PL FWD CONTACTS AND NETWORKS !
-- Forwarded message --
From: Siddhartha Mitra mitra.siddhar...@gmail.com
Date: Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 10:22 AM
Dear friends,
Sanhati, and other organizations and individuals, are organizing a protest
against the Indian government’s insidious war, named “Operation Green Hunt,”
which has been unleashed on the inhabitants of the forested regions of
East-Central India.
We urge you join in this protest at the Consulate in New York City (3 East
64th Street) on August 13 at 11 a.m.
Contact: communicati...@sanhati.com communications%40sanhati.com
Kindly inform others about this protest by circulating this email.
The protest will approximately coincide with Indian Independence Day (August
15) to emphasize that the promises of independence have remained largely
unfulfilled for a large section of the population, including the tribal
peoples.
In its current phase, this war is concentrated primarily in the forested
regions of East-Central India, stretching from the states of Chhattisgarh to
Jharkhand and West Bengal. This region is home to significant amounts of
natural resources.
Big corporations, both Indian and foreign, are plundering these natural
resources for quick profits and plan to continue doing so while paying
almost no attention to the enormous environmental and human costs inherent
in their ventures. The state and central governments continue to welcome
these big corporations with open arms by signing an unknown number of
memoranda of understanding with them—whose details have been kept secret. A
recent report by the Ministry of Rural Development, on the other hand,
described these trends as one of the biggest land grabs since the time of
Columbus.
Yet these forested areas house not only natural resources. This region is
home to a large section of India’s roughly 100 million Adivasis (i.e., the
tribal population). Using all means at their disposal, the Adivasis resisted
the government’s efforts to forcibly drive them from their ancestral lands.
Drawing on the Fifth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which is devoted
to Adivasi rights and provisions for their protection, Adivasi activists
challenged the government's expropriations.
Instead of addressing the genuine grievances of the Adivasis, the Indian
government has cracked down on their legitimate protests in violation of the
letter and intent of the Indian Constitution. Peaceful resistance movements
across this region have been met with police brutality and military might;
this forced the arming of a section of the resistance movement.
State-assisted vigilante groups like the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh and
Harmad Bahini in West Bengal were a response of the state to the armed
resistance of the Adivasis.
When that failed, Operation Green Hunt—a further escalation and
militarization of the State's response—emerged. Such militarization is
facilitated by the Indian government’s military cooperation with the United
States and Israel.
Sections of civil society have been urging the central government to stop
Operation Green Hunt and begin negotiations with the diverse people's
organizations opposing the looting of natural resources. The response of the
government to the idea of dialogue has in general not been encouraging in
view of the plans of increased militarization, human rights abuses committed
by the security forces, suppression of dissenting voices, and abductions and
killings of the leaders of people's organizations.
In this context, Adivasis in India, and all the people who are with them in
this struggle for freedom from exploitation and oppression, need your
support. Join us to protest against Operation Green Hunt and the increasing
violence of the Indian State on democratic movements on August 13, 2010 at
11 a.m. in front of the Indian Consulate in New York City.
Oppose the biggest land grab since Columbus!
Oppose Operation Green Hunt!
Oppose the war on people!
###
Sanhati (www.sanhati.com) is a forum of activists, professionals, workers,
academics and intellectuals that stand in solidarity with peoples' struggles
against corporate capital and for the upholding of democratic rights in
India. The group strives to be an integral part of the international search
for alternatives to the capitalist social order.
###
BACKGROUND NOTE
India Shining, so claimed the BJP-led government. Today, the Congress-led
regime might boast that it successfully increased annual economic growth
from 5.6% to 8.3% in the last six years, while criticizing the previous
BJP-led alliance.
Between the 5.6% and 8.3%, there lurk other stories. About three-quarters of
India's people live on less than Rs. 20 per day, while almost half of the
women in India are still illiterate and about 80% of households do not have
access to safe drinking water.
Between 1997 and 2006, there lurk other stories. Nearly 170,000 farmers
committed suicide by drinking pesticide because they could not keep up with
demands to repay
