No going to town at Town Hall

Forbidden spaces for protests

Born and raised in Namma Bengaluru, a city shaped by diverse voices, it’s time to take a moment and salute the amazingly diverse, massive, incessant and peaceful protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and National Population Register that were indicative of a people maturing to employ the immense power of non-violent protests and resistance.

The protests in Bengaluru, despite various threats against assembling, have instilled belief in the power of the people. Watching massive trade union rallies was part of growing up in Bengaluru. It influenced us deeply. As children, we role-played imitating rallies, with twigs and branches from trees in our backyards forming our banners as we went about mimicking slogans: “Dikkara Dikkara…”, “Karmikarige Jayavagali”, not knowing what it meant. Going around in circles, with children from the neighbourhood jumping into the chorus, and before long, our ‘jatha’ competed with an enthusiastic ‘Jai Hind’! This would then result in the ‘protesters’ languishing on the compound walls of our homes, legs swinging away as we chatted for hours on what we thought it was all about. Politics was in the air, and we inhaled it deeply.

Over the years, trade union protests have been on the wane. And the city’s spaces of protests have been restricted. Around Mahatma Gandhi statue, Cubbon Park, Vidhana Soudha, and the BBMP offices were spaces one regularly saw protests. These spaces helped provide visibility and ensured that the voices reached the seats of power. But systematically, the voices of people are being removed from these city spaces, they are forbidden for protesters. And the latest addition to this list of forbidden spaces is the Puttanachetty Townhall, an iconic building that gives an identity to Bengaluru and its various social movements.

Protests and counter demonstrations indicate a vibrant democracy, shaping the city and its governance. With space and duration of protests restricted, prior permission made mandatory, spontaneous protests are now a thing of the past. The right to demonstrate and protest is a fundamental right in a democratic state. To be able to raise one’s voice, express oneself, challenge the decisions of those in power, protests are an attempt to communicate a particular viewpoint, and that is not simple.

A few years ago, a friend studying Art in Protest was trying to analyse protest posters, interpret the messages, understand the humour, the anger and the sarcasm. Protests are struggles that need to be seen, heard and understood. Poems, songs, theatre, artefacts and symbols are a part of protests which help convey the story of the struggle. Today, protests can be studied on a large scale, opening a whole new way to analyse movements, understand the issues and find ways to make better policies. Many scholarly studies of protests indicate the high social value they add to a range of debates and discussions on justice delivery systems.

It is indeed appalling to see the diminishing space for protests and what’s happening in the country at large. The imposition of Section 144, which the High Court of Karnataka termed illegal, detaining of protesters, police resorting to lathi-charging, tear gas, and firing on crowds, declining permission for peaceful protests are all efforts to instill a climate of fear against protesting. They are means to tear into the heart of the fundamental right to Protest, which is intricately intertwined with the fundamental right of expression, which forms the basis for realizing fully the right to life. In effect, such attacks on fundamental rights threaten democracy itself.

Access to public spaces, access to the internet and telephone networks, protection for peaceful protests, creation of spaces conducive for people of all ages to associate and express themselves on matters affecting them, acknowledging leaders of such protests as human rights defenders, acknowledging good behavior by law enforcement officials, absolute prohibition of the employment of firearms to disperse assemblies, taking adequate precautionary measures to ensure protesters aren’t harmed by rogue action, building contingency plans and risk mitigation strategies and ensuring people at large are aware, are all indicators of a healthy society and democratically functional state. Measured against these indicators, we have regressed.

Recent news reports on the wave of protests in the country show severe public dissatisfaction. The number of deaths and injuries in the past weeks indicate massive failure in appreciating peoples’ dismay and distrust of the State. The resultant demonisation of protesters, the use of brute force against them and the incessant attack on the right of speech and expression, are not likely to heal and address the sense of hurt and betrayal. Such discontents are likely to rise, given income disparities, climate crisis, slow economic growth, and local failures in governance.

Cities are becoming unmanageable, with limited resources and massive migrant populations in search of opportunities. Cities are also critical spaces for protests to express dissent and demand relief. Given how the internet assists in building local, regional and international alliances quicker than before, various influences are at work in channelising the language and methods of protest and resistance. At the same time, the State and its agencies are employing technologies that constrict the effusion of these voices, thus creating cultures that indicate disharmony in democracies.

If we were to take a cue from what’s happening around the world against authoritarian regimes, there is a need now, more than ever before, to appreciate and guide how people can express their rights and change the state of affairs. A constructive, clarifying, honest and peaceful language is as much the need of the hour for protests as is the capacity of a mature State to be willing to negotiate with protesters and not resort to manipulation of information and agencies.

(The writer, an independent researcher and consultant, works at the intersections of community action with law, policy, planning and governance)