July 2020
14
ISSN 2278 0742
Slow Violence: Giving Voice to Polluted Landscapes Deepali Bhushan Awasare & Vivekanand Arjunrao Rankhambe
Abstract In an age where yesterday‘s news is dead news and the attention span is counted eyeball per eyeball, this paper attempts to bring forth the discussion on slow violence. It explores the ways in which we can translate the slow incremental changes of environmental degradation into attention grabbing images and stories which result in political actions against environmental injustice. In a brief case study of the slow irreversible damage to the coastal wetlands and mangroves of Uran in Navi Mumbai, the paper points out how the fishing community has become marginalized under the onslaught of infrastructure development project. The apathy of the administration, legal systems and illegal land encroachment has turned the coastal wetlands into toxic landscapes. Rethinking the natural calamities in terms of slow violence and broadening the idea structural violence to include the natural environment gives voice to the invisible suffering of ―a disposable person living in disposable places‖, as it tries to dismantle the edifices of social structures which perpetuate the violence.
Key words: Slow violence, Uran Panje wetlands, structural violence, environmental justice,
environmental
accountability,
environmental
degradation,
polluted
landscapes Violence can be commonly defined as an act of aggression or abuse which causes harm to the other or others. WHO defines violence as ―The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development or deprivation.‖ [12] This definition though very comprehensive is primarily directed towards
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