Two Kinds of Activism: Reflections on Citizenship in Globalising Delhi

Abstract

This paper attempts to look at two most pressing concerns i.e. housing and environment in Delhi and in doing so attempts to review the activities of Resident Welfare associations (RWAs), Sajha Manch and Delhi Janwadi Adhikar Manch. The aim is to look at the effects of activism of two different hues on city spaces. In this light also explores the possibilities and limits of ‘radical’ alternatives (Sajha Manch) in the times of globalization. The primary source materials for this attempt are clippings of the newspapers, news magazines, Sajha Manch Samachar (a monthly bulletin of Sajha Manch) and various pamphlets published by Sajha Manch, Delhi Janwadi Adhikar Manch and other bodies in the wake of various events. The focus is on post-1990s developments in Delhi. Drawing upon Tarlo’s unconventional methodological precept it is argued that the bulletins and clippings would provide us with an ethnographic window to the larger picture of lived politics and negotiation of citizenship in cities.activism, civil society movements, housing, environment, urban activism, resident welfare associations, Sajha Manch, Delhi Janwadi Ahikar Manch, radical alternatives, urban development, cities, Sociology, Political Sciences, Social Movements