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Eco-swaraj:
Radical Ecological Democracy
Alternatives to Unsustainability & Inequity
Ashish Kothari
Kalpavriksh
Today’s menu …
• Unappetiser: violence of development / growth
• Appetiser: alternatives at the grassroots
• Main dish: frameworks of transformation
• Coffee: some key questions to ponder over
• Dessert: confluences
India ...
• Human settlement 70,000 years old
• Urban ‘civilisations’ 5000 years old
• Population: 1.2 billion people
• Livelihoods: 65-70% agriculture dependent
• Culture: 800 living languages
• Complex social dynamics: caste, religion, ethnicities
• Biodiversity: 7-8% of world biodiversity on 2% of its landmass
• 150+ years of colonisation by Britain; independence 1947
Economic globalisation• 1947-1991: Socialist economy
• 1991-onwards: Integration into global economy:
– Privatisation / foreign investments
– Liberalisation
– Export-import priority
– Consumption boom
India’s Impressive Growth• World’s 2nd highest growth rate; 7th largest economy
• 800 million mobile phones
• Indian corporations now multinational
• Better services/opportunities for middle class
Dominant vision of ‘development’
Violence against nature, communities, and
cultures … growth as cancer
Self-devouring growth
World Bank (2013): Costs of
environmental damage = 5.7%
points econ. Growth
(impacts taken into account)
•urban & indoor air pollution
•inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene
•agricultural damage by soil salinity, water-logging and soil erosion
•pasture degradation
•deforestation
Jobless growth; continuing and
new poverty
• Myth of growing employment: ‘jobless growth’ in organised sector:– 26.7 million in 1991
– 30 million in 2012
• 20% unemployment among youth
• % below poverty line: 38 to 70%
• World’s largest number of malnourished and undernourished women/children
• 60 million people displaced by ‘development’ projects
‘Green revolution’ model
•High cost of inputs, low purchase prices = farmer indebtness
•Destruction of soil productivity, dependence on market & govt
Destruction of India’s agriculture
>300,000 suicides (many in
heartland of green revolution!)
Clash of civilisations …
From livelihoods as ways of life …
… to livelihoods as jobs, divorced from rest of life:
Violence against each of us: our identity, our health, our well-being!
Livelihoods to Deadlihoods
Illustrator unknown
1% richest own 50% wealth!!!!
Growing inequities,
deprivation
Are there alternatives?
Alternatives to what?
Structural roots of unsustainability & inequity
Concentration of power
Capitalism
State-dominated regimes
Patriarchy
Caste / race / ethnicity
….
Resistance …
… is part of
the alternative“Civil society responsible
for 2-3% GDP loss” Ministry
of Home Affairs
satyagraha
Assertion of self-
determination & ancient
ways of life, recognition of
the unrecognised
Dongria Kondh
indigenous people vs.
Vedanta corporation &
Indian state
India: alternative initiatives for well-being
Water
Crafts
Shelter
Food
Energy
Governance
Livelihoods
Conservation
Village
revitalisation
Urban sustainability
Learning
Health
Producer
companies
Inclusion
Sexuality
Gende
r
Alternatives across the world
Commons
Solidarity
economy Degrowth
Buen vivir / sumaq kawsayUbuntu / ukama / unhu
Ecofeminism
Agroecology /
permaculture Biocivilisation
Ecosocialism
ZapatistaKurdish Rojava
Kyosei
Country
Food sovereignty:
sustainable agriculture
•Reviving traditional agr diversity, community grain banks
•Empowering women/dalit farmers, securing land rights
•Creating consumer-producer links (Zaheerabad org. food restaurant)
•Linking to Public Distribution System
•Community media (films, radio)
Deccan Development Society
(Andhra Pradesh)
Water security: do we need
big dams and canals?
Arvari Sansad (Parliament),
Rajasthan: water and food
sovereignty through
ecoregional governance
Natural resources:
conservation & livelihoods
Self-rule & decentralised governance:
Mendha-Lekha (Maharashtra)
Informed decisions
through monitoring, and
regular study circles
(abhyas gat)
All decisions by
consensus in gram
sabha (village
assembly)
Conservation of 1800 ha forests, now with full rights
under Forest Rights Act
Vivek Gour-Broome
Earnings from sustainable forest use (over Rs.
20 million in last few years), and use of govt
schemes towards:
•Full employment, energy security, new
livelihoods (barefoot engineers, GIS mapping)
2013: all agricultural land donated to
village, collective ownership
“Our government in Mumbai and Delhi,
we are the government in our village”
Elsewhere in the world ….
• Indigenous peoples’ assemblies
• Zapatista self-governed region: people’s assemblies,
oversight councils, rotating ‘leadership’
• Kurdish Rojava autonomous region
• Latin American experiments: direct and delegated
democracy (e.g. Venezuela’s consejos comunales,
neighbourhood assemblies “we don’t want to be
government, we want to govern”)
• Australia east coast corridor, landscape-level
governance
• and many more …
Indigenous peoples’ and community
conserved areas (ICCAs)
Livelihood security
Jharcraft (Jharkhand)
Employment for >3 lakh families…
reviving crafts, reducing outmigration
Dharani farmer producer company,
Andhra Pradesh(facilitated by Timbaktu Collective)
Rural revitalisation:
outmigration is not inevitable
Ralegan Siddhi & Hivare Bazaar
(Maharashtra), Kuthambakkam (TN)
Kudumbashree (Kerala)
Right to a Sustainable City
‘’Homes in the City’, Bhuj (Kachchh, Gujarat)
•self-reliance in water (India’s lowest rainfall)
•solid waste management and sanitation
•re-commoning of spaces
•livelihoods for the poor
•self-built, dignified housing for poor
(Hunnarshala, Sahjeevan, Kutch Mahila VikasSangathan, ACT, Setu)
Middle class actions …
Lake revival / conservation,
water harvesting, garbage
management (Bengaluru, Salem)
Participatory budgeting (Bengaluru/Pune)
‘Maptivism’ by Transparent Chennai
reStore (non-profit store), Chennai
Elsewhere in the world ...
• Factory take-over and democratic running by workers,
Argentina, Greece …
• Land re-appropriation movement (MST), Brazil
• Commons / solidarity initiatives, cooperatives (e.g.
Barcelona’s Cooperativa Integral)
• Local /social currencies (Helsinki, Bristol, Barcelona?)
• Cuba’s urban agriculture
• Transition Towns, Europe
• and many more…
Knowledge,
consciousness,
attitudes, worldviews
…
Learning / education: re-locating it in community,
ecological roots, creativity, inquisitiveness …
•Adharshila, MP
•Jeevanshala, Narmada
•SECMOL, Ladakh
•Imli-Mahua, Chhattisgarh
•Marudam, Tamil Nadu
•Adivasi Academy, Guj
•Swaraj University, Rajasthan
•Beeja Vidyapeeth, Uttarakhand
•Bhoomi College, Karnataka
Skhole = leisure!
Intergenerational transmission of
knowledge•Surshala (music)
•Karigarshala (construction)
•Sagarshala (coastal communities)
•Kala Vidyapeeth (crafts)
•Parageohydrologists
Traditional & new skills for
livelihoods
Technology by/for/with/of peopleTechnological innovations to reduce ecological impact,
reach & be governed by the marginalised
(malkha cotton weaving, AP; Hunnarshala housing,
Kachchh; Solar passive architecture, Ladakh)
Alternative Media, Communications, ArtsFreedom from govt & corporate control:
•Community radio (>150); FM?
•Mobile-based (CGNetSwara, Chhattisgarh)
•Movement newsletters, folk theatre
•Film/video (Video Volunteers)
•Internet (Scroll, Wire, Infochange, India Together …)
•‘Social’ networks … virtual communities
Pic: Puroshottam Thakur
The government responds…
• New laws:
– Right to Information Act
– National Employment Guarantee Act
– Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Act 2006
• New programmes:
– Organic farming policies /
programmes in 16 states: Sikkim
100% by 2015, Kerala by 2020?
– Activity-based learning, Tamil Nadu
Can we discern elements of a holistic
framework from these initiatives?
Ecological resilience
& wisdom
Radical democracy
Economic democracy
Social justice &
wellbeing
Culture & knowledge
diversity
Towards a sustainable and equitable society
5 interconnected, integrated circles
Eco-swaraj:
Radical ecological democracy
(Radical = going to the roots, challenging the conventional)
• achieving human well-being, through: – empowering all citizens & communities to participate in
decision-making
– ensuring socio-economic equity & justice
– respecting the limits of the earth
Community (at various levels) as basic unit of organisation, not state or private corporation
A NEW POLITICS
Direct democracy (local): decentralised and nested decision-
making
Direct democracy (state/national): referendums &
deliberative processes
Delegated/representative democracy, with mechanisms of
accountability (right to recall, public audit, reporting back…)
Ecoregional planning across states and countries … political
units aligned with ecological and cultural ones? Borderless
world?
Conditions: Rights, Capacity, Forums, and Maturity
A NEW ECONOMICS
Mindful of ecological / planetary limits
Open localisation: self-sufficiency/sovereignty in basic needs, larger
trade built on this
Production, consumption (prosumption) locally controlled; &
sustainable consumption line?
Re-integrating work & leisure: livelihoods
Re-commoning private & state property
Demonetisation & decentralisation of currencies: Relations of
caring/sharing, local exchange systems, restructuring the market
(haat)
Biekerech (Luxembourg): Energy Autonomy,
Sustainability, Decarbonisation
Towards 100% self-sufficiency in
energy (heating, power)
Local currencies, or demonetising exchange!
Beki local currency, Biekerech, Luxembourg
A JUST SOCIETY
Towards equity amongst
classes
castes (eradication of)
genders
ethnic groups
species
‘able’ities
Towards universal rights-based approaches (including for
children!), infused with responsibilities … sarvodaya
CULTURE AND KNOWLEDGE
Respecting non-divisive diversity of languages,
cuisines, knowledges
Democratic R&D / S&T / knowledge / innovation: in
public domain, participatory, transparent
Media and arts commons
Opportunities for spiritual / ethical growth (without
falling into trap of communal religious institutions)
Alternative globalisation
• Global flow of ideas, cultures, materials
(millennia old)
NOT
• Globalisation dominated by:
–unrestricted financial and economic flows
–imposition of one model of ‘development’
across the world
RENEWED RELATIONSHIP WITH/IN NATURE
• Diversity and pluralism (of ideas, knowledge, ecologies, economies, ideologies, polities, cultures…)
• Self-reliance for basic needs (swavalamban)
• Self-governance / autonomy (swashasan / swaraj)
• Cooperation, collectivity, solidarity, commons
• Rights with responsibilities of meaningful participation
• Dignity & creativity of labour (shram)
• Qualitative pursuit of happiness
• Equity / justice / inclusion (sarvodaya)
• Simplicity / sufficiency / enoughness (aparigraha)
• Rights of nature / respect for all life forms
• Non-violence, peace, harmony (ahimsa)
• Subsidiarity & ecoregionalism
Values & principles of
transformative alternatives ….
Worldviews from elsewhere …
• Indigenous peoples’ territorial struggles and notions of
well-being
– buen vivir: sumak kawsay (Andes), suma qamana (Bolivia),
kume mongen (Chile)
– ubuntu (S. Africa), umuntu (Uganda), ukama (Zimbabwe),
eti uwem (W. Africa)
• Degrowth, Commons, Solidarity economy,
Biocivilisation, Ecosocialism …
Issues for dialogue….
Would there be a state? Its form and role?
What would be the nature of global governance? (Not the UN!)
Would there be a private business sector? Profits, or revenues
channelised back into social purposes?
Issues for dialogue….How do scattered, often small initiatives face larger forces?
Who will catalyse the transformation: Mass movements? NGOs?
Worker unions? Political parties?
What is nature of individual freedoms within community living?
Vikalp Sangams (Alternatives Confluences): practical collaborations, democratic visioning of futures
Vikalp Sangams
(regional)Andhra Pradesh, Oct 2014
Tamil Nadu, Feb 2015
Ladakh: July 2015
Maharashtra, October 2015
Kachchh, July 2016
W. Himalaya, Aug 2016
(thematic)
Energy democracy: March 2016
Food sovereignty : 2016 & 2017
Youth: early 2017
Learning and education: 2017
Arts: 2017?
Visioning the future,
grassroots-up
(www.alternativesindia.org)
www.vikalpsangam.org
transformap.co wiki.p2pfoundation.net
A wild idea: how about a big GAFf?
Global Alternatives Forum
