16th Dec 2018 to revive the memory of middle class, which suffers from a selective amnesia of forgetting the struggle of working class people, as Mr. Ajinkya, AKSC Member, observed. In his welcome address, he spoke on how the oppressive forces employ their tactics to suppress the struggle of the working class. He also stressed the need to understand that land ownership, labor wages, class and caste issues are interlinked and the theory and practical basis of the struggle should evolve as per the current conditions of oppressed people.
‘Ramiahvin Kudisai’ (The Hut of Ramiah), a documentary directed by Bharathi Krishnakumar, released in 2006, is based on this gruesome incident. It documents the series of events which led to the massacre of 42 (or 44 as per the documentary) people and the aftermath of the incident.
The movie documents the survivors’ and their relatives’ accounts about the massacre, which is one of the worst brutalities unleashed by the landowners on the innocent farm laborers, all of them were Dalits, to destroy their struggle for a ½ measure of wage increase of paddy. Even though the struggle looks like a class struggle, there is underlying casteism which triggered the landowners to unleash the brutality on the oppressed caste laborers. It was the assertive Dalits who had entered the privileged caste landowner’s home to free their abducted village Head and Panchayat Head. They had actually offended the landowner who had the support of Police, as the farm laborers belonged to oppressed caste.
The event was well attended by around 45 people with the family and kids to watch the documentary and participate in a healthy discussion. Ms. Shanthi Kathiresan, Executive Member, AKSC, had delivered the vote of thanks and stated that the screening actually showed the struggle of the oppressed, that fight is not just for wages, it’s for dignity of life.
After the screening, the attendees registered their opinion which was recorded to further discussion on oppression of working class.
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[Via Karthikeyan Shanmugam]
