PHA-Exchange> In preparation of PHA2 No.29 (2)

[Claudio]

From: Debabar Banerji 

Dear Dr Werner

Your writings and actions in taking the side of the oppressed of the world have been a source of inspiration and strength to numerous workers who are involved in similar work. This work is in line with that trend. It is good that you start by showing `concern' at the present state of affairs.It is heartening that you have underlined the enormous power of the vested interests, which use weapons of misinformation and disinformation to perpetuate their grip over those who live on the other side of the moon.You rightly point out that this is a long grinding (and thankless) task

These bring to my mind your `fortuitous' visit to Bolivia in the midst of a massive protest and struggle of the oppressed.Such experiences of struggle have additive effect on the pool of the efforts of the oppressed to break the stranglehold of the oppressors.I will include the movement of liberation theology, Paulo Ferrier's Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society in that category. I have a vague memory of the series of books written by Maxim Gorky dealt with similar issues. Here, in India, we have rich material on experiments on education by our greatest poet, Rabindranath Tagore. He refused to get shacked by the conventional school education and went on later to set up qualitatively different schools for the indigenous people and followed it up by setting up a `different type of university called Vishva Bhariti. Gandhi and others involved in the anti-colonial struggle also had experimented with school education.

As the freedom movement gave way to a new political setting, as you have pointed out, the new ruling class almost consciously ignored the big task of providing `proper' education to the poor. When they were impelled to do so, they packed it with tons of misinformation and disinformation, While I am not familiar with the ideological moorings of the counter movement, we have been having Naxalistic/Maoist movements by the oppressed people in the forest belts resided by ethnic groups since the 1970s. It is estimated that this group has `infected' almost one third of the total area of the country. You might have read about similar movements in Nepal, which has spread its activities over three-fourths of its population.

I remember your insightful analysis of the fate of the Alma Ata Declaration.This enables us to study the nature of the PHM. there are those in PHM who work at the grassroots, `where there is no doctor'. At the same time there are many in PHM who tend to defend the indefensible. The latter group pay only lip service to the People's Health Chatter. I hope the PHM takes a more coherent for when it meets in Ecuador later this year. Unfortunately, as in the case of the Dhaka Conference, I will not be attending this conference.

Sincerely yours,
D Bannerji, 
Professor Emeritus, JNU, 
New Delhi
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