The power of video for change

For the poor illiterate women of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), Video SEWA has become a tool for change. What started as a sensitisation programme soon turned into a mechanism for protest and marshalling public opinion

As we walk down the dusty lane beside the colonial Ellisbridge, we have only a vague idea of where we are headed. Walking past herds of goat and motley groups of hens, we have no idea that our steps will lead us to the gates of a one-of-a-kind film cooperative in Asia. A cooperative that runs on the basic values of democracy and equity. Where everybody gets a chance to express his/her concerns through video.

The people working in a semi-lit room inside the old building that houses Video SEWA have innumerable anecdotes to offer; more anecdotes perhaps than the many tapes piled on wall-to-wall shelves.

In an adjacent room, on a red satranji, Video SEWA members are busy. In one corner, an old woman checks a tape in the VCR. She has on a yellow khadi sari, and her grey hair is tied back in a knot. When we ask her what she is doing she replies that she’s sorting out an old shot that she plans to use in a film she is currently editing.

The woman’s name is Leela Datania. She’s 65 years old and used to be an illiterate vegetable vendor. She lived in a slum with limited access to drinking water and no electricity. And she used to face constant abuse by the police. Today, she’s a confident filmmaker, handling complex broadcast equipment and capturing issues that concern her.

Leelaben says: “Now I can collectively raise and reach the voices of thousands of working women whose concerns and problems never reach the policymakers. Video SEWA is the best thing to have happened in my life.” Her wrinkled face shines as she talks.
How did she effect this remarkable turnaround?

In 1984, Ela Bhatt, a Gandhian and leader of the women’s trade union movement in India, went to Mali for a conference. There, in a remote, dry, dusty village that had no electricity or safe drinking water, she observed a group of poor farmers, mainly women, learning a skill that was completely unfamiliar to them. They were receiving hands-on training in video-filming. The teacher, Martha Stewart from Martha Stewart Communications, New York, was leaving no stone unturned in explaining to them the basics of digital filmmaking.

Bhatt was totally sold on the idea. With support from the United Nations Development Programme and USAID, she managed to bring the Martha Stewart team to Ahmedabad. Twenty women from SEWA were given an intensive three-week training. They were all women from the unorganised sector who were unfamiliar even with basic electrical stuff, let alone digital technology. There was Leelaben, the vegetable vendor, Shubhadraben, the bidi-roller, Taraben, the incense-stick-maker…

Leelaben recalls: “I was dying every day and living every day. As a vegetable vendor I used to sit in Manek Chowk market with two baskets of vegetables. But the police always abused us, displacing us whenever they wished to.”

For Shubhadra, the bidi-roller, protesting against unjustified wages or insufficient security measures in the workplace was difficult before she learnt how to record her demands.
It’s been a long journey since 1984. For the poor illiterate women of SEWA, Video Sewa has become a tool for change. What began as a sensitisation programme has turned into a mechanism for protest and marshalling public opinion. From simply depicting poor women’s concerns, it has become a canvas for information-dissemination, awareness-building and policy advocacy.

But for the users of this technology, there’s no jargon-spewing. The day Leelaben understood the hidden powers of the video she knew immediately what she had to do.

Neelam Dave, coordinator Video SEWA, joined SEWA in 1981. She was among the first group of 20 members to be trained. Although Neelam was a trained photographer she was not exposed to the digital media and she found the training immensely useful. Explaining the effectiveness of video as a communications tool, Neelam says: “Video footage can make the authorities sit up. Leelaben and Shubhadraben both recorded the deplorable conditions of vegetable vendors and bidi-rollers. Armed with the footage, we visited the Ahmedabad civic authorities that responded faster than ever before.”

On a different occasion, the bidi workers of Anand district united to agitate against their employer who had illegally sacked them from their jobs. They had no testimony to back them up, but they had recorded their experiences, which were used as evidence in the Supreme Court, resulting in a favourable judgment and compensation for the women.

Neelamben explains that this is not an isolated incident. “We went to Lucknow some years ago, to organise women doing chikankari embroidery. After the core training programme was over we screened some footage of a rally we had shot in Ahmedabad. The footage related to the demands of readymade garment workers for minimum wages. The Lucknowi women were enthused. They immediately decided to organise a similar rally in Lucknow. Such is the power of video,” says Neelamben.

With over 100 films completed, Video SEWA is now a movement. Somewhere down the line it became more than just a protest tool. It is also a space to discuss and negotiate macro issues like food security, water and sanitation, labour rights and women’s rights.