"Bar Girls" Stir in Maharashtra - in the working class' eyes
The govt of Maharashtra [henceforth mentioned as MR] perhaps thought its people would be merrily April Fooled by its banning action regarding the dancing girls of the liquor-bars in last of March; but things turned out differently, and the govt started jugglery of words. First, it was an 'attempt to save the Marathi culture' and 'Marathi youth' from being spoiled by those 'silly', 'luring' 'western' dances and consequences. But why Mumbai was spared, which has incidentally the largest population of 'bar girls' in MR, and also perhaps in the country? Are their 'Marathi youths' in Mumbai vaccinated against such silly-western viruses? They couldn't answer. Then came the plea of Bangladeshi dancers swelling in number 'endangering the security of the country'. But still questions hovered on ? why spare Mumbai, and why ban 100% for just 10% or less [even if we leave aside questioning the stupidly religious ? fanatic idea of portraying Bangladeshi citizens as 'Muslims, hence Suspicious & Security Risk', at the glee of the Shivsenas and BJP-RSS]? Perhaps the logical pressure of their own position will compel the govt to ban bar-dancing in Mumbai too; or, perhaps the question of the 'contribution' of the 'bar- industry' to the state exchequer plus the natural cultural consequence of the 'free-market' & 'liberalisation' will oblige the govt to 'retreat' from its position of cultural-guardianship. Or, everything will continue all the same, but only under cover! But, nonetheless the govt of MR has stirred up, albeit unthinkingly, some very glaring, key social issues: matters, in each of which the revolutionary socialist proletariat have definite opinions. However, before going to some of those points, the small conscious contingent of the working class would at first like to express their support, solidarity, sympathy to those working girls, our own class-sisters in a manner (and not a few of them from our retrenched-workers' families), who are fighting against the govt for putting 75000 of them jobless at a single stroke of pen, and mercilessly too, without thinking a tad about the future of those thousands of families; and who are protesting in such a way so that they can never be depicted as defenders of the dance-bar industry or system.
Firstly, a very small fraction of the Marathi male-youth has the inclination / taste, and fat purse / sleek 'cards' to become clientele of this dance-bar industry; though you have tried hard thro' your 'film' industry and media to corrupt them all. The fraction, which has the above-mentioned quality and quantity, will by any means go to 'entertain' themselves in ways they like. No ban can stop them from fulfilling their desires, which then would be performed 'illegally', and those goody-boys knows ways to bend the laws to their convenience. The govt's 'anxiety' about the Marathi youth is nothing but an insult to the majority of Marathi youth. And about the minority for which the govt is so concerned — well, sirs, why your good 'innocent' boys can so easily be tempted to sex-market? How, sirs, you have brought them up? Who have taught your goody-fellows such values so as to be 'vulnerable'? And the blame will go to those 'bad' bar girls only? Is it not sheer vilification of the entire 'women' kind, depicting them as vamps that lure and spoil your 'good' boys?
Point number two: who created and had spread the dance-bar industry to such a height so as to employ 75 to hundred thousands of bargirls and almost 500 thousands of bar-service-boys? Everybody knows that this industry skyrocketed in the post-Globalisation era. And then either the Congress-alliance or the BJP-Sivshena alliance was ruling the state. The same applies to the central govt also, sparing few months of the third-front regime, which by the way had shown the same economic [and cultural] belief-system. You, sirs, have worked for the spread of the industry; your media made the necessary 'public opinion', your economics made the strata more fat-pocketed to throw as much money they want on luxuries. And the same economy of yours pushed thousands of girls belonging to the ever increasing downtrodden layer created by it to this 'industry'; be it by throwing hundreds of thousands out of job, be it through rapid de-industrialisation of MR, particularly of Mumbai and Pune, be it through creating millions of new unemployed youths who don't have much options left if they get any hell of a job... and you brutes are blaming the bargirls of alluring your goody-sons to be customers of the next higher wrung of the sex-market ? the prostitution industry. Shame on you, sirs! You are pushing the 'retrenched' bargirls to that next wrung of the sex market, and you are blaming them for alluring your darling sons!!
And what about the 'prostitution industry' and flesh trafficking, sirs? They have also multiplied themselves speedier in the same post '91 period, courtesy, your [mis] rule. You made the field easier for flesh trafficking, and placed Mumbai as a main centre of it; you have tarnished the image of Mumbai, once famous for glorious workers' battles. Who are you to blame the Bangladeshi [and Indian-Bengali] girls? How fantastically then you had 'liberated' Bangladesh in '71, so that poverty-stricken girls from there can be forced to become commodities for the international sex-market within just a decade or two of 'winning national independence'? ... ... ...
If all the above are matters on the surface-level of the problem, the kernel level questions are about the attitude of the ruling classes and ours regarding suppression, degradation, and commodification of women, and the liberation of womankind. In this respect it may be written the — the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles and subjugation of womankind by male dominated class societies and consequences there from.
The Attitude Of The Ruling Classes And Ours [Socialists'] Regarding Suppression, Degradation, And Commodification Of Women, And The Liberation Of Womankind
While the male dominated pre-capitalist societies chained the women in servitude blatantly, created a special sector of women to be 'enjoyed' by them and named it 'aadi byabsaya', ancient business, to their convenience; enforced the laws of 'virginity' and 'chastity' upon other women for the sake of transfer of property through paternal hereditary lineage, etc; the capitalist society 'liberated' women only to the extent of making them cheaper wage slaves and sex-commodities blatantly. Even right of voting in elections were to be earned through long fights by women in those 'developed' countries; 'communist' Russia had women deputies and women voters much before than in the 'home of civilisation' England! In countries like India, which didn't or couldn't overthrow the pre-capitalism in a revolutionary manner, much of the pre-capitalist social systems and values remained in force, and still today they remain. One Rajia Sultana or one Lakshmi Bai were exceptions, and they couldn't dream of doing and/or didn't do any harm to the hierarchy of male domination, otherwise they would have themselves written off from the male dominated official history. Imperialism only contributed to further vulgarisation of capitalist ethics-morality-aesthetics regarding women; the latter and former are essentially male dominated all the same, including the pre-capitalist ones, only some changes in variety of domination occurred. (And, from the 'ancien r?gime' right up to these days, the 'refined' "gentlemen" were not content with 'fleshy' sex only ? hence they 'created' their BASANTASENA-s [of Mrichchhakatikam fame] and 'Kamasutas' [Batsayana] also, and such 'tastes' in a further 'developed' form are nakedly displayed in the "Ms. X" type contests also.) So, in India, values regarding women are a hotchpotch mix of pre-capitalist?capitalist?imperialist values. Here Sati, Shariat, and Shova De, Lakshmi, Lijjat [papad] and Lakm?, easily cohabit. What women should do, how they'll behave in different occasions, what and how they will wear and etc all are designed by male-masters' standards for women-slaves [partly wage-slave partly forced] even if they are uttered out by 'female spokes-persons' of this hierarchy. Hindi film and soap opera industry can be called the best archive and teacher of such value systems. Our ruling classes and individual rulers all subscribe to those aforesaid value-systems, late Ms. Gandhi was no exception, and only the percentage compositions of each three ingredients are different for different parties and leaders. By the way, even Ms Brinda Karat of the CPIM once voiced her deep anguish against the prevalence of such traditions in her party too! [Whereas, once, perhaps in the mid or late nineties, Mr Vikraman Nair was astonished and overwhelmed seeing so many women [almost 40%] and coloured people [almost 50%] on the topmost layer of the Party in Democratic Cuba, achieved without any system of reservations!] Here the maximum possible boundary of women's liberation is Master Degree passed- perhaps Computer & Mobile versed 'serving in reputed professions' like teaching, etc, Sati-Sabitri 'wife', 'mother' and obedient 'daughter-in-law' at home, perhaps 'also can speak English and go to parties'. There is no place for her 'self', the 'person' in her, anywhere. And dare to go beyond this boundary, and then one will become 'of other' types, who can certainly be 'enjoyed' with by the males, but can never be an 'insider'. [So horrible is the situation of Indian society that in the so called 'cultured' and 'left-bastion' West Bengal a slang phrase can get a very quick spread ? 'if caught?Dhanojoy, if not?enjoy', after the Death Penalty of a rapist cum murderer named Dhanonjoy Chakrovorty.]
Of course these domination and exploitation naturally give rise to rebellions, and that indeed was the case, particularly in the second half of the twentieth century. To us, the working class, these rebellions are justified, even if there are plenty cases of excesses, because excesses are part and parcel of any worthy rebellion. Male parts of the working class should be extra cautious about handling such excesses, perhaps they need not interfere at all and leave this task to the female part of them; it is indeed difficult to get rid of male chauvinism totally in this social environment even by advanced class-conscious part of the class. We need not feel perturbed by those 'excesses'; rather we should welcome rebellions. Eventually the question of 'class' will come ? liberation from what, liberation in which way, etc ? whether the values suggested by some are compatible with the pre-capitalism or capitalism, etc.... And conscious women will make the choice. They may need help, but no 'dictation', mind that. In countries like India, capitalist [in true sense and revolutionary democratic sense] values are also progressive to the extent that they want to destroy the nauseating medieval patriarchy prevalent here; and after all we are in the stage of democratic revolution still now; and that helps in developing the 'person', the 'individual' in a person, without that development the progress towards the 'higher collective standing on the base of, and not undermining, developed individuals' is impossible.
This society, and present day societies in general, are so polluted with stinking rotten value-systems that what actually means by liberation of womankind cannot be thought of being inside these societies, being born and brought up inside these societies; perhaps it will take decades after socialist revolutions in the world to conceive that idea and bring it out in reality, of course mainly by women themselves. Even our teachers like Marx, Lenin or Mao, and great intellectuals like Sartre didn't attempt to place a 'complete solution, with all exact detail' on this issue; neither we should try to 'invent' the same. [As for example, it is too early to predict what will happen to the thing and idea present-day 'family' that is historically developed along with, concurrently with, 'private property' and 'state'.] And this has to be done, because without that liberation, liberation of humanity is unthinkable. Perhaps at present we can just say that women will not and must not get equal treatment as men in societies, they should not be placed at par, just after revolutions, at least for a certain not-so-short period ? rather they should get privilege at least on two counts: - [1] they have been suppressed and exploited for millennia, and the same privilege should also be given to all other groupings exploited for centuries [or millennia] in the societies, like dalits, adivasis, exploited nationalities, etc; without that privilege they cannot come to the 'level playing filed', using a bourgeois expression; [2] if given opportunities, all women can prove easily that they can do no worse than men in the fields of productions and reproductions of material and spiritual things; and what is more, they bear the main, almost total, burden of the reproduction of the society itself, hence they deserve special attention and care of the whole of the society . These should be borne in mind by the proletariat while thinking about liberation of humanity. No hurried 'steps' or 'thoughts' are to be 'invented' in this respect by the proletariat. And women must be drawn inside the arena of class struggle towards the emancipation of the society as a whole. Only, all pre-capitalist?capitalist atrocities, oppressions, insults on and discriminations against women are to be fought against by the working class. Mature women are not asking for 'kindness' or 'sympathy' from their male counterparts, they deserve the 'respect' as equal 'humans', as 'persons'.
The bargirls' stir has also another big significance ? those thrown down to the lowest depths of the society are raising their protests, are coming on to the streets against this rotten society in their own way. What is remarkable is that they got organised, had their own Trade Union, and till now they haven't bowed down before any established Parties / TU s / eminent persons ... begging for help. The lower depths are heating up, from deep down below voices are coming up; the society is showing restlessness also thro' this movement. Bravo, the Bargirls of MR ? keep it up!
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