From: paulchem@tramp.Colorado.EDU (Paul [icarus stackhammer] chemmanoor)
Subject: Literacy, Communism & Women --[ was re: Kerala some thoughts ]
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 18:02:02 GMT

Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Re: Kerala Today : Some thoughts
Summary: 
Expires: 
Followup-To: 
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Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Keywords: Literacy, Communism, Women, Revolution

In article <l76deiINNbso@cypress.cs.utexas.edu> sirosh@cs.utexas.edu (Joseph Sirosh) writes:
>
>      Kerala: Literacy, Women and a Dead Revolution.
>      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>Kerala has been repeatedly cited as a model society for a developing
>country in terms of literacy, health and women's emancipation.
>Some agencies have attributed this to the status of women in Kerala.
>I have always found this hard to believe. It seems to me that the fairly 
>high status of women is a consequence of the literacy and good distribution
>of wealth in Kerala, than vice versa. And I think communism had a 
>great role to play in establishing this egalitarianism.  

1] Education in itself does not raise the status of women.
   Society can be educated to a high degree and yet concieve of
   women as second class citizens. Examples from medieval european
   history can be qouted here. After all women did not have
   voting rights even as late as the world war period in england.

   I think the change in status of women in our cultures is something
   that has taken place over generations. I vaguely recollect the 
   story of Parasaram's axe and how he threw it into the sea and
   how kerala arose from that spot and how he wanted that women would always
   be respected in that place as a kind of repentance for killing his
   mother. Legends of course. But in my opinion legends reflect a
   deeper reality.

   The matriarchal society of the Nairs and inheritance via the 
   youngest daughter is so contrary to norms that exist in the rest 
   of the country. There used to be an injunction that prohibited 
   women from being in female inferior positions in intercourse.
   And the women warriors from the othenan period I think demonstrate
   the high position in which women were held.

   The mother always plays a major role in deciding to educate their
   female children. This has a dramatic effect on literacy rates.
   

   

   
>
>Communism, by no means is a successful economic system - but it is a great
>leveller. The way it worked in Kerala, it made a submissive, quiet
>society very aware of a right to fight for rights. It pushed religious
>awareness into the background. It brought in a much needed aggressiveness
>into people. The poor became richer. In a quest for spreading communism
>as a political force, the motivators went down to the lower classes and
>spread the philosophy, not just by word of mouth, but through classes and
>education. As people became more political, it was a sheer necessity to
>keep abreast of the trends - newspapers and political literature became
>popular. And this was among the economically backward people; the farmer
>and the farmworker; the coolie and the industrial laborer. Precisely
>the people who needed to be reached out to. The grassroots of society.
>To this day, the first thing the farm laborer picks up in a tea shop
>is the local newspaper.  

2] I agree with you completely here.
   Literacy can not be attributed to only one factor.
   Communism has played a very major role in destroying the inequalities
   in the caste structure of Kerala society. 
   The realization of how important they were to the political
   process has transformed the lower classes into active participants
   demanding and getting attention. 

[..]
>
>There we see the society in Kerala today. A revolution brought with it
>literacy, emancipation, and high standards of health; its remnants 
>propped up by selfish political interests brought in economic stagnation.
>The pendulum is swinging back; to capitalism, to communalism, to corruption 
>and to misguided politics. There's a lack of ambition; there's lethargy, and
>looking inward is fashionable. We are a people in need of a direction,
>a culture in need of challenges, a society in need of a niche in the
>maelstorm of a world. 
>
>Joseph Sirosh

3] I think the problem is that in their anxiety to level the playing
   field the communists have ignored the importance of enterprise.
   In their obsession with redistribution of wealth, they have forgotten
   the creators of wealth. And the process of creation of wealth.
   The people who benefited from  redistribution have come to believe 
   that this one time gift, is a continuing right.

   I would be glad to continue this discussion.

4] Stay Cool.

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.    ~ ~                                                                     .
.    o o      signito ergo sum.              paul chemmanoor.                .
.     |    i sign therefore i am.            Computer Science department.    .
.     =                                      Univ. of Colorado, Boulder.     .
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Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala,soc.culture.tamil,soc.culture.indian