Disha Ravi is one of many young activists around the world sounding the alarm on the climate emergency our planet is facing. But on 13 February 2021, the then 22-year-old was propelled into the global spotlight after being arrested by Indian police for sedition and conspiracy – allegations that she denies – over a farmers’ protest toolkit that was shared on Twitter by Greta Thunberg (Ravi said in court that she had only edited two lines). At the time, hundreds of thousands of farmers in India had been protesting over new farming bills that they said threatened their livelihoods, with Rihanna among those drawing attention to the movement.
After spending 10 days in custody in Delhi, Ravi was released on bail. One year on, there’s been no further update on her case, but she can’t legally speak about it due to her bail conditions. She can, however, speak more generally about the dangers that activists face globally. “Climate and environmental activists have been under threat for a really long time — in India, as well as globally,” Ravi, now 23, tells Vogue via Zoom from her home in Bengaluru, pointing to the number of environmental defenders that have been killed around the world in recent years.
Ravi’s arrest caused an outcry around the world, with the likes of Naomi Klein and Thunberg both voicing their support, alongside protestors who gathered in Bengaluru and Mumbai demanding her release. “One thing that I realised was how powerful the environmental and climate movement in India is,” the activist says. “Every single movement that I could think of spoke out; they were so enraged, and they didn’t stop speaking about it, which is essentially why the media kept talking about it for so long.”
It goes without saying that the past year has been extremely difficult, not only as a result of her arrest but also the intense scrutiny she’s suddenly been placed under. “I feel I’ve just been surviving instead of actively living my life,” she reflects. “I suddenly feel every single thing I say is watched under the lens, not just by the government but by the media and other people in the extended environmental networks.”
However, she is determined to use the larger platform she now has to make a difference, especially when it comes to advocating for other activists whose stories don’t get as much attention as hers. “I do have the privilege of now being [at] the centre of media attention if something goes wrong, and that is a privilege that most climate activists in India do not have,” she explains.
Ravi – who was previously interviewed by Vogue in September 2020 – began her environmental activism back in 2018, when she became concerned about the water crisis affecting her grandparents, who live in a rural village in Karnataka (the same state where the activist lives). “They’re farmers, so not having access to water really impacted them; their livelihoods depend on [it],” she explains. Shockingly, around 160 million people in India don’t have access to clean water – “that is essentially what made me an environmental and climate activist,” Ravi adds.
When first starting out, the activist says she adopted a “white-washed” version of environmentalism, focusing on issues like recycling. “[Some people] think that sustainability is one standard practice that fits everyone across the world – [that it’s] about being zero-waste and recycling when the truth is we were reusing and upcycling things in India before those terms were even coined,” she says. “There’s a lot of individual blaming and shaming, which dilutes the issue of who’s really causing the climate crisis. I don’t own the oil fields; I didn’t set the ocean on fire.”
In 2019, Ravi co-founded Fridays For Future India, as part of the global movement spearheaded by Thunberg, which allowed her to connect with other young activists around the world. After noticing similarities with those in other frontline communities, she helped launch Fridays For Futures MAPA in 2020 to highlight the most affected people and areas when it comes to the climate crisis. (The mainstream climate movement in the Global North has often been criticised for excluding people of colour and voices from the Global South.)
“[Activists in] the global network have become my closest friends, but also they’re doing such important work,” Ravi says. “I strongly believe that the work on climate and environment [shouldn’t be] restricted across borders, across oceans. It’s important for us to work with each other because what’s happening in India is also happening in the Philippines but in a very different way. And it’s important for us to support each other, learn from each other and always, always have each other’s back, which is what I have seen Fridays For Future do, at least for me.”
For Ravi, this type of collaboration is crucial moving forward. “It’s understanding that a movement or a single person can simply not address every single issue that is happening,” she continues. “We need to build movements that aren’t dependent on one person – [firstly] because it puts too much pressure on that one single individual and also because it lets authorities attack one person, which can often be discouraging for the larger movement.”
Still, she’s determined to carry on using her voice, despite everything she’s been through in the past year. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop speaking up,” Ravi concludes. “Nothing’s going to stop me from continuing my work.”
