About 3,000 adivasis and forest dwellers from across the country gathered at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, today to protest against the blatant and criminal resource grab of the Central and State governments.
The following is a communication from Campaign for Survival and Dignity, which organized the demonstration:
Braving intense heat and travelling for days on end packed in trains, our people came to Delhi to condemn the blatant criminal looting of our resources by these governments. Joined by leaders of the the Gondwana Ganatantrak Party, the CPI, the CPI(M), the CPI(ML) Liberation as well as other organizations, the protesters rallied at Jantar Mantar till 3 pm and then marched towards Parliament, where they courted arrest and were detained by the police.
Two delegations of the protesters presented the demands to the President and to the Secretary of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
Simultaneously, more than 3,000 people joined a protest called by the Campaign's Odisha state federation in Bhubaneshwar, on the same issues, and presented a memorandum to the State Governor.
The participants in the Delhi protest had come from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. They raised the fact that both the Central government and the State governments are brazenly violating the law and people's rights in order to keep their control over forests and forest lands. The government's entire agenda is dictated by the interests of capital - especially private industry - and the state machinery, particularly the Forest Department, and it will stoop to anything to grab more and more forests and lands for these interests. With every passing day, whether it is the POSCO project, so-called "afforestation" programs across forest areas or illegal eviction of forest dwellers in various States, the state machinery continues on its grossly illegal drive to seize control of our homelands.
CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat, CPI National Secretary D. Raja,and Girija Pathak of the CPI(M-L) Liberation addressed the protesters and called for a joint struggle by the movements gathered today and all people's forces to demand that the government respect justice and the rights of forest dwellers.
Brinda Karat declared that the government was putting the entire burden of implementation of the law on to the people throwing the law to the winds.
Raja said the struggle for democracy in the forests is an integral part of the struggle for a true democracy in this country.
Girija Pathak condemned the government's neoliberal approach and the manner in which it acts as a handmaiden to private capital even in violation of laws and people's rights.
Hirasingh Markam, Dhirendra Singh and other leaders of the Gondwana Ganatantrak Party also addressed the protesters and called for an intensified struggle to secure justice for adivasis.
For 150 years the forest dwellers of this country have fought for justice and for democracy in the forests. Today was one more moment in that fight. With every day our struggle grows stronger and wider. The state and the ruling class must realise that the days of loot, plunder and pillage are numbered. The people are rising, and however many lies they tell about "development" and "conservation", however many times they break their own laws, however many times they beat and kill us, the struggle for justice cannot be crushed forever.
Demands of today's protest:
1. The Forest Rights Act should be implemented in all forest areas, including protected areas, and the rights of all forest dwellers must be recognised. All Forest Department interference, illegal demands for unnecessary evidence, and illegal rejections should be halted.
2. All rejections and cases where people received less than the area claimed should be reviewed.
3. The gram sabha's powers to manage, control and protect forests and other natural resources must be respected, and displacement should be halted.
4. PESA should be implemented and scheduling extended to all adivasi areas.
5. CFR rights should be recognised for all villages and habitat rights recognised for all PTGs.
6. Takeover of forest land for industries, plantations, so-called "critical tiger or wildlife habitats" and forced eviction of people must be stopped and those responsible for these acts should be prosecuted. The conhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifsent of the gram sabha for diversion and compliance with the law should be required in every case.
7. Joint Forest Management should be shut down. The money channeled to the Forest Department for JFM should be transferred to the Employment Guarantee Act and the rights and power of the community to manage forests should be recognized.
Campaign for Survival and Dignity
Contact: 9873657844, forestcampaign@gmail.com
Showing posts with label Campaign for Survival and Dignity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Campaign for Survival and Dignity. Show all posts
02 April, 2010
Brutal attacks on people asserting their rights
The following is a statement issued by Campaign for Survival and Dignity
Clashes have erupted across the country as the forest authorities and other agencies move to crush those who are trying to uphold democracy, people's control over resources, and the law. In incidents that occurred in Gujarat (on March 21), Assam (March 30), UP (March 16) and Orissa (March 30), people are being falsely arrested, police opening fire and houses being burned. They have asked for nothing except their legal rights over their resources, and they have been shot at, beaten up, jailed and killed. Is the government's favorite phrase - the "rule of law" - to mean that the police should act as hired gunmen for the Forest Department and companies?
• In Gujarat, Avinash Kulkarni and Bharat Powar, activists of the Dangi Mazdoor Union (DMU), a democratic organisation that for 15 years has engaged in mass struggles for people's rights, are in jail, accused of sedition, conspiring to wage war against the State and membership in, support for and funding of a terrorist organization. They are members of the Gujarat-wide federation Adivasi Mahasabha (affiliated to the Campaign for Survival and Dignity), which has been engaged in the struggle for the Forest Rights Act and for democratic control over the forests. But for the Forest Department and those who benefit from their control, the law itself is the problem, so anyone who speaks of the law must be a terrorist. Indeed, the FIR against them does not describe a single incident or criminal offence; it is a rhetorical description of “increasing Naxal activity” in south Gujarat. In normal times it would be thrown out, but today, this is enough to land someone in jail indefinitely. The situation is so outrageous that even the Congress party walked out of the Assembly in protest on March 25.
• In Dhemaji, Assam, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, a people's organization, held a protest of 12,000 people on March 30. Their demands: implement the Forest Rights Act, clean up the PDS and halt the construction of big dams. The government's response? The CRPF fired in the air, used tear gas and lathi charged the protesters. More than 100 were injured and 23 admitted to hospital, of whom two are in critical condition. The district KMSS president was arrested and slapped with various false non-bailable cases. The KMSS general secretary, Akhil Gogoi, is facing a series of false cases and has been described by the government as – what else? - a “Maoist.”
• In Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh, on March 16, the Forest Department and local goondas attacked Adivasi protesters (organized by the National Forum of Forest Peoples and Forest Workers) who were reclaiming lands from which they had been illegally evicted in August 2009. The forest guards were armed and beat the protesters. Many were wounded, including a pregnant woman, who miscarried as a result of the beating. All the wounded were denied medical treatment. Four people, who were wounded themselves, were arrested and are still in jail. In fact it was the August 2009 eviction, not the protest, that is the criminal offence.
• In Kalinganagar, Orissa, site of massacre of 14 Adivasi protesters in 2006, the police went on a rampage again. On March 29, the day after the District Collector agreed to hold discussions with the Bistapan Birodhi Jan Manch on the construction of a road on their lands, the road construction was begun anyway. When the people protested the next day 29 companies of police were deployed and they went on a rampage. They were joined by goondas associated with the BJD and the Tata Group. One protester was shot in the legs, more than 50 sustained injuries; houses were burned, property looted, and cattle killed. The attackers even desecrated the memorial to those killed in 2006. The police later cordoned off the area and blocked entry.
Meanwhile, Operation Green Hunt leaves a trail of death and destruction across central India. For anyone who values democracy, law and basic humanity, these should be days of outrage.
Campaign for Survival and Dignity
http://www.forestrightsact.com
forestrights@yahoogroups.com
Clashes have erupted across the country as the forest authorities and other agencies move to crush those who are trying to uphold democracy, people's control over resources, and the law. In incidents that occurred in Gujarat (on March 21), Assam (March 30), UP (March 16) and Orissa (March 30), people are being falsely arrested, police opening fire and houses being burned. They have asked for nothing except their legal rights over their resources, and they have been shot at, beaten up, jailed and killed. Is the government's favorite phrase - the "rule of law" - to mean that the police should act as hired gunmen for the Forest Department and companies?
• In Gujarat, Avinash Kulkarni and Bharat Powar, activists of the Dangi Mazdoor Union (DMU), a democratic organisation that for 15 years has engaged in mass struggles for people's rights, are in jail, accused of sedition, conspiring to wage war against the State and membership in, support for and funding of a terrorist organization. They are members of the Gujarat-wide federation Adivasi Mahasabha (affiliated to the Campaign for Survival and Dignity), which has been engaged in the struggle for the Forest Rights Act and for democratic control over the forests. But for the Forest Department and those who benefit from their control, the law itself is the problem, so anyone who speaks of the law must be a terrorist. Indeed, the FIR against them does not describe a single incident or criminal offence; it is a rhetorical description of “increasing Naxal activity” in south Gujarat. In normal times it would be thrown out, but today, this is enough to land someone in jail indefinitely. The situation is so outrageous that even the Congress party walked out of the Assembly in protest on March 25.
• In Dhemaji, Assam, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, a people's organization, held a protest of 12,000 people on March 30. Their demands: implement the Forest Rights Act, clean up the PDS and halt the construction of big dams. The government's response? The CRPF fired in the air, used tear gas and lathi charged the protesters. More than 100 were injured and 23 admitted to hospital, of whom two are in critical condition. The district KMSS president was arrested and slapped with various false non-bailable cases. The KMSS general secretary, Akhil Gogoi, is facing a series of false cases and has been described by the government as – what else? - a “Maoist.”
• In Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh, on March 16, the Forest Department and local goondas attacked Adivasi protesters (organized by the National Forum of Forest Peoples and Forest Workers) who were reclaiming lands from which they had been illegally evicted in August 2009. The forest guards were armed and beat the protesters. Many were wounded, including a pregnant woman, who miscarried as a result of the beating. All the wounded were denied medical treatment. Four people, who were wounded themselves, were arrested and are still in jail. In fact it was the August 2009 eviction, not the protest, that is the criminal offence.
• In Kalinganagar, Orissa, site of massacre of 14 Adivasi protesters in 2006, the police went on a rampage again. On March 29, the day after the District Collector agreed to hold discussions with the Bistapan Birodhi Jan Manch on the construction of a road on their lands, the road construction was begun anyway. When the people protested the next day 29 companies of police were deployed and they went on a rampage. They were joined by goondas associated with the BJD and the Tata Group. One protester was shot in the legs, more than 50 sustained injuries; houses were burned, property looted, and cattle killed. The attackers even desecrated the memorial to those killed in 2006. The police later cordoned off the area and blocked entry.
Meanwhile, Operation Green Hunt leaves a trail of death and destruction across central India. For anyone who values democracy, law and basic humanity, these should be days of outrage.
Campaign for Survival and Dignity
http://www.forestrightsact.com
forestrights@yahoogroups.com
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