"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards"- Soren Kierkegaard
The above statement holds true, not just for every human experience and endeavor, but also for every single social movement, agitation and initiative. This is probably is one of the major reasons why no social movement can divorce itself from its past and the present location and nature of the movement has to learn from its past. The 'Practioners' Conclave' aims at bringing together, the past and the present experiences, to deliberate and work towards a better future.
Save the Western Ghats March of 1987/88 is widely considered to be one of the pioneering Environmental Movements of India and has played a crucial role in building and shaping the Ecological Consciousness in this country. Though the level of activism dwindled with time, the fervor and the zest to carry on voicing the cause of the Western Ghats survived. This zest lives on till today with a revival of the Save the Western Ghats Movement having captured the national attention. But, the way ahead should be carved with a celebration and appreciation of the past. We should make use of this opportunity to understand what the March of 1987/88 entailed, what it attained and what are the lessons we could carry forward from it. The past is essential so that we could learn to build from it. In our efforts to move ahead, this conclave is also an avenue for us to understand our present and our future from the perspective of the goalposts and vision of the past. It will only be an enabling and enriching experience to comprehend how the SWG March of 1987/88 had formulated and pitched the concerns of the Western Ghats, 25 years back and to see how deep and how far have we been able to understand and address those concerns and problematic raised.
This section provides some archival material from the SWG March of 1987/88 which will help you to formulate a more nuanced understanding of the trajectory of the Save the Western Ghats Movement in these 25 years. From the agenda and the vision of the March, to individual and collective experiences and perceptions to a roadmap for the way ahead, these publications bring into focus the entire activism during those crucial 100 days of the march and the deliberations following it.
We would like to thank Mr. Kalanand Mani for sharing this archival material with us.
