Reluctant
Rebellions: New and Selected Non-fiction
By
Shauna Singh Baldwin
151
pages, Center for Indo-Canadian Studies, 2016
Genre:
Non-fiction
“You cannot resist and
confront patriarchy, the longest-running empire the world has ever known, face
anxiety, uncertainty, peril, long-term suffering or separation, without a very
strong personal motive.
You will feel that
personal motive when something you or your child need is unjustly denied—such
as food, shelter, pay, opportunity, love, respect, child custody, or
inheritance. Then you will either subdue anger and swallow your pride, or
reluctantly rebel.” - Page 122, Reluctant
Rebellions.
Hi you, in the aftermath of Uri attacks, I found chest
beating not out of sorrow for the dead but “we will get you” while the Indian
defense establishment stayed silent thankfully. The surgical strikes which are
never publicized led to more chest thumping like gorillas. It was a narrative
that reminded me of partition! Many Indians who I would term sane took to
shouting on television and social media about how we should “nuke Pakistan.”
Really? How are we supposed to live with ourselves after killing so many
innocent beings and also why do these idiots not consider the aftermath of a
radiation filled neighborhood? Radiation
knows no boundaries and can cross the LoC and kill more innocents. As a nation,
we were zooming into hate, a phenomenon that I couldn’t digest and left many
Indians extremely uneasy. Then there were Clinton-Trump debates where both
exhibited “strength” that made me sick. These weren’t debates but narratives of
who will “beat the crap of anyone different from us” better. That is when I began to read “Reluctant
Rebellions” by Shauna Singh Baldwin, a Canadian author of Indian origin whose
ancestors were refugees from Pakistan and lives in the US. It is a series of essays and speeches that
gave me hope people will overcome the temporary madness we descend into if one
begins to not let dominant narrative define who we are.
Do we define our
identity or should we accept how others define us? Aren’t we really defined by
multiple identities like gender, race, religion, region, language, profession,
etc.? Since none of us choose to be born into any of these identities, how can
we let one category define us or commit the sin of generalizing an entire
community based on one category be it language, gender, race, religion, region,
profession, ideology, appearance or country? These are the questions that
Baldwin asks and answers in her brilliantly compassionate book, Reluctant Rebellions –New and Selected
Nonfiction, a collection of speeches and essays written over the last 20
years that covers over 200 years of world history.
Interesting insights
During
partition, the feminine values in all those of Baldwin’s grandparents’
generation died. The Indian subcontinent holocaust happened while the world
including the UN looked on and the British haven’t apologized to date. Eventually,
people came to accept it like a tsunami except in this case it was not natural.
Also, instead of helping people, who were affected, people killed and displaced
each other. At that time, people of the Indian subcontinent were a minority
whose lives didn’t matter. So what if over 17 million people were affected? We
weren’t considered human enough to dedicate a UN assembly session towards right
of return like they did for Palestinians or the Holocaust in the aftermath of
Partition like the Israelis.
Even
before that, during the Second World War, Indians died in millions including Noor
Inayat Khan who was killed by the Nazis as she spied for the Allies that helped
in the successful landings at Normandy. In the Western narrative of the Second
World War, the contribution of millions of Indians is not considered worth
being told. Baldwin reminds South Asian writers who write in English have “The
responsibility to twist, push and puncture the sanctity of English so it
translates the experience of the non-Christians”.
Over
the decades since independence, 160 million girl babies have disappeared or
killed in the name of gender selection in India. Again, silence has taken over
as no one wants to talk about it. In an era of terrorism worldwide, there is definition
only in the name of country or religion or both. She also says to writers
worldwide, “Believing in freedom of speech is not
enough—we need to fight for it, fight for the rights of writers and other
artists who are not free. That may mean fighting for the free speech rights of
people with whom we don’t agree.” Women are sidelined again. Crimes
against women are on the rise worldwide. So Baldwin urges women to reluctantly
rebel while maintaining our cultural hybrid identities with our primary
identity being human.
But
what exactly is “Reluctant Rebellion”? Baldwin answers this towards the end of
her book, “Reluctant rebellion is a mode of thinking
that questions boundaries and pushes back, kindly and firmly. It says, I respect you, and I also respect myself.”
The
style of the writing is crisp and at times reflective. Some passages are so
beautiful and moving that if begin to quote, I might end up quoting entire
essays. There are several “Oh! I didn’t know that” moments like the fact
undivided India had to pay money for its freedom! My favourite essay is
“Meeting the Bogeyman” as it is probably the most relevant to the world today
especially to the largest and oldest democracies which seem to be losing it.
This
is an important book to read to remind ourselves who we are, what we need to do
and what kind of world we wish to leave the future generations. So shall we
begin?
© 2016 by Deepa Kandaswamy
