Adieu to an activist

As thousands representing a cross-section of peoples’ movements from around the globe protest on the streets of London against the G-20 Summit, one is reminded of a time a few decades ago when the idea of peoples’ movement was in its infancy. The more obvious solidarity was of the ‘working class’. One could not have imagined this kind of pan-continental ‘front’, comprising over 150 unions, environmental and feminist groups, gay rights activists and similar micro-movements from across the globe, engaging in a pitched battle with the police on the streets of London.

At such a moment, it is useful to remember that in India too, the movement is almost thirty years old. And, last week (March 23), we lost one of the pioneers of the concept. Scholar, author and activist, Smitu Kothari (59) died of complications after having undergone a cardiac surgery the previous day at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.

As one of the initiators, in the early 1980s, of the idea of ‘peoples’ movements’ and the need to consolidate them, Smitu’s funeral that evening at the Lodi Road Electric Crematorium, was a rare assembly of activists and scholars representing a wide cross-section of movements and concerns across the sub-continent — all mourning the untimely passing away of one so closely connected to the growth of new political thought in our context.

The mid-1970s were a period of turmoil in Indian politics. The young were in revolt. A large number of sectional and identity related issues were being tossed up. Sub-nationality movements were on the rise. The Indian State was hardening. The infamous Emergency of 1975 was round the corner. Simultaneously, one witnessed the massive limitation of organised Left parties, which failed to respond to these emerging political developments. Their doctrinaire analysis kept privileging the proletariat over the merely poor. Progressive movements seemed bereft of any creative theoretical apparatus.

It was in the wake of a serious critique of the inability of the organised Left to address this emerging tide of social unrest that a set of scholar/activists associated with the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), led by Rajni Kothari, Dhirubhai Seth and Smitu founded ‘Lokayan’ (Dialogue of the People) in 1980. The need to collectivise the new energies being released by stirrings amongst dalits, OBCs, tribals, women, etc. had already become urgent.

Through the decade of the 1980s, ‘Lokayan’ as a platform — as well as its bi-monthly bulletin — was to play a crucial role in exploring ways in which new political aspirations and critiques could be consolidated in order to interrogate and inform the mainstream. Some of the current gains in Indian political space, including a greater awareness of environmental, human rights and social justice issues, can be traced to the sustained contribution of Smitu within ‘Lokayan’.

The burgeoning of democratic urges and assertion of deprived sections in India generated much ideological debate. However, there was a historic limitation preventing a consolidation of these groups and movements, and ‘Lokayan’ saw itself as such a forum for critical exchange and solidarity. In 1985, it received ‘The Right Livelihood Award’ (for outstanding vision and work on behalf of the planet and its people).

Trained in physics, communications and sociology, Smitu had been a visiting professor at Cornell and Princeton Universities, was president of the International Group for Grassroots Initiatives, and was a contributing editor of ‘The Ecologist’ and of ‘Development’.

Development-induced displacement, people’s governance and social-environmental movements were some of Smitu’s core concerns. He was also one of the striving spirits behind the Independent People’s Tribunal on the World Bank Group in India held in 2007. He was a vocal supporter of the struggle of ‘project-affected people’ in the Narmada valley and elsewhere and articulated their concerns at various national and international forums. The Narmada Bachao Andolan issued a statement describing Smitu as one of the most consistent voices against the neo-liberal, anti-poor agenda of privatisation, globalisation and liberalisation in recent times.

Smitu wrote extensive critiques of contemporary economy and cultural development, people’s governance and social movements and had edited a series of important volumes. He was currently working on a new book, ‘Ecological Justice: Nature, Culture and Democracy’.

My most cheerful moments with Smitu were during a five-day ‘Creativity Workshop’ we had organised in Chennai, in 1980, involving Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Chandralekha, Dashrath Patel, Habib Tanveer, Aravindan, Prof S Ramanathan and others from the media and performing arts. Most evenings, after the sessions, we would swim in the sea before our house and Smitu would take us through some easy steps in baking bread. Soon the whole house would be enveloped with the aroma of fresh bread.

It was a skill he brought to bear on his activist work too, as he leavened the political dough with the yeast of a more comprehensive and humane vision. The aroma will linger.

(The above article appeared in Business Standard, April 03, 2009. It is reproduced here for educational and non commercial use)