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| Greg and the bauxite pit. |
These 70 families are a tribal community (Adivasi) who, as they tell the story, joined the huge crowd of 5,000 men and women sitting in protest and for a week to block dozens of trucks packed with the army soldiers. The women and children sat with courage in the very front line. What caused this in 1994?
After tolerating for almost 40 years the field-firing practice of the Indian military, the communities learned that the army was declaring the Natrahat Hills as the firing field and permanent military base. How could this be with more than 200,000 affected people, most of whom are tribals? They united and began to resist the unwanted displacement. They camped across the road where the army was expected to pass through.
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| Adivasi community welcoming visitors with their dance. |
The army officer had to order his men to retreat once again. It was a success story, success at least in that their protest was peaceful and their genuine protest was acknowledged. I was wondering how to gather such a huge number of people in such a way and then we heard the drums announcing welcomed visitors. One tribe communicates amongst their villages through certain rhythms on the drums.
What is hard to understand is their courage and their belief embedded in their hearts that they have rights to keep the land, water, and forest where they dwell. Their habits and daily life showed me that their culture is alive and their wisdom is true. The way they build their houses, practice agriculture, perform the arts, and seek peaceful existence, all demonstrate their valuable yet otherwise hidden identity upon which other people look down.
In 2004, however, the army tried to make another entry into the Netrahat Hills and this is the time the Chormunda community sat on the road preventing the trucks from crossing over for firing practice. Many were beaten with the butt of the gun. They resisted again in a non-violent way and won through. These are communities of solidarity and equality, without any one single leader. There are trust-based groups who are not easily divided, which fundamentalist groups unsuccessfully tried in the past.
However, another threat has come and penetrated their peaceful life. At this moment, it is not by the armed forces, but bureaucrats of mining companies. This latest struggle is much more sophisticated. Now the tribals must discuss about money and remain in one single voice. That is why the struggle of the tribals is an unfinished story. Already the bauxite mining company, Hindulco, has made progress but the abandoned pits everywhere are never properly closed. The balanced hydrology of the land and the vegetation is gone. Who can help our people in so many countries caught in the grind of development that always misses the poor?
Greg Soetomo is an Indonesian Jesuit who edits Hidup, a weekly general interest magazine that explores the social dimension of Christian faith.
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