The Atrocity of Caste | a Tradition of Reason | A Song that will be Sung
Introduced by Anand Patwardhan
Sat. Mar 2, 2013, 2 – 6pm MIT 32 – 155
Followed by QA with the Director
Co-sponsored by:
MIT Program in Women’s and Gender Studies
MIT History Department
South Asia Forum at MIT
Ambedkar International Center (Boston)
The Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia
In 1997, a statue of Ambedkar in a Dalit (Untouchable) colony in Mumbai was desecrated. Ambedkar was a central figure in the Dalit liberation movement in India. As angry residents gathered, police opened fire, killing 10. Vilas Ghogre, a leftist poet, hanged himself in protest.
Jai Bhim Comrade shot over 14 years, follows the poetry and music of a subaltern tradition of the reason that has, from the days of the Buddha, fought superstition and religious bigotry with poetry and art.
With their mix of revolutionary politics and Dalit liberation, the artists’ collective Kabit Kala Manch has been subject to intense state repression. Many of the artists featured in the film are now underground to escape arrest. For more info visitwww.kabirkalamanch.wordpress.com
Anand Patwardhan has been making investigative documentaries in India for over four decades. His films have often faced state censorship and the wrath of religious fundamentalists.
Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia 