Interview: Magline, Social Activist - She Sells Peace By The Seashore

I hate society feminists who do not touch the basic rights of poor women or the women from the low-class of the society. This is one of the reasons for I hate urban-centered show-case feminist projects like Blank Noise. I met Magline at a time when I had no respect towards the kind of feminism that doing the rounds. Magline is a social activist from the fishing community of Trivandrum, south Kerala. And she has a thing or two to teach us about feminism and activism.

In this interview, she talks about the fishing community, her activities for the fishing community and her experiences in the Tsunami relief camps.

Magline, can you tell us how you got into the social activities?

It was after my marriage. My husband was the secretary of Matsya Thozhilaali Federation, Thiruvananthapuram district. It was in 1986. My mother is a fish vendor and father is a fisherman. I come from a fishing community.

The fish was given after an auction. So I used to go help my father with accounting. We used to get a lot of fish in our boat. In those days, people used to say it is the luck of us, girls.

I heard that there are a lot of such superstitious beliefs in the coastal area...

Yes, there are. But nobody used to say it is the luck of the girls in many fishing communities. As girls, we were not even allowed to go to the beach as per such beliefs. Particularly during the periods. Because the community considers sea as pure and we were not allowed to go near the sea and to touch the fishing equipments. Suppose if we touch the equipments and the fishermen do not get fish on that day, they would say it was because the women touched it during their periods. So to purify the equipments, the men in the community would undress themselves at night and pluck stems and leaves of some trees and would strike the nets. It is done to make the nets to smell like the leaves. There were such beliefs from a long time.

Also women cannot go to the beach with untied hair. They say Kadalamma (The sea is seen as mother) will be angry if we go there with loosen hair. The belief is that if the womenfolk sit with untied hair when the men go fishing, there will be huge waves in the sea.

So it is the women who are affected by such beliefs, isn't it?

Yes, right. Not only that. Our men have sex only on Saturday nights, because they don't go for fishing on Sunday. Suppose if a man and woman have sex on a weekday and if the man gets into a danger or die when he is out for fishing, it will be said that it happened because the women couldn't control her sexual needs and she will be blamed for her man's death. Many of these practices have changed these days.

But things were different in our family. Girls had good care from the family. We were very friendly with each other at home. My parents used to share the traditional knowledge of the fishing community about the sea and wind. There is a cycle of fishing. It is like the small fish would come first and the bigger ones would come next to eat the small ones and even bigger ones would come to eat the smaller ones etc. But these days this cycle has changed. And I think there would be only a few people who have such traditional knowledge.

We had a women's association there called Sagara Mahilaa Samaajam. Peter's (my husband) friends used to visit us before going to the meetings of the association. They also took me to their meetings. I could contribute a lot in these meetings as I used to go to the beach everyday to manage the accounting and I was aware of the changes in the sea more than the others. My mother used to share her experience in the fish market. So when the women in the association talked about their issues, I could understand and contribute a lot. Gradually they gave me the full responsibility of the Mahilaa Samaajam.

Are you the founder of Theeradesa Mahilaa Vedi (Association of coastal women)?

No. Actually I was afraid of protests and strikes. More over, I was afraid of police (smiling). At first I worked with an NGO. But I was more interested in the movements. When the issues come up, the NGOs are not interested in active movements. So I chose Theeradesa Mahilaa Vedi. It was started from 1985 itself. It is not a registered body, but we work as the women's wing of Mathsya Thozhilaali Federation.

I heard that you are involved with the protest against Coca-Cola in Plachimada. Are there any reasons for you to join in that protest? How does the Plachimada issue affect the fishing community?

Yes. Not only Plachimada, but I am involved with the movement against Endosulphan also. Talking about Plachimada, the sea and the forest have a great relationship with each other. There are 44 streams in Kerala. These streams join in the sea. So the food for our fish comes from the bio-contents of the forests that these streams carry along to the sea. So who else would protect these children of forest than us? [Note: Magline is referring to the tribals in the Plachimada area who are involved in the protests against Coca-Cola] It is us who are their brothers.

So it is not only the issues concerning coastal area, but you are actively involved in many other issues as such.

I'm not a celebrity social activist.

You had said that there are many things that concerning women in all such social issues in Kerala. (These issues affect not only women though). We have a lot of women's organizations here as part of the women's wing of political parties and otherwise. There are many well known feminists too. But they keep a distance from such issues whereas women like you who are from the lowest part of the society come up and actively get involved in the issues. How do you see the silence of that other sect?

Yes, I had discussed about this. What we have now is an overdose of professionalism in social activities. Professionalism means they want to take a doctorate in a subject and that's it. What do our writers do? I can't quote names here. We used to have many writers who educated the people through their words and brought up the issues concerning the ordinary people through the media. Where have they gone now? How many writers responded to the Plachimada issue? Let's leave the old people. Perhaps they are too old for this. But where are the young writers? They have gone to the researches. They have gone to satisfy the agencies that flows fund for them. So our problems are not their concern.

Suppose if a woman from our community is raped, I can only see it as something that happened to my mother or sister. So I will react, I might be violent. People used to ask me why I am being violent at times. The last issue happened was when an official decision made to vacate the women fish vendors from the Kumarapuram market. They came with the court order to vacate us. There is a plain land of 1.5 acres owned by the social welfare board just nearby the market. We all went to that place and began sale. We have to sell the fish somewhere.

When we had finished selling for the day, the Social Welfare Board people came with police escort and sealed the place. In the next day, we gathered together and broke the wall because we had to sell our fish somewhere. Then the police came and tried to arrest us. So we went into the street and blocked the road for 4-5 hours. At that time the police officers were keep calling me on the phone and asking "Magline, you disperse for today and we will see a solution tomorrow". I asked them "What will you give us for the fish we brought to market today? Will you pay for this?" We cannot go back home without selling the fish. If I am able to continue with my social activities, it is because of what my mother earns from the market by selling fish. Nobody pays me for my work. So when something happens to my food & living, I would react, obviously.

So after the road blocking protest, the Taluk chief came in as the delegate of district collector and talked to us and gave us a place to sell our fish. Also the district collector came on the very next day to discuss with us. Now we have a place to sell our fish.

Suppose if we had agreed to what the policemen had asked for, nothing would have happened and we would still be having on-going discussions.

Tourism development & related issues in the coastal area

What happens here is sex tourism. There are a lot of hotels and massage centers that offering local men to the foreign women and our little girls to the foreign men. We are not able to bring this issue to the forefront. The reason is the girls are not ready to talk about this in public. So we cannot carry forward without any solid proof. Many of our children are trapped in this situation. The main reason is poverty.

The government does not have any idea of an alternate solution when they vacate us from here for tourism development. They would say they would give us. What would they give? When would they give? - They are not concerned about these. So when they gave us nothing else but only a promise, we had to go to the streets. This is a major reason for our women to choose prostitution to sustain their lives.

When I asked a friend of mine who resides near Kovalam, he told me something. In the early days we had heard about Arabi Kalyanam (Arab nationals - most of the men would be very old - would come to north Kerala during their ship's halt in the port and marry young girls, make them pregnant and leave). I heard that these days American and European tourists come to the places like Kovalam beach on tour and they marry local women and go. The difference of these people from Arab men is they send a certain amount of money every month. I think there is a social or cultural issue in this and this has not yet come to the public's attention. What do you have to say about this?

Yes, it is happening and it came in the newspapers. But here it is considered as an authorized marriage. The reason is the foreign tourists from Europe or America are not like Arabs. They stay there for a year and come here for 2 months or so. They protect the women they marry and their kids here.

Why do they like our women? Do you think it's because their sympathy of the poverty over here? No, it is purely sex. For them it is the safest way to have sex without the fear of AIDS. So they would marry a girl and setup a house. So there is no issue of law or police interfering. They wouldn't have any visa issues as well. Everyone knows it is plain sexual abuse.

Are there any programs being organized to raise awareness no this issue?

This is not a wide-spread issue now. And this is not like prostitution. Like I mentioned before, the basic issue here is poverty. The marriage doesn't happen in just one day. A friend's daughter is married to a foreigner. But their family sees the foreigner in high regard, because there is no poverty in their family now and no situation of opting prostitution. Sometimes that person sends only $ 50. When it is converted to Indian rupees, it is enough for their family to live for a month.

I know it will become a big issue in the future and we need to raise awareness about this. But this issue is concerning not only the fishing community, but in many other sections of the coastal area. Even the educated people prefer to marry the foreigners.

There is another thing - if the women are graduated, their foreign husbands would take them abroad and even setup jobs for them. So our society cannot easily accept this as wrong.

The people in the fishing community are very ordinary and innocent people. At the same time I have felt that they are very sensitive also. If we take a look at the communal riots in Kerala, most of it happened in the coastal areas. We have Marad, Nadapuram, Poonthura, Vizhinjam etc as examples. Is there any activity to resist this trend like awareness, proper education etc?

Yes, there is. The reason that we brought up the concept of Violence against Women is based on this vision. But considering the current situation in Kerala, we cannot say anything against that in a sudden, because like you said our area is very sensitive. We will get angry and calm easily - Just like the sea.

We are usually very loving and caring people. We have a 'No man's land' in Vizhinjam. Do you know what that is for? When a communal riot burst out earlier between Muslims and Christians, they built a wall. Muslims reside on one side and Christians on the other. If you look at Poonthura or Marad, the conflict is between Hindus and Muslims. There are places where the tension exists between Hindus and Christians. These are not created by us. The public should understand that. Our people do not know how to make riots. We are only used to fight with the , and we do not know killing people with swords and bombs. But we are being taught about these. The reason is the governments and politicians cannot afford to see us united, because we are the vote bank here.

So we killed our own brothers in Poonthura. How many people were killed in Marad? Or in Vizhinjam? But if we stand united, no one can defeat us. So it is the political parties that using us. And they cannot come in any other name, but in the name of Gods.

I think if we make some efforts to give them some education, it might help resolving this situation a little bit. What is the educational status among the coastal people?

Many changes have happened education wise. That is why we are not hearing any problems reported from Poonthura and Vizhinjam from a long time. The reason is that the educational level has increased in these areas a little bit. So the politicians are also changing their area focus accordingly. When we raised awareness in the southern coastal areas, the politicians are now shifting their base to the northern Kerala.

The RSS has made their women's wing very strong. The division is very much visible so that we have to put the bindi on the forehead to go to Hindu women and wear Parda to go see Muslim women. Because these days a Hindu will accept only another Hindu and a Muslim would only accept another Muslim.

Let's talk about Tsunami. You were very much involved with the Tsunami relief efforts. Two years have passed after Tsunami. The most terrible effect of Tsunami in Kerala was seen in Alappad panchayath. What is the current situation there?

There are many families still living in shelters. Still there are so many issues. Nothing has been solved. They had offered many packages, but nothing has been implemented.

I guess the situation is even worse for women, right? The sanitation problem etc?

Yes, it is really a terrible situation there. Now it has been reduced a little since it is summer/dry season. When the monsoon starts, the problems would arise again. The shelter construction was not done according to our climate. Can we build a shelter in Kerala considering the climate of Indonesia? Even in Kerala, the climate is different in Aalappad. So the shelters and toilets must be made considering the nature and climate of the place. But nobody bothers about it. They just want to see how to gain benefits from a tragedy.

When it was said that the state treasury has no money, Ramesh Chennithala flew by a helicopter to Kozhikode to announce that K. Muraleedharan was taken out from the KPCC president position because of the Karunakaran-Antony rivalry in Congress. When there was no money in treasury, whose money was spent for this? It is our money.

Has Tsunami happened in K M Mani's place, Kottayam? Who distributed the funds there? Tsunami was an unexpected fortune for the political parties. What about the television channels? Do you know how much money they have made out of this? Since everyone gained financial benefits, nobody is talking about it. You will know if you check the facts. Those who didn't get anything is the Tsunami affected people. If these people distribute the money evenly to our people, we all would have become millionaires by now. Some priests have made money by saying some church in a remote area (I don't remember the name now) was affected by Tsunami.

Priests, nuns, political parties, T V channels, individuals, churches, Amrutanandamayi - All has made money out of this. Does anyone have an accounting of these?

The houses built here are without any proper ventilation. A family cannot live in it safely. Just go and check to see if there is any truth in what I say. How can a person be silent seeing all this? I have been a victim of political parties, Amrutanandamayi and RSS. It is my love for my people that helped me survive those situations. Even Dheevara Sabha came to attack me.

I reached in Alappad in the morning of 27th. The girls were served with enough food and water. Coca-Cola and Pepsi brought mineral water. Many organizations came in vehicles with huge banners and distributed food. But at that time, the women were not in a situation to eat food. They lost everything. There were mothers who lost children, husbands who lost their wives, wives who lost their husbands and children etc... So they needed some comforting words than anything else.

There were some minor issues in the camps from the beginning itself. There were complaints of food not being given properly, toilet issues etc. We highlighted these issues and prepared to cover this through a live programme in Asianet TV. There were five camps in total. One in Valiyazheekkal, Saayikkad, Amrutnandamayi's, Cheriyazheekkal, and one in Vellanapuram.

When we checked these camps, we saw that people including RSS members distributing food, cleaning the toilets etc. But nobody talked to the kids. They were totally afraid of seeing water. In my case, I love children a lot. I had worked with children for 12 years. So I gathered the children together and began telling the stories, singing songs and make them dancing. Then the teachers came to us and later their mothers also joined us. We made the camp alive. So the kids would await me everyday. Gradually they began to eat and sleep.

Later the teachers told me that we should bring children to the schools. So we slowly started bringing the kids to the school. The strength of the children in the schools has gradually increased. So we have become known faces in the camp. The mothers would tell me "Since you came here, my kids began to sleep at nights, they didn't see nightmares, they didn't cry" etc. Then we would go to the sea, wash our foot in the water and tell them stories of the fish and sea. This had given them a hope and their fear of the sea was gone.

It was told that the people will be given houses and shelters. Since they didn't provide any shelter, we decided to mark our protest by blocking the highway and roads. Also we organized camp committees related to these efforts. I was the only woman from outside the camps to be in these committees. So some people began to notice me. RSS has gained enough strength by that time. When we began these protests, somebody put up some banners in the area. The banners said something like I am a person of the church and Oomen Chandy (Then chief minister of Kerala)... something like that, I don't remember the exact words now.

Dheevara Sabha was also in the mud-slinging business. DYFI published a notice without their name. No such people have any strength in that area. Some group also released posters against Sr. Nirmala (Missionaries of Charity) when she came there. The next thing happened was they threatened that they would kill me if I was seen in the Azheekkal area. I said I am ready to face any problem.

There is a church in that area. 90% of the people are Hindus and there is one Muslim family. Rest 10% is Christians. The Hindus used to help Christians for the church festivals and Christians used to help them for temple festivals. They didn't have any religious division there. They were living in peace. The reason the people accepted RSS in the beginning was they had done good works there in the beginning. They were cleaning the roads etc. I don't deny their good deeds. In our case, we had concentrated on the areas that nobody was involved.

RSS had arranged a program on the same day when we arranged a protest. So we thought that we shouldn't make a scene and let them do their programme. But only a few people attended their programme. When we arranged a road blocking protest after 2 days, people were flocking from camps and schools. Just a few minutes before we started our protest, a phone call came from the Azheekkal office of RSS to a nearby public booth. The caller asked everyone to disperse because there would be a police lathi charge within some time. We prepared people to face any such situation that might come. We had full support of the local people. The private transportation buses were sent to us for free. Many other people contributed food and water.

The road-blocking protest lasted for 7 hours. The then chief minister Oomen Chandy called me and asked to stop the strike because the assembly meeting was going on. We demanded that we need to see and talk to a minister. Later district collector came as a representative of the government. As a result of this protest, some resolutions were made that the temporary shelters would be built, Rs. 500 would be given to each person per month, ration supply would be free, food kit would be given etc. This was the immediate result of the road-blocking strike we made on that day.

When we were returning after the protest, the RSS people attacked the car of a high-court judge and blamed it on us. 14 of our people were arrested by police on this charge. At the time when I was in the police station, RSS folks came asking for me. They were shouting full obscene. Bring her out, we will show her, she is this; she is that and many other words that cannot be said. By 12'o clock in the midnight, our people brought me back secretly.

Another issue was related to someone who had given a rosary to a little kid out there. There were many people coming to the area. When I went there, the news spread out that it was me who had given this rosary to the kid. So a person who is in charge announced that I shouldn't enter the camp thereafter. Then I told them that no outsiders should be allowed and RSS people also should be banned from the camps. After this I went back and returned the very next day but there were no issues then.

I told them that I need to ask that kid to know who gave her that rosary. They wouldn't let the kid to talk. I called all people in the camp and asked the kid. "Tell me dear, was it me who gave you this rosary?" The kid burst out to tears and said "Its not my aunty, it was an old man who came here. When I cried at night, my mother took it from him and gave me". But still people were not convinced. There was an old man named Peethambaran, aged around 70 years, admitted in the medical college hospital with his wife and some of our people were given charge to look after him. Peethambaran follows Christianity. There was a friend of Peethambaran who came to the hospital. He brought two rosaries from the Vettukad church and gave one to Peethambaran and the other was given to the kid. We didn't know any of this.

The RSS people filed complaints to Collector and Collector forwarded it to the CM and an inquiry commission was appointed for this. They also called a press meeting against me and my husband. There is a person in charge of RSS... I don't remember his name...

Kummanam Rajasekharan?

I guess so. He called a press meeting with his people. They talked about the involvement of religion in this case. Then the inquiry happened and Mathrubhumi newspaper had a detailed report on this subject. It had said that I was not involved in any of the religious activities and the people were living with peace in the camps.

All of these incidents gave me more strength. I fought all of this without any help of any agencies.

Then do you know what the people of Amruthanandamayi Mutt did? If I go to a house, they would follow me. There was a marriage happening in one of the houses. There is a group of young people called "Signal". They are very active and those children like me very much. They invited me to the marriage. When I got into the house, a swami (from Amruthanandamayi Mutt) came along. I didn't know who it was. I thought is must be one of the invited guests. I spent very little time in the house and came out. But the swami spread the news that I conducted prayers (Christian prayers) there! Even on the Easter day I was in the police station to bring out some of our kids who were charged on false reports. I don't go to church even on Sundays. So when such a person is accused of conducting prayers in that house, what can I say?

It was made as a big issue. Then the youth went to see the Swami and warned him 'do not try to divide us with these things'. There is enough experience to write a book.

Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences and for your time Magline.