“Manifesto of the Repressed” by Arathi Menon
Arathi Menon is an author and a columnist, currently based in London. She completed her MA in Creative Writing Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia. In 2015, Pan Macmillan, India published her first book, a memoir, Leaving Home With Half A Fridge. In 2021, an indie New York publisher, Yali Books, published her middle-grade mystery titled A Mystery at Lili Villa. Her yet-to-be-published novel Da, placed 3rd at Novel London. She has been shortlisted for the UA 100X100, Penguin Write Now programme, and longlisted for the Ivan Jurtiz prize and the BPA First Novel Award. In 2020 and 2021, she was a part of a group installation at Tate Modern, London, where she used her text in an experimental way to amplify narratives outside of a written context. She tweets @ArathiMen0n.
A Word from the Author
Violence, political or personal, is the art of silencing those who are weaker. Oppressors, devious in intent, spin a story so convincing that even the victims begin to believe that their persecution isn't real. This piece is written for all those who suffer in silence.
We are not really sure we have the right to have this manifesto.
If we do, we hope it’s okay to say what we want.
We intend to cause nobody any harm and we are sorry if it does.
We wonder how many rights can we have. Is there a number limit?
Some people think we are talking bullshit and they may be partially right. The people who are
partially right, insist they are fully right and we may agree with them. We actually think
everything is fine and there is no need for this.
