literature of protest is littered with the debris of failed movements

-Siva Shankar Pandian

a mass movement was always a dream in India's freedom struggle in early decades, it is not bad saying many revolts against British failed due to lack of unity. this is not only history. yet contemporary issue i see nowadays. we many times feel proud of saying "INDIA A LAND OF DIVERSIFIED CULTURE" this sometimes becomes a negative factor.this i say because only a particular community takes a active part in their own issue as others remain constant. we have the same issue may be less concentrated as we have no mass movement in protests or somehow it starts but sustainability matters, i don't know whom to blame because we day by day face new issues. encountering each with a same threshold becomes difficult. to me this may be a lame excuse. RAPE ,this word now is very familiar to all Indians. it raised like a stock market boom period followed by an episodic protests byNGOs, women organisations etc, which stirred the minds of every citizen.a 23-year-old woman had been brutally raped which really was a catalyst reactor which boosted these protests. Another rape, equally ghoulish and ghastly, rocked Delhi a month ago with the discovery of a 5-year-old girl who had been ravaged savagely. The incident was followed by a series of mini protests, comparatively much less in scale and intensity of the former one i had mentioned.Predictably and tragically, for all the sloganeering and the overreaction of the police, the protests fizzled out without achieving anything substantial and will be remembered only by mentions in the media rather than as montages in public memory.Indeed, the literature of protest is littered with the debris of failed movements. Ten years ago there were worldwide protests against the invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies. These simultaneous protests saw nearly 30 million people across the world congregating against what was a clear and blatant disregard of international norms. Yet, the war went on. Equally, the Occupy Wall Street protests, in spite of enormous Web-driven promotion, have fallen flat, failing in the basic objective of stimulating some serious dialogue on the issue of money and social justice.

By contrast, the protests in Delhi never really took off. Leaderless and rudderless, they lurched from incident to incident, gradually losing steam. Up against an administration that is adept at playing one group against the other and which has turned gradualism into an art form, the protestors left, disenchanted and frustrated. here i have to mention you these protests. In the past, there have been protests that have put pressure on governmentsin the US against the Vietnam invasion, for instance, and in Paris in 1968 when students and workers banded together for their rights. In late 2004, in what was later dubbed The Orange Revolution, thousands of people flooded Kievs main square for 12 days, despite harsh weather conditions, to protest against the results of a fixed Ukrainian presidential election till finally the results were reversed. In India, the nationwide protests during the JP movement and the fiery anti-Mandal protests of 1990 stand out. coming back to the issue lacking in geographical reach, the protests in Delhi didn't resonate with a wider base. Of course, rape is a universal issue but by restricting the focus of the protests to seeking instant punishment for the rapists along with tightened security in the capital, the protestors ended up distancing those in other cities who may well have found common cause with their objective.Theres a clear lesson here from the Dandi March, one of protest historys most glorious moments. Despite facing initial opposition to the idea of targeting the Salt Laws, Gandhi insisted that salt was the one thing that would bring Indians of all religious, social and geographical hues together, since it represented a basic need. Gandhis genius lay in setting the agenda and then giving a clear call to actiondefy the Salt Laws by manufacturing and selling salt. No movement of any consequence got anywhere without a leader. In cases where there wasn't a leader to start with, a central heroic figure emerged around whom the movement picked up momentum.The absence of leadership in Delhi also meant a complete lack of organization. Instead of a call like Martin Luther historic I Have a Dream speech delivered during the August 1963 rally, we had banal slogans. some people would have heard of Bobby Sands. as i get his name in my mind while writing this article , he thought me "successful protest movement transcends borders". Thirty one years ago, in Northern Ireland, Bobby Sands began the hunger strike that culminated in his death after 66 days. It was followed by the deaths of nine of his other co-prisoners, all of which resonated across the world.By staying localized and narrow-focused the Delhi protests may have only served the short-term objective of forcing the government to fast-track the case against the rapists. The larger issue of safety and respect for women in India awaits a mass movement. if not now then when we are going to make a full-stop to this brutality.