I watched a film yesterday. Boy A. It is a British film adapted from Jonathan Trigell's novel of the same name. The film is a story about how life creates moments that lead to tragic consequences; where ideas of right and wrong are not prescriptive text-book teachings but in fact are often defined from those darker areas of personal pain that others may not be privy to. Societies who are in the process of evolving and progressing continue to create "systems" to act as deterrents for other "systems"to not be abused....and yet the inherent aspects of human nature veers towards those abusive spaces of revenge and retribution. So we have paper rules with no great implementation and like blinkered mules we trudge on not caring (or daring perhaps) to topple the rotten apple cart for fear of the retributions we would face!
Systems like jails in India are the complete antithesis of what they actually are meant to be- which is: spaces of reform and rehabilitation as part of a punitive process for crimes. Instead ironically they function for the influential and powerful as office spaces for the incarcerated to continue to conduct those very activities for which they have come under the scanner. For the poor and the underprivileged jail is a fate far worse than hell imagined, where ignominious acts of sodomy and rape are daily practises that dehumanise and defeat the spirit to survive; and the years of silence as the down trodden class gets merely reinforced by the treatment meted out to them in such situation, leaving them neglected, isolated and irrelevant. The middle class, educated to stand up and resist oppression, find the duplicity of the system the hardest to bear perhaps. Injustice and lengthy procedures with endemic corruption sucks their lives away cruelly as many combat the conflict of their own dilemmas to remain committed to ethical practises as pursuit of redressal; often becoming bankrupt and passing away before being able to aid the cause for justice they have embarked upon.
Public outrage and commentary on issues is vital to a democracy. However the fine line of vigilantism and witch hunting becomes the dodgy area of suspect intentions. These transgressive attitudes waylay hard fought activism for reform and change in systems of governance that will have significance if change must be voted in and become implemented policies that hold rules and regulations . What makes headlines is not always going to translate into action that addresses the root problem and so we fall into this tail chasing scenario of hype and hoopla with little else to underline the problems at hand except mere outrage alone.
Today I see the aggressive nature of people in the street, and it has sadly become you and me. Eye-balling and challenging gestures all manifesting the frustration of systems breaking down to make chaos and lawlessness the structures that we are forced to live and abide by. Who do we take our complaints to? Police-people who are too bogged down with corruption themselves to know what sensitivity is required to perform their duty ethically, or preceding magistrates and judges who do very little to camouflage their personal agendas when servicing the people? The choices today offer little comfort to those who seek uncomplicated straight forward solutions to their problems.
Who cares in the end....
We should.
But is saying that enough .......?
Unfortunately not....much more is required from each of us....
So we need to become more pro-active to carry the outrage to its correct target....
......which is visible change within those corrupted non-functioning systems......
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