Deepali Bhushan Awasare & Vivekanand Arjunrao Rankhambe

Slow Violence: Giving Voice to Polluted Landscapes

Deepali Bhushan Awasare & Vivekanand Arjunrao Rankhambe

Abstract

In an age where yesterday‘s news is dead news and the attention span is counted eyeball per eyeball, this paper attempts to bring forth the discussion on slow violence. It explores the ways in which we can translate the slow incremental changes of environmental degradation into attention grabbing images and stories which result in political actions against environmental injustice. In a brief case study of the slow irreversible damage to the coastal wetlands and mangroves of Uran in Navi Mumbai, the paper points out how the fishing community has become marginalized under the onslaught of infrastructure development project. The apathy of the administration, legal systems and illegal land encroachment has turned the coastal wetlands into toxic landscapes. Rethinking the natural calamities in terms of slow violence and broadening the idea structural violence to include the natural environment gives voice to the invisible suffering of ―a disposable person living in disposable places‖, as it tries to dismantle the edifices of social structures which perpetuate the violence.

Key words: Slow violence, Uran Panje wetlands, structural violence, environmental justice, environmental accountability, environmental degradation, polluted landscapes

Violence can be commonly defined as an act of aggression or abuse which causes harm to the other or others. WHO defines violence as ―The intentional use of

physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development or deprivation.‖ [12] This definition though very comprehensive is primarily directed towards

human beings and does not include the non-humans both biotic and abiotic in nature, nor does it succinctly define the actants like science, social structures, cultures, laws. Thus, violence is not easy to define or theorize as there are myriad ways to define what constitutes violence or harm and they depend on who is defining it and what the purpose behind the definition is. Over the years the typologies of violence have been re-conceptualized to broaden the idea of violence. For example Galtung defines violence as ―structural‖[3] when the perpetrator is the social structure or social institution, the concept of the ‗silenced Other‘ is defined by Spivak as ―epistemic‖ [1] violence, the reductionist nature of modern science where the poor and the environment become the victims of profit based objectives of science is defined as ―epistemological‖ [9] violence by Vandana Shiva, the dehumanizing effects of colonialism on the individual and the nation are defined as ―colonial‖ violence by Fanon [2], the ―administrative‖[10] violence perpetuated on the trans people was included by Dean Spade‘s investigation of criminal punishment systems. These are just a few of the numerous theoretical positions which help to redefine the idea of violence and the threads connecting all of them are issues concerning social and environmental justice, sustainability of ecosystems, rights of the human and nonhuman, and environmental accountability.

When talking on violence, Prof. Rob Nixon, says that we are used to identifying with violence which is ―direct, explosive and spectacular‖ [5] and hence in cases where the violence is slow and cannot be visualized easily, people tend to put it out of sight and out of mind. But the effects of slow violence felt over longer time frames are even more devastating and irreversible as they grow exponentially. The climate change, extinction of species and ecosystems, hole in the ozone layer, loss of forests and other natural reserves and many more are silent incremental changes which cannot be visualized in our daily lives. Prof. Nixon wants us to ―rethink environmental calamities through slow violence‖ [6] and the ways to represent it in the form of stories and images so as to bring awareness and mobilize political action. Prof. Nixon also establishes the relationship between slow violence and the social inequality, and this is very much true for India where most of the times economic

development takes precedence over environmental concerns. In the class and caste ridden Indian society it is the invisible and anonymous poor who bear the brunt of slow violence in the form of polluted landscapes, loss of livelihood, displacement and dislocation.

The case of the systematic degradation of the Panje-Dongri wetlands in the coastal town of Uran in Navi Mumbai is a telling example of slow violence. The Panje wetlands are a mix of various habitats like mangroves, reeds and marshes both fresh water and saline, scrub and grassland and hence are home to a wide variety of flora and fauna with over a lakh migratory birds visiting the area in winters. Mumbai being a group of densely populated islands, real estate has immense value and the land reclamation and land encroachment by illegal landfills are major threats to natural environments. Mumbai also being the industrial hub of India bears the brunt of severe air, water and land pollution. From 1991 to present day, Mumbai has lost more than forty percent of its mangroves and wetlands to rapid urbanization which include housing projects, garbage dumps, special economic zones or SEZs, airports and road transports, and recently the bullet train project which is set to destroy 32,000 mangroves! The SEZ which was given the nod by CIDCO (City Industrial Development Corporation Ltd.) has resulted in creation of a boundary wall to enclose the wetland stopping the ingress of tide water and effectively starving the mangroves and killing the flora and fauna. The CRZs (Coastal Regulation Zone) were created in 1991 under the EPA (Environmental Protection Act) of 1986 by the government with a twofold objective; to protect the coastal natural environment and to ensure livelihood security of the fishers and other communities which are dependent on fishing related activities. The Koli community which has practiced artisanal fishing along the coasts of Mumbai are the primary stakeholders of the coastal region. They are also protectors of the coastal landscapes as their livelihood depends on the small scale fishing and hence play a significant role in sustaining the coastal ecology. CRZ violations are a major threat to these delicate ecosystems as well as the livelihood of the fisher communities. The authorities‘ lack luster

approach to punish the violators, failure to enforce and implement the CRZ

notifications, inability to map all the CRZ areas and land grabbing by powerful builder lobby as well as the government to push through so called infrastructure ‗development‘ projects has marginalized and dislocated the fisher community in many coastal areas.

As the administrators of JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust), the Forest Department (Mangrove Cell) , BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society)and other NGOs are deeply mired in the imbroglio, the Panje wetlands have turned into dry patches due to blocking of tide water ingress, mud and debris dumping and construction activities. This year in spite of the lockdown not a single migratory bird, many who are on the endangered list, have visited the Panje wetland in the Uran belt.

Past eleven years have seen the Uran wetlands dying a silent death, victim of slow violence. About 1200 hectares of ecologically sensitive land has been destroyed. The NGO Vanashakti, in their detailed report based on satellite images collected between 2008 to 2019, have connected the flooding of nine villages in the area in the heavy rains in June 2019 to the destruction of mangroves. The Koli community fishers who have been living along the coast of Mumbai since five hundred years have seen the changes taking place from close quarters. The traditional coastal landscapes are now up for redevelopment and mammoth infrastructure projects have almost led the fishing villages to extinction. The coastline devoid of mangroves and wetlands has pools of dirty water and debris where the plastic chokes and poisonous heavy metals leach into the soil. These poisons have an effect on the marine life as well as the health of the people living in the coastal areas; also it spreads in the food chain in the form of bio-magnification.

Prof. Nixon talks about the ―hushed havoc and harmful invisibility that slow violence generates‖ and as the rushing capitalism brings industries, highways, airports and high raises, the ―poor and impoverished populations …. who inhabit the frontlines are most affected and the invisibility of their poverty is exacerbated by the invisibility of the slow violence that permeates so many of their daily existence.‖

[7] He argues that in our fast moving world and minute attention spans we have a bias towards spectacles of violence and this makes us ignore the slow violence and ―increases the vulnerability of ecosystems treated as disposable by onrushing capitalism while simultaneously exacerbating the vulnerability of … disposable people.‖ [8] The past eleven years have seen the fishing communities, NGOs, journalists, activists fighting a battle to save the coastlines of Mumbai. This ―environmentalism of the poor‖ as Nixon calls it, has found roots in the recognition in the lived experiences of these ―disposable people‖ who are affected by the toxicity of the landscapes in which they live their daily lives.

Conclusion

In an age where yesterday‘s news is dead news and attention span is counted eyeball per eyeball, it is a great challenge to bring forth the discussion on slow violence. The question is how we translate the slow incremental changes of environmental degradation into attention grabbing images and stories which result in political actions against environmental injustice. We need to tell the stories of the lived experiences of the people who have endured the exposure to invisible yet hazardous conditions for years together. These stories of suffering and pain along with the accumulated knowledge of the change that they have seen; the ‗what‘, ‗why‘ and ‗how‘ of the change, are important to help in alleviating injustice and saving the ecosystems. These stories when told imaginatively amplify the harms and connect similar dots across the globe to create discursive forums which can lead to find newer ways towards sustainability.

Galtung‘s idea of structural violence deals with a form of social structure or institution which ―harms people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs.‖ [10]This definition when taken into broader perspective allows us to include the intentional degradation and pollution of environments and seek justice and accountability towards them. He states that, ―structural violence is silent, it does not show – it is essentially static, it is the tranquil waters‖. [4] Slow violence too does not

have an author, but both structural violence and slow violence together when highlighted give voice to the silenced poor and bring to public notice the structures or institutions who are responsible for the harm wrought about on the ecosystems and the marginalized communities. One positive outcome of this investigation into violence is the realization that both structural violence and slow violence are

avoidable and hence present a ray of hope, a chance to learn from our mistakes and prevent it from happening in future.

Works Cited

[1] Dotson, Kristie. ―Tracking epistemic violence, tracking practices of silencing.‖ Hypatia 26.2 (2011): 236-257. [2] Fanon, Frantz. "Concerning violence." The Wretched of the Earth (1963): 35-106. [3] Galtung, Johan. "Violence and peace." A Reader in Peace Studies (1990): 9-14. [4] Galtung, Johan. "Violence, peace, and peace research." Journal of Peace Research 6.3 (1969): 167-191. [5] Nixon, Rob. "Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor." Edward Said Memorial Conference, Utrecht, 16 April 2013. [6] ibid. [7] ibid. [8] ibid. [9] Shiva, Vandana. "The violence of reductionist science." Alternatives 12.2 (1987): 243-261.

[10] Spade, Dean. Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and The Limits Of Law. Duke University Press, 2015. [11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_violence [12] https://www.who.int/violenceprevention/approach/definition/en/