About anhilaal
The Preface
The question is not of misuse of power and power relations. It is the question of abolition of power. It is not the question of value-based politics versus corrupt politics. It is the question of abolition of politics. It is not the question of ideal job versus poorly paid job. It is the question of abolition of work and career. All the politics and governments till now have only redistributed power and work but they have not abolished them. In reality, civilization, power, work and state: they are one and the same.
Meaning of the Term
At the centre of the term hilaal is the infinitive: hilaanaa . In many South Asian languages it means to move, to shake something. An, the prefix, stands for negation.
The name is based on a belief about some tribal groups from eastern India. Early morning before going to work at the field of moneylender or landlord, s/he shakes haandi with her toe. If the haandi refuses to move s/he also refuses to move. So long there is rice in the haandi, s/he shall not move to work. So we are.
Primary aim of dominating social cultural norms, civilization, state, market and revolution is to bring two poles of work and worker together. If society and state have to function normally, then they have to be Brought Together. However, like two north poles of different magnets they get away from each other more easily than coming together.
The Distinction between Work and Human Activity
Singing, dancing, playing, hospitality are simple human activities. As soon as these activities turn into source of our livelihood, they become work. Instead of playing a game it becomes our career. It becomes potentially a part of Sports Industry. Singing and dancing become Entertainment Industry. Hospitality becomes Hospitality Management. History of Civilization is the history of turning more and more human activities into work (-flows).
When it is about celebrating festivals and communal activities, like the tribal communities , our energy knows no bounds. At the end of the day what elites called civilization was work for ( in the true sense, against ) us. What else is the impersonal, organized power and violence other than impersonal, oorganized control over our work and its products ? We are against all work-pyramids covertly operating in the name of countries, companies, parties, families and identities. We are for self-determined human activities which is not possible without abolition of our existence as wage-workers or serfs. We are for non-hijackable, non-hierarchical and coercion-free communities.
Hence the name Coalition Against Work, Representation and Civilization in South Asia: anhilaal (CAWRC).
anhilaal prakaashan samuh, Delhi, India, 2012
