HomeOUR INTERNATIONAL STRUGGLE TAKES ROOT
Speech by Ela Bhatt, founder of SEWA
Ela Bhatt, internationally-renown founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India, opened the launch of StreetNet. Founded in 1972, SEWA now has 420 000 members and is the largest trade union in India. This organisation was the inspiration for the founding of the Self-Employed Women’s Union (SEWU) in Durban, South Africa, many years later in 1994.
A lawyer by training, Ms Bhatt is a respected leader of the international labour, co-operative, women’s and micro-finance movements. She has won several national and international awards. She was one of the founders of Women’s World Banking and served as its chair from 1980 - 1998. She currently serves as the Chair of the SEWA Co-operative Bank, has received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University and is a Trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation.
Ela Bhatt and SEWA have gone on to initiate a whole family of unique international organisations promoting the organisation and development of workers in the informal sector, including HomeNet (international alliance of home-based workers), the international research coalition WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment, Globalising and Organising) and now StreetNet.
Below is the address made by Ms Bhatt at the opening preceding the launch of StreetNet International on the 12 November 2002 in Durban.
The cause of street vendors and our struggle of liberation from oppressive controls has a common thread, seeking what I call the ‘second freedom’, or economic freedom.
There are many connections that are reaffirmed today. The connection between SEWA and SEWU built by the women of India and South Africa is one. Mahatma Gandhi is a very important connection between the past and present that is present here as well. Gandhi in South Africa could be seen doing his apprenticeship in the freedom struggle. Today, we street vendors, through Streetnet, are struggling for our freedom/liberation, in a peaceful way, also starting from this unique place called Durban. This connection I feel so fulfilling! StreetNet’s journey has been a long one, from Manekchowk (India) via Bellagio (Italy) to Durban. It is befitting that it is here in Durban that our struggle is taking roots as a global entity.
In Bellagio, on Lake Como in Italy, street vendors from the 11 largest cities in the world met for five days to discuss their legal status and then proclaimed a declaration. The cities present were: Accra, Ahmedabad, Milan, Manila, Durban, Nairobi, New York, Rio de Janiero, Santa Cruz. Each city was represented by two vendors (men and women), organisers, and a lawyer. All the vendors present, except from one city, had been jailed more than once.
They all felt that vendors, amongst all occupations, are the most regulated and least protected by law. The legal issues are similar around the world: they do not have licences, space or supportive policies to vend their wares. Police harassment is a daily affair. City planners do not taken them into account. Access to credit facilities is almost absent. As a trade they are mostly unorganised. They are used as a tool at the time of elections in their respective countries and then left under worse conditions. The representatives present at Bellagio informally formed the International Alliance of Street Vendors. That was the beginning of vendors organising and internationalising their cause.
We are busy organising at local, regional and, more recently at the global levels. We have a long agenda. We have to resolve the wrong perceptions and prejudices. Why do we have confrontations every time? We do not want to waste our energy mindlessly. Our demands need a fresh look and municipal regulations and laws that pertain to us need to be revised from the perspective of the political economy of our cities.
City spaces are valuable and highly coveted. Operating on a street corner involves not only civic authorities but also the local ‘goons’ and political protectors. The rate of ‘hafta’ (illegal gratification) is rising. While most of the vendors are poor, surviving somehow, they want a better future and different prospects for their sons and daughters. How do we integrate the vendors and citizens’ interests together in the city’s economy?
There are reasons why the vendors should be positively perceived as part of the market system. It is simple. They create their own employment; they reduce poverty through their own employment. They provide an important distribution service to the common citizens; they contribute to the economic growth; they are part of our culture and tradition.
A formidable task faces StreetNet. The great hope is that we are not struggling alone anymore, in our own city. We are associated with other organisations in many cities of the globe. We have our own partners - WIEGO, HomeNet - to make new allies. The times are difficult but we shall overcome.
I pray, that God gives us the strength to struggle and develop together for the good of the street vendors and their families. With these words, I feel proud to launch StreetNet to the world.
(The address has been edited)