Hindu Caste Racism: December 2013

Wednesday, 11 December 2013

On Indian Supreme Court's Judgment Criminalizing Gay Sex:

A nation where heterosexual people are yet to fully secure their sexual freedom will certainly criminalize homosexuals:

In a country were heterosexual women are subjected to rape, torture and murder under the garb of "honour killings" for having sexual relations outside of marriage or for having sexual relationships across caste barriers, I would say that people of heterosexual orientation themselves are yet to secure complete sexual rights and sexual freedoms in India, and hence, gay people are in for a very long wait to secure their rights in India. A heterosexual man's or a heterosexual woman's freedom to sexually desire and cohabit with a person of his her choice outside of marriage - irrespective of caste or religious barriers is still not accepted in India. Then, how will Indian society accept gay people's freedom to sexually cohabit when heterosexual people are denied the same freedom if they sexually cohabit outside of marriage and across caste barriers? Indian women who freely choose to desire, love and have sexual relationships with men based on their free choice by defying caste barriers will be vilified as immoral women and killed, particularly if they have sexual affairs with Dalit men, while sexual morality is defined as a blind acceptance and subservience to pre-ordained arranged marriages which coerces or forces women to subject themselves to marital rape under the garb of an arranged marriage. Women are frequently subjected to rapes in India since the concept of a woman freely consenting or freely desiring to choose a sexual partner on her own free will, sexual desire and freedom is not accepted in India. Conversely, a woman's parents and relatives believe that an Indian woman can be coerced, cajoled, emotionally blackmailed or forced to marry and forced to have marital sex with a man against her free will and desire, which is nothing but rape. This thinking which assumes that a woman can be forced or compelled to marry and have forced sex with a man under the garb of an arranged marriage and thus subjecting her to rape, is the same thinking which motivates rapists to believe that a woman can be forced or compelled to have sex with them just as a woman can be forced or compelled to marry a man against her free will in an arranged marriage. In other words, the psychological premise behind an arranged marriage and rape are the same. Many conservative Indian women, including educated parents, subscribe to such a regressive attitude towards women's sexuality. A woman or a man who may choose to love or live with a person of the opposite gender belonging to another caste will be most probably pursued and killed by their own parents and relatives. In many Indian cities, young Indian couples who smooch, kiss or hug in public (in parks and beaches) are arrested and persecuted by the police under some expedient legal pretext such as "causing public nuisance". Many colleges in several Indian towns practice gender segregation and prevent boys and girls from even talking to each other. Given this dire situation for heterosexual rights which is never highlighted by the Brahmin and upper caste controlled Indian mainstream media which has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo of the caste system by controlling the sexuality of heterosexual women and heterosexual men, homosexual rights are in for a long wait in India. The point I am trying to make is that sexual rights and human rights are absent for unmarried heterosexual couples who sexually cohabit across caste barriers and religious divides in India just as they are absent for homosexual couples in India. Gay people cannot win their rights in India unless they realize this situation and fight for the sexual rights of all people in India, both heterosexual and homosexual. But most Indian Gay activists are themselves elitist, urban and upper caste who are happy to appease the status quo instead of fighting for a more radical sexual rights agenda for both straight and gay people.

HINDU CASTE RACISM

A blog against the racism of the Hindu caste system. The Hindu caste system is nothing but a system of racism founded on on descent (birth) based supremacy and bigotry that degrades and imprisons people in a system of vertically graded caste inequality of descending inferiority and ascending superiority, with each caste considered as inferior and superior to castes above and below in the vertically graded bigoted system, with the "twice born" Hindus led by Brahmins (at the summit of the caste system as the "most superior" caste) unleashing this bigotry to divide and rule the Indian working (Dravidian - Mulnivasi) masses. The castes lower to the "twice born” Hindu castes are degraded as "Shudras" (backward castes) by the Hindu scriptures who were traditionally restricted to physically laboring vocations and excluded from education, wealth and governance for millennia, until the advent of British rule. The “Shudras” (backward castes) are segregated from Dalits (who are enslaved at the bottom of the caste system as outcasts - untouchables). Dalits are bonded to the most degrading and inhumane labour while being subjected to heinous and manifold forms of physical segregation called “untouchability”. The "twice born" racist supremacist castes [Brahmins (priestly caste) - Baniyas (“Vysyas” or traders’ caste) – Kshatriyas (regal castes)] lord over as the ruling class of castes controlling the government, central (federal) government bureaucracy, army officers corps, top judiciary, business corporations, elite academia, arts and the mainstream media. Dalits are in the receiving end of violent atrocities, untouchability and segregation perpetrated by all Hindu castes (caste Hindus) above Dalits in this vertically graded and bigoted caste system.

All people who live by physical labour or descended from castes bonded to physical labour were derided as “Shudras” (slaves) by the Hindu religion and bigoted Hindu scriptures such as “Mansumiruthi” which codify the caste system, even if they acquire wealth. According to Hindu law, all people who do not belong to “twice born” trio of upper castes (Brahmans, Baniyas-Vysyas and Kshatriyas) are “Shudras” including those belonging to “untouchable” castes. The term “Shudras” literally means “slaves” or “slaves who serve Brahmins” apart from other degrading meanings ascribed to the term “Shudras” by Hindu religious scriptures such as “descendants of prostitutes”, "bastards", etc.

“Shudras” were profanely derided as “descendants of prostitutes” and accorded a “bastard” status by the bigoted Hindu scripture “Manu Smiruthi” and were entailed to serve the Brahmins as the latter’s slaves even if the “Shudra” acquires wealth. Shudras were traditionally proscribed from education despite some of them being land owners. “Shudras” are further divided into hundreds of vertically graded castes with each caste bonded to a physically labouring occupation and professing superiority over those castes below, with the “untouchable castes” at the bottom. “Shudras” were traditionally banned from literacy and education for millennia, until the advent of the British rule. Education was made available to “Shudras” and untouchables only after the advent of the British rule. The Hindu caste system as codified by the Hindu religious scriptures considers all people who make a living by physical labour and all descendants of castes bonded to physical labour as “Shudras” including those derided as “untouchables”, even though the “untouchable Shudras” are also referred to as “Panchamas” or scheduled castes, while the “touchable Shudras” are referred to as “backward castes” in governmental parlance. The so called “untouchables” are further divided into vertically graded castes, who are all forced to live in segregated slums in each town and village across India. The “twice born” supremacist trio off upper castes (Brahmins. Vysyas – Baniyas and Khatriyas) are explicitly excluded from all kinds of physical labour, while being given the monopoly over education, commerce and governance for millennia, which has made the "twice born" trio the ruling elite of the Indian governing establishment. The Indian working masses wholly consist of the backward castes and scheduled castes, who are divided by the caste system of the Hindu religion despite being members of a common working class. Backward castes and scheduled castes were traditionally excluded and banned from education, governance and acquisition of wealth, which started changing slowly only after the advent of British rule and the dawn of the independent India, while the core of the ruling elite still comprises of Brahmins, Baniyas (Vysyas) and Kshatriyas under the religious and ideological leadership of Brahmins.

Even a wealthy “Shudra” still remains only a “Shudra” in the Hindu caste system – as codified and governed by the bigoted Hindu scriptures. According to the bigotry of the Hindu caste system, a wealthy Shudra is still deemed and doomed to be a “Shudra” (“slave of the Brahmin”) who should use his wealth to serve the Brahmin and the latter’s bigoted agenda while wallowing in his inferiorized “Shudra” status in the caste system. Thus acquiring wealth does not abolish the inferiorized and degraded “Shudra” (slave) caste status and the allied caste identity of a person nor does it grant him a social status on par with Brahmins and “twice born” trio of supremacist upper castes (Brahmins, Baniya-Vysyas and Kshatriyas) in the caste system. A famous example of this was the refusal of Brahmins to coronate the Maratha warrior and leader Shivaji as “King” because he was born into a caste deemed to be “Shudra” by the Brahmins. Thus, even a wealthy person cannot escape his “Shudra” status and the allied inferiorized caste identity which are determined by birth and not by wealth. The same applies to the wealthy amongst those belonging to various castes stigmatised and segregated as “untouchables” by the Hindu religion – since acquiring wealth does not abolish the inferiorized and stigmatised “untouchable” caste identity of a person. This is why true advocates of social justice want affirmative action to be awarded to backward castes (Shudras) and scheduled castes (Dalits) irrespective of their economic status.