CC_India

As can be viewed directly in the MoU with POSCO, the
state government is seen as a “promoter” and “facilitator”
of the POSCO projects and is viewed as colluding
with the company to enable it to bypass statutory and
regulatory requirements on environmental issues and
peoples’ consultative processes. As the women see it,
“corruption is writ large on the POSCO project. The Chief
Minister is like God Brahma the Creator, showering the
state’s wealth on POSCO.”
“Without bribes POSCO could not have entered Odisha!
The ruling party has eaten money from the
company, we need little food. Since their stomachs
are big, they need to eat a lot. This is the reason
why the government, instead of protecting the
interest of its own people, is protecting the company.
For its own benefit the company has kept hired
goons by paying them heftily. The police and the
bureaucrats have benefited greatly from the company.
Local politicians are co-opted by the ruling
party leaders.”
Security has to do with land and livelihood security.
Take away land (private and communal) and there is no
security. For the women,“peace exists when we would
be left to fend for ourselves, when no government or no
company takes away our land. We have our vines and
rights over the jungle and sea.”
FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES
It is important to acknowledge that the anti POSCO
movement leaders have been very successful in mobilising
women and keeping the morale of the protest
high. Women have displayed tremendous courage of
conviction, and this is not only because of leaders like
Abhay Sahoo but because they are determined to hold
on to their source of livelihood and the ancestral land.
Women believe they have the largest stake in the movement
and that has made for a selfless commitment
to the struggle despite brutal assaults and escalating
violence by the armed police, government agencies and
POSCO men.
Abhya Bhaiya, in particular, while recognising the courage
and resislience of peoples resistance movements
raised certain conceptual questions in the context of
the ideological position of the left political resistance
movements in general and the anti POSCO movement
in particular. “On the one hand, the feminist movement
needs to join hands with such popular people centered
movements against anti people globalised development.
A democratic government that refuses to respect the
constitutional entitlement of people, especially women,
who are the most honoured owners of the land in terms
of how they have maintained the sanctity of the land
and its sustainability, in fact has no legitimacy to rule.
The anti POSCO movement members including women
and children have used their fundamental right to challenge
this refusal. Several such movements are ongoing
all across the country and in a majority of cases, it is the
strong presence and voice of women that stands witness
to their rightful demand for justice including the
demand to stand strong on their homestead.”
“As feminists, the question to ask is whether the effort
of the left or any other political formation to use
women as front liners, can lead to the gendering of the
movement? More often it leads to instrumentalising
women for its own end. In the anti POSCO movement,
women are not seen as the architect of the movement
as they are rarely included in the decision making processes.
The strategies women employ are based on their
memories of extreme suffering and unimaginable hope.
The leadership recognises this magic both in terms of
the undeterred commitment of women as well as their
practiced subservience to men whether as fathers, husbands
or leaders. This is a familiar patriarchal script
where women do not need to learn to follow. They, in
fact, follow with full faith and trust. Men exploit this
quality and find women to be the most reliable strategists
and followers.”
The widely held belief that issues of life and
livelihood are more important and issues
of inequality related to gender and caste
can be taken up once the economic issue
is addressed, is often an obstacle in raising
equality issues within the movement.
Moreover, the widely held belief that issues of life and
livelihood are more important and issues of inequality
related to gender and caste can be taken up once the
economic issue is addressed, is often an obstacle in
raising equality issues within the movement. The fact
that women accept that the issue of domestic violence
is secondary to the struggle for land and livelihood, is
UNEQUAL CITIZENS: Women’s Narratives of Resistance, Militarisation, Corruption and Security
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