AFSPA, 1958

(R)age: AFSPA is an abbreviation of Armed Forces Special Power Act, a law that was passed by the Indian state in 1958. This act gives the security personnel sweeping power to detain, arrest and kill people on mere suspicion while guaranteeing the force’s impunity. The act was forced on Manipur, a north-eastern border state, as a pretext for curbing the insurgency for autonomy from India. In July 2004, twelve elderly women in Manipur gathered in front of the army barrack. They stood there naked, the full glory of their post-menopausal bodies protesting the brutal rape and killing of Thangjam Manorama by the Indian army – “We are all Manorama’s mothers / Indian army, come and rape us!” They were part of a women’s collective called Meira Paibi – meaning Torch Bearers. The film is structured around found footage shot by civilians and local videographers during the general protest after the murder of Manorama.
Rape and women’s naked bodies have been used for military causes since the beginning of territorial conflicts. Yet the instances of women’s use of nudity as a strategic measure to combat militarism, machismo and misogyny are not completely unheard of either, though the histories of war rarely acknowledge such resistances. The women of Manipur are politically and culturally evolved and visible – there has been long tradition of women’s collective resistance. Even in the early days of the subversive media in digital and virtual spaces, this protest achieved two distinct effects – one is in bringing unprecedented visibility to the cause and the other is in challenging the convention of framing female nudity on screen. (Madhusree Dutta)