A Meeting with Madam PM, Australia – October 17,2012

[Text of the Report previously available on Youth Ki Awaaz, and now being put here for records purposes]

On Tuesday, the 9th of October, Australia’s Prime Minister Ms. Julia Gillard, the first female Prime Minister and the first Female Leader of Australia’s ruling Labour Party, stood up in the house of representatives and blasted the Leader of Opposition into pieces by delivering an epic speech on Sexism and Misogyny in Australia and the Leader of Opposition’s double standards on the issue. The speech went viral on the social networking sites and Ms. Gillard was hailed as the first head of state anywhere in the world to have put the issue of gender sensitivity in a very clear perspective. Back here in India, I sat back and saw the way in which she launched the attack, awed by the content of her words and even more by her composure while delivering the speech.

It was in this context that I was overjoyed to receive an invitation from Youth Forum on Foreign Policy in my capacity at Youth Ki Awaaz to be a part of one of the very few people who would have a chance to interact with Ms. Gillard, when she visited India a week later. On 16th, I walked in the Australian High Commission in New Delhi to meet the woman who had overnight become an inspirational figure for countless women across the globe.

Here is the report on the interaction between the Australian Prime Minister and a group of young people representing various organizations and forums.

The Australian High Commission in New Delhi organized an interaction with the Australian Prime Minister Ms. Julia Gillard on Tuesday, October 16th, 2012. The interaction was attended by various people representing a wide spectrum of youth leadership in the country. The interaction was moderated by well known Television Personality and the anchor of popular chat show ‘The Devil’s Advocate’, Mr. Karan Thapar.

Beginning the interaction, Ms. Gillard said that she was visiting India to inaugurate the Oz Festival, the biggest Australian Cultural Festival in India which will span for four months and would tour 18 cities. She said that the message of the festival was to show that face of contemporary Australia to the Indians and showcase her country’s diversity. She said that she was extremely proud of being the premier of a multicultural nation and that the immigrants from various parts of the world added to the “tapestry of modern Australia“. She also touched upon the issue of Racism in Australia, which had hogged headlines in the past two years due to the selected attacks on Indians in her country. She said that both Australia and India had a large population of the youth and that the future of engagement between these two countries was going to be defined by the young people of both the nations. She also said that youth in both the countries can contribute to the emerging world order as the economic interests of India and Australia will continue to converge in the future. She added that the ideas and opinions of the youth did make a difference to the leaders across the world. It was therefore necessary that groups of young people, apart from being organized and being visible, should also come up with practical suggestions that the leaders could implement.

On being asked about the strategic challenges facing the region, the Australian Prime Minister replied that both the country’s region was one with the most middle class consumers. She said that the leaders across the globe have begun realizing this fact as the global economic weight has been gradually shifting to Asia and Asia Pacific. She said that ultimately, all the countries in this region would be responsible for shaping the strategic reality of the region.

On the issue of the sale of Uranium to India, Ms. Gillard said that it would take time for both the countries to negotiate a civil nuclear cooperation agreement. She also added that her party’s decision to sell Uranium to India, reversing a 40 year old policy, was not based on any strategic calculations.

Replying to a query on how women in both the countries can be a part of mainstream political dialogue, Ms, Gillard replied that both the countries were at the midpoint of change in politics for women. She said that she was optimistic about this change and that she was sure that soon it would be routine for the people in both the countries to see half the parliament occupied by women members, the election of a female Prime Minister and the increased induction of women ministers in the cabinet. She expressed hope that soon both the countries would get to a stage where their political dialogues were gender blind.

Upon being asked about the United State’s increasing role in the region and the advantages and risks associated with it, the visiting Prime Minister replied Australia had a long term alliance with the United States. She said that the United States has been engaged in the region and that it was a “force of stability“. She added that her government was of the view that it was important for countries in the region to develop and nurture a relationship of peace and accumulate habits of cooperation.

Ms. Gillard was also asked about Australia’s relationship with China and how was her government looking forward to balance that relationship in the context of its relations with India, to which she replied that Australia had a strong and deep engagement with China. She said that her country wanted to see the rise of China optimistically and that relationship between different countries was not a blind sum game. She opined that China’s growth did not translate into the contraction of India’s market and that the region was emerging into the age where there will exist a dominance of multiple nations. She added that it was important for both India and China to build a mutually beneficial relationship for peaceful co-existence in the region.

On the issue of maritime security, Ms. Gillard repeated that it was important for countries across the region to foster a habit of cooperation and that issue regarding maritime security and conduct needed to be governed by the rule of the international law.

Answering a query on the Millennium Development Goals and their effectiveness and impact, Ms. Gillard said that the MDGs have been remarkable catalysers to world’s efforts in eradicating global poverty, lowering maternal mortality etc. She said that it was important for the nations to not lose hope after 2015 and push for achieving these goals even after their time frame has ended.

Concluding the session by elaborating on her relationship with Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Government of India, she said that it was not her mandate to lecture other countries on their domestic politics. She said that it was important that in order to maintain economic growth, a country also ushers in economic reforms. She added that it was a difficult task for politicians around the world to implement economic reforms and change the status quo.

Post Script: After the formal interaction, I had a chance to interact one on one with the premier where I briefed her about the work of Youth Ki Awaaz. She congratulated the entire team on their efforts saying that Youth Organizations like ours were needed in order to spread awareness and increase advocacy of critical issues. I also asked her about the efficacy of mechanisms which reserve a given number of seats for women in the country’s Parliament by referring to the practice in her own country, where, instead of bringing about a law to this effect, her party has been internally reserving 35% of “winnable seats” for the women candidates. She answered by saying that different countries had their own different way of functioning. Drawing my attention to Papua New Guinea where a vote to this effect had recently failed, she said that it was for the countries themselves to find out which way would work the best in increasing female participation in mainstream political discourse of their respective countries.

An Open Letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh: Why Bash the Chinks?

First Published in Youth Ki Awaaz on May 6, 2012

Respected Sir,

Yes I used the ‘C’ word. It’s not for ‘coup’ or ‘corruption’ as you may suppose (or may be led to suppose), but it’s the single most common cultural slur used across the nation: chinki. If we have to get rid of this slur, we should not hide it in the closets of our minds or the backrooms of our vocabulary, but bring it out in the open just as we cannot win the fight against HIV or caste for that matter by abstaining from saying ‘HIV’ or ‘Caste’.

I am writing you this letter in order to highlight the sense and extent of alienation and suffering that has been instilled in the minds of the people coming from the North Eastern part of our country, especially those whose facial features do not match the facial features of a person coming from mainland India. Yes, chinkis they are – chinkis with pride, respect, a profound love for their culture and their land. But why are they made to pay a price for looking like what they do? Let me state at the outset that I have no answers. I am only going to ask you questions about things that your government or your party’s government should have done long ago, but failed to do.

I could have addressed this letter to someone else. Maybe UPA chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi who allegedly calls the shots in your government or Delhi Chief Minister Mrs. Sheila Dikshit who has for the past several years taken no steps at all in order to arrest this sense of discrimination among the North East students even and especially in the country’s capital. However, I have chosen to write to you because you happen to represent Assam in the country’s upper house of the parliament, a state, which happens to be in the North East.

Sir, 65% of our country’s population is under 35 years of age. Yet, if I may ask you, how many among those 65% not belonging to the North East can name the seven sisters and their capitals? How many of them, the so called nationalists and patriots, can even trace a north eastern state correctly on the country’s map? If my experience is anything to go by, except for some of the ardent students of geography, none, not even one, can do so. And right now, even as they read this letter, they are busy fumbling through the country’s map in order to memorize the seven sisters.

I do not intend to point fingers at anyone. Actually, I do not have that many fingers to point if I am asked who is responsible for this situation. However, the recent protest at Jantar Mantar against the killing of Richard Loitam, an architecture student studying in Bangalore and the suicide of Dana Sangma, the niece of the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, in her hostel room due to the discrimination she faced in her college speaks volumes about the extent to which the situation has deteriorated (I can bet those cultural nationalists can’t even name the Chief Minister of Meghalaya).

Nowhere could have a 119 day blockade of a constituent state gone unnoticed except in a country like India. The Indian state skips a heartbeat every time there is a demand for secession from the Indian Union by a state from the North East. And these demands are justified. Who would like to remain in a country where the government treats the residents of a particular state as ‘guests’? Who would like to remain in a country where you are discriminated against day in and day out?

As a recent article by our columnist Purnett Moirnagtham pointed out, the administration of this country takes care in giving the students from the North East a good headache by making them memorize all about the mainland India and making them learn Hindi – a language completely alien to them. Yet the people from the mainland do not know much about their North Eastern counterparts. I have been asked on occasion whether Bihu was the name of a bird and have been completely stumped on other occasions on being asked the capital of Imphal. What does one answer in these situations? What does one answer when she/he is asked whether she/he is from China?

As a student, my experience with my north eastern counterparts has been enriching and educating to say the least. But how does one deal with those culturally insensitive people who do not at all wish to interact with them by saying “they all look alike!” As a nation which goes ballistic when an incident of racism occurs against “Indians” abroad, how do we tackle this gigantic magnitude of racism that we ourselves perpetuate at home? According to a statistic, 78 out of 100 people in Delhi face racism. If the extent of discrimination is so high in the country’s capital, what does one say about the country as a whole?

Respected Sir, we are a country which takes pride in its cultural diversity. Yet, nowhere in the country is culture as diverse as in the North East. I haven’t personally visited that part of our country, yet even the description of Bihu makes me want to dance, even a syllable of Assamese makes me want to learn it and even the mention of Bhoot Jolokia makes me rush for a glass of water. Yet, for most of the “Indians”, north east remains a place where “they” eat dogs. This deliberate cultivation of the cultural other has happened over a period of time, and exponentially during the time when you have been in power.

I appeal to you to urgently take measures in order to stop the discrimination against the seven sisters by their testosterone pumping counterparts in the mainland. Unless serious steps are taken for the correction of the same starting from speedy delivery of justice for the families of Dana and Richard, I, personally, and the people of North East collectively, would continue to blame your government and especially you, for failing to improve this situation.

Yours

Anshul Kumar Pandey