Politicizing Shit

The recent incident of Dalits smearing human excreta for saving their homes in a place called Savanur in Haveri district, Karnataka, one of the southern Indian states, has created diverse responses from civil society.

The most common response from the incident is that it is the ‘worst’ kind of protest anyone can do. Some people even may say ‘SHIT’!’ about the news!

Paul McCarthy's sculpture "Complex Shit" (2008)

After this news was carried by mainstream newspapers, the state government and the municipal authority have been questioned for allowing such practices (scavenging) in their state (Karnataka). Still the government has not been questioned on why they were thrown out of their homes, instead the anxieties of civil society seems to focus more on ‘why they were allowed to pour human excreta on their body’!

Here I quote Justice Nayak, the Chairman of The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) — “The state government is undeniably guilty of continuing the system of manual scavenging despite reminders by the National Human Rights Commission and State Human Rights Commission”.

I would like to argue that the act of pouring shit on their own body in protest against State’s forceful eviction from their homes, is a political act, not only against the civil society, but also as a potent critique against the contemporary Dalit Movement in the country. However, as usual, attempts have been made by the mainstream media and civil society alike to divert the metaphorical intervention of scavengers trying to politicize shit from its political context. The protesters poured excreta on them not to claim they are still scavengers, instead excreta is the only option of protection for the bodies/families of the scavenging community, in the eventuality of a displacement. The act was an act of politicising Shit.

It is pathetic that not only the dominant mainstream, but also the so-called ‘Dalit’ intellectuals and activists seem to ignore and sideline the political significance of this intervention from the scavenging communities. Dalit Movement has been reduced to an “NGO” of late, and people who run the NGOs dealing with the scavenging community should understand that stopping the profession will not bring dignity to the community. Rather, I would argue that dignity can only be achieved by politicising the profession (while at the same time not encouraging the current generation to accept it as a profession). I would argue that ‘the profession’ has never been acknowledged by political theory. Whenever scavenging and scavengers are discussed, the trend is to pose the question vis-à-vis the pornographic and voyeuristic visualization of the act of scavenging, resulting in eliciting only sympathy/pity. This is one of the main reasons for the lack of social respect for scavenging communities among the masses, including Dalits. There are many books written on scavenging and even documentaries produced depicting the sorrowful facet of the profession and the lives of the scavenging community. However, the framework is still caught up in the paternalistic Gandhian mode. There is a need for the civil society actors (including Dalit activists) who are trying to support the cause of scavenging communities to re-think and re-formulate their agencies. Rather than adopt a philanthropic approach, they should politicise the community.

What do we usually think when the scavenging profession is discussed? Only a bucket and a pool of yellow shit! Its is unlikely for anyone to think their life to be an intense political struggle as well. This is primarily because of the way the profession is constructed in the mainstream. One should remember that the word Black was derogatory at one point of time, before it was politicised by the Black intellectuals. By the act of smearing their body with shit, the scavenging communities have questioned and challenged mainstream constructions about their identities.