The various hues of feminist politics will soon go online. Penkoottu, an independent women’s collective, is planning to launch a YouTube channel to espouse their ideology on the cyberspace.
According to Penkoottu activists who are designing the page, the web channel will serve as a media platform to showcase the cultural activities of the group. Women mediapersons can use it to broadcast their creative works. It would document the history and struggles of Kerala’s women and sexual minorities. The page will try to reconstruct the media culture in the State from a woman’s perspective and support the various class, caste, environmental, and land struggles in the State and document them, they said.
It will be launched on September 23 and funds for its functioning would be arranged through crowd funding. The YouTube page will be run under the Penkoottu Media Collective.
P. Viji, secretary, Asanghatitha Meghala Thozhilali Union, a trade union representing women in the unorganised sector, formed as an offshoot of Penkoottu, told The Hindu that the web channel was a result of their realisation that there was very little room for women’s struggles in the existing media space. “The mainstream political parties and trade unions often speak for the capitalist classes. Women’s issues are often pushed to the margins. Through the YouTube channel, we are trying to reach out to the people to raise crucial issues that are sidelined,” she said.
It will function as a platform to give representation to different forms of feminist politics and discuss their ideological viewpoints. Activists of the collective feels that the sexual discrimination faced by women from various walks of life are different. It is directly linked to class, caste, race, nature, region, religion, sexual priorities, among other things, and that is why the focus will be on the different forms of feminism, they added.
The first programme to be broadcast through the web page would be ‘Marivil Hostel’, a comedy-fiction series. The idea of feminism would be elucidated through an educational video. It would show film reviews, book reviews, documentaries, short films, and feature films, the activists added.
Penkoottu was formed to ensure representation of women and minorities in the power circles and the public space following the agitation in 2009-10 seeking public toilets for women workers in S.M. Street in Kozhikode.
