From: salam.khan <salam.khan@crymail.org>
Date: Aug 28, 2007 12:26 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: [People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR)] folk school
To: "DR.Lenin" <pvchr.india@gmail.com>, Sudipta Kumar Badapanda <Sudipta.K@actionaid.org>, Ila Hukku < ila.hukku@crymail.org>, "ICDR@yahoo.com ICDR" <icdr_dalitrights@yahoo.com>, bondana dutta < bondana.dutta@crymail.org>, Babu Mathew <babum@actionaidindia.org>, Babu Mathews <babu.mathew@actionaid.org>, Deba < patra.debabrata@gmail.com>, rajan@pwtn.org, Henri <henri@pwtn.org>, Gnana Prakasam < gnana@pwtn.org>, Bibhu Mohapatra <bibhumohapatra@gmail.com>, Ramon Magsaysay <rmaf@rmaf.org.ph>, John CLANCEY < johnclancey@hotsewai.com.hk>, Basil <basilfwp@ahrchk.org>, sooakim@ahrchk.org, Bruce Van Voorhis < brucevv@ahrchk.org>, Shailesh Palekar <spalekar@upi.com>
MUSHARS FOLK SCHOOL IN BELWA VILLAGE .
Essentially, the folk school approach is to improve equality in a society by improving the speech capacity of the poorer and the weaker section of the society. Improving their capacity to talk back and thereby creating a two-way discourse in the society is the way the concerns of the weak are brought to social discourse. The more silent the poor and the weak are, the less they will get from society.
Matters of justice depend very much on the capacity of concerned people to un-censor themselves and to speak out constantly. Normally there are many unwritten rules through which people censor themselves. For example, some topics may be considered taboo in some societies or sub sections of societies. For example, as an effect of feudal culture it is often observed that families of hunger victims hesitate and have subjective reservation to express themselves in respect of their acute poverty and hunger situations to which they have been going through. For example it may be an unwritten rule that some "lower class people" do not talk back to "higher class people". It may also be that some unwritten rules of censorship are enforced by punishments. For example some groups of people, if they talk about themselves and the wrongs that they bear they will be punished either physically or by other means. In all these instances the capacity to un- censor is an essential component of seeking justice. When a small group of people begins to un- censor themselves others watch and soon begin to un-censor themselves as well. In this manner taboos invariably dissolve. The initial stages of un-censoring require:
1. Location from which you can break the rules of censorship while assuring protection for yourself.
2. The will to break such rules of censorship.
3. Creating an audience for you, which may at the beginning, is small.
4. Keeping at it day in and day out until taboos slowly begin to dissolve.
Accumulate information and protect documentation. This is a very important area of trying to create a discourse on justice and human rights issues related to caste discrimination.
ALRC, a sister concern of Asian Human Rights Commission(AHRC) and People's Vigilance committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) organized a folk school for Musahars at Belwa village of Varanasi,India for three months.
In Belwa village Mushars ghetto till now only 8 malnourished children are identified and they have lost their lives against death. Till now they didn't see any thing in there life and fall in the hand of the death.
Mushars always kept away from the Government scheme because with the help of Government scheme their economic standard will improve and they will became self- independent and get release from the slavery of feudal landlord.
Under the planned politics they are kept untouchable for many years and called them as dalits of the village. Thousand of years Belwa Mushars are practicing the slavery system they will take some time to get rid of it.
Now this family engages with the elegance in folk school education. They are daily wages worker from 12 to 1 pm they come home to take lunch they directly come to folk school. Those who did not find work get ready earlier and sit on the platform.
Women's also leave their work of making plate with leaves, women's take 1 hour more to learn and they are learning faster. Imitating elder, children also start going to PVCHR School, according to their own knowledge they are guiding their parent.
Folk school start every day with pledge, every people repeats pledge. E very people of folk school sign on the pledge. Their teacher is Sri Virendra Singh, Sri Lottu Prasad and Sri Subedar Prasad.
On 8/8/07 NDTV do recording of folk school to broadcast. In folk school conversation asked that in this age you people are getting education how you are feeling about it? Then Kismatti Mushar said that since my childhood I did not get the chance to go school, now we get the chance to learn and know about our law, right, we can also educate our child and not be further depend on any body for any information. If any paper come from Government is not of our use then we will return it.
Gahara Mushar said that in my childhood once time I went to school, one same day I hit a Singh boy on his head and from that date I never went to school, there is also a feeling of castesim, but now I get the chance and to be self- independent. I want that now our life should be away from the danger of leave plucking, this work is very dangerous. Now I am bored with this work if we find any new work we are ready to do it.
Raj Kumar Mushar said that we are facing caste discrimination, now we are reading then we will know about our right. Now I can read and write.
On every Sunday they will gather and get knowledge about laws like-- Bonded Labour, Sc and St, Child Marriage, women's right, Sexual harassment, so they can us this act for their own protection, in between they informed about dalit revolutionary like รข€"Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule, Savitri Ba Phule, Kabir, Raidas, Gautam Buddha etc. These pretend to seem that Mushars are very much optimistic about their study and want to know about every laws and rights. Now they start thinking about their future generation. First time all male and female of Mushars ghetto look in full confidence.
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Posted By PVCHR to People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) on 8/27/2007 07:49:00 AM
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