A Indian man has called out his parents for bringing him into this world ‘without his consent’.
Raphael Samuel, 27, said his parents created him, not for his sake, but for ‘their joy and their pleasure’. He compared having children to ‘kidnapping and slavery’.
Samuel, a self-proclaimed ‘anti-natalist’ in India, believes procreation is a ‘supreme act of evil’ and that life which has not given its consent to live should not be brought into the world.
Speaking to The Print, Raphael said:
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 rigmarole of school and finding a career, especially when they didn’t ask to exist.
Raphael, from Mumbai, runs the Facebook page Nihilanand where, he shares numerous images and he asks his followers to consider why they are alive.
One of his post reads:
Your parents had you instead of a toy or a dog. You owe them nothing. You are their entertainment.
In another picture he writes:
The only reason your children are facing problems is because you had them.
In another, he asks:
Isn’t forcing a child into this world and then forcing it to have a career kidnapping and slavery?
The anti-natalist movement has emerged in India as younger people attempt to resist societal pressure on them to have children.
Pratima Naik, 26, from Bengaluru, who is at the forefront of the anti-natalist movement and also committed to never having children, supports Samuel’s beliefs.
He said:
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.
On his page entitled Childfree India, Pratima Naik wrote last month:
Should we continue to bring more children in this world and accelerate the process of environmental and social degradation?
Do you think existence is pain, and not bringing a child into this world, is a guaranteed way to avoid unnecessary suffering to the child?
We are a group of people who have decided not to reproduce. We are Childfree Indians!
Fellow activist Alok Kumar, 34, has begun a YouTube channel where he aims to spread awareness on child-free living. He decided to remain child-free after deciding the world was not a conductive place for raising a family. He is now looking for a woman who, like him, doesn’t want kids.
