Why I support Kiss of love

If in the above picture, the nakedness offends you more than the abuse, beating, harm done to the woman. You are Part of the Problem. 

 

  I support Kiss of love

Kiss of Love protest #KissOfLove is a non-violent protest against moral policing. It started in Kerala and later spread to other parts of India.

It is as simple as that. It is against moral policing, which has nothing moral about it. It is against people who think they have a righteous high moral standing over others and that too backed by the cultural and religious values that make no sense.  These are the same people who are bystanders for everything right from an accident to someone teasing a girl or goons beating up someone, why? “It doesn’t concern us,” they say. “Why should I interfere?”, “Not my problem.” These are the same people who turn up in numbers, mind you in numbers not alone, as they don’t have an existence on their own, no thinking capacity, no individuality, no standing but in groups they can cause menace, terror, destruction, damage and even murder. For what? Because something offended them, something which they supposedly do not think is in line with their so called culture, tradition and religion.

It started because things were going out of hand. The moral policing was way beyond normal tolerance. Even the police were acting beyond their powers. The Law does not have anything about how someone dresses, where someone goes, or whether someone hugs or kisses in public. It has one word ‘obscene’ which is left for interpretation and these religious bigots made it very narrow. Hence this protest! All this is happening despite the fact that the Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court have made it clear that kissing in public is not an obscene act and no criminal proceedings can be initiated, for kissing in public, through landmark judgments.

I am sad (not surprised) at how the media is portraying the Kiss of Love protest. It has lost its aim, and its way and is just being portrayed as something rude and against tradition and society. Not surprised because the media is falling in line with the government in power, the government with its militant religious wings let off leash the #RSS #VHP #Bajrang Dal and others.

 

#Firstpost one of the premier online news website of the country, has a headline which reads “Right issue, wrong tactic: Why Kiss of Love protests miss the mark.” It also goes on to say that All the attention is on the kiss rather than the travesty of moral policing. (Of course, that a reporter spent his time counting the kisses at a kissing-protest speaks volumes about our comfort level with the act.) This clearly shows the ownership and news, truth or a unbiased view's conflict.

 

Isn’t that the basic problem? The media is missing the point or deliberately making sure they miss it and not the protest. The protest is not missing the point. It is bang on the point. It is an expression of counter-power against the government, police and the organizations that have taken up the baton of moral policing. It is a reaction to say that this is what you think is wrong so we are doing it in public, in numbers just to tell you that this is OK. It is just an expression of love, of friendship, or care, or attachment, of emotions and nothing of nudity and obscenity.

 

It is not about kissing in public. It is about the ban, taboo, the moral policing on it, the social stigma that is attached to holding someone’s hands, hugging someone and expressing in public. About not making out in public, no one would want to make out in public, against the claims of the so called sophisticated, cultural people whose moral and ethical standings are hurt by it.

 

The whole point of this is a fight for Rights, Freedom, Equality. It’s about the Right of one person over his/her body, the clothes they wear, the time to go out, and the place they decide to go or not to go to.  It’s as simple as that. No one has the right to stop someone or abuse someone because they think it is obscene or that a girl of wearing too clothes or something. It’s about Freedom of Expression. The freedom to express their love, their affection via hugs, kisses and holding someone and not making out in public as the people who are opposing this protest and cutting it down on this issue. And it’s against Inequality, the protest is against the power the self-policing organizations think they have over others; to beat-up and abuse the so called violators of their superficial and hypocritical code.

 

It is very easy to put down the protest which people are doing and saying that all those supporting this, let your moms and sisters kiss a stranger and that is OK? And people are blindly following the west and all sorts of ludicrous and vulgar comments, while claiming the protest to be vulgar saying that the protest will give rise to increase in forced kisses, sexism, eve teasing and all. These are the people who have no idea what the protest is all about and are blinded by some crappy religious, cultural beliefs and or are the majority of the mob, mobocracy, and power in numbers. It is not following anyone, it is about the basic rights of individuals which people clearly are missing, as they want to as most of them do not know that rights are for and why are they needed for. They are just giving it a bad name for the sake of it. Even the media and many others who understand it are giving it a bad name becoming pets of the government. This is ridiculous!

 

This is where you miss it all. It is about personal relations, friendship and not random people kissing for the sake of it. The aim is to let people express their love, friendship and emotions without the barrier or law or some crazy misled male chauvinists who think they have a greater stake in the society.

 

I support this campaign for the things I have written and also anything that is against personal freedom. And something whose basis is religion and culture, opposed to basic common sense and freedom, for me this is surely worth fighting for.

 

Anand Mangnale.

Being Human Beyond Theories..

Being Human Beyond Theories..

Why are we so shortsighted? So closed? Why do we have to give names to everything? Fix people in boundaries and limit everything, limit the basic of being human, evolution. Have we forgotten that we are evolutionary species, we have evolved, to the point we are now. So why stop now and bind yourself? The main problems I have in this regard are the political theories.

Am I a Democrat, Free Liberal westerner (well I am from India, so cannot be a westerner), Capitalist, Neo-liberal, Conservative, Progressive, Communist, Marxist, Socialist, Pro-dictatorship, Radical Libertarian, Anarchist or other hundred theories. Theories of politics – and that’s what dictates our whole life, a theory and not what we are or what we do.

This way, I am no one. I don’t think I would and basically want to fit into any of these definitions. Why would I? I love my freedom and this freedom isn’t limited to my thoughts, my movement or my behavior, but also not wanting to be stuck, grouped, and cited to be a part of some theory is another of the reasons. I am a human, and that’s what it is, why is anything more needed? I evolve, I learn, I think and get new experiences every day, which change me, and I like the change. Why then would I like to be stuck with some abstract theory, followed by millions? That is another problem with me; I won’t do it just because people do and that to a large numbers.

I don’t think a political theory is needed to dictate one’s life! Well people need something, to tell them what to do, kick their ass and push them to do things and that is a sad fact. The basis of being human is to feel for others, feel the pain, injustice, wrong in the world and fight against it using whatever means possible. As Ernesto Che Guevara said, “Above all, always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice committed against anyone, anywhere in the world.” That I feel is being human….does that make me a communist, a guerilla, again the worldly nomenclature? If it does I wouldn’t give a fuck.

If I am a fan of Ataturk and what he did in bringing Turkey from the 16^th century to the 21^st century, does that make me pro-dictatorship? It may, as the policies and decisions he took for the people and the way he enforced it, is worth admiring.

I feel that the world should be fair to everyone in spite of their race, caste, religion, ethnicity, and any other differences. Quoting Martin Luther King Jr. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."  That’s what we should be concerned and worried about rather than politics. We can blame each other; the west can blame the communists, and the dictators, forgetting conveniently that most of them were installed to serve their own interests in the first place. The vast exploitation and atrocities around the world is caused by the self-righteous Democracies, the Liberal west. And who is to blame - the political theory of the other country. These Democracies are democracies at home, in their own country and colonizers, exploiters elsewhere. So what is the Democracy worth, if it is selective and privileged and that too with its own troubles? Condemning this makes me Anti-democratic, well cheers then. As Mark twain had said, “If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it.”

The way world is going today, If the new world order means we are in the business of destroying anyone who questions our political agenda. I better be an Anarchist.

Religion that’s one thing I am proud of giving up early, I feel that’s the basic of injustice, inequality and bring bound. I would do right because I want to and not because of any religious practice. This is free will, to do good, be good; as we are born with feelings, emotions to help others and not make people outcasts, divide and blame on the basis of the religion.

 My attraction for Marxism is not for a political, scientific theory but it’s a passion for social justice.

I feel for the Incas in South America, about the rich culture and knowledge they had which was destroyed for commercial interests, feel nostalgic and connected to the people of whom I have never been a part of ever, feel the pain of the indigenous population who have to travel miles every day just for food, to whom the land belongs in the first place, who were driven out in the name of development. I feel for the Tibetans, who are self-emulating because of a greater force, China conquering it, I feel for the war torn people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and other countries who stood for themselves in some way for their betterment and the poor all around the world, and see Injustice and Inequality, poverty and exploitation everywhere and feel connected at some level, without even experiencing it ever.

What does that make me? Which political theory do I fit in? Does it make me weak? Vulnerable? Over-sensitive? Someone who is losing his mind? Socialist, humanist, communist or some other crazy new confused theory? I am happy to be a misfit. Whatever it may be I am happy to be this way. Knowing that the world is a fuckedup place and I will try and do my best to make some change one way or the other.

I know this all is pretty messy, untidy, unclear, bizarre, but that the way I get thoughts, thoughts which keep me awake for nights, make me think hard and long, which is an important part of my existence as a human.

What more beautiful than the song - Imagine – by John Lennon

"Imagine"

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one