Date: Wed, 26 May 93 22:01 EDT From: opirgc@web.apc.org (OPIRG Carleton) To: wcsbeau@ccs.carleton.ca Subject: Medha Patkar: 'Why I Will Drown' /* Written 6:57 pm May 3, 1993 by gn:ecologist in web:dams.general */ /* ---------- "Medha Patkar: "Why I Will Drown"" ---------- */ The following interview appeared in The Guardian (London) on 16 April, 1993. ---------------------------------------------------------------- WHY I WILL DROWN Patrick McCully talks to Medha Patkar, internationally-renowned activist from India's Save the Narmada Movement -- the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) -- which is fighting to stop the massive Sardar Sarovar dam and irrigation project. Despite the recent cancellation of a major World Bank loan, the Gujarat state government remains commited to the project. "We will cling to the land like a baby clings to its mother. When the waters rise in the monsoon starting this June we will face them as we have always vowed to do. The Samarpit Dal -- the Save or Drown Squad -- of commited activists will not allow any land in the valley to be submerged without sacrifice of human life. It is not suicide and we do not want to die but our commitment to face the waters has been the bedrock of our movement. Our decision to be submerged with the land is the logical consequence of our long struggle to save the Narmada and to force a rethinking of the direction of development in India and around the world. Our sacrifice will be for life not death -- for the life of the tribal people and farmers in the rest of the valley and all those threatened by big dams and the other symptoms of anti-people development. The sacrifice of the Samarpit Dal will be supported by thousands of people from the valley and all over India who will gather for the monsoon in Manibeli, the second village behind the dam. Manibeli has become a national symbol of resistance. Over the last few years the tribal people in the village have been arrested and beaten and subjected to all sorts of psychological pressure to make them move but they remain strong. In February we started our 'People's Verdict' in Manibeli. We went from house to house throughout the entire 200km-long submergence zone asking families if they were prepared to oppose the dam by refusing to move; now 22,523 homes in the valley -- around three-quarters of those to be submerged -- display a metal plaque saying 'We will drown but not move'. This year the dam wall is over a third complete and large parts of Manibeli and several other villages will be submerged for many months. Scores of families will be affected. If there is a very heavy monsoon nearly 30 villages will go under water and many hundreds if not thousands of families will have their homes and their crops washed away. If they escape drowning they will face hunger. Many of these families are resolutely opposing the dam and will not move. Others, afraid of what will become of them, are prepared to move but have not yet been resettled. Increasing numbers of families are returning from their resettlement sites, prefering the uncertainty of impending submergence to the lack of land, water, fuel, fodder and other necessities they face when they move. Repression is increasing in the valley as submergence approaches. Last week some villagers were arrested just because they had returned to their village from a resettlement site and decided to resist the dam with the NBA. A tribal woman who is one of our strong activists was badly beaten in custody. The people will not permit this repression to go on. We are fighting forced evictions in the courts and now human rights organisations across India have decided to form a committee to monitor the situation in the valley. International human rights groups will also be watching what happens. The exit of the World Bank from Sardar Sarovar has given a great boost to the NBA and our supporters and shown that the dam is not a fait accompli. Since their withdrawal there has been a huge change in the opinion of politicians and the electorate in Gujarat state who are now seriously questioning government propaganda about the costs and benefits of the dam. There is no doubt that Gujarat does not have the funds to finish the dam and it looks increasingly unlikely that the central government will provide the money. [In fact the central government announced on 22 April that it will put $170m into the project -- the sum outstanding on the World Bank's cancelled loan. However, the multi- billion dollar project remains in deep financial difficulties] The question now is not whether the project will be completed but how much damage will be done before it grinds to a halt The World Bank still has responsiblity for any deaths and repression that occur as it has supported the project until now. The last thing we want is any more money from the Bank -- or any other foreign source -- we want an apology from Bank President Lewis Preston and we want a statement that they will fund no more projects in the Narmada valley. The British Overseas Development Administration is the only foreign funder still involved in Sardar Sarovar. They are funding environmental and hydrological studies with no attempt to consult with the affected people. They will not even tell us if the studies will be made public, saying this depends on the results. Just like the World Bank, they will only release information if it suits them. Luckily we have experience of dealing with British imperialism in India. We will throw the ODA out just as we threw out their colonialist predecessors. We do not demand that the project be scrapped, but that construction be stopped while it is comprehensively and publicly reviewed with the full involvement of the NBA, the affected people and independent specialists. All the alternatives must be considered. This is the only thing that can stop our sacrifice." ENDS