For the Delegates
An Assembly Towards a Union of South Asian Peoples Programme April 22-23, 2010 SSS Auditorium, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi, India
South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy (SADED) had organized four thematic workshops in the I.S.I. auditorium in the Lodi Institutional Area as part of a process to contribute to "An Assembly Towards a Union of South Asian People". We are enclosing the four brief notes related to these events. These notes are only meant as an invitation for our shared journey towards a better South Asia. You are requested to make your inputs and participate in taking the debate forward. These notes will be put-up on our web-site www.saded.in
From With hopes of solidarity and engagement,
South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy (SADED) 383, 2nd Floor, Bank Street, Munirka New Delhi- 110067 Tel: +91-11- 26101580, Website: www.saded.in E Mail: networkscommunication@gmail.com
Vijay Pratap <vijaypratap@vsnl.net> <networkscommunication@gmail.com> +91-9313344402
FEMINISM, ECOLOGY AND SOCIALISM – NEED FOR CONVERGENCE April 20, 2010 Asit Mobile No.9899838159 E-mail- asitredsalute@gmail.com Feminism, which is known as gender studies in academia, is a very large area of study. What I refer to as feminism here, is women’s struggle against male domination. There are various types of feminism - liberal, radical, socialist, etc. The basic difference between radical feminism and socialist feminism is that radical feminism says the fight is basically between woman versus man, while socialist feminism says capitalism is the common enemy and women’s liberation is intertwined with the struggles of working class against capitalists. Likewise, socialism is a loaded term and it indicates various streams. The concept of socialism predates Marx, people like Fourier, Saint-Simon, etc., propagated socialism, which meant to provide a humane social order. Engels rejected it as utopian and advocated scientific socialism. Today we have numerous strands of socialists and communists. With the whole discourse on ‘climate change’, ‘peak oil’, ‘food crisis’ etc., ecology has become the core issue facing mankind. The seriousness of the matter can be seen in John Bellamy Foster’s “Ecology, Moment of Truth” where he says – it is impossible to exaggerate the environmental problem facing humanity. Nearly fifteen years ago one observed (John Bellamy 1
Foster’s “The Vulnerable Planet” in 1994) that we have only four decades left in which to gain control over our major environmental problems if we are to avoid irreversible ecological decline. Today, with a quarter century still remaining in this projected timeline, it appears to have been too optimistic. Available evidence now strongly suggests that under a regime of business as usual we could be facing an irrevocable tipping point with respect to climate change within a mere decade. Other crises such as species extinction (percentage of bird, mammal, and fish species vulnerable or in immediate danger of extinction), air pollution, water pollution and shortages, rapid depletion of oceans’ bounties, desertification, soil degradation, the imminent peaking of world oil production, creation of new ecological and geopolitical tensions, and chronic world food crisis, all point to the fact that the planet, as we know it, and its ecosystems are stretched to the “breaking point”. The “moment of truth” for the earth and civilization has arrived. Rulers across the world have responded to this crisis by seeking mere administrative and technological measures to the ecological crisis. Mainstream environmentalists seek to solve the ecological problems almost exclusively through three mechanical strategies: (1) technological solutions, (2) extending the market to all aspects of nature, and (3) creating what are intended as mere islands of preservation in a world of almost universal exploitation and destruction of natural habitats. The ecological crisis is a complex mix of dangerous trends. Capitalist ideology characteristically views the components of the crisis piecemeal thereby obscuring its systemic nature. In contrast to the official thinking on ecology, a minority of critical human ecologists have come to understand the need to change 2
our fundamental social relations. Human beings depend on functioning ecosystems to sustain themselves, and their actions affect those same ecosystems. As a result, there is a necessary â&#x20AC;&#x153;metabolicâ&#x20AC;? interaction between humans and earth which influences both natural and social history. Increasingly, the state of nature is being defined by the operations of the capitalist system, as anthropogenic forces are altering the global environment on a scale that is unprecedented. The global climate is rapidly changing due to burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. None of the areas of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oceans are unaffected by human influence, as the accumulation of carbon, fertilizer runoff and over-fishing undermine biodiversity and the natural services it provides. The dominant economic forces are attempting to seize the moment by assuring us that capital, technology and the market can be employed so as to ward off any threats without a major transformation of society. For example, numerous technological solutions are proposed to remedy global climate crisis. The market will ensure that new avenues of capital accumulation are created in the very process of dealing with environmental challenges. Yet this line of thought ignores the root causes of the ecological crisis. The social metabolic order of capitalism is inherently antiecological, since it systematically subordinates nature in its pursuit of endless accumulation and production on an even larger scale.
reproduction of the chain of human generation. Given that human society must always interact with nature, concerns regarding social metabolism are constant, regardless of the society. But a mode of production in which associated producers can regulate their exchange with nature in accordance with natural limits and know, while retaining the regenerative properties of natural processes and cycles, is fundamental to an environmentally sustainable social order. The above clearly shows that to solve the world ecological crisis we should struggle for the creation of a socialist social order. This line of thought is known as ecosocialism. Authors like Vandana Shiva and Maria Mies have come out with a powerful concept called ecofeminism, which entails that the forces who oppress women and degrade nature are the same; therefore there is a commonality in the struggle against patriarchy and ecological degradation. After sixty years of independence, our society has reached a crisis stage where the entire country is sold to the corporate interests by our rulers; therefore it is imperative that feminists, socialists, communists and ecologists should unite together resisting the corporate interests and to struggle for an egalitarian, sustainable and democratic India.
It is here that a socialist response to global ecological crisis assumes importance. A socialist social order, that is a society of associated producers, can serve as a basis for potentially bringing social metabolism in line with the natural metabolism, in order to sustain the inalienable conditions for the existence and
****
3
4
DRAFT STATEMENT
of a few thousand housing loans, tells us that it can’t, and that it is a large part of the problem.
April 20, 2010
Reducing the use of oil and gas, and the use of coal, unless the CO 2 that a coal-fired power plant produces is sequestered safely underground, are the ways to emission reduction, together with massive investments in, and use of solar, wind and tidal power.
Meher Engineer Mobile No-09903008603 E-mail – mengineer2002@gmail.com Reducing Global Carbon emissions to 20% of what they were in 1990 - the base year in the Kyoto Protocol - by 2050, rules out all conventional approaches to combating global warming. Lifestyles must change. The prescription cannot apply to all people equally. It cannot apply in countries where inequality rules. Inequality rules India, prominently. An iceberg of fact says so. The number of its Dollar billionaires (see the annual Forbes list of billionaires) has grown enormously since the idea of a globalized world - in the form that US capital wants and the Chicago school of economists preaches - was accepted by every conventional political party in the country: that number is the tip of the iceberg. A substantial growth in disposable incomes, for around 15% of the country’s population has accompanied Billionairedom’s increase: the 15% form the bulk of the above water part of the iceberg. The poor remain under water, their needs unmet and their rights paper rights. The market cannot implement the prescription. The global financial crash of 2008, which was triggered by the non-payment 5
CO 2 is the single largest cause of Global Warming. We know which countries have put 90% of all the CO 2 that all humanity has put into the Earth’s air throughout history. We know they have put it there in the short period of time between today and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. We know the economic system of production and consumption that they have used to put it there. We know that the system relied on exploiting the mineral and agricultural resources of the colonized world massively and on exploiting human labor, whether in the colonized countries or in the colonizing countries. We know that the system produced a class of people within the colonized world who benefited from the system in its early phase, and worked to oust it in its later phase. They took over as rulers, when colonialism ended; they are the people who welcome colonialism, in its late 20th century, globalized phase.
SOUTH ASIA: IN THE FRONTLINE OF CLIMATE VULNERABILITY Climate change is a serious threat to poor people in developing countries. Impacts are going to get unavoidably worse, with massive disruption and loss of human life and of other species that invisibly support our ecosystems. In India, widespread and 6
significant impacts have been noticed for at least 10-15 years in many regions. These impacts are adversely affecting the urban working poor, the lives and livelihoods of the Himalayan and other hill people, fishing communities and other coastal and island communities, small and marginal farmers and agricultural laborers, dalits, women, adivasis, forest dwellers, and other disadvantaged and marginalized communities in different regions. Published scientific evidence and other observations reveal that the following are some of the major impacts that are already visible:
•
•
Changing rainfall patterns, reduced rains in July and in winter, shorter south-west monsoon, and intense rains in a short period. This is hurting both small agriculture and water sources, and causing unprecedented floods and soil erosion in some places. In the mid-level Himalayas, reduced snow at mid-to-high altitudes, warmer winters, shifting of fruits and crops to higher levels, spread of mosquitoes and vector-borne diseases to new areas, drying up of streams, disappearance of small glaciers and receding of large glaciers.
•
The spread and intensification of drought in large parts of India leading to massive forced migration, collapse of agriculture and mass abandoning of livestock.
•
In forest areas, the migration of species to higher altitudes, the loss of biodiversity, the greater incidence of pests, 7
increased growth of weeds, greater frequency of forest fires, the decline in stock of certain medicinal plants, and reduced growth of forests and grasslands. •
The drying of water sources that supply drinking water to many places.
•
Sea level rise along much of the Indian coastline impacts crores of coastal people hugely. Depletion and migration of fish stocks will happen. The ingress of saline water will contaminate fresh water aquifers, which are often very close to the sea shore. The surging intensities of the storm that accompany cyclones are bound to increase, along with the frequency of the cyclones, with the increase in sea surface temperature and the sea level rise that accompanies the temperature rise.
These impacts influence and aggravate a range of other crises with systemic roots, for example the agrarian crisis. Accepted science suggests that the impacts are going to worsen further, and will happen simultaneously, hitting the poor in different regions.
WE DEMAND: Declaration of a Global Climate Emergency. A real and verifiable emission cut that is legally binding by the industrialized countries of at least 50% by 2020, 70% by 2030 and 90% by 2050, over 1990 levels, and not left to voluntary “actions” of the industrialized countries. The cuts should be within national borders, not offset through market and/or other
8
mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and these cuts should start immediately. Strengthening, deepening and widening the post-Kyoto process of collective negotiation on the issue of cuts in greenhouse gases. The process is being undermined by the industrialized nations, who are pushing for voluntary and individual national cuts. We demand that the baseline for emission cuts should be kept at the 1990 level as agreed. Large emitters, including China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, should rapidly shift away from their high-consumption and high-emission development trajectories, while promoting internal equity. They need to commit to necessary and binding reduction targets along with sharp cuts by Annex 1 countries. India should take the lead in building a consensus among developing economies to commit to mitigation targets, which should be binding through national legislation. In this context, the Government of India should reformulate the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 so as to incorporate the mitigation target based on a principle of democratic industrialization that ensures equity and social justice. The Indian government should revise its unsustainable development trajectory of several decades. This phase has witnessed the exploitation of natural resources, the greater displacement of adivasis and other forest dwellers, intensified exploitation and continued pauperization of the urban poor, casualization and contractualization of labor, and the promotion of consumption by and production for elites. Such an anti-poor development trajectoryâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a trajectory reflected in the toothless Biodiversity Act 2002, the much-diluted EIA Notification, 2006, 9
the industry-oriented National Environment Policy, 2006 and the rampant violations of the CRZ Notificationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;intrinsically leads to higher carbon emissions. We, therefore, demand that emissions by elites in India be urgently brought down to 2.5 tonnes per capita a year, which is the maximum the Earth can currently absorb. At the same time we note that the working poor in the country are forced to consume much less than required for their well being. Their consumption levels have to rise for them to have reasonable living standards. We demand an effective framework that promotes the use of public transport alongside binding restrictions on the use of vehicles for private purposes, and one that prevents displacement of the poor in towns and cities. The Indian Government should prepare a comprehensive policy for compensation of those affected by restructuring of the economy for emission cuts and arrive at an acceptable framework for re-employment of displaced workers. Drastic cuts in defence expenditure, which is one of the largest consumers of energy, to promote peace in the region. That the Indian government should redraw its energy strategy, moving towards more sustainable, equitable, employment and livelihood-generating renewable and bio-energy sources and strategies, in a time-bound manner. There needs to be a much more decentralized generation, transmission and use of energy. For renewable energy to be competitive and go beyond experimentation, there has to be substantial government subsidy. India has vast resources of solar energy, which, if all past subsidies on conventional power and costs of mitigation of 10
ill-effects are taken into account, become a cost competitive source of clean and renewable power. We call for an examination of the Electricity Act in all its ramifications. The costs of mitigation and restructuring be paid for through direct investment by the government defined by the paramount principle of the public good. Unproven, anti-poor and potentially disastrous non-solutions, such as nuclear energy, agro-fuels and hydrogen fuel should be immediately halted. A strict principle of “polluter pays” should be implemented for costing and comparing various energy options. The government must cease to be party to any disastrous market-based solutions like carbon trading. We call for a new National Action Plan on Climate Change that will be arrived at after a wide consultation with people and be sanctioned by Parliament. We oppose any attempt to link climate change commitments to trade barriers and tariffs. The Indian government should desist from and oppose any such moves.
the sovereignty and rights of nations and people. We demand an immediate end to any role for the World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs) in climate financing and to the tied use of technology to any debt repayment. Our government must stand united with other developing countries, G77, and more specifically, the most threatened least developed countries (LDCs) and the small island states (AOSIS). We oppose the reported moves by the Indian government to align with the United States, historically by far the largest greenhouse emitter. The Indian government must take leadership of the countries of the global South in Copenhagen and beyond, by bringing issues of justice and equity in all their dimensions to the centre stage in climate negotiations. These need to be informed by the principle of ecological sustainability, and need to transcend barriers of generations and species and ensure rights of nations and People’s. * * * *
That the Government of India support the payment of ecological debt — both for historical emissions and current adaptation — as a legally binding obligation of the industrialized nations to nations and People’s of the Third World. Their ecological debt should include the complete restoration of territories, and recuperation of agriculture and ecosystems. We demand the creation of alternative funding mechanisms and flows that recognize this ecological debt and respect, protect and promote 11
12
ikjEifjd ^^nkbZ** ¼tUe ds le; enn nsus okyh ½ dk Kku] ftanxh vkSj vkthfodk April 20, 2010
lineage. The challenge is not to demonize and replace the dai but to provide back-up support of a good referral service that allows dais to bring the women with complications there, bridging tradition and modernity with validity of both being allowed to serve the women on the basis of their strengths. This is the view from below that the dais too ask for.
MkW- ehjk ln~xksiky Mobile- 09890144106 E-mail- miradakin@gmail.com The speaker, Dr. Mira Sadgopal tied in the issues of traditional midwives in India, or “dais”, with the themes of the symposiumFeminism, Socialism, Ecological Democracy and Livelihoods. She drew from the experience of the Jeeva Project and her work with dais in different parts of India over the past 30 years, to bring attention to the socially marginal position of dais with the dominance of the medical system getting established and the Janani Suraksha Yojana wiping them out in large numbers. This was of concern because of the specialised skills and knowledge of dais regarding women and child health and wellbeing, especially related to childbirth. That their work has been considered, ‘dirty work’ and therefore relegated to dalit castes is reflective of the traditional social structures. However, when dalit men wanted the women to give it up as resistance to caste-based oppression, many are known to have resisted and continued, not only as a livelihood but also because it gave them meaning and brought prestige within the community. Their cultural symbolism reveals their close links with nature and with assertion of the power of the woman’s body to ‘create’ life.
* * * *
She pointed out how the current formal knowledge destroys the dai’s knowledge, a strong tradition that is part of women’s 14 13
NEPALI DEMOCRACY: THE WAY FORWARD 20 April 2010 Uddhab Pyakurel Mob:9818587604 E-Mail: upyakurel@gmail.com South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy (SADED), in collaboration with Solidarity Center for Democracies in South Asia (SCDSA) and Nepal Solidarity Center for Democracies in South Asia (NSCDSA) held a dialogue on “Nepali Democracy: The way Forward” on April 20, 2010 at the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi. Gopal Kunwar, Central Member of the UCPN-Maoist-affiliated Akhil Bharat Nepali Ekta Manch, Yubraj Baral, General Secretary, Everest Chamber of Commerce, Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist and Leninist-affiliated Nepalese Migrants Association General Secretary Guru Prasad Sharma, Former MP of Nepali Congress Amresh Kumar Singh and Baburam Pokhrel, President of Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepali Janasamparka Samiti were the main speakers of the first session, which was chaired by Shravan Garg, Group Editor, Dainik Bhaskar and Uddhab Pyakurel, a PhD scholar in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Likewise, the second session began with a brief presentation of constitutional lawyer Dinesh Tripathi followed by a presentation by Senior Human Rights Activist and INSEC President, Subodh Pyakurel about the state of Nepali democracy and progress of Nepal’s constitution-making process as well. 15
The main and common concern of the discussion was about the situation if the Constituent Assembly failed to promulgate the new constitution. The likely result of political clashes that would create chaos in the country was another concern. The speakers stated that Nepal had to face a state of deep political uncertainty by undermining the achievements of the People's Movement of 2006 if the constitution could not be ready on time. How to preserve or institutionalize the achievements gained through various democracy struggles in the past, how to bring the peace process into a logical end, and how to make a democratic and inclusive constitution were other concerns raised by the discussants. The fate of the Maoists’ combatants who have been put in the cantonment for more than two years was also intensively discussed at the program. As per the past agreements signed by the Maoists and the government, the former combatants have to be either integrated into various security forces or rehabilitated. A high level special committee under the prime minister has been formed for the purpose but not much progress has been achieved so far. Most of the political parties of Nepal, except the United Maoists Party, feel that all the cantonments are to be dismantled before the constitution gets promulgated so that violence and threat of the Maoists is decreased. The main concern of the speakers was how to arrive at a consensus among major political parties to address the issues such as plurality and pluralism, secularism, nationalism, separation of powers, freedom, etc., which are considered as the backbone of liberal democracy globally. Issues such as democratic federalism based on the country's unity, sovereignty, social harmony, equality and the rights of citizens; the roots of the current political deadlock; political uncertainty could 16
adversely impact the nation’s business economy were also discussed at the program. The conclusion of the discussion was that the extension of the CA’s tenure alone would not solve the country’s problems, and unless the major political parties stop playing with the power game and disengage themselves from the constitution writing process, the political deadlock would be further deepened. **** Solidarity Center for Democracies in South Asia (SCDSA) is a loose network of like-minded intellect and activists in South Asia. It has been working on the issue of deepening democracy in the world in general and in South Asia in particular. It has been trying to understand the deficit of democracy primarily through dialogues and debates at the local level, and do the same at national and regional level too. We now have three National Chapters in three countries, i.e., Nepal, India and Pakistan—in South Asia under which there are several local chapters working on the issue of deepening democracy. We also have Chapters (run in exile) of Myanmar, Tibet, Bhutan and Afghanistan. Nepal Solidarity Center for Democracies in South Asia (NSCDSA) is a loose network of like-minded Nepali intellectuals and activists who have been working on the issue of deepening democracy in the world in general and in Nepal in particular.
17
18