Can NGOs work with social movements in ways that avoid domination and co-optation? In his article on Transformation Michael Silberman says ‘yes:’ genuine partnerships can be formed, though there are always difficulties and dangers. From a movement perspective and based on my experience in India, however, I’d say there’s a deeper issue at stake: NGOs seem incapable of practicing what movements really need, which isn’t partnership but solidarity.
My first brush with movements came when I participated in the “Rally for the Valley” led by Arundhati Roy in solidarity with the Narmada Bachao Andolan (the Save Narmada Movement or ‘NBA’) in 1999. I became part of a group of students who accompanied NBA’s surprise actions at central government ministries, month-long sit-ins at the Jantar Mantar designated protest space in Delhi, exposure trips to the Narmada Valley, film screenings, seminars and debates.
Later, we joined with teachers, lawyers, journalists, artists, activists and NGOs to constitute the Delhi Support Group for Narmada, which expanded to become the Delhi Solidarity Group in support of a wider range of natural resource-based protests struggling for community rights over land, water, forests and minerals.
