Topic started by ranga_dalit (@ toronto-hse-ppp3702223.sympatico.ca) on Sun Jul 13 22:46:46 .
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Taken from Economic and Political Weekly
Isuue Dated Aug 19-25 2000.
Dalits and Dravidian Ideology
The letter of Venkatesh Chakravarthy (July 22) contradicting an earlier letter by S Subramanyan revealed the fascistic inner nature of the dravidian ideology. There is a chilling sentence, “Periar’s sane view prevailed by not leading to any untoward racial vengeance or ethnic cleansing”. This means that a final solution on the Hitler/Nazi model was on the cards, and would have been carried out but for one man. This only confirms that there is not much difference, among the fascistic ideologies of ‘National Socialism’, ‘dravidian’ and ‘hindutva’.

(1) They all have a hate object usually a tiny identifiable minority: jews, brahmins and Muslims. (2) They all hanker after an imaginary romantic past: Teutonic era, glorious Sangham Tamil period, and classical Hindu raj. (3) They all have a key obsession: race, language and religion. (4) They all wallow in self-pity seeking revenge against: cheating jews, hegemonising brahmins and conquering Muslims. (5) They all make efforts to unify a motley population riven by inherent contradictions: into an aryan race, into a dravidian community and a Hindu nation. (6) They all have a negative perception of what they onsider their own community: non-jews, on-brahmins and non-followers of semitic religions. (7) They all prefer violent methods: gas chambers, cutting tufts and sacred threads, knocking off old mosques. (8) They all put long dead and gone icons to unify their followers: philosopher Nietsche, poet Tiruvalluvar and prince Rama. (9) They all use propaganda and repetition of lies as a key tool: state publicity, cinema and rumours. (10) They all use motivated and distorted racial theories: jewish immigration to spoil purity of aryan race, aryan immigrants to despoil dravidian culture and Muslim invaders to destroy the Hindu nation. (11) They all use words to define themselves which have been used by their hate objects: socialism popularised by Marx, a jewish intellectual, ‘dravidam’ used by Sanskrit linguists to locate south India, and ‘Hindu’ coined by Persian-Arabs to identify the inhabitants of what is now south Asia.

I am a dalit from South Arcot district and we too read history. For us, Dravida Maya is as pernicious as Arya Maya. Our community in Tamil Nadu has not suffered at the hands of German Nazis or hindutva people, but have suffered much from these dravidian parties (DMK, ADMK, MDMK, PMK) who used us to marginalise brahmins, but treat us as dung. The four major castes, nadars (Christian and Hindu), thevars, vanniars and gounders all belong to these dravidian parties and we are oppressed by them. Our struggle continues.

K Shanmuganathan
Annamalainagar

Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Hari (@ adsl-67-64-132-113.dsl.rcsntx.swbell.net) on: Thu Apr 29 14:51:58
  
  I don't know if this forum is still alive, but I would certainly like to post my comments about a couple of items. I grew up privileged in India with both my parents educated and am now living in the US following the traditional ticket that desis have adopted (working in IT). Regarding one of the posts made about who gets to benefit from IT in India (knowledge workers), I would like to mention that this is for the first time that India has been potrayed as a nation on the move, dynamic, well-educated English speaking youth, cheap skilled labor - you all know the terms used.
  
  Now, one of the things is that all jobs are being created primarily in the South (Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai..) which is where the majority of English speaking Indians live. It also should be noted that literacy and social awareness are more prominent there as opposed to states up north. I might add that violence towards "Dalits" is more in northern states and Bihar than the south. Now, while we have finally the resources and are in a position to ensure that the country becomes part of the "developed" world, it is important that we nurture English at the primary level without giving in to sectarian politics as we have been for 50 years. The model for our country is certainly to be more open with more people that can compete globally. I don't see how it can happen if Sanskrit/Hindi is pushed down people's throats..
  
  I have been reading articles by Kancha Illaiah and it seems that a journal devoted to Dalit causes (Dalit Voice) is gaining prominence for the simple reason that it is being published in India. It is obvious then that by learning to write and speak English well in India can open up more avenues than if one has a vernacular medium education. I do not need to mention that most people posting here have had some degree of English education - therefore let us ensure that more and more Indians learn how to communicate well in English. Or else, well we can condemn our one chance to progress while our competitors (China, South East Asia) overtake the significant progress that has been made in the private sector (BPO, IT, Software Development etc.).
  
  It's about time that we realized that by promoting or talking about caste ridden politics, social structures and all that other nonsense that we see everyday, we end up hurting ourselves and cause more grief to OUR OWN people. For crying out loud, we have been colonised for over a THOUSAND YEARS (Do you know of anyone else that has been held on a leash for that long ??!!!!!!???)...
  
  I rest my case..
  
  
• From: madhu (@ 199.67.140.76) on: Thu Apr 29 16:59:00 EDT 2004
  
  Hari,
  
  I agree that three-language formula is not working in India. North Indians refused to learn anything but Hindi. Three language formula is causing undue burden on non-hindi speaking people. The best answer is every one should follow two-language formula, their mother tounge and English. The mother tounge will help to maintain thier history and culture and English will allow to communicate with neighbors as well as across the world. Out of State people are allowed to learn their own mother tounge. Through English, we can create an economic union of United States of India with India, Pakisthan, bangladesh, SriLanka and Nepal.
  
  
• From: Nedunchezhiyan (@ 142.76.1.62) on: Fri Apr 30 12:43:40 EDT 2004
  
  Yes make the 'Mother English' proud and help the Mother Thamizh drought...it doesnt' matter anyway as if (H)India has a classical position for Thamizh!
  
  
• From: Nedunchezhiyan (@ 142.76.1.62) on: Fri Apr 30 12:46:20 EDT 2004
  
  No..learning English isn't the way to help your country! You sound like Thamizhans should speak English all time! The purpose of English as being used as 'International' Language will lead to the path of extinction of Greater languages like Thamizh! If you want to communicate with another community learn their language and they should learn yours..why should you have common? Why not accept the better language? This is what Thamizhans have..They hate Hindi but accept English..
  
  

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