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The Medha Patkar Chat

Medha, early on you had said that liberalisation goes against your country's sovereignty. Yet, the green movement is today a movement without borders, and knows no nationality or state. Is this not a case of running with the hare and hunting with the hound?

There has been, I hear, a great deal of controversy in India over the Miss Worlc contest, over foreign television. Are you in agreement with the theory that such things deride Indian culture? Would you brtand this anti-development as well?

x!x 0

Namashkar, Ms Patkar. Good to speak to you. I want to know from you your vision of India's future. Where will we be ten years from now?

S Jaswant Srikantan: Although I believe that a shared analysis of the present can be the basis to appreciate the vision, I hope you will agree that unless we change right now and radically, our lifestyles, we will have our natural resource capital depleted beyond repair and integrated human communities destroyed. That life will not be, according to me, either prosperous or happy and certainly not without a small section exploiting large masses, within or across the countries.

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Has the system never tried to subvert you? Compromise you? Threaten you? In India that would seem entirely within the realm of possibility.

Ghar ke chooley kaun sambhalta hai, aap ke yahan?

You spoke of Marx as if he has been an influence. Would you think the response to the violence unleashed by the state should be Marxist-Leninist rather than Gandhian?

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greetings from !mog! where are you logging on from? does it use electricty?

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Indu:in public life here ghar ke choolhe take care of themselves. usually for seven generations after!!!also??

can you tell us why all the parties who in the opposition share your views, change on coming to power? eg, the Bjp opposed the Enron, now those hypocrites are laying the red carpet for them? why is this so?

R Jairam: Well, the movement in the Narmada valley is still on on not one but 30 big dams, some built and proved to be both destructive and unjust, it has some achievement in terms of bringing developmental issues to the fore. The present water management with bad economics and unjustified international lending to the flawed non-participatory decision making and also corruption is something which is being talked about. But we are for questioning all big dams and other projects causing non-compensatable displacement, destruction and disparity. We are questioning social inequality on deterioration of value-based politics too. The wider forum for this is the National Alliance of People's Forums.

Medha:Do you have a SWISS bank account?

Marx,Lenin and the rest are a-moulderin' in the ground, Medhaji.Fat lot good all their theories did them.....but they devastated entire civilizations as they knew them.... Do you have grandios vision of ending up in line with them? At what cost to the illiterate who follow in your wake?

S Jaswant: Yes, of course, mere legal fight will also not suffice. It will have to be a struggle on all fronts.

Medha, I have to go back to work. If you did get my questions would you please send me a note or ask Joe to do so? Or, if you see Dilip when you're in Bombay let him know and he can email me. It was good to "hear" your voice. I'll see you in March. nikhil aziz

bye bye na! It was fun while it lasted

Do I get the feeling that you are planning to form some sort of Greens party? Is that right? When will it contest the elections?

qwerty

indu, worry about your ghar ka choolha, and get your facts right before you comment on civilisation and the effect wrought upon them by marx and lenin. a little knowledge is dangerous, so stay ignorant, because that is bliss. (Tue Oct 15 21:51:44 1996 IST):

MOG; given the fact that you are rich enough to study abroad, surely it is you who has a swiss account, or your family.

indu, worry about your ghar ka choolha, and get your facts right before you comment on civilisation and the effect wrought upon them by marx and lenin. a little knowledge is dangerous, so stay ignorant, because that is bliss.

R Jairam: Oh yes! They have always tried their best. Why does one otherwise think they would arrest me simply on the ground that I had called a press conference in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on 17th of August? It's the people's spirit and support from thousands in various people's organisations and different walks of life that helps us to check our conscience and be perseverant and committed.

indu, you there? she's answwering only 'good' queries?

Nameless ---too scared to come out in the open ...huh?

Bikash: I'm for non-violence as a value in life. It is also the only path on which the powerholders cannot catch you so easily beyond situational arrests and repression. It gives us the inner strength to face things beyond limit and fight for life, not death.

What, in your opinion, would be the ideal deveopment model for India?

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ofthepeople...:i am a poor babu who is logging in on public time and expense haha..i don't know any 'leaders'who don't have a swiss account of late and am basing questions on info provided by ex-volunteers of her organisation who want to keep their peace...so you keep yours...

Rishi: It's the money market and mafia based power politics that affects them.

Medhaji...seems to have dried up like Narbada will be perhaps in some distant future.

Medha; you have praised village and community life. Yet village life hides some of the most cruel practices like caste, women's oppression, and superstition. Your own movement is led by city base persons. why this dichotomy

!!MOG!! AS a doctor, I think you suffer from advanced dementia.

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Is there any politician or political system in India that offers you hope for the future?

:-( all garam havaa !

How do you cope with all this irrational hostility? Sometimes, people are trying to be hostile for the sake of being hostile!

Regards to you too Induji.

Jairam:I think you must be a good doctor. But, then again, maybe both of us are wrong?

Madam, Why you and your recently formed National Alliance of People's Movements is against federal govt's new economic policy of liberalisation and reforms and are against the presence of multinationals in India.Don't you think this is not supposed to be your field of action? Again, since no developement process is able to work in India,don't you think that we should try and bring the multinationals & enhance the development process.

indu, please shut up

R Jairam: While I do not reject party politics, we have no plans to join the same. We feel it is very urgent and essential today to strengthen the non-party people's initiative and movements. Only that would check the corrupt valueless electoral politics and empower democratic citizens. Some people have to remain outside the limited power game which is dominating to an unjustifiable extent ever sphere of life, undermining the broad and deep social processes.

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MOG: I've already filed defamation cases against a daily and a politician who accused Andolan and me of recieving foreign funds. Anyone is welcome to join the legal battle as parties.

I knew it....eventually all these do-gooders end up in politics.... the homeground fro those whocan't actually earn their keep!

No Sir Mr. Sanyal:People are not being hostile for the sake of being hostile. Are you aware that funds move to/from Medha's organisation? Fair enough..but then why accuse all others of being anti-national if they don'tagree with just your (narrow)views? Medha I have some very embarrasing questions for you, but your ex-friends here want to know if this is the correctforum or not?

What canordinary Indians do to help your movement?

MS.Patkar>> nice to meet you!!! :-) (*shakes hand*) hi! everybody ~wave~wave~~~~

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Hi ARI~~~~~~~~~~~to you to!

Medhaji, you do not plan to join party-based politics, and yet you are planning policies such as anti-MNCs, etc, which should be of the prerogative of those elected by the people, not of some NGOs who arrogate to themselves the power to decide on behalf of society? Outside politics, you can lobby for certain policy, NOT decide them.