An influential man,
who work for the humanity was remembered by the Sri Lankans on 20th
of November 2014. Fr.Thomas Kochery, who borne as Indian national and worked
for the poor and specially small scale fishers of the whole world was passed away on May 2014
at age 71.
On 20th
of 2014, National Fisheries Solidarity Movement together with Sri Lankan small
scale fishers remembered his work and him as most closely worked foreign figure
with them in Sri Lanka.
He loved to visit
and be in Sri Lanka, whenever possible with reasonable work for people. By His
own word, Sri Lanka was his second home. Fr. Kochchery closely work with NAFSO, in Sri Lanka and
helped to mobilize Sri Lankan Fishers to get organize as a movement as well as
to fight against oppression.
In 1971 Kocherry began serving as a priest in Poothura, a
poor fishing village in Kerala. Soon he was accompanying local fishermen out to
sea, running traditional nets from small catamarans made of wood tied with
rope. He witnessed firsthand the suffering of the villagers as their livelihood
was threatened by large trawlers operated by multinational fishing
corporations. (More)
In the late 1970s, Keralan fishers
started to organize and assert their rights on a whole range of issues. They
set up an organization called the Kerala Independent Fishworkers Federation. In
1981 Kocherry and fellow leader Joyachan Antony went on an 11-day fast in
favour of a Monsoon Trawl Ban (the breeding season for many varieties of fish)
in Kerala. Kocherry was arrested on trumped-up charges; in the course of
defending himself he managed to fit in a law degree at Kerala University.
By 1982 the fishworkers’ struggle
had gone national, with Kocherry elected president of the National Fishworkers
Forum. In the mid-1990s he led a nationwide campaign to stop the Indian
government from opening up the country’s fishing industry to a growing fleet of
2,600 large foreign trawlers. With 10 million Indians dependent on a
sustainable fishery for their survival, the stakes were high. A militant
campaign included marches, fasts and blocking of major fish ports around the
country. The Indian government was forced to withdraw the legislation – one of
the first and most significant victories against corporate globalization.
Kocherry, who went on to help form the World Forum of Fisher People,
understands the tensions of fighting for the rights of the fishing community in
an era of declining global fish stocks. ‘You simply cut from the top. The
biggest, most destructive, trawlers go first and you work your way down until you
reach a sustainable fishery. (More)
Fr. Thomas Kochery and his work will
be remembered by generations of oppressed communities throughout the world,
since his thoughts and fights are still continuing with the people who grown up
under his shadow.
