Colonialism and HIV/AIDS in India

[Guest guest]

Thank you to Mr. Heaviside for an excellent response.

Since Mr. Kole brought up colonialism, I would like to propose that its effect

is not to subjugate Indians through imposing a Western conspiracy, but rather

that its effect was to make Indians surround sexuality with a dangerous

n shroud of shame and taboo.

Mr. Kole's response struck me as highly defensive and reactionary; almost

symptomatic of a colonized mind. During colonialism one of the British Raj's

tactics was to accuse Indians of treating our women poorly, the theory that a

civilization can be measured by how it treats its women. We spent over 100 years

regressing into the stone age, defending indefensible practices like sati and

child marriage. Why? Not because we believed they were right, but because we

believed they were tradition, a tradition that had to be protected at all costs

against Western imperialism and loose morals.

The post's tone was limited to " we are not promiscuous/ immoral/ savage. "

HIV/AIDS is not a label that one nation pastes on another. It is a disease with

enormous sociocultural, political and economic implications. It must be

addressed scientifically and without judgement or blame. It cannot wait for us

to fight out the same old battle of East vs. West, who is better and whose fault

it is.

It is not Indian tradition to censor discussion, education, and access to

services on a basic part of humanity- sexuality. It is not moral to deny people

their human right to full and accurate information about HIV/AIDS, reproductive

health, and their own bodies. These practices were in reaction to colonialism

and it is time for us to abandon them and approach, scientifically, what is best

for India. What is best for India is to stop with the politics, egos and the

taboos and to focus on realistic, human-rights based approaches to prevention

and treatment.

Piot said in a recent speech that " It can be terribly tempting to get

personal when it comes to diseases that have to do with sex and drugs, like

HIV-AIDS, " he says. " But my experience in dealing with the ebola virus has

taught me that we need a scientific basis to decide what will help people, what

will save them, and what's best for them. We must not let our personal

preferences get in the way. "

You may dismiss him as a westerner and you may dismiss me as an American-born

Indian, but please do not reject the Indian-born Indians who are living with

HIV/AIDS or soon will be because the continued denial, defensiveness, and

overwhelming silence and apathy to the exponentially growing pandemic.

Best Regards,

Joya Banerjee

E-mail: <banerjee@...>

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