We are the caste system

Wendy Quarry Royal Roads University IICS 638

We are the caste system

René Sheïr January 18, 2012

We are the caste system

While in Ahmedabad I spent a brief moment with the Agariyas, the salt-pan workers of the little Rann of Kutch, an area that borders the desert plains of western Gujarat. The salt workers spend 10 hours a day in temperature that can reach over 500 C, harvesting salt bare feet, using antiquated tools, for the benefit of ruthless salt conglomerates. Their meagre earning is about 150.00 Rs per tonne of salt harvested.

It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honored by the humiliation of their fellow beings.

The last thing I did before leaving India at the end of a six-week journey was to visit the heart of Mumbai. The so-called slum of Dharavi sits in the centre of Mumbai, the heart-shaped area covering 3 km2 is home to more than a million souls, and according to our guide Vijay, the slums have an economic output of 650 million USD. With an average day’s wage evaluated at 150.00 Rs, about 3.00 USD per day.

As I walked the narrow corridors that form Dharavi’s obscure labyrinth of residential alleyway, I reflected on my plentiful life, filled with abundance, wealth, and possibilities‌ I recalled my discussion with our interpreter on the plight of the Agariyas, their atrocious living and working conditions, not much different than in the slum, only the scenery had change. The resigned smiles, the intense looks, the tired eyes were the same, looking for clean water, hoping for a better life.

Our guide explains how the salt-pan workers are amongst the most marginalized; they are landless, their meagre profits are relentlessly chipped at by the cost of diesel needed to run the machines that pump the brine, and by the ruthless buyers. Most have no education, no means of making their plight known. They slave, so that the food I eat may be more savory. Has we cross the industrial section of Dharavi, Vijay tells us to watch our step as to avoid shards of metals, hold our breath not to breath in armful chemicals, protect our eyes from sharp plastic debris. In haw I lock eyes with the workers, some squatting, others on their knees crushing the plastic from my last PC. There is an acrid smell in the air and my eyes water from the sting. We are now walking through the plastic bottle recycling section where, with the use of various solvents, they make low level grade recycled plastic pellets.

“We are the caste system�, I thought.

How else can you justify, even rhetorically all this injustice? For all our claims to humanity, equality, liberty, fraternity, justice, and development, it seems that a multitude of micro success stories are continuously overshadowed by failed mega-projects.

Shady Private Public Partnerships (PPP) and other market driven initiatives have proven that public services such as access to clean water are incompatible with corporate profit.

The same can be said of the exploitation of natural resources, as currently witnessed in Nigeria, where Shell and other big oil companies are profiting at the detriment of the Nigerian people and their environment.

Other examples abound across the Global South; cash crop export of cotton, soy, palm oil, eucalyptus threes, and countless other genetically modified organism (GMO), all terminated seeds laden with pesticides and fertilizers are grown by local farmers at great cost for little profits. All the while the Global North, through complex subsidy schemes favor local overproduction only to dump their products on the market, diminishing the already narrow profit margin of the Global South.

In turn the World Trade Organization (WTO) facilitates agreements that exacerbate the dependency cycle. When dispute arise the WTO often rules in favor of the corporate Global North. To add insult to injury, we are seeing at an increasing frequency high-level regulators of various government agencies leave from or return to senior management positions for the very industry they are bound to regulate.

Since the end of the Second World War we have convinced ourselves (the Global North) that the only way to development is through massive scale modern mimetism.

-“We are the caste system�, I think.

What I have learned and will retain from Development Communication is that small scale truly is beautiful and people are key.

India has helped me remember that behind the poverty, injustice and plight are everyday people like me. Who go to work, have family dinners, laugh and cry, and refuse to be defined by their situation, regardless of how bleak and hopeless it may appear to my eyes. It is at this contextual juncture that the principles that guide Development Communication are best conceptualized on a human scale.

I am not about information diffusion, posters and brochures, I am about knowledge acquisition. I am not about telling and showing, I am about listening and understanding. I am not about dictating and imposing, I am about facilitating awareness and empowering people.

I am not about selling widgets; I am about providing options for change and enable learning. I am not about exacerbating inequalities and increasing differences so that I may profit from your ignorance. I am about reconciliation, problem solving, sharing and recognizing my limits and errors.

I don’t know what is good for you; I know that your context will dictate your choices and avenues for development. I do not presume that what works for me will work for you, I accept and acknowledge that decisions regarding your future will be function of your identity, religion, and cultural values.

I don’t believe that your age, gender, ethnicity, class, or caste is a burden; I believe that diversity is an asset to be used on the path to development. I don’t believe that all the solutions are through technical innovation; I accept the wisdom and knowledge of the elders.

I can help navigate the grey zone of development communication, but I know I will always be an outsider, I rely on your local experts, and together we are champions in our own rights.

I don’t believe in quick fix and dependence, I can facilitate sustainable long-term practices that you will be responsible for. I don’t trust the system I trust the people.

Thank You India

India, in Ahmedabad you showed me that for a brief eclipse I could be part of the solution, and in Goa you reminded me that I will always be part of the problem.

And for that I am forever grateful ._