Dalit History Month 2020 — Lessons for a Time of Turmoil
Dear friends,
This year’s #DalitHistoryMonth comes at a difficult time for all of us. We are currently in a time of the growing COVID19 pandemic and amidst a terrible lockdown. Many of our community members are on the streets even as we write, exposed to not only the virus but suffering from a loss of work, desperately battling hunger and exhaustion as they make arduous treks to their native places.
The tragedy of the lockdown is also on the heels of months of resistance as our Muslim kin have led the remarkable fight against the nationwide NRC, CAA and NPR since last December in 2019. Even in February, when this state’s main priority should have been preparing for a global pandemic that could affect us in hundreds of millions, Hindu fascist elements were fussing over foreign leaders and carrying out a pogrom against Muslims in Northeast Delhi.
Those of us who are not fighting such dire circumstances of hunger and migration, losing loved ones to violence or having to rebuild our homes and communities are all in isolation during this lockdown. Many of us separated from our loved ones, facing a very uncertain future. Some of us are stuck at home with abusive family members and relations and are mounting emotional battles for survival every day. All of us are fearful and anxious about our loved ones.
It is a time of tiny and large tragedies where it easy to lose the compass to chart the way forward in such uncertain and volatile times.
Against this backdrop, we at the Dalit History Month team hope to use this year’s posts as a way to remember the resilience and the ancestral strength of our history. While we will not be holding celebrations and events given the gravity of this moment, we will continue digital curation to hold up beacons of the past and remind of us our peoples’ incredible reservoir of strength, dignity, and power under the most violent of odds.
These stories are lessons for all of us amid these tumultuous times. After all, we must not forget that we have suffered much longer under Brahminical domination. These stories remind us that resistance and resilience are in our blood and we have no other choice but to continue to fight in these challenging times.
As we hold fast together and with each other in these dark, dark times, we know that we will, in fact, see the light again. We ask everyone to stay as safe as possible during this time and carry out the recommendations for self-quarantine, washing hands and other precautions. We request this especially of those who are involved in relief work for Bahujan masses of migrant workers abandoned by the state.
We remember at this time that this is not the only epidemic we have all gone through. Savitribai Phule worked with those affected by the plague in her time. In her honour, artist Nabigal Nayagam Haider-Ali has made an image of her carrying Pandurang Babaji Gaikwad, a 10-year-old boy, on her back all the way from Mundhwa to her son’s clinic at Sasane Male.
In the spirit of all the ancestors who have come before us, and for all the new revolutionaries we will birth with our steadfast commitment to justice, love and equity we open these year’s Dalit History Month. Please join us, remember our power, and stay safe as we envision the future we want beyond this pandemic.
Stay safe and #JaiBhim and #JaiSavitri.
