Column

There is an ancient Greek comedy called Lysistrata written in the 5th century by Aristophanes, known for his satires within confronting the stupidities and foibles of society. Tired of the ongoing Peloponnesian War, Lysistrata convinces all the women of Greece to withhold sexual favours to their men till they end the war. A huge fight ensues between the distraught men and their wives. They turn to the sex workers but they too have been won over by Lysistrata and refuse even when double their normal dues are offered. The men are finally forced to give up on the war.

Another story, one known to many of us from, I think the Hitopadesha is of the birds in a forest caught in a hunter's net. Each struggles valiantly by itself but is unable to get free. A wiser bird comes along and suggests that all the birds caught in the net work in unison rather than struggle alone. And load and behold, the birds together take off into the sky with the net, later to be freed with the help of a mouse.

Over the years, many groups have come to me for advice and to help our organisation CRANTI and our response to them has always been, "Will all of you unite for a few days, put aside differences, and work together?" Two years ago, the harassed safai karmacharis of the city came and told us about their light - low wages, contract jobs, awful working conditions, broken tools.

Why don't you get replacement tools so that you don't have to handle rubbish manually, I asked. Because the depot where the broken tools had to be deposited and the new ones collected required an entire day's effort, a day when they would be considered absent, and not be paid. They couldn't afford this.

"How many are you", I asked. 10,000 in the city I was told. Could they imagine their power if they would all lay down their brooms together for better pay and better conditions? How many days could the city survive without being clean? How many days for the rich and the hoity toity to notice the stink? Get them all together and we will help you, we said. Slowly they slunk away. No one listens to us, not even our own people. There is always a group who says it is better to be ill employed than not have any work at all. Can't you make them see in the long term, I asked? That this could be the turning point for a fairer deal? No, there was no way this could happen, I was told.

Recent history has shown us the power of a united group. Take the farmers of Mahua and Kanubhai Kalsaria, and their march for their livelihoods and farms. The CM might have been cold and unrelenting, but the plant had to be put off. Or the Anna Hazare movement, that continues to unfold as I write.

In every conversation I hear, be it in a plane of a shop, I hear frustration and anger - at the systems that has gone wrong, nation being used for private gain, educational and medical institutions being hijacked, and everywhere injustice being meted out and people being made to feel marginalised. Why are we not able to turn this into a tide for improvement? For justice! For dignity!

Not every thing has to be done on a grand scale. Can we fight for right, locally? In our housing society, in our school, in our business, in our neighbourhood. Then we must. For, each will become a shining star in the greater story of improving our country. It is in our hands. Yes, in each of our seemingly insignificant hands.

— The writer is a noted danseuse and social activist