Throughout the world, a new questioning is growing, rooted in the experi­ ence of those for whom the spread of what was called “enlightenment” has been the spread of darkness, of the extinction of life and life-enhancing processes. A new awareness is growing that is questioning the sanctity of science and develop­ ment and revealing that these are not universal categories of progress, but the special projects of modern western patriarchy. This book has grown out of my involvement with womens struggles for survival in India over the last decade. It is informed both by the suffering and insights of those who struggle to sustain and conserve life, and whose struggles question the meaning of a progress, a sci­ ence, a development which destroys life and threatens survival.