Seminar Report
International Seminar
New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization
Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Contemporary Studies
University of Allahabad
February 22 - 23, 2013
A two-day International Seminar on “New Social Movements in the Era of
Globalization” organized by the Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Contemporary Studies at the
Seminar Hall, Department of Political Science, University of Allahabad on February
22-23, 2013.
In his
Opening
Remarks at
the Inaugural
Session, Prof.
M. P. Dube
(Dean,
Faculty of
Arts,
University of
Allahabad)
stated that
theorizing
‘New Social
Movements’ is
very difficult
as these are
mostly
unpredictable,
irrational and
unreasonable. However, he categorized it in four groups – which are
‘transformative’, ‘reformative’, ‘redemptive’ and ‘alternative’ social movements. Prof.
Dube identified New Social Movements as the legacy of the New Left Movements
and Class Politics. After illustrating differences between the ‘Old’ and ‘New’ social
movements, Prof. Dube remarked that New Social Movements mainly focus on life
politics and implemented by new tactical and organizational skills.
(Prof. Dube on photo above together with Jill Harris and Mark Lindley)
In his Key Note Address, Prof. M. P. Singh (Formerly a Professor of Political
Science, University of Delhi, presently an honorary Senior Fellow, Centre for
Multilevel Feudalism, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi) analyzed different
categories of social movements and pointed out transformative stages of social
movements from ‘Old’ to ‘New’. Prof. Singh defined ‘New Social Movements’ as
symbolic action of civil society in the realm of production and action. According to
his view, State has emerged as the main focus of New Social Movements and these
are mainly organised for defending life world and cultural reproduction.
The ‘Guest of Honour’, Shri P V Rajagopal (Founder President, Ekta Parishad and
Member, National Land Reform Council, India) shared his experiences with the
audience as an activist of various new social movements. He remarked that
economically poor are not always culturally poor. But, in spite of having rich
cultural heritage, many people (especially tribal) cannot cope up with the speed of
developmental paradigm and lag behind the economic scenario. From his own
experience, Shri P V Rajagopal identified some basic dictum for the success of any
social movement, which is “to understand power of the poor and young people”,
“taking support from the middle class” and “trying to gather same ideological
groups under one banner”.
Canadian activist, Ms. Jill Carr Harris (International Coordinator, Ekta Initiative,
India) was another ‘Guest of Honour’. In her speech Ms. Harris identified different
facets of new social movements and illustrated ‘Facet of Alignment’ and ‘Facet of
Empowerment’. At last, Ms. Harris illustrated her own experiences and remarked
that we should form more movements for empowering real rural poor and
marginalized women as land is not a commodity but a measure of empowerment.
In the Presidential Address Prof. A. K. Bakshi (Vice Chancellor, Rajshri Tandan
Open University, Allahabad) identified ‘public unrest’ as a major indicator for social
movements, which are basically ‘group’ or ‘collective’ action. Prof. Bakshi remarked
that whenever injustice crosses the endurance level, people collectively organize
social movements. But he lamented that, due to proper leadership and
institutionalization, most of the movements fail to reach its goal. So, Prof. Bakshi
identified a deep need of ‘right’ leadership for successful completion of new social
movements.
At the end of the inaugural session, Mr. Trivikram Tiwari, SRF, Rajiv Gandhi
Chair, University of Allahabad delivered Vote of Thanks to the honorable guests,
presenters, participants and organizers of the seminar. Whole Inaugural Session
was coordinated by Dr. Pradeep Sharma, Centre for Globalization & Development
Studies, University of Allahabad.
After the Inaugural Session, four Working Sessions titled as, “New Social
Movements: A Theoretical Perspective”, “New Social Movements: Experiences”,
‘New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization’, and ‘New Social Movements:
Governmental Policies, Tools and Effects’ took place respectively, where
intellectuals across the globe presented their research papers.
The theme of our First Technical Session was ‘New Social Movements: A
Theoretical Perspective’. This Session was chaired by Prof. S. V. Pandey (Former
Vice Chancellor, Agra University, Agra) and was co-chaired by Prof. Mohd. Aslam
(Department of Political Science, University of Allahabad). Six papers was
presented in this session, which were ‘New Social Movements: A Theoretical
Overview’ by Dr. Arijit Bhattacharyya; ‘New Social Movements: Social or Political?’
by Mr. Pratick Mallick; ‘A Theoretical Analysis of New Social Movements’ by Mr.
Awadesh Kumar, ‘Globalization and New Social Movements’ by Mr. Santosh Kumar
Mishra, ‘New Social Movements and ‘Politics of Water’: Exploring the Global
Network of ‘Human Rights Discourse’ by Ms. Ruchi Shree, and ‘Globalization and
Indian Society’ by Dr. Uttam Singh.
The theme of Second Technical Session was ‘New Social Movements: Experiences’.
This Session was chaired by Prof. Nalini Pant (Retd. from Benaras Hindu
University, Varanasi) and was co-chaired by Dr. Om Prakash Dubey (Manpower
Development and Management Consultant). Many scholars presented paper in this
session, like Prof. Sanjay Gupta (Social Movements in the Age of Globalization:
Applied Aspects), Dr. K. V. Reddy (New Social Movements and State Responses: A
Study of Bahujan Samaj Movement), Dr. Mousumi Guha Banerjee (Emergence of
the ‘New Woman’ of the East: A Cinematic Portrayal in Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din
Ratri / ‘Days And Nights in the Forest’), Mr. Bibekananda Nayak (Globalization and
Tribal Cultural Movement: A Case Study of Kondh Tribe of Orissa), Dr.
Jangkhongam Doungel (New Social Movement in Mizoram for Electoral Reform – A
Case Study of Mizoram People Forum), Ms. Prerna Mandhyan (The Social
Transformation of Indian Economy in the Era of Globalization), Ms. Manju Kumari
(Ekkuorkokn rFkk oS’ohdj.k% ,d lafa{kIr voyksdu).
The second day of the two-day International Seminar on ‘New Social Movements in
the Era of Globalization’, organized by the Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Contemporary
Studies, started with the Third Technical Session on ‘Dalit, Feminist &
Environmental Movements’. This Session was chaired by Prof. Damyanti Gupta
(Former Head, Department of Political Science, University of Rajasthan) and was
co-chaired by Prof. Sanjay Gupta (Department of Political Science, Lucknow
University). Many scholars presented paper in this session, like Sr. Rose Anto (Reengineering and Reweaving the Planet from Female Perspective: The Spiritual
Strands of Eco-Feminist Epistemology), Dr. Ambrina Sardar Khan (Social
Movements for Environmental Issues: Need and Importance in 20th Century), Dr.
Ashvini Kumar Singh (Globalization, Marginalization and Social Movements), Mr.
Muneer (Political Reverberation’s of Arab Spring for Muslim Community in India),
Dr. Sumit Saurabh Srivastava (Women’s Movement in Global Scenario: Issues and
Relevance), Dr. Virendra B. Shahare (Dalit Movement in the Changing Milieu of
Globalization), Dr. Ashish Saxena (Issues and Concerns of Neo-Dalit Mobilization in
Global Era: Reflections from Contemporary India), Ms. Swati Srivastava (Social
Movements and the Social Construction of Human Rights), Ms. Minakhi Das (LGBT
Movement in India), Dr. Sourabodhi Bhattacharyya (Non-Violent Eco-Movement
and Sustainable Livelihood), Ms. Pragya Pandey (New Social Movements:
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and Dr. Jai S. Singh, Human Right to Speedy
Trial Movements: Governmental & Judicial Attitudes & Policies.
The theme of the Fourth Technical Session was ‘New Social Movements:
Governmental Policies, Tools and Effects’. This Session was chaired by Prof.
Krishna Gupta (Head, Political Science Department, University of Allahabad) and
was co-chaired by Dr. Manoj Sinha, Delhi University, Delhi. Many scholars
presented paper in this session, like Dr. Devendra Prasad Pandey (Role of NGOs in
the New Social Movements), Ms. Sheena (Emerging Role of Internet, Social
Networking Sites in New Social Movements in India), Mr. Anil Srivastava (A
Discussion on the Effects of New Social Movements in the Era of Globalization), Mr.
Farah Siddiqui, (Affects of Social Movement and Social Class in our Society), Dr.
Suchismita Das, (Social movements in India: Causes and Effects), Mr. Pradeep
Kumar Singh, (Changes in the Society through Urbanization and Education), Ms.
Poonam Kumari, (Indigenous People’s Intellectual Property Rights: A Quest for
Identity in a Globalized World), Ms. Saroj Gupta, (A Case Study of Ganga River
Pollution & the Role of Judiciary - with special reference to Save Ganga Movement
in India), Shyamsunder Singh, (In Search of Corporate that Revolutionize the Rural
Marketing Movement in India), and Rashmi Jain (Plays of Mahesh Dattani in the
Era of Globalization).
In the Valedictory Session, Prof. Mark Lindley (Visiting Professor, Boğaziçi
University, Istanbul, and Visiting Professor, Gujarat Vidyapith) remarked that
Gandhian ideologies are one of the main vibrant forces or source of inspiration
behind many New Social Movements worldwide. He was delivering Valedictory
Address in International Seminar on ‘New Social Movements in the Era of
Globalization’, organized by the Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Contemporary Studies. In
his lecture, he focused on the Occupy Movement of Boston, USA (organised in midSeptember 2011) and illustrated how Gandhian ideals like Non Violence, Self
Discipline, Mutual regards among People – became main source of inspiration
behind this Movement.
The Chairperson, Prof. R. P. Mishra (Former Vice Chancellor, University of
Allahabad) shared personal experiences of participation in the social movements
and remarked that Gandhi’s preaching should be distributed more amongst the
students as study materials as now young generation are forgetting real dictum of
Gandhiji. At last, Prof. Mishra suggested that we should change our mind set now
before changing world.
Prof. M. P. Dube (Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Allahabad) stated that New
Social Movements are challenging globalization and power structure. But, he
remarked that, ‘New’ Social Movements are not really so ‘new’ as these are started
long back under the leadership of Gandhi. At last, Prof Dube delivered Vote of
Thanks to the honorable guests, presenters, participants and organizers of the
seminar.
Two days report of the seminar has been presented by Ms. Nandini Basistha, Senior
Research Fellow, Rajiv Gandhi Chair in Contemporary Studies, University of
Allahabad.