how can we help our family memmbers tofollow the democratic culture?
Answers
Answer:
.Teach your kids the art of debating. Teach them that dissent, debate and questioning are not new things – they are essential parts of a three thousand year old Indian tradition. From Gautam Buddha to Tulsidas, from Amir Khusro to Raja Ram Mohan Roy; from Savitribai Phule to B.R. Ambedkar, Indian history is replete with many who broke away from the oppressions of their day and gave expression to revolutionary new ways of being.
Patriarchy tells the younger and so-called ‘weaker’ members of a family, tribe or society to shut up and obey. Democracy, on the other hand, gives everyone in a society the right to speak up and question. As parents, we need to tell our children that it is good to question and debate. We also need to remind them that genuine debate is nothing like the gutter-level shouting matches that most news channels pass off as ‘TV debates’.
We need to teach our kids how to put forth their points of view factually and respectfully. Again, the way they will learn best is by watching us in action and seeing how we handle differences of opinion.
Watch Richard Attenborough’s 1982 film Gandhi together as a family. The Sangh Parivar’s project of diminishing and doing away with Gandhi is now at its peak, but the old man is refusing to go away. The current nation-wide largely non-violent uprising against the draconian NRC/NPR/CAA is living proof that his ideas are just as potent today as they were when he was alive.
There’s nothing quite like watching Gandhi’s life to understand his message, (“My life is my message”) and to show our kids that we do indeed have a rich heritage of non-violent resistance. (It’s also a great film to screen in your neighbourhood community hall for the children and families in your locality, or even at your child’s school for that matter.