An independent filmmaker and poet has set up a digital archive on Adivasis named after Father Stan Swamy, the Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist who died in custody in July 2021 and became a symbol of State repression.

The Stan Swamy Archive of Adivasi Narratives is available on YouTube as a repository of videos on the tribal way of life, their culture, interviews with achievers and common people from the community and the problems the Adivasis face, including displacement from agrarian land because of government projects.

“I started working on this in March this year. It is a dynamic digital encyclopedia of the Adivasi experience, populated by narratives of ordinary and extraordinary experiences of tribals, their wisdom and opinions important to the Adivasi way. I have dedicated the archive to tribal rights activist Fr Stan Swamy,” said Ranjan J. Kamath, who lives in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

Kamath described the archive as a “digital dialogue” between Adivasi citizens who maybe strangers to or acquainted with each, and a platform to share their experiences, “from personal to philosophical to political”.

Kamath, a graduate from the London Film School with a distinction in cinematography, has directed documentaries for the BBC, Channel Four, National Geographic and Discovery Channel.

“Building on the strength of oral traditions inherent in the Adivasi way of life, the archive is a project designed to restore pride and value to the Adivasi cultural and (to showcase) the intellectual heritage (of tribals) that can be viewed in classrooms and boardrooms in the Chotanagpur plateau, elsewhere in India and the rest of the world by those wanting to be inspired by the traditions, customs and most importantly, the thinking, of indigenous people critical to conserving a planet in convulsion,” said Kamath, who served as a consultant to the European Union between 1999-2002 on the “role of the media in conflict resolution” in South Asia.

Kamath, a graduate from St Xavier’s College (Calcutta), wants the videos to be shared widely and used for the purpose of social awareness and education.

Fr Stan, 84, had been accused by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of conspiring with Maoists to overthrow the Indian government. The Parkinson’s patient was arrested in October 2020 from Namkum in Jharkhand and lodged in a Mumbai jail, where he contracted Covid. Hedied in custody at a hospital in July 2021 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The Arsenal Consulting, in its report published in The Washington Post last year, stated that digital evidence used to arrest Fr Stan in the Elgaar Parishad-Maoist links case had been planted onhis computer’s hard drive.

Memorial lecture

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Jharkhand chapter, will host the second Stan Memorial Lecture on June 25 in Ranchi.

“The ever-increasing attacks on human rights, the shrinking space for dissent as well as the retreat of the media from their historical role are deepening the dangers. This is why our theme of the lecture this year is ‘Governance by gagging and the moral universe of media’. It is relevant in the current times. Ramon Magsaysay awardee and journalist P. Sainath will be the speaker at the lecture. We hope to keep alive the issues raised by Fr Stan throughout his life,” said secretary, PUCL Jharkhand, Arvind Avinash.