When little Kerala stopped to protest against Ah-Mary-Kkahand
Cheru Cherian John, WG'08
Issue date: 1/22/07 Section: Perspectives
As I drove down I could see more protests along the way in various forms. The entire state was virtually coming to a stand still. All the shops along the way were shuttering
up. They call it hartal- a strange form of protest where all the shops shutter up for the day. Nobody would sell or buy anything for the rest of the day. Only medical stores are exempted. Cadres of leading political parties ensure that all shopkeepers fall in line. And, mind you, there are tons of mom and pop stores all along the streets. Every single one of them would be shut. And for a culture which does not believe in stuffing refrigerators with provisions for an entire week, closing shops for even an hour could be crippling. Posters had, by then, come up on public transport buses paying obeisance to 'martyr' Saddam. On the streets, at least at three different places I did see the burning of Bush's effigy. Traffic was stopped at certain other places.
How Saddam became a martyr overnight for some people in my state is not what puzzles me (I do not even want to enter into a debate into the rights and wrongs of that). It has now become a very much adopted political stand to protest against anything American.
Don't know why? America, American imperialism and American hegemony are the favorite terms of all political leaders in Kerala. Interestingly many of them would love to have somebody from their family studying or working in the US. But that doesn't matter. America-bashing is a favorite theme and generates
political mileage. Nobody questions this form of protest. So it continues.
How an entire state can come to a stand still and adopt a weird form of protest for something happening miles away intrigues me. To me, it looks more like self torture (luckily, the rest of India did not care as much). To accept that people actually stayed indoors while protestors burned effigies and made emphatic statements to the multitude of channels against what they call American imperialism, is difficult. What difference has it made? Bush will never visit my state. He will never even learn about an entire state coming to a standstill to protest against him. But that does not matter. Kerala, it appears, would continue to protest and make life difficult
for itself.
up. They call it hartal- a strange form of protest where all the shops shutter up for the day. Nobody would sell or buy anything for the rest of the day. Only medical stores are exempted. Cadres of leading political parties ensure that all shopkeepers fall in line. And, mind you, there are tons of mom and pop stores all along the streets. Every single one of them would be shut. And for a culture which does not believe in stuffing refrigerators with provisions for an entire week, closing shops for even an hour could be crippling. Posters had, by then, come up on public transport buses paying obeisance to 'martyr' Saddam. On the streets, at least at three different places I did see the burning of Bush's effigy. Traffic was stopped at certain other places.
How Saddam became a martyr overnight for some people in my state is not what puzzles me (I do not even want to enter into a debate into the rights and wrongs of that). It has now become a very much adopted political stand to protest against anything American.
Don't know why? America, American imperialism and American hegemony are the favorite terms of all political leaders in Kerala. Interestingly many of them would love to have somebody from their family studying or working in the US. But that doesn't matter. America-bashing is a favorite theme and generates
political mileage. Nobody questions this form of protest. So it continues.
How an entire state can come to a stand still and adopt a weird form of protest for something happening miles away intrigues me. To me, it looks more like self torture (luckily, the rest of India did not care as much). To accept that people actually stayed indoors while protestors burned effigies and made emphatic statements to the multitude of channels against what they call American imperialism, is difficult. What difference has it made? Bush will never visit my state. He will never even learn about an entire state coming to a standstill to protest against him. But that does not matter. Kerala, it appears, would continue to protest and make life difficult
for itself.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
bipk
bipin karunakaran
posted 7/11/07 @ 5:59 PM EST
Nice article. Being from Kerala I agree people are always wanting to protest about something:)
Anjali
posted 5/02/08 @ 11:47 PM EST
Came here via a link in Ashok's blog! I wonder if the protesters realize what the outcome of the protest is! I don't think they do. If they were to sit down and take stock of the situation, I am sure they would realize that nothing much is gained by these protests and bundhs. (Continued…)
srivatsanr
srivatsan
posted 9/07/08 @ 1:44 PM EST
I was staying at Kochi bang next to Bolghatty island for 02 years. Two things stand out in Kochi. strike/bandhs and love for brandy.( I am not speaking about bus drivers yet)I had to cross 3 protests every day to reach the naval base and back and there used to be huge lines outside the state licensed liquour shops. (Continued…)
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