~ Caste in cinema and music: the Kerala experience ~ A S Ajith Kumar talks to Dalit Camera Dalit Camera: Through Un-Touchable Eyes This is the first part of an interview with A S Ajith Kumar, writer, musician and filmmaker based in Trivandrum. The interview was conducted by Radhika Pai and Gopika Nangia after the …
When a greeting becomes resistance
Azaan Javaid The special category status given to political prisoners of Ireland was under tight scrutiny, all set to be completely abolished. In the 1970s inside the cells of Her Majesty’s Prison Maze, also known as the Long Kesh, a strict regime of silence was imposed on the prisoners. This was the fallout of …
Kalekuri Prasad, the fluttering flag of defiance
Karthik Navayan I was Shambhuka in the Treta Yuga Twenty two years ago, my name was Kanchikacherla Kotesu My place of birth is Kilvenmani, Karamchedu, Neerukonda Now Chunduru is the name that cold-blooded feudal brutality Has tattooed on my heart with ploughshares From now on, Chunduru is not a noun but a pronoun …
Gaddar, Universal Poet-Singer-Performer Of Our Times
Kalekuri Prasad (Foreword to Dr. P. Kesava Kumar‘s forthcoming book Gaddar: Mahakavi of Our Times, written by Kalekuri Prasad) Gaddar with the author Kalekuri Prasad ( poet, writer, critic and activist who passed away recently) At last an effort to assess the great poet-singer of our times, Gaddar, is being made. It is not …
We need to come together and build political spaces for Dalit women: Asha Kowtal
In the second and concluding part of the interview with Asha Kowtal, conducted during the National Dalit and Adivasi Women’s Congress held at TISS, Mumbai, on Feb 15-16, 2013, she mulls over the dynamics of the atrocities in Dharmapuri, Maharashtra, Haryana and the pervasive impunity documented all across the country with respect to caste …
Lal Singh Dil, the lonely revolutionary
Gurinder Azad Lal Singh Dil, a Dalit and a poet of renown in Punjab, was called ‘Dil’ by his friends and admirers. He was a man of many parts: poet, writer, struggler, a wandering gypsy, but always a loner. In the course of his Dalit-life, he got entangled with the Naxalite movement but disentangled …
Mr. Minister: The Cattle Class Strikes Back
Dr. N. Sukumar This is in response to the OP-ED article (‘Drop the Rhetoric, Start the Debate‘, The Hindu, June 1st 2013) penned by the honorable Minister of State for Human Resource Development, GOI, Mr. Shashi Tharoor. It is interesting that the state minister for HRD found time to join the debate on the …
The State says ‘Achcha rape hua hai, take this money and get lost’: Asha Kowtal
Asha Kowtal has been seeking, organizing and raising the voice of Dalit women across India and the world. As General Secretary of All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) she has been actively working to mobilize Dalits, and Dalit women in particular, across states – from Dabra in Haryana to Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu …
Struggles of the Scheduled Caste Liberation Movement in Tamil Nadu
Struggles of the Scheduled Caste Liberation Movement (SCALM) as the Strengths to be Agents of Dalit History (Transcript of the Speech delivered at the Intellectual Circle for Dalit Actions’ Meet on 28th April, 2013, in Madurai) Anbuselvam 100 years ago Dr. Ambedkar left India on 15th June 1913 for studies at Columbia University, becoming …