Practices and representations of environmental rights in rural China and India

Abstract

Using China and India as examples, this article analyses how different regimes influence people’s perceptions of environmental rights. In addition to a literature review and fieldwork, it looks at two documentaries reporting environmental movements in rural China and rural India to investigate the politics of expression in their environmental arenas. In order to enrich the understanding of the grassroots movements in the two countries, the study examines how their common people differ from middle-class activists in the way in which they participate and make alliances in civil society. The findings suggest that the Indian campaigners tend to seek allies in civil society in order to formulate a joint voice in the public sphere, while the Chinese campaigners aim to gain assistance directly from official institutions. The poor communication among the public may result in a shortage of critical discourses in support of people’s movements and weaknesses in the legitimacy of public participation in the environmental arena.