Let us celebrate the joy
Today, everything is up for auction. The psyche of making money is
killing everything that is intrinsic to humans. It is market and products
all around. People with their beauty and joy of creating and sharing
are disappearing fast. The ‘invisible hand’ is very efficiently putting a
price tag on everything, including human life. Life has become a costbenefit
analysis. This is today’s real calamity: a drought of compassion,
a famine of collective joy. And this too is man-made. Desires of
expression, fellowship and freedom are brutally and systematically
suppressed whereas alienating, divisive and individualistic tendencies
are schematically sponsored. It is not the political institutions alone that
are rotting with corruption, human dignity and identity are also at stake.
The integrity of humans as social and creative being is under serious
threat. The orchestrated onslaught of communal and consumerist
ideologies together make it impossible to recognize people as people.
Hence, IPTA has a much bigger challenge today, more difficult than it
was at the time of its formation 70 years ago. There are more cultural
activists today, but scattered. There are many performances engaging
with today’s ‘cultural calamity’, but mostly sporadic and inconsistent. All
these artists and performances need to come together. Only a symphony
of multiple voices of resistance and freedom can awaken the society
from the slumber of consumerist culture, from the blindness of hatred.
Let’s sing together. Let’s celebrate people’s art. Let’s reclaim joy.
Today, everything is up for auction. The psyche of making money is
killing everything that is intrinsic to humans. It is market and products
all around. People with their beauty and joy of creating and sharing
are disappearing fast. The ‘invisible hand’ is very efficiently putting a
price tag on everything, including human life. Life has become a costbenefit
analysis. This is today’s real calamity: a drought of compassion,
a famine of collective joy. And this too is man-made. Desires of
expression, fellowship and freedom are brutally and systematically
suppressed whereas alienating, divisive and individualistic tendencies
are schematically sponsored. It is not the political institutions alone that
are rotting with corruption, human dignity and identity are also at stake.
The integrity of humans as social and creative being is under serious
threat. The orchestrated onslaught of communal and consumerist
ideologies together make it impossible to recognize people as people.
Hence, IPTA has a much bigger challenge today, more difficult than it
was at the time of its formation 70 years ago. There are more cultural
activists today, but scattered. There are many performances engaging
with today’s ‘cultural calamity’, but mostly sporadic and inconsistent. All
these artists and performances need to come together. Only a symphony
of multiple voices of resistance and freedom can awaken the society
from the slumber of consumerist culture, from the blindness of hatred.
Let’s sing together. Let’s celebrate people’s art. Let’s reclaim joy.
Invitation-cum-program of the Conference. Please forward it to others. Hope to see you all at the inauguration session and throughout the program.
Please note that the time and Venue of Inaugural session has changed from previous announcement. It will now be at 6:30pm @ KC Open Air Theatre, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi on 31 August 2013.Regards
Manish Shrivastava
IPTA, Delhi State Committee.
9891884894
9891884894
P.S. We are still short of funds to the scale of about Rs. 40,000. Any contribution is welcome.