[WSF-Discuss] Fwd: Smitu Kothari passes away

Tue Mar 24 12:08:01 UCT 2009

 From New Delhi, Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Dear friends everywhere

             This is just to post some very sad news from Delhi…  
Smitu Kothari, who many of you might have known or known of, passed  
away yesterday morning, very suddenly.

             Apologies for the small delay in my reaching you this  
news, and also, of course, for cross-posting.

             In Smitu’s memory, and thinking today of his father  
Rajni, partner Bindya, daughter Emma, brothers Miloon and Ashish, and  
all his many friends and near and extended family -

             Jai

fwd

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Delhi Forum <delhiforum at delhiforum.net>
> Date:  March 23 2009 11:04:41 AM GMT+05:30
> Subject: Smitu Kothari passes away
>
> Friends,
>
> Noted scholar, author and activist Smitu Kothari passed away today  
> early morning (India time 23rd March 6 a.m.). He died of a cardiac  
> attack after having undergone a heart surgery yesterday at AIIMS in  
> Delhi. The cremation will be held at Lodi Road electric Crematorium  
> in South Delhi at 4pm on the 23rd March.
>
> Smithu was attending a Delhi Solidarity Group meeting with Himalaya  
> Niti Abhiyan friends and others to discuss strategies and support  
> for the people's struggles in Himachal Pradesh against  
> displacement, mining and environmental destruction on the 20th  
> afternoon, when he had a cardiac attack. From Indian Social  
> Institute, he was rushed to All India Institute of Medical  
> Sciences. He was discharged the same day as his ECG was found to be  
> normal. However, on 21st, doctors did detail investigations, where  
> it was found out that he had already developed a serious rupture in  
> his main artery and an immediate surgery was undertaken on the  
> 22nd. However, that also could not help him as he collapsed during  
> post-operative care to a cardiac arrest today early morning.
>
> Smitu Kothari was one of the founders of Lokayan ("Dialogue of the  
> People"), and Intercultural Resources, two centres in Delhi, India  
> promoting exchange between non-party political formations and  
> concerned scholars and other citizens from India and the rest of  
> the world. Trained in physics, communications, and sociology, he  
> was involved in ecological, cultural and human rights issues  
> striving to collectively forge a national and global alternative  
> that is socially just and ecologically sane. He had been a visiting  
> Professor at Cornell and Princeton Universities. He was, at the  
> time of his death, President of the International Group for  
> Grassroots Initiatives and a Contributing Editor of The Ecologist  
> and of Development. He published extensively on critiques of  
> contemporary economic and cultural development, the relationship of  
> nature, culture and democracy, developmental displacement, people’s  
> governance, and social movements. Smitu was always a source of  
> inspiration and support to not just people's movements and  
> struggles in India, but also to voices of dissent and alternatives  
> across the globe.
>
> Among the books he edited are: Voices of Struggle : Social  
> Movements in Asia (2006); Voices of Sanity : In Search of  
> Democratic Space (2002); A Watershed in Global Governance ? An  
> Independent Assessment of the World Commission on Dams; The Value  
> of Nature : Ecological Politics in India (2003); Out of the Nuclear  
> Shadow (with Zia Mian, 2001); Rethinking Human Rights : Challenges  
> for Theory and Action (1991); and, The Non-Party Political  
> Process : Uncertain Alternatives (with Harsh Sethi, 1988); He was  
> currently working on a new book, Ecological Justice : Nature,  
> Culture, and Democracy.
>
>
> In Solidarity,
>
> Delhi Forum
> F-10/12, Malviya Nagar
> New Delhi - 110017. INDIA
> Ph: + 91-11-26680883 / 26680914
> Fax: +91-11-26687724
> Email: delhiforum at gmail.com / delhiforum at delhiforum.net /  
> dforum at bol.net.in
>

On Mar 23 09, at 3:28 PM, medha at narmada.org wrote:
> NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN
>
> · 62 M.G Marg, Badwani, Madhya Pradesh - 451551
> Telefax: 07290-222464; E-mail: nba.medha at gmail.com
> ·Maitri Niwas, Tembewadi, Behind Kakawadi, Dhadgav, Dist. Nandurbar,
> Maharashtra - 425414 – Telefax: 02595-220620
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ----------
> NBA salutes the life-long contribution of
> Smitu Kothari to people's movements
>
> Resolves to carry forward his vision for a just and pro-poor  
> development
>
> Narmada Bachao Andolan joins other people's movements in expressing  
> its shock
> and grief at the most untimely demise of Smitu Kothari, one of the  
> most active,
> progressive and consistent voices against the neo-liberal anti-poor  
> agenda of
> privatization, globalization and liberalization in recent times. A  
> widely
> respected scholar, visiting academic at the Cornell and Princeton  
> Universities,
> author of several publications on contemporary socio-political and  
> economic
> discourses and above all an indomitable activist, Smitu Kothari, 59  
> passed away
> today early morning at 6 a.m owing to a cardiac attack after having  
> undergone a
> heart surgery yesterday at AIIMS in Delhi. The cremation will be  
> held at Lodi
> Road electric Crematorium in South Delhi at 4pm on the 23rd March.
>
> The most unexpected stroke came when Smitu was at a meeting of the  
> Delhi
> Solidarity Group and Himalaya Niti Abhiyan to discuss strategies for
> strengthening the people's struggles in Himachal Pradesh against  
> displacement,
> mining and environmental destruction on the 20th afternoon, from  
> where he was
> rushed to the AIIMS and was discharged the same day as his ECG was  
> found to be
> normal.  However he was again hospitalized a day later due to arterial
> complications and succumbed during the post-operative care.
>
> One of the founders of Lokayan ("Dialogue of the People"), and  
> Intercultural
> Resources, two centres in Delhi promoting exchange between non- 
> party political
> formations and concerned scholars and other citizens from India and  
> the rest of
> the world, he was actively  involved in ecological, cultural and  
> human rights
> issues striving to collectively forge a national and global  
> alternative that is
> socially just and ecologically sane and in this capacity has been  
> vigorously
> pursuing multifarious academic and activist initiatives.  
> Development induced
> displacement, people’s governance and social-environmental  
> movements were
> some of his core concerns. He was also one of the striving spirits  
> behind the
> Independent People's Tribunal on the World Bank Group in India held  
> in 2007.
>
> Smitu has also been a long time vocal supporter of the struggle of the
> thousands of adivasis, farmers, labourers, fishworkers, potters and  
> all the
> project-affected people in the Narmada valley and articulated their  
> concerns at
> various fora both within India and across continents.
>
> A truly loving person, Smitu continues to be a source of  
> inspiration not just
> for people's movements and struggles in India, but also to voices  
> of dissent
> and alternatives across the globe. NBA expresses its heartfelt  
> condolences to
> Smitu's extended family of activists, supporters and all peace and  
> justice
> loving people. We salute his decades of invaluable contribution to  
> diverse
> people's movements and resolves to take forward his message and  
> commitment to
> come together and be united against all odds and strengthen our  
> collective
> force for justice.
>
> Medha Patkar	      Ashish Mandloi	    Kamla Yadav        Kailash  
> Awasya
>
______________________________

Jai Sen
jai.sen at cacim.net
CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
www.cacim.net
Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, +91-98189 11325 - PLEASE NOTE NEW SECOND NUMBER !

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