FireFlies 2010

Environmental activist Vandana Shiva spoke at the fireflies music festival, standing under a banyan tree where the musician's perform on Saturday/ Sunday. Here, is an exclusive transcript of her speech

Thank you fireflies. Thank you to the musicians and thank you to this amazing banyan tree. I think she has been standing here for about 300 years. She has probably listened to many local concerts. Millions of leaves of her's over her lifetime, has absorbed so much of our carbon-di-oxide that we exhale and convert it to oxygen so that we have life. We often forget that without the trees on this planet, human beings could not live. If you look at the seeds of this tree, there must be millions of them. The seeds hold within, millions of years of evolution-- of the past and the future. Everyone is ready to become another banyan tree and yet we think we are intelligent that we take the seed of a plant and turn it into a terminator seed so it will never ever grow again. Because then you will have to keep buying from the Monsantos of the world. That's what they want you to do with the BT brinjal and you all said no (encore from the audience).

There is another about the banyan-- not just the banyan tree, about everything green. About the Kabir song which says I look after my field. Every plant takes the suns energy. With one chlorophyll molecule and a process called photo syntheses keeps the cycle of life going..We thought we were smart when we dug up coal and made the steam engine run. We thought we were super smart when we started to drill for oil deeper. Look at all the automobiles that are here on the road. I have lived in Bangalore in 1979. It could cross the town in 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes flat. Today it took me three hours. How? That fossil fuel, the trees that are buried deep under are the heart of planet earth. Because we are burning up everyday, millions of years of fossilized carbon and captured sunlight. And there is no way the earth can recycle that. Whether it is pollution from directly burning dead carbon, fossilized carbon, or other green house gasses like nitrogen oxide from chemical fertilizers. People do not realize. Nitrogen oxide is 300 times more lethal in changing the climate than carbon-di-oxide...

The farmers are our 'annadatas.' Two hundred thousand farmers have had to commit suicide because they are trapped in debt. Are we going to be part of the justice? Are you going to join hands with the people to say you need food that is good for you, good for the planet and food that keeps the farmer alive.

We have been spending this evening of rhythm. Where does rhythm come from? The word ritha. What is ritha? Living the right way. Rithu-- cycles of the weather. Seasons in the right rhythm. If all our musicians were un-talented, they'd be banging on the drums and you'd be booing them. Right? But because they have a rhythm, you cheer them. There is rhythm in the way things work in this amazing universe, in this amazing planet. There is a music in the way the sun works, the way trees work and the way the different species work. We are bombarding on nature as if it was a drummer who did not know how to play drums. We humans have become so arrogant but so stupid, they keep chanting high tech to me when they bombarded me with toxic genes like BT brinjal. I call it stupid tech. That is not high tech. You guys might be doing high tech with software. Go ahead and do it. But don't let stupid tech be passed on as high tech. Burdening the planet with pollution is not high tech. Its stupidity. Copenhagen fell flat. You followed the news. You couldn't avoid it. Our country says we must mine more coal. The tribals of Jharkhand are saying we don't want more coal mines. They've shut down 65 mines. But in their name, we talk about our right to pollute. The United States talks about their right to pollute. The right to pollute, is no body's right. Nobody's right. Did she give us the permission to pollute (pointing to the banyan tree). No. It is time to live like real banyan trees who lived with humility. And here right in this gathering you have everything you need for the future. The beautiful water-- and we need more of that kind of water harvesting to deal with climate change. Maybe next years festivals should have trees and seeds distributed. And most importantly community which you are creating here. That's what we need.

Fireflies, a small farm about 30 kilometres from Bangalore on Saturday night, saw some three thousand people-- mostly city dwellers, crowd the place for a night of enchanting music. The ninth edition of the all night music festival saw many performances like Carnatic Classical "Bhaktiyana," directed by Meera Rajaram Pranesh, Jazz by HFT, soul fusion by Esperanto, Kabir music by Shabnam Viramani and team, Hulivesha directed by Mohan Das Kothari, alternative grunge by Lounge Piranha, Hindustani/ Jazz fusion by Jalshaghar, fusion by Prakash Sontakke group, Qawali by Bharat Sargam and group, Kerala folk by Vayali, Hip hop and rap by Low Rhyderz, and Banjo/ Acoustic guitar/ Fujara flute by Kyle McCloud and Hayley Sabella.

As the night progressed, the steady pace of traditional Carnatic music, soulful music by Esperanto and insightful Kabir couplets sung by Shabnam Viramani gave way to the heady pace of Hulivesha, delightful Qawali and racy Kerala folk. Many went mad with the beats and danced to the tunes of artists all night. Sunrise was greeted with feathery voice of Kyle McCloud and Hayley Sabella's Fujara magic

For many it was just another occasion to party all night and get hammered. But for some it was a complete musical experience-- warts and all.

PS: We designed the whole Ashram and surroundings.