Redemptorist priest, union leader, anti-nuclear activist and people’s movement educator – Tom Kocherry (pictured below) is a senior sage of India’s environmental and social justice movements. Despite scars from many battles, he remains an inveterate optimist – ‘Every fight, every movement, every reform is an optimism,’ he says.
You just can’t stop Thomas Kocherry. After four heart attacks, innumerable fasts and 16 stints in jail, he shows no sign of slowing down. His current target is the controversial Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu. The campaign has mobilized local villagers and activists from across the country who fear that, like Fukushima in Japan, the plant may be vulnerable to a tsunami. The movement has fought tooth and nail since construction started in 1989. ‘You cannot talk about social justice without talking about the environment,’ says Kocherry. ‘There can be no shortcuts, no depleting of natural capital.’ This in part explains his anti-nuclear stance. When not campaigning, he travels South India putting on seminars for young activists.
