Video | Adivasi pithora artist Desing Rathwa: An art form noted for being spontaneous and detailed – Gujarat & Madhya Pradesh

The clip opens with a description of Bhasha’s publishing activities and role in Gujarat’s general education system. It features Desing Rathwa, a adivasi pithora artist belonging to Rangpur Sadli Village near the border between Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Desing used to work as a daily wage labourer earlier. Several years back when Bhasha started work … Read more

“There are so many ‘theirs’ in the land of my birth who have nothing but the harsh landscape of surviving from day to day”: Mahasweta Devi’s inaugural speech at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Mahasweta Devi had people in tears at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair [2006]. Delivered with passionate heart, her inaugural speech about our freedoms still on hold stirs a kind of moral transformation At 80-plus I move forward often stepping back into the shadows. Sometimes I am bold enough to step back into the sunlight. As a … Read more

Video | “Our values, farming, song and dances”: Tribal and indigenous peoples’ education must be rooted in the people’s own land, language and culture – Survival International

Factory Schools: crimes against children from Survival International on Vimeo. Two million tribal and indigenous children are in Factory Schools today. Lives are destroyed and families are torn apart as the children are intentionally alienated from their community and stripped of their identity. – Campaign to put indigenous education under indigenous control >>

How to make a peaceful and decent future a little more probable?

“If a man cannot enjoy the return of spring, why should he be happy in a labour-saving Utopia? … I think that by retaining one’s childhood love of such things as trees, fishes, butterflies and … toads, one makes a peaceful and decent future a little more probable, and that by preaching the doctrine that … Read more

Adivasis’ world view: A truly sustainable lifestyle – Comment

Adivasi people: proud not primitive | Read the full article >> […] Defining what’s special about India’s adivasi or indigenous people is complicated. People, mostly anthropologists and human rights defenders, who know adivasis and have worked closely with them, also tend to be accused of romanticizing tribal peoples. Yet you can begin to understand what’s special … Read more