Social Work Students Forum at TISS-Mumbai to Organize Sameeksha 2006-07

Social Work Students Forum at TISS-Mumbai to Organize Sameeksha 2006-07
Theme: "Existence & Resistance: Exploring Alternatives"
On December 15-17, 2006

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Existence & Resistance: Exploring Alternatives

In the present dynamics between the individual, the community and the society, resistance has become the chief modus operandi of existence. It has become inevitable to question the very essence for existence.

The concerns vary from the significance of existence with identity, with degree of resistance, and hence, with the presence of alternatives.

Question also arises that does 'governing element' generate the 'process of marginalized existence'? There seems to be some kind of resentment brewing that manifests itself in the form of resistance whether it is in an individual's mind or in a society.

Existence survives at the transitional zone of resistance versus oppression and imposition. The case can be that of the Islamic and Sikh communities in USA post 9/11 where they are victimized on racial grounds or that of Iraqi people fighting for themselves and their subjugation or that of Nepal.

In India, the resistance comes from those whose land has been acquired and now it is a question of survival, or from those who have been thrown out of their own homes, those who face ridicule and discrimination daily because of their caste, their class, their religion or their gender. The instances are numerous - the kalinga nagar killings, land acquisition under the special economic zones, the Special Armed Forces Powers Act in North East, the Kashmir conflict, or the basic question of human rights for dalits in the country, the strife to exist has become universal.

The craving for luxurious existence of humans has urged the nature to revolt for itself. Ecology and the environment is also showing its existence in the form of global warming, global climatic change which get manifested in the form of "natural disasters", questioning the human existence itself.

In this context, hence, the question is existence for whom and at whose cost? Whose development? Where do we locate ourselves in the whole discourse? Is everybody in a position to resist for their own existence?

At this juncture, exploring alternatives becomes an important endeavour. An alternative to existence might be a fantasy, but yes, exploring alternatives to forms of resistance, and therefore, forms of existence can certainly be a reality.

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