An appeal to reject violence and join the nonviolent process for social change.

An appeal to reject violence and join the nonviolent process for social change.

I understand the reasons why many young people are walking the path of violence. I have seen firsthand the real and structural violence that has been used against the vulnerable Adivasi (tribals) people in our country. There have been, and continue to be, great injustices done to them in the name of progress and development. No one seems to be standing with them, including the governments which only claim to be supportive but have a very different human development agenda. I have been struggling against violence all of my life- but have always chosen to struggle with the tools of nonviolence.

Thinking about what has happened since you took up violence to protect the Adivasi, you will see how painful it has truly been for the marginalized communities. Above all, this violent struggle against oppression is abusing the people we want to protect. Our armed resistance has provoked an increasingly strong reaction from the government and it is the Adivasis (Tribals) who are being killed in this crossfire process. This is the primary reason why violence as an approach is not effective and cannot be successful.

The second reason is that in this situation of armed struggle, the space for positive social action and change is shrinking all the time. There are more and more repressive measures being taken by the government. Now all groups advocating for social change are being labelled as Naxalites. In this atmosphere, there is very little that can be done of a positive nature to help correct the many injustices of the present. The real result of the approach of violence is that the real problems of the poor become lost in the problems generated by violence itself. This allows the government to spend all its resources on fighting violence, rather than addressing the problems of the people.

In this light, I want to appeal to you abandon the violent approach to social change and consider giving the democratic struggles a chance to succeed.

By empowering and mobilizing theri base in the villages, many social movements have been able to advocate strongly with the government to implement suggest pro-poor laws as the Forest Rights Act. There is still a long way to go, but I believe this is the path of positive change. Again, I encourage you to abandon the use of violence, and commit yourselves to struggle against injustice in a positive and nonviolent way.

We all want change in the present system, so let us join hands for bringing about change through a nonviolent process of people's power.

Rajagopal P.V.