A 27-year-old man from New Delhi, India, wants to take his parents to court for bringing him into this world without first asking for his consent.
Raphael Samuel is an anti-natalist, a person who believes that people should abstain from procreation because giving birth to sentient beings without asking for their consent is morally wrong. Samuel doesn’t have anything against children or life itself, he simply believes that a life form which has not given its consent to live should not be brought into the world and thus to be subject to the hardships of life. Because he considers himself a victim of life without “forced life”, the young Indian plans to take his parents to court.
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“I want to tell all Indian kids that they don’t owe their parents anything,” Samuel told The Paper. “I love my parents, and we have a great relationship, but they had me for their joy and their pleasure. My life has been amazing, but I don’t see why I should put another life through the rigamarole of school and finding a career, especially when they didn’t ask to exist.”
The 27-year-old runs an anti-natalism Facebook page where he routinely posts anti-procreation messages like “Isn’t forcing a child into this world and forcing it to have a career, kidnapping and slavery?” or “Your parents had you instead of a toy or a dog, you owe them nothing, you are their entertainment”. His page, Nihilanand, only has 431 followers, but Raphael doesn’t seem to bothered about that, after all, we all have to start somewhere.
“Other Indian people must know that it is an option not to have children, and to ask your parents for an explanation as to why they gave birth to you,” Samuel said.
Although still small in number, India’s anti-natalist movement is growing at a steady pace and plans to set up a national-level organisation that works on spreading awareness about child-free living. Their arguments range from ethical ones to easing the strain on Earth’s resources or defying societal pressure.
“This is a completely voluntary, non-violent movement,” said Pratima Naik, a 28-year-old engineering graduate and one of the leaders of the anti-natalist movement. “We don’t want to impose our beliefs on anyone, but more people need to consider why having a child in the world right now isn’t right.”
Interestingly, India’s child-free movement consists mostly of highly educated, upper or middle-class people.
