Deutsche Welle, 14 January 2014
The Dongria
Kondh tribal people of India have successfully stopped a mine from opening up
on their traditional lands. DW speaks to Sophie Grig from Survival
International, who supported the protests for a decade.
DW: After
ten years of protests, the Indian environment ministry has now rejected a huge
bauxite mining project by the multinational company Vedanta. Survival
International has called this a 'sensational victory'. How likely is it that a
small group like the Dongria Kondh win a case for their rights, when they are
pitched against a huge multinational like Vedanta?
Sophie
Grig: It's fantastic news, it's a real David and Goliath story. There's only
about 8000 Dongria people. One of the main reasons why they have had this great
success is their incredible tenacity and courage and the fact that they are so
united and so proud of their way of life. They are so determined to protect
their sacred hills that they have done everything they can to campaign against
the mine. That has also been supported by Survival International and a number
of other organizations both on the ground and internationally.
In this
battle that the Dongria fought for such a long time, the group were confronted
with many obstacles. Can you give us an idea of what they experienced?
 |
| Sophie Grig, Asia Expert at Survival International |
Their
leaders have been arrested, there have been a lot of threats against them,
there has been a lot of pressure and harassment for the community. There's also
been a lot of pressure from the company who have tried to buy them off by
claiming that they will bring development. The Dongria have rightly said 'We
don't want development', 'What sort of development is it, if you destroy our
hills?'
The Dongria
have a wonderful agricultural system where they have huge numbers of plants
that they cultivate or collect from the forest that enable them to live well
and very happily in their hills, as they have done for generations. They say
'Development for us is being able to live here and make our own choices'.
Defenders
of this mining project have always said that the Dongria, like other tribal
people, are among the most impoverished in the country and they need economic
development. Isn't that also the case?
They
certainly don't see themselves as poor and in fact they told us 'We live like
kings'. They feel like they live a very wealthy and happy existence in the
hills. They themselves look at people in the plains and in the cities and they
feel sorry for them. They say, 'You have to pay for your water', 'You have to
pay for everything, we get it for free in the hills, why would we want to
leave'. What they want is to be able to live their own way of life on their own
land.
And, of
course, this land is also sacred to them.
Yes, it is.
They worship the hills they live in which would have been destroyed by the
mining company. That's also played a huge part in their rejection of the mines.
Apart from
the determination of the Dongria Kondh, how important was the international
campaigning on their behalf? What was the tipping point that made this victory
possible?
I think
that the international and national campaigns were extremely important. The
Dongria on their own, however determined they were, would not have been able to
generate the awareness in the government of what was happening to them on the
ground. That's the danger when tribal people's voices are just ignored. They
needed the national and the international pressure to make the government sit
up and listen.
Survival's
campaign involved us making a film which allowed them to speak out themselves.
We know that 600,000 people viewed that film. Thousands of letters were sent to
the Indian government, protests were held, we lobbied the British government
and they condemned the mining there and the Church of England disinvested from
Vedanta mining. Then, the Supreme Court said that the Dongria should be allowed
to make the decision. This last weekend, the news has finally come that the
[Indian environment] ministry has said no. So, it's been a culmination of all
that hard work.
What
repercussions will this news have for other tribal people in Asia and around
the world?
 |
| This win for the Dongria Kondh is having repercussions around the world, says Grig |
We know
that the news of the Dongria is being listened to. And the big meetings they
had last August, and the way that they rejected the mine back then, has already
had repercussions. I have spoken to Sami reindeer herders in Sweden who said
that they were inspired by the Dongria's rejection of the mine and that it
galvanized them in their cause.
Vedanta
will have looked at the Dongria and thought, 'Here are 8000 people living in a
really remote part of Odisha'. They didn't think that these people were going
to be able to stop them. They didn't think people were going to be able to find
out about it. This can really send a strong message to mining companies and
governments that they cannot go ahead with mines like this or other development
projects on the lands of tribal people without getting the consent of those
tribal people. And, if they don't want it, that has to be listened to and it
can't go ahead.
But,
bauxite is in high demand. Even though new places are being explored, there
might be no real alternatives to the place that Vedanta wanted to mine in. Do
you think there will be a new attempt to gain access to the sacred hills of the
Dongria Kondh?
I would
love to say no, but who knows. There is an election coming up in India and it
is always possible that the decision might be overturned. I think at the moment
though there's so much public attention that has gone into this case, it would
be extremely difficult for it to be overturned. But it's definitely something
that the Dongria will be watching.
There's a
refinery that has been built at the base of their hills, which was supposed to
be processing the bauxite mined in the area. While that is still there, the
Dongria will be nervous about further attempts to mine. But, I think as things
stand, it's a huge victory and we have to hope that it will be maintained.
Sophie Grig
is an Asia Expert for Survival International and is based in London.
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