By Dr. Sawraj Singh
The Me Too movement has hit India in a big way. Almost every day, some Bollywood actor accuses producers, directors or actors of sexually abusing her. However, in most cases, this abuse happened many years ago. This movement started in Hollywood last year when several Hollywood actors accused producer Harvey Weinstein of sexually abusing them. Many American feminists supported them and the Me Too movement started. Tanushree Dutta, a Bollywood actor, started the Me Too movement in India when she accused famous Bollywood actor Nana Patekar of sexually abusing her during the shooting of a film. Tanushree was living in America for the last 10 years. She moved to America after the alleged incident. Apparently, she was inspired by the Me Too movement there. After this, many other actors have come forward with similar complaints. The Me Too movement, which had subsided in America, has been revived in India.
This new movement has received support from feminists in India and has attracted a lot of attention from the media. However, it has not been able to have any significant impact on ordinary people. It is mainly limited to rich actors, producers and directors of Bollywood. Even in America, the Me Too movement was limited to the rich and elite segments of society, and never became a true mass movement. This is no accident or coincidence that the movement started in America at this time. After 2008, America has been gripped by a very deep crisis. The crisis of American capitalism is probably as serious, if not more, than the Great Depression of the thirties. Movements like Me Too could be intended to divert the attention of the people from the crisis. Moreover, the capitalist elite can also divide the people and prevent them from uniting to struggle against the declining capitalist system. The people can be divided on the basis of their gender. This may be a part of the old Divide and Rule policy.
The Me Too movement can be considered a part of the fourth phase of feminism. Feminism started in France and spread to England, and when America became the leading capitalist country, then it also became the center of the feminist movement. Feminism has gone through four phases. The first phase was in the late nineteenth century. Women agitated for the right to vote and wanted equal share in property ownership. From the very beginning, the movement was limited to the upper strata of society and could never make a dent among working and ordinary women. The second phase started in the middle of the twentieth century. In this phase, emphasis of the movement was on sexual and reproductive freedom and on contraception. In the third phase, which started in the later part of the twentieth century, emphasis was on breaking traditional gender identity. Feminists burnt their bras and promoted unisex dresses and hairstyles. In the fourth phase, which started in the twenty-first century, feminists emphasized using the media, both traditional (print) as well as modern (internet) such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, to expose and punish men who sexually abuse women. Apparently, the Me Too movement is a part of the fourth phase. From the beginning, feminism is a part of capitalism and its main emphasis has been to emphasize differences between men and women, and widen the gap between them, rather than try to bridge the gap between them. By doing this, it is blunting rather than sharpening the struggle against capitalism.
Women’s liberation is very different than feminism. Its main emphasis has been to struggle against economic and social discrimination and exploitation of women, and to get an equal and respectable status for women. Unlike the feminist movement, the women’s liberation movement has been based in working and ordinary women. Basically, we have two concepts of women’s liberation: the Marxist concept (western concept) and the Sikh concept (eastern concept). The Marxist concept is based upon full participation of women in the productive process and equal pay for men and women for equal work. The emphasis of the western concept is on the productive aspect of life.
The Sikh concept (eastern concept) is based upon the principle that nature has made men and women complementary, rather than in opposition, to each other, and together they form one complete unit. Without a woman, a man is incomplete, and without a man, a woman is incomplete. Nature has given different qualities to men and women which complement each other. Women have more sensitivity, tenderness, receptivity, patience and tolerance. Men have more muscle power, courage and fearlessness. Generally, men are more productive whereas women are more creative. The Sikh concept of unity in diversity also applies to gender diversity. Things can be different, yet they can be equal. In other words, uniformity does not lead to equality. The relationship between women and men is not limited to only the physical aspect, but has a spiritual dimension also. The Sikh concept can be considered the climax of the eastern concept.
Today, we need to be aware of the fact that capitalist movements like Me Too can be used by capitalism to mislead people, and prevent them from finding an alternative model of development to the declining capitalist model. This model should be pro-nature and pro-people. Sri Guru Granth Sahib can provide such a model
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
