"Artists Unite": Protest Against Hate and War - A Report

ARTISTS UNITE

[March 2-3   Red Fort Delhi]

Contributors:
Kavita Rawat
Rahul Kumar
Satyapriya

On March 2nd  and 3rd, a nationwide creative protest was organized by Delhi-based artists collective called Artists Unite, where artists across many different genres came together under the banner of “Artists Unite!”, to celebrate love and resist hate. It was an initiative for reclaiming of the space for all the artists and people.
The organizers, wanted to mark a protest against the environment of hate, oppression and ensure that the message for peace and against hatred, through performance could went beyond a more diverse audience. That’s why Red fort ground was chosen to organize the event in Delhi, because even tourists were being drawn out of curiosity.

The aim of this two day festival was to send and spread the message to “fight hate with love” and “counter violence with peace”. The comprehensive Declaration – which is a collective statement of resistance by artists claims that “the right to life, the right to love, food choices, cultural expression and histories are all under assault by this politics, which is at war with the people of India and their diverse culture”. “Through our images, speech, words, music and bodies, we will resist the cultural destruction of India”, asserts the declaration. The convention served the twin purpose of providing an opportunity for creative folks to become part of a creative, collective process of resistance as well as create resources and forge connections with other resistance movements and collectives.

This festival drew huge number of crowds not only from Delhi but from outside Delhi too. More than 200 artists from all kinds of background grouped together and performed at Red Fort. Musicians, filmmakers, visual artists, stand up artists, dancers, theater practitioners, poets and writers united and delivered their message of love, peace, against war, and in defense of democracy through their performances.
Artists performed on the current issue of India like freedom of Speech, Dalit oppression, patriarchy, farmers suicide,Gauri Lankesh Assassination, Rafael Deal, Demonetization, Hindutva, mob Lynching, fake news and propaganda on social media, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and many other kinds of issues prevalent in present times.

Just after one enters the event ground, you could find Poster wall featuring the declaration text behind the Artists Unite! Movement, as well as posters by many different artists from across the country picking up various issues and concerns. A large banner of the words “SAVE OUR CONSTITUTION” by Deepan Sivaraman were slowly ‘marched’ through the event space throughout both days of the event and were a real visual standout. The boundary walls of the event ground were covered with black drapes and posters of ‘Say no to War’ and ‘Resist hate celebrate love’.

DAY 1

The performances began pretty early in the day. Fouzia Dastango and Firoz Khan followed up on the theme of partition/ independence, Faiz’s ‘kya ye wo sehar toh nahi’, Nazeer’s ‘tere matam ’ which was woven around the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. There were group of poets and old admirers in the audience who were continuously cheering both of them on stage.

At 12:15, Sabika Abbas Naqvi, joined the stage. She recited three poems, ‘tadap tadap ke’- which has a context of Ramjas controversy (last year), idea of debate and discourse and hyper masculinity. ‘Meri saree’- where a female is talking against patriarchal, bramanical, hyper aggressive masculine mindset. She named all the major female figures across the history who stand against the toxic masculinity. Her poetry carry the elements of Urdu, Hindi and English with a perfect rhythm. Sabika is a great performer. She is very expressive and engaging while reciting her poetry. In between her performance, there was a massive increase in the audience. She was called again to perform on public demand, where she recited one more poem, ‘aaj subah se’- in which she talked about the marginalized communities, casteism and mob lynching where she named every victim of mob lynching in the last four and a half years.

Poets and writers, theater artists and stand up comedians performed on Lok Manch. Javed Musheeri and Irfan held a Mushaira critiquing the present government. Navtej Johar performed his monologue titled “Tanashah”. His performance was followed by an entertaining and satirical musical performance by Mr. India aka Daniel around the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Daniel is an Assamese poet, stand up comedian and musician. Through his songs he mocked the trend of fake news, racial discrimination in jobs. His song “Mujhko Peena hai, Peene Do” was greatly applauded by the people present there.
In conversation with Mr. India aka Daniel, he specified that through his uncensored performances he wants to express his thought and concern directly to the people. His efforts are towards giving some representation to northeast states in other parts of India by bringing them into the mainstream media.

Other than that there were also performances by artists like Maya Rao, Rabbi Shergill, Kabir Café, Mukhtiar Ali & group on Ekta Manch. Theatre and Street play artists from various colleges in Delhi came and did nukkad-natak on Zindabad Manch. Moreover, at open mic young and amateur artists recited various poems and songs of protest and resistance. The whole event continued till 10 PM on both the days.

DAY 2

The festival continued on Sunday and featured performances by artists like Ashok Vajpayee,  Sheetal Sathe, Chaar Yaar and so on. It also featured displays of artwork by artists such as Prabhakar Pachpute and Tushar Joag, besides screening documentaries. Apparently, second day of the event saw much better crowd in comparison with day one which was affected by rain. However, the concerns raised were same as day one which constituted burning issues in the contemporary times like nationalism, mob lynching , class struggle, patriarchy, gender issues etc.

The major attraction of day two was Mushaira.  Like the poetry events of day one it was organized at Lok manch. The list of Shayars included some of the biggest names in the country including Ashok Vajpayee who was the most senior of them and presided over the event.The theme revolved around the policies of the central government and the incidents of violence by right wing groups against the marginalized sections of the society. For example, Gauhar Raza and Ashok Kumar Pandey recited poems on the suffering of Muslims under the present regime. Similarly Sabika Abbas Naqvi recited the similar poems from day one in which she questioned the condition of women in the society. Ashok Vajpayee came at last and talked about the whole “award wapsi” campaign which was supposedly started by him. He claimed himself to be an anti National and added that he went to Lahore just to prove this point. He recited an anti-war poem which  was very relevant to recite on that day because India was literally on the verge of war with Pakistan. The title of the book from which he was reciting was “kam se kam” which is inspired by a ‘nazm’ of a Pakistani poet whose name he could not recall.

Meanwhile the performances began at Ekta Manch just after the mushaira got over which was hosted by Azhar Iqbal a well known poet. The first performance was a dramatic musical dance followed by another musical performance by Azamgarh group. The artists were from Azamgarh which is in UP East and the issues they raised were around the condition of farmers. It was a beautiful experience to watch the folk traditions of eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Next in the line was Sheetal Sathe Singing Group. Sheetal Sathe is a Dalit poet, singer and activist who has also spent a lot of her time in jail under sedition charges. In her performance she was talking about oppression faced by a Dalit in their day to day life and how the Brahmanical structure constantly kept them out of the equation of social justice. She sung a song titled “Rohit geyla”  which is based on the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student from HCU. Interestingly, here she also tried rap for the first time on stage. As she is an Ambedkarite herself, she was constantly referring to Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar while presenting her case. Astad Deboo, a contemporary Indian dancer performed a piece on anti-war philosophy which was one of its kind of experience to watch.
Mr India aka Daniel also performed on day two repeating the same songs as day one, however, this time someone from the crowd objected on his performance by saying that he is giving misogynist remarks (misogynist abuses/slurs basically) to which he tackled by replying  that he is only speaking what he sees in his day to day life.

The last two performances by Shubha Mudgal and Chaar yaar were the most highlighted event of the day. Shubha Mudgal is a Padam Shri award recipient. She was singing “Inquilab”, a poem by Gorakh Pandey. She sang a few more songs around the theme of Azadi and revolution. At last came Chaar Yaar (four people including Madan Gopal Singh) took the stage whose performance was based on communal harmony. Interestingly, all the four members of the group are from four different major religions of India and this is a coincidence. Madan Gopal Singh mentioned this just because he wanted everyone to know that if they can perform together and create something so beautiful why can't people just exist together in harmony. Also, before the performance of Char yaar, two minutes of silence was organized in memory of people and soldiers who died in the recent past.

Diversity among Audience

The event also witnessed a whole range of diversity among audience who decided to spend their weekend here. Most of the people who attended the event practiced art themselves so, they could understand the relevance of such initiatives in the present times against this idea of hate, communal tensions and war through the medium of art. Few of them were accompanied by their friends and family and had fairly mixed reaction to what they were receiving.

And then there were some people who were confused about what was actually going around and had very less perceptive on how they should look at the performances. For example, one of them was in awe as looking at the age of Astad Deboo. The only concern he had was how someone that old can dance without hurting his backbone. As the event was happening at Red Fort ground, a lot of people both Indian and foreigners who came to visit Red Fort also marked their presence in the event.

Funds
As the organizers claimed that it was completely an independent event, so and so, that even the artists were self financing their own performances. Therefore, few donation boxes were carried among the public appealing them to contribute as much as they can. Even the artists like Azhar Iqbal were also requesting the audience to do the donation from the stage. You can still find online appeal on their social media pages requesting for donations.

Challenges
In midst all this, it’s also important to acknowledge the challenges faced by the organizers and the people who attended the event either of the days.
Day one of the event witnessed a constant drizzle which slowed down the programs especially the activities planned in open. After a slow start, it gained momentum and crowds soon started filling up the seats.
There was no performance, especially poetry following the original schedule. For instance, on the first day, they began with Fouzia Dastango and Firoz Khan, then Sabika joined the stage and after her a five minutes break was taken. After the break Javed Musherri and then Irfan Azmi performed. Fouzia Dastango and Firoz Khan were supposed to perform at Lok Manch around 12:50 PM according to the original schedule but they performed around 12:00 PM. It created confusion among audience who planned to come for a specific artist or performance only.
Moreover, “Artists Unite” seemed more like, as if, they were united against the present government. Even if someone was talking against patriarchy or masculinity, they were criticizing it through the government. They also protested against the Hindutva Ideology of the Modi Government for creating communal tension in the country.

However, the aim of this event met its purpose successfully with the help of performers and audiences.The intention of this event was to reinforce public traditions that speak "for democracy, and against hate" with the help of art. These two days saw Red Fort in a whole new light after many years. What a beautiful environment, artists of every kind coming together against just one thing- “hatred”. Such calls for artists and cultural practitioners to unite to resist the politics of hate, and to safeguard our culture, environment and our fundamental rights are important and should keep happening in future as well.

The festival was a huge success. 300 artists, including writers, filmmakers, musicians, actors and poets were using their creative gifts of performance across six stages. Over ten thousand people turned up to attend the event both the days, with 200 volunteers helping to make the event successful. Overall, the feedback received was overwhelmingly positive, with 100 percent of participants commenting favorably on the experience. After the accomplishments of the first edition of Artists Unite, everyone is looking forward to more initiatives and spaces like these, which is a big achievement in itself.

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