Lean, mean and green

How things have changed: back in 2008 when my cousin Karen Coelho decided to link her lot with the social activist, Nityanand Jayaraman, the howls of outrage from the Kanara Catholic Association were in perfect harmony with those emanating from the TamBrabhm Sabha. Last week, Niti won the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law and miraculously, all those maamis and aunties who had once muttered dark threats were scrupulously polite to each other over curd rice and lamb shanks at the award ceremony.

For those of you unfamiliar with Niti, he is the eco-warrior at the forefront of burning issues such as the Unilever Kodaikanal Lake clean up. In a nutshell, HUL’s unsafe disposal methods of used thermometers caused mercury contamination in Kodai, the locals protested and the parent company was ultimately forced to do the Swach Lake ballet. Niti has been a grassroots coordinator for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims and more recently, has been fighting the good fight against the forces of evil in the Kudankulam nuclear power plant imbroglio.

In his acceptance speech, he said, “This is the 70th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which our constitution has committed to uphold along with liberty of thought, expression, belief and faith. However, one can see that this liberty and freedom is being trampled on with dissenters very quickly painted as criminals.”

Niti has a fresh take on activism as a career. “As a parent, one is expected to make sacrifices for the family, but what if we viewed the world as family, our “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” and all the children in it as ours collectively? If we cultivated this attitude, then the fight for a gentler, better and slower-paced future for all of humanity is something that would come quite naturally.”

Brave words, but how does this other-worldly Greenpeace mind-set play out in today’s surcharged Amazon shopping forest environment? “It was difficult for my parents to come to terms with my career change from engineer to activist in the beginning,” he admits. Activism was all very well as long as it was someone else’s son running the risk. But to their credit, they evolved because deep down they also subscribed to the idea of the world as one large family. Perhaps they realized that they were the ones who had planted the seed in my mind at an early age and that they were now dealing with the consequences.Incidentally, my role is more of a solidarity activist, which means in a sense I am once removed from the oppression and bloody casualties faced by the trench warriors.”

For many of us being environmentally responsible means turning off the tap when we are brushing our teeth or cutting down on plastic bags but ask Niti what ordinary folks can do be more eco-friendly and he is refreshingly blunt. “Stop believing silly WhatsApp forwards,” he says, “Instead look for authentic sources of information before forming an opinion. I would urge more people to speak out, because they are not only lending a voice to those affected by say, the Sterlite plant, but in the process, are underscoring their own rights and those of future generations. This is because the rule of law is selectively enforced to accommodate corporate interests. Who gets to define development as against the right to clean air, water, food and a life of dignity?”

In 2004, Niti and three other like-minded friends began the Anti-Corporate Collective with the goal of allowing marginalised communities to speak for themselves with the Community Environment Monitoring Programme. They don’t teach or preach but merely ensure that local knowledge and concerns are translated into a language that public servants understand. Why do we have such a skewed idea of progress and why can’t toilers, fisherfolk and farmers be allowed to define the problem or contribute to the solution?  Sadly those who live close to the earth are at the receiving end of water cannons and rubber bullets while coats and suits determine our common future in air-conditioned convention halls. Niti dedicated the award to the 14 protesters in Thoothukudi who were recently shot dead by the Tamil Nadu police. They were part of a city-wide demonstration against the British MNC Vedanta’s polluting copper smelter.

When it comes to unconventional career choices, sadly we are still unable to think beyond the unholy trinity of doctor, lawyer and engineer but perhaps Gen Y will help define a new perspective. Who knows, at some unspecified future shock day, an Indian parent will proudly say, “Meet my child.he/she is an activist.”