The South African Constitution is one of the most progressive in the world. Nelson Mandela took great care to ensure the concept of equality was wide and comprehensive. Discrimination on the basis of one’s sexual orientation is for example illegal. Elton John could therefore sing and dance as pleases.
In March, the South African constitutional court ruled that it was discriminatory for a school to ban an Indian girl from wearing a stud in her nose on the basis that this was an integral part of her cultural and religious identity. To allow the school to force her to remove her stud on the pretext that it offended school rules would affect the dignity of the human being. Indians are a visible racial minority in South Africa and the court gave maximum protection under the equality provision.
The right to be comfortable about one’s identity and enjoy living in a free society that affords maximum liberties curtailed only by the John Stewart Mills principle that restrictions be imposed to avoid harm to society or another individual is the cornerstone of civilization. The destruction of a people’s identity is by far one of the worst social crimes possible.
Thus, locally, Israel Khan’s legal battle to be allowed the right to wear Nehru suit in the Magistrate’s Court and his symbolic shredding of his tie is an important social statement about his own quest for equal space for his cultural identity. The successful fight by Sumayaah Hosein against a denominational school for the right to wear her hijab and the more recent controversy over the right of African students to wear their dread locks in school, are local manifestations of our own problems with diversity.
In last weeks column I confronted a demon that has stalked the Indo-Trinidadian community since I was a child. It has always been a topic of heated discussion that many fear publicizing because of the risk of being misunderstood or worst yet branded a racist. The issue is the exclusion of Indian men in advertisements in the print and electronic media and in particular in the portrayal of man-woman relationships. Women are invariably portrayed as partners to non-Indian men who are portrayed as modern, sexy and desired. Indian men are seldom used and when they are, their role is subsidiary and peripheral.
The avalanche of e-mails, calls and congratulatory messages confirmed the burning nature of this long-standing grouse. It generated an intense discussion on the website created by a handful of overseas Trinis who religiously follow this column (http//:www.anandramlogan.com) and showed that people wanted equal respect.
The subtle forms of discrimination are the more difficult ones to spot and accept as prejudice is often unconscious. To this day, many in our society fail to understand how the Trinity Cross as our highest award could have been discriminatory. There is always some justification or explanation and people get very defensive over discrimination. An advertising executive called me to say he never noticed the exclusion of Indian men in ads that portray relationships but admitted to having conducted his own informal survey in last week only to realise that there was much merit in this perception. He defended it as a mere coincidence but accepted that if the tables were reversed he would have felt slighted.
One African leader highlighted the ‘colour coded form of discrimination’. There was a clear preference for the fairer complexion among us regardless of race. This is what accounted for the disproportionate representation of white and light-skinned (mixed people). “When was d last time yuh see a kinky-hair black African woman with her luscious thick lips and generous sexy proportions in an ad?” she asked.
Nelson Mandela is perhaps the greatest advocate for gay rights but this fact is conveniently hidden because it is difficult to see discrimination against gays through the same telescope as apartheid. Many cannot bear to associate their hero with homosexuals. The quest for comfortable expression of one’s identity is part of the legitimate struggle for genuine equality. It is for this reason perhaps Panday disagreed with the word ‘tolerance’ as one of our national watchwords. ‘People no longer want to be ‘tolerated’ but respected and appreciated’, he said. Those who enjoy the status quo must do some soul searching and pose the question “what if it were me?”
By Anand Ramlogan
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This site commends Dominic Kalipersad, Editor-in-Chief of the Trinidad Guardian, for his courage and leadership in promoting Freedom of Expression through his newspapers.
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Administrator's note: This matter may be of of importance under S4(h) of the Constitution of Trinidad & Tobago: freedom of conscience and religious belief and observance - hence it's promotion to a separate topic line.
Namaskaar. I am truly sorry for my delay in bringing this issue to the table. Yet, due to unavailable internet access, this my earliest opportunity. Of course, this is not quite a valid excuse in relation to the importance of making this matter recognized.
I am a fourteen year old, attending a rather ‘prestigious’ school in this country. Yet, the oppression I am faced with, based on my religious, Hindu beliefs, is quite disgraceful. Of course, no great school will like their name to be quoted alongside my previous statement, yet, their religious discrimination against myself as well as others of my religious faith, has enforced me to take some form of action.
Taken that you may not know what a raksha is, it is a sacred thread tied mainly on the wrists of Hindu devotees, after the completion of a pooja or religious ceremony. I do accept that many people do not believe in our religious actions, yet I do not approve of and appreciate them abiding by ‘ignorance is bliss’, because it is us, Hindu youths, who are being affect by this.
Many schools throughout Trinidad (and I am sure, Tobago as well) are being faced with religious discrimination by the school administration, by not being able to wear this religious icon on our wrists. To some, this may be of their ignorance to understand the reasons in which we carry out these poojas, wear the raksha, and then are required to continue wearing it afterwards. However, to others, this is blatantly because of their belief that we Hindus are pagans.
However, whatever the reason may be, we youths feel cheated against because although some of us are equipped to stand up and give precise and effective answers to why we do what we do, we are commonly hushed and told that ‘religious matters are quite tender and several issues may arise’. SO WHAT? Isn’t that supposed to happen? Isn’t this an issue? Isn’t our inability to practice our rather simple religious belief and issue?
Isn’t it rather disturbing to point out that Muslim girls are allowed to wear their long sleeves, pants, overalls and hijabs, and we, innocently following what the pundit told us to do, are rudely confronted and told to ‘take off that string; it’s not a part of the school rules’. BUT WHY? Why is this so? If your answer is that I belong to a school of another religious background, and that I should abide by the religious structure of that institution, then why is it that so much has been put in place to accommodate the Islamic faith, yet much ignorance is faced against us.
But why is this so? I ask this, out of great humility, to anyone who can share some light on this issue. To others, this may be new news, and I do hope that it arises some concern within. Please know that my remarks about my Muslims sisters were not intended to be offensive, but just used as observations to build my point. I ask you to post any questions or comments you have, and I will try my very best to attend to them at the earliest time possible. Namaskaar.
Shivana