Building Human Rights through Popular Culture
By Mallika Dutt
Breakthrough is an international group that seeks to raise
awareness about human rights through popular culture and education.
We believe that it is important to reach out to a general public
and begin a dialogue about violence against women and human rights.
For example, by raising the issues of domestic violence through
a music album and music videos, Breakthrough is able to reach
millions of people across South Asia and other parts of the world.
Mann ke Manjeere (Rhythms of the Mind) is an award winning
music video produced by Breakthrough. It narrates the exuberant
journey of a woman who flees her abusive husband and becomes a truck
driver. Women of all ages and backgrounds get a ride on this truck:
dancing and rejoicing as they traverse an arid desert. It was nominated
for an MTV award and won the National Screen Award in India.
What has been particularly heartening is the realization that music
videos speak a universal language. Just as we have always insisted
that violence against women is a global phenomenon that has culturally
specific manifestations, we have found that the music video, although
located in an Indian context, appeals to a global audience. We
have linked the media product to our website, and we also use the
video to conduct workshops on violence against women. In fact,
groups around the world are using the video for public education
on domestic violence, women's access to non-traditional occupations
and public space.
At Breakthrough violence against women is a human rights
issue; and for us, human rights are fundamentally about values of
dignity, equality, and non-discrimination. Human rights provide
a universal framework about justice and equality: violence against
women is one of the areas where amongst the worst violations of
these rights occur. With Mann ke Manjeere, we ask women
to understand human rights not simply as a list of violations, but
more importantly as a vision of where women want to go. Breakthrough
is ultimately about building a human rights culture - a culture
where respect for one another, the ability to live with dignity,
food, shelter, and freedom from violence and discrimination is the
ultimate goal.
In the anti-violence movement, we have often focused on the single
issue of domestic violence without understanding its broader connections
to social and economic issues, to class, religion and geography.
We focus on providing better services to battered women rather than
engaging in community education to end violence. We hope that a
human rights perspective will help connect our anti-violence struggle
to a larger movement for social justice.
Mallika Dutt is the Executive Director of Breakthrough.
Its website address is www.breakthrough.tv
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