[WSF-Discuss] The Dehradun Declaration, from the National Conference of the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers in India

[Jai Sen]

(Nota en español, más abajo)

 From New Delhi, Friday, June 19, 2009

Friends, in the context of the struggles over forests and the rights  
of indigenous peoples and forest dwellers going on today not only in  
Peru but all over the world, and in the context of the ‘climate  
crisis’, here is the text of the Declaration a few days ago in India  
from the National Conference of the National Forum of Forest People  
and Forest Workers : The Dehradun Declaration.

Defiant and clear, and in solidarity with similar struggles all over  
the world.

Attached also is a PDF version of this Declaration, in Hindi.

Please send this on.

             For CACIM
JS


Desde Nueva Delhi, Viernes, 19 de junio de 2009

Amigos, en el contexto de las luchas por los bosques y los derechos  
de los pueblos indígenas y los habitantes de los bosques que hoy no  
sólo en el Perú sino en todo el mundo, y en el contexto de la  
"crisis climática", aquí está el texto de la Declaración hace unos  
días en la India de la Conferencia Nacional del Foro Nacional de  
Personas Forestal y Bosques Trabajadores: La Declaración de Dehradun.

Desafiante y claras, y en solidaridad con luchas similares en todo el  
mundo.

También se adjunta una versión en PDF de esta Declaración, en hindi.

Por favor, envíe esto.

Para CACIM

JS


DEHRADUN DECLARATION



12 June 2009


During the process of enactment of the Forests Right Act in 2006, the  
National Forum for Forest People’s and Forest Workers (NFFPFW)  
passed two important resolutions in the second National Conference  
held at Ranchi:



1) Establishment of community governance over forest resources

2) To resist commodification of forests and related resources.



Over the last 2-3 years, in many states including Uttar Pradesh,  
Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa,  
Maharashtra, Karnataka, and West Bengal, we have taken significant  
steps in realising these resolutions. In many villages we have been  
successful in forming Forest Rights Committees on the basis of the  
Forests Right Act (FRA). On 10-12 June 2009, we forest peoples -  
adivasis, forest workers, and other forest dwellers, from 16 states  
of India - have converged at Dehradun, the forest capital of India -  
discussing, debating, and uniting to send a strong message to the  
whole world. The following is the declaration from the conference on  
‘Resisting commodification of Forests; Establishing community  
governance over forest resources’, adopted as the ‘Dehradun  
Declaration 2009’.



W

e, the forest people of the world – living in the woods, surviving  
on the fruits and crops, farming on the jhoom land, re-cultivating  
the forest land, roaming around with our herds – have occupied this  
land since ages. We announce loudly, in unity and solidarity, that  
let there be no doubt on the future: we are the forests, and the  
forests are us, and our existence is mutually dependent. The crisis  
faced by our forests and environment today will only intensify  
without us.

This is no ordinary crisis. Not merely a climate crisis - or in your  
words, this magnified self-created monster of a financial crisis. We  
believe it is a Crisis of Civilizations. It’s no ordinary clash but  
a fundamental clash between our knowledge systems; of being, of  
nature and your wisdom, technology, and demonic tendencies. Your  
world rests on ideas of power, territories, boundaries, profit,  
exploitation and oppression and you try to own everything, including  
Mother Nature. This is what drives your civilisation. You need this  
world of oppression and exploitation; to survive and feel good. If  
you want to include us in your world by ‘civilising’ us, we will  
happily choose to remain uncivilised. Call us savages, we do not  
care! We have learnt amidst these trees, this water, this air, and  
other forest beings - a life of freedom, of being without boundaries,  
and yet never forgetting the boundaries of nature. You need your  
legal monoliths and your structures of governance to attempt to tide  
over this crisis, but for us the laws of nature, learnt and  
assimilated over generations are sufficient.

You talk of attaining Independence on August 15 1947… What is that ?  
We, the forest people and the forests have been independent since  
ages. You tried enslaving us; by trapping us in your illusion that  
believes in converting living beings into slaves - hollow occupants  
of servile bodies - a life of death; by capturing our forests,  
establishing your false laws of oppression and exploitation -  
contradicting the fundamental laws of nature. We know the way you  
exploited and enslaved our native American comrades in other parts of  
the world. Let us remind you that you behaved no differently than  
those feudal and imperialist ancestors of yours. We, therefore,  
reject your unnatural law, your civilization of tyranny and cruelty.  
What freedom? We see no freedom, in being driven out of our forests,  
separated from water, land, fields, trees, air, and friendly animals,  
to the ecosystem to which we belong. What freedom, which doesn’t  
forget to chain its own brothers and sisters. False Freedom! We see  
no truth in a society that remains haunted by the prosperity of a few  
capitalists, whilst, never forgetting to oppress the workers,  
adivasis, dalits, women and poor of the world! We reject you!

Forest Rights Act, you need it more than us. If you think you are  
bestowing rights on us, then you are wrong. We have lived with these  
forests for ages. Our ancestors, gods, goddesses, friends and life  
lived in this and will continue to live here. We don’t define  
rights, we know what is ours and to whom we belong. We are the  
forests, the forests are us. Out of necessity, if you want to talk  
the language of rights, we are ready for it. It’s your need to  
recognise our rights over the forests and correct the historical  
injustices and exploitation. However, if by granting pattas (land  
titles) over a portion of forest you conspire to control, commodify,  
and sell the rest of the forests, then you are wrong. We understand  
your vested intentions and are determined to save the forests from  
your corrupt desires of exploitation, developmentalism, ill-sighted  
conservation, and technological fixes.

If you think the ghosts of commodity capitalism are going to chain  
our minds and souls for eternity, then you are mistaken. From the  
forests, the nature we have learnt that power is not infinite,  
exploitation is not infinite too. We, the labouring workers,  
adivasis, and dalits don’t treat the forest a resource to be  
exploited but as something which lives and supports life.

There is a climate crisis around and no amount of free trade,  
capital, or technology will eliminate the roots of this crisis. You  
forget that the crises has emanated from the way your society is  
structured - an edifice based on an unending desire for resources and  
a way of life that sees nature as an object of exploitation and  
extraction. Fools! You are doomed to bear the brunt and suffer the  
pains of your actions, but we ask you - Why must we suffer? You have  
intruded in our lifestyle, in the rhythm of Mother Earth. You have  
corrupted the environs by your vehicles, industries, arms, and  
development and your actions have created a crisis in our homes. You  
have sinned against the essence of our being, and amidst our rage and  
tears, we reject the basis of your being: a thought - of mistrust, of  
control, of vicious self-interest, of injustice, and blame.

How dare you blame us for a climate crisis? It is the product of un- 
natural practices, and it has devastated our lives. How could you cut  
our trees unthinkingly? The temperature is increasing, rainfall is  
diminishing, and the forests are burning - consuming themselves in  
pain. Now you want us out of our habitats in the name of conserving  
our forests! You kill, unsparingly, relish in “terrorizing” busts  
of tigers, decorating your mantelpiece - all pointing to your moral  
sensibility – and yet you have the audacity to tell us to leave the  
forests so that you can protect the Tigers! What law do you know? Who  
are you to teach what is legal? You are illegal - contradicting the  
very law of nature - of coexistence. You have no solutions - you only  
destroy.

You may not care of our times, but spare a thought for the coming  
generations, their inheritance. Do you wish to present to them a  
world of chaos and destruction? Are you so blinded by your greed? At  
least, now - in this crisis - we need to unite, all civilizations,  
and forest people of the world, to resolve the crisis, to restore our  
relationship with nature.

T

oday, at Dehradun, we call for and welcome the solidarity and harmony  
of all world’s forest people - workers, adivasis, and fellow  
travellers - on this journey to realizing the fulfilment of our  
existence, in communion with our forests. We warn your civilization  
that we are a people, united in struggle against the structure of  
capitalism - of greed, thievery, and profiteering. We warn the  
nations of the world, that you must not forget to honour our  
existence, or else – from deep within our hearts - we shout out  
loud:  NO MORE SILENCE! We will rise from the ashes of your  
devastating fire! To resist your order, undeterred by your traps. We  
will rise - a united forest people - together, in strength and  
solidarity, to challenge the very fabric of your civilization, and  
become one with nature, again!

Arise!

Forest People of the World, Unite!

Workers and the marginalised peoples of the World, Unite!

Zindabad!





National Forum of Forest Peoples and Forest Workers, India




______________________________
Jai Sen
jai.sen at cacim.net
CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
www.cacim.net
Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, +91-98189 11325

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