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‘Developing Nonviolent Leadership’: Final webinar on the series on ‘Building Capacities for Justice and Peace’ – July 04, 2020

Jai JagatConference reportsSeptember 13, 2020

The final webinar’s theme, to conclude a series of 8 sessions over the last one month, is nonviolent leadership. There is clearly a disconnect between the young people and the kind of leadership, particularly the political leadership we see today which seems to be so rooted in the culture of violence. Is it then even possible to talk of nonviolent leadership? Afterall there are no examples that we see of nonviolent leadership, whether it is in communities, in social movements, in schools and our universities. How then can we resist violence in our everyday life on a daily basis. Cultivating leadership that is committed to nonviolence forms the main topic of the webinar. This is dealt within four thematic areas sequentially after framing of the context in the first session; leadership in social movements, community leadership and educational leadership. The 5th and last session focused on nonviolent leadership in the future. Session one: Framing the Context The current model of leadership is modeled on singular leadership with its concurrent rise in authoritarian elected figures in recent times across the world as pointed out by both Shashi Tharoor and Tony, Hence the focus of the session was to look at the new ways of nonviolent resistance movements on a social and community level leadership. An important observation that emerged was how we have been moving from singular leadership to collaborative leadership which is very different from populist leadership (Maya., Bernard, Shahi). The root of this new kind of political culture can be seen since the 2008 financial crisis. We see more involvement of young people who are engaging in nonviolent movements. Session 2: Leadership in Social Movements Seven different leaders participated in this session that highlighted different forms of nonviolent and non-singular leadership. This can be misjudged as leaderless movement but as Kejal pointed out, it was more of being ‘leaderful’ where every member feels the responsibility and involvement in the movement. She along with other participants spoke about how they are increasingly taking up collective leadership-collective decision makers that are jointly taking decisions. A project highlighted how different group take different sessions so no particular hierarchy. So, the social movement organizing is changing from 20-30 years ago. Gradual modernization continues, as per tony, and he spoke as did a few others about the importance of grassroot organizing but how the challenges have really changed and how engagement at the grassroots was much more difficult.now. Session 3 – Community leadership The session with representatives from different countries discussed their ways of developing nonviolent leadership at the community level. To summarize, what came out was how the community leadership building is really about stressing community autonomy in ways that have not been there before. Here we saw how leaderships are emerging in very diverse ways and sometimes do not conform to our ideas of what community looks like. They're challenging in very unique way the status-quo or those groups that are resisting the community leadership coming up. Session 4 - On Educational leadership  The session, facilitated by the eminent educationist and Gandhian, the Canada based Reva Joshee. The participants were mostly educationists and activists who spoke on several important points. One of the participants, Fatima, speaking from a very interesting vantage point of a progressive Muslim perspective looked at how the Muslim communities need to embrace much greater diversities and attacked the views propagated in the mainstream with even scholarship on the subject tends to “adopt an anti-Islamic lens which makes them view it as reductionist and literalist text through selective pieces of Islam misinterpreted through decontextualization”. Her presentation, thus, focused on nonviolence in Islam.as she went on to draw attention to how Gandhi had spoken of Imam Hussein as an inspiration for his satyagraha.  This was followed by presentations on 'emancipatory pedagogy’ and 'critical pedagogy'. These emphasized on the need for a more local based epistemology. The session highlighted 'Love' as something extremely vital to get people to deeply think and participate in their own education and empowerment and how important school is as part of the community. Another educationist spoke of a study hall in Lucknow, India which has been working for many years to bring women's issue into education and does a lot of activism in villages. The study school is also a place where very marginalized women are also studied. They also get students to be aware of how girls should be confident and should be able to define education in a way which empowers them rather than becoming another cog in the whole machinery of a capitalist system-based education. Urvashi closed the session with the importance of bringing about a culture of non-hierarchical contextualized education. The session highlighted the role of teachers as role models of nonviolence and how empathy and love play an important role in the relationship between the teachers and students. Session 5 – Developing Nonviolent Leaders in the Future Jill Carr-Harris, international coordinator and co-architect of the Jai Jagat campaign facilitated this session where eminent thinkers presented their views on views on nonviolent leadership and how it can be developed in the future. She raised three questions for the sessions with the first one concerning the trust issues that the young people have with the leaders today; the best ways in their opinions to assist young people today to embrace 'sewa', working closely with people, with farmers etc. into our leadership model; and finally, on the concept of ‘inclusiveness’. Several points and insights that emerged from the answers from eminent thinkers and nonviolent activists. There was clearly a shift towards a more collaborative, participative, consensual and leaderless approach to nonviolent leadership. It was interesting to note how the young people are increasingly getting involved in nonviolent protest movements like the ‘velvet revolution’ in Armenia and in the two very different movements that showcased this collective and collaborative leadership in the ‘Black lives matter’ movement and the ‘Indigenous civil resistance’ movement in Latin America.  All the panelists agreed on the need for horizontal relations and the need to teach from below-to above leaders with the intention of breaking the power asymmetry in the hierarchical relations and be in a kind of equalization relation and horizontal relation. Examples of movements like ‘the walk-out movement and the ‘Cycle Yatra’ were examples of radically rejecting the current global structure. The need to break down self- created boundaries and lead towards a horizontal model of leadership was emphasized in the session and generating a culture of trust and move towards a gift culture away from the money culture and to build intergenerational dialogues to ensure greater inclusiveness were some other learnings from this final session. Mohsin Wali  Development researcher and Peace Activist   Jai Jagat Communication Team  

Jai Jagat March in Armenia

Jai JagatEssays, Global Peace March, Training reportFebruary 28, 2020armenia, Global Peace March, peace

A Note from Jill Carr-Harris: Day 15 (two week mark) in Armenia (Day 143 of the Jai Jagat Global Peace March)   The Jai Jagat marchers began by walking from the Iranian border eleven days ago and we have covered about 154 kilometers. Today we are in Sisian, west from the urban center Goris in the large southern Syunmik Region.The terrain of course, is mountainous as we are in the Caucuses and it is often difficult trekking. What helps me to get through most days is the panoramic views of the ice-capped mountains and the weather being mostly sunny and enjoyable.The Caucuses are similar to the Alps: they are majestic and snow covered with a quiet grandeur. Sometimes when it is windy on the mountain roads, one has to resist the elements with all one’s might. There are areas of snow and less than we thought. We are usually traveling on the cleared roads, and even though there is a constant flow of vehicular traffic with a lot of trucks transporting goods; there is also quite a few automobiles (many old models of Russian Ladas), and although we have been told that this is a highly militarized state, and we are close to the border, we only see the occasional army trucks. Mostly the commodious life of people seems to continue. Although we have been doing a lot of up and down mountain slopes, and covering on average about 18 kilometers each day to reach the village or place of stay. (Today it will be 15 kms upward), we are invariably grateful at the warm greetings by school leaders who offer us classrooms in which to stay the night. Thankfully the designated classrooms mostly have hot wood stoves or heating, providing a cozy atmosphere in sub-zero temperatures for us to sleep. A few anecdotes of the travel: on the third night we were in Andokavan and were welcomed into a village school with the hot stove lit and ready for us to begin preparing food. The principal, Samuel had eight students yet it seemed that he was the center of the community life; through him and the other family members we got a glimpse of their unforgettable hospitality. It was reminiscent of the family feeling that we received in much of our four months in rural India. Again in Artsvanik a few days later in a small village of a eight hundred people that was situated on the side of a mountain half way up from a glacial lake in the valley, the principal who was a woman of Russian origin brought together the teachers and the children for a meeting and they showed a lot of interest in the march and in the stories of the marchers. The children had many questions about different aspects of why we were walking and its relationship to Gandhi. We left knowing that we had spawned something in that place that would likely grow in future. Another memorable village was Vorodan village, further down in the valley, and close to the border with Azerbaijan. We met the mayor and the village doctor and they gave us riveting narratives about their lives of conflict. They spoke about the fall of the Soviet Union, and the onset of what they called a genocide in 1988. This is when Armenia and Azerbaijan became involved in a cycle of conflict that continues today. The mayor shared his story of being a former combatant and how he had sustained internal injuries that he was taken to a hospital in France where a nine day operation which was performed by caring doctors who brought him back to life. Since then he has continued to fight as a member of the civilian force. What was most interesting about his story was that he had grown up in Voradan and it was majority of Azerbaijan people in his childhood. At that time they were all brothers and sisters. The enmity that grew up has been only a fact in the past three decades when the soviet republics become nation states --at least this is the narrative of the mayor. The woman doctor who was with the mayor, was a former citizen of Azerbaijan, who spent her childhood there, and had friends, went to University and medical school, and by all accounts, lived a peaceful life. Suddenly it all changed in 1988 when her family had to moved into a small room, where they lost their freedom of movement, and the pogram began of Armenians. She left for Armenia after the earthquake and then continued to stay. What was interesting about her story is that she was prepared to live a very simply life in Voradan for the sake of freedom. She was a remarkable woman doctor who saw her life as serving Armenian combattants and veterans. Having told these stories of Armenian’s feeling to Azerbaijan, we are aware that Azeries would have their own perspective on the war. This we want to further understand and as a result we hope that we can meet Azerbaijan friends before leaving this region. On the 7th day we arrived in Goris, the fourth largest city in Armenia. This was an architect’s delight. Goris, a historic center, consisted of beautiful stone houses. The mountains around seemed to be in harmony. Goris provided us with bathrooms for washing. Up until that point we were struggling with water and small toilets in the schools so people needed a good cleaning. We were also able to wash our clothes. So as sixteen walkers, we are cooking our own food on mobile gas stoves and we are learning to cook the local foods such as millets even though we are still consuming mostly rice, along with dahl (lentils) to make nutritious meals. There is plenty of fresh bread and cheese. Each day on the walk, the cooking team brings lunch to the marchers, often hot soup chalked full of potatoes and vegetables, and then goes forward to the school to begin the dinner preparations. We are finding the energy to walk and are maintaining a limited budget while having good cooperation. The larger team will arrive after a couple of weeks and as we will have 50 cooking, walking and meeting, it will be easier now that the routine has been set. Beyond cooking, these sixteen committed peace walkers have come together as a strong group to help one another. There are many changes in personal habits towards being more giving and helpful. We are strengthened by the evening prayer and for our many reflections and discussions on Gandhian and nonviolent action with people we meet. We were discussing with Armenians last night the way that people can participate in the training that we proposing to have in Yerevan. The hope is that modeling the march and the nonviolent training will be with local Armenian youth long after our departure. I would like to conclude by saying that it is a great opportunity to be on this Global Peace March, especially as we see so much violence in the news. By walking from village to village and town to town, person to person, step by step, we see that most people are living commodiously and seeking peaceful lives. This view is often not portrayed by the larger media. The media instead tends to give a “birds eye view” often without context and ground-truthing. At least this march gives us the opportunity to represent the “worms-eye view” which is organic and local. We hold out hope that people will see this portrayal.

The Wardha Peace Conference – 30 Jan

Jai JagatConference reportsFebruary 1, 2020

The padyatra ended its four months of the Indian leg of the yearlong peace march today with the third and last day of the peace conference held in Sewagram, Ashram, Wardha, Gandhi's home during his last 12 years. The marchers will be staying in the Ashram for two days before leaving for Delhi in preparation for the rest of the march in foreign soils. The beautiful Sewagram ashram was the venue for the last topic on nonviolent governance. The panel was moderated by Milund Kothari, UN rappateur for housing rights, and included Meenakshi Natarajan, former MP, and working on Panchayati Raj, Reva Joshee, educationist from Canada; Rana ji, former MLA, Jharkhand; and Father Nicholos Barda, activist working in Odisha. All of them are Gandhians in their respective fields and spoke of India in Gandhi's framework of Swaraj, defined as a self sufficient, self dependent country. The conclusion emphasized the values of compassion, service and accountability as necessary values for a nonviolent governance. People's participation in decision making was deemed of paramount importance asking with a constructive dialogue on policy where all are equal stakeholders to facilitate a nonviolent model of governance. Meenakshi spoke of how the need is to create village based governance instead of the current state based model. The morning started with eminent Gandhians, including the present and former director of the Sewagram ashram who interacted with the padyatrees and gave them their blessings. The padyatrees got to meet a group of marchers from Europe, twin marchers who began their 45 countries long march also on the 2nd of October, 2019. They shared the experiences of their march, called the Second World March, and the positives and negatives of their observations, noting that the things in general have gotten worse for people since their first march in 2009. The Sewagram director felicitated the padyatrees in the evening which was followed by an interreligious prayer to end the day.

Education for Peace – 28 Jan

Jai JagatGlobal Peace March, Training reportJanuary 29, 2020

The International Peace Conference on Justice and Peace, 28-29 Jan, 2020, marks the end of the four months of the Indian leg of the yearlong Jai Jagat global peace march. The two day conference is organized around the theme of integrating nonviolence in governance, economy, and education as ways to bring about a peaceful and just society. The event is being hosted by the Mahatma Gandhi International University and saw 250 people register for the event on the first day. The round table conference began with a discussion on education for peace. Distinguished guests, Reva Joshee, educationist and professor at Toronto University, Canada; Govindacharya, thinker and leader, Ajit Saxena, administrator; Rominder Dosanjh, community organizer from Canada; Bharat Mahodaya, director, Gandhi Vichar Parishad educators; and, Father Skariya, social leader from Kerala, presented their viewpoint around the value system that informs peace education and the radical changes required to encourage it. Before discussing education for peace, an attempt to define and understand peace was made. Peace is not the end of conflicts. Indeed, it is misleading to define it only within the context of violence. There are three aspects of peace; peace with oneself; peace and love for the people around you; peace and love for the beings around us and the earth. In everyday language, Peace may usually connote an absence of overt violence but in a deeper sense peace comes together with justice. For this kind of peace, as long as there are inequalities, discrimination, poverty or climate crisis, there is no peace. The well being of all, the Gandhian "Sarvodaya", must be at the core of the education for peace. Education must bring about transformation of the individual as well as the society. Education for peace is a continuous practice in which the whole society must engage actively and continuously. With this basic understanding of peace and education for peace that emerged from the shared viewpoints of the panellists, we take a look at the details of the conference. The first round of the conference explored the necessary values that must inform peace education. Diverse viewpoints converged on two basic ideas; in peace education, peace and justice must go hand in hand, and that the Gandhian values of truth, nonviolence, simplicity, humility, sharing and caring, cooperation and compassion, and Gandhi's 'last person’ mantra provide the most viable framework for peace education. At the same time, as Reva Joshee explained, peace education can't be a defined curriculum but should actually be a continuously evolving practice. “There is no one way, but many ways”, she said, pointing out that no one method can be preferred but different approaches to education for peace are required. She introduced the concept of slow peace’, a term taken from Rob Nixon, which highlights the violence of everyday life that is not so obvious or noticeable because of the way it has been internalized by as opposed to the visible overt violence of spectacles. For her humility, sharing and caring were three very important values. But Values must be connected to practice, to action. Education for peace is about constructive actions, to use the Gandhian term. Actions that resist or protest and at the same time, positively create the world we envisage. Including constructive action program turns peace education into a holistic learning in which not only the individuals are changed but also the way they relate to each other, their communities and the whole society to which they belong. Education for peace is then a continuous process of learning in which we must all be involved and must engage with in our daily lives. The spiritual dimension to peace education was presented by Ajit in the concepts of oneness and ‘technology of spirituality’ with the objective of alignment with self. Truth is more important for him and this requires each one to do small little experiments with truth in order to ‘upgrade the operating system of human beings’. Father Scaria pointed out that while oneness was good, diversity was particularly important in Indian condition and for the globe if we are to learn to respect difference. For Raminder, equality, justice and open mind are essential values for peace education. She, however, suggested that education at home is as important as in school for divisions such as gender discrimination begin at home. This means that parents, teachers and society as a whole are equal stakeholders in the education for peace. Love and peace and equality are most important values for Bharat. Truth is more important and has many dimensions while inequality is the worst evil. When there is inequality, it's bound to lead to violence. Bharat advocated individual development as the measure of peace education. Govindacarya gave importance to perception which shaped our world view and spoke of self respect as a necessary component of peace education. “Education must be the way we think about our life”, he concluded. The second round of talks revolved around the radical changes required to change education to bring about the culture of peace. From the discussions several important points emerged. Foremost, the model of education today serves the need of the market. Job creation and employment are not the main concerns or objective of education: It is to build character. Secondly, the set of values needed are important in themselves but more so is the requirement for practice. Thus, education is a continuous lifelong process. Thirdly, education can't be thought of as restricted to only the formal system but includes all forms of education; adult education, community education, education at home and parental education, and media and other forms of information dissemination that facilitate learning. Teachers are the most important agents for facilitating education for peace. Proper training programs and sensitization to nonviolence for teachers was advocated. The moderator concluded that we need to change the entire educational framework and structure of education. We need to take education out from the confines of classrooms and inculcate a value system that will make human beings will live for a peaceful, equal and just society. An education that puts more emphasis on changing the mindset. Reading material has to change, classrooms must change, and assessment method and the entire school culture has to be changed. He emphasized the extremely important role of teachers for bringing about these changes and also reiterated Reva's call to think of education was a continuous prices where no one way of right for all. To the question on where should one begin the change, it was unanimously agreed that school children, particularly, young school children are more receptive to lessons and prescribe of peace and often show an inclination to constructive action. like the 'project for online kindness' and another on 'homelessness’ that were initiated by 3rd to 5th graders in schools in Canada, are examples of this practice shared by Reva Joshee. Summing up the discussion on education for peace, after taking the questions from the audience, Me. Behar pointed out that to bring about the required changes in education, it is the responsibility of each one of us. We need to actively engage in the process of producing and facilitating the practice of constructive action to bring about education for peace and culture of peace in the society. He suggested devising new strategies to pressure society and the government to help bring about a culture of education based on peace and justice. To conclude, it is clear from the conference that peace education is a continuous practice and needs to be contextualized with justice and is a responsibility of all of us. The conference began in the presence of eminent guests, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel Ji, Culture minister, the VC and PVC, Prof Rajnish Shukla and Prof Chandrakant Ragit, Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University, Wardha, Sushri Radha Bhatt, Shri Bal Vijay Ji, and the architects of Jai Jagat yearlong global peace march, Shri Rajgopal & Jill Carr-Harris. The two day international peace conference also marks the end of the four months of the Indian leg of the yearlong Jai Jagat global peace walk.

The Wardha Peace Conference – 28-30

Jai JagatConference reportsJanuary 29, 2020

The peace conference, 28-30 Jan, began on the 129th Day of the Jai Jagat yatra. The three day conference marks the end of the four months of the Indian leg of the yearlong Jai Jagat global peace march. It is organized around the theme of integrating nonviolence in governance, economy, and education song with a discussion on Gandhi being the way forward. The event is being hosted by the Mahatma Gandhi International University, Wardha, and saw about 250 people register for the event. The conference began in the presence of honorary guests, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel Ji, Culture minister, Prof Rajnish Shukla and Prof Chandrakant Ragit, Sushri Radha Bhatt, Shri Bal Vijay Ji, Shri Rajgopal & Jill Carr-Harris. The round table conference opened with the topic on education for peace. Moderated by S.C. Behar, the distinguished participants including the Reva Joshee, the famous educationist, presented their viewpoint around the value system that informs peace education and the radical changes required to encourage it. It became clear that piece education is a continuous practice and needs to contextualized with justice. Later in the day, Anuradha Sharma spoke on Kasturba Gandhi where she highlighted her dual role as Gandhi's wife and freedom fighter. The event was interspersed with the Jai Jagat songs and sharing of experiences of the four months of the yatra by Jai Jagat padyatrees. A book, 'Gandhi ji ki Ahimsa Drishti' (Gandhi's vision of non-violence) by Ajit and Manoj. The much awaited Art for Peace exhibition, connected by Vikram, was also launched. In the evening, the Jai Jagat team spoke with Karin Reyan (Director - Carter Center USA) and Jason Parker (Media Expert) in a video conference to share the experiences from the march so far. Women's time as peace builders and make stakeholders in the process of developing was emphasized. The event ended with a cultural performace by Tritha Sinha with an amazing rendition of classical songs in a fusion style. She was accompanied by famous hand pan musician from Europe.

Ahimsa – 24 Jan 2019

Jai JagatDeveloping Capacities for Justice and Peace, Global Peace March, Training reportJanuary 25, 2020

The famous Canada based peace educator, Reva Joshi, shared her experiences of training school children in nonviolence. Her message was that nonviolence can't be defined in the context of violence as the English word for Ahimsa may seem to suggest. The children she and fellow educationists are teaching, learning Ahimsa as Ahimsa and define it as a way of living where one is kind to others in thoughts, words and action. She made an interesting remark about how very young children seem to understand ahimsa quicker than other age groups and cited examples of how they practiced it in their daily lives to resolve conflicts. In one case, a group of children had taken a project to work with the homeless people. Referring to the methodology of peace education withinin a Gandhian framework, she elaborated on three key terms: relationships, for everything that we learn is transmitted through a relationship; agency, which refers to the capacity for individual action for change, and nonviolence. Ms. Joshi will be a key participant in the peace convention in Wardha, 28-30 Jan, where she will be sharing aspects of her work on peace education. Jai Jagat inaugurated the Aryabhatta Astronomy Park in the Shani temple compound next to the Brahspati temple, Maharashtra where the padyatrees stayed overnight.The group walked nearly twenty kilometres in the hot sun to reach Sellu, a day away from the final destination in Wardha.

The Nagpur Visit, 15-20 Jan

Jai JagatGlobal Peace March, Training reportJanuary 21, 2020

On the 111th day of the peace march, Jai Jagat left Nagpur, where the marchers had stayed for five days, to proceed to Wardha. Wardha, home to Gandhi's ashram from 1936 onward, will be the last stop to complete the four months of the Indian leg of the yearlong walk. It will also host the highly anticipated Peace Conference between the 28th-30th of Jan. Jai Jagat reached Nagpur, a couple of days after entering Maharshtra, on the 15th of January. The team stayed at a hostel in the "Family Court" of the District and Sessions court of Nagpur, an unlikely and pleasantly surprising experience. The court was located in the posh civils block of Nagpur, marked by old charming British architecture and wide roads. The City of Nagpur was officially founded in 1703, by a Gond tribe king. In the 18th and 19th century, the Nagpur Kingdom flourished over a large area of Central India. Archeology has traced the city back to the 8th century B.C. that suggests a megalithic culture, traces of which can still be found in present tribal cultures in Vidharba. Also known as the orange City, Nagpur has a population of over 20 million people. The city is also expected to be the fifth fastest growing city in the world during the next 15 years according to an Oxford study and is also amongst the top smart cities of the country. All these economic factors and certain political factors, for the city is also home to India's largest right wing ideological organization, makes it very special within the context of development and urbanization and, therefore, nonviolence and the message of Jai Jagat. Although the city retains an old world charm to it, and has been rated as one of the most livable cities in countrywide surveys, one can already see the onslaught of a fast paced economy in the shape of upcoming metros and a bugeoning population. The five day visit was oriented towards interactions with college students and civil society groups as well as internal training and meetings of the padyatrees where a new plan for the international leg of the Jai Jagat padyatrees was finalized. The group met students and NSS cadre from six colleges of the city over a course of three days and also met and interacted with PWD employees and a Muslim Women Group. A presentation on nonviolent economy was also made. The New International Plan The first day of the stay in Nagpur, the group met for intercultural training where the differences between European and Indian culture were discussed. Later, changes in the plans on management and division of the padyatree group were discussed over the next few days. A final plan was unveiled on the 20th. As per the new plans, the 50 core marchers will split into nine smaller groups for a period of a month and will get together on the 5th of March, Just short of the scheduled conference on nonviolence in Armenia. As per the new plan, four teams of four people each will visit four states of India while another team of six people will be visiting Nepal to help the team of six people from Nepal who will be traveling to Pakistan for ten days in February to represent Jai Jagat. For the international Circuit, a group of four padyatrees, along with former Indian ambassador to Iran and a Muslim leader, will be visiting Iran. This is a new development owing to the widening relation between Iran and the US. Another team of for people will visit Dubai and then the Balkans to function as the advance team before they return to Armenia to join their Jai Jagat family in Armenia. 18 padyatrees will be leaving for Armenia around the 12th of February. The idea behind this plan is to diffuse the message of non-violence and the vision of Jai Jagat in as many geographic regions as possible. While the Iran visit will serve as an opportunity to informally mediate the conflict and work out ways to build peace, the UAE visit is purported to interact with the Indian diaspora and to help raise funds. The teams staying back in India for a month will work as peace trainers visiting schools and colleges in the designated regions which are mostly tribal areas. The team in Rajasthan will be working with the peace ministry there. School and College Visits The Jai Jagat padyatrees got into small teams to have focused discussions with small groups of girls and boys colleges. Over the course of three days of college visits, the team interacted with nearly 200 students and NSS cadre from six colleges. Three of these colleges were Girl’s colleges from where some important questions related to discrimination and specifically, unequal pay for men and women, lack of boys and girls interaction in colleges and intergenerational gap were discussed. Additionally, the padyatrees also met the Public Works Department team and a Muslim Women Group in the drive to diffuse the Gandhian message of nonviolence. In the meeting with the Muslim group, the women spoke about how they were addressing the issue of divorce by providing counselling to the disputing couples and facilitating stay for women after divorce. Nonviolent Economy - Presentation A presentation on nonviolent economy was also made during the stay in Nagpur. Riya, who represented Jai Jagat in the Alternative Economy Vikalp Sangam in Auroville, Pondicherry along with Debasis Bera, presented her report on the event which was followed by a lecture from Dr Amitabh Shukla, an economic academician, who shared his model of a nonviolent economy based on Gandhian principles. Vidharba, WTO and farmer suicides On the 20th, the team left main Nagpur to reach Megh Sai ITI College, Donger. The campus with its many temples symbolises the beauty of harmony within the diverse Indian traditions. Rajagopal P.V. and Jill Carr-Harris shared insights on the link between global trade policies and the highest farmer suicide rates in the world in this region of Vidarbha. About 3,000 farmers commit suicide mostly owing to rising debts every year in this part of the country. The ministry of agriculture blames the adoption of Bt cotton that is a water dependent crop in this cotton and soyabean dominant cultivation area in this area that has been experiencing rain shortfall over the last couple of decades. The farmer suicides began to rise from 1996, a year after the government signed the terms of trade that opened Indian agriculture to the world market with WTO. Imports of agricultural goods, GM seeds and withdrawal of subsidy are some of the reasons since WTO leading to this agricultural crisis of Vidharba. Jai Jagat will be interacting with the farmers over the course of the next four days to get an exposure to ground level realities. The next article will deal with this issue in detail.

First 100 days of the Jai Jagat

Jai JagatGlobal Peace March, Training reportJanuary 20, 2020

Reaching the one hundred day mark on this yearlong Jai Jagat Global Peace March feels like an achievement. We have been walking on the central plains in India for three-and-a -half months: beginning from on 2nd October, 2019 in Delhi, and covering 25 kilometres a day, staying in different locations every night and meeting hundreds of people in the course of each day. With over the 1900 kilometres under our belt, we’ve got a “worm’s eye view” of people’s lives. Step by step, village by village, city by city connecting with the actions of so many people, it has been an amazing view into the daily lives of such a diverse population. This is very different from the “bird’s eye view” which tends to see things from aerial heights without touching the ground realities. The Jai Jagat in every step ‘touched the ground’. The Jai Jagat march has been spreading Gandhi’s message of “on the move for justice and peace” directly impacting over 100,000 people during the course of the walk and trained nearly 5,000 young people and sensitized 25,000 school children on nonviolence. In addition, the Jai Jagat elicited a heartfelt response from tens of thousands of people as we walked across the five states of the country. It became apparent early in the march that Mahatma Gandhi still lives in the hearts and minds of so many Indians, which is not always reflected within the social media or political discourse. As the trip progressed, the throng of people increased in size and became so large by the third month, it felt like a throwback to black and white movies of the Freedom struggle: people with Gandhi caps and white kurtas filling the roadways and moving in fast motion. What is so interesting about people in India, is that they are so moved by oral communication. The way messages are spread through word of mouth still continues to be very common. As we walked by so many people, there was the sense that the event was being transmitted organically as well as through the media. The first leg of the journey was four months in India from Gandhi’s resting place in Delhi to his Ashram in Sewagram, Wardha. There was an outpouring of support in the form of flower garlands, welcome tika on the forehead, daily solidarity meetings, provisions of food, and accommodation. This was a tribute to Gandhi’s message that it continues to nurture and have relevance and resonates with common ordinary people. Taking up a kind of tapas (renunciation) like an 11,000 kilometre march demonstrates how a Satyagraha is carried out. In the process it wins the hearts and minds of many Indians. The fifty marchers that are part of this yearlong march were a mixture of international participants from seven countries (Argentina, Kenya, New Zealand, France, Spain, Switzerland and Canada; as well as members from 12 states of the country representing all ages and segments of society. All of them were lining up behind Gandhi’s perspective in every way that they possibly could. It was inspirational to watch how they lifted people’s spirits through slogans, songs and speeches. The march went through Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Much of the 100 days was in Madhya Pradesh and as we traversed 13 districts we found ourselves in dozens of forest areas, and in this process we became acquainted with different tribal cultures. We were serenaded with music and dance and got a glimpse of their community life. Also many nights we stayed in the hostels of young Adivasi students where they gave up their beds to host us. They were curious about Gandhi and our mission and we had a chance to talk and interact with many of them. Experiences with Tribal Communities When we stopped for the night in villages of remote living Adivasis, we were continually reminded of their plight. Annihilating peace loving people like those seeking refuge and livelihoods from forests by displacing them to cities is a grave insensitivity. Common people are hasty to label Adivasis as “drunkards”, when this is part of the deep marginalization that persists and symbolizes their perceived alienation. The Jai Jagat counteracted these arguments by making the claim that adivasi people may be weak in terms of their economic means but they have community based music and dance and a collective cultural life connecting directly to nature, which gives them deep peace. Also in the age of reducing the carbon footprints it would be foolhardy to remove Adivasis for they are the guardians of the eco-resources on which all humankind depends. In fact we need to recognize Adivasis as having the capacity to set things right. More importantly they teach us how to create peace with the earth. With this information we tried to sensitize non-Adivasis communities and policy makers whenever the opportunity arose on the march. Centre for Peace and Peace Ministry A significant gain during the course of the march was the inauguration of ‘Centre for Excellence on Nonviolence and Peace in Higher Studies’ in Samrat Ashoka Technology Institute, Vidisha. The centre will facilitate training and research on how nonviolence can be incorporated in engineering and other technical sciences. An initiative to establish Peace Ministry was also announced by the Rajasthan government earlier during the Jai Jagat’s visit to the state while Chhattisgarh government is expected to make an announcement for a similar endeavour in the forthcoming Peace Conference in Wardha, the last stop of the Indian leg of the march later in the month. These are accomplishments of the Jai Jagat vision to introduce nonviolence in governance and establish Peace Studies in universities and other educational institutes. The ‘Warp' and the 'Woof' There were two other distinct threads, the warp and the woof, that create this 100-day March. Firstly the warp is the meeting of thousands of children and young people, mainly from schools across the Hindi heartland. We sang songs, recited slogans, spoke about the objectives of the Jai Jagat and got them to engage in projects. On top of this, we met with 25,000 young people between the ages of 14 to 20 in Chindwara on the 7th of January. This was presided by the Chief Minister. What this Chindwara event raised was that education goes hand and hand with development of a society. Because we saw organic agriculture in Hoshangabad along with cows in many cowsheds, and the multiplication of use of cow-dung for making milk products and natural fertilizers, this was a way to expand the bioresource development while taking care of animal population. We saw students of medicine, engineering and business interested in nonviolence with relation to their studies. These short interventions with young people were aimed to help them to think about peace, to have them set up peace clubs and to encourage the teachers to bring peace into their curriculum. Although we do not have the possibility of following up, we have put together some guidelines for peace clubs to give to the schools. The second thread (woof) was the interactions between Jai Jagat as a social movement and the different organs of the state. One of the aims of the Jai Jagat is to make the State less violent. One example of this was the assistance we received from the police force. Generally we think of police as being ‘anti-people’. But watching how the police worked with the Jai Jagat to control traffic was worthy of attention. We were marching with flags and banners and were using up half of the road. This meant that two-way traffic was confined to one side of a double road. The police were responsible for maintaining the safety of the marchers. In the process the police became impressed with the discipline of the marchers and the caring attitude of the leadership. This led them to want to interact with the marchers. We found in many places the police came to bring bananas for snacks and to help serve the roadside tea. As a result the Superintendent of Police from Betul District, concluded in one of our sessions, that the good relationship with the marchers was very important for building trust with the larger community locally. We saw this example of the community policing as a state becoming more nonviolent. The Jai Jagat Global Peace March is nearing the end of its road in India and will soon be going overseas to begin the long march from Iran through ten countries to Geneva over the course of nine months. It is planning to take the many learnings from India through the other countries to Geneva. The marchers are also open to new innovations from other countries. It is hoped that the march will be as rich and exciting as has been in India over these last 100 days. The article is written by Ms. Jill Carr-Harris, International Coordinator, Jai Jagat

Modeling Leadership – 11 Jan

Jai JagatEssays, Global Peace March, Training reportJanuary 12, 2020

  There was a change in routine for the day as the padyatrees went on a sightseeing tour through this part of scenic Chindwara district at the border of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The sightseeing was an enriching experience as they visited temples, a waterfall at a spot considered holy, a small handloom production unit and picked oranges in an orchard. The first stop was at a small village, Ghogra to visit the Shiva temple. The temple located at the top of a small hill, and almost every isolated hill top has a temple in India, looked steeped in history with a heavy tribal influence. However, it was the Ghogra waterfall at the foothills considered holy that attracted the yatrees first. Devotees come here at least once a year to wash their sins and purify their bodies. With the father Shiva around, Ganesha, his son can't be far away and so it was that the next stop turned out to be that of a Ganesha temple. The team headed to Pipla village where the director of a cooperative bank has invited the padyatrees for lunch. The next place saw the team getting an exposure to traditional method of weaving with handlooms at a handicraft outlet. The orange orchard right opposite the handicraft shop proved to be a foraging adventure as invited by the orchard owner, the padyatrees enjoyed gathering and picking the fruit. In the evening the team gathered to speak of their experiences during the walk through Madhya Pradesh, this being the last day in the state. The padyatrees thanked the Madhya Pradesh government, particularly Surendra ji for all the arrangements and the locals for their support in taking care of the padyatrees. Individual padyatrees spoke of their experience of walking through the state and thanked Surendra ji and others present there for their support and the way they had taken care of the walkers. A group of local people spoke of their struggle to kick the habit of alcohol. With the help of Alcohol Anonymous, they had been successful in their goal of no alcohol completing exactly one year the next day. They said they were able to do it taking the challenge of abstinence on a day by day basis. Modeling Leadership One of the aims of this walk is modeling leadership and creating agents of change. In this section we concentrate on Jai Jagat's vision of leadership. The political culture today is highly oriented towards talks without action. It is considered normal for politicians to make promises in their manifestos only to leave them unaddressed when in power. Speeches are a dime a dozen having lost any ethical ground or the force of truth. True leadership has nothing to do with speeches. What makes a true leader are one's actions. Indeed, it holds true for each individual for more than speech, it is the actions of a person which reveals one's true intent. Rajagopal P.V. spoke of modeling leadership while thanking the administration and state government representatives who had been instrumental in taking care of the padyatrees. A model leader for him means someone who is action oriented and embodies simplicity and humility, one of the basic Gandhian value. For, a leader in a democratic system is somebody who works for the betterment of the people, the locality and the society. However, the current leadership model particularly in the culture of today's political discourse has alienated honest and sincere people from participating in politics. It discourages young people to come forward to make a positive change through participation in political practices. Young people invariably ask, where is Gandhi or somebody who lives and practices his values in the political landscape of the country, and this can be extended to a global context. Morality and ethics seem divorced from the bodies of leadership. True transformation occurs when the economic, social and spiritual aspects of a people are addressed. And that requires dedication for the cause rather than greed for power. Let's take the example of Gandhi who was trying to bridge the communal differences in the aftermath of partition at the time of independence when the while country was indulging in widespread celebration. In fact, shortly after independence, Gandhi advised the Congress to dissemble saying that each member should go back to their respective village and work for the upliftment of the people there at the grassroots for he probably foresaw what direction the political class is going to take. Over the years, his vision has only been proved right with the current political model rooted in violence, dividing people and making empty promises. The only cause that seems to matter is power; power at any cost. Jai Jagat envisions a leadership that takes the path of nonviolence and is intended for the well-being of all people as opposed to the politics of appeasement of particular groups. It also actively encourages women, particularly women from rural and tribal communities to take leadership roles. The yatra has this dual role of during Gandhi's message and at the same time building role models of nonviolent leadership. Men have been too entrenched in masculinity which is wrongly equated with muscles. This engendering of violence has resulted in most of the evils that pervades the society today. In the group of the padyatrees there is a fair representation of tribal and rural women leaders as well as young people who are getting trained in nonviolence and are in their way to whether as model leaders of tomorrow. Today, nonviolence or ahimsa is ridiculed. This can only be reversed by providing a model of successful nonviolence. Today's culture is geared to show strength by the path of violence. Violence is easy for one only had to follow others but it takes patience, character and strong resolve to listen to one's own nature to practice Ahimsa. A teacher of history once questioned Gandhi on nonviolence condemning him for wrong teaching for in history all revolutions come through violence. Gandhi replied, you tesch history but I make history. So we need to make ahimsa powerful and that's how we need to take this message of nonviolence to Geneva.

Youth Development Conference – Harda

Jai JagatDeveloping Capacities for Justice and Peace, Global Peace March, Training reportDecember 28, 2019

Building up on the Timarini Youth Training, a Youth Development Conference was held in Harda, Madhya Pradesh. The event was organized around a dialogue on Peace, justice, love and inclusion was held in Harda. The conference saw a huge participation by the youth with nearly 400 young people in attendance. Apart from the dialogues, panel discussions with a group of representatives from the youth, visit to the Gandhi kuti, a hut where Gandhiji had stayed, school and college visits and a meeting with the collector were the main events of the two days. The event was organized by Synergy Sansthan, a local NGO which works toward building a collective of good citizens amongst the rural youth with a vision to create a healthy, educated, free from exploitation and an equal and just, harmonious, and peaceful society. Other supporting organization were SHEDO, Tinka, and ‘Voice of Youth’. The event began with cultural programs. A traditional folk dance of Madhya Pradesh was performed by young girls and boys. Yuvalay, a youth engagement organisation performed a street play, they tried to portray problems like Eve teasing, Education, Poverty, Land rights etc. through their play. A young girl who introduced Jai Jagat said, “We as youth can learn justice and peace not by reading about it in books but by seeing it in our adults, our parents, our teachers and people around us. A panel discussion was also a part of this event where a group of young people raised questions that were answered by the panel. The panel consisted of Mudit Srivastava, a core walkers and other activists including Shilpa, who worked with youth engagement programs at Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Radhika from Synergy organization, Ex MLA Mr. Dangne, Mr. Shyam and Mudit Shrivatsava one of the core marcher from Jai Jagat Yatra. The questions revolved around the importance of working with youth, and bringing justice and peace. Conversation of this panel started with the question of importance of dialogues on peace and nonviolence to the youth and teenagers. Four important questions raised were: 1. How to deal with discrimination that is so prevalent in the society at every stage?erently when a questioner wished to know the difference in education standards in government and public schools. An important point raised was why do the children of government employees do not go to government school but study in private ones instead. The question raised the issue of inequal standards in education. 2. How to deal with discrimination that is so prevalent in the society at every stage? 3. The third question raised the issue of inter-generational gap and exclusion concerning decisions about the young people. One young person said that parents never included children even when the conversation was about the children. He asked, ‘how can they involve us into their conversation? 4. The last question was based on the divide between arts and science. This is a problem of mindset for it is generally believed that engineering or medical are the only two options for a safe future and for these one must pursue science after high school when the decision to opt for subjects is taken. In fact the decision is based on one’s scores in high school which creates a lot of unnecessary stress and a tutorials based society where children work hard to be able to get science in class XI. This, of course, is not the child’s decision but a social issue as a child’s present is sacrificed for the sake of an economical and perceived socially mobile future. As a result, Arts is neglected and potential talents are discouraged while other section that might have been interested in humanities and social sciences are also discouraged because of these prejudices. Jill Carr Harris drew the attention of the young audience towards the prevailing violence all around them and particularly symptomatic in the virtual technologies of the internet age. She said, "When we use our mobile, we are at once connected globally; we need to be mindful of the nature of content we watch, do and share on internet; most of the content on the internet be it war games, or news, is full of violence. She encouraged them to take up projects based on Jai Jaigat’s four pillars and to share their work with the team. She cited an example of Grade 5 children in Canada who have taken up a cyber peace project to use internet and mobile to share the message of building caring and compassionate relationships. The team met and interacted with school children the next day and proceeded to interact with students from colleges where the yatra and the four pillars were introduced. The youth team of the Jai Jagat yatra also performed a skit that aimed to sensitize them on nonviolence. Some representatives from the youth team of core walkers, interacted with the college students and spoke of their experiences of the walk and also addressed the issues of violence and environment. A group of padyatris accompanied Rajagopal for a meeting with the collector along with a group of local youth who were part of the training. Rajagopal during the interaction said, ‘My dream of a discussion between governance, local youth and social activists has come true in Harda. This is the beginning of a nonviolent governance that is open to listening’. He added, compassion has its own strength; one can create conflict-free villages by imbibing the quality of compassion. Let us encourage social movements that are nonviolent. Let’s work towards making Harda a nonviolent district, make it pedestrian friendly, women friendly, differently-abled friendly. Let’s make nonviolence a way of life, of culture”. In the afternoon the team visited Gandhi Kuti, a hut where Gandhi had stayed during his visit to Harda in 1933. This historical experience marked the last of the programs scheduled for the stay at Harda.

Youth Training – Timarini

Jai JagatDeveloping Capacities for Justice and Peace, Global Peace March, Training reportDecember 28, 2019

The Jai Jagat padyatris were scheduled for a training program in the Timarni of Harda district in M.P. The one day event held on the 13th of December 2019 was organized around an interactive session with jai Jagat team and the young attendees on nonviolence and the core values and mission of the year long walk. The event saw overwhelming participation with nearly 350 young people present during the cultural events and training program. The event was organized by Social Health and Education Development Organization (SHEDO), an NGO that works in the Timarini block of Harda district, Madhya Pradesh. SHEDO are working with Youth for their development through influencing transformation in the self to bring about social changes that could build a better future for the well-being of all. It is this commitment to change that inspired their interest in the Jai Jagat movement. They wanted to learn how to bring this change through the Gandhian message of Ahimsa which shows their commitment to bring about profound and truly transformative change in and around them. Synergy and Tinka were other local organizations that co-organized the event. Completely led by the youth, the event managed to create a vibrant democratic space, decorated by sustainable material and art work by the organizers. The program was anchored by youth of the organisations and the event layout was designed in a way to touch upon various aspect of the Yatra. The event began with a performance by 'Folk Studio', a musical band that sings traditional Bhujaria songs with its message of peace. It was followed by a Kathak performance, a classical dance form originating in Kerala, presented by a young girl from the Timarini city. Members of the Jai Jagat team spoke of the vision and objectives of Jai Jagat yatra and shared their own experience of being on the road for last 73 days. The main theoretical understanding of the principles of the Jai Jagat movement were introduced in an interactive session with Rajagopal P.V., the eminent Gandhian under whose leadership this movement has been organized, and Jill Carr-Harris, the international coordinator of the journey. Rajagopal P.V. addressed the youth delineating the history of violence that unfolded in the wake of the Second World War followed by the arms race of a bipolar world during the cold war. He drew the young minds towards the violence rooted in the socio-political and economic world we live in and how every small step we take, potentially can be a point of departure from this violent standpoint. In an insightful session, Jill Carr-Harris spoke on the need to evolve a worm’s viewpoint as opposed to a bird’s eye view in order to suggest how one can include the last person. Looking from a worm’s standpoint implies looking at things that are near to the sight. This viewpoint enables looking for the last person and also counters the top-down policy model as it is through bottom-up process that true village level changes can be introduced and those left behind in the discourse and practice of development included. Our education system speaks of theory and things that do not matter or affect our daily life and surroundings. Gandhi had suggested a near-far approach as an alternative to the modern system of education. Jill spoke of issues that the young could connect with drawing on the nonviolence framework in each instance. The training reached its highpoint in the dialogue session as students raised some pertinent questions. These were taken by Rajagopal and Jill who ended the sessions with an appealing speech that also tackled all the four questions posed. The issues of nonviolence in modern education was the first up raised by a post-doctoral student. The second question revolved around the responsible use of social media while another question touched upon inter-generational gap. Lastly, a young rapper questioned the practice of nonviolence in the face of rampant and violent caste-based discrimination and repression that has been on the rise in the country. In response to the first question, Rajagopal said that the issue of education was primarily that of the issue of how we understand modernity. Modernity must come internally instead of being an external manifestation alone. Jill in an emotional speech addressed the questions and suggested the need to change the lens of violence through which we look at the world and even our social relations. She suggested the space for constructive dialogues to address inter-generational gap while for social media she asked the young people to act responsibly and use the virtual space constructively. The program ended with bravery awards to the young people of Timarini followed by solidarity speeches by the local dignitaries. The following day some fifty young people accompanied the padyatris to Harda where another training program was conducted.

Vidisha Training of Core Marchers (November 19th to 21st 2019)

Jai JagatDeveloping Capacities for Justice and Peace, Global Peace March, Training reportDecember 4, 2019

The training helped to form families of diverse groupings in order to blend different cultures and languages. This was a successful model of organizing, that later was used by the yatrees to organize its daily activities. The Vidisha training built on the Lalitpur in these sense that it used different nonviolent communication methods to strengthen the group and build emergent leadership. One of the highlights of the training was how it focused on participants opening to other perspectives; Rajagopal’s presentation on poverty and land rights, and building social movements was critical for people to assist them in reflecting back on the six weeks of interactions in the march. Also the participants from the International Land Coalition, who arrived shortly prior to the Vidisha training, got an exposure to nonviolence in organizing marginalized communities on land.

Lalitpur Training of Core Walkers

Jai JagatDeveloping Capacities for Justice and Peace, Global Peace March, Training reportDecember 4, 2019

This was a two-and-half day training that was reviewing the four pillars of the Jai Jagat along with an exploration into Gandhi’s nonviolence. The methods used by the trainers were games, group work and art-based interactions. On the second day people recorded videos of presentations on the four pillars, the logic being that they would gradually work on perfecting them as they moved towards Geneva. The training was conducted by two well-known Canadian “process” trainers: Debbie O’Rourke and David Fletcher. Their primary emphasis was on teambuilding bringing the Ekta Parishad workers into closer association with the international walkers and the Indian urban youth participants.

Training on nonviolence in Sweden

Jai JagatDeveloping Capacities for Justice and Peace, Training reportMarch 1, 2018

Jill Carr-Harris went to Sweden in December 2017 to give trainings on nonviolence to two schools. Annette Larsson and some of her colleagues invited us to train ten separate classes in the La Gardia Secondary School. Some of the teaching staff in the social sciences and humanities met to discuss how to further integrate these concepts of nonviolence and (social, economic and political) inclusion into the courses. They believe it to be very timely given the politics of the day. Twenty students in the Preparatory School for New Swedes took part in a training. These refugees are from Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Zambia and Myamar. They looked at the issue of nonviolence and realised that they come from communitarian societies and have something to contribute to Swedish society. Although they feel somewhat segregated from the Swedish high school by studying in a separate location, they looked at ways that they could begin a greater integration process so that their language and fluency in the culture would increase. It was evident that if they learn to integrate in high school, that they will be more integrated in society. In follow up to April 2017’s meeting in Lipkoping, twelve people came together to participate in a daylong training on nonviolence. A group of 15-20 Swedish friends aware of nonviolent training will try to raise funds to come to India for further capacity building. They felt this to be necessary before undertaking a large march from Goteberg to Geneva. One-day training was given to students in the University in Goteberg. The focus point was how leadership development is a key part of the Ekta Parishad training. The group discussed how building capacities was central to the success of any nonviolent action. The Togetherness group (SAME) in partnership with Lena Martinsson is also going well in preparing for the Jai Jagat march. Their main focus at the moment is the local problem of refugee resettlement. Then, we met three people in the Swedish Parliament. Firstly, the Head of the Women’s Wing of the Social Democratic Party, Carina Olsson; secondly, the Chairman of Forum Syd, and who is also a Member of Parliament in the Social Democratic Party, Kent Harstedt; and the MP for the Green Party, Agneta Borjesson, for furthering linking the Greens to the Jai Jagat 2020

Motion by the city of Paris

Jai JagatConference reportsMarch 1, 2018

Rajagopal visited Paris from November 30th to December 3rd, 2017. A meeting with numerous organisations was held on December 2nd. The World Social Forum (WSF) delegates that attended were keen to see a group from Ekta Parishad join them in the next WSF in Brazil in March 2018. At the initiative of the Greens Party, the city of Paris also passed a motion supporting the Jai Jagat campaign. We try to build a network of municipalities supporting the Jai Jagat campaign. Rajagopal met Chicko Wittaker, one of the founders of the World Social Forum. He also met Jean Pierre Dardaud, Joseph Bouliot, and Yves Bertelot.

Gandhi Foundation at the Tbilisi State University, Georgia

Jai JagatConference reports, Nonviolent Governance and Conflict ResolutionJuly 15, 2014

On the occasion of the opening of the Gandhi Foundation at the Tbilisi State University, Georgia, on June 30th, 2014, Rajagopal PV (Ekta Parishad) and Jill Car-Harris (IGINP) visited the Georgian friends of the Jai Jagat 2020 Campaign. Meetings were held for three days to celebrate the opening of the Foundation and the engagement of Georgia in the Jai Jagat 2020 Campaign. They were presided by our friends and prominent board members of Gandhi Foundation Georgia, Ms. Nina Tsikhistavi and Irakli Kakabadze, as well as the Rector of Tbilisi State University, Dr. Vladimir Papava. Georgians had invited Mr. Rajagopal PV to understand the Abkhaz and Ossetian conflict raging in the country. The meetings were spaces of reflexion to understand and discuss how nonviolent conflict-resolution can be attained, and share experiences and advices. The meetings were also an opportunity to meet with the Indian Ambassador of Armenia and Georgia, Mr. Suresh Babu, as well as Georgia's Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality, Mr. Paata Zakareishvili, who held a one hour long meeting with Rajagopal PV and Jill Car-Harris. The Minister saluted the opening of the Gandhi Foundation which, according to him, will create new opportunities for peaceful dialogues between different conflicting sides in South Caucasus. On their side, Jill Carr-Harris and Rajagopal PV both noted that having a Ministry of Peace was a great step forward global peace and an example for other countries. The meeting was concluded by an agreement made between the Georgian Minister of Sports and Youth, Mr. Levan Kipiani, and the Georgian Gandhi Foundation. They agreed on the creation of a youth training on peace and nonviolence to encourage the new generation in the path of reconciliation.

International Conference on Land in Curvaradó, Colombia

Jai JagatConference reports, Nonviolent Governance and Conflict ResolutionJune 21, 2013

Over six days 150 delegates from India, Bolivia, Honduras and Colombia met with international observers from the United States and Canada in a conference for territory and land rights. In a beautiful experience of solidarity with the families of the Curvaradó Community Council, who are developing unsung processes grounded in strong ethical convictions in the middle of political violence, exercising their rights to protect diverse sources of life and a to a legal restitution of their territories to ensure a dignified existence. We, participants of the International Conference on Land held in Curvaradó in June 2014, observe, interpret, discuss and conclude the following: In our respective countries exist similar situations regarding the limitation of land rights through legal means, violence, absence of inclusive policies or recognition of ethnic and gender rights, of rights to underground resources and air, on the part of the state and private national and multinational actors. Business interests in the territories, particularly those related to the accumulation of belowground territory, are protected by the majority of States, which allows them to be defined principally as resources serving the consumption demands of the few throughout our countries and the world. This has increased the concentration of land, ecological footprints and social inequality and exclusion. Policies designed by the World Bank and other multilateral financial and trade organizations have defined land legalization and restitution processes in order to facilitate, via national policies of flexibility and favorability, investment in the purchase of land for agro industrial food production, biofuels, infrastructural works and mining extraction, among others. Some governments, which have redefined a sense of democracy, in advancing national sovereignty and people’s rights, have constructed alternatives to exclusion and the intense destruction of ecosystems. In India, out of a population of 1.2 billion 480 million people are landless and are fighting for land. Close to 2.5 million rural inhabitants face crushing debt. Since India won independence from Britain in 1947, more than 60 million people have been displaced by dam development and other infrastructural works. Over the past 25 years, Ekta Parishad, inspired by the philosophy of Ghandi, has mobilized over 100,000 people in 6,000 villages. One of the biggest demands that Ekta Parishad supported was the movement for justice, part of the Jan Satyagraha movement, which negotiated a 10-point agreement on agrarian reform with the Indian government last October. In Honduras, repression has manifested itself in diverse ways since the coup, including assassinations, forced disappearances, detentions, torture, false accusations, denial of the right to protest, and, in relation to land rights, a refusal of community land rights in favor of mining operations and water excavation. Private security forces and state agents act at the service of private actors, including companies like DESA, SINOHYDRO, and the FICOHSA group, which is trying to construct the Zarca Hydroelectric Dam. One leading opposition group is the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras, COPINH (Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras). Its leader, Bertha Cáceres, has been illegally detained and prosecuted for leading proposals for water rights. José Martínez, also with COPINH, was a target of abuse by authorities in his country during his departure for Colombia, and had his bags confiscated for carrying messages of solidarity with communities in Colombia. In Bolivia, the Aymara and Quichua people continue in the construction of Suma Qamaña via the Plurinational Constitution of the Bolivian State. Faced with the capture and concentration of land, social movements have begun, with the current government, a process of land reallocation via nationalization and a new focus on agrarian policy, confronting transnational extractive interests and agricultural products like soy. In Colombia, diverse social and community processes agree that the concentration of land in a few hands and rural inequality is on the rise. Land restitution and titling laws have been ineffective at reaching justice and equity. The current government’s so-called development projects prioritize agribusiness, extractive operations that generate new forms of displacement and exclusion, lacking recognition of the right to prior consultation, and causing the destruction of water sources and social and environmental breakdown. Under such strategic objectives, private actors including wealthy individuals, Colombian and multinational companies enjoy benefits like easy access to land, financing and tax breaks. Exercising the right to land, its use and protection in Colombia occurs within a context of multiple and systematic violations of human rights and humanitarian law on the part of the state armed forces and their paramilitary auxiliaries, often through hostilities and armed operations against guerilla groups like the FARC and the ELN, whose violent activities have also affected the rights of rural populations. The participants in the Conference call on our sister communities and allies to advocate:

• To the parties involved in the armed confrontation in Colombia:

• To the Colombian government:

• To the Honduran government:

• To the Indian government:

• To the Vía Campesina, Environmental and Women’s movements:

• For the proposals constructed within Latin America such as the Boliviarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC):

International Conference on Land in Dakar, Senegal

Jai JagatConference reports, Nonviolent Governance and Conflict ResolutionMarch 25, 2013

In March 2013, a week-long International Conference on Land was held in Dakar, Senegal, under the supervision of International Initiatives - from which is originating the Jai Jagat movement. The agenda of the Conference evolved around sharing experiences on struggles around land rights and on nonviolent mobilisation. In Senegal, the civil society is facing daily threats on its access to land and livelihood resources. As the notion of « land-grabbing » does not have the same relevancy and definition in the different represented countries, the discussion was framed around the concepts of land restoration, land (re)distribution, land protection and land management/development. Here is the resulting Dakar Declaration endorsed by the participants : THE DAKAR DECLARATION We, representatives of the civil society and grass-roots community organizations involved in land issues in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Colombia, Senegal, Nepal, France and in India, representatives of the International Initiative, reunited in Dakar from the 21st to the 23rd of March 2013 around land governance issues, share the collective engagement in promoting a secure and fair access to land and natural resources as well as the control and ownership of land by small agricultural producers living in rural and urban areas (fishermen, farmers, livestock farmers). Point out that that access, fair use and responsible natural resources management, especially land, water and forest, is essential to allow impoverished women and men to exercise their fundamental economic, social, political and cultural rights; in particular, the right for every person to be freed from hunger and poverty, with respect to their dignity. Recognise that in spite of the engagement and efforts from several Governments at the implementation of governance issues favourable to the most impoverished (in collaboration with civil society), a majority of Governments do not succeed in protecting the rights of impoverished citizens. Inadequate agricultural policies jeopardize land rights and worsen hunger and world poverty. Recognise the efforts of civil society organizations around the world at the implementation of responsible land programs for the impoverished. Consider that the recent grabbing of land in favour of private interests or third States targeting tens of thousands of hectares all around the world – whether it be for food security, energy, mining, environment, tourism, speculation or geopolitical reasons – undermine human and national rights by depriving local, peasant and pastoral communities of their means of production. It either restricts access to natural resources or to freely produce. This hoarding of land worsens access and land control at the cost of the poor and especially the young and women. Be aware of the obsolete character of internal laws (like the law on « national domain » from 1964 in Senegal) in our respective countries, of the recurrence in land transactions in rural areas without prior consultation of the local population. Furthermore, in urban and suburban areas, the politics of expropriation (often because of economic pressure) for various reasons such as public causes (social housing, tourism, highways, airports, plants, and so forth) and urbanisation, without respecting the procedures. For this reason, the population questions the investment projects in terms of surface area and usage, the increase of social tensions related to land issues, and rural exodus, but especially the precarious solutions found to these problems. Be concerned with contributing to the research of efficient solutions on questions linked to land, and of the necessity of resorting to a peaceful resolution of land conflicts. State the crucial contribution of small farmers and livestock farmers in reaching food security on the continent. We call the Governments to invest in the promotion of family farms with the goal of finding solutions to starvation and poverty but also limit the environmental degradation and promote sustainable development. Farmers ask themselves why land governance is not « standard » in countries where food production is important. Confirm the necessity to concentrate on the implementation of safe land rights for marginalized groups, including livestock farmers, fishermen, agriculturists, forest users and such segments of the population. Recognize the role of development partners and multilateral organisations in the land rights and reforms that are favourable to the poor. We invite partners to sustain civil society organizations efforts in this regard. We, attending representatives of the civil society, grass-roots community organizations and representatives of the International Initiative on land, are committed to:

• Taking initiatives in collaboration with the Government, civil society, private sector and development partners in our respective countries in order to a better take into consideration small producer needs in implementing politics and agricultural programmes from our countries.
• Conceiving and implementing a « multi-actor » strategy on land reform which respects poor people’s rights contained in our land policies.
• Investing in the strengthening of the capacity of civil society organizations in promoting the rights of agricultural actors, in particular women and young people.
• Supporting the federations of local groups in different zones where land conflicts have occurred. Promoting the implementation of a national network affiliated to an international network centred on land issues.