For those focused on resource activism for organisational survival, the title of this post could suggest the privileged luxury of a well-funded foundation. But don’t be fooled. As a founder of Navsarjan Trust, Dalit Shakti Kendra, and Dalit Foundation, I can assure you that since the Indian Government introduced changes to FCRA registration, our funding is now from us, for us. While FCRA restrictions have resulted in closure for some or abundance for those deemed ‘trust-worthy’, it has reminded me that marginalised communities must look to ourselves to resource our fight for justice.

My story, like many activists is born from personal experience. It is impossible to communicate the years of violence and indignity suffered by the Dalits in a short article but 1986 was a seminal moment for my activism. Four of my colleagues, all Dalit villagers, were murdered by members of the dominant caste, affronted by the fact that Dalits had dared to organise themselves around an agricultural cooperative. This cooperative had forced dominant caste landowners to increase the daily wage from one rupee to seven. It became a platform for Dalits to challenge the abuse they faced. We took strength from this cooperative and worked together to bring the perpetrators to justice.

I share this story to remind those in philanthropy that for people fighting for dignity and justice, this is a life’s work, which starts with trust. I need to trust myself and my values. The community needs to trust me, or the money I influence as a head of an organisations will become a destructive force. Critically, there needs to be collective trust that acknowledges by sharing and coming together, we are united and will become a powerful force for change. This trust creates an unbreakable bond that cannot be influenced by philanthropy’s fashion fetish. In fact, it becomes the essence of the work. It is only when there is trust in the community to collectively raise our voices, do we become empowered by knowing that it is our work, initiative, and leadership that will free us from the shackles of slavey.

This is the agency that eludes organisations who have superficial commitment to the ‘how’ of social change. They do not trust the community, and overlook the fact that people are the source of knowledge.  These organisations may have money, but they have no legitimacy as they are not trusted by the people. Such organisations are, however, trusted by those who seek to improve the status quo’s image rather than challenge it. These organisations fear being seen as anti-state or anti those political parties controlling the state. To keep in the ‘good books’, they focus their resources on charity rather than solidarity, emphasising ‘values’ of accountability, transparency and effectiveness, over those of compassion, dignity and truth. The fear of loss whether that be the loss of the state’s endorsement, or the loss of funding is morally corrupting. Philanthropy cannot flourish under fear, especially as its objective is to empower people by losing their fear.

For many this might be hard to believe but speaking from personal experience, I can say that with no money, we have been able to do more work, and more challenging work. It will come as no surprise when I say money often comes with strings and control which can make us lose focus by subtly (and not so subtly) influencing us to change our priorities. In contrast over the past four months, Navsarjan has received donations worth Rs. 1.6 million from our community. This is a direct response to what the community and our allies see as a conscious and deliberate programme by the State to eliminate Dalit awakening. This resource mobilisation is an act of trust, solidarity and defiance. It is social justice philanthropy which is an essential component of movement strengthening.

Social justice operates in a space of unequal power dynamics between the State, funders, organisations, the community and individual actors and activists. It can only flourish if we look to non-negotiable values such as trust and compassion rather than seeing our lives through the prism of money. After all, the rich and powerful have abundant resources but have created more problems than they have solved. As Gandhi said, ‘There is enough in the world for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed’.

In trusting our own capacity, we have found solidarity and compassion, the pillars of dignity, and I share this experience in the spirit of solidarity and hope for those trying to navigate the depletion of financial resources for human rights and social justice work.

When we look to, and trust ourselves, we will see that we are enough to change the world. This is our power.

Martin Macwan has been working since 1980 in India to eradicate untouchability practices. His areas of focus are creative communication, writing books for children, designing educational toys for children and training youth in life skills. He can be contacted via the comments section below.

Thumbnail image credit: ‘2.5 Million Dalit Women to file Land Calims’ by ActionAid India [CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0] via Flickr.