Thirty years of resistance
https://vikalpsangam.org/article/thirty-years-of-resistance/ By Ashish KotharionMar. 25, 2025
.. much of the focus is still on trying to make the state accountable, bring in progressive laws, and so on—all very important, but no substitute for community mobilization towards determining their own futures. The Western liberal model of democracy is failing 8 everywhere, which to my mind is inherent to its very conception. We have to support and promote more radical, people-led forms such as the ‘Hamare gaon mein ham hi sarkar’—in our village, we are the government—the practice of Mendha-Lekha village in Maharashtra, or the radical autonomy movements of Zapatista indigenous people in Mexico and the Kurdish freedom movement in Rojava, Syria. Linked to these, to also envision and promote governance and management at the level of biocultural regions rather than rigid political boundaries that currently divide nature and cultures within India, and between it and other nations of South Asia.
since sangharsh and nirman need each other—resistance against a coal-fired power station, for instance, would be more powerful if it also built in articulation and practice of alternatives like decentralized, community-owned renewable energy.
In turn, as another instance, farmers practicing localized, organic methods with their seeds and knowledge, or communities protecting ecosystems and wildlife in what is called ‘community-conserved areas,’ would be stronger if they joined hands with movements that resist state and corporate pressures or perverse policies.
Perhaps most importantly, VS has also promoted a more radical sense of democracy than (or in addition to) trying to make the Indian state more accountable and responsive—what Gandhi called swaraj (self-rule)—with communities claiming decision-making power and autonomy on the ground through traditional or new grassroots democratic practices.