The Times Of India has a small but prominent promo on its front page: Anna Hazare will be its guest editor today. Nothing unusual at first glance...a lot of newspapers have celebrities coming over as guest editors. They are given a list of stories to choose from, are allowed to pontificate for a while, and then the paper's real editor thankfully brings out the paper exactly how he or she dweems fit.
The celebrity gets a puff job, and the paper gets endorsed, and sells some ads that day at a premium.
Being a guest editor is pure and simple brand endorsement. It is also a tacit pact with the paper that you are its friend; very different from giving the paper's reporter a quote or two or writing an opinion piece for its edit page.
And that begs the question: is Indian 'revolution's' uncompromising poster-boy in a hurry to endorse brands, or cosy up to friendly media? Have we burdened Anna Hazare with greatness far above his weight? Has the spotlight been so beyond his expectation that he is in the danger of becoming mere flotsam in its tide?
What next? Detergent ads saying "Desh ki safedi ka raaz, Anna Hazare aur Rin", or "gandhey kapdo pe kranti, Anna aur Surf ke saath"?
Things have not been right around Anna Hazare since the spirited, hope-giving movement that spawned around him against corruption. Father and son Shanti and Prashant Bhushan both getting into the Lokpal panel and giving politicians unnecessary ammunition to attack Hazare; his friends in the movement Medha Patkar, Mallika Sarabhai and others criticising him for praising Narendra Modi; Baba Ramdev alleging nepotism. It has seemed like the petty, quarrelsome inner world of a local housing society rather than a robust movement.
In the aftermath of the protests, not a single drive to enlist volunteers or identify other issues has been made. There is still no web presence other than a Facebook account where people across India can post their grouses and get in touch with volunteers. There is no — using a horrendous corporatte term — 'roadmap'. It is as if Lokpal will solve India's problems.
Hazare and his friends have unprecedented popular momentum behind them. It is not often that the country's middle-class comes to the street in support or in protest. They can make changes that define tomorrow's India. Or he can be frivolous, arrogant, authoritarian, prone to favouritism...traits that are sadly poking their ugly little nose right now.
Showing posts with label Anna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anna. Show all posts
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Growing revolution giraffe's neck in 5 steps
The morning after victory often feels far more hollow than the morning after defeat. There is usually something to do in the morning after a loss; pick yourself up from the smithereens, get guts in order, plan suicide, survival or comeback. But the ornate, empty shell of the winning moment leaves you with very little to do with it the morning after.
After all headlines on TV and the papers have screamed 'Victory' and gone to bed after the government gave in to Anna Hazare's demands and a surprisingly popular citizens' agitation. Now what?
I wrote in my recent piece in Hindustan Times http://bit.ly/hU8nGb that for India to gain from this momentum, it would have to feed the momentum. Every citizen should try and set aside at least an hour a day for the democracy. Three 'I's of involvement, information and implementation could take us from anger to action. The question is: What next?
I can see five immediate things that can be done to involve far more people:
1. Enlisting: There should be a nationwide drive to enlist volunteers for the movement. This could be done through a common website (discussed later). These volunteers can help create technology to connect the movement better, man helplines, raise funds, keep transparent accounts, help fight cases or seek information under RTI and participate in a range of other such things.
2. Technology: A professionally created, designed and run online avatar should supplement the Facebook presence of the movement. On this website, which preferably should account for Hindi and some major regional languages, one should be able to post from anywhere in India, so that there is a growing database of what the nation's real issues are. A strong web presence will give the movement far more accessibility and a certain centre of gravity. There might also be a way to wire up the entire movement through SMS, with a common number that connects to a citizens' helpline.
3. Human resource: Form small citizens' teams across the country with at least 15 people in each team. These teams meet at least once every week, decide issues that should taken up with the local authorities, resolve to get them done. They also help the poor and illiterate connect to the movement through technology (log on and post a grouse on the website, may be). Citizen volunteers should also take turns to man a central helpline.
4. Publicity: The movement has to be kept alive in the media, especially the vernacular media. There ought to be regular interactions with journalists, updating them on every big and small struggle, every victory achieved, every hurdle encountered. It is always good to take the story to the reporter's desk rather than wait for the reporter to come to the story.
5. Be open to criticism, closed to cynicism: When it comes to the India, it is stupid to view an exception of this magnitude cynically. the mere fact that so many people came out of the streets to rage and rage against corruption is heartening. It tells us there's raw material ready to explode. But to be rigid and closed to criticism would be equally stupid, because we will end up evolving systems that weaken democracy. the Jan Lokpal draft, for instance, is ridden with dangerous holes, as many have pointed out through their articles and blogs. You will find some of these voices here: http://bit.ly/hz2Bv8
This once, let us hope the nice, heady feeling of triumph does not last long, and dissolves quickly into the next set of actions.
After all headlines on TV and the papers have screamed 'Victory' and gone to bed after the government gave in to Anna Hazare's demands and a surprisingly popular citizens' agitation. Now what?
I wrote in my recent piece in Hindustan Times http://bit.ly/hU8nGb that for India to gain from this momentum, it would have to feed the momentum. Every citizen should try and set aside at least an hour a day for the democracy. Three 'I's of involvement, information and implementation could take us from anger to action. The question is: What next?
I can see five immediate things that can be done to involve far more people:
1. Enlisting: There should be a nationwide drive to enlist volunteers for the movement. This could be done through a common website (discussed later). These volunteers can help create technology to connect the movement better, man helplines, raise funds, keep transparent accounts, help fight cases or seek information under RTI and participate in a range of other such things.
2. Technology: A professionally created, designed and run online avatar should supplement the Facebook presence of the movement. On this website, which preferably should account for Hindi and some major regional languages, one should be able to post from anywhere in India, so that there is a growing database of what the nation's real issues are. A strong web presence will give the movement far more accessibility and a certain centre of gravity. There might also be a way to wire up the entire movement through SMS, with a common number that connects to a citizens' helpline.
3. Human resource: Form small citizens' teams across the country with at least 15 people in each team. These teams meet at least once every week, decide issues that should taken up with the local authorities, resolve to get them done. They also help the poor and illiterate connect to the movement through technology (log on and post a grouse on the website, may be). Citizen volunteers should also take turns to man a central helpline.
4. Publicity: The movement has to be kept alive in the media, especially the vernacular media. There ought to be regular interactions with journalists, updating them on every big and small struggle, every victory achieved, every hurdle encountered. It is always good to take the story to the reporter's desk rather than wait for the reporter to come to the story.
5. Be open to criticism, closed to cynicism: When it comes to the India, it is stupid to view an exception of this magnitude cynically. the mere fact that so many people came out of the streets to rage and rage against corruption is heartening. It tells us there's raw material ready to explode. But to be rigid and closed to criticism would be equally stupid, because we will end up evolving systems that weaken democracy. the Jan Lokpal draft, for instance, is ridden with dangerous holes, as many have pointed out through their articles and blogs. You will find some of these voices here: http://bit.ly/hz2Bv8
This once, let us hope the nice, heady feeling of triumph does not last long, and dissolves quickly into the next set of actions.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Time to hijack the IPL
The gathering wave of anger of the politically fickle Indian middle class is set to crash against the wall of the nation's favourite sport entertainment, cricket. Experience tells us that Indian Premier League (IPL) will take over the headlines and popular imagination, and the anti-corruption agitation, Anna Hazare, will quietly slip into the inside pages, or television's 'other headlines'.
However, Che Guevara would have said IPL could not have come at a better time. Mao Tse-Tung, Ho Chi Minh, Amilcar Cabral, Surja Sen would agree. If you think guerrilla, India's most high-profile sports event is waiting to be ambushed and hijacked peacefully by those fighting corruption and use it as a showcase of collective anger.
Imagine if thousands of spectators, instead of flashing cards for four or six, enter the stadium carrying protest placards or wearing Anna Hazare caps. At every venue, starting with Chennai today, people can enjoy cricket, as well as turn the multi-crore cricket circus into a daily, high-visibility reminder that a bigger battle is being fought elsewhere. That this rare momentum an otherwise politically inert Middle India has gathered is not to be wasted on an engaging pastime.
Ideally, Indian cricketers should also play the tournament wearing protest badges. Around the world sportspersons have used such events to highlight issues from genocide in Africa to labour trouble in Sheffield. If Indian cricket stars can wear corporate logos from head to toe, why can't they wear a protest batch to express solidarity with millions of Indians whose love and money has made them rich and famous?
But then, one thinks of the man who heads the BCCI and ICC, the world's two biggest and richest cricket bodies, and players taking such a revolutionary road seems unlikely. Apart from that, the sponsors of cricket, to whom Sachin, Dhoni and others are tied with multi-million-dollar leashes, are not the most fervent champions of clean deals. The nation would be pleasantly surprised, however, if even one of our cricket heroes walks in to bat or field with a symbol of protest.
But spectators using IPL to fight corruption is more practical. Let us see Chennai lead the way.
This once, mix cricket with politics, stir well, serve hot. That way, you enjoy the match, and the match enjoys a much higher place in history.
However, Che Guevara would have said IPL could not have come at a better time. Mao Tse-Tung, Ho Chi Minh, Amilcar Cabral, Surja Sen would agree. If you think guerrilla, India's most high-profile sports event is waiting to be ambushed and hijacked peacefully by those fighting corruption and use it as a showcase of collective anger.
Imagine if thousands of spectators, instead of flashing cards for four or six, enter the stadium carrying protest placards or wearing Anna Hazare caps. At every venue, starting with Chennai today, people can enjoy cricket, as well as turn the multi-crore cricket circus into a daily, high-visibility reminder that a bigger battle is being fought elsewhere. That this rare momentum an otherwise politically inert Middle India has gathered is not to be wasted on an engaging pastime.
Ideally, Indian cricketers should also play the tournament wearing protest badges. Around the world sportspersons have used such events to highlight issues from genocide in Africa to labour trouble in Sheffield. If Indian cricket stars can wear corporate logos from head to toe, why can't they wear a protest batch to express solidarity with millions of Indians whose love and money has made them rich and famous?
But then, one thinks of the man who heads the BCCI and ICC, the world's two biggest and richest cricket bodies, and players taking such a revolutionary road seems unlikely. Apart from that, the sponsors of cricket, to whom Sachin, Dhoni and others are tied with multi-million-dollar leashes, are not the most fervent champions of clean deals. The nation would be pleasantly surprised, however, if even one of our cricket heroes walks in to bat or field with a symbol of protest.
But spectators using IPL to fight corruption is more practical. Let us see Chennai lead the way.
This once, mix cricket with politics, stir well, serve hot. That way, you enjoy the match, and the match enjoys a much higher place in history.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)