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It is often overlooked that laws are driven by the values of the law makers. When these values turn against a particular community, such as the African-Americans in the Jim Crow South, zealous do-gooders often use the protection of the "law" to brutalize those communities. In India, the Animal Rights Act is such a cover, used by animal rights NGOs and forest department officials to prosecute the Madaris, an iconic community that has worked with animals through the millenia. In a new film, Fight for Survival , director Dakxin Bajrange shows us the results of this persecution. In Gujarat, the Animal Help Foundation and the forest department literally take the fight to the Madaris.  Under the guise of protecting animals, Madaris are beaten by hired thugs, dragged out from their bastis, and locked up in dog-cages. Their snakes are taken away, depriving them of their only source of livelihood. But in the ruling values paradigm, officials and the urban NGO have greater credibility than the Madaris who are seen anyway as representative of a mythic ignorant stereotyped India, an India that ‘India Shining’ seeks to leave behind. Bajrange spoke to the NGOs and forest department officials to get their side for the film. Despite its balanced dispassionate argument Fight for Survival is a rich document on the lives of the Madaris. The Madaris emerge not just as "snake-charmers", but a living, thriving, dynamic community. Being a member of a stigmatized tribe himself, Bajrange brings to Fight for Surivival a sense of the real, lived experience of being on the wrong side of the law. In highlighting the situation of the Madaris, he speaks out for voiceless communities everywhere.
--- Tarun Jain, Charlottesville
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