Vandana Shiva

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Vandana Shiva during a panel discussion at the Evangelical Church Congress 2007 in Cologne
Video statement (2014)

Vandana Shiva ( Hindi : वन्दना शिवा , Vandanā Śivā ; born November 5, 1952 in Dehradun ) is an Indian scientist , social activist and critic of globalization. She has received several awards for her commitment to environmental protection , biological diversity , women's rights and sustainability . In 1993 she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award - unofficially also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize - because she focused on women and ecologyat the center of the discourse on modern development policy . She is a member of the Club of Rome and the International Organization for a Participatory Society (IOPS). She is also a member of the World Future Council .

Life

Childhood and school days

Vandana Shiva was born in Dehradun in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand ). Her parents were wealthy and well educated. They came from the highest caste, the Brahmins , but adopted the caste-neutral name 'Shiva' during their involvement in the Indian independence movement. The father was a forestry officer, the mother first worked as a school inspector and later in agriculture. The feminist mother tried to raise her daughter without the culturally shaped gender-specific prejudices. During her childhood, Shiva accompanied her parents on trips of several days through the forests of the foothills of the Himalayas , which they mastered on foot or by horse and mule. This time left a lasting impression on her and led to a deep appreciation of these landscapes. Shiva first attended "St Mary's School" in Nainital and then the "Convent of Jesus and Mary" in Dehradun. At that time, she already expressed her desire to become a scientist. Her role model at the time was Albert Einstein .

Study time and career path

Vandana Shiva studied physics and natural sciences at Panjab University in Chandigarh with a master's degree in physics (M. Sc.) And was trained as a nuclear technician at the research center Bhabha Atomic Research Center near Bombay on an experimental breeder reactor , then turned however, according to her own statements, it declined when she looked more closely at the dangers of ionizing radiation .

She turned to philosophy of science and earned a second master's degree from the University of Guelph in 1977 in philosophy of science. In 1978 she was at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Western Ontario in philosophy of science about fundamental questions of quantum mechanics doctorate (Ph.D., Dissertation title:. Hidden variables and locality in quantum theory )

Vandana Shiva at an event for GMO-free counties in Bavaria in Rosenheim , February 2009

She became involved in the first Indian environmental movement, the Chipko movement , in the 1970s . This movement was mostly supported by Indian women and was directed against the commercial deforestation of forests and the associated destruction of livelihoods. Means used were, for example, hugging the trees or chaining them to prevent deforestation. The movement managed to get the government to provide loans that could be used to maintain the local community forests. Shiva justifies her decision to turn her back on physics and to fight for environmental concerns with the value for others. Many people and future generations would benefit from their environmental activities and scientific work.

After studying in Canada, she returned to India. Her area of ​​activity there was the interdisciplinary research of technology, environment and politics at the " Indian Institute of Science " and at the " Indian Institute of Management " in Bangalore , where she held a professorship.

In 1981 Shiva was commissioned by the Indian Minister of the Environment to investigate the consequences of mining in Dehradun. In this context, she went back to her old contacts with the Chipko movement, which is now also committed to the mountains.

Foundations

The Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology

In 1982 she founded the Institute "The Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology" (RFSTN) in Dehradun.

Navdanya

In 1991, Shiva started the Navdanya organization . Navdanya means "nine seeds" or "nine seeds" and is symbolic of the protection of the biological and cultural diversity of the seeds. The organization is a network of local communities and organizations in India and is considered a pioneer of a movement to secure and preserve regional seeds of traditional food crops . Navdanya collects and secures regional varieties and cultivates them on the experimental farm in Dehradun in northern India at the foot of the Himalayas. Navdanya intends to save traditional varieties from extinction, to promote organic farming methods, to protect farmers from becoming dependent on patented or hybrid seeds, to provide the population with healthy food and to strengthen local markets. To this end, Navdanya has so far set up 40 seed libraries in thirteen Indian states. At the same time, Navdanya offers further training measures for farmers who want to switch to organic farming . The organization is also installing sales channels for organically grown products in India. More than 70,000 farmers have joined Navdanya as members. There is a cooperation with the Kingdom of Bhutan , which decided in 2011 to convert its agriculture to 100% organic farming. Navdanya trains Bhutanese farmers in organic farming both in Bhutan and on the Navdanya farm.

Bija Vidyapeeth

In 2001, Vandana Shiva founded Bija Vidyapeeth , a school and farm for sustainable living near Dehradun . The conceptual model is the UK-based Schumacher College . The majority of the courses offered deal with topics such as biodiversity, biological management and earth democracy . The philosophy of Gandhi is treated as well as the question of the importance of human rights in the face of an economic globalization dominated by large companies.

Focus of work

Ecofeminism

After an empirical study of the effects of western agricultural development strategies in India, which she directed, Shiva argues that these are undesirable developments based on several false, male-dominated assumptions and deprived of the feminine. Together with Maria Mies , she examined the connection between patriarchal society and environmental destruction in Ecofeminism (1993; German: Ökofeminismus. Contributions to Practice and Theory , 1995) .

Shiva sees the role of the ecological movement in taking nature and its rights seriously. For them, this means no longer aligning the value of nature with the financial value it represents for some male representatives of the industry. For the connection between ecology and feminism, Shiva deals on the one hand with the question in which form male-dominated values ​​contribute to ecological destruction , militarism and exploitation . On the other hand, it specifically formulates female values ​​for dealing with the world. According to Shiva's theory of ecofeminism, patriarchal societies have been based on hierarchical structures for millennia , with competition being an important principle. Success is not seen here in the value for the common good , but is measured in the individual increase in power, which requires repressive control mechanisms to secure it. In the area of ​​genetic engineering, according to Shiva, male-run companies are increasingly taking control of life itself. She interprets this process as the colonization of plants, animals and humans as well as the future and traces it back to patriarchal values. In this context, Vandana Shiva calls for a new definition of the concept of power . She opposes the masculine concept of 'power', which is aimed at "aggressive overcoming, dominance and domination", with a concept of power as inner power that clearly rejects all forms of oppression , and is aimed at encouragement and not accepts the destruction of the other for the sake of his own gain.

Regardless of this, Vandana Shiva clearly points out the imbalance between the proportion of women in active participation and their representation in leadership positions in the ecological movement.

Contribution to the globalization debate

As a critic of globalization , Shiva is particularly active against the monopoly position of transnational commercial enterprises , which, from her point of view, are increasingly trying to influence Indian agriculture. She sees the farmers involved here in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi . The slogan “ Quit India ”, which originally applied to the English colonizers , is now being transferred from them to international GM companies such as Cargill , Monsanto or Ricetec . She criticizes: "Some western companies remind me of a doctor who does a caesarean section and claims that he also did the child". It states that the major trading nations now on the so-called their patent thinking Third World want to transfer, on plants that there have always been: "Today they do not have to do more as if they wanted to genetic engineering the problem of hunger in the world Nowadays they want to rule the world market. ”Through her institute The Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology , Shiva, together with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture and other movements, filed an objection to the European Patent Office (EPA) against the granting of a patent by Grace on oil of the seed of the neem tree successfully. In 2005 the EPO finally rejected the patent after an objection by the company. Shiva is particularly committed to the emergence of grassroots democratic organizations within global civil society. As an alternative to neoliberal globalization, she developed her concept of earth democracy , which is based on ten principles and essentially assumes that all species, peoples and cultures have an intrinsic value that has to be respected.

Shiva takes an active part in the public debate about ways out of the climate crisis . She is a co-signer of an open letter published in December 2018, in which politicians are accused of having failed to address the crisis, calling for movements such as Extinction Rebellion and for stopping consumption . At the 11th International Lessing Days at the Hamburg Thalia Theater in January 2019 on the topics of climate crisis, colonialism, power structures and fairer distribution, Shiva was invited as a guest of honor. In her ceremonial address, she called for civil disobedience : disobedience to the exploitation of people and nature by multinational corporations, disobedience to the enemies of democracy, disobedience to global capitalism, which appears to a large part of the world as an irrevocable law. "Everything begins in small things," said Shiva, emphasizing the responsibility of every human being for planet earth. "We cannot do without each other." She then discussed with Friday for Future activists.

Agricultural concept

Shiva attributes her more intensive occupation with agriculture to two events in 1984. On the one hand, she names the religious uprisings in the agricultural state of Punjab , which claimed numerous lives. Shiva saw these uprisings as justified in an ecological and cultural uprooting, which they traced back to the Green Revolution. The strategy of the Green Revolution was to involve third world farmers in the world market for fertilizers, seeds and pesticides. As a result, the established connections to the ground and within the community have become fragile. Shiva cites the Bhopal disaster as another trigger , in which a chemical plant belonging to the US company Union Carbide , which produced pesticides, released several tons of poisonous gas, the direct consequences of which killed several thousand people.

Shiva's criticism of the Green Revolution in India is based, among other things, on the fact that it meant a commercialization of agriculture and went hand in hand with cultural disintegration. For them, one consequence of this is the emergence of disease-prone monocultures and hybrid plants. Seeds, formerly “free common good”, have been converted into a commodity over which the smallholders no longer have any control.
Preserving the native seeds in the free availability of the Indian village communities as well as making agriculture chemical-free and locating it locally are essential agropolitical goals of Shiva. In their opinion, agriculture must be community property. She rejects multinational corporations in the role of owners of agriculture.

Functions

Shiva chairs the International Forum on Globalization with Jerry Mander , Edward Goldsmith , Ralph Nader and Jeremy Rifkin . Shiva is a member of the Club of Rome , the International Organization for a Participatory Society | International Organization for a Participatory Society (IOPS) and the Executive Committee of the World Future Council .

Vandana Shiva is an ambassador for the climate protection organization 350.org and one of the main organizers of the Monsanto Tribunal .

Controversy

Ecofeminism

The direction of the ecofeminism shaped by Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva with regard to its conception of the relationship between women and nature, i. H. the assumption of a special and privileged relationship between women and nature, is criticized as essentialist from the perspective of post-structuralist approaches . In her book Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India (2003), Meera Nanda sees problems in fundamental ideas of ecofeminism and their application in India, which equate nature with a nurturing mother, without the oppressions that women experience associated with these traditions. By characterizing modernity as part of an imperialist West , Shiva demands that women in the third world maintain these traditions. In his review of the book, Clifford Geertz criticizes Meera Nanda for ignoring the social roots of the problems in India and recommending modern science to the Indians as the only liberating path.

Suicides by Indian farmers

Like various other activists, Shiva expressed the view that transgenic cotton, through higher prices and annual repurchase of seeds, had brought thousands of Indian farmers into debt and drove them to suicide . In this context Shiva spoke of a " genocide " against 270,000 Indian farmers. Indeed, the suicide rate among farmers in India remained essentially constant at around 18,000 per year from 1997 to 2009 and fell to below 12,000 by 2016. According to political scientist Ronald Herring , Shiva spread the misinformation that Monsanto's Bt cotton is based on terminator technology .

Use for traditional and organic agriculture in India

Time magazine honored Vandana Shiva with the title Hero for the Green Century at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, rating her as one of the most important personalities who contribute to the preservation of the planet. The jury honored Shiva's commitment to independent seeds. The Liberty Institute India referred to this award and presented it with the "Bullshit Award for Sustaining Poverty", as Shiva contributed to the consolidation of poverty in the south through her positions. In particular, it was criticized for being hostile to genetic engineering in agriculture and for advocating traditionally ecological forms of agriculture . These would have in the past - i. H. until the beginning of the Green Revolution - regularly starving a tenth of the Indian population.

Criticism of information about her work as a physicist in some publications

Michael Specter notes in New Yorker that Shiva is often referred to as a nuclear physicist, quantum physicist or world-famous physicist in interviews. Her books often bore the note "Before becoming an activist, Vandana Shiva was one of India's leading physicists." (Eng. "Before becoming an activist, Vandana Shiva was one of India's leading physicists"). When asked whether she had actually worked as a physicist, she referred Specter to a Google search which, according to him, gave no results. Nor would she mention any such passages in her biography. Shiva himself responded to these allegations in an open letter, referring to her master's degree in physics from Panjab University in 1973 .

Awards

Vandana Shiva with the Save the World Award
  • 1993 Right Livelihood Award , for being the subjects social position of women and ecology in the discourse of modern development policy has brought
  • 1993: Global 500 Award from the United Nations Development Program
  • 1995: "Pride of the Doon" Award from Doon Citizen Council, Dehra Dun, India, in recognition of outstanding service to the region
  • 1997: The Golden Plant Award (International Award of Ecology), Denmark, for exceptional service to ecology and the environment;
  • 1997: Alfonso Comin Award , Barcelona, ​​Spain, for personal and scientific merits to the ecological and feminist movement in India
  • 1998: Commemorative Medal by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand on the occasion of the Celebration of the 18th World Food Day, organized by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok
  • 2002: Time magazine recognized her as one of five Heroes for the Green Century for her commitment against the privatization of seeds.
  • 2007: Blue Planet Award - presented by the Ethics and Economics Foundation
  • 2009: Save the World Award
  • 2010: Sydney Peace Prize
  • 2010: Awarded as “Citizen of the Next Century” by Future-ish
  • 2011: “Calgary Peace Prize” from the Consortium for Peace Studies at the University of Calgary
  • 2011: Thomas Merton Award
  • 2012: Kassel Citizen Award “ The Glass of Reason ” and Bavarian Nature Conservation Award

Honorary doctorates

Shiva received honorary doctorates from the University of Paris , University of Western Ontario , University of Oslo , Connecticut College , University of Toronto , University of Victoria , University of Guelph . and the University of Calabria .

Books (selection)

Documentaries

  • Bertram Verhaag , Gabriele Kröber: Vandana Shiva - From seeds and seed multinationals . 2006. 60 minutes
  • Peå Holmquist and Suzanne Khardalian: Bullshit . 2005. 73 minutes.

swell

Web links

Commons : Vandana Shiva  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http ://www. britica.com/biography/Vandana-Shiva Entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ↑ http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/25/seeds-of-doubt Michael Specter: "Seeds of Doubt", New Yorker, August 25, 2014
  3. ↑ - ( Memento of September 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Vandana Shiva: "Seeds of Truth - a Response to The New Yorker", August 26, 2014, accessed on September 9, 2015
  4. ↑ Rachel White Scheuering: Shapers of the Great Debate on Conservation: A Biographical Dictionary, Greenwood, 2004, p. 228
  5. ↑ ethecon - Foundation Ethics & Economics: Dr. Vandana Shiva: CV
  6. ^ Benjamin F. Shearer, Barbara Smith Shearer (eds.): Notable Women in the Physical Sciences. A Biographical Dictionary, Vandana Shiva , in: Greenwood Press 1997, ISBN 978-0-313-29303-0 , pp. 363f.
  7. ↑ Vandana Shiva India divided: diversity and democracy under attack , p. 42
  8. ↑ Biographical information on the occasion of the Hopper Lecture at the University of Guelph 1993 (pdf)
  9. ↑ Title of the master's thesis: Changes in the concept of periodicity of light , master thesis
  10. ↑ Vandana Shiva 1978 Hidden variables and locality in quantum mechanics Ph.D. Thesis (unpublished) (University of Western Ontario), References to: MD Srinivas: When is a hidden variable theory compatible with quantum mechanics? , in: Pramana. Journal of Physics , August 1982, Volume 19, Issue 2, pp 159-173, Springer India, doi: 10.1007 / BF02847001 . The dissertation has been available on microfiches at the National Library of Canada (Ottawa) and the British Library (Wetheby) since 1981.
  11. ↑ a b Fembio: Vandana Shiva
  12. ↑ in Organic (Ltd.) ( Memento from March 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ^ "Vandana Shiva earned her MA in philosophy of Science and a PhD in physics." Judy D. Whipps: Vandana Shiva (1952 -) , in: Maurice Hamington, Celia Bardwell-Jones (eds.): Contemporary Feminist Pragmatism , Routledge ( = Studies in Contemporary Philosophy), New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-415-89991-8 , p. 123
  14. ^ UNEP: Who's Who of Woman in the Environment
  15. ↑ a b c d Interview with the Abendblatt : The earth belongs to all of us
  16. ↑ Laura Mazur and Louella Miles: Conversations with Green Gurus: The Collective Wisdom of Environmental Movers and Shakers . Wiley-Blackwell , Chichester 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-71431-7 , pp. 229 f.
  17. ^ SEZ: Foundation for Development Cooperation Baden-Württemberg: Vandana Shiva. In: www.sez.de. Archived from the original on December 5, 2016 ; Retrieved December 5, 2016 .
  18. ↑ a b c Vandana Shiva, Encyclopedia Britannica
  19. ↑ Making a Commitment to Organic Agriculture Statement on Bhutan's organic policy by Prime Minister of Bhutan, Jigmi Y. Thinley, on the importance of "Living GNH," and welcoming the partnership with Dr Vandana Shiva, March 12, 2011.
  20. ↑ Beyond Development: An Evening with Dr. Vandana Shiva , website Schumacher College, February 12, 2013
  21. ↑ Own presentation at Navdanya (PDF; 1.3 MB)
  22. ^ Karen Warren: Ecofeminist Philosophy, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8476-9299-6 , p. 26
  23. ↑ Heather Eaton, Lois Ann Lorentzen: Ecofeminism and Globalization , Rowman & Littlefield 2003, ISBN 978-0-7425-2698-3 , foreword
  24. ↑ a b Humonde: Interview with Dr. Shiva
  25. ↑ Geseko of Lüpke: The Alternative. Ways and worldview of the alternative Nobel Prize. Riemann-Verlag 2003 ISBN 978-3570500316 (section: Human rights: The foundation of the future), pages 178 ff.
  26. ^ Christiane Gerstetter, Gregor Kaiser, Jutta Sindermann (contributions and editing): Green booty, biopiracy and resistance , anyway publishing cooperative, page 9. ISBN 3-931786-40-4
  27. ↑ Geseko von Lüpke: The future arises from a crisis: Answers from Joseph Stiglitz, Vandana Shiva, Wolfgang Sachs, Joanna Macy, Bernard Lietaer and others. a. Riemann Verlag, October 2009, ISBN 978-3-570-50112-2 .
  28. ↑ Südwind Magazine: Vandana Shiva: Earth Democracy ; Review of the book
  29. ↑ Act now to prevent an environmental catastrophe. The Guardian, December 9, 2018, accessed January 22, 2019 .
  30. ^ "Lessingtage" started with an appeal for more climate protection , Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 19, 2019
  31. ↑ Vandana Shiva calls for civil disobedience in Hamburg, Hamburger Abendblatt, January 19, 2019
  32. ↑ a b c Vandana Shiva: "" Reduction and Regeneration: A Crisis of Science "", in: Maria Mies - Vandana Shiva, Ökofeminismus, contributions to practice and theory , Rotpunktverlag, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-85869-122-4 , Pages 43-48 and 154-159.
  33. ↑ IFG website
  34. ↑ Lunapark 21 - Journal for the Critique of the Global Economy: ( Memento from March 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 3.2 MB) Interview with Vandana Shiva
  35. ↑ International Organization for a Participatory Society (IOPS). Accessed December 6, 2012.
  36. ↑ The 350 Climate Ambassadors ( Memento of December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) from 350.org
  37. ↑ Dagmar Vinz: Sustainability and Gender - Environmental Policy from the Perspective of Gender Research , Gender Politik Online, Fu Berlin 2005, pdf, p. 7
  38. ↑ Meera Nanda : Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India . Rutgers University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8135-3358-9 , pp. 245-6.
  39. ↑ Clifford Geertz. "Prophets Facing Backwards: Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India (review)." Common Knowledge 13.1 (2007): 143-144. Project MUSE. Web. March 31, 2014. http://muse.jhu.edu/
  40. ↑ Shamika Ravi: Debt Isn't Killing India's Farmers. In: Bloomberg. December 24, 2018, accessed June 5, 2019 .
  41. ↑ Ronald Herring: Epistemic brokerage in the bio-property narrative: contributions to explaining opposition to transgenic technologies in agriculture (PDF; 178 kB). New Biotechnology, Vol. 27, No. 5, November 30, 2010, pp. 614-622.
  42. ↑ Seeds of Self-Reliance in Time magazine, August 26, 2002
  43. ^ Green killers and pseudo-science . The Times of India, September 22, 2002.
  44. ^ Vandana Shiva's Crusade Against Genetically Modified Crops. In: The New Yorker. Retrieved December 5, 2016 .
  45. ↑ Seeds of Truth - A response to The New Yorker Dr Vandana Shiva. In: vandanashiva.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2016 ; Retrieved December 5, 2016 .
  46. ↑ Reasons for the award
  47. ↑ ethecon : Laudation by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rochlitz on the occasion of the Blue Planet Award
  48. ^ Future-ish Honor . 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
  49. ↑ 2011 Calgary Peace Prize Recipient - Dr. Vandana Shiva | Peace Studies . Ucalgary, approx. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
  50. ↑ The Glass of Reason - Prize Winner 2012 Vandana Shiva
  51. ↑ Bund Naturschutz in Bayern: Bavarian Nature Conservation Prize for Vandana Shiva ( Memento from April 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), December 4, 2012
  52. ^ Honorary Degree Acceptance Speech by Vandana Shiva ( Memento from March 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). From: Uio.no , accessed March 24, 2014.
  53. ^ Honorary Degree Recipients . From: Conncoll.edu , accessed March 24, 2014.
  54. ^ Vandana Shiva - Honorary Degree Ceremony . From: Utoronto.ca , accessed March 24, 2014.
  55. ↑ Amy Smart: Environment activist Vandana Shiva receives UVic honorary degree and talks future of food . In: Times-Colonist , March 26, 2013.
  56. ^ Four to Receive Honorary Degrees During Winter Convocation . On: Uoguelph.ca , February 16, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  57. ↑ Universita della Calabria : Conferita la laurea ad honorem in Scienze della Nutrizione a Vandana Shiva of April 13, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Shiva, Vandana
ALTERNATIVE NAMES वन्दना शिवा (hi); Śivā, Vandanā (IAST)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian ecologist, civil rights activist and feminist
DATE OF BIRTH 5th November 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Dehradun , India