|
|
|
April 21, 2002
REVIEW: Power to the poor
IN his autobiography, the great philosopher Bertrand Russell has written about the three ‘overwhelmingly strong passions’ of his life; love, the search for knowledge, and ‘unbearable pity ‘ for the suffering of mankind. Elaborating on the last he said, “Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty and pain make a mockery of what human life should be.” He was among many philosophers who were concerned about the oppressed of the world.
There are innumerable people who share Russell’s sentiments. The author of the book under review, John G. Sommer, is one of them. In his book, Empowering the oppressed: grassroots advocacy movements in India, he has documented and assessed five Indian organizations which are waging a struggle against various forms of oppression on behalf of bonded labour, the dalits (untouchables), women workers and landless peasants.
Sommer has worked with development organizations for more than thirty years. In the early seventies, he worked for the Ford Foundation in India. He was Dean of Academic Studies Abroad at the School for International Training/World Learning in USA. In 1994 when Sommer was adviser at the Unitarian-Universalist Association’s Holdeen India Programme (HIP), he held many intensive meetings with leaders of some unique groups working for the oppressed to share their remarkable experiences and methods of helping the poorest of the poor. This work became the basis of the book under review.
Sommer opens his book with the story of a couple (Vidyullata and Vivek Pandit) who worked in a remote village for the emancipation of bonded labour. With their help, the Shramjeevi Sanghatna was organized to fight for the economic and social rights of bonded labour. They gave the group courage to stand up and say ‘no’ to any exploitation. The couple taught the villagers to fight against inequality. Since the leader of the organization and his family were bonded labourers themselves at one time, they could empathize with people in a similar situation. They could also suggest a strategy for change since they understood the problem. Thus they could get bonded labour abolished. The couple was given the Anti-Slavery Award in London.
The reader learns of the terrible stories of the economic, social and psychological agonies of the untouchables, who are forced to live in dehumanizing conditions. Martin Macwan, a lawyer and a dalit himself, mobilized them to use their strength and work collectively for their uplift through Navsarjan, the first organization in India to fight against caste discrimination. It emerged as the major organization which had for its aim the emancipation of the dalits. Local dalit leaders from 2,000 villages were trained in the state of Gujarat. They worked with the community, adopting a participatory approach, and went to court to fight every injustice. Macwan inspired many other organizations to do the same and received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award 2000 in Washington.
The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), which is a trade union for women established in Gujarat in 1972 with 220,000 home- based women workers, vendors, hawkers and labourers, is another success story. Led by the charismatic Ela Bhatt, SEWA, a family of institutions with international linkages, performs conventional labour union functions, and provides legal aid and banking facilities such as savings accounts and loans. SEWA has also spawned the Gujarat Mahila Housing SEWA Trust, The Friends of Women’s World Banking-India, and the SEWA Academy, which trains union members and gathers grassroots information for research data for effective work. SEWA Bharat is a federation of organizations. It is the biggest outreach organization mentioned in Sommer’s book. Many interesting success stories and their leaders’ unique efforts are documented in this book, which serve as inspiring examples for other NGOs. SEWA’s work was acknowledged in the World development report 2000/2001.
The book focuses on the landless poor. Sommer quotes the hero of one of the endeavours in Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, who wrote that since Partition India has had two land reforms legislations, but less than two per cent of the total cultivated area has been distributed among the rural poor. Now there are organizations such as the Centre for Rural Studies and Development (CRSD), which aims at empowering the rural poor, the Asmita Resource Centre working for women’s rights in rural and urban areas and the Developing Initiatives for Social and Human Action (DISHA), organized to help the labourers, landless people, tribals and dalits in 52 most backward villages of Gujarat. They work to build in their 80,000 members the capacity to understand and manage economic problems through budget analysis for every project.
At times, Sommer discovers, that the illiteracy and communication barriers cause greater problems. The Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants (CECOEDECON), which undertakes income generating educational projects, looked into the language difficulty faced by the poor. The consultants found that in an old dispute about minimum wages, the litigants remained ignorant of a favourable court judgment because it was written in English. All along they had been under the impression that the court had ruled against them.
What are the lessons Sommer learns from this exercise? The problems of the oppressed, such as the landless labour, unemployed, women, and victims of the government’s unaccountability, can be best addressed by organizing and mobilizing them, reinforcing advocacy, building their capacity to fight for their rights and networking for alliances.
Sommer recommends that the development organizations (the NGOs) and the political organizations should seek to empower the oppressed by combining their efforts. The role of the leadership is a key factor in the success or failure of this exercise. A charismatic, sophisticated and courageous leadership which possesses political influence, has capacity building skills, and reasonable resources can prove to be more effective.
Sommer’s well-researched and delightfully written book must be read by all those who are directly or indirectly involved in the working of non-government and community-based organizations. Such an in-depth study of developmental work in Pakistan is badly needed for placing on record the success stories of many people and organizations working for the oppressed. It would identify the lessons to be learnt from their strengths and weaknesses.
Empowering the oppressed
By John G. Sommer
Sage Publications, M 32 Market, Greater Kailash 1, New Delhi-110 048.
Email: marketing@indiasage.com
ISBN 0-7619-9573-0 206pp. Indian Rs225
|
|
|
|
