What the Manipur Conflict reveals about the Structural Oppression?

‘It is not the tyrannized who initiate despotism, but the tyrants. It is not the despised who initiate hatred, but those who despise. It is not those whose humanity is denied them who negate humankind, but those who denied that humanity’ – Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

Behind the face mask of the oppressor lies the domination of wealth, decision-making power and narratives that wants to trap the oppressed in the vicious cycle of structural oppression. Since the beginning of 3rd May 2023, the failure to contain the violence has evolved into an institutionalized oppression. The inability to restore trust, security
and neutrality gradually transformed the conflict into a prolonged system of fear, segregation and dehumanization.

After all, what reveals how structural oppression works is the consciousness that different communities uphold within the State. What the Meiteis, Nagas and the Kukis harnessed in their consciousness is segregated and hence domination becomes quite easy for the oppressed to manipulate the course of action. Next is the tactic of ‘dependence’ that is created for the oppressed by the oppressors, which never allows the oppressed to think critically. Dependence on money, resources, power and ministerial position became the tools for the oppressor to suppress the idea of solidarity among the oppressed.

Even within the intra-community itself, it is necessary to divide the people to preserve the status quo, and to divide and confuse them, the destroyers call themselves builders of peace. Maybe a bit of drama to keep the circus alive: resignation from the post of being a mannequin, imposition of President’s Rule as a Valentine’s gift in February, and reinstalling the post of being a mannequin.

But one must never forget that authentic authority is not affirmed as such by mere transfer of power, but through delegation in a true sense or through sympathetic adherence. However, such sympathetic adherence seems quite absent or submerged in the porous mud of addiction to power among our representatives, bureaucrats, and State forces, whose professional ethical duties were supposed to prioritise public service.  The irony of the situation is that we are all trapped in this structural oppression. As long as the oppressed remain unaware of the causes of their condition, they will fatalistically accept their exploitation. 

Call for a revolution, Vision for the future

According to Paulo Freire, one Vision (long-term plan) to realise our conscientizacao (learning to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions and to take action against the oppressive elements of reality) and to fight against oppression in any society is to drop the system of ‘banking education’. Banking education is a model of the education system in which teachers are seen as the owners of knowledge and students are treated as empty containers. In such a model, education becomes an act of depositing information into passive learners. Actually, such a system prevents people from thinking critically and keeps the unequal power structure alive. This discourages creativity, kills curiosity, promotes obedience and supports oppression. Instead, replacing it with ‘problem posing education’ where dialogue becomes central, students critically examine the reality, which could develop the theory of praxis, i.e., understanding the continuous cycle of acting, reflecting on those actions and refining our actions again. Like the oppressor needs a theory to oppress, the oppressed also needs a theory of action, a revolution in critical thinking, to help in liberating society from further oppression. 

It is very clear that, since the 3rd May, there have been delayed responses, selective narratives, militarised approaches, internet restrictions, and weak accountability, and in the midst, one has forgotten how critical thinking collapses when survival and identity become more important than reflection. 

Peace in Manipur – A Utopia?                                                                                 

In the current scenario, when one enquires about peace, it becomes very uncertain to answer since even an innocent child of 5 years and a toddler of 5 months sleeping tightly with their mother got killed in the midnight at Tronglaobi, Bishnupur district. Before this traumatising incident, the case of more than 30 missing people from the valley and recently the abduction of 18 Naga residents, in which 12 were released, and 6 people from Leilon Vaiphei village are being held hostage, proved that dehumanisation is at its peak. The common denominator responsible for all these missing cases might be framing to develop a political boundary, making it clear that such boundaries belong to the Union territory being demanded, quoted, and questioned by Dr Dhanabhir Laishram, Social Scientist. 

For every incident, it follows a similar pattern: formation of JAC, internet banned in some cases, case of missing person surrenders to NIA, bandh, rallies organised by CSOs, total shutdown, and the list goes on. Along with a price hike and inflation, the education system was deteriorating each day due to leaked question papers, among other factors, and every commoner cursed the people at the top. A recent interview with the Village Chairman of Leilon Vaiphei Village in a TV Discussion programme expressed how peace could prevail when such an abduction of innocent villagers is taking place. Who knows, this incident might become the straw that broke the camel’s back, or who knows, this incident might also fall out like the previous one?

It is a long walk to the path of bringing peace, but somewhere it must have a point of departure.