Aheli Moitra
Building solidarity can be like weaving a basket. You need to have the right parts of the plant for the purpose, they need to be sliced into the kind of strips required for the kind of basket to be built, the braiding needs to ensure that the joints are well secured, the shape of the endeavour must be ensured while working bottom up and the final weave needs to be secured with a relevant knot. The possibility of cutting your hand in the process is a constant hazard. But strong baskets become the carriers of life—from seeds to water and wood.
On the level of communities and peoples, particularly those who share their neighbourhoods with other peoples—like the Nagas in Manipur do with the Meitei or Zomi, or the Nagas in Assam do with the Karbi or Dimasa—building solidarity is a significant aspect of how social campaigns are designed. Arriving at a common understanding of issues and the way forward, through dialogue, has been a thriving essence of these solidarities.
On January 17, in the year 2016, the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM), held their first public joint meeting in Imphal with the Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur (DESAM). Affirming to work together “in solidarity for a common cause,” the two bodies stated that “our solidarity alone cannot withstand the divisive policy of the State if it is not driven by the conviction and thirst for truth and justice and guided by principles of mutual respect and common sympathy.” In that, they established “mutually acceptable terms for political and social cooperation.”
How can people from different historical contexts and varied aspirations work together? What are the common issues that are affecting all peoples of the region? How can these issues be jointly addressed? Keeping these questions at the core of the process, the ANSAM and DESAM have continued to work on several issues, social and political, that affect the people of Manipur State in general.
In Nagaland State too, new sorts of solidarities are being built. The North East Network in Nagaland, during their Biodiversity Festival on March 8, has been bringing cultivators in solidarity with each other. Women cultivators exchange seeds, visit each other’s fields, share their experiences on different terrains and build a network of new solidarities conjoined by the life of seeds. What can we learn from each other? What are the struggles we can share?
The leaders of these movements have shown that solidarity is a top down, bottom up and circular process. And while making these efforts, the people leading them have continuously cut their hands. Both the ANSAM and DESAM have come under political scrutiny and criticism for forging alliances with the ‘other.’ The NEN in Nagaland has been haunted by several tags due to its non-traditional method of operation. Standing against the status quo has come at a price but these organisations have not given up because it is in solidarity wherein lies the key to building strong communities, something each of these organisations have succeeded in making through their efforts. We have many lessons to learn from them in resolving the divisive crises of our times.
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