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Consciousness rising or shedding of blood

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The readings of this week deal with identity, rights, struggle and negotiation, in individual and collective spaces. Discrimination in its many forms still prevalent in this 21st century and there is no easy or quick escape from it (at least in the near/ immediate future). Therefore, it is crucial to continue our fight against any form of discrimination and marginalization (racial, cast-based, gender-based, sexual orientation –based, etc.).

As a student of communication, I am noticing instances/applications different strategies of negotiation in addressing/ handling these crises. It is true that there is no “True”/ right/perfect/ ideal way of negotiation with these crises; but oftentimes, I think (at least in my limited personal domain) these various strategies leads to dichotomy (may or may not be contradictory). Some of them are:

Revolution and Reform: e.g. - In the fight for Black right, we have seen non-violent movements led by Dr. King and the ‘extremist’ politics of Malcom X and Black Panthers co-existed in the same historical era.

Consciousness rising and shedding of blood: The end goal of these two may or may not be mutually exclusive; the question is- how should one negotiate with the two ‘seeming opposite’ ideology- one of them is ‘apparently peaceful’ and other one is ‘apparently terrorist-like’ approach.

Everyday death and actual death (in many case- murders): In many situations we encounter the feeling of day-to-day death/ silencing of our identity; and at the same time some of us are taking risk (of life sometimes) to disrupt the dominance.

I am very much struggling to understand these ‘apparent’ dichotomies/ contradictions with respect to my own privilege (social, political, economic, ideological etc.) and my own stance. Hopefully, this journey/ learning will help me to negotiate with the most obvious question “Who am I?”.

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