Our Diary 2003 KRITI: A development praxis and communications team Delhi
The fourth in a series of kriti diaries (previous ones: 2000, 2001, 2002) continues its redemptive mission of highlighting people's movements in various parts of India and the world. In the process, it strengthens the theory of action that forms the foundation of many of these movements and throws light on the strategies that sustain them.
The movements that have been covered in this year's diary range over a number of issues, and belong as well to different parts of the country, and the world:
• The campaign on the Mathura rape case, which took place after the Supreme Court, in 1978, acquitted two police officials of charges of assaulting and raping a young tribal girl, Mathura, in 1972 -- a struggle that ultimately led to the amendment of India's law on rape.
• The National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers, which was created in 1998 to provide a platform for bringing together groups and individuals working for the cause of the people who dwell in forests and are economically and socially marginalised.
• The movement of villagers in Mitihini, Uttar Pradesh, against land-grabbing by the National Thermal Power Corporation to expand its bases in central India.
• The struggle by tribals in Jadugoda in Jharkhand against land acquisition by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited for uranium mines, tailing ponds and for dumping nuclear waste.
• The protest by poor and landless adivasis of Kerala for the right to their land and against relentless oppression by land grabbers in 2001.
• The revolutionary Zapatistas of Mexico, who came together in the 1980s and shot into prominence in 1994 after they captured several towns in the Chiapas region, which has a heavy Native American population.
There are also updates on movements that have previously been covered by the kriti diary, such as the struggle for justice for the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, the anti-Narmada Dam movement, the rehabilitation movement of the Tehri dam oustees in Uttaranchal, the agitation against the Koel Karo hydro-electric project in Jharkhand, the musahars' (a lower-caste community) struggle for identity in Bihar, and the National Fishworkers Forum agitation.
What these movements have in common is their solidarity in the face of the most severe opposition and repression.
Each of these movements are chronicled from the time they took off to the latest developments. They are written about both in English and in Hindi, a good communication strategy. The design and layout of the diary is simple as well as symbolic, with appealingly quirky illustrations.
To get a copy of the diary, contact kriti at kritidpc@ndf.vsnl.net.in
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