Dalit journalists face caste-based discrimination in the workplace and outside. We spoke to activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan about the unique challenges they face.
By Ruby Winter
Journalists who come from minority backgrounds often face multiple challenges at work and in their personal life. From their gender identity to their race, their religious expression to their opinions about social issues – all of them are used by trolls to target them online and off. One of these vulnerable circles are journalists who belong to the Dalit caste, originating in South Asia. In this age-old system, a person is assigned a caste at the time of their birth and this limits every aspect of their life from what jobs they can pursue to whom they can marry. This is no simple categorization and they are subgroups within subgroups within subgroups, many facing various levels of discrimination. Dalit journalists especially face a specific set of problems that those from privileged positions will find difficult to identify or understand. As April is Dalit History Month, we spoke to Thenmozhi Soundararajan, executive director of Equality Labs – an organization dedicated to fighting for the civil rights of Dalits and her team to get insight into the experiences of Dalit reporters.
- What are some challenges Dalit journalists face in the newsroom or on the field?
Dalits have long faced structural caste discrimination that contributes to the threats and violence they face as journalists. Most mainstream South Asian newsrooms do not hire or protect caste-oppressed writers, leading to almost no Dalit representation. When Dalits and caste-oppressed journalists are hired into newsrooms, they are not in editorial or other positions of power so they have little control over the content they create.
In a survey conducted by Tejas Harad, Dalit journalists complained about being othered, facing isolation, and discrimination. These journalists find it much harder to get support when they are being targeted for harassment. Oftentimes, Dalit journalists are taking riskier assignments because the story of caste puts them into direct confrontation with power, and as a result they become a target.
- Can you describe the kind of threats they face?
These attacks can include being targeted online by vicious disinformation networks, gaslighting, harassment at work and harassment of their family. In addition to these threats, they must also grapple with discrimination and lack of support from their institutions. Also included in the threats are smearing of credibility, open slurs, and even open calls for violence. That is why, now more than ever, Dalit journalists need global support to protect their press freedom.
The reportage of minority voices at this time is critical as Dalit journalists provide invaluable insights into the challenges of development, democracy, and rights. As a minority, it is critical that we prioritize their safety and center their needs as we discuss the challenges of global press freedom over all. There is no safe space for Dalit and Adivasi journalists, therefore when they face external threats and violence, they don’t have the support systems to keep them safe or support them through the attacks.
- What role do social media sites play in how Dalit journalists are targeted?
Social media platforms are complicit in the targeting of minorities in South Asian markets, especially caste-oppressed journalists. Despite Dalit civil society organizations raising these issues for years, these platforms still have not not addressed coordinated violent behavior directed at Dalit journalists, and as a result caste slurs have become normalized. We have to understand that these attacks are not differences of opinion, they are aimed at deplatforming Dalit journalism not just from social media, but from the broader discourse, and ultimately democracy.
- How do these online threats affect reporters in real life?
We know that digital threats often translate into physical violence. Yet we haven’t seen these taken seriously. Dalit journalists take on enormous risks because of how much they care about their community. They will often pay for their own safety gear and travel funds given how poorly they are supported. While they go the extra mile, their institutions skimp on safety measures, and there is a great deal of PTSD, fear, and anxiety amongst journalists conducting their job. There is also no funding or consideration when it comes to legal defense, medical expenses, or overall care and well-being.
- How do tech companies contribute to this prejudice?
A very important question for folks who are tracking social media platforms is to understand that much of our advocacy in North America is being reversed due to the policies of non-compliance and normalization of bigotry that these platforms unleash in markets of the global south. This is catastrophic when you consider that India is the largest market for companies like Facebook, and it means they are allowing bad actors to build enormous algorithmic power off of dangerous casteist and Islamophobic hate sepech.
These attacks on journalists and other caste-oppressed leaders are preventable. Tech companies are not invested in this prevention, however, because they are directly complicit and making money off of the hate. It is profitable for them to see a slur proliferate and our people to get attacked. And that is why there must be accountability. We need to have Facebook release its human rights impact audit assessment for India. And we need an aggressive approach from the platforms before it’s too late.
LINK: https://www.wired.com/story/trapped-in-silicon-valleys-hidden-caste-system/
- In what areas do the harms manifest? Financial, emotional, relationships or safety?
All of the above. The bottomline is that to be a Dalit journalist in these conditions is to be one of the most courageous truth-tellers in society at a time when truth is criminalized. Despite this brutal reality, journalists are continuing to do their work because they take seriously the mandate of a free press in a democracy. The fact that the press, and its most vulnerable journalists are facing so many grave harms point to how much press freedom has declined.
- Are women Dalit journalists experiencing different types of threats and harms and impacts?
Absolutely, attacks they receive are almost always gendered and casteist in nature. The portmanteau #presstitute that came from India specifically targets women journalists. Dalit women journalists get insidious rape threats and other sexualized comments. And there is nothing done about it. It is sickening how debased discourse has become. What’s worse is that unlike when caste privileged women are targeted, hardly anyone comes to Dalit women’s defense.
- What strategies do you employ to solve the threats/harms/impact you face directly online?
We are in a moment of crisis for truth over all. What we have learned is that, in an era of disinformation, a fact is fact not just because of evidence, but also because of power. As a result, in the face of ongoing gaslighting, harassment, and threats, I try to balance my time with practices that nurture my power instead of leeching it. This can include limiting how much I expose myself to opposition narratives; spending time offline with my community and family; refusing to engage in rapid response cycles of social media outrage; and instead focusing on deeper analysis and visionary solutions.
- How do you practice resilience?
Practically, I am very aggressive about my digital security and work with other Dalit feminists to model resilence in the face of digital authoritarians and casteism online. It is a constant iterative process, but knowing that our ancestors faced even more vicious violence is comforting as I know that we will outlive this violent moment as well. It is important to not let violence define our path toward liberatory Dalit feminist futures.
- How do you and your team deal with the mental exhaustion that comes as a part of your activism?
Our team views the experience of caste not just as a socio-political phenomenon but one that also has psychosocial impacts. As a result, we have made healing justice one of our leading pillars. We are building a body of work on the issue of caste stress and how it manifests for Dalit leaders, journalists, and activists. We are also building one of the first South Asian and Dalit feminist-led somatic frameworks to bring emodiment to our community during a time of genocide.
This has included incorporating a trauma-informed lens to everything we do, from training staff on somatics to building models for trauma-informed digital security to creating public educational seminars on topics of intergenerational trauma, PTSD, panic attacks and anxiety, and tools for understanding and regulating the nervous system in a time of distress.
- What is Equality Labs doing to address these issues?
We are focusing on the duty of care of companies toward caste-oppressed communities as one of our largest advocacy agendas. The second layer is the work we do around caste equity, sensitizing companies on how to avoid the creation of casteist hostile workplaces. We are currently trying to work with multinational companies to create workplace caste competency so these are not looked at as fringe issues, but rather a major issue of caste apartheid that affects 260 million people worldwide, including 5.77 milion Americans, as well as one of the fastest growing populations in North America and around the world.
- What’s next for Equality Labs?
We are continuing to build visionary Dalit feminist futures in a time of violence, and our hope is that with all of our work, from digital security to cultural organizing, that we can help ignite hope for our people. We have had some incredible wins around caste equity including the California State University, California Democratic Party, the Alphabet Union, and many more institutions recognizing how serious caste discrimination is. We are also building worker power as major unions around the country are flanking caste-oppressed workers. And more than ever, Dalit journalists and voices are taking up space because visibilty is a counter to the violence we have faced for centuries.
The month of April is Dalit History Month, a time to highlight their struggles and celebrate their victories. To learn more about their history and the current shape of the resistance movement, take a look at this kit created by Equality Labs.
Ruby Winter is a research associate with TrollBusters. She can be reached at report(at)troll-busters(dot)com.
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