In Defence of Commons

Context: Supreme Court order on Shaheen Bagh fails to recognize that permission raj looms over public spaces and their use for the right to protest.

Significance of Protests:

• To defend the foundations on which the entire nation is built upon: Like equality, equity, liberty, justice, fundamental rights, and secularism.

• These foundational values act our shared conceptual “Poromboku”- a Tamil word that means “the commons” referring to everything that we, as a society own collectively and share with one another. 
• To protect our constitutional soul: It sometimes becomes necessary to push back a government that is bent on demolishing our constitutional soul.
• To pressurize the state in a democracy: State is an enormously powerful machine and, to force a just response, common people need to apply collective pressure. 

Issues regarding protests in public spaces

• A public nuisance to those who do not share the same opinion: Public inconvenience must be addressed as the limitations placed on our right to protest.

• Issues with Permission raj: Police often does not permit protest against the government, and the public is dependent on the permission of the Police

• The permission is rejected or delayed until the very last moment forcing the organizers to cancel or rush to the court for relief.  
• Blanket denial of permissions in some places: e.g., In Tamil Nadu, since the Jallikattu protests of 2017, there is a blanket denial for permission for any gathering at Chennai’s famed Marina beach.

• Conflict with the maintenance of law and order: Public questioning is stifled as a consequence of the state maintaining law and order. 

The flawed idea of designated locations for protest: 

• Protests are often a spontaneous act and cannot be bottled by allocations and permissions.
• Public roads cannot be off-limits since a vital quality of protest is public awareness and participation.

Conclusion: There is no doubt that social media plays a huge role in bringing people together and giving power to the collective. But unless public spaces are freely available for demonstrations, there is a fear of mute democracy.