By M K George

Rome, Oct 10, 2022: The fisherfolk in Vizhinjam, a village 20 km south of Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala are now into the third month of their struggle against a seaport project of the Adani business group.

They want the international port project costing almost 750 billion rupees stopped. The government has not budged so far. The High Court has ordered that the tents outside Vizhinjam seaport erected by the protesters be removed. Further, the court ordered that ‘the ongoing work should not be disrupted at any cost and complaints regarding the project can be raised at appropriate forums.’

It is there for everyone to see

Some of the changes in the coast are obvious for everyone. Even as the work of the port has only reached 30 percent of the first phase, there are phenomena that worry everyone. Water is reaching fast close to the domestic airport in Thiruvananthapuram. The beautiful beaches of Shanghumughom and Kovalam are no more there.

The livelihood of fishermen especially around Vizhinjam is under threat. There are many more deaths of fishermen because of the port work. (Five fishermen dead since 2018).

The promised rehabilitation for the affected fisherfolk has not materialized. Except for nominal workers from the affected community job generation remains a myth. One of the sorest points remains the life of those living in subhuman conditions in the cement godown waiting for the promised rehabilitation package.

As someone who has accompanied the fisherfolk though in small ways, for over two decades, I share the intense anxiety of the protesters. The looming question is where will it end? How accurate are the protesters in their surmises? Will the protesters succeed? Or, the ruling governments, both at the Centre and State and the Adani Group will have the last laugh?

Life and death questions for the fisherfolk. Theoretical query for many others?

Confused middle class

From media reports it looks like the middle class of Kerala have not taken up the protest in any substantial way. The protest largely remains the initiative of the Catholic Church, led by the priests and religious and supported by some lay people, from the suffering community and some NGOs. This is in sharp contrast to the Fishermen’s movement in the post 80s when the leadership had moved from the Church leadership to lay leaders from fishing communities.

The splintering of groups, death of some prominent leaders and the overall failure in the trade union movements seem to have affected the strength of the fisher movements.

The confusion in the minds of the middle class is understandable. Wasn’t procedures like Environment Assessment done before the project? Hadn’t the fisher community been consulted then? Is n’t the project offering development and job opportunities for the whole state and for the fisher community too? How wasteful would it be now to stop the project after having spent so much time and money? Why are some of the members of the fisher community themselves strong advocates of the Port Project?

It is a question of knowledge

While the fisherfolk experience in their day-to-day struggle the effects of what they believe are the effects of the port construction, the government does not think so. Do we believe the knowledge of the fisherfolk or do we believe the scientists? Do the scientists really have an answer? It looks like they do not have because the latest act of the government is to constitute a four-member expert committee to study the impact of port construction on the coast. It is strange that no one from the fishing community is in the study group and for the same reason the fisherfolk have rejected the proposal.

For the confused middle class, who often are the opinion makers and supporters of such movements, an urgent education process is needed. One only hopes that the protesters and their supporters find time to reach accurate and scientific knowledge to the general population of the state and the country.

Empathy is the need of the hour

Fisherfolk of India, especially Kerala, are one of the most marginalized in the country. Despite the progress of certain sections, most of who invariably, move across to the east of the sea and later into the city, the community remains economically poor and vulnerable to the vagaries of the sea and an exploitative corporate economy.

The community came into limelight when they heroically saved hundreds of flood-stranded fellow Keralites in the central part of Kerala in 2018. Honoured then by the government and the people, now they feel deserted and even insulted.

The demands of the protesting fisherfolk are to be noted:

1. Halt the Adani port project and carry out a proper study on its negative impact on coastal erosion. The team should comprise experts and locals nominated by the protesters.
2. Implement the rehabilitation package announced by the State government and extend it to all affected.
3. Take effective steps to mitigate coastal erosion and rehabilitate those affected by it.
4. Pay speedy compensation for the fishers involved in sea accidents.
5. Address their other livelihood issues including supplying subsidized kerosene.
6. Address the dredging near harbor at Muthalapozhi.
7. Pay minimum wages on days forced to stay off work (adverse weather warnings etc.).

Anybody can understand that some of these requests are so basic and have repeatedly been asked by the community for decades. They are indeed a neglected community.

The prospects are not bright

However, the prospects of the protest are not bright for many reasons. Two important ones are: one, the governments at both the center and the state have repeatedly shown that they are determined to proceed with the so called ‘development projects’ at the cost of people. Be it Narmada project and any number of projects across the country, interests of the corporates and limited political benefits seem to guide the rulers. Second, protest movements seem to be losing their power to influence decisions of political powers. Except for some exceptional cases like the Punjab farmers strike, the fate of most protests seems to be forlorn. In a recent report on protests across the world Erica Chenoweth, a Political scientist wrote, ‘Power of the protest has fallen worldwide.’ ‘Nonviolent campaigns are seeing their lowest success rates in more than a century’.

Hope must prevail

Fisherfolk are still largely a faith-driven group. Religious and pious to a fault, their faith gives them hope to go on with the struggle. Maybe, we need to chip in to empathise, educate and to help organize.

Arundhati Roy while speaking at the memorial of Gauri Lankesh spoke thus, “If we have no hope, let’s all sit down and give up. There are millions of excellent reasons for us to be pessimistic. That is why I suggested we should divorce Hope from Reason. Hope should be wild, irrational and unreasonable…”

This is the kind of hope that should guide not just the fisherfolk, but also every marginalized person in the world struggling for justice. Pope Francis reminds us, “We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace.”