Clarity And Revolution

A tireless warrior tracing the lines of oppression.

- Aruna Roy

BEZWADA Wilson of the Safai Karamchari Andolan has turned the inherently discriminatory circumstances of birth into a school of resistance. He has transformed himself into an extraordinary activist, a great campaigner against discrimination and injustice, and a mesmerising speaker. A friend listening to Wilson talk in a public lecture said, “His language has the raw truth of unadorned thought and emotions; language has the feel of life, and in his hands is a powerful tool of communication”.

He founded the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA) with the objective of putting a decisive and uncompromising end to one of the worst practices in existing human social systems in the world: to liberate manual scavengers condemned by caste to collect human excreta, euphemistically called “night soil”. This practice is a shame, a crime, and an indictment of all of India’s claims to progress. Indian technological claims stand condemned and exposed by the continued existence of dry latrines, and the cleaning of “gutters” by human beings who descend into the worst of all hells. His concerns have pushed him into a wider intellectual space— forcing affluent India out of its cocoon of comfort, to acknowledge its own direct role in the layered complexity of oppression. Wilson is a feminist, demanding selfreflection on gender discrimination within Dalit communities and a protagonist against marauding technology applications that come disguised as liberators. He fights shoulder to shoulder with others who have the courage to stand up to the abuse of power and continue the struggles to protect democratic rights.