Maia Ramnath - Decolonizing Anarchism.pdf - Libcom

Echoes and Intersections I 217
to flourish. A younger, more radical generation
will undoubtedly be attracted to it and to its values
of solidarity, equality, freedom and opposition to
capitalism both in India and worldwide.8
Until his death in 2009, Kandalla Balagopal was one of
the most highly respected voices within critical leftist circles.
He left his position as a professor of mathematics in 1985 to
work full time as a civil liberties and human rights activist,
and later became a lawyer. After serving as general secretary
of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee for fourteen
years, he broke away in 1997 to form the Human Rights
Forum.9 The split was due to a disagreement on the militant
methods of the Naxalites. While unquestionably a man of
the Left (and erstwhile Maoist sympathizer), he was unwavering
in his criticism of violence and violations of human
rights, no matter who perpetrated them.
"My own understanding of the human rights movement
is that it is essentially a moral concern;' said Balagopal
in an editorial in the Human Rights Bulletin shortly before
his death. "This is where many of my friends disagree; they
believe it is a political concern. It all depends on how you
define politics, but my only point is that essentially it is a
question of . .. asserting certain values other than the values
of domination, power and oppression."l0 In the 1990s, he
had a strong influence on student Left activities in Delhi.
Menon recalls that "for many of us politicized during this
period, Balagopal stood for something that many dedicated
human rights activists/intellectuals found difficult
to do: to respond to changing realities and not hesitate