Left-wing film maker's 'Socialism of a Third Kind': What about equal economic status?

By Rajiv Shah

KP Sasi, a well-known Left-wing film director and cartoonist from Thrissur, Kerala, currently based in Bengaluru, has come up with a 12-point charter on what he calls Socialism of a Third Kind. Sent in an email alert via Dalit Media Watch, Sasi, who is son of late K Damodaran, a Marxist theoretician and writer and one of the founder leaders of the Communist Party in India, provides his perspective of the types of equal status he thinks socialism should have.

Though I found it interesting, I didn’t find in any of his 12 points what exactly his view on economy is – whether there could be economic equality, especially at a time when even Marxists agree private capital is a must for development in view of the fact that the productive forces are not ripe enough to change relations of production, supposed to be a precondition of socialism.
Be that as it may, I found the 12 point charter by Sasi interesting, coming as it does from a person who has made powerful documentaries like "A Valley Refuses to Die", "We Who Make History", "Living in Fear", "In the Name of Medicine" and "Voices from a Disaster", and feature films “Ilayum Mullum”, on the social and psychological violence on women in Kerala, “Ek Alag Mausam” and “Ssh..Silence Please”, a silent comedy film on development.
Read on his “Socialism of a Third Kind”:

***

1. Equal status to all religions or no religion, does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, caste, class, sexuality, nationality, language, colour, race, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
2. Equal status to all classes does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, caste, religion or no religion, sexuality, nationality, language, colour, race, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
3. Equal status to gender divides does not necessarily mean equal status to religion or no religion, caste, class, sexuality, nationality, language, colour, race, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
4. Equal status to castes does not necessarily mean does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, religion or no religion, class, sexuality, nationality, language, colour, race, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
5. Equal status to sexualities does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, caste, class, religion or no religion, nationality, language, colour, race, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
6. Equal status to nationalities does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, caste, class, sexuality, religion or no religion, language, colour, race, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
7. Equal status to languages does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, caste, class, sexuality, nationality, religion or no religion, colour, race, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
8. Equal status to skin colours does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, caste, class, sexuality, nationality, language, religion or no religion, race, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
9. Equal status to races does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, caste, class, sexuality, nationality, language, colour, religion or no religion, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
10. Equal status to ethnicities does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, caste, class, sexuality, nationality, language, colour, race, ethnicity, nationality and regional power differences.
11. Equal status to regional divides does not necessarily mean equal status to gender, caste, class, sexuality, nationality, language, colour, race, ethnicity, religion or no religion and regional power differences.
12. Above all, equal status to all human beings does not necessarily mean equal status to all species and the survival of this planet.
The earlier we understand this above basic truth and join hands to work together, the better for our own future and the future of the coming generations.

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