Humanist Movement members in Kerala launched a campaign named: New renaissance march for Kerala’s humanization under the banner of “Say NO to VIOLENCE, YES to LIFE”.
“We started our journey November 1, [2013] from the southern district of Kerala, Kasaragod, to the north part of Kerala, Trivandrum district – about 573 kilometres,” reports member Byju Chalad – quoting the circular sent to members by the organising team. “Before starting the journey we held an inaugural function, at Kasaragod, inviting local celebrities.”
It was as early as 5am when the Kasaragod Humanist Movement members boarded the Parasuram Express, which is a passenger day-train running from Kasaragod to Trivandrum and which stops all the major railway stations. All compartments were ordinary class compartments except for two cars.
“When the train reached Kannur, eleven humanist members joined, getting on the train there.
At the stations of Calicut, Eranakulam, Kottayam, and Kollam, other members also joined the group. In total, eighteen members participated from various districts among which were four women members,” added Byju Chalad.
On the train leaflets were widely distributed elaborating on issue that effect Kerala and these were:
Violence against children and women,
Irresponsible politicians in the state,
Deep rooted corruption in government administration,
Consumption of drugs and alcohol by youngsters,
Exploitation and cornering of tribes in some regions of the state,
Law keepers turning into law breakers,
Increasing terrorist activities across the state.
“During the entire campaign these were the issues we highlighted and discussed with the general public. In the leaflets, besides the issues, we had given a short history of the Humanist Movement and its various organisms,” continued Byju Chalad. “All the cars were connected through a common passage so that a team could travel from one end of the train to the other giving leaflets. This team continued distributing up-and-down the train all the time and distributed to newly boarded passengers getting on at the various stations.”
Another team followed the notice distribution team and give brief lectures in the different cars. And the next team offered passengers the chance to buy “the Humanist” magazine and a free booklet titled “There is Still Future”.
“A smaller team were available for requesting passengers to exchange contact numbers should they be interested, which allows us to connect with them as they have our contact numbers as provided in the leaflet and through the website.”
The journey was 12 hours in all and covered 10 districts of Kerala. During this journey nearly 5,000 people were contacted and the teams sold 150 magazines and distributed 200 booklets.
“When we reached Trivandrum our members from Trivandrum received us very nicely. During the stay overnight we had a brief evaluation meeting which ended with a period of relaxation and the Ceremony of Service. The very next day, while returning to the various home destinations, all the activities continued until reaching Kannur again,” ended Byju Chalad.
It was reported that many people showed interest to participate in the activities in the future. This type of campaign is planned to be carried out through the year – and actually, this particular activity was only a pilot programed to see if it works!
It seems to work very nicely.
