Indian activist Sofia Ashraf’s “parody rap video” against consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever has clocked nearly two million views since it was uploaded on YouTube last week. BBC Monitoring’s Vikas Pandey speaks to the activist about her decision to use singer Nicki Minaj’s hit song Anaconda in her video – and her use of rap as a form of protest.

Corporate giant Hindustan Unilever found itself pitted against an unlikely opponent last week: a YouTube video titled Kodaikanal Won’t, modelled on Nikki Minaj’s hit song Anaconda. The video called out the company for allegedly dumping toxic waste in the soil and the water in Kodaikanal, a city in southern India.

With two million video views and widespread coverage of the rap in both local and international media, the company has in response issued a statement saying that safety is its “number one priority” and that studies showed there had been “no adverse impact” on Kodaikanal’s environment, except in some of the factory premises.

‘Minaj shout out’

Ms Ashraf told the BBC that she decided to create a rap video over the issue because she believed that “social media had the power to add much-needed global voices to the campaign”. But she says she never dreamed that Minaj would actually respond – as she did on Twitter.

“I never expected that. I decided to use her song for [the] parody to ensure that it gets noticed,” she said.

The “shout out” by the pop star ensured media outlets and social media took notice of the song and brought the Kodaikanal issue back into the spotlight.

Activists allege that a thermometer factory belonging to Hindustan Unilever dumped mercury waste, polluting local water supplies and the soil.

Environmental group Greenpeace first reported the alleged violations in 2001. Unilever subsequently shut down its factory and ordered an investigation into the functioning of the unit.

Health workers who conducted a survey of 30 Unilever workers and ex-workers have also alleged that they found many people with “gum and skin allergy-related problems which appeared to be due to exposure to mercury”. Another significant finding, the survey reported, was the high rate of absenteeism and resignations from the job owing to health problems. The report was accepted by the Madras High Court, which has been hearing a petition against Hindustan Unilever by its former workers since 2006.

As the video grew in popularity, the company issued fresh statements over the incident.

A Unilever spokesperson said: “We would never allow our employees to suffer ill-health because of their employment with us and not address it.

“Several independent studies, carried out by experts on mercury-related health complaints, concluded that our former employees were not harmed by working in our factory in Kodaikanal.”

Hindustan Unilever did not dump mercury waste, but “glass scrap containing mercury residue” had been sold to a scrap dealer near the factory, the company said. This was “in breach of our company rules” and the company had removed “both the glass and the underlying soil” to address this.

Studies had showed “no adverse impact on the environment in Kodaikanal, except in some areas of the factory premises”, the statement added. “We are keen to continue work on clearing up the factory site.”

‘Burka rapper’

Kodaikanal Won’t did not happen in a vacuum. Ms Ashraf has composed rap songs for social causes in the past as well.

“Rap is often used as a form of protest. It just feels empowering to use rap for a cause and the success of the Kodaikanal Won’t song just proves that,” she said.

Her foray into rapping began in her early 20s, where she rapped about injustice against Muslims. She was nicknamed the “Burka Rapper” because of her attire and the subject of her performances.

“I was strongly religious. I loved my religion [Islam] and all it entailed. It was beautiful, it defined me and it gave me purpose”, she explained.

The 28-year-old does not wear the burka anymore and says she no longer feels connected to any specific religion. She now finds “purpose” in promoting social causes.

And instead of the burka, she has gone for a traditional South Indian look in her video.

“Some of the clothes I have worn in the video were my own choices but we thought that wearing Indian garments like sari will give the video a distinctive look,” she said.

‘Fight not over’

Ms Ashraf has stressed that the video was “not a solo effort”.

She told the BBC that the dancers, the photographers and activists invested time and energy in making the video free of charge “because they felt strongly for the cause”.

Ms Ashraf is thrilled with the success of her video, but stressed that the “fight” is far from over.

“We understand that the shelf life of such social media campaigns is not very long. So we will have to come up with ideas to sustain the momentum we have got from the video,” she said.

Source….www.bbc.com

Natarajan