Constructing Global Civil Society from Below: A case study of learning global citizenship in the Save the Narmada Movement, India Natasha Shukla Institute of Education, University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 Abstract The thesis examines the informal learning of global citizenship in the course of social struggle within grassroots movements, through an ethnographic case study of the Save the Narmada Movement (NBA). The movment, comprising village communities in India, campaigned with the support of international non-governmental organisations to prevent the construction of a World Bank (WB) financed dam. The study arises in response to a perceived marginalisation of grassroots resistances, especially in developing contexts, within empirical accounts of global civil society (GCS), which is conceptualised as a space where 'global citizens' seek to resist and transform the exigencies of economic globalisation. Interrogating the validity of this exclusion, a Gramscian framework is adopted to examine whether, and in what ways grassroots actors are global citizens, engaged in the transformative politics of GCS. Analysis of data emerging from NBA suggests that contestation with political structures at the national (Indian government) and global (WB) level is an important source of learning that leads to the construction of a movement's global citizenship. Through a Gramscian dialectical process of strategic action and reflection, the movement developed a critical awareness of the class character of these institutions, leading NBA to connect its local struggle against the dam to wider struggle against `destructive development and globalisation. This process encouraged a revalorisation of grassroots participants' subjective relationships to the nation-state, leading amongst some, to the rejection of national citizenship in favour of global affiliations. Articulation of global citizenship was based on a counter-hegemonic identification with struggles of the oppressed across the world, rather than a depoliticised 'moral universalism'. However, learning to extend global citizenship to challenging oppression embedded within movement communities is constrained in a context where unity against external oppressors is paramount. By examining the learning processes that led NBA to articulate and perform global citizenship in empowering ways, the thesis points to how grassroots movements are constructing GCS, and therefore contests their current marginalisation within GCS perspectives. 2 I hereby declare that, except where explicit attribution is made, the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. Word count (exclusive of appendices, list of references and bibliography): 90,500 3 Abbreviations and Acronyms 8 Glossary of Hindi and Bhilali Words 9 Chapter 1 13 Introduction 13 RESEARCH FOCUS 13 THE SAVE THE NARMADA MOVEMENT 14 THE PARADOXICAL CONCEPTUALISATION OF GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY 19 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 21 RATIONALE AND ASSUMPTIONS BEHIND RESEARCH FOCUS 23 ORGANISATION OF THESIS 25 Chapter 2 28 Globalisation, Global Civil Society and Global Citizenship 28 INTRODUCTION 28 WHAT IS GLOBALISATION? 29 Dimensions of Globalisation 30 DEFINING GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY 33 Refining 'GCS' — A departure from international relations and transnational civil society perspectives 34 Features of the Normative Project of GCS 36 DEFINING GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP 38 DESCRIPTIVE PARAMETERS OF GCS 40 The Actors who Perform Global Citizenship 40 Global Actors — Agents of Transformation? 43 ALTERNATIVE ACTORS OF GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY 47 Local Social Movements in Trans-border Politics 50 MORAL AND POLTICAL FORMS OF GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP IN GCS 55 Moral Universalism and Global Citizenship 55 Political Conditions of Globalisation and Global Citizenship 56 CONCLUSION 58 Chapter 3 60 Social movements, Counter-hegemonic Resistance and Learning 60 INTRODUCTION 60 DEFINING AND CONCEPTUALISING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 61 Collective Identity 62 APPROACHES TO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY 63 Resource Mobilisation Theory 64 New Social Movement Theory 66 Gramscian Perspectives 69 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: LEARNING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE 78 New Social Movement Theory 81 Gramscian Theory 82 4 A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE THESIS: GRAMSCIAN THEORY, GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY, AND LEARNING 85 The Global Hegemony 86 Global Civil Society and Global Citizenship 86 Local movements, Trans-border Action and Learning 87 CONCLUSION 89 Chapter 4 91 Bringing Research to Life: The Methodology and Methods of Fieldwork 91 INTRODUCTION 91 RESEARCH AIMS AND QUESTIONS 91 A QUALITTIVE LENS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY APPROACH 93 RESEARCH PROCESS 98 Phase 1 — Movement Leaders and Offices 98 Phase 2 — Grassroots Communities 103 Sampling 103 Research conditions 106 Executing the ethnographic approach 110 Role as researcher 117 Phase 3 — International NGOs 119 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 120 ANALYSIS OF DATA 123 A NOTE ON REFERENCING DATA SOURCES 125 CONCLUSION 126 Chapter 5 128 Contextualising NBA's Politics: 'Destructive Development' versus `Environmentalism of the Poor' 128 INTRODUCTION 128 DEVELOPMENT HEGEMONY AND THE STATE IN INDIA 129 Independent India and the Discourse of Development 129 Development, the WB and Globalisation 130 Dams and Development 134 RESISTANCE TO DEVELOPMENT - NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN INDIA 136 Conceptualising New Social Movements in India 136 The Political Space for NSMs in India 140 Environmentalism in India 142 NBA AND THE CRITIQUE OF 'DESTRUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT' 145 People of the Narmada Bachao Andolan 145 A Chronology of the Struggle 150 NBA's Discourse of Resistance and Alternatives 153 CONCLUSION 159 Chapter 6 161 International NGOs in the Narmada Campaign 161 INTRODUCTION 161 5 THE INTERNATIONAL NARMADA CAMPAIGN: A CHRONOLOGY 162 The First International Campaign: The Oxfam-Arch Vahini Alliance 163 The Second International Campaign: The NBA-Environmental NGOs Alliance 164 THE INTERNATIONAL NARMADA CAMPAIGN: AN INSTANCE OF GCS? 170 The Narmada Campaign as GCS 171 Discourses and Strategies in the International Narmada Campaign: Contradicting GCS? 172 CONCLUSION 182 Chapter 7 184 NBA's Collective Identity — Political and Cognitive Praxis at the Local, National and Global Scales 184 INTRODUCTION 184 ANALYTICAL PROBLEMS IN CURRENT THEORISATIONS OF NBA 185 DEFINING COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, SCALE AND SCALE FRAMES 187 PROCESSES IN NBA'S MULTISCALAR POLITICS AND THE EVOLUTION OF COLLECTIVE IDENTITY 189 The Local Scale Frame and Collective Identity 189 The National Scale Frame and Collective Identity 192 Transnational Scale Frame and Collective Identity 201 The Global Scale Frame and Collective Identity 209 THE NATURE OF NBA'S COLLECTIVE IDENTITY 219 CONCLUSION 220 Chapter 8 223 Democratic Participation and Citizenship of the Grassroots 223 INTRODUCTION 223 STATE DOMINATION AND DENIAL OF CITIZENSHIP 224 Adivasi Experiences 224 Nimari Experiences 227 SOCIAL STRUGGLE AND ENCOUNTERING NATIONAL CITIZENSHIP 230 POLITICISING NATIONAL CITIZENSHIP — RIGHTS AND RADICAL DEMOCRACY 234 UNDERSTANDING SCALES 237 SUBJECTIVE CONSTRUCTIONS OF CITIZENSHIP — LOCAL, NATIONAL AND GLOBAL 240 Common Themes — Corrupt Government, Development and Displacement of the Poor 240 Citizens of India - National Well-Being over Global Solidarity 244 Local Identities — The Rejection of National Citizenship 249 Global Citizens 251 Non-Modern Citizenship — `Adivasis as those who struggle' 256 CONCLUSION 257 Chapter 9 260 (Performing) Global Citizenship at the Local Level 260 INTRODUCTION 260 NIMARI SOCIETY: THREE DIMENSIONS OF OPPRESSION 260 6 Patriarchy 261 Caste 262 Class 264 A FRAMEWORK FOR INTERPRETING CHANGES IN TRADITIONAL STRUCTURES OF OPPRESSION 265 NBA AS A PEDAGOGICAL SPACE FOR LOCAL TRANSFORMATION 266 Counter-Hegemonic Struggle and the Rupture of Traditional Power Structures 266 Counter-Hegemonic Struggle and the Maintenance of 'Community' 270 REFLEXIVITY AND CONSENT AMONGST THE GRASSROOTS 274 Gender Consciousness and Practices 275 Caste Consciousness and Practices 278 Class Consciousness and Practices 284 CONCLUSION 287 Chapter 10 289 Conclusion 289 INTRODUCTION 289 EMPIRICAL FINDINGS 289 THEORETICAL AND EMPRICAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDY 295 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 300 Bibliography 303 Archival Material 342 APPENDIX: DATA ANALYSIS 346 7 List of Maps/Tables/Figures/Photographs Map of India and the Sardar Sarovar project area 15 Table: Social movement theories: Social change and models of political learning.... 85 Figures: Summary of research process 120 NBA's collective identity 219 Photographs: Deforestation in the Narmada Valley 16 House submerged by rising waters of Narmada reservoir 18 NBA office in Barwani 99 NBA school in Bhadal 106 View of the Narmada River from Bhadal 107 Kishore's in Bhadal 108 Village square in Pipri 109 Village lane in Pipri 110 Demonstrations in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 116 Travelling with tried protestors on an overnight train journey 116 Protestors at the Ministry of Water Resources in Delhi 117 Adivasi girl 146 Agricultural fields in Adivasi village 147 Chillies drying on a roof in a Nimari village 148 Labourers working in an onion field 149 Group of women gherao a policeman 230 8 Abbreviations and Acronyms CAWBADIA — Campaign against World Bank and Destructive International Aid CPI(ML) — Conmmunist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) EDF — Environmental Defense Fund EDs — Executive Directors FoEJ — Friends of the Earth, Japan GCS — Global civil