[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16615-16616]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



    INDIAN RACISM EXPOSED AT RACISM CONFERENCE--PRESENTATION MOVES 
                          CONFERENCE TO TEARS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 6, 2001

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, at the World Conference on Racism in Durban, 
Dalit and Kashmiri activists showed up to exert pressure against 
India's racist caste system. The caste system, which discriminates 
against people merely because of the group into which they are born, is 
one of the most racist systems in the world.
  The demonstrators handed out literature, buttons, and headbands 
demanding equal rights for all peoples. They have been chanting and 
drumming to force the caste system onto the agenda for the conference.
  India argued for keeping casteism off the agenda in Durban, saying 
that there are laws against caste discrimination on the books. This is 
true, but unlike our civil rights laws, the anti-caste laws are never 
enforced and are routinely violated. Dalits are forced to use separate 
facilities, such as tea shops. Dalits are forced to endure separate 
living areas, separate burial grounds and restrictions on their 
movements. They cannot enter the temple. A few years ago, a Dalit 
constable entered a Hindu temple on a rainy day to seek refuge from the 
rain and he was stoned to death by the Brahmins in the temple. In 
another incident, a Dalit girl was blinded by her teacher after she 
drank water from the community water pitcher. This kind of racism is 
unforgivable, especially in a country that calls itself a democracy.
  According to a report in Canada's National Post, a Dalit woman named 
Murugesan Manimegalai spoke at the Durban conference. She told the 
story of how her husband, with a tenth-grade education, was elected 
Sarpanch of their village--the president of the village council, 
similar to the mayor. Almost immediately, they received death threats 
from the upper-castes. ``We will see how the president functions 
without a head,'' said one note. After he had been in office six months 
he was followed home on the bus. A group of men surrounded the road and 
told everyone ``except Dalits'' to leave. Then they grabbed Mr. 
Manimegalai and stabbed him in the stomach. Despite his pleas not to 
kill the other Dalits, they chopped up the six other Dalits in front of 
him. Then they murdered Mr. Manimegalal, chopped off his head, and 
threw it in a well. Unfortunately, incidents like this are all too 
common in India.
  I would like to take this opportunity to salute the protestors for 
their success in bringing India's racism to the world's attention. That 
is the first step towards ending it.
  Mr. Speaker, India must learn that a democracy respects the basic 
human rights of all people, not just those in a position of power and 
privilege. It must transcend its Brahminocracy and bring real democracy 
to all the people. How can people continue to live in the facade of 
Indian democracy when they cannot enjoy even the most basic rights?
  America can help this process along. We should maintain the existing 
sanctions on India. We should stop all aid to India until the full 
range of human rights can be enjoyed by all the people there, not just 
the Brahmins. We should declare our overt support for the 17 freedom 
movements currently operating within India's borders. We can do so by 
supporting a free and fair plebiscite, under international supervision, 
on the question of independence for Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and 
the other minority nations living under the boot of Indian oppression. 
Former President Carter might be a good person to head an international 
monitoring team.
  The Council of Khalistan has issued a press release praising the 
demonstrators who are bringing the issue of Indian racism to the 
forefront. The Information Times has also run an excellent article on 
the demonstrations. I would like to place them both into the Record at 
this time for the information of my colleagues. In addition, I would 
like to insert the National Post article into the Record.

                [From the National Post, Sept. 6, 2001]

  UN Racism Conference Moved to Tears, not Action--Race Victims Tell 
                                Stories

                          (By Corinna Schuler)

       Durban, South Africa.--In an oft-ignored chamber of the 
     cavernous convention centre, the real victims of racism 
     struggle to have their stories of suffering heard.
       This is not one of the dozens of rooms where international 
     negotiators spend days behind closed doors, locked in debate 
     about where to place a comma or whether to spell 
     ``Holocaust'' with a capital ``H.''
       Here, persecuted people from every corner of the globe take 
     their turn on stage between 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. every day to 
     tell simple stories abut real suffering--the only forum at 
     this massive United Nations gathering where the personal pain 
     of discrimination is laid bare.
       One day, the speaker was an escaped slave from Niger. The 
     next, an aboriginal woman from Australia. Then, a migrant 
     worker from Brazil.
       Yesterday it was Murugesan Manimegalai's turn. The 29-year-
     old mother of four is a member of India's lowest caste, so 
     impoverished she had never left the confines of her squalid 
     settlement before boarding a plane this week for Durban. ``I 
     was very worried that it might fall,'' she confides with a 
     shy smile. But she pushed her fear aside yesterday, took a 
     deep breath and told the story of her husband's horrifying 
     murder to a crowd of 200 human rights activists and a few 
     journalists. By the time she was done, even the moderator was 
     blinking back tears. ``We are Dalits''--untouchables--began 
     Ms. Manimegalai.
       As one of India's 1.4 million lowest-caste people, she grew 
     up in a segregated village--forbidden to draw water from the 
     communal well or to attend the same temple as upper-caste 
     people.
       Her husband had only a Grade 10 education, but became an 
     eloquent activist and was elected president of a village 
     council. Members of the upper caste warned he would not last 
     six months. ``We will see how the president functions without 
     a head,'' said one written death threat.
       After six months in office, when Mr. Manimegalai took a 
     trip into town, upper-caste people followed him home in a 
     bus. A crowd of men blocked off the road, screaming wildly 
     for everyone to run away--``except Dalits.''
       ``They grabbed my husband by the shirt and stabbed him in 
     the stomach. Even then, my husband pleaded with the dominant 
     caste people not to kill the rest of the Dalits. They ignored 
     him, and chopped the [six] others in front of his eyes.'' Ms. 
     Manimegalai did not stop for a breath as the next words 
     tumbled out. ``Even after my husband's death, the anger, the 
     bitterness, the caste-fanatic feeling did not subside.''
       ``They cut off his head and threw it in a well nearby.'' 
     Witnesses were too terrified to come forward and it was only 
     after three years of protest that some of the attackers were 
     finally jailed. ``We strongly demand,'' Ms. Manimegalai 
     concluded, ``that the caste system in our country be 
     abolished. We demand education for our children, job 
     opportunities--and dignity.'' The roar of applause continued 
     for a solid minute. When the diminutive Ms. Manimegalai 
     stepped off the stage, a burly African woman grabbed her in a 
     bear hug, sobbing. Ms. Manimegalai was overwhelmed as others 
     waited in line to give a hug or shake her hand. Tears 
     streamed down her face as she stood in the glare of the TV 
     lights.
       It was not the first time the Voices Forum has borne 
     witness to such raw emotion. But many of the 1,100 
     journalists in Durban to cover the UN's World Conference 
     Against Racism have been too preoccupied by arguments over 
     Israel and demands for reparations for the colonial-era slave 
     trade to take much note.
       The armies of suited government officials working to write 
     up a ``historic'' blueprint for fighting racism and 
     intolerance were not present to hear Ms. Manimegalai's 
     demands.
       Many were in a room down the hall, arguing about whether 
     words such as ``descent'' and ``ethnic origin'' should be 
     included in the list of grounds for discrimination.
       At the end of her speech, a moderator thanked Ms. 
     Manimegalai and other presenters for having the courage to 
     speak out.

[[Page 16616]]

     ``You should never doubt raising your voice in this 
     chamber,'' she said assuringly. ``Never doubt the importance 
     of doing that.''
       The sorry truth is that the powerful testimonies heard in 
     the Voices Forum have little chance of being incorporated 
     into the UN's final declaration on racism, or its program of 
     action.
       ``Cast out Caste'' posters have been plastered all across 
     Durban and activists have handed out thousands of information 
     brochures in an effort to highlight the injustice of the 
     caste system in Hindu society. But India has fought all 
     attempts to include any mention of caste, and neither the UN 
     nor any government is pushing the point. The strongest 
     language in the draft declaration comes in a single paragraph 
     that refers to discrimination based on work or descent--and 
     even those watered-down words seem set to be withdrawn. 
     Likewise, Eastern European countries refuse to acknowledge 
     the discrimination endured by the Roma, or gypsies, no matter 
     how many emotional stories they have told in Durban this 
     week.
       The African slave girl who told her story moved an audience 
     to tears, too.
       Inside conference rooms, however, African government 
     delegates are so engrossed in debate about the slave trade of 
     centuries past there has been almost no talk of how people 
     like 17-year-old Mariama Oumarou and 20,000 others in Niger 
     could be spared the horror of slavery today.
       Will this conference change Ms. Manimegalai's life? The 
     document under such hot debate is not an international treaty 
     or a UN resolution. In fact, it's not a legal document of any 
     kind and--if agreement is reached here by tomorrow--countries 
     are free to ignore it.
       But, Ms. Manimegalai lives with the hope her presence here 
     will help the suffering Dalits of India break free from their 
     oppression. ``I am destitute,'' she said. ``My house is just 
     a matchbox and I do not have enough money to care for my 
     children. They are living with relatives.
       ``But when I saw the big crowd in the room today, I was not 
     afraid. I was happy. At least I can tell the world our story. 
     There are many people back home who are relying on me here.''

     

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