Protesting the Penury

Two incidents of two different sorts, and I was involved, at least remotely with them. I was reminded of the fact that I could be so easily taken for a ride, taken as a gullible! Morning one of the police officers came to our house for the verification for passport, and took home rupees one thousand from two of my friends; he was sure shameless, and more than him we were shameless too to part with such an amount of money, in order to avoid dire consequences, of the passport receipt delay indefinitely, and getting into unnecessary trouble. We wanted to avoid getting into trouble by paying an hefty bribe to the government servant. We had no voice to say no to him, leave alone protest his illegal and illegitimate behavior. I wondered if we are not the ones who create thieves, bandits, criminals and terrorists? We give them asylum in order to save our own skin, and are happy that nothing untoward can happen to us. We build castles in the air, and wish to remain there up in the sky, without any link to the situations we live in.

Through out the day, I was disturbed by the shouting of a group of men and women just outside our office, and I was quite annoyed about it. So after dinner, I had taken a stroll to find out who they were and what they were shouting for. I thought there would be about 10 to 15 men standing around the microphone and shouting slogans, but when I reached the spot, I was surprised to see about 200 men and a few women in front of a government office. Needless to say it was a protest meeting, and the whole day they had been trying to protest something which the management might have imposed on them. It was 8.30 pm, and the men were there to fight for their cause. There were some politically oriented leaders raising their voice each time the audience started to clap. Protest! Often we are frightened of protesting, lest even the little privileges we get should be stopped. And that is what gives the other party courage to continue the exploitation.

I remember someone saying, if you are not with the victim, then you are with the victimizer; if you are not with the exploited, then you are in the company of the exploiters. Unfortunately there is no in-between; you need to take your sides. We would very much like to sit on the fense, so that we are not accused or targeted by either of the groups, but fortunately we have to make a choice. In either way, we are challenged and questioned, if not by the people around, but at least by our conscience. In everything we do, we wish to be secure; we will not desire that the peace and security that we enjoy be ever disturbed. We would not mind even the silence of the cemetery, rather than the vibrant noise of protest marches. As soon as when a little trouble crops up, we wish to hush things up, and live in relative peace. But today we may ask ourselves what is real peace.

Protest basically invites us to take a side, often challenging us to take the side of the victims. It is in fact, the acid test for our conscience and impartiality. If we truly love justice and peace, then we cannot take the side of the people who are determined to give a decent burial to peace initiatives. Protest also demands something more than what I can normally offer. The consequences of protests are frightening, especially for the people who wish to live a peaceful life. If you are going to protest against injustice caused not only to you, but to others as well, then you are in for trouble. I remember a time many years ago, when walking along fruit stalls in Chennai, I passed by a foreigner buying fruits, and the shopkeeper demanding about rupees one hundred and fifty instead of rupees thirty five. Since the foreigner did not know the local language, he was about to give the amount. I happened to see the scene, and told the foreigner in English that he needed to give only rupees thirty five. The shopkeeper was furious; he began to curse me, telling me what it mattered to me! I walked away quickly from the spot.

I look at the different incidents that had taken place today, and the many people I had come in contact with; surely there will be several instances when I had kept quiet not to disturb the peace around, either in the family or in the office. Let me recall to mind, just one moment when I needed to have protested, but had kept quiet. Maybe I was too frightened of the consequences; but today let me become aware of such moments, so that even if I have to keep myself quiet when blatant violation to justice is done, I may be aware that that is not what I have to do; not merely for the sake of my own welfare, but more for the welfare of humanity. All great men and women of yesteryears had raised their voice against injustice and had paid a huge price. Am I prepared at least to become conscious of my inability to protest?