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Chap

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PopularStruggles andMovements

Overview

In the earlier chapters we discussed why power sharing is importantin a democracy and how different tiers of government and varioussocial groups share power. In this chapter we will carry this discussionfurther and see how those who exercise power are constrained by theinfluence and pressure exerted on them. Democracy almost invariablyinvolves conflict of interests and viewpoints. These differences areoften expressed in organised ways. Those who are in power are requiredto balance these conflicting demands and pressures. We begin thischapter with a discussion of how struggles around conflicting demandsand pressures shape democracy. This leads to an analysis of thedifferent ways and organisations through which ordinary citizen canplay a role in democracy. In this chapter, we look at the indirect waysof influencing politics, through pressure groups and movements.This leads us in the next chapter to the direct ways of controllingpolitical power in the form of political parties.

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Popular struggles in Nepal and BoliviaDo you remember the story of thetriumph of democracy in Poland? Westudied it last year in the first chapterof class IX. The story reminded usabout the role played by the peoplein the making of democracy. Let usread two recent stories of that kindand see how power is exercised indemocracy.

Movement for democracy inNepalNepal witnessed an extraordinarypopular movement in April 2006. Themovement was aimed at restoringdemocracy. Nepal, you might recall, wasone of the ‘third wave’ countries that hadwon democracy in 1990. Although the

king formally remained the head of thestate, the real power was exercised bypopularly elected representatives. KingBirendra, who has accepted this transitionfrom absolute monarchy to constitutionalmonarchy, was killed in a mysteriousmassacre of the royal family in 2001.King Gyanendra, the new king of Nepal,was not prepared to accept democraticrule. He took advantage of the weaknessand unpopularity of the democraticallyelected government. In February 2005,the king dismissed the then Prime Ministerand dissolved the popularly electedParliament. The movement of April2006 was aimed at regaining popularcontrol over the government fromthe king.

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All the major political parties in theparliament formed a Seven PartyAlliance (SPA) and called for a four-daystrike in Kathmandu, the country’s capital.This protest soon turned into anindefinite strike in which MAOIST

insurgents and various otherorganisations joined hands. People defiedcurfew and took to the streets. Thesecurity forces found themselves unableto take on more than a lakh people whogathered almost every day to demandrestoration of democracy. The numberof protesters reached between three andfive lakhs on 21 April and they servedan ultimatum to the king. The leadersof the movement rejected the half-hearted concessions made by the king.They stuck to their demands for

Maoists: Thosecommunists who believein the ideology of Mao, theleader of the ChineseRevolution. They seek tooverthrow the governmentthrough an armedrevolution so as toestablish the rule of thepeasants and workers.

restoration of parliament, power toan all-party government and a newconstituent assembly.

On 24 April 2006, the last day ofthe ultimatum, the king was forced toconcede all the three demands. The SPAchose Girija Prasad Koirala as the newPrime Minister of the interimgovernment. The restored parliamentmet and passed laws taking away mostof the powers of the king. The SPA andthe Maoists came to an understandingabout how the new ConstituentAssembly was going to be elected. Thisstruggle came to be known as Nepal’ssecond movement for democracy. Thestruggle of the Nepali people is a sourceof inspiration to democrats all overthe world.

Political parties and people of Nepal in a rally demanding restoration of democracy in their country

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Bolivia’s Water WarThe story of Poland and that of Nepalapply to the struggle for establishing orrestoring democracy. But the role ofpopular struggles does not come to anend with the establishment of democracy.People’s successful struggle againstprivatisation of water in Bolivia remindsus that popular struggles are integral tothe working of democracy.

Bolivia is a poor country in LatinAmerica. The World Bank pressurised thegovernment to give up its control ofmunicipal water supply. The governmentsold these rights for the city ofCochabamba to a multi-nationalcompany (MNC). The companyimmediately increased the price of waterby four times. Many people receivedmonthly water bill of Rs 1000 in acountry where average income is aroundRs 5000 a month. This led to aspontaneous popular protest.

In January 2000, a new alliance oflabour, human rights and communityleaders organised a successful four-daygeneral strike in the city. The governmentagreed to negotiate and the strike wascalled off. Yet nothing happened. Thepolice resorted to brutal repression whenthe agitation was started again in February.Another strike followed in April and thegovernment imposed martial law. But thepower of the people forced the officialsof the MNC to flee the city and madethe government concede to all thedemands of the protesters. The contractwith the MNC was cancelled and watersupply was restored to the municipalityat old rates. This came to be known asBolivia’s water war.

Democracy and popularstrugglesThese two stories are from very differentcontexts. The movement in Nepal wasto establish democracy, while the strugglein Bolivia involved claims on an elected,democratic government. The popularstruggle in Bolivia was about one specificpolicy, while the struggle in Nepal wasabout the foundations of the country’spolitics. Both these struggles weresuccessful but their impact was atdifferent levels.

Despite these differences, both thestories share some elements which arerelevant to the study of the past andfuture of democracies. Both these areinstances of political conflict that led topopular struggles. In both cases thestruggle involved mass mobilisation.Public demonstration of mass supportclinched the dispute. Finally, bothinstances involved critical role of politicalorganisations. If you recall the firstchapter of Class IX textbook, this is howdemocracy has evolved all over theworld. We can, therefore, draw a fewconclusions from these examples: Democracy evolves throughpopular struggles. It is possible that somesignificant decisions may take placethrough consensus and may not involveany conflict at all. But that would be anexception. Defining moments ofdemocracy usually involve conflictbetween those groups who haveexercised power and those who aspirefor a share in power. These momentscome when the country is going throughtransition to democracy, expansion ofdemocracy or deepening of democracy.

Democratic conflict is resolvedthrough mass mobilisation. Sometimes

Are yousuggesting thatstrike, dharna,bandh anddemonstrationare good fordemocracy?

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Does it mean thatwhichever sidemanages tomobilise a biggercrowd gets awaywith whatever itwants? Are wesaying that ‘Mightis Right’ in ademocracy?

it is possible that the conflict is resolvedby using the existing institutions like theparliament or the judiciary. But whenthere is a deep dispute, very often theseinstitutions themselves get involved in thedispute. The resolution has to comefrom outside, from the people.

These conflicts and mobilisations are

based on new political organisations.True, there is an element of spontaneityin all such historic moments. But thespontaneous public participationbecomes effective with the help oforganised politics. There can be manyagencies of organised politics. Theseinclude political parties, pressure groupsand movement groups.

In 1984, the Karnataka government set up a company called Karnataka PulpwoodLimited. About 30,000 hectares of land was given virtually free to this company for 40years. Much of this land was used by local farmers as grazing land for their cattle.However the company began to plant eucalyptus trees on this land, which could be usedfor making paper pulp. In 1987, a movement called Kittiko-Hachchiko (meaning, pluck andplant) started a non-violent protest, where people plucked the eucalyptus plants andplanted saplings of trees that were useful to the people.

Suppose you belong to any of the following groups, what arguments would you putforward to defend your side: a local farmer, an environmental activist, a governmentofficial working in this company or just a consumer of paper.

Mobilisation and organisationsLet us go back to our two examples andlook at the organisations that made thesestruggles successful. We noted that thecall for indefinite strike was given by theSPA or the Seven Party Alliance in Nepal.This alliance included some big partiesthat had some members in theParliament. But the SPA was not the onlyorganisation behind this mass upsurge.The protest was joined by the NepaleseCommunist Party (Maoist) which did notbelieve in parliamentary democracy. This

party was involved in an armed struggleagainst the Nepali government and hadestablished its control over large partsof Nepal.

The struggle involved manyorganisations other than political parties.All the major labour unions and theirfederations joined this movement. Manyother organisations like the organisationof the indigenous people, teachers,lawyers and human rights groupsextended support to the movement.

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I don’t like thisword‘mobilisation’.Makes it feel as ifpeople are likesheep.

The protest against waterprivatisation in Bolivia was not led byany political party. It was led by anorganisation called FEDECOR. Thisorganisation comprised localprofessionals, including engineers andenvironmentalists. They were supportedby a federation of farmers who reliedon irrigation, the confederation offactory workers’ unions, middle classstudents from the the University ofCochabamba and the city’s growingpopulation of homeless street children.The movement was supported by theSocialist Party. In 2006, this party cameto power in Bolivia.

From both these examples, we cansee that in a democracy several differentkinds of organisations work behind anybig struggle. These organisations play

their role in two ways. One obvious wayof influencing the decisions in ademocracy is direct participation incompetitive politics. This is done bycreating parties, contesting elections andforming governments. But every citizendoes not participate so directly. Theymay not have the desire, the need orthe skills to take part in direct politicalactivity other than voting.

There are many indirect ways inwhich people can get governments tolisten to their demands or their pointsof view. They could do so by formingan organisation and undertaking activitiesto promote their interests or theirviewpoints. These are called interestgroups or pressure groups. Sometimespeople decide to act together withoutforming organisations.

Governments initiate schemes and programmes to alleviate the suffering of the poorand meet their basic needs. But poverty remains in the country. What could be thereasons for such a situation?

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Pressure groups and movementsPressure groups are organisations thatattempt to influence governmentpolicies. But unlike political parties,pressure groups do not aim to directlycontrol or share political power. Theseorganisations are formed when peoplewith common occupation, interest,aspirations or opinions come togetherin order to achieve a common objective.

In the course of the discussionabove we came across entities that arenot quite an organisation. The strugglein Nepal was called a movement fordemocracy. We often hear the word

people’s movement to describe manyforms of collective action: NarmadaBachao Andolan, Movement for Rightto Information, Anti-liquor Movement,Women’s Movement, EnvironmentalMovement. Like an interest group, amovement also attempts to influencepolitics rather than directly take part inelectoral competition. But unlike theinterest groups, movements have aloose organisation. Their decisionmaking is more informal and flexible.They depend much more onspontaneous mass participation than aninterest group.

Can you identify thepressure groupsfunctioning in the newsclippings given here?What demand are theymaking?

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Sectional interest groups andpublic interest groupsUsually interest groups seek to promotethe interests of a particular section orgroup of society. Trade unions, businessassociations and professional (lawyers,doctors, teachers, etc.) bodies are someexamples of this type. They are sectionalbecause they represent a section ofsociety: workers, employees, business-persons, industrialists, followers of areligion, caste group, etc. Their principalconcern is the betterment and well-beingof their members, not society in general.

Sometimes these organisations arenot about representing the interest of onesection of society. They represent somecommon or general interest that needsto be defended. The members of theorganisation may not benefit from thecause that the organisation represents. TheBolivian organisation, FEDECOR is anexample of that kind of an organisation.In the context of Nepal, we noted theparticipation of human rightsorganisations. We read about theseorganisations in Class IX.

These second type of groups arecalled promotional groups or publicinterest groups. They promote collectiverather than selective good. They aim tohelp groups other than their ownmembers. For example, a group fightingagainst bonded labour fights not for itselfbut for those who are suffering undersuch bondage. In some instances themembers of a public interest group mayundertake activity that benefits them aswell as others too. For example,BAMCEF (Backward and MinorityCommunities Employees Federation) isan organisation largely made up ofgovernment employees that campaignsagainst caste discrimination. It addresses

Land rights protest: farmers of West Java, Indonesia. In June 2004,about 15,000 landless farmers from West Java, travelled to Jakarta,the capital city. They came with their families to demand land reform, toinsist on the return of their farms. Demonstrators chanted, “No land, Novote” declaring that they would boycott Indonesia’s first directpresidential election if no candidate backed land reform.

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the problems of its members who sufferdiscrimination. But its principal concernis with social justice and social equalityfor the entire society.

Movement groupsAs in the case of interest groups, thegroups involved with movements alsoinclude a very wide variety. The variousexamples mentioned above alreadyindicate a simple distinction. Most ofthe movements are issue-specificmovements that seek to achieve a singleobjective within a limited time frame.Others are more general or genericmovements that seek to achieve a broadgoal in the very long term.

The Nepalese movement fordemocracy arose with the specificobjective of reversing the king’s ordersthat led to suspension of democracy. InIndia, Narmada Bachao Andolan is agood example of this kind ofmovement. The movement started with

the specific issue of the people displacedby the creation of Sardar Sarovardam on the Narmada river. Its objectivewas to stop the dam from beingconstructed. Gradually it became awider movement that questioned allsuch big dams and the model ofdevelopment that required such dams.Movements of this kind tend to have aclear leadership and some organisation.But their active life is usually short.

These single-issue movements canbe contrasted with movements that arelong term and involve more than oneissue. The environmental movement andthe women’s movement are examplesof such movements. There is no singleorganisation that controls or guides suchmovements. Environmental movementis a label for a large number oforganisations and issue-specificmovements. All of these have separateorganisations, independent leadershipand often different views on policy

Social movements andpressure groups try tomobilise citizens inmany ways. The collagehere shows some ofthem.

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related matters. Yet all of these share abroad objective and have a similarapproach. That is why they are called amovement. Sometimes these broadmovements have a loose umbrellaorganisation as well. For example, the

National Alliance for Peoples’Movements (NAPM) is an organisationof organisations. Various movementgroups struggling on specific issues areconstituents of this loose organisationwhich coordinates the activities of alarge number of peoples’ movementsin our country.

How do they influence politics?

Pressure groups and movements exertinfluence on politics in a variety of ways:

They try to gain public support andsympathy for their goals and theiractivities by carrying out informationcampaigns, organising meetings, filingpetitions, etc. Most of these groups tryto influence the media into giving moreattention to these issues.

They often organise protest activitylike strikes or disrupting government

What are the social movements listed in these news clippings? What efforts are theymaking? Which sections are they trying to mobilise?

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Many democraticgovernments providethe Right to Information(RTI) to the citizens.The RTI Act, 2005 is alandmark legislationpassed by ourParliament. Under thisAct, citizens can seekinformation fromgovernment officespertaining to differentactivities.

Do you think the cartoonexaggerates theobstructionist role ofbureaucracy in theimplementation of theAct? © N

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programmes. Workers’ organisations,employees’ associations and most of themovement groups often resort to thesetactics in order to force the governmentto take note of their demands.

Business groups often employprofessional lobbyists or sponsorexpensive advertisements. Some personsfrom pressure groups or movementgroups may participate in official bodiesand committees that offer advice to thegovernment.

While interest groups and movementsdo not directly engage in party politics,they seek to exert influence on politicalparties. Most of the movement groupstake a political stance without being a party.They have political ideology and politicalposition on major issues. The relationshipbetween political parties and pressuregroups can take different forms, somedirect and others very indirect:

In some instances, the pressuregroups are either formed or led by theleaders of political parties or act asextended arms of political parties. Forexample, most trade unions and students’organisations in India are eitherestablished by, or affiliated to one or theother major political party. Most of theleaders of such pressure groups areusually activists and leaders of party.

Sometimes political parties grow outof movements. For example, when theAssam movement led by students againstthe ‘foreigners’ came to an end, it led tothe formation of the Asom GanaParishad. The roots of parties like theDMK and the AIADMK in Tamil Naducan be traced to a long-drawn socialreform movement during the 1930s and1940s.

In most cases the relationshipbetween parties and interest ormovement groups is not so direct. Theyoften take positions that are opposed toeach other. Yet they are in dialogue andnegotiation. Movement groups haveraised new issues that have been takenup by political parties. Most of the newleadership of political parties comesfrom interest or movement groups.

Is their influence healthy?It may initially appear that it is not healthyfor groups that promote interest of onesection to have influence in democracy. Ademocracy must look after the interestsof all, not just one section. Also, it mayseem that these groups wield powerwithout responsibility. Political parties haveto face the people in elections, but thesegroups are not accountable to the people.Pressure groups and movements maynot get their funds and support

Follow the news on any news TV channel for one week. Make a note of news relatedto pressure groups or movements representing the following sectors or sections: farmers,traders, labour, industry, environment and women. Which of these are mentioned most ontelevision news? Which sections or interests get mentioned the least? You may follow anewspaper if you don’t have TV at home.

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The Green Belt Movement has planted 30 million trees across Kenya. Itsleader Wangari Maathai is very disappointed with the response of government

officials and politicians:

“In the 1970s and 1980s, as I was encouraging farmers to plant trees on theirland, I also discovered that corrupt government agents were responsible for much

of the deforestation by illegally selling off land and trees towell-connected developers. In the early 1990’s, thelivelihoods, the rights and even the lives of many Kenyans inthe Rift Valley were lost when elements of President DanielArap Moi’s government encouraged ethnic communities toattack one another over land. Supporters of the ruling partygot the land, while those in the pro-democracy movementwere displaced. This was one of the government’s ways ofretaining power; if communities were kept busy fighting overland, they would have less opportunity to demand democracy.”

In the above passage what relationship do you see betweendemocracy and social movements? How should this movementrespond to the government?

from the people. Sometimes, pressuregroups with small public support but lotsof money can hijack public discussion infavour of their narrow agenda.

On balance, however, pressuregroups and movements have deepeneddemocracy. Putting pressure on the rulersis not an unhealthy activity in a democracyas long as everyone gets this opportunity.Governments can often come underundue pressure from a small group of

rich and powerful people. Publicinterest groups and movements

perform a useful role of counteringthis undue influence and reminding

the government of the needs andconcerns of ordinary citizens.

Even the sectional interest groupsplay a valuable role. Where differentgroups function actively, no one singlegroup can achieve dominance oversociety. If one group brings pressure ongovernment to make policies in itsfavour, another will bring counterpressure not to make policies in the waythe first group desires. The governmentgets to hear about what different sectionsof the population want. This leads to arough balance of power andaccommodation of conflicting interests.

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This cartoon is called ‘News and No News’.Who is most often visible in the media?Whom are we most likely to hear aboutin newspapers?

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Exer

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1. In what ways do pressure groups and movements exert influenceon politics?

2. Describe the forms of relationship between pressure groups andpolitical parties?

3. Explain how the activities of pressure groups are useful in thefunctioning of a democratic government.

4. What is a pressure group? Give a few examples.

5. What is the difference between a pressure group and apolitical party?

6. Organisations that undertake activities to promote the interestsof specific social sections such as workers, employees, teachers,and lawyers are called _____________________ groups.

7. Which among the following is the special feature thatdistinguishes a pressure group from a political party?(a) Parties take political stances, while pressure groups do not

bother about political issues.(b) Pressure groups are confined to a few people, while parties

involve larger number of people.(c) Pressure groups do not seek to get into power, while political

parties do.(d) Pressure groups do not seek to mobilise people, while parties do.

8. Match List I (organisations and struggles) with List II and selectthe correct answer using the codes given below the lists:

List I List II

1. Organisations that seek to promote A. Movementthe interests of a particular sectionor group

2. Organisations that seek to promote B. Political partiescommon interest

3. Struggles launched for the resolution C. Sectional interestof a social problem with or without groupsan organisational structure

4. Organisations that mobilise people D. Public interestwith a view to win political power groups

1 2 3 4(a) C D B A(b) C D A B(c) D C B A(d) B C D A

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sList I List II

1. Pressure group A. Narmada Bachao Andolan

2. Long-term movement B. Asom Gana Parishad

3. Single issue movement C. Women’s movement

4. Political party D. Fertilizer dealers’ association

1 2 3 4(a) D C A B(b) B A D C(c) C D B A(d) B D C A

9. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using thecodes given below the lists:

10. Consider the following statements about pressure groups andparties.A. Pressure groups are the organised expression of the interests

and views of specific social sections.B. Pressure groups take positions on political issues.C. All pressure groups are political parties.

Which of the statements given above are correct?(a) A, B, and C (b) A and B (c) B and C (d) A and C

11. Mewat is one of the most backward areas in Haryana. It used tobe a part of two districts, Gurgaon and Faridabad. The people ofMewat felt that the area will get better attention if it were tobecome a separate district. But political parties were indifferentto this sentiment. The demand for a separate district was raisedby Mewat Educational and Social Organisation and MewatSaksharta Samiti in 1996. Later, Mewat Vikas Sabha was foundedin 2000 and carried out a series of public awareness campaigns. This forced both the major parties, Congress and the IndianNational Lok Dal, to announe their support for the new districtbefore the assembly elections held in February 2005. The newdistrict came into existence in July 2005.

In this example what is the relationship that you observe amongmovement, political parties and the government? Can you think of anexample that shows a relationship different from this one?

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