Who ‘We’ are?
Aamra Ek Sachetan Prayas Forum – is a conscious and continuous attempt to learn why conflicts spur? How they are manufactured? How they are manifested in the age of post-truth? Aamra doesn’t participate in the race to report first, doesn’t filter words to fit in the ‘mainstream’ media discourse, doesn’t say anything based on a ‘distant study’, and doesn’t claim to say the Final word. AAMRA (We) believes in an attempt (prayas) to consciously (sachetan) learn the reasons and processes of conflict and co-existence in a continuous cycle of conversations and close observations with ethnographic sensibility. Over the past, more than one-decade AAMRA has reached different places in Subcontinent to come up with ‘thick described’ reports, scholarly and popular articles.
What we do?
AAMRA is an amalgamation of a multidisciplinary team of researchers and activists erstwhile worked as an assemblage of movement, research, and activism. Popular abbreviation of AAMRA is, An Assemblage of Movement Research and Appraisal. The forum attempts to bridge the gap between research-practice, academics-public sphere, and take up actions wherever possible to restore rights and justice for all. The primary focus of ours is to study conflict (political, social, ethnic, communal, environmental, socio-economic, etc) and coexistence and try to formulate an action roadmap for enhancement of co-existence. Since its inception AAMRA works on Peace. Over the years the forum has taken up two major mechanisms for doing it, first, we go to the conflict zone as soon as possible after the access is available. We talk to different stakeholders, record their versions, collect and record the evidence of conflicts, follow standard social science methodologies including Participatory Rural Appraisal and Rapid Rural Appraisal, prepare reports (both scholarly and popular) and make them available in printed form and web version. In almost every conflict locality we initiate a peace initiative with the help of local folks, right activists, cultural activists. We even interact with ‘rival’ groups, administration, local peacekeepers to restore peace. We follow more or less similar procedure for documenting and publishing co-existence studies as well.
Second, Forum organises different seminars, discussions, and protest rallies for the restoration of Human Rights and justice related to the broad issues of conflict resolution and co-existence. Hence, whenever we go for intensive fieldwork we know we are active agents and not just passive listeners.
This gathering represented the stirrings of a new Adivasi movement in Jharkhand. Along with other demands, we lauded our voices for, ‘Gram Sabha’ for self-rule according to SPT Act, 1949; 5th Schedule and PESA Act. We also emphasised on the demand, 'Gram Sabha must be given the rights of the protection, conservation and enrichment of Forest'
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AAMRA organised a rally with the support of different groups of Little Magazines and Group Theatres to support Shahabag Movement in Bangladesh, date was 3 March, 2013. Route of the rally was from Bangaon station to Petrapole border. A large numbers of demonstrators rallied in support of the movement with colourful banners and rhythmic slogans.
Read More..‘Environment Rights Movement’, a platform of different environment and rights movement of West Bengal, India organised a rally in Kolkata. A large number of students and youths came together to raise demands on West Bengal based issues of environmental rights
Read More..AAMRA has already in a process to initiate course/programme/seminar with different colleges/institutions on Constitutional rights and Conflict and Peace study. In this seminar, Mr Mohit Ranadip, prominent psychologist and Mr Subha Protim Roy Chowdhury, Researcher-activist on conflict and peace study, both are the members of Aamra Ek Sachetan Prayas Forum shared their experience on combating communalism. They also elaborated on freedom of religion, right to freedom of speech (Article 19 (1) (a), right to equality (Articles 14-18) and also some important international declaration, covenants. Dr. Suman Nath, Assistant Professor of APJ Abdul Kalam Govt. College coordinated this seminar. Students took part in the interactive session. Their queries were luminous paint and were intelligently delivered.
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On 16 May, 2016 we had organised a seminar on ‘Communalism, Fundamentalism and its expanded territory: Jihad, Conversion and Intolerance’, at Mohabodhi Society Hall, Kolkata. Speakers were Ram Puniyani and Debaprasad Bandopadhyay. We also published ‘Kaliachak Fact-finding Report’ on said day.
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This seminar explores how a conflict area complicates the situation of the total geo-political zone and the process to overcome it. There is an elaborate preparation to construct communal hatred among the people. Combating such hatred this seminar demands a counter preparation to ensure peace and co-existence. AAMRA model of conflict resolution as working under ‘Peace Centres’, making ‘Peace Volunteers’ and ‘Cultural Activism’ was also discussed.
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