Reflections on the 20 day, 450 km walk in Southern India for Fair Trade and Climate Justice
It boggles the mind to see how fast time moves. It feels like just yesterday that Natesa Iyer and I, backed by a whole troupe of vibrant, energetic and charmistastic people undertook the 450km walk from Pondicherry to Ooty, to raise awareness for Fair Trade and Climate Justice.
Nearly a month and a half afterwards, I wanted to share with you a quick summary of the most important outcomes from the walk.
People
Without people, this walk would have no meaning. From the people that poured their heart and soul into enabling me to pursue this journey to those met during the journey itself. A conservative estimate of around 5000 people were either introduced to me personally or listened to the words we had to share about the reasons for our walk. However, most importantly, it was for people that we walked.
Many joined our cause, walked alongside us, organised their own troupes and walked great distances to show their support, sent images and videos of their own messages for the world to hear, and oh, they did hear.
The word is spread through the actions and dynamism of people. However, in the communication age, the importance of media cannot be understated. The walk receieved incredible attention, both nationally and internationally. The coverage in the English language print in Tamil Nadu and in regional pages have been very good and have told the stories very accurately, without attempting to put a spin on things.
Radio, epecially FM in Chennai, Pondicherry, Coimbatore and Ooty has been substanial. Plenty of news shots in TV , especially in tamil were broadcasted during the walk and even after its completion.
The tamil print, which was very important as it is the main source of news for the people we are most trying to reach, was also substanial. Only a fraction of the full coverage has been shared with you on the webpage, as time progresses, more clippings will be added to the latest media coverage section.
Social media hits exploded during the duration of the walk, with plenty of support on both facebook and youtube. I share with you the video made by Brigge explaining the reason for the walk.
