The Adivasi Way

A lot of effort is on in India and the world to identify the values that form the lifeforce of the tribals and to snuff them out

- Jacinta Kerketta

There are only two ways or philosophies of life in the world today that are at war with each other in the true sense—the indigenous/tribal way and the capitalist way. The conflicts may appear in different forms, but at the root, they resolve into either of those two streams.

Being an Adivasi or tribal is not a prerequisite to understanding the tribal world and its philosophy. Many who were born outside tribal society and dream of a better world incline quite spontaneously over the course of their search to the tribal way. This is perhaps because the roots of the tribal world live on inside us.

Looking inwards, many of us rediscover the same tribal world from which all human beings evolved. At the same time, many tribals who live and conduct their struggles in the light of their own tribal philosophy actually share the concerns that define peoples’ struggles the world over, though they may be unaware of any kind of “ism” and untouched by the ideas of any thinker.

In a world built around competition, people get their happiness and thrill from winning, defeating others, humiliating them and waving flags at them. Therefore, when someone loses, when someone collapses, when someone dies, or when someone is murdered, it is par for the course for the competitive mind—in other words, it is simply what it takes to win.

A competitive lifestyle breeds insensitivity. It justifies violence and propagates a strong narrative against resistance. The philosophy and community that oppose this hegemonic worldview are labelled anti-development. The dissident tribals are branded as Naxalites and the imperatives of development and religion dictate that they be eliminated.