(Artist: Archana
Ravi, in solidarity with the striking ASHA workers of Kerala)
has Power
turned the one who
once
sprinted through
these paths
holding aloft the
flag woven from
the threads of our
blood,
into a mad brute?
- Desamangalam Ramakrishnan
The
ongoing ASHA Workers’ strike has once again put the focus back on workers’
rights, trade unionism and leftism in Kerala. There is a tendency often to hold
true to the nature of justice as people often protest when they face injustice.
This has to come naturally, a basic foundation to building a world without
exploitation. This should be the basic prerogative for anyone living in a
liberal socialist system especially one that boasts of having a
leftist/communist history. The leftists in Kerala, who are always proud of its
leftist heritage, foregrounds a political consciousness that often advertises
an 'ideal' image of struggle, revolution and politicking. This leftist
consciousness mainly revolves around questions related to how; 1) workers are
organized, 2) power is held accountable. In other words, this is about how to
fight the good fight! Hence, the protectors of this consciousness believe
theirs to be the default launchpad into whatever the future has in store for us
(communism or barbarism). In Kerala, this group of protectors mainly fall under
the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], and Communist Party of India
(CPI). Additionally, the dominant leftist imagination is trapped in the
machinations of the Communist parties, themselves slaves to the socially
engineered rationalities of power. Today Parliamentary Cretinism is the
fundamental attitude that drives the party forward (the tendency to equate
purposive political action with the drive to obtain parliamentary power by
gaining more seats in representative institutions). They would sometimes openly
attack detractors, with their leaders encouraging them with almost the same
word for their actions, rakshapravarthanam. The underlying
idea is the same here, even when most of the leftists don’t get it (thinking
within the consciousness is not allowed). Moreover, the rescuers of this
leftist consciousness are ordinary people who’d go to any extent to protect it
and its influence in politics and society. This rescue and protection of the
leftist consciousness also has its strategies related to food, culture,
history, religion and has become more prominent with the entry of Sangh as the
political antagonist in Kerala politics.
After 2016, the mainstream narrative regarding the growth of the Sangh in
Kerala is that the leftist consciousness has been under attack. There might be
doubts regarding how powerful the Sangh is in reality, but there are no doubts
regarding how effective they are in challenging the leftist consciousness. At
least that is the mainstream talking point of the left in Kerala. With this
being touted as the challenge, there has been efforts to protect or rescue the
leftist consciousness against Hindutva and its attacks. And this has been more
than revelatory. Post-2016, the leftist consciousness has been thoroughly
exposed under the communal narratives of the Sangh. The inadequacies in
workers’ rights, gender issues, labor movements are all out in the open today
and there is no denying that the global socio-political movements/the internet,
has their fair share of influence in this matter. Thus, this inadequate leftist
consciousness that the mainstream communist parties take pride in, comes off as
a repugnant tool of parliamentary cretinism in pursuit of power. And this is
exactly what Marx addresses in his letter to Arnold Ruge: “The reform of
consciousness consists only in making the world aware of its
own consciousness, in awakening it out of its dream about itself, in explaining to
it the meaning of its own actions. Our whole object can only be – as is also
the case in Feuerbach’s criticism of religion – to give religious and
philosophical questions the form corresponding to man who has become conscious
of himself.”
The
latest event that has exposed yet another crack in the leftist consciousness is
the ongoing Asha Workers’ Strike. The Pinarayi Vijayan government is adamant in
ignoring the striking workers and as a result, there is no end to the crisis in
sight. Considering how this is a government that takes pride in their pro-poor
image, and also believed to be run by a party that calls itself
communist/revolutionary, the irony is not lost on the protesting workers. The
demand of the Asha Workers “for higher remuneration, commensurate with the
enormous hike in the ASHA workers’ workloads over the years”, is clearly
legitimate. But the state government clearly seems to have other priorities and
their go-to response to the protests has been deflection, mainly involving the
union government. Yes, there is a lot the union government can do for the
protesting workers, but the immediate relief always has to happen from the side
of the state government. Here, even when the state government tries to evade
responsibility, the fact that the statements from the left leaders labelling
the protest as “politically motivated” or “unnecessary” has a different sense
of politics to it. A political reaction from the dominant left consciousness
that has to be underscored.
But
before getting to that, there is also a relevant political aspect to the
protests explained by J Devika, that puts the 'Kerala Model' or exceptionalism
into question. She writes:
“While the ASHA workers were on strike in front of the State Secretariat
and an ASHA Workers’ mass meet called by the striking association drew a very
large number of such workers to the capital city, the government was busy
holding an investors’ meet. Such a government cannot be expected to be
attentive to the needs and rights of the workers, perhaps. However, one can
hardly forget that the effort to pitch Kerala as the ideal investor’s
destination to global capital continues to rest on the region’s image as a
place where social development has arrived permanently — where there is a
healthy, educated, plentiful workforce accustomed to the rhythms of capitalist
work and docile too. Now, a large part of this story is possible only and only
because underpaid and unrecognized social development workers — including the
ASHAs — have toiled at the grass roots day and night. Indeed, the second
Pinarayi Vijayan government was actually facilitated not just by the effective
PR they did about Covid management — indeed, that very PR was made possible by
the incessant labours of women ‘volunteers’ and ‘community activists’ at the
bottom, of which the ASHA workers are a prominent group.”
The
government’s or the party's response to the protest is the dominant leftist
consciousness in action. A leftist consciousness that has bought into the
neoliberal financial capital betraying the working class or rescuers is no
shocking news, but it magnifies the inadequacies in it. Going back to the
“politically motivated” allegations, the CPIM considers itself to be the
representative of the authentic left in Kerala and this is one reason that the
ASHA Workers’ protests are still ongoing. The issue here is similar to what is
popularly known as Union busting. The CITU-affiliated ASHA workers’ federation
has issues with the SUCI’s (another leftist outfit) Kerala Asha Health Workers’
Association (KAHWA). The ongoing Asha Workers’ strike is led by KAHWA and as a
result, CITU alleges that SUCI backed union is trying to sow division among the
workers and possibly harm their job prospects. The truth of the matter is that
CITU or CPIM considers them as the sole voice of the left in Kerala. Another
leftist organization in the likes of SUCI are a challenge to their dominant
position as protectors or rescuers of this leftist consciousness. As a result,
there were statements from the leaders of CPIM and SUCI addressing the
protesting ASHA Workers as “Anarchists”, since they are led by SUCI backed
union. Other slurs included “tin-pan collectors”, again showing the disapproval
of SUCI’s organizational structure and functioning. Explaining the insults, J
Devika writes that the protesting workers clearly maintained that SUCI respects
the workers and they never demanded any money from any workers. J Devika
interprets this accusation as also an intolerance towards the less restrictive
organizational structure of SUCI and their timely interference in issues that
matter to the workers. In other words, CPIM is only concerned with maintaining
their power in the representative systems, which in turn captures the leftist
consciousness. In order to do that, they are willing to even sacrifice real
workers’ lives. Some would say, that is more 'communist' than anyone could ever
ask for. But in reality, what we need is a ruthless criticism of all that
exists inside and outside of this leftist consciousness. The ASHA Workers’
protests will remake and reform the leftist consciousness in the long run, with
or without CPIM. That is sure! As Marx would have it, “We do not say to the
world: Cease your struggles, they are foolish; we will give you the true slogan
of struggle. We merely show the world what it is really fighting for, and
consciousness is something that it has to acquire, even if it
does not want to.”
(To
get regular updates and analysis on the Asha Workers’ Strike, follow KAFILA
Blog!)
-----------------------------
No Other Land won
the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Feature). The news is really shocking
in the sense that the documentary doesn’t even have distribution in the US.
This speaks a lot of the current sensibilities with regards to the Israeli
genocide in Gaza. But what caught my attention was something else. There is a
book of essays titled, Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal by
Mohammed el-Kurd and I recently read the same (great timing!). After No
Other Land won the Oscar, many Palestinian supporters on X shared
shots of certain pages of the book explaining how Palestinians can be perfect
victims. The essays are excellent in the sense that it gives an overarching
view into how victims are made out of Palestinians, good and bad. But the real
issue here was No Other Land’s authenticity of it being
Palestinian. The film was produced under an Israeli-Palestinian collective and
this was enough for some people to use Perfect Victims to
discredit No Other Land.
Below is the ‘controversial’ extract from Perfect Victims:
“Take the genre of Israelis and Palestinians making films together. The
Palestinian filmmaker is chaperoned to the film festival, allowed on stage as
their authoritative cosignatory’s charismatic sidekick. No one—not the producer
of the festival, not the columnist writing a review—seems to care about the
content of the film, whether it is good or garbage. What matters most is that
the film was codirected, a mode that satisfies a libidinal urge in the viewers.
They eavesdrop on a forbidden conversation, a titillating reconciliation
between the slayer and the slain. Discussions about the film, reviews, the way
it is promoted, and our excited elevator pitches to one another all become
masturbatory, reducing the film to the fact that it was a collaboration between
an Israeli and a Palestinian, fulfilling the viewer’s fantasy of a happy ending
to an otherwise miserable story. We turn it into a fetish.”
Here
what matters is that the film is a first-hand narrative of a Palestinian under
occupation/martial law. The events are clearly shot by a Palestinian himself,
there is no issues of the outsider’s gaze here. This is just an obstinate idea
that Palestinians should be seen individually at the world stage, and not in
any partnership with the Israelis. And therefore, for some, No Other
Land’s win shouldn’t be reason for celebration, because films like From
Ground Zero are more eligible than No Other Land since From
Ground Zero is exclusively a Palestinian production without Israeli
involvement. To make matters clear, I understand and support the arguments of
Mohammed el-Kurd but there can be no perfect revolutions, even when there are
perfect victims. What matters is how the Israeli genocide is shown in its full
force to the global cinema audience, and yes, maybe the Israeli Collaboration
gave credence to the film but one shouldn’t forget the fact that only through
collaborations and partnerships can Palestinians be free. Again, this in no way
discounts el-Kurd’s arguments but only explores different ways of imagining
futures for people everywhere.
-------------------------
Donald Trump proves that diplomacy is not about mutual respect or
political assurances based on problem solving, but rather abuses that protect
self-serving business interests of America.
Addendum:
The above post needs
expansion on a theoretical level, especially with the formulation of leftist
consciousness. But that, I assure, is for the future. Following feedback that
this blog post overlooks the nature of trade unionism in Kerala, I have decided
to add an addendum for clarification. To begin with, it is important to note
that this post primarily deals with the paradox of the dominant narratives of
left-wing politics in Kerala. Much of the content on this blog explores how the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPIM], as the predominant leftist force,
has marginalized alternative leftist perspectives in the state. In this
context, the ASHA protests are not the central focus. Rather, the core of this
discussion lies in analysing the responses of CPIM politicians / CITU leaders
to the ASHA workers' demonstrations.
[If you are someone who
needs a detailed understanding of the ASHA protests in Kerala, read the blog
posts by J Devika. She is one person who has been meticulously trying to
foreground the labor, gender, and caste politics implicit in the protests
through her blog posts and interviews.]
My post primarily
examines how protests against exploitation in Kerala often operate under the
patronage of the state's dominant leftist forces. My focus is on their
hypocrisy and their intolerant responses toward SUCI and the ASHA workers. With
that in mind, I would like to address some of the comments:
1) The ASHA Scheme
itself is a neoliberal product and Union Government is responsible for its
formulations
Again, my intention
here is exploring the contradictions within the leftist consciousness. Yes, the
union government also has a responsibility to interfere, but has the state done
its part? The immediate focus should be on the legitimacy of the demands of the
protesting ASHA workers. Here, one should ask the question: How has the
"left government" responded to it? A party that continues to
celebrate the romantic communist formulations of the past, and at least in
theory, strives to establish a "dictatorship of the proletariat"
(laughable, but the phrase is still retained in its constitution) stands out
for its immature handling of the protesting ASHA workers. My concern here is
with both the state's response and the pastoral power exercised by mainstream
trade union leaders in shaping these reactions.
2) CITU has been
fighting the good fight for ASHA workers. Don't lose sight of that. Also talk
about the hypocrisy of INTUC.
Well done, CITU! That
said, the real issue here is CITU's high-handedness. The statements made by its
leadership reveal their attitude toward the striking ASHA workers as well as
the party involved (SUCI). If my post seems to imply that CITU is 'jealous' of
SUCI, so be it. The hostile and dismissive remarks directed at SUCI leadership
speak for themselves. Yet, since some comrades remain too proud to acknowledge
this evident reality, let me reiterate my central point: the dominant leftist
consciousness must be dismantled.
3) SUCI agent? INTUC
agent?
Once again, this post
does not align with any political party or trade union. If supporting the ASHA
protests is equated with endorsing SUCI, then, by that logic, the numerous
writers and political activists who stand with the ASHA workers must also be considered
part of SUCI. My primary focus regarding INTUC is on how CITU leadership has
responded, given that both trade unions are theoretically aligned with the
Left—brethren, so to speak. Moreover, the absence of INTUC in a discussion
about Left consciousness is obvious. Ultimately, what stands out is the shared
tendency of both INTUC and CITU to discredit SUCI leadership—a point that
deserves emphasis.
In conclusion, the core
argument is to reframe our understanding of protests in Kerala. The influence
of mainstream political leadership, exercised through pastoral power, has led
ordinary workers and individuals to conform to its vision of leftism and protest.
The criticism directed at the protesting ASHA workers reinforces the notion
that movements operating outside the established political framework inevitably
disrupt this dominant nexus, which merely claims to represent leftist ideals.
The demands of the ASHA workers are undeniably just. Rather than questioning
why SUCI is leading the protests, one should ask why CITU and INTUC are not.
[now, read again from the start]
Leave a Comment