Who wants to live without freedom? Society, Rights, Responsibilities and Inclusion – Thoughts of Mukti

“Who would want to live without freedom, oh who would want to live?

Who would willingly wear the chains of slavery, oh who would wear them?”

As we approach the 77th anniversary of India’s independence, we, the members of Mukti, have gathered here to reevaluate the meaning of the word “freedom” in our current times. India’s hard-won freedom was achieved through a prolonged, organized, and well-planned struggle, and August 15th is the day we celebrate and remember that victory. However, we must all deeply understand and apply the meaning of freedom in today’s context. As Mukti members, it is crucial to reflect on the kind of freedom we are striving for and will continue to pursue in the future. I, Nandita, aim to present the concept of freedom from a human rights perspective, and I hope that you, as Mukti members, will play a key role in spreading this vision of freedom to the grassroots level during this Independence Day.

To understand the meaning of freedom from the perspective of rights, we must first have a basic understanding of what rights are. The context of the First and Second World Wars prompted the world to recognize the need for states and individuals to take on specific responsibilities to protect human life. This led to the establishment of seven fundamental rights, aimed at ensuring that every person can live with dignity, supported by the nation, state, and fellow citizens.

Among these fundamental rights is the right to be treated equally by the state and society, regardless of race, religion, caste, or gender, and to have equal opportunities to lead an improved life. Mukti’s efforts to promote human rights, freedom, and awareness share this collective goal. We understand that ensuring these rights involves a constitutional process. However, Mukti believes that a constitutional approach is not the only path to securing these rights. Achieving this goal requires a long-term, well-planned strategy that permeates every individual and is realized through collective human effort.

Mukti considers the following elements crucial to securing rights:

Changing people’s attitudes.

Encouraging active participation in bringing about changes in perspectives and supporting initiatives to drive these changes.

Creating long-term plans.

In our rights and awareness initiatives, we are committed to reforming the social structures that perpetuate discrimination based on gender, denying people opportunities. Beyond gender, we also focus on how racial, religious, and caste identities further marginalize disadvantaged individuals, and we aim to actively include them in the development process. We request every Mukti member to incorporate and apply these objectives in their initiatives, as discrimination based on gender, race, religion, or caste is inherently linked to all societal problems and their root causes. Therefore, we cannot consider livelihood, health, education, environmental protection, and disaster relief initiatives separately from the protection of rights.

But how do we establish these rights?

Changing Perspectives and Attitudes:

I will share with Mukti members how we are working to implement this approach so that every member can use this perspective in their projects to advance toward freedom from social, racial, religious, and caste-based discrimination. While the concepts of race, religion, and caste may be clear to us, we may not all be fully aware of gender. Gender refers to the different treatment and roles society assigns to us based on our gender identity at birth, which becomes a primary source of discrimination.

Our sex identity at birth is purely biological and beyond our control. However, when society dictates how we must live, what opportunities we can or cannot access, and how far we can develop based on this gender identity, discrimination arises. When I refer to society, I remind every Mukti member that even though society is made up of individuals and is governed by people, our struggle for freedom is not against people but against the established norms of society, which we call patriarchal norms and other social structures. Patriarchal norms place men in positions of power, and this power is used to control society. While it may seem that men are unaffected by this social system because they hold positions of power, the truth is that patriarchal structures negatively impact people of all gender identities. The challenge is that these patriarchal norms or social structures are invisible, yet they are embedded in everything from families to nations and beyond.

The goal of every Mukti member is to identify and expose the negative aspects of this system in all our initiatives and help bring this understanding to the grassroots level. Until we recognize this discrimination, we cannot take long-term steps toward true freedom. Patriarchal structures have harmed women the most in various ways, and when I say “women,” I don’t just mean women in the conventional sense; there is also a significant difference between women who suffer from racial, religious, and caste-based discrimination and those who do not. Therefore, it is crucial for us to adopt a perspective that allows us to identify vulnerable groups, understand how discrimination affects them, and develop a well-planned approach to reducing these impacts in all our initiatives. And the first step in this process is changing our attitudes. While we talk about economic empowerment, if we cannot shed discriminatory attitudes, economic empowerment will never truly lead to overall empowerment.

Active Participation of All:

History shows that the most affected by discrimination are women, children, and individuals of other gender identities. But does this mean that the fight for freedom from discrimination is only for women or those marginalized groups? Mukti says, no, it is not. If we want to ensure change, no single group’s efforts to reform the social structure will be enough. Inclusion and active participation from all groups are essential. Inclusion means involving both men and women, those who are directly exploited and those who may not be directly affected by discrimination. Everyone’s participation will ensure change. However, everyone’s role in this change will not be the same. Our social positions are different, and even if we are not directly involved, our awareness and sensitivity to the issue will significantly accelerate this movement. Therefore, I urge every Mukti member to commit to being involved in this process of change.

Creating Long-Term Plans:

Changing attitudes and active participation alone will not ensure long-term change. Therefore, we must strategize on how to combat discrimination, what methods to use, how effective they can be, how they will impact people, how people’s lives can be positively affected in the long term, and how we can cultivate leadership qualities in people so that the vision we share can continue over time.

We must remember that we are all in the process of learning, and our work, experience, and practical situations teach us new things. Thus, accepting new ideas, questioning, and verifying them is the responsibility of every Mukti member, and this initiative will help us break free from old, outdated notions.

So let us all be open-minded individuals. Let Mukti become a safe space for everyone. I believe our collective efforts will bring about change.