Affective Politics, Alliance Formations in Environmental Activism: A view from Odisha, India.

Abstract

This paper draws on empirical research on grassroot resistance movement against Bauxite mining in Sijimali hills in Odisha. Sijimali hills was leased out for Bauxite mining to a multinational corporate in February 2023, without prior consent from the locals. Subsequently, many manipulative and repressive tactics were adopted by the state to suppress resistance by the locals. In framing the agenda of mining the hills as a patriotic call for the development of the region, the state has tactically tried to project the movement leaders as anti-nationals, creating injury to the nation by blocking its financial benefits. In a counter move, drawing on the conceptual resource that the hills of the region are entangled with each other, interdependent and vulnerable to exploitation, forging of alliance between different resistance movements against Bauxite mining projects in the region is made possible. A shared vulnerability of loss of livelihood, ecology, culture, and an alertness towards the capitalist greed provides ground for bringing alliance politics to the center stage. Further, the indigenous ontologies and their ways of relating to the nature through familial relationships has led to forging alliances between diverse communities within the Sijimali hills itself. In interrogating diverse tactics adopted by the state as well as the movement leaders, the paper interrogates the way emotions are framed, and alliances are forged in the struggle to save the Sijimali hills.