As urban India's modern crusaders have discovered, passion is good, but being proactive and creative is even better. Blow out the candles for that vigil and say hello to imaginative agitations that include goats, zero denomination currency, non-violent mobs and action for legislation -- for a wide spectrum of causes
As urban India's modern crusaders have discovered, passion is good, but being proactive and creative is even better. Blow out the candles for that vigil and say hello to imaginative agitations that include goats, zero denomination currency, non-violent mobs and action for legislation -- for a wide spectrum of causes
ON the phone, Aisha Zakira sounds like an articulate young woman with a mind of her own. When we meet the next morning outside a bookstore at Kemps Corner, she is still all those things. But she is also an accommodating girl willing to go the extra mile for our photographer, as she agrees to repeatedly walk across busy pedestrian crossings, dodging traffic as furious cars honk their lungs off in the humidity-heavy June afternoon. 
an international movement that seeks to fight the issue of street harassment
that women face on a daily basis by encouraging them to document
their experiences and using theu00a0 information to push for relevant legislation
to end the problem. Next on the agenda, Zakira says, is to create a
go-to number that women can SMS the moment they are molested or
harassed on the street, which will then be mapped in real-time.
"Imagine going to a legislator with a technology that shows you how
many women are being harassed and where at that very moment. Plus,
mobile penetration is much higher than Internet penetration in India,
which is why such a system will work well," she explains. As the website
puts it, "By collecting women and LGBTQ folks' stories and pictures in a
safe and share-able way with our very own mobile phone applications,
Hollaback! is creating a crowd-sourced initiative to end street harassment."
Pic/ Shadab Khan
The affability is surprising and welcome in a person who is passionate about an aggressive cause like Hollaback!
An international movement to end street harassment against women, Hollaback! launched its Mumbai chapter in January this year, headed by 23 year-old Zakira. "I read an article online, and was tempted to visit the site (https://www.ihollaback.org/). I was thrilled that there were people out there who were doing something about street harassment. I emailed executive director, Emily May, and we took it from there," is this freelance writer's simple explanation for getting involved.
Today, Hollaback! focuses on documenting women's experiences of street harassment. "Calling it eve teasing trivialises the issue," Zakira says, ultimately hoping to use the documentation the campaign throws up to kick off changes on the ground, from better street lighting and effective patrolling to implementing legislation.
Zakira is not the only one looking for creative solutions to protest against a grave problem.
Modern urban India is gradually moving from banner touting morchas and candlelight vigils to imaginative methods of agitation, whether to grab eyeballs or approach a topic in a fresh manner.
Turn the cause on its head
For IT professional-turned-anti-corruption-crusader Vijay Anand, the idea of having to pay a bribe to get a simple job done pinched him enough to decide to launch a charity organisation called 5th Pillar. Not satisfied with just that, the Chennai resident gave up his IT job and life in the US to return to India in 2008 to banish the bribe, full time. 5th Pillar does this by printing and circulating Rs 0 notes, that citizens can hand over to bribe seekers in an attempt to shame them. 
5th Pillar. Instead of the text, 'I promise to pay the bearer a sum or Rs.. ',
this note says, 'I promise to neither accept nor give bribe.' Pic/ Rathy Sam
"5th Pillar was founded and registered in Washington in 2006," Anand recalls over the phone, in between flights to attend meetings to discuss his organisation's anti-corruption campaigns. "But the Rs 0 was conceived and designed in 2001 by Dr Mohan Bhagat, a professor at the University of Maryland. We started distributing them in the US within the Indian community, asking people to hand it over to others. They came back with success stories of how the magic of the note worked. We knew we had to take it to India."
In 2007, 25,000 of these notes, resembling the Rs 50 currency note and bearing a photo of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, were printed and circulated throughout Tamil Nadu. Today, at 5th Pillar's Kodambakkam office in Chennai, 15 lakh notes are printed in five languages. It costs 60 paise to make a thick quality card stock with glossy print, and 35 paise to make a paper note.
"Instead of the text 'I promise to pay the bearer a sum or Rs.. ', this note says 'I promise to neither accept nor give bribe'," explains Anand. That's all it takes. "There is an immediate change in the body language and mindset of the person concerned. That one line of information gets the job done."
It's easy to see why. Slightly larger than the Rs 1,000 note, and bearing a request not to fold it ("so that people can read the line"), it's a powerful tool that turns the act of unlawful, undeserved money greasing palms on its very head.
Push the envelope, take a risk
"We had goats on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link! We were arrested, but that didn't stop us. We needed to send out a strong message," is Vivek Pandit's rationale for involving 3,000 farmers and adivasis on a protest march from Vasai to Vidhan Bhavan at Nariman Point to protest their inclusion in the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation in April this year. 
Sea Link against their forceful inclusion in the Vasai-Virar Municipal
Corporation, on April 17 this year. The sight of goats ambling on the
Sea Link is just one of the strategies Pandit believes was necessary to
embarrass the opponent. And it seems to have worked. Some arrests
later, the CM finally made an announcementu00a0-- 29 of 35 villages would
be excluded from the contentious Municipal Corporation.
Pandit, a tribal rights activist and independent MLA from Vasai, led the 100 km agitation to demand that 35 villages be excluded from the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation, complete with bullock carts, tongas, and protesters dressed in traditional attire.
"When you are fighting for a larger cause, the people affected by the issue must be involved," he explains, "Your cause may be just, but truth needs to be supported by strength and numbers."
Meticulous planning and execution, therefore, is of prime importance. "If things go haywire, you will be unable to justify your cause, your agitation. Also, in our case, we were agitating against the government, an entity that has legitimate power and authority. So, strategy was crucial."
In his case, strategy meant carrying out multiple protests to bolster their stand, and never repeating the mode of protest. "If the same agitation is repeated, the enemy will know what to expect and become familiar with the way we operate. A surprise element is necessary so that the enemy is not educated in our ways."
The April march was an extension of a protest that began in October last year, when during a morcha from Vasai for the same cause, Maharashtra Chief Minister (CM) Prithviraj Chavan announced that a decision would be taken within a month, requesting them to stay their agitation. "Thereafter, we waited for four months during which I also raised the issue in the Assembly. When no decision was taken even after giving the CM a notice in front of the speaker of the house on April 8, we resumed the march, this time for four days," Pandit elaborates.
But food, water and adrenaline alone aren't enough to keep the mojo going, he says. "Participants should enjoy the agitation, they need to sing and dance. The protest itself should be well-decorated, and visually pleasing. We carried a tableau of old Vasai, and people came dressed in attire to match their faith. Since cattle too were affected by the decision, we took along tongas, bullock carts, horses and goats."
The sight of goats ambling on the Sea Link is just one of the strategies Pandit believes was necessary to embarrass the opponent. And it seems to have worked. Some arrests later, the CM finally made an announcement -- 29 of 35 villages would be excluded from the contentious Municipal Corporation.
Mission: You
The idea is also to take the protest beyond the realm of simple agitation, into education and information. To that end, both, 5th Pillar and Hollaback! see college and school students as a target group rich with potential for an attitude shift.
"We want to reach out to young men and women by organising talks and workshops," says Zakira. Hollaback! Mumbai is in the process of collaborating with institutions in the city to facilitate these interactions that are slated for August. The idea, she says, is to sensitise both, men and women to the fact that street harassment and molestation is a serious issue. "The sad bit is that most people, women included, tend to think it's something to be dealt with, rather than fought. That's unacceptable."
Anand, meanwhile, has already set the ball rolling with 5th Pillar's campaigns across schools and colleges, the latest of which was a two-day summit called Freedom From Corruption, conducted in Delhi on April 27 and 28.
"We had a 90-minute talk with students, during which we tried to make them realise how deeply the malaise of corruption is ingrained in our system."
The idea, he says, is to bring home to India's young that words like freedom, rights and duty are abused. "It is up to them whether they want to stem the poison or let it spread. So, we also talk to them about weapons they can use in this battle against corruption -- the Right To Information Act (RTI) and the Rs 0 note."
The kids are often encouraged to debate the idea of nationalism. "For example, how can you celebrate Independence Day if you give a bribe?" Anand offers. 5th Pillar also conducts RTI training in offices and at outdoor locations. "We teach people about the RTI Act, how it can be used, and even help them file a query if need be."
And it's paying off. Even though the movement only came to Mumbai this year, Zakira says her inbox is regularly flooded with queries from interested people who want to volunteer with Hollaback! or those who want to know more. And the blog, a nascent entry into the initiative, sees new posts every week.
Invite questions
Every so often at a crowded Metro station in Delhi, a group of people dressed in yellow T-shirts that sport the red and blue Metro station logo with the line 'Please Mend the Gap' and slogans like 'Main cheez nahi hoon mast mast' alight from the underground train, line up parallel to the platform, while curious onlookers stare and finally approach them with questions. These Delhiites are part of Please Mend The Gap (PMTG), a volunteer-led initiative to promote gender equality in public spaces.
gender equality in public spaces, during a flash mob at a Metro station
in Delhi
"PMTG started out as a reaction to an incident where someone I knew was molested during peak hour in the Metro. The name is intended as a quirky take on 'Please Mind the Gap,' a warning issued at almost every Metro stop and familiar among travellers abroad too. We had had enough of minding the gap. It was now time to mend it," says Rosalyn D'mello, co-founder of the movement.
"I was agitated. I wrote a note on Facebook that got widely circulated. I then called for a public meeting and things just took off from there," says the Delhi-based freelance writer. Today, flash mobs, as they are called, are PMTG's primary method of intervention to make a statement, albeit in a subversive manner. Here, people assemble in a seemingly unplanned manner, with a specific agenda.
"We don't act like we are all together. Everybody is doing their own thing, whether talking on the phone or reading a book. Finally, people get interested enough to approach us with questions, which is when we educate them about how we are agitating for equality in public spaces. Curious men usually approach the men, while women come up to us and share their experiences," explains D'mello.
Next up is an online signature campaign for a petition to the Delhi Metro board, which details a list of PMTG's demands. "We are also working on a pamphlet in collaboration with Jagori (a women's training, documentation, communication and resource centre to carry feminist consciousness to a wider audience using creative media), a fold-out pamphlet that we hope to print 10,000 copies of, to distribute among women and men, educating them about what constitutes sexual harassment, how to file an FIR, etc. The pamphlet is graphic. Even the uneducated can comprehend the message. It will carry helpline numbers, not only of the police and women's cells but also for women-only cabs services and the like."
'Today's protests point to a renewed, high point of nationalism'
Dr Jyoti Atwal, Assistant Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, tells us how modern Indian protests are, essentially, a reflection of the nationalistic demonstrations of the past
Today, protests and demonstrations are aided by technology and social networking. The involvement of the upper middle class is also greater. It's no longer just the lower economic class that suffers and spills out on to the streets -- most issues affect a larger demographic, and that leads to more participants.
Essentially though, the nature of protests and agitations today, no matter how unique, borrow greatly from the Satyagraha and non-violent methods of protest that Mahatma Gandhi advocated, with great success.
Take the example of Anna Hazare. It was the media attention that drew people by the hordes to this one man's fast for the end of corruption, but it was his method -- one favoured by Gandhians -- that set the ball rolling. A fast is supposed to represent the purity of the cause, and that is what brought us, as a nation, closest to the highest point of nationalism, when we all supported what he was doing.
During the Independence struggle, the evil was external -- the colonial powers that ruled us. Today, most evils that people protest against are internal -- whether it is corruption or gender inequality. Historically speaking, this is a natural process, in which after a period of revolution, comes a period of looking within to cleanse. That is what we are doing today, and it is a second type of nationalism.
In all nations, methods of protest borrow from their past and their context. That is why, if you see, we haven't had and will not have an all-out revolution like Egypt and Libya. That's because of the democracy we are. We don't have an autocratic government; our system allows for dissent and forms of self-expression, which is why fasts, demonstrations and vigils are so popular. The tools may have changed because of available technology, but the methodology hasn't.
The media too has played a role in modern India's demonstrations. In fact, I would call television a protest movement in itself.
Finally, today, we are in an auto-correction phase as far as fighting evils goes. Most enemies today are within, and all our struggles against them are taking the shape of negotiation (take the Lokpal Bill, for example), which itself is a technique borrowed from Gandhi's struggle for Independence.
To support 5th Pillar and download the Rs 0 note, log on to https://www.india.5thpillar.org/
To support Hollaback! Mumbai, log on to https://www.mumbai.ihollaback.org/
To support Please Mend the Gap,u00a0 log on to https://www.facebook.com/mobileprotection#!/MendNow
ADVERTISEMENT
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
