Lara Jesani: 'For those who fight this system, there are consequences'

 

 

A lot of activists are the ‘black sheep’ of the family. I mean, why would you dedicate your whole life fighting for something, and even crazier, when this particular thing does not affect you directly (even though we know all the issues we fight for are inter-connected, and fighting for one is actually fighting for all.)

Which is why Lara Jesani’s story a bit different. In many instances like these, at least from what I have seen, one parent is usually the activist, but in her case, both her parents are activists. And in India’s society where a lot of biases are based on the colour of your skin and even your religion, her parents defied all the rules, because her father is Muslim, and her mother is Hindu.

I like stories, especially stories from people’s childhood, because more often than not, these stories shaped the adult that’s telling the story today, or marked a very important part and time in their lives. 

Well, in a lot of government funded schools, which Lara attended all her life, there would be this little book that students would be required to take home for the parents to sign. And in it would be a column where you had to write what religion you ‘belonged’ to.

 

Of course, when she’d get to school, her teachers would question her in front of the other students, asking her to explain what religion ‘Humanity’ was. And she would try, because to anyone, it’s supposed to be obvious that humanity and kindness towards others regardless of their religion, skin colour, financial standing, background and all other factors should be the most important thing. In return, she had to answer these questions every day, and get teased by fellow kids.

She got tired, eventually, so she would start writing ‘Nil’ under that section. In response, she would be told that everyone had to have a religion. 

Her parents, who opened her up to so many ideas and thought schools, experiences like these, and just observing how society behaved, like being a child and observing the 1992 riots in Bombay, shaped who Lara is today. A lawyer at the Mumbai High Courts, and advocate for human and environmental and land rights, a part of PUCL (People's Union for Civil Liberties), a national network on civil liberties and democratic rights, and also other collectives and feminist groups.

And the issues that people in India- especially poor and marginalized people- are facing, are really just blanket issues. 

You have the women in Zimbabwe fighting against unethical government sanctioned corporate activities on their land, just like the communities in India who have watched the big private companies roll into their homes in big trucks and destroy everything in the name of ‘development’.

You have the indigenous communities in Honduras fighting back- and dying- against the state and wealthy individuals trying to grab their land for ‘commercialization’ purposes, same as in India, where farmers are getting displaced from the only homes and work they ever knew.

And you would think that the leaders and the money-hungry capitalists would at least have some respect for eco-fragile areas, and know better than to abuse and misuse them, but these areas are still being opened up and milked for everything they can give. Areas that should not be exposed like this.

You would think they’d see that India is the second worst country in the world in terms of air pollution, or the continuously rising sea levels and evident climate change, and reduce the amount of harm they are doing to the environment, and find more sustainable ways to get resources from the land, but they don’t. Profits first.

A lot of Lara’s work involves defending environmentalists who have been arrested for their work. The government has made it even harder for them to protest by putting in place laws that ban assembly, protest, or defense of certain issues like the environment or the rights of small communities.

Some of these laws still carry the violence of the colonial era, laws that weren’t changed or amended because they helped those in power. Laws that are repressive and do nothing but target journalists covering these stories and activist too, plus shrink spaces to protest in India, with protestors being criminalized, and heavily.

There have been reprisals and backlash on the work that Indian environmental activists are doing, and the media and social media platforms too are being used as tool to further this propaganda and violence. It’s easier when you turn the people’s minds against what is actually good for them, that way, they do all the work for you, and you sit back and reap the maximum profits.

When they don’t harass or arrest you for fighting for your land, they make it extra hard for you to access justice. There are no forums to file environmental disputes, and the only office is in Delhi, which a lot of people cannot access because of the time it would take and the cost of travelling back and forth.

 

Observing these injustices, especially from a legal lens too, and seeing the violence that is meted out on marginalized communities. In University, she was part of a student movement, where she got to interact with people from different backgrounds and castes. This organization fought against a lot of the oppressive systems that were set even on Campus, like patriarchal beliefs that affected so many women and caste systems that favoured those from upper castes.

Her attending all public schools right from when she started up to her Masters helped her see the world from so many different perspectives, so to grow up like this with no biases then see these same biases being used to rule your people, favouring those who have some extra change in their pockets, or are of a more ‘preferred’ skin colour, or from the majority religion, whilst oppressing and stomping down those not from these groups, has been painful to watch for her.

Another day to take each small win as a major milestone and use it as fuel to motivate more wins. Wins that won’t only reflect in Bombay, or India, but worldwide, because as I mentioned earlier, a win for one is a win for all.

Another day to fight for what’s right, for people’s rights.