started here: the jam (part 1)

the jam is a gathering of young leaders from different nations of the world, who are taking small steps to bring about change in their own communities. we spent a week together, sharing our lives, ideas, music and dances. this year's gathering was in Peru. it is organised by YES! (youth for environmental sanity)

The first few days at the jam, it was difficult for me to understand the whole thing about being indigenous’ and the white racism. I thought “surely the white aren’t so shameless”. But as I got deeper into conversations and tried to keep myself open to other views, I realized that, that in fact, is true. It is really amazing how all our countries are still colonized, even with the colonizers sent away. And their long distant colonizing tools were their language (for example English in India and Portuguese in brasil) and colour of the skin.

And then in India we don’t have white ruling us anymore but colour is still an issue. I guess I could not understand what Lorna, an aboriginal young girl from Australia, was saying because I don’t always connect oppression with only whites. In my country, there is racism within the same colour. It’s either between people from one state and the other or between the north and the south. But we don’t try to finish each other (except for the tribal of course). So I couldn’t see the fact, which I later understood, that the white governments in such countries have had a systematic plan in their policies to finish people of another colour. And I don’t think finish here is a wrong word.

When Lorna spoke about being aboriginal, she seemed to blame everything her people were going through on the white government. I agreed with her for only some extent. For example she was talking about violence within her people. She said the whites were making that happen. But somewhere in this process her people have made their own choices. So I wonder if blaming has also become a comfort zone for some people? But then I think of all the indigenous movements. Such people also made choices.

And it was these choices that had brought some of us together for a week in Peru. It seemed to me that we were celebrating these tough, but powerful choices that we had made in our lives.

Along with these questions, I was also discovering a lot of things about myself. I was receiving a lot of hugs and care from everyone. And with all this coming my way, I found confidence in myself and did not feel I needed to justify myself. I was calm and rational. When I spoke, I knew what I was saying and I chose just the right kind of words. I was a different person. Everybody around me appreciated that and many commented that I brought tranquility. But now when I’m at home I’m restless and anxious about something I can’t put my finger on.

And this is what I liked about the jam: there was no differentiation between work and personal life. So there weren’t too many discussions about world issues. We all are well aware about them. Rather, there were people sharing about themselves, about their lives. And through that we got to know about each other’s work and struggles.

People, for a change were actually listening to each other and not reacting or just talking. And for activists, that is commendable!