Approach Note for Adivasi Adhikar Manch
Solemn Declaration of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples
Copenhagen 1977
We the Indigenous Peoples of the world, united in this corner of our Mother the Earth in a great assembly of men of wisdom, declare to all nations:
We glory in our proud past:
when the earth was our nurturing mother,
when the night sky formed our common roof,
when Sun and Moon were our parents,
when all were brothers and sisters,
when our great civilizations grew under the sun,
when our chiefs and elders were great leaders,
when justice ruled the Law and its execution.
Then other peoples arrived:
thirsting for blood, for gold, for land and all its wealth,
carrying the cross and the sword, one in each hand,
without knowing or waiting to learn the ways of the worlds,
they considered us to be lower than the animals,
they stole our lands from us and took us from our lands,
they made slaves of the Sons of the Sun.
However, they have never been able to eliminate us:
nor to erase our memories of what we were,
because we are the culture of the earth and the sky,
we are of ancient descent and we are millions,
and although our whole universe may be ravaged,
our people will live on
for longer than even the kingdom of death.
Now , we come from the four corners of the earth,
we protest before the concert of nations
that, "we are the Indigenous Peoples, we who
have a consciousness of culture and peoplehood
on the edge of each country's borders and
marginal to each country's citizenship."
And rising up after centuries of oppression,
evoking the greatness of our ancestors,
in the memory of our Indigenous martyrs,
and in homage to the counsel of our wise elders.
We vow to control again our own destiny and
recover our complete humanity and
pride in being Indigenous People.
Now the challenge for us as we revive the World Council for Indigenous People in 2017 is how we safeguard against the dangerous convulsions of neo-colonialism in it's death throes. How do we catalyse it's decay and decomposition into a fertile ground for indigenous cultures to germinate and flourish once again to their pristine glory.
For Hindus of India, how is this ethos any different from what we identify with as Sanatan/Adivasi sanskriti?
The curious case of Indigenous Hindus in India
What binds India together with all it's diversity? Nature is the foundation of the forest-dwelling and village dwelling societies and they are the stewards of land, water and all natural resources. Their language is a diverse local form of Prakrit.
Culture holds together at the top of which is the patron city-dwelling society. Their language is Sanskrit. India is known as Sone ki Chidiya or golden bird and Vishva Guru by synergy and symbiosis of Sanskrit and Prakrit.
Since ancient times, India's forest, village and city society are it's indigenous people or Adivasis. It is absolutely mistaken that the Adivasis of India live in forests only. This myth was spread by the white British first and the same is now being spread by the adherents of the Gujarat Development Model. The role of the East India Company which earlier colonised India has been taken over by Adani and Ambani though in a highly subversive and surreptitious way. When will India extricate from it's vicious grip and be completely independent again?
What has changed in this 70 years of independence? The way the British used to call the original inhabitants of India as "Bloody Indians", treated them as inferior and suppressed their protests as treason and terrorism, in the same way, today's Brown English and adherents of the Gujarat Development Model, treat the indigenous people as "tribals" or Adivasis as inferior and equally and as brutally suppress their protest by labelling them as Maoism and Naxalism.
Adivasi simply means those who are native inhabitants of India or who believe and follow the eternal tradition of the land. They share the saga of Rama and Krishna as their cultural heritage. Adivasis of Bharat are those who consider this country's diverse language, dialect and local culture and tradition as their shared heritage.
Ironically, while most people deny that they are not immigrants but are the natives of this place and debunk the Aryan Invasion Theory, they shy away from being called Adivasis. Because in their perception, Adivasi way of life is a sign of backwardness. There is a large number of such misguided people in the country today. Deceived by their strength in numbers, they mistake this anomaly to be true. I address this issue in this earlier essay here.
Indigenous or Adivasi society around the world has been struggling with similar problems of colonial terror, infiltration and subversion of their way of life over last several centuries. Taking cognizance of the significant contribution of the indigenous society and to redeem the historical injustice done to them, the United Nations General Assembly made a declaration for the protection and promotion of indigenous peoples' rights in 2007. Some of the key points are as follows:
Article 3
Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue
of that right they freely determine their political status and freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Article 4
Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.
Article 11
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to practise and revitalize their
cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right to maintain,
protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures, such as archaeological and historical sites, artefacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literature.
2. States shall provide redress through effective mechanisms, which may include restitution, developed in conjunction with indigenous peoples, with respect to their cultural, intellectual, religious and spiritual property taken without their free, prior and informed consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs.
Article 13
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and
transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral tradi-
tions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate
and retain their own names for communities, places and persons.
2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that this right is
protected and also to ensure that indigenous peoples can understand
and be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings,
where necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other
appropriate means.
Article 14
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their
educational systems and institutions providing education in their
own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of
teaching and learning.
4. Adivasi Adhikar Manch will, according to this declaration of the United Nations, prepare an action plan for the collective efforts to protect the rights of the indigenous people around the world.
5. Keeping the priority of indigenous people in India as defined above, we call upon for a review of the existing constitution and to prepare the draft of a new constitution for wider consultation.
6. Adivasi Adhikar Manch will be an umbrella organization that will bring together diverse organizations working to protect, preserve and strengthen indigenous people's rights including Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan and to amalgamate wherever appropriate.
Chandra Vikash is a Swadeshi/Adivasi activist. He studied for engineering at IIT Kharagpur MBA and MBA at IIM Calcutta. He is President of Samuchit evam Santulit Vikas Sansthan
No comments:
Post a Comment