photos > April 25 2009 rally for education rights
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A group of women, all pavement dwellers from an area of Calcutta called Raja Bazaar, who I spoke to at length before the rally. They explained why they are here, detailing their various injustices at the hands of the government. They are a group that The Calcutta Samaritans (TCS) has been working with for about 2 years, helping them get ration cards, birth certificates for their children and enrolling their kids in schools. Their occupations: rag pickers, paper sorters and one vegetable seller.
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At the last TCS staff meeting I attended, the NGO workers were taken to task by their superiors for shoddy documentation. They work constantly with homeless populations, but apparently, often fail to record the names and details of the people they help. Ultimately, that is bad for the organization when it seeks funding... they need numbers to justify their work. So at this rally, there was a heavy emphasis on signing people in.
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This picture and the next one are at the rally's staging area, in College Square, opposite the University of Calcutta.
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The rally getting started...
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Here's me with Runu, one of the TCS campaign coordinators. She has taught me lots about their work. We are both wearing visors that say something about civil society organizations and fighting for education rights (Bengali). I was extremely thankful for this little bit of cardboard on my forehead... the high temp on the day of the rally was 43C!! (that's 109F)
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We walked from College Square, near the Central metro stop, to Esplanade, where there were speeches and lots of chants using a megaphone. From start to finish, it was about two and a half hours. I think we walked about 2.5 km... not long. But it was slow.
The organizers were very good at maintaining two single-file lines and keeping everyone on the side of road.
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On the right, in red, is Shamim, another TCS campaign coordinator. She is very straightforward and big-hearted. Although I should say that this description is true for most of the TCS staff... I guess their line of work attracts such people.
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Interestingly, because of their association with these NGOs, many people spoke about their problems in the language of citizenship rights, using words like "adikaar" (rights) and "desh" (country). Most of the people there were either slum dwellers or pavement dwellers.
I spoke to a group of pavement-dwelling women who described their belongings being set on fire by the police ("they used to tear apart our jhopras (informal dwellings) and burn them in our own cooking fires.") The same group said that since their association with TCS, the police have largely left them alone, but their existence is still precarious. One thing I heard often is that they think the government does not want to give them formal citizenship status, in the way of identity documents... and government officials justify this by saying they are Bangladeshi. They also suffer harassment for the same reason. In fact, all the women I talked to were either Bengali or Bihari.
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As with many forms of political protest, there was an air of fun and play at this rally, especially for the younger participants. At times it felt more like a parade than a rally. People on buses often waved to us. These guys loved my camera, and I took many a picture of them in "hero" poses (inspired by Bollywood...)
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