KOZHIKODE: Veteran journalist Sashi Kumar feels Left parties should form a broad alliance of secular parties to fight fascism. "If needed, it should align with the Congress party," he said delivering a speech on 'A Decade of Socialism: Experiences and Lessons', organised by Janadhipathya Vedi as a part of P. Gokuldas commemoration here on Thursday.
"Fascism should be fought in two ways. In an electoral way, forming a grand alliance is the key. In terms of public sphere, firstly the public sphere should be retrieved from the regressive religious forces. Instead, organic intellectuals should fill that space and make aware the people on the threats posed by fascism." He said religious personalities like Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev were exploiting the platform of the public sphere using sophisticated language to address the middle-class people.
"This ought to be done by organic intellectuals," he reminded. Answering a query, he said the presence of a good number of women in the power circle is not the answer for patriarchy but whether the women follow the same patriarchy. M.M Somasekharan said it was civilisation which nurtured and evolved values such as democracy and equality and not nature in its pure sense.
"Nature has its raw righteousness based on the survival of the fittest theory. But it was the civilization which brought values that helped human to sail through," he observed. Writers N. Prabhakaran and Prof B. Rajeevan, Dr Maithri P. Unni, C.P. John and C.A Dinil also spoke.
