I wasn’t sure there would be a demonstration outside Vedanta’s Berkely St offices or not. It had been planned to coincide with the Indian Supreme Court giving a verdict on their appeal against a 2010 order by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) which had stopped them mining the Dongria Kondh’s sacred Niyamgiri Hills. Although the court didn’t give a final verdict, the ruling that they made was generally seen as a defeat for Vedanta, putting the decision back to a consultation with the local councils of the tribal people. So long as Vedanta are prevented from undermining this process, it seems almost certain that they will reject the mining.
So I wasn’t sure if anyone would turn up for what would seem to be a possibly premature and rather muted celebration rather than a protest, and wondered whether it was worth going. Fortunately I did, and so did a dozen or so protesters. Unfortunately almost as soon as the protest started, so did the rain, and with a vengeance. The protesters crowded with their banner in front of the window where they were sheltered by an overhang of the floor above, but I’d only made a handful of images, and it was coming down too hard to stand in the open in front of the banner and take pictures.
All I could do was to take shelter in a nearby doorway and wait for the rain to stop. Eventually it slackened off a little and I came out to take a few more pictures, trying to keep close to the line of protesters because it was just a little more sheltered. I might have got as close to the nearest protester anyway, but the rain perhaps served to push me a little closer, and I think it worked quite well. The woman’s mouth stretched wide open is the key element, but the angle puts the placard with the large headshot of Vedanta boss Anil Agarwal with the added caption ‘Found Guilty’ in the centre of the image, with the other placards carrying on from it. It’s perhaps a shame that the text of the end placard isn’t entirely visible, but I think there is enough to get the point of it. It may even be better to leave the viewer to work a little than make it too easy. More at: Supreme Court Nyamgiri Decision
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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