[Reader-list] [arkitectindia] Attempt by the Hindu right wing to disrupt the screenings of VIBGYOR film fest

[Anivar Aravind]

Dear Friends,

There was an attempt by the Hindu right wing to disrupt the screenings
yesterday at the VIBGYOR Film Festival (Feb 22 to 25) in Trichur,
Kerala (http://www.vibgyorfilmfest.com ).They have filed a police
complaint against the festival too.


Vibgyor Film Festival organised an Open Forum entitled 'Censorious
State/Civil Society' yesterday, where the issue was discussed atlength
and the declaration attached was endorsed and signed by over a hundred
people. Some supporters of the Hindu right also attended and there was
an animated discussion on Amudhan's film and on what constitutes
'nation' and 'national interest'. The point was made that in a
democratic society we need to discuss our differences, as was being
done at the open forum, rather than trying to ban and stop work that
one disagrees with. Earlier, there was a threat from them that they
would move the court to stop the festival.

We also decided to make 100 copies of Amudhan's Vande Mataram and Shit
and distribute them all over Kerala (and elsewhere) and to organise
screenings. There has been tremendous solidarity from filmmakers and
concerned citizens on this issue.

It will be good if you are arranging the screenings of this films in
various parts of India.

~ Regards
Anivar Aravind

IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND DIVERSITY


 Documentary filmmakers, cultural activists and concerned citizens
protest against
disruption at Vibgyor Film Festival.

On February 23, 2006, supporters of Hinduvta groups shouted slogans
and tried to disrupt the screening of R. P. Amudhan's Vande Mataram: A
Shit Version, a film which questions the heinous practice of
untouchability and manual scavenging. They left quickly after the
audience protested against this undemocratic behavior. They accused
the organizers of screening 'anti-national' films and filed a police
complaint.

Documentary filmmakers, cultural activists and concerned citizens
condemn this undemocratic attempt by a handful of intolerant vested
interests to stifle freedom of expression, using the bogey of national
interest. Vibgyor has emerged as a dynamic space that has been
showcasing a wide range of socially relevant films to large and
enthusiastic audiences of film lovers. Such creative spaces for
dialogue and debate must be protected and supported in the interest of
a responsive and democratic civil society that speaks out against the
injustice and tolerance.

We, the undersigned, condemn this attack and reiterate our right to
freedom of expression and our commitment to diversity and pluralism.

----------------

Are dalits part of (Vande) Mataram- India?

Date:24.02.06
             Thrissur

"The Vande mataram- A shit version" music video using the "Patriotic"
remix album on visuals of manual scavenging (Dalits removing other
people's shit manually) is a conscious attempt to question the pseudo
patriotism of the song and a society which allows such heinous
practices on casteist lines.
Some Hindutva people protested against this video after its screening
at the VIBGYOR festival on 23.2.06, 3 pm at Thrissur Sahitya academy,
Thrissur. As they continue their 'struggle' for preserving national
pride by filing a complaint with thrissur local police and planning to
approach the local court against the festival, some stinking truths
are surfacing…
First and foremost is that – According to them scavenging and the
dalit workers who are doing it are base and a sanctified song like
vandemataram being used to depict them is unacceptable.
Two, that no one has any right to express opinions different from
those of Hindutva forces in any public space or for that matter any
space. If somebody dares to do so their patriotism integrity and
values would be questioned. They will enter closed screenings
uninvited and obstruct the programme and will file false complaints
against them in police stations. And a "pro-active" police force which
takes years to respond to problems of ordinary masses would jump into
action immediately.
If the hindutva forces that obstructed the Film festival and want to
stop it are really interested in expressing their patriotism,
·       First they should denounce in public the anti dalit anti woman
and anti human Manu smriti which propagates varnashrama dharma, the
fountain head of segregating human beings into a caste hierarchy.
·       Stop hate campaign against the minorities and Raise their
voice against communal violence which cripples minorities and poor
people
·       They should protest wherever human beings, always dalits, are
removing human shit manually
·       They should fight in the fray when atrocities are unleashed on
the dalits and adivasis.
Finally, the VIBGYOR festival which gives space to discuss and analyse
various such concerns has to be appreciated. All democratic sections
should extend their support to the festival and also o the larger
struggle of various film makers and activists who are trying to raise
voices against injustices in their own way in a growing atmosphere of
cultural intolerance of fundamental elements.

R.P.Amudhan,
Film maker, Tamil nadu.
amudhanrp at rediffmail.com


--------------------
Anivar Aravind
GAIA
Mob: +91 9895803545


--
The great moral question of the twenty-first century is: If all
knowledge, all culture, all art, all useful information, can be
costlessly given to everyone at the same price that it is given to
anyone
-- if everyone can have everything, everywhere, all the time, why is
it ever moral to exclude anyone from anything?
- Eben Moglen


 
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