Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
PURI DECLARATION, JUNE 2013
Passed unanimously by the Founding Conference of the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP),
3-5th June, Town Hall, Puri, Odish, India
People from the forest community belonging to 20 different states of India who came together at Puri, Odisha from June 3-5, 2013 for the founding conference of the All India Union of Forest Working People and jointly declare the following -
• Odisha is a land which has seen many struggles with not just tribals but many other communities building strong resistances against different forms of state repression, against undemocratic functioning of the government and against anti people policies. The strong nexus between the government and corporate is increasing and is being condemned and challenged since it has been one of the key forces that are working towards suppressing movements. Selecting Odisha as the venue for this conference is an affirmative gesture in order to stand in solidarity with the many struggles here.
• We take these steps ahead with a vision that unites different colors of the various struggles we stand in solidarity with and we consider red, blue and green as our common symbols.
• We consider Birsa Munda, Karl Marx, Aiyyankali, Bhagat Singh, Savitribai Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar as our icons.
• The transition from a forum to a union is a historical step forward for the forest rights movement and has taken the struggle of the 150 million people of the forest based community to a new direction. This is a step forward that will intensify our demands for ownership rights on our land and natural resources which is our common heritage.
• We are against the privatization of natural resources that belong to the larger society. To fight against this and for the rights of the forest working community we will unite with movements across South Asia and the rest of the world in order to widen the sphere of our struggles and strengthen the spirit behind the concept – working people of the world unite.
• This union will keep women in leadership as its focus and will ensure their participation in all aspects of the struggle and centrally on that of ownership rights of natural resources.
• The basic principle on which this union has been established is that of non violence. It will follow the constitutional framework and will propagate a democratic way of functioning.
• This union will strive towards ensuring livelihood, social and political security for forest working people.
• We stand in solidarity with various struggles in our country like those against land acquisition, against exploitation of Dalits and tribals, the anti- displacement struggles, against exploitation of women, struggles for land rights, struggles demanding social security and other constitutional rights.
• We will bring to the forefront issues of the forest community like forest based livelihood, community rights on forest land, community forest governance etc.
• Our struggle is not just for ourselves but for environmental justice all over the world and for collective rights over natural resources which we will continue to strive towards.
• We strongly oppose capitalism, Brahminism, patriarchy and envision a just society with equal rights which we will work towards.
• Today, the government is attacking and maligning people’s struggles and movements by labeling them as terrorists. They are also debasing the image of Mao Tse Tung, an icon of people’s revolution in China. We strongly condemn this false labeling and demand a constructive dialogue under the constitutional framework of this country.
• We oppose political games that are being played at an international level which promote commodification of natural resources and engage with things like the carbon credit which does not give the community any benefits for what they are growing.
• Through our struggles we are demanding the withdrawal of national and international companies from acquiring our land, forests and water. Along with this we are also working towards the gram sabhas (Village Councils) getting control over natural resources.
We believe in the concept of Mother Earth which is holistic and includes both natural and human resources. Nature does not belong to us, but we are immersed in nature, we belong to it and exist because of it.
We call on all progressive and democratic forces to be united in struggles to create another world – a world which would belong to the working people and not to the ruling classes.
Report on the Founding Conference of the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP)
3-5th June, Town Hall, Puri, Odish, India
National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW) transformed itself in to a union by successfully holding the Founding Conference of the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) from 3-5th June, 2013, at Town Hall, Puri, Odisha, India, with participation from across the country and presence of foreign and fraternal delegations. The decision to transform NFFPFW into Union was taken in 4th National Conference of NFFPFW in 2012 at Dehradun. The decision was further reaffirmed in its extended National Committee meeting in Patna, March 1-3, 2013. AIUFWP has the honour of becoming the first trade union of forest working people to be formed at the all India level.
Around 300 delegates from Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh,West Bengal,Odisha, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, participated in the founding conference of AIUFWP. Some important delegates from Gorkhaland and Southern Indian States could not reach the venue due to unavailability of train accommodation.
The Conference proceedings were conducted in three sections:
Day 1 – Inaugural & Voices from the Movement
Day 2 - Simultaneous Workshops on Thematic issues and Plenary Session on the resolutions of each of the Workshops. General comments were also discussed.
Day 3 – Organizational issues, Discussion on Draft Constitution and its approval.Formation of Executive Committee with election of key office bearers. Conclusion – adoption of Resolutions and future programmes.
Fraternal delegates from New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI), CITU-Odisha State Committee, Odisha State Secretariat – CPI(M) & CPI, representatives from anti-POSCO and Niyamagiri movement, Programme for Social Action (PSA),Delhi Forum, NCAS ( Odisha) , Gandhi Global Family, Canara Bank Employees Union (UP), Senior Journalist from leading newspaper participated in the three day founding conference,. A six member delegation form Nepal from three networks - FECOFUN (Federation of Community Forestry Users’ Nepal), COFSUN (Community Forestry Support Unit, Nepal) & FEWUN (Forest and Environment Workers Union, Nepal) made a very strong representation in the conference.
It requires a special mention here that the Forest Worker Union of Nepal came into existence after its members got motivation from the Dehradun Conference in 2012 where the decision of formation of Union of forest working people was taken at All India level. The Nepal comrades carried forward this programme and formed the union in their country. The representatives of this organization expressed their solidarity with AIUFWP.
The inaugural session was presided jointly by Ms. Jarjum Ete (President, NFFPFW) and Com. D. Thankappan(President NTUI). Introduction of the conference was given by Roma and Duryodhan Odisha, introduced the guests from Odisha and the movements going around Puri. Sh. Prashant Paikery from Posco Partirodh Sangram Samiti welcomed all the guests and delegates from across the country. He reported on the struggle going on in Jagjitsinghpur and Govindpur village against Posco. The inauguration session was moderated by Sh. Sanjay Garg, social and political activist and ex-Minister UP Govt. He started off by paying tribute to departed comarades – Dr. Viniyan, Bharatiji, Noor Alam, Prem Khawas, all of whom played a major role in continuing the process to build up an All India Union of diverse forest working people. He read out the messages received from friends from Pakistan and other countries. He then invited the key speakers. Setting up the tone, he emphasized that the need of forest people was to now challenge the power structure of Indian State with strengthening their own organization.
The setting of the context of the conference was done by General Secretary, NFFPFW, Sh. Ashok Chowdhury who narrated the journey of NFFPFW to Union formation and also discussed the challenges ahead and need to form the union in today’s context. He emphasized the need to build up alliances with other natural resource based traditional producers and also with the organized working class movement and especially with the contract workers, who are facing a direct attack from the corporate.
In the key note address Gautam Mody Secretary NTUI laid emphasis on the power of working class and the formation of Union. In order to fight the international capital it is imperative for working class to unite under red flag and enter into collective bargaining with state. The struggle of forest people is not isolated it is associated with the struggle of workers of other sectors also. There fore the working class will fight with their own power and strength hence their is need to form a membership based organization to challenge the imperialist forces backed by the Indian State.
Prafulla Samantara, Convenor NAPM and closely associated with peoples movements across Odisha criticized the “politics of development” and said that the “mainstream “ was all about “money game”. Peoples’ struggles should orient itself against this politics of development and notion of mainstream. All natural resources belong to the people and not to the government or corporates. The people of the country should ready themselves for creating alternative political institutions. He said that the biggest challenge now for all peoples’ movements being fought valiantly at regional levels was to unite at a national level to give collective voice on a national plane and felt the formation of the Union at this juncture was an important political step.
Smt. Apsara Chapagain, Chairperson of FECOFUN, Nepal in her enthusiastic speech expressed her happiness for getting the opportunity to speak in the inaugural session of the founding conference. She talked about the community forest initiatives being taken in Nepal, the first country to build such people focused forest policies (in South Asia). She said that her organization which was also the founder of a global alliance of community forest group users, would be very interested in building up alliance with Union in India to further community forest rights movements in India.
Suresh Panigrahi, CPI(M) and Dushmanta Das from CITU, Odisha State Secretariat, addressed the conference and lend their support to the formation of first trade union of forest working people in India. They emphasized that rule of Capital has to be challenged by the rule of the People and said that the traditional collective ownership rights of forest dwelling people should be restored to them immediately as per the provisions of the Forest Rights Act. Further criticizing the Central and Odisha state governments for openly siding with corporate, both of them firmly reiterated that Gram Sabhas should be the key decision making bodies for any “development” related activities.
Pravin Sinha from FES made a very effective speech by talking about the journey of Forum to Union in last two decades. He said the FES has been a close associate in this journey and has seen the success of the movement. He said that the major achievements being the enactment of Forest Rights Act 2006, rights over the NTFP and formation of cooperatives to enhance the livelihood options for the community user groups. He emphasized on the need to strengthen the Union to achieve these goals.
Senior Journalist Arun Kr Panibaba, Jansatta laid emphasis on formation of the national level organization to challenge the anti people policies. He termed forest right movement as a continuation of anti-Imperialist struggle. He committed to write various pieces of articles in the newspaper.
Com. D. Thankappan one of the pioneers working for the rights of the organized and unorganized sector since last five decades made an elaborate speech on how the union will take the responsibility of taking the forest rights movement ahead. He has been constantly engaged with the forest people since last two decades and has been working hard to guide this transformation of NFFPFW into a Forest Working People Union. He discussed the new challenges for taking the Union ahead especially under the leadership of women. The FRA has been enacted in 2006 but neither the Central nor State Govt. has shown political will to implement the Act, hence now the Union needs to take the responsibility of implementing the Act in its true spirit. He laid lot of emphasis on women leadership and their participation in strengthening the Union.
Bhola Khatiwada, Chaiprperson of COFSUN and Sunil Pariyar, Secretary of FEWUN addressed the Conference. NTUI was represented by President Com. D. Thankappan , Secretary Gautam Mody and Ditthi Bhattacharya from National Secretariat. Sunil Gupta, All India Vice President Canara Bank Employees Union , Dr. Pravin Sinha and Dr. Felix Schmidt from FES, India Office, editor of Nitya Nutan Sh. Ramohan Rai also addressed the Conference. Senior journalist India Today Surendra Singhal, also participated in the Conference.
Concluding this joint session of inaugural and voices of the movement, Ms. Jarjum Ete emphasized about the need to do justice to the tribals of main land and North Eastern states and other traditional forest dwellers whose lives and livelihoods are dependent on the natural resources that our forests provide; that these dependent people get back both access to and control of these resources as per the Forest Rights Act, 2006. And that the FRA 2006 is effectively implemented in the country and benefits of the deprived forest working people are restored. She hailed the formation of the Union, which she felt will steer the implementation of the promised goals.
Besides many fraternal organizations from India and other countries sent their best wishes for the success of this founding conference.
On the eve of the Founding Conference an article on the formation of AIUFWP, written by Com Roma was published on 2nd June ,Sunday edition of National Hindi daily ‘Jansatta’ and also in chattisgarh weekly magazine “Itwari khabar. The article of Jansatta is attached.
Three thematic workshops were organized to draw up the various programmes to be taken up by the Union immediately after its formation
1 Key issues of Right to Livelihood in the context of environmental justice, relevance of labour rights laws in forest rights movement
2 Social and political protection of forest working people
3 Development of women community leadership
Key points from these thematic groups:
• Women should be represented proportionately at all the levels of Union. To maximize the numbers of women in the Union various meetings will be conducted at the grass root level to identify the leaders. Women should be trained to run the union activities. Women should not be stopped by the family members for taking part in union activities. To increase the number of women various issues to be identified to bring them under the fold of union activities such as development issues like education, health, sanitation, water facility, the issues of violence against them by family, feudal, caste/communal, state, sexual offences and violence and liquor. Above all to launch an offensive fight against patriarchy.
• End of bonded labor, unemployment allowance for those who are not getting the dignified work, the dignity of work to be recognized, end of the contract system in all the forestry work, the union should be of members and not of leaders. Insurance, pension, education, health, social security to all the members, legal help to all the members especially to fight against the forest department which lodges false cases against the forest people especially tribal and dalits. Minimum wages according to the capacity of the workers and at par with the fourth class employees of organized sector. Registration of every worker and member of the union, the office of the labor commissioner to cater to the forest areas, at least surety of 240 days of work in a year, development of the forest areas such as hospital, roads, schools, colleges, engineering/medical colleges, women college, technical institutes, drinking water etc. The 75yrs provision of the residential proof to be scrapped from Forest Rights Act. The delegates from Tripura instead wanted that this provision of 75yrs should not be scrapped in their State otherwise non tribals would take over the forest land and forest produce. Adivasi – Dalit unity and above all the unity of the working class on the whole will strengthen the union.
• Corporate should not be allowed to enter into forest area, no leases on the forest land. Mining and other activities that cause irreparable damage to forest area should be stopped. All non forest activities, leases to land, mining should not be allowed without consultation of Gram Sabha. The afforestation programme to be done by the community of those trees and plants that are eco-friendly and not of commercial plants. The lands in the illegal hold of landlords, forest department, corporate should be reclaimed. To stop green India mission and Joint Forest management by Forest Department, to stop displacement from Sanctuary and National Parks. The community’s dependent on the natural resources should be the focus of the climate change debates that has left million of people homeless from their resource base.
A very fruitful open discussion took place after the key issues that emerged in the thematic groups.
The Constitution of the Union was read in the open house for approval. A small committee has been formed to take in to account the suggestions and amendments as they came up in the Conference and incorporate them in the Constitution. The Constitution with these amendments was approved by the Conference. Suggestion came to draft the preamble of the Union which will reflect the political position of the Union.
Names of the office bearers of the newly formed AIUFWP are:
• President – Jarjum Ete
• Working President – Sanjay Garg
• Vice President – V. Chandra
• Gen. Secretary – Ashok Chowdhury
• Dy.Gen Secretary – Roma
• Treasurer – K. N Tiwari
• Organizing Secretary – Munnilal
• 12 Vice President and 16 secretaries are to be elected from various regions. There were posts that have been kept vacant to accommodate members from various states.
• The executive council comprises of 101 members of which 69 members were elected. 57 being from the community, 12 being non forest working people, accepted as honorary members. Rest members will be elected from the states that could not come
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED
• AIUFWP will seek to build solidarity among forest working people in India by organizing and uniting Adivasi , Dalit and other marginalized communities.
• The union will build up movements and struggle towards establishing community forest governance – to ensure livelihood, social security & labour rights of the forest working people and to protect the resources.
• AIUFWP will foster building of co-operatives for the collection, reprocessing, marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) to ensure self reliant political economy for the forest dwelling communities.
• AIUFWP lends its support to all progressive and democratic peoples’ movements across the country – e.g. in Assam as led by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, in Odisha - anti-POSCO (Jagatsinghpur), anti-Vedanta in Niyamagiri , Kashipur and Kalinganagar struggles. The Union strongly condemns the unconstitutional activities of the Central and State governments by forcibly evicting people from their own land to support the profiteering of the Corporate. The Union demands an immediate stop to such forcible eviction so that peace can be restored in these regions where people are facing innumerable problems in their daily lives due to State violence.
• AIUFWP will build solidarity with traditional industrial working class movements and lend its support to all such industrial working class movements e.g. the Maruti workers movement in Gurgaon/Maneswar and to end the contractualization of labour in industrial production.
• The Union will work closely with Community forest based movements and organizations in Nepal and participate in the formation of a South Asian Federation of Community Forest movement based organizations.
• AIUFWP strongly condemns the anti-people, unconstitutional functioning of the Indian State and demands immediate dialogue between the State and peoples’ movements and creation of democratic participatory mechanisms for immediate implementation of various acts like Forest Rights Act, Unorganized Sector Social Security Act, NREGA, Minimum Wages Act etc.
• Overall AIUFWP will build up strong militant democratic movement of primary producers against Capital in association with industrial workers movements to struggle against capitalism to establish a socialist, just society fulfilling the cultural, political, economic demands and aspirations of the working people.
• AIUFWP will endeavor to establish community leadership and especially that of the women leadership at local, regional/state and national levels.
Immediate programme schedule drawn up were :
• Submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India asking him to call a meeting with the representatives of the movement and the Government about the effective implementation mechanisms for FRA and other progressive legislations. On the basis of the resolutions of this meeting, State Chief Ministers Conference should be convened to ensure effective implementation of Community Forest Rights.
• Focused Membership drive for increasing the membership base.
• Hold local, regional/state conferences in the next 6 months time.
• To apply for registration of the Union immediately
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