Kanika Datta: The demonstration effect

It is no surprise that the Occupy Wall Street movement and its various global offshoots have attracted widespread attention. After all, it is rare that the Common Man in the West has felt the need to take to the streets in protest (as a global movement, the post-World War I strikes in Europe and the US are probably the closest approximation). But the issue of corporate greed and crony capitalism is an emotive one that, like corruption in India, has a worldwide resonance.

In India, the western democracies are constantly held up as an example to follow — our Constitution and political structures are modelled on the oldest of them. But watching the righteous discontent of the well-fed, -dressed, -housed and often comfortably pensioned Occupy Wall Street protestors, many of them former beneficiaries of corporate “greed” and cheap loans, and officialdom’s slightly panicky reaction to them, it is worth wondering whether they could take some tips from India.

Esplanade East (“Splanade” in local parlance), a roughly half-kilometre stretch of road on the southern reach of central Calcutta, was the space that came to be designated by the local police for any public protests that its citizenry might think fit to organise, whether “spontaneously” or via rival political parties.

No one seemed to have grievances in the hot, humid summer months. But as the cooler weather approached, this space was occupied on an almost daily basis by a variety of groups who suddenly felt the urgent need to voice their grievances — public sector bankers, officers, daily wage workers, bus drivers and conductors, state employees, state school employees, students….

Far noisier and larger versions of London’s Hyde Park, the “Splanade” protests usually involved some energetic sloganeering in the morning, a couple of speeches by politicians looking to build their bases — both Gurudas Dasgupta and current Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were regulars here. Then protestors usually sat in on large jute carpets till 5.30 p m engaging in the uniquely Bengali past-time of adda.

“Splanade” was a strategically useful location given that the offices of Ananda Bazar Patrika and The Statesman, two of the most influential media groups at the time, were located within a short walk. Most of the protests were charmingly desultory, tear-gas being employed rarely and arrests occasional.

As would be expected, these sit-ins caused traffic snarls but were accommodated with surprising equanimity by long-suffering Calcuttans. They didn’t have a great deal of practical value either. For instance, state government employees were the most frequent occupiers of this space and they returned the favour by being outstandingly inefficient at all times. But it provided a useful outlet for the aggrieved citizenry — and Calcuttans had good cause to be permanently discontented — to let off steam.

The concept of a permanent, officially sanctioned protest ground is one of the more attractive features of India's chaotically accommodative democracy. A similar arrangement prevails in the capital near Jantar Mantar, strategically close to Parliament but distant enough to observe the permanent curfew that is in place so as not to inconvenience our honourable MPs. Here the variety of protestors is much wider and far more interesting than the “Splanade” ones, with the Ramlila grounds being an outlet for the larger, better organised protests of the Ramdev and Hazare variety.

If we set aside the media hysteria surrounding the recent Ramdev and Hazare protests and the various phony candle-light vigils (a new variation on an old theme), few of these protests attract much coverage or solutions. The Chinese continue to mistreat Tibetans in Tibet, the armed forces still operate with brutal abandon in the north-east, rural India remains neglected, women are mistreated everywhere in India, black money is generated at a brisk pace and inflation heads up inexorably despite the Reserve Bank’s best efforts.

Similarly, the Occupy Wall Street is unlikely to prompt a moral revolution in either Wall Street, Global Inc. or government. It may serve to remind some politicians and regulators that bailing out giant banks and offering the rich generous tax breaks without doing anything meaningful to stimulate the economy is not such a good idea. And since little has happened three years after the Lehman collapse, it may be worth city planners’ time to start designating public spaces for protests, just like we do in India.