Musings: An account of the Delhi protests of December 23

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Read and weep!
http://kafila.org/2012/12/26/an-i-witness-account-of-delhi-police-and-raf-violence-at-india-gate-on-23-12-2012-guest-post-by-sangeeta-das/

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CIP · 640 weeks ago

Clearly some in power feel deeply threatened by this kind of protest. I don't understand the basic issue at all, but I would guess it is linked to cultural change that is threatening to important institutions. Care to offer any interpretations for those on the cultural outside?

Perhaps analogous to the furor over gay rights in the US?

1 reply · active 640 weeks ago

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Arun · 640 weeks ago

The crime situation over swathes of India is bad. In particular sexual harassment and rape of women has been an issue in the nation's capital. The police behave like sexist pigs themselves towards the women who bother to fille complaints, the usual mentality is "were you sure you weren't asking for it?". The police leadership seems more interested in VIP security than in the average citizens' problems. There was a particularly brutal rape some days ago, which has triggered huge spontaneous protests about the dysfunction of the system and its lack of respect for women. Instead of trying to understand people's concerns, why they are totally fed up, the politicians first tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, and then issued the usual platitudes. While there are no easy fixes to a system slowly let slip into decrepitude, and die-hard sexist attitudes, nonetheless, the leadership should try to lead. Instead they have the police baton-charging, water canoning and tear gassing peaceful protesters. In the piece linked to, the witness says the cops were calling the women they beat, "whores" and such.