From time immemorial, exploitation has been held up as the key to human progress. Imperialism exhibited many forms of exploitation -colonial subjects, workers, women and indigenous people in particular to fill its coffers, with only the vague promise of a trickle-down effect. Even Socialism based itself on exploitation, if not of people, but of resources such as land, forests, mines, rivers, cattle, etc.
The toxic effect of these various forms of exploitation has now been made amply clear, with the dwindling of natural resources, mass extinction of various species of flaura and fauna & global warming.
Any future nation building or people’s movements has to enshrine the principles of environmentalism. Preservation of resources & the health and welfare of our fellow beings has to be understood as crucial to our own welfare as the human race.
Unfortunately, rampant environmental modification, led by gung-ho populism and engineered by tunnel-visioned scientists unable to see the broader picture, is devastating the natural beauty and resources of our country.
An example of this is the rampant industrialisation being pushed through in the Himalayan regions, without consultation with the local people, against which activist Sonam Wangchuk was recently waging a gruelling hungerstrike in sub-zero temperatures.
We stand by this & other such struggles and emphasise that the human race can no longer hope to progress based on the models of ruthless exploitation of the previous centuries.
There will be accusations of being selfish obstructionists or even of being foreign-funded antinationals, but the Left in India, needs to embrace Environmentalism to truly serve the higher purpose of human welfare.
