An Unlikely Powerhouse (original) (raw)

2020

Abstract

Chapter 8 hones in on political explosions around the village of Idinthakarai that, from 2011, became the nucleus of the anti-nuclear movement in south India. Living only about a kilometre from the plant, village lives, livelihoods, and environments were irrevocably marred by the prospect of radiation burdens. We consider peoples’ role in jettisoning the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy as a force to be reckoned with that reached national and transnational circuits. As they waged non-violence from this village, on the one hand, a ‘university without walls’ was created, and on the other, an ‘open-air jail’ for many of the inhabitants who could not venture out for fear of arrest. Through their fast-track learning at the blunt end of nuclear politics, women rose to the challenge as ‘organic intellectuals’. Despite patriarchal convention, they became expert analysts and spokespersons on several subjects that enabled them to pierce the smokescreens of the nuclear state.

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