13th Safdar Hashmi Memorial Lecture

G Arjun

EMINENT journalist Prabhash Joshi brought his intense understanding of news and a deep insight into the social reality behind to analyse the events surrounding the attack of the hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in the USA. He was delivering the 13th Safdar Hashmi Memorial Lecture organised by Jana Natya Manch at the Speaker Hall, Constitution Club in Delhi on 7 November. The session was chaired by eminent economist Professor Jayati Ghosh.

In an hour long exposition Prabhash Joshi drew a connection between the disaster caused by the hurricane and the increasing consolidation of neo-liberal values across the world. He argued how the suffering caused by Katrina was less of a natural disaster and more of a completely avoidable man-made, or rather government made catastrophe.

The location of New Orleans as a coastal city built on reclaimed land places it particularly at the mercy of nature. The only way water can be drained out of it is through pumping. It need strong embankments to keep out the water. There is therefore, a great need for the substantial public involvement in maintaining a safety network.

But it was exactly such public involvement which was shamefully absent. Busy consolidating its imperialist aggression on Iraq the Bush administration has withdrawn funds from social welfare programmes and agencies which were involved in preventing natural disasters like Katrina.

Another extremely significant factor was that most of the residents of New Orleans are black and belong to extremely poor backgrounds who could not fend for their own safety without help from the government.

The advance warning which was provided before the arrival of Katrina proved futile as the government showed no willingness to act, while placing all the responsibility on the poor population. The residents were instructed to vacate the city with their belongings. The rich can do so for they possess wagons which can serve the purpose. But the poor, wagonless as they were, could not run to save themselves, leaving behind their life's belongings.

The post hurricane period was a further indication of the total apathy of the Bush administration with help being delayed in the face of the spread of diseases. The government which has arrogated to itself the role of 'world policeman' failed to provide drinking water, food and medical care to its people.

Prabhash Joshi also criticized the role played by the media in hightening the racism which the entire event smacked off. He illustrated his point be contrasting the captions accompanying photos of looting by black and white men – while the white men were busy 'arranging for food and supplies', the blacks were 'engaged in loot and plunder'.

Other than rampant racism Prabhash Joshi pinned the cause of such a disaster on the disempowering of the government under the neo-liberal regime. He pointed out that a sustained curtailing of the social responsibilities of the government and questioning of its public roles, has meant that it fails to act in times such as these. And under such circumstances it is the poor and the weak of the society who perish. He called neo-liberalism a 'decivilizing' process or 'junglikaran' which forced people at the mercy of the laws of the 'survival of the fittest' where the 'fittest' were the rich and the powerful. The 'decivilizing' process renders the poor 'disposable'.

In her speech Professor Jayati Ghosh enlightened the audience with the contrast between the effects of Katrina in the world's most powerful country and two hurricanes that followed soon after in the sanctions-battered Cuba. The Cuban government provided buses for the people to move to safer locations with their belongings. The displaced families were hosted by other families where there was no shortage of food and health care. Though the hurricanes were of greater intensity than Katrina there was no mentionable loss of life.

According to Professor Ghosh, the 'decivilizing' process of the neo-liberal policies, as Prabhash Joshi termed it, had grave implications for us in India. The experience of a decade and a half has proved that the biggest brunt of the ill effects of the economic deregulation has been borne by the weakest sections of the population – women, dalits and the working class. It is through a careful study of the events like the Katrina hurricane that one grasp the realities of our world and formulate strategies, fore global alliances to combat the bestiality of neo-liberal globalisation.

At the end of the stimulating session Brajesh Sharma, the president of Jana Natya Manch offered a vote of thanks.