this article resonated with me for many reasons and one of them is this attitude that i find prevalent in privileged pakistani society as well – that democracy can’t work in pakistan because people are not educated/informed enough to know how to vote. i find that argument shockingly condescending and repulsive. this article is a slap in the face of that arrogance.
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She is the elected head of Harmara Panchayat (a local council), Rajasthan, India. She, a dalit (bottom of the caste structure), won by 735 votes in February 2010, – a very large margin in Panchayat elections. Her name is Naurti. When the elite dismiss the electoral process and talk of changing the pattern of democratic governance, I resent their arrogance, which dismisses the courage, opinions and views of hundreds like her. Corrupt as the system is, people like Naurti demonstrate that all hope is not lost. Women and men from rural India understand the working of electoral politics better than us. Their lack of privilege has forced them to see life as it is. They do not have the luxury of distancing themselves from that reality. Yet, knowing all, they choose to continue to have faith in electoral politics. The vote is steadily becoming a powerful tool to establish the rights of women like Naurti. Their ideal therefore is political representation with transparency and accountability. That is why, despite frustrations, they have not talked of trashing parliamentary democracy. More here.