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Tomorrow is International Yoga Day. Here’s Why I Don’t Celebrate It.


 We live in a time of rising authoritarianism around the globe, and the movements that characterize it put an exclusive version of nationalism at the center of their agenda. You see it here in the US – the Trump administration violates every norm and practice of democracy; uses its power to steal public resources to enrich its own members and friends; and secures public support to do this with a racist and anti-immigrant agenda that declares America is for white people.

 

This is part of a movement around the world – you have the rise of neo-nazi parties in France, Austria and Northern Europe. Anti-democratic government now leads Hungary. And other versions of nationalist authoritarianism in Brazil and the Philippines.

 

India’s Prime Minister Modi and the ruling party – the BJP – are part of this same trend. In India, that particular form of nationalist authoritarianism is expressed as Hindu fundamentalism (Hindutva). The BJP arose in the western Indian state of Gujarat, with a clear anti-Muslim agenda. Modi was the governor of Gujarat at a time when anti-Muslim violence was rampant, and his government encouraged the violence, looked the other way while it happened, at times actively participated, and failed to prosecute or provide redress to those affected.

 

Now Modi governs the entire country. Muslims make up 14% of India’s population, but the Hindutva agenda is to say that India is only for Hindus. That Muslims have no place in this India. This agenda is carried out through public policy – like the recent amendment to citizenship – but also by supporting armed militias that attack Muslim people, endanger Muslim communities, and destroy Muslim holy places. How India has dealt with the coronavirus crisis is informed by its disinterest in the well-being of Muslims and poor communities in India, similar to how the coronavirus response in the US has failed BIPOC and low income communities in the US.

 

Meanwhile, Hindu fundamentalism insists upon and reifies the realities of the caste system. American yoga students somehow bypass the complexities of engaging in a practice that has been deeply intertwined with the injustices of the caste system. Many of us know or believe that yoga has origins in pre-caste eras, and that the theories and principles of yoga provide a map to liberation for all beings. We confidently assert – as did our Hindu guru – that yoga is separate from any religious system.

 

And yet, murders and violence against Dalits – people identified as lower caste – continue in India.

 

International yoga day is intertwined with these realities. It was created in 2015 as part of Modi’s agenda to make Hinduism that only acceptable practice in India. It is emblematic of this larger agenda.

 

I believe that yoga is a powerful tool for justice and liberation. Our yoga practice can be an expression of the values of basic human rights. We practice yoga in the service of liberation of all living beings. Our yoga practice is not only for liberation of all living beings in some imagined future – when we each achieve enlightenment and escape the cycle of birth and death. It is also a tool to help us create liberation in the here and now, by dismantling systems of oppression and creating opportunity for liberation in this lifetime. We can’t engage practice yoga in a way that contributes to the violation of human rights of real living beings in the here and now.

 

And that’s what the prominence of International Yoga Day does – it promotes the Hindutva agenda. It empowers a government that does not recognize the basic human rights of all Indians. Let us not live with illusion and delusion. Let us not unwittingly contribute to the growth of a power that is contrary to our true values. Let us try to see reality as it is. Even though International Yoga Day might make us feel good, the reality behind it is about exclusion, disempowerment and violence. Let us not align ourselves with that violence.

 

Here are some readings to help you better understand this situation:

The Violent Toll of Hindu Nationalism in India

Timeline of the Riots in Modi’s Gujarat

India Cannot Expect to Beat Covid-19 Without Tackling Hate and Corruption

Indian police accused of targeting Muslims over anti-CAA protests

On International Yoga Day, yoga is just politics by other means

“Shoot the Traitors”: Discrimination Against Muslims under India’s New Citizenship Policy

 

Instead of celebrating international yoga day tomorrow, please donate money to organizations that support human rights in India. I’m donating to Equality Labs.

Comments

  1. hong gwi-seokJune 20, 2020 at 5:07 AM

    thank you, comrade! https://www.facebook.com/peggykwisukhong/posts/10220538630108826

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kathleen MulliganJune 20, 2020 at 9:14 AM

      thank you for starting this conversation and for always putting justice at the center of what we should be thinking about and doing.

      Delete

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