bah

Ex Dalits protesting in Punjab




















Protests against attacks on Indian Students in Melbourne


i dont know how much the protests in australia are being covered in the States, but my goodness it is EVERYWHERE here, magazines, newspapers, breaking news on every news channel, non stop (another side note, every piece of news on the news channel seems to be breaking news, i don't fully get that). Obviously this has raised many many many conversations about racism. what's ironic is that as Indians abroad and here are protesting against racism, there are ex-Dalits (lowest caste : untouchables) who have converted to Sikhism protesting up north. Despite having have converted to Sikhism which does not recognize any form of caste at all, these individuals are still noted as Dalits and treated as such back in the cities that they and their families originally come from. I was reading the Times of India this afternoon and came across an article discussing this issue, titled "Race against caste", delving into somethig that I had brought up before. Is casteism the same as racism? Up for you to discuss.
The article ended with an interesting bam.
"..And there is one particular caste in India which, in some way, is as equally if not more oppressed than Dalits. It is a caste that is routinely burnt alive, killed in the womb, beaten, sexually violated, and often subjected to lifelong abuses and deprivation. It is a caste called women"