Ideas and People can Change the World!

Only, Ideas and People Can Change the World!

John Samuel opens-up for the Interns of the National Centre for Advocacy Studies, his life, his experience and his views of change and how to bring it about.

John Samuel is currently the International Director of Actionaid, based in Bangkok.
Mihir Bhonsale brings you an excerpt from an interaction with John Samuel.


Q: How did you become an activist?

JS: I became aware of Politics during the Emergency (1975-1977) even before I became a teenager. I acquired my political sensibility and activism through discussions, debates and reading in our village library. Kerala had a vibrant library movement and it enabled and empowered many young people. I come from a village near Adoor, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan is also from the same area.

My parents were educated and they were working outside- as I lived initially with my maternal grant parents and then with paternal grandmother. I studied in a local Government school with dalit and poor children. So I was aware about cast discrimination and poverty and felt very uneasy and angry about it.The library had all kinds of news-papers and I used to read all newspapers and books all without knowing the political ideology or inclination- for the sheer joy of reading. I got into reading from childhood.

During the Emergency regime, many of my friends (who were in their twenties and thirties got arrested, which made me angry. I was aware about the politics of the time, and the J.P. Movement through the newspapers. Much later did I realize that two of my friends who were arrested were Naxalities and two of them were of the RSS

I started my political activism and advocacy against emergency- often taking part in study classes by local Marxist intellectuals, helping the anti-emergency activists with information .There was a culture of silence and fear. It is very difficult to explain the difficult times now. I used to cycle away two kilometers to pass on information from one activist to another.

I got into active political activism during the general election in 1977. I was campaigning for the Left front against Emergency regime. Though Congress (I) lost the election in rest of India, in Kerala congress managed to win that election. Our candidate too lost. During those formative years, I was very much into learning about socialism and Marxist theory of change. I used to attend study classes and read every available book on the topic. After my initial enthusiasm with SFI, CPM and other party politics , active in the students politics, I gradually got disillusioned with the party power politics as I could not find any real commitment to idealism and ideology in most of the parties. Though I am a great supporter of political party systems( then and now) , there has been a degeneration in terms of ideological commitment as well the quality of leadership. Political parties have been reduced to electoral network to capture state power by hook or crook. That is what disillusioned me. Otherwise I would have been working with a political party , rather than choosing to work in civil society or directly with citizens.

By the time I grew up, I got equally interested in literature, writing and editing. So in my 11th grade I along with a group of friends started a students’ cultural group and started a printed Journal- Pratidhawni- for students. It was a great learning experience as we ran it for five years, though not bringing out regularly. During those years, I interviewed many poets, writers and also wrote. So when I got disillusioned with mainstream party politics, I was keen to take up a creative vocation. I was keen to come to Pune , partly due to the Film Institute- hoping to become a film maker- and partly because of one of my very good friends( from our cultural group) joined Pune University. As my parents were against me joining politics or Films, as a sort of compromise they allowed me to choose English Literature, leaving my Science background.




Q: Please elaborate on your views on change and how to bring it about?

JS: Though I finished my BSc, I joined the Pune University for MA English. We started a group called Bodhi, which became one of the biggest student groups of Pune University. People said we are ultra-left and all. We also started a street-theatre group and I was the key organizer. We used to visit the slums of Pune and performed there. University campus provided me an opportunity to develop a pan-Indian perspective, and to learn more about social theory, history and political process. Bodhi discussions on every Wednesday became very popular and I learnt to speak in fluent English during those discussions, often moderated by me.

If you really want to do something and be sincere about that then you have to put in your Dil (heart) Dimaag (brain) and Dum (Dynamism). If there is no Dil( or real belief or commitment) no change is possible within you or around you. That is the first thing about change. You should feel angry for the injustice happening next door, I felt angry about injustice from the age of ten. There are so much atrocities happening in the society against girl child, against women, against dalits, but most of the people keep quiet. Anger and dream are very important. So, solidarity comes from the Dil. Only Dil does not help, otherwise you feel burned-out. To transform that anger into something positive, one should think through possible alternative and options and hence Dimaag( thinking) is very important along with commitment. If you do not use your mind, the World is not an innocent place. You will be completely outmaneuvered. But the will to act come from the internal drive , fire in the belly(Dum) that brings out a sort of dynamism in all our work. Dil gives you a sense of passion, Dimaag can translate that passion in to a sort of vision and mission and Dum is the internal energy and will to realize that sense of mission. These qualities of commitment, competence and a will to translate mission in to action are very crucial for any good leadership.

But, if you have the force of commitment, courage of conviction and a clear sense of vision, nothing can stop you in the world. This is what I have learnt over a period of time and NCAS is sort of witness to that.

I still remember the initial ridicule that I had to face when we began the NCAS as an idea, with few files, in hole in the wall arrangement in a small room in Lower Parel, Mumbai, sharing a very dingy office space with Unique Features.

Most of the people do not treat the young as equal. I realized that feudal values, patriarchy and identity issue are still alive even in the NGO or so-called civil society sector. Though everyone discouraged me and overall environment was discouraging, I was committed to the idea of advocacy , social transformation and to that of NCAS. Since I was there for an idea, and due to courage of conviction and less for a job or career, I was least bothered about initial adversity to the NCAS project from various quarters. I was convinced that NCAS can make a difference in this country in the years to come. I was convinced that I am here with a sense of mission rather than for a job. In the course of years, it seems some of my convictions were valid enough to transform NCAS from a mere name and a file that I inherited to an important social change resource centre in India and global south. NCAS has influenced ideas ( of advocacy and human rights) across the social action groups and civil society in India and internationally.

What Makes Change happen?

Only two things can change the World, ‘Ideas and people’. All other things are peripheral. Money or wealth or weapons can not change the world in the long run. You cannot kill an Idea, you can only challenge an idea. The moment you put an idea, it’s like a seed, it will come up in different forms, so you can challenge Marx, but you cannot kill Marxism, as an idea. Savarkar proposed Hindutva- you can not kill that idea , one can only challenge it. Ideas are more dangerous than anything else. Mussolini was more scared about the ideas of Antonio Gramsci. So Mussolini said : ‘his mind should stop working’. Mussolini said, ‘jailing him won’t help, his mind is more dangerous than his body’. Gramsci’s, Prison Notebooks are one of the best books in influencing social change.

Ideas are the most powerful weapons in the World. But, ideas become active, when people live with it and live to propel it , translate it and use those ideas as means to transform the society and world. Young people with ideas and ideals are the force, which can change the World. Ideas and Ideals create whatever imagination. The best of the Dil, Dimaag and Dum are in the young people.

Every moment of life you have to live and feel the life . Living is an art of feeling, thinking and doing- making a difference wherever you are. Living is also an art of unleashing your imagination and creativity – magic of discovering the world within you and around you.

Every human being does eat, shit and procreate, and life seems so simple!! That makes Life into such a monotonous routine of existence , without creative impulse or transformative potential.

Experience is very important. One should be able to feel, touch and smell with a sense of passion and intensity. Experience is one of the biggest sources of learning and inspiration. But the tragedy is that one is not even often aware about one’s own experience in a life of routine- devoid of the sense of curiosity and wonder. Skills and tools are also important.

What is the difference between human beings and animals? Human beings have creativity, community and communications. The creative and power instincts of human being propel to give birth as well to kill, to create as well as to destroy, to imagine as well as to impose.

Human beings have vanities about power, they are full of vanities and these vanities of power are often built within the social system.

Ideas give rise to imagination and Imagination can propel new ideas. Courage of conviction in those ideas and ability to inspire , initiate and nurture young people , the rest will happen. Knowledge is power. But Imagination is more important than knowledge. Imagination is the impulse to creativity. Human Creativity and Conviction are what make change happen. They together make the will act. They are the moving force behind history. All other things like wealth, weapons etc are mere enabling factors. Remember Confucius, Vedas, Buddha, Jesus, Prophet Mohammed, Newton, Marx, Einstein, or Gandhi influenced world more than the great warrior kings or the richest people.

As young people, you should dare to dream! You have to learn to dream about the society and you. You have to imagine that you can change the world. You need to nurture your self awareness and creative impulse. You have to believe in your ability to transform yourself and the world around you. You need to have the courage of conviction. Then, you can indeed change the world!

Making change happen is the most exciting thing in the world- a proof our living, a sign of our creative impulse, a responsibility to go beyond yourselves , to touch, feel and smell the world- to be an agent of transformation. Why not?

Our society is in full of contradictions, the society is yet very feudal, the power structure is still problematic based on caste, religion, and language. In the N.G.O’s also, who are the people who call the shots ? They are Urban, Upper Class, Upper Caste, and English speaking people . They come from elite institutions and privileged background. For many of them , NGOs are a more relaxed way of working , a bit of an alternative style, and a bit of do-good impulse; not necessarily means to challenge the satus quo or transform the world. More often, it is the same class of people who take the leadership in top bureaucracy, corporate sector and NGO.

There is less opportunities and choices for rural youth – with out adequate skills in English or the enabling kind of exposure. While many of the English speaking privileged class encourage the rural people and less privileged one’s to speak in local languages or Hindi, they unwittingly foreclose the possibility of further exposure or learning to such people. So often, those who speak or write Hindi ends up in a small organisation or work at the district level and those who have access to language, knowledge and exposure end up leading the more privileged urban NGOs or INGOs. Somehow there is indeed a language connotation to our power structure- that emerged out of the colonial process. It is also because of the diversity of India. English is the only connecting language across the middle class of India. So while it is good to know Tamil and Hindi, without communication skills in English, you may end up having less advantage. Hence , I used to insist every one to learn to write and speak in English. You need to go beyond your comfort zone to learn new things and new skills.

It is also important to truly respect diversity and pluralism wherever you are. It is equally important to stand up and speak out for those who are less privileged in a given situation. I tried to do that whenever there was an opportunity. Now Actionaid has an affirmative recruitment policy. Few years ago all leaders came from upper cast and upper class and majority religion. Now we have many senior leaders from dalit , tribal back ground. We have more women in leadership.

Perspective is another important force of change. Every one keeps interpreting the world around us with one perspective or to other. However, what you see depends on where you stand!

The mind can often end up rationalize everything as per the convenience. It can be used to rationalize Hitler or Stalin. The mind can also become very cynical. Such cynical rationalism can often be counter productive and dangerous.

The solidarity is shared sense of feeling and a sense of collective commitment. You can not derive sense of solidarity or courage of conviction from text books or from social theory. Unless, you feel about causes and consequence of injustice and poverty, it is difficult for one to act . Descartes wrote: 'I think therefore I am'. This is a problem Cartesian mode of thinking largely prevalent in the European world – making a distinction between mind and body, experience and reason etc .!

After spending a week in a remote village in a river island( Choar Mumtaz) in Bangladesh, I write down my experience( available on the blog: www.bodhigram.blogspot.com) . I ended that reflection with a counter point to the Cartesian mode: “ I feel therefore I am; I think therefore I do”

We need both poetry and politics for a new wave of change. We need political imagination as well as poetry of power and passion to transform the barren landscape of our thinking and action.




(This is an Excerpt from the Interaction of Interns with John Samuel at the Conference Room, National Centre for Advocacy Studies, Pune).