EQUALITY

We have to “become equal to the task of th k g equality as equals.”

Aishwary Kumar subjectification does not create subjects ex- nihilo; it creates them by transforming identities defined in the natural order of the allocation of functions and places into instances of experience of a dispute ... Any subjectification is a disidentification , removal from the naturalness of a place ... "Speaking out" is not awareness and expression of a self asserting what belongs to it. It is the occupation of space in which” the voice challenges the mythology of the community. The modern political subject is a literary one. Literary speech = my novel/story vs. Mythology.

What is (modern) Politics?

Bole resolution passed in Bombay Legislative Council in 1923: “We resent the segregation policy of the South African Colonies and therefore we must set our house in order ... The Council recommends that the Untouchable classes be allowed to use all public water sources” Mahad was one of the municipalities that adopted the progressive resolution but many were unhappy. A conference of Untouchable castes was held in March 1927. They decided to march towards Chavadar tank and drink its water. A rumour was spread that the Untouchables were defiling the nearby temple. The caste Hindus rioted and sorely injured many conference attendees. Messages were sent to upper castes in neighbouring villages to thrash Mahars as they returned to their villages.

“This point may be illustrated by a historic episode, a speech scene that is one of the first political occurrences of the modern proletarian subject. It concerns an exemplary dialogue occasioned by the trial of the revolutionary Auguste Blanqui in 1832. Asked by the magistrate to give his profession, Blanqui simply replies: "proletarian:' The magistrate immediately objects to this response: "That is not a profession;' thereby setting himself up for copping the accused's immediate response: "It is the profession of thirty million Frenchmen who live off their labor and who are deprived of political rights'. For Blanqui, profession is a “profession of faith, a declaration of membership of a collective” on the side of political equality. (* Read pages 3-6, Badiou’s What is Politics ) This is 10 years before the Communist Manifesto!

* Key References:

A 2 nd conference was held on On 25 December 1927 where the Manusmriti was burnt - the book of repressive customary law. Ambedkar’s speech: “It is not that you and I will become immortal by drinking the water of this tank ... We go there to establish that we are also human beings like others ... this conference has been called to make a beginning towards establishing equality.” * Read pages 209-210, Ambedkar’s Speech Revolution and Counterrevolution. In France, when Napoleon was defeated by the British (1814-15), there was a Restoration: Louis

XVIII and Charles X, brothers of the executed King Louis XVI returned to restore the institutions, of the Ancien Régime. By 1830 Charles dissolved the National Guard & Parliament. In response - July Revolution. By 1851 Napoleon’s nephew had taken over on the side of restoration. 1871 - Paris Commune.

Social cu omnurtured with families by elders’ reverence of sacred law - teaches that socially ferior( ed) others are likely to reveal their “true nature” violent outbur s.