The escape from freedom | The Indian Express

The escape from freedom | The Indian Express

Written by Avijit Pathak |Updated: July 17, 2019 12:05:35 am

Avijit Pathak teaches at JNU

The escape from freedom

Normalisation of surveillance destroys what sustains a civilisation — human interaction filled with trust, care.

From Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon to the CCTV camera — the process of surveillance has become more refined and subtle.

Even though Delhi Government’s decision to install CCTV cameras in school classrooms has generated an interesting debate, it is important to see beyond the classrooms, and reflect more intensely on the meaning of living in a society that normalises and sanctifies surveillance. As an ideology that seeks to become hegemonic, the practice of surveillance justifies itself through the discourse of “safety”, “security” and “transparency”. And, possibly, we have accepted it.