The Hindu : For a world sans exploitation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 05, 2003

National

National

For a world sans exploitation

By W.Chandrakanth

Lakshman Singh, a small time farmer from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, lost both his legs after he was beaten up for demanding his minimum farm wages from upper caste landlords. He still has fire within to recount his tale to delegates at the Asian Social Forum of `People's Voice' in Hyderabad on Saturday. He now walks with a Jaipur foot. — Photo: P. V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD Jan. 4. Why should the 14-year-old Shabir Karam come all the way from Kashmir to attend the Asian Social Forum summit being held in Hyderabad, a ``reforms lab of the World Bank and the WTO?''

Or Geethaben of the Narmada Valley who on Friday spoke about her sufferings?

For that matter who are all these people and why have they gathered here?

To question, to protest, to assert, to witness, to testify and to rewrite history? Because, in isolation, they may not be heard at all and from a distance their voices might become muffled.

The conference is all about bridging the distance and bringing people together. People who are being brutalised and mauled and whose lives are being mangled by an unseen barbed wire have a right to know who their enemy is. People have a right to know who is hitting them so hard and why!

When Abdul Jawad Saleh, a former Minister in the Palestinian Authority and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, cries ``we have to end the U.S. imperialism and the Israeli occupation.'' or when like Prabhat Patnaik of the JNU, New Delhi, argues on behalf of Iraqis', the effort is to take a step towards making another world possible. A world where exploitation does not exist and everyone's rights are preserved.

A leading political economist from Egypt, Samir Amin, simplifies it: ``Social progress via economic development, continuous democratisation and a new international negotiation that is completed against corporate globalisation is the way to reduce poverty, create social justice and build peace''.

Thousands of delegates who have gathered here make the point thus: ``our testimonies here are only one of the signs of what is yet to come. The world you claim to fashion today neither suits our lives, nor is it relevant for future generations''.

Hence, it could be one Mangamma whose husband Ramakrishna was killed by the Andhra Pradesh police while taking part in the movement against power tariff or Mastuq Lambardar of the Van Gujjar community or Epueka Siaman Br. Sinurat, a 54-year-old grandmother from Sumatra, Indonesia, protesting here. But they say their protestations ``are meant for the good of the world, the future world''.

Still, Laxman Nepali, a Dalit from Nepal, asks ``when is it going to change? I cannot compete with the mass production technology''. His problem is ``foreign invasion of the local market''. A tailor by profession it costs him Rs.220 to make a pair of pantaloons. The importers of Chinese goods sell the same at Rs.250. Adding the cost of overheads means a higher price for him. Today he is underemployed. Tomorrow he will be unemployed.

Similarly, Thakri, a 25-year-old illiterate Dalit single woman of the `Dom' community feels that globalisation would only mean further deprivation. Already, begging on the streets of Delhi is banned but no alternative is shown to people like Thakri. She does not have a right to work. She does not have a right to beg. Does she have a right to life?

The concerns are many too. Activists from Greenpeace who have been on the `1000 Bhopals Jatha' — a bus tour around the toxic hotspots of India — are here. The team is accompanied by members of communities affected by toxic contamination.

Raj Mohammed, a former worker of the Pond's HLL Thermometer Factory in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, points out how the corporates cheat workers. ``When we fell ill because of mercury handling without proper safety measures, our management refused to even hand us over our medical records. The reason they cited was that medical ethics required ensuring confidentiality of records. My own records are to be kept away from me in the name of confidentiality,'' he says wryly.

The rest of the world merrily watches the plunge towards global deprivation (of the majority) and liberal accumulation (of the privileged few). Not all concerns may be answered, but at least they are addressed here. It restores some faith in humanity!

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