The whole campaign is based on key issues which we face. As you know India has a big population. There are 100 million people living on the fringes of forests, dependent on forest resources and another 40 million people who are dependant on forests. The organisation, the current effort is much smaller than the size. I represent the nation forum of forest people and forest workers. It’s an organization that is the national forum of 90 organizations, from all over the country. It is very small compared to the size of the population. Any campaign developed has to be reminded that our input will be far reaching and we need a longer period to reach out to the whole national population. The primary problem with the forest people in India, as you are aware, we had been under colonial rule for 200 years. And in this colonial period the British colonizers captured the whole forest area as a state domain. And after our independence, it continued like a state domain. 95% of our forest is owned by the state.

Although we are a democracy, India is known for one of the few nations that after the war, still maintain its constitution. Still the forest people never were given constitutional rights. Most of our people have been disenfranchised. They have no political stake in policy making in decisions related to the forest or any development activities. Due to this, the older generation’s attempts to fix the struggle tend to become conflicts. Our input has been to initiate and force the government to bring democracy process to forestry and it is a primary political struggle. It is not just a struggle for sentiments or emotions. Corporations and multinationals are not really present in our country. They are coming. In the last 15 years after the companies, the …(?) process started, structural adjustment of local corporations and the rich nations are trying to negotiate with our government to get inside our forest area. They are coming and in some patches they have come.

The forestry programs started in the name of scientific forestry by the British colonizers is basically commercial plantations. Most of the forests are plantation forests which is a commercial forestry. I have a colleague here who is a child of plantation workers who was hired by the British in the late 19^th and 20^th centuries to a state forestry program. The problem with the forestry programs are the community needs. The communities’ knowledge is based on a different type of forestry. The forestry promoted by the state is commercialized. Then we have the major conflicts on the question of using the forest land and forest produce. The Indian forest department owns thirty-five million hectares of land, 23% of our land mass. Indigenous people are cultivators without owning the land inside the forest area. Until this last month, they didn’t have any right over their resource. Very recently we had legislation in December by the parliament in India that I will discuss tomorrow. Still there is no right for the people to cultivate and utilize the forest.

There are about 500,000 people living inside the national parks and sanctuaries, they cannot be evacuated or migrated. City of the world projects have ousted people who have lived inside of national parks for centuries. The government has been trying with various so called environmental groups to oust the people. It is not possible to migrate 500,000 people. The Supreme Court of India had ordered in 1996 to make a settlement by one year. What kind of methodology are we using for our campaigns? Primarily, in a democracy, the mobilization and visibility is very important. The primary attempt of our campaign is mobilization. As I say this, our people are disenfranchised. So to be present in the political system is very important. For mobilization, we use traditional methods, we also use videos. Also, the main resource is traditional culture, including songs, dramas and other kind of cultural activities which is a more powerful method to bring people together where they can express their views and break away from the emotional slavery, emotional oppression by the mainstream.

We have to take actions based on the recapturing of the land for the people who have lost it. We have to recapture the land for their survival and livelihood. And in most cases it is not just the state. The state is supported by a big landlordism. The mafia, the contractors are open with the state. It is not possible to fight such a cause alone. We take the question of alliance building very seriously. Alliance building with other coalitions and movements, the agricultural movement, the business movement, trade unions. We are the first organization in the country to initiate a link between the forestry people industrial workers trade union, and human rights civil society groups. These issues can be discussed at a much wider level to bring the focus to a mainstream political discussion. With alliance building we have started to receive process right from the agents of …(?) We are very much active in the movement among the poorest of poor people at the grassroots level.

The whole campaign strategy has to be focused on the main political struggles and demands of the moment, that to get a question of sovereignty of the people. The forestry people have a major problem with the emerging nation state. The Indian nation state and others denounce the political existence of the traditional indigenous people.

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The speeches from Regaining Control of the Commons: WSF 2007 are provided for information and educational purposes. The transcription has been undertaken on a volunteer basis. Due to resource limitations we are unable to provide a complete transcription. We apologise for the breaks in the text.

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