A Secular Action Manual for Activists in India
by Indian National Social Action Forum (INSAF)
About The Guide
INDIAN NATIONAL SOCIAL ACTION FORUM (INSAF), in the few years of its existence, has attempted to provide a broad based secular democratic forum both to resist the forces of globalisation-liberalisation and the forces and threat of communal politics by revitalising our secular traditions and building secular communities. INSAF is involved in a nationwide process of training and establishing a network of activists committed to secular action.
This Guide is aimed to strengthen this process and provide guidelines for the creation of secular communities at the grass-roots level. It is not a blue-print for action, but only suggestions for making effective intervention possible. While drawing up these guidelines, it is assumed that the activists would be able to make necessary innovations according to the prevailing local situation.
The guide consists of two parts.
The first part consists of two essays. The first essay by K.N.Panikkar [Chapter-1] addresses general problems of communalism, evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the existing forms of secular action and suggests possible ways of intervention. The second [essay] by Romila Thapar [Chapter 2] examines the myriad ways in which communalism has made use of History and underlines the need for a proper and scientific understanding of history for combating communalism.
Myths are integral to communal propaganda. There are scores of them disseminated through both traditional and modern network of communication at the command of communal organisations.
The second part of the guide picks up some of these myths and presents facts to counter them. The myths chosen are, Appeasement of minorities [Chapter 3], Population of minorities [Chapter-4], Hindutva [Chapter 5], The Partition [Chapter 6], Personal Law [Chapter 7] and Secularism [Chapter 8]. Sections on each one of them has a reading list which those who like to pursue further can make use of.
The third part is on methodology of creating Secular Communities [Chapter 9]. It contains suggestions about the manner in which the secular activists could organise their work. How culture could be used by local communities for furthering secular consciousness [Chapter 10] is the focus of the fourth part. The fifth part lists the existing resources for secular action available in print as well as in audio and video media.[Chapter 11]
The original idea of launching this guide emerged out of a workshop, "Generating resource material for the training of secular grassroot activists" held at Virar (Mumbai) in October 1996. This 3-day workshop provided the conceptual framework and other valuable inputs for the manual.
A number of associates and supporters of INSAF have contributed in many ways through discussions, sharing of insights and experiences in the preparation of this publication. To name just a few, we are thankful to Prof. Romila Thapar, Prof. K. N. Panikkar, Ms. Teesta Setalvad, Dr. P. N. Ram, Leslie Rodricks, and Mr.K.P.Sasi for the artwork. The Guide will be revised and updated in course of time on the basis of our actual experience of building up secular communities. That is an effort in which the local activists could creatively participate.
AJIT MURICKEN
December 6, 1997
Secretary-General
for INDIAN NATIONAL SOCIAL ACTION FORUM (INSAF)