The Baroda Incident

You've almost certainly heard about it already, but just in case - here's a link to zigzackly's post with links to news articles, blog posts and a schedule of protests that were, presumably, held today.

Also, a link to further developments here.

Enough has been said about the inherent fascism of these actions and the bitter irony of the fact that the hooligans involved are essentially protesting the very culture they claim to champion.

What I personally find frightening, though, is not that this can happen in what is supposedly a democratic society, or that those concerned can get away with it. What frightens me is their motive. The hooligans attacking the MSU Fine Arts faculty aren't, after all, motivated by any genuine moral outrage. They're motivated by a cynical calculation which tells them that attacking a group of artists in the name of tradition and culture will get them more support in the next elections.

They may, of course, be wrong about this. But assuming they're not, it frightens me to think that there are actually people out there who are MORE likely to vote for a party because its hoodlums attack students and act as if they're above the law. That people will vote for a party not out of self-interest (since it's hard to see how these voters could possibly benefit from this attack) but, presumably, out a sense of identification fueled by outrage over a work of art they've never even seen [1].

The incident at MSU is thus a failure of democracy in two ways. It is a failure of democracy because the executive failed to protect the rights of the individual and his / her freedom of expression. But if Niraj Jain and his cronies turn out to be right, then it's a failure of the electorate to recognize where its own best interest lies - its willingness to let trite nationalism or its own sense of disentitlement (because this isn't really about culture or religion, is it?) damage or destroy all that is positive or progressive in society. If actions like this help the BJP win the next election then those who vote for them will be like the basement dwellers who, outraged at their upstairs neighbors' place in the sun, bring down the roof on their own heads.

These incidents are also, of course, a reminder of just what the revival of India's past as envisioned by these self-styled champions of our culture amounts to. It is not the resurrection of our artistic and intellectual traditions they are after; rather it is a return to feudal parochialism, to a medieval pre-democratic society where artists and intellectuals are mistreated, originality and creativity punished, debate and free speech suppressed and dogmatism and prejudice rule the day. A stagnant, airless world where brute violence is the basis of power and those capable of it sit above the law, doling out whatever punishment their whims dictate. A society where the only way to ensure your personal safety is to stay silent and adhere to whatever ignorant tenets the rulers choose to lay down. A return, in short, to the middle ages. This is the 'culture' these people champion. These are the 'traditions' they hope to impose on us.

[1] Which reminds me, does anyone know how / where one can get hold of a picture of the supposedly offensive paintings. I'm curious. Plus I can think of few more effective ways to protest this kind of activity than by displaying the supposedly offensive image as widely as possible.

UPDATE: Some links to the 'offensive' works here, here and here (thanks to those who e-mailed me) - not particularly clear, though.