Forest people’s movements call for end of militarization of forests

The following is a joint statement issued by forest people's movements on May 12:

Today, the police have killed one person in Kalinganagar and critically injured at least 30 more; at the proposed POSCO plant site in Jagatsinghpur, Orissa. Twenty-five platoons of police have been deployed to crush the people defending their land. They expect another attack tomorrow or the day after.

As national platforms of democratic forest movements, with more than 200 organizational members spread across the country, we unequivocally condemn this brutality. But such atrocities are not occurring in isolation. Operation Green Hunt and the increasing militarization of the conflict in central India is wreaking devastation in our homelands and closing the space for democratic struggles. We first reiterate the following facts, to expose the myths being promoted by the government:

• In all the areas where Operation Green Hunt is underway, aside from individual atrocities, security forces are now preventing people from entering the forest, cultivating their lands or collecting minor forest produce. The numbers that are threatened with starvation or disease as a result is not even known. These facts have been ignored even as the tragic loss of lives in Maoist attacks has received a lot of attention. How can an offensive with such results be justified?

• An offensive in the name of the “rule of law” has been launched in areas where the government has never shown the slightest respect for the law. Under the law, land acquisition in Scheduled Areas is subject to consultation with the gram sabha (village assembly); diversion of forest land in all forests is subject to the consent of the gram sabha; and people have rights over village common lands, forests, water bodies and grazing areas. Can the government name a single place in the country where the rights of people over forests and lands have been fully recognised and respected? Can it name a single “development” project in the forest areas that has complied with the requirements of law? Rather, in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh alone, after 2006 the government has illegally granted in principle or final clearances for the use of 15,411 hectares of forest land to various “projects”.

• The government's true intentions are revealed by their response to democratic movements in the majority of forest areas, where the CPI(Maoist) does not exist. As an indicator, in just the few weeks between March 20 and April 20, activists in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam and West Bengal were arrested or attacked by police for the crime of standing up for the law and demanding legal rights. The protesters at POSCO and many other places, who have no link whatsoever with the Maoists, are being attacked.
These are examples of a trend that has become far worse with Operation Green Hunt, under which the label “Maoist” is used to justify all kinds of brutality. The Home Minister's latest statement threatening anyone “supporting Maoism” with jail is clearly aimed at justifying yet more such brutality.

• The conflicts in forest areas, whether with the CPI(Maoist) or with other movements, have nothing to do with “security” or “development”. What is at stake is the right of people to control their ecology, their production systems and their lives. Can a community lead a life of dignity when they are harassed, beaten or killed every time they cultivate forest land, collect minor forest produce or protest evictions? People are not demanding welfare; they are struggling for the right to live with freedom and dignity. This is the true meaning of security, development and the rule of justice.

• It is clear that the government's offensive is driven by more obvious interests – resource grabs (in water, minerals and land) have become a key source of profits. As the Maheshwar Dam, Vedanta or POSCO projects were found to break the law, the government has scrambled to bend or break the law itself to favour the corporates. When the Forest Department promotes illegal policies in international negotiations on climate change (i.e. the REDD agreement), these are not just condoned but promoted as a point of pride.

Meanwhile, people's rights over minor forest produce, forest land and common lands are frustrated at every turn by official violations of the Forest Rights Act. Clearly this is why the government now wants to crush all resistance, whether it is organised by the CPI(Maoist) or not.

Beyond Green Hunt: A Call for Democratic Space

We believe in and stand for the mass democratic struggle of the working people for social transformation. From this perspective, the damage is not limited to this offensive and the devastation it is wreaking. More insidious but much longer lasting is the destructive impact this militarization is having on the democratic space for people's struggles. This militarisation is not limited to Operation Green Hunt.

Even outside this offensive, the government has consistently used its force against all democratic formations and those who speak the language of people's rights; it has thrown the Constitution to the winds. The CPI(Maoist) has also engaged in indiscriminate physical attacks against those who are of a different political allegiance, and has often shown little tolerance for those who are engaged in other movements or who are critical of them. The turning of vast areas of the country into war zones, where all else is subordinated to the perceived military needs of the government or the CPI(Maoist), is unacceptable. It constitutes a betrayal of the values that both the CPI(Maoist) and the government claim to believe in. For this reason above all, there is an urgent need at this moment to restore basic democratic norms in the conflict zones.

Our Call:

1. The paramilitary forces must be withdrawn and the Salwa Judum, as well as other similar private militias in other states, must be disbanded. Public facilities – schools, clinics, etc. - must be treated as out of bounds for the conflict.

2. The government must respect the rights of people over their lands, forest produce and community forest resources as provided by the Constitution, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, the Forest Rights Act and other such laws. It must comply with the requirements under these Acts relating to the consent of the community prior to diversion or acquisition of land.

3. The security forces must stop interfering with the rights of people to cultivate their fields, go to markets and engage in their livelihood activities.

4. Illegal arrests, fake encounters and police murders must be halted immediately.

5. The CPI (Maoist) should make clear its position on the activities of other political forces in the conflict areas. It should respect the right of the people to be members of other parties, including opposing parties, or other movements and to otherwise exercise their democratic rights.

6. The right of refugees and the displaced to return home, especially in Dantewada, must be respected by the security forces and their private militias.

The following are signatories to the joint statement:

Campaign for Survival and Dignity:
Madhya Pradesh Jangal Adhikar Bachao Andolan
Jangal Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti (Maharashtra)
Bharat Jan Andolan (Jharkhand)
Campaign for Survival and Dignity - Orissa
Jan Shakti Sanghatan (Chhattisgarh)
Adivasi Mahasabha (Gujarat)
Jangal Jameen Jan Andolan (Rajasthan)
Orissa Jan Adhikar Morcha
Campaign for Survival and Dignity - Tamil Nadu
Adivasi Jangal Janjeevan Andolan (Dadra and Nagar Haveli)
National Forum of Forest Peoples and Forest Workers:
Adivasi Banihar Shakti Sangathana (Chhattisgarh)
Nadi Ghati Morcha (Chattisgarh)
Jharkhand Jangal Bachao Andolan (Jharkhand)
Chattisgarh Jan-ban Adhikar Manch
Birsa Munda Vu-adhikar Manch (Madhya Pradesh)
Patta Dalit Adhikar Manch (Uttar Pradesh)
Kaimnoor KShettra Majdoor Sangharsh Samittee,Sonebhadra,UP
Ghad Kshettra Majdoor Sangharsh Samittee,Uttarakhand
National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (North Bengal Regional
Committee)

Courtesy: Countercurrents

Manipur situation volatile, says Human Rights Alert

The following is a statement from Human Rights Alert, Imphal, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong:

The ongoing economic blockade enforced by All Naga Student Association, Manipur, (ANSAM) and others in Manipur since April 11, 2010 has pushed the people of the state to the verge of existence. The state-wide strike organized by ANSAM blocking roads and National Highways 39 and 53, which are the lifeline of Manipur, has resulted in acute shortage of food, medicine and other essential commodities.

Manipur is a state where ordinary life is marred with extreme forms of violence ranging from abduction to murder committed by state and non-state actors. The strike led by ANSAM has added further miseries to people's lives. In remote hill districts like Tamenglong, even the government food storage facilities are empty since the past few weeks. In Imphal, the capital city, the government and private hospitals have closed down emergency services. Within the next few days they will be unable to maintain its life support systems due to shortage of essential supplies including medicines and oxygen.

The price of items like rice, kerosene and cooking gas have escalated to such a level that the ordinary people cannot afford to buy household needs anymore. Vehicles, including the inter-state and inter-district transport, are off the road as the fuel stations closed since weeks.

The strike is in protest against the state government's notification for holding elections to the autonomous hill district councils in Manipur under the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council (3rd Amendment) Act, 2008. Additionally, the state government issued another notification for the first phase of the Autonomous District Council (ADC) elections in Manipur on April 26, 2010. After this, the organizations extended the strike to an indefinite period.

Naga organizations consider the ADC election a threat to their claim for 'Greater Nagaland', also known as 'Nagalim' a separate independent status within India merging neighbouring states into one entity with Naga racial supremacy.

In the midst of this tension, the NSCN-IM General Secretary, Mr. Th. Muivah was granted permission by the Union Government to visit to Manipur against the strong opposition of the state government on the ground that the visit would escalate tensions between communities.

The state administration increased security deployment in the border town of Mao to stop Muivah from entering Manipur. Two protestors supporting Muivah’s visit were shot dead and a group of 80 men and women were injured in police action and hospitalized. This triggered further protests and arson in some hill districts. The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) and other Naga groups of Nagaland are extending support to the protestors.

The situation in the state is extremely volatile and with the slightest provocation an internal conflict may breakout. If this happens it could spread to a large area and destabilize the whole region. So far, neither the state nor the Union Government has taken any action to prevent the impending danger.

Analysts are of the view that the Government’s wait-and-watch strategy to the plight of the civilians and the use of brutal force against the protestors is deliberate and intended to sharpen ethnic divide and foment civil strife.

A group of civil society organizations have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for immediate intervention. The letter is reproduced below. Those who wish to support the letter may convey their concern to the Prime Minister at the address below.

Open Letter

To
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister
7 Race Course Road,
New Delhi 110001, INDIA
Fax: +91-11-23015603/23019545/23016857/23014255
Email: manmohan@sansad.nic.in


Dear Sir,

SUB: Appeal for Urgent Action To Diffuse Situation In The Border Areas Of Manipur And Nagaland, Following Firing On Unarmed Citizens Causing Several Casualties And Injuries.

We write to you with deep concern about the events as they are emerging in the border areas of Manipur and Nagaland, resulting from the proposed visit of the NSCN-IM leader, Mr. Th. Muivah to his hometown as agreed upon by the Union Government but contested by the Government of Manipur.

Instead of acting to help diffuse the situation, the state has responded by heightening its military response. Such action by the state has inevitably increased aggression from all sides and generated panic and insecurity among people of different communities in the region.

Not surprisingly, the situation has now deteriorated sharply, with the armed forces firing upon unarmed protestors in and around Mao village, resulting in three deaths and around 80 men and women hospitalized with injuries. Additionally, there are disturbing reports of other forms of repression of the local population by the forces.

We condemn such a response from the state and urge you to act immediately in order to bring the situation under control and restore normalcy to the region.

Sincerely,
1. Angela Ralte, Mizoram
2. Anthony Debbarma, Borok People's Human Rights Organization, Agartala
3. Babloo Loitongbam, Human Rights Alert, Imphal
4. Bamang Tago, Arunachal Citizens Rights (ACR), Itanagar
5. Bondita Acharya, Purva Bharti Trust, Jorhat
6. Borok Women Forum, Agartala
7. D.Vari, Hmar Women Association
8. Fr. Santiago, Director North East Diocesan Social Forum, Gauhati
9. Grace Shatsang, Naga Women’s Union Manipur, Senapati
10. Hechin Haokip, CWG, Chandel
11. Helam Haokip, IRMA, Senapati
12. Jarjum Ete, Ex-Chairperson State Women Commission, Arunachal Pradesh
13. Lalam Mate, President, All Tribal Women Organisation, Chandel
14. Leimatombi, FAC, Bishenpu
15. Mary Beth Sanate, Rural Women’s Upliftment Society, Churachandpur
16. Mhon Kikon, Dice Foundation, Dimapur
17. Nazma Begum, OFT, Thoubal
18. Nonibala Narengbam, IRDSO, Wangjing
19. North East Network, Guwahati
20. Pramo, FFH, Thoubal
21. Rebati, ARDWE, Bishenpur
22. Rose Mangshi Haokip, Kuki Women Union Manipur
23. Shanghaidar Tontang, Weaker Section’s Development Council, Chandel
24. Shiluinla Jamir,Nagaland
25. Suhas Chakma, Asian Center for Human Rights (ACHR)
26. Tamphasana, NEPSC, Imphal West
27. Asian Human Rights Commission - Hong Kong (AHRC)

Petition demanding public consultation on Nuclear Disaster Bill

Greenpeace has launched an online petition asking the Prime Minister to hold a public consultation before proceeding with the Nuclear Disaster Bill which lets US corporations off the hook for any nuclear accidents they cause on Indian soil.

The companies will have to pay only a meagre amount as compensation. Indian taxpayers will have to shell down millions for the nuclear cleanup and to compensate the victims.

Without any public debate, the Prime Minister is appeasing American interests and ignoring our safety.

You can sign this petition here

Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness concept finds takers in West

CECILE ANDREWS
Energy Bulletin

There’s a new movement afoot! Gross National Happiness — evaluating our society in terms of happiness rather than money. That’s what the GDP, Gross Domestic Product, measures — the amount of money flowing through the system. The problem is that GDP goes up not only when good things happen, but when bad things happen as well. Things like mining disasters or oil spills can put a lot of money into the economy.

Robert Kennedy said it best in 1968: “Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that - counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl...

“Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”

So what does Gross National Happiness measure? Happiness research finds that the things that most contribute to satisfaction involve time for family, friends, and community. Indeed, social ties are the chief ingredient in happiness. We’ve forgotten this and it’s why happiness in the United States has been on the decline for the last thirty years.

The problem is that most of us grew up thinking that if we were rich we’d be happy. But the research shows that after a certain point, more money does not contribute to happiness. In fact, it can get in the way because money often becomes more important than relationships. In particular, time becomes money, and there is no financial benefit to just hanging out with friends!

Essentially, we care too much about money. Some companies will seemingly do anything for money — cheat, lay people off, pay low salaries, poison the environment, make money from wars. Look at our mine disaster and the oil rig explosion. Companies cut costs on safety for the sake of profit.

The central idea of Voluntary Simplicity is to straighten out our thinking out about money. Money will always be a motivator, but it can’t be the primary one. We must put people and the planet before profit. One way to get people to think differently about money is to measure true fulfillment instead of just money. Measuring Gross National Happiness is one way to get people thinking about what truly matters.

This all started with the little country Bhutan deciding to measure Gross National Happiness instead of GDP. And now, cities around the world are starting to get involved. One of the first is Victoria, British Columbia, and recently a delegation met with the Seattle City Council to begin talks about making Seattle the first American city to use GNH as a measure.

What would be measured? In Bhutan and Victoria they’re using 10 indicators: psychological well-being, time use, community vitality, culture, health, education, environmental diversity and resilience, living standard, and governance.

As you can see, this is an exciting idea! Imagine how fun it would be to get together and talk with others about what these indicators mean for your own happiness as well as the well being of our society.

You have a chance to do this at a class at the Phinney Neighborhood Center: “Happiness Lessons” to be offered on Tuesday, May 18th from 7:30-9:00. Donation $5. To register or for more information, call 206 783 2244.
Start thinking about truly matters for the well being of people and the planet!

(You can join a Simplicity Circle on Monday nights at 7:30-9:00 pm at St John’s United Lutheran Church at 55th and Phinney, across from the zoo’s west entrance. For info: contact Cecile Andrews at cecile@cecileandrews.com.)

Cecile Andrews is a long-time author on the subject of simplicity and originator of the Simplicity Circle idea. She's involved with projects to build Sustainability and Community in her North Seattle Neighborhood. The theme is living Simpler, Slower, and Smaller.

She has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University where she received her doctorate in education, and an affiliated scholar with Seattle University. A former community college administrator, she now works with community groups to explore the issue of living more simply: how to live lives that are sustainable, just, and joyful.

Website:
http://www.cecileandrews.com/

YouTube talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia5YTifXKmY

Courtesy: Countercurrents

Government attempt to criminalize dissent deplored

Countercurrents.org

The following is a statement issued by the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations:

The most recent alert (regarding use of section 39, UAPA) issued by the government in so-called public interest has brought out in the open what had so far been implicit in its anti-Maoist policy. The purpose of the circular is to intimidate voices of protests and dissent over government policies, particularly Operation Green Hunt. The statement criminalizes dissent and makes a mockery of the spirit of critical inquiry which is at the foundation of a strong democracy. As members of civil rights groups we consider the statement as an attack on civil society and reminiscent of the Emergency era.

The contents of the circular show complete disregard of the concerns expressed by Supreme Court when it rebuked the Chhattisgarh government for labelling human rights activists and legitimate activities as sympathetic to naxals, or the more recent concerns expressed by the Chief Justice over the governments war against its own people. It is not surprising that the government has also chosen to ignore the sympathetic and undoubtedly saner voices in its own ranks, which have a different perspective on addressing the problem.

We condemn the governments threat to use extraordinary draconian laws such as UAPA to constrain freedom of expression and free and informed debate on issues which are of crucial importance for the country. We further condemn the government for targeting political and civil rights groups who are doing no more than carrying out their democratic responsibility of ensuring equal protection of the Constitution to all sections of society.

Signed by
Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR, Punjab); Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC, Andhra Pradesh); Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR, West Bengal); Bandi Mukti Committee (West Bengal); Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR, Nagpur); Coordination of Human Rights (COHR, Manipur); Campaign for Peace and Democracy in Manipur (CPDM, Delhi); Human Rights Forum (HRF, Andhra Pradesh); Lokshahi Hak Sangathana (LHS, Maharashtra); Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS, Assam); Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR); Organization for Protection of Democratic Rights (OPDR, Andhra Pradesh); Peoples Committee for Human Rights (PCHR, Jammu and Kashmir); Peoples Democratic Forum (PDF, Karnataka); Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL, National); PUCL (Chhattisgarh); PUCL (Jharkhand); PUCL (Nagpur); PUCL (Rajasthan); Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR, Delhi); Peoples Union for Human Rights (PUHR, Haryana)

Unique peace march from Kerala to Manipur begins

From Cherthala, Defence Minister A. K. Antony’s home town in Kerala, a team led by writer and social activist Sara Joseph set out on Saturday for Imphal, capital of Manipur, on a unique peace march.

The march, christened Hind Swaraj Journey, has been organized to express solidarity with Irom Sharmila Charu, who has been on indefinite hunger-strike for about ten years demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The authorities have kept her alive by repeatedly taking her into custody on charges of attempted suicide and forcibly feeding her through nasal tubes.

This is the first time that activists from the southwestern state have taken out a march to express solidarity with a movement in the northeast.

The march has been organized by the Hind Swaraj Centenary Committee, which has been celebrating the 100th anniversary of the book “Hind Swaraj” in which Mahatma Gandhi outlined his concept of non-violence.

In a statement, the committee said the aim of the march was not merely to convey greetings to Irom Sharmila, who is engaged in a campaign which may go down in history as the longest and most intense non-violent struggle, but also to impress upon the authorities the need to end their apathetic attitude towards non-violent agitations.

It added, “The entire world is today watching this non-violent struggle. But the government is not ready to talk to Irom Sharmila. Nor is it taking steps to withdraw AFSPA. The criminal silence the government maintains towards non-violent agitations even as it proclaims it is ready to talk to terrorists who are killing innocent people with guns and bombs needs to be questioned.”

The team was given a warm sendoff at a meeting in Cherthala town before it boarded a train for Ernakulam from where it left at night for Benglooru on the first lap of the 20-day journey. From there it will proceed to Chennai (May 10), Vijayawada (May 11), Pune (May 13), Bhopal (May 15), New Delhi (May 16), Kolkata (May 18), Guwahati (May 20) and reach Imphal on May 21. On May 23 it will leave Imphal. It is due to return to the state on May 27.

K.P.A.Rahim, Chairman of the Hind Swaraj Centenary Committee, who presided over the meeting, explained the reason why the committee decided to sponsor the march.

Sara Joseph, in her speech, revealed that when she and Civic Chandran, Coordinator of the march, met the Defence Minister in New Delhi recently he had told them the circumstances in Manipur did not permit repeal of AFSPA but the possibility of reducing its rigour was being examined.

She deplored the government’s refusal to talk directly to Irom Sharmila. It had sent some intermediaries to Sharmila but she was not ready to talk to middle men. “The whole problem can be solved if President Pratibha Patil talks to Irom Sharmila,” she added.
Speaking before flagging off the march, I pointed out that although the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was enacted only in 1958 it was really a remnant of the British period during which the colonial regime had held down the tribal populations of the border regions, over which it could never establish full control. I also expressed the hope that A. K. Antony, who had the courage to speak up for democracy in Indira Gandhi’s presence at the Guwahati session of the Congress held during the Emergency, would once again rise to the occasion and work for restoration of the democratic process.

See Tehelka story Irom And The Iron In India’s Soul

See also Kavita Joshi’s blog

Chhattisgarh Peace Marchers' encounter with hooligans

Picture: Countercurrents

NACHIKETA DESAI
Countercurrents.org

Jagdalpur: The Peace March by eminent citizens demanding abjuring of violence by both Maoists and state forces and advocating a just and long lasting solution to the problems of the Adivasis of Bastar met with ugly protest demonstration by lumpen elements representing upper caste traders of the district town of Bastar.

The demonstrators shouted filthy abuses at the country's top space scientist Prof Yashpal describing him as a sympathizer of the Naxalites.

The hooliganism lasted for more than three hours, during which the peace marchers remained locked inside the conference hall of the Jagdalpur Press Club. Police identified the hooligans as local traders.

The demonstrators, numbering over 200, arrived on motorcycles outside the Press Club carrying sugarcane sticks, soon after the participants of the peace march began addressing a press conference. "We will beat these so-called intellectuals with these sticks. They have come to stop the 'Green Hunt' and in support of the Naxalites," their leaders shouted.

When this correspondent started taking pictures, four or five hooligans menacingly advanced towards him and pushed him away saying,"You cannot take our photographs."

Apprehending violence, the correspondent sent an SMS to Chhattisgarh director general of police Vishwa Ranjan apprising of the situation. Within five minutes a posse of policemen led by the superintendent of police arrived and controlled the mob. In the meantime, the hooligans deflated the tyres of the vehicles by which the peace marchers had come to Jagdalpur from Raipur and forced the driver of their bus to take it away.

When the peace marchers emerged from the press conference hall, the hooligans started raising slogans like "Naxalvadi vaapas jao, vaapas jao," "Green Hunt Ho kar rahega". Some of the hooligans were also shouting unprintable epithets interspersed with the slogan of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai".

"You intellectuals wake up and come here advocating peace only at a time when the government is launching its 'Green Hunt' to eliminate the Naxalites," their leaders were heard shouting amid the bedlam.

This was exactly what Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh had said yesterday at Raipur.

Peace marchers were compelled to return to the conference hall of the Press Club. They then invited representatives of the demonstrators to come inside the conference hall for a discussion. About two dozen demonstrators were allowed by the police to the discussion table. After an hour-long discussion, the demonstrators allowed the peace marchers to leave. However, as soon as the peace marchers emerged from the hall, the crowd outside again started shouting, "Naxalite sympathizers, go back."

Nachiketa Desai is a journalist who is travelling with the peace march

Centre’s warning: Supporting Maoists will invite 10 year jail

New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) Those who speak in favour of Maoist guerrillas will face legal action and 10 years imprisonment, the government announced Thursday in a warning to civil society groups who raise voices in favour of Leftwing extremism.

"Any person who commits the offence of supporting such a terrorist organisation (like Communist Party of India (CPI)-Maoist) with inter alia intention to further the activities of such terrorist organisations would be liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or with fine or with both," a home ministry statement said.

It said such action would be taken under Section 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The home ministry said the government has noticed that some Maoist leaders were directly contacting certain NGOs and intellectuals to propagate their ideology and "persuade them to take steps (and) support the CPI-Maoist ideology".

"General public are informed to be extremely vigilant of the propaganda of CPI-Maoist and not unwittingly become a victim of such propaganda," the statement warned.

The Leftwing extremist group and all its front organizations have been designated as terrorist organizations by the government.

According to the ministry, the "sole aim" of the CPI-Maoist is to overthrow the Indian state.

It "continues to kill innocent civilians including tribals in cold blood and destroy crucial infrastructure like roads, culverts, school buildings, gram panchayat buildings so as to prevent development from reaching these under-developed areas", the statement added.

Intimidatory tactics against Gladson Dungdung

Countercurrents.org

GLADSON DUNGDUNG, human rights activist, writer and Convenor of Jharkhand Indigenous People's Forum, writes:

This is to inform you that the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has been monitoring my activities almost every day, which I got to know from an officer of the Ministry who visited my office at 11 AM on 29th of April 2010. He informed me that I was taken seriously by the Ministry in 2008 when I had started raising serious questions against the Arcelor Mittal Company, who has signed an MoU for 12 Mt Steel Plant with an investment of Rs. 400 billion. Mr. Arjun Munda, then the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, had shown it as the biggest achievement of his one-year tenure. We the Adivasi youth had protested under the banner of Jharkhand Indigenous People’s Forum against a tie-up between the DON BOSCO ITI and Arcelor Mittal Company. Consequently, they had to break the tie-up.

According to the officer, the Ministry’s monitoring was intensified against me when I had written a letter to Mr. P. Chidambaram the Home Minister of India on 19 March 2010 asking him to stop Operation Green Hunt. I had also given him 10-point suggestions for dealing with the issue of Naxalism. When this letter reached to the Ministry, there was anxiety in the office and it was immediately sent to its Ranchi unit which was asked to submit a report about me immediately. Since, there was no any evidence against me related to so-called anti-national activities no action was taken against me.

However, the officer has asked me to send him a copy of my writing whenever I write a piece in future. I should report to him about any programme I organize or participate in, especially related to the issues of land, forest, water, Adivasi and Operation Green Hunt. I should also report to him about all the major activities I do on daily basis. It is obvious that the Ministry of Home Affairs has been monitoring my activities under pressure from the corporate houses. Hence, the Ministry is promoting the acts of intimidation and seizing my right to freedom of thought and expression.

Therefore, I appeal to all the civil society organizations, people’s movements and individual to oppose the unconstitutional acts of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the protection of my rights, the democracy and the Indian constitution.

PS: My friends also informed me that there is an attempt to book me under the charge of Sedition or any other serious offence.

See Gladson Dungdung’s recent article: I am neither a Maoist nor a Gandhian but an Adivasi

Gladson Dungdung can be contacted at gladsonhractivist@gmail.com

Demonstrators disturb Peace March meeting

Prof Yash Pal and Swami Agnivesh

NACHIKETA DESAI
Countercurrents

A mob of about 100 slogan-shouting supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party barged into the public meeting of eminent citizens, including space scientist Yash Pal, veteran Gandhian Narayan Desai and former University Grants Commission chairman Ramji Singh, a day before they embarked upon a peace march from Raipur to Dantewada in Chhattisgarh.

A group of over 50 leading citizens had converged in Raipur on Wednesday (May 5) to take out what they call 'March for dialogue on peace and justice', calling for end to a civil-war-like situation in the predominantly tribal state of Chhattisgarh. These citizens comprising academics, scientists, social activists and Gandhian workers, want a 'ceasefire' between the state forces and Maoists to begin a nation-wide discussion on the model of development that the country should follow to ensure a sustainable, just and people-oriented economy and polity.

At a press conference, held before the public meeting, Prof Yash Pal said he was greatly pained at the plight of the tribals, farmers and the indigenous people in the last 60 years of Independence for which the powers that be and the middle-class in general were responsible. "Do we want to annihilate the entire race of aboriginal people, like America had done in the name of development?" he asked.

Interestingly, the Press Club of Raipur allowed the press conference of the leading citizens as an exception to its earlier resolution not to allow any press conference of human rights activists. The press conference lasted for more than an hour during which journalists asked leading questions like 'How can you advocate ceasefire when Naxalites are out to wage a war against the constitutionally-formed government?"

Swami Agnivesh, Prof Yash Pal and Narayan Desai explained the limited scope of the peace march saying the foremost thing was to stop violence from both the sides -- from the state and the Left extremists -- to facilitate a nation-wide dialogue on ways and means to have a sustainable and just development of the country in which people were at the centre.

Later, while the marchers held a public meeting at the town hall, near the district collector's office, a mob of over 100 people, stormed into the hall shouting slogans, "Naxal sympathizers go back", "Naxal sympathizers, shame, shame." The trouble-makers disrupted the meeting several times during which the speakers stopped addressing the gathering.

State director general of police Vishwa Ranjan said the trouble-makers belonged to the BJP and the Congress party. "Tempers are running high in Chhattisgarh over the wanton killings of tribals by the Maoists. Anyone advocating dialogue with them is perceived as the sympathizer of the Maoists," he added.

The top cop directed police offers of Jagdalpur and Dantewada to provide adequate security to the peace marchers.

I am neither a Maoist nor a Gandhian but an Adivasi

GLADSON DUNGDUNG
Countercurrents.org

I appeared in public life through my human rights works, writings and speeches. However, I reached to a larger audience when I got a chance to appear in CNN-IBN and NDTV-24×7 debates on the issue of Naxalism last year. After these debates, I got immense positive and negative responses from across the country. I was upset for sometime precisely because of the most negative responses I got from youth who are running behind the market forces unknowingly. They ruthlessly questioned me about whether I get money from Pakistan, Nepal or China for speaking against the Indian State. I responded to a few of them with detailed explanations, but many believe P Chidambaram’s theory of this side or that side; therefore they are not ready to accept my rational arguments.

Meanwhile, I continued my work of raising the genuine issues of the marginalized people of India. Amidst, the so-called Operation Green Hunt (OGH) was also launched in the state of Jharkhand in the name of cleansing the Maoists. I passionately attempted to bring out the truth of the OGH, intention of the state behind the OGH and sufferings of the villagers caused by the OGH. As a result, so-called educated people intensified more personal attacks against me. There are also some e-groups where they attempted to coin me as a Maoist sympathizer and supporter. Finally, they have portrayed me as a Maoist Ideologue. I just laugh, laugh and laugh. Precisely, because how can a person suddenly become a Maoist ideologue without having an in-depth study on Maoism? I have never read about Maoism.

I deliberately do not read about any ideology because I know that Maoists teach the Adivasis about Maoism, Gandhians preach to them about Gandhism and Marxists ask them to walk on Marxism; but no one bothers about Adivasism, which is the best ‘ism’ among these, which perhaps leads to a just and equitable society. I have been raising questions about how the Indian State has deliberately destroyed the Adivasism. The Adivasi religion was not recognized by the Indian constitution, traditional self-governance was neglected, culture was destroyed, lands were grabbed and our resources were snatched in the name of development. But what do we get out of it? Should we still keep quiet? Are we not the citizens of this country who need to be treated equally? Do they care about our sufferings?

I’m one of those unfortunate persons who have lost everything for the so-called development of the nation and am struggling for survival even today. When I was just one year old, my family was displaced. Our 20 acres of fertile land was taken away from us in the name of development. Our ancestral land was submerged in a Dam, which came up at Chinda River near Simdega town in 1980. We lost our house, agricultural land and garden but we were paid merely Rs.11,000 as compensation. When the whole village protested against it they were sent to Hazaribagh jail. Can a family of six members ensure food, clothing, shelter, education and health facilities for whole life with Rs.11,000?

After displacement, we had no choice but to proceed towards the dense forest for ensuring our livelihood. We settled down in the forest after buying a small patch of land. We used to collect flowers, fruits and firewood to sustain our family. We also had sufficient livestock, which supported our economy. Needless to say that the state suppression continued with us. When we were living in the forest, my father was booked under many cases filed by the forest department (the biggest landlord of the country) alleging him as an encroacher and woodcutter. There was no school building in our village - therefore we used to study under the trees, and when there was rain our school was closed. But my father taught us to always fight for justice. Though he was struggling to sustain our family, he never stopped his fight for the community.

Unfortunately, on 20 June 1990, my parents were brutally murdered while they were going to Simdega civil court to attend a case and 4 kids were orphaned. Can anyone imagine how we suffered afterwards? The worst thing is the culprits were not brought to justice. Can anyone tell us why the Indian State did not deliver justice to us, who snatched our resource in the name of development? Why there is no electricity in my village even today? Why my people do not get water for their field whose lands were taken for the irrigation projects? Why there is no electricity in those houses, who have given their land for the power project? And why people are still living in small mud houses whose lands were taken for the steel plants? It seems that the Adivasis are only born to suffer and other to enjoy over our graves.

After a long struggle, we all got back to life but my pain and sufferings did not end here. When I was working as a state programme officer in a project funded by the European Commission, a senior government officer and an editor of a newspaper (both from the upper caste) questioned my credentials saying that being an Adivasi, how could I have gotten into such a prestigious position? Similarly, when my friend had taken me to meet a newly wedded couple of the upper caste in Ranchi, I was not allowed to meet them saying that being an Adivasi if I meet the couple, they might become unauspicious and their whole life would be at stake. Was I a devil for them?

However, when I joined another firm, I was totally undermined and not given the position which I highly deserved. I was racially discriminated against, economically exploited and mentally disturbed. Can anyone tell me why I should not fight for justice? Can those so-called supporters of the unjust development process, who have not given even one inch of land for the so-called national interest, coin me as the Maoist ideologue, sympathizer and supporter respond to me: why should I shut up my mouth and stop writing against injustice, inequality and discrimination?

I have lost everything in the name of development and now I have nothing to lose therefore I’m determined to fight for my own people because I do not want them to be trapped in the name of development. I have taken the democratic path of struggle, which the Indian Constitution guarantees through Article 19. A pen, mouth and mind are my weapons. I’m neither a Maoist nor a Gandhian but I’m an Adivasi who is determined to fight for his own people, whom the Indian State has alienated, displaced and dispossessed from their resources and is continually doing it in the name of development, national security and national interest even today.

Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights Activist and Writer from Jharkhand. He can be reached at gladsonhractivist@gmail.com

Praveen Swami's defence and JTSA's rejoinder

The following is the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association's rejoinder to Praveen Swami's reply to its statement "Praveen Swami’s Not So Fabulous Fables":

We are greatly surprised and also, one may add, a little amused at this display of victimhood on the part of Praveen Swami and his friends. It appears that we are to forget that Swami churns out one column after another in a national daily, week after week, giving detailed expositions of the guilt of those who are still awaiting trials. Ms Annie Zaidi in her letter to the editor of countercurrents, the website where our statement first appeared, seems so exercised by our accusations against Mr. Swami, but it does not concern her when her friend and ex-boss writes, to give just one example, about Abu Bashar, a poor maulana from Azamgarh, as a jihadist. (“Islamism, Modernity and Indian Mujahideen”, March 22, 2010, The Hindu) Does she not realize that Bashar’s trial could be vitiated and prejudiced by Swami’s public indictments?

Our humble email campaign is being pitted as a grave injustice to Swami’s journalistic integrity, but the inequality between JTSA and the might of the Hindu group (and Swami’s clout within it) is apparent to anyone not ‘blinded by faith’. We may add here that Swami is an absolute non-entity for us. JTSA was formed in the aftermath of the Batla House ‘encounter’; when a group of teachers at Jamia Millia Islamia felt that the police story about the ‘encounter; was riddled with holes, and we came together to campaign for truth and justice. Our fight is against the State and its agencies, and the fact that it refused any free and fair enquiry into the ‘encounter’ strengthens our conviction that the State does not wish the truth to be revealed. Our limited interest in Swami is only because he appears to be an apologist for the State. We have no personal interest in Swami, we assure his friends and well wishers. However it is entirely reasonable and justified for anyone to issue public statements against someone’s politics—and Swami’s politics is clearly Statist and strangely unquestioning for an investigative journalist. It is no crime to raise doubts about a certain kind of reportage which merely parrots the investigators’ claims; surely Swami is not alone in pushing the Home Ministry’s agenda, but he certainly is the undisputed king of this. To fear that one’s writings would be ‘challenged by those who don’t agree’ is intellectual dishonesty and crass arrogance at the least.

As for the Swami’s defence, we would like to submit the following:

I
Swami says that it’s no one’s business who the source of his story is; fair enough, though he shouldn’t baulk when he is criticized for consistent reliance on investigators and their dossiers alone. It is the accuracy of information, he says, which should be the issue. Very good! Except how do you measure the accuracy of statements such as these?

a) “Bored by the religious polemic, though, Bashar’s students [alleged IM bombers] turned instead to Anurag Kashyap’s movie Black Friday…” (“Islamism, Modernity and Indian Mujahideen”, March 22, 2010, The Hindu)

b) “Early in the summer of 2004, investigators say, the core members of the network that was later to call itself the Indian Mujahideen met at Bhatkal’s beachfront to discuss their plans. Iqbal Shahbandri and Bhatkal-based cleric Shabbir Gangoli are alleged to have held ideological classes; the group also took time out to practice shooting with airguns. Bawa had overall charge of arrangements — a task that illustrated his status as the Bhatkal brothers’ most trusted lieutenant.” (The Rebirth of the Indian Mujahideen”, 19th April 2010, The Hindu)

One could provide a n endless list of such assertions that Swami makes. The only source of this supposedly accurate information can be chargesheets (which to repeat what we said in the last post, are only chargesheets, not proven guilt) or custodial confessions.

On the question of the new footage, why does the Pune Police continue to be unimpressed with ATS’s naming of Bhatkal? Why do they say that the ATS is after “usual suspects’? (see http://epaper.mailtoday.in/Details.aspx?
boxid=2310463&id=35313&issuedate=1242010)

II
On the Batla House ‘encounter’, Swami responds thus:
The National Human Rights Commission studied the same evidence I did—and more which was not available when I wrote. It says: “…swabs which were taken from the right hands of Mohd Atif Ameen and Modh Sajid by the doctors at the time of post mortem in AIIMS were sent in sealed bottles to CFSL for dermal nitrate tests in the laboratory. The same were found to contain gun shot residue. This conclusively establishes that Mohd Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid had both used fire arms at the time of incident”. [5] Unless it believes that the NHRC is an intelligence agency, the allegation made by the JTSA is untrue.

We have maintained and reiterate it even more strongly now, after the publication of the post mortem reports, that the National Human Rights Commission studied the evidence placed before it selectively, and willfully ignored all contrary evidence. The only so-called clinching evidence against the two slain boys is the presence of gun shot residue on their right hands, which in NHRC’s words quoted by Swami, “conclusively establishes that Atif and Sajid had both used fire arms at the time of incident.” However the presence of Gun shot residue (GSR) is hardly ‘conclusive’ evidence. For several years now, forensic scientists have cautioned against the enthusiasm of prosecutors to push for GSR as crucial evidence, for these reasons:

1) GSR is like a cloud of invisible particles, which can be inadvertently shaken off by the shooter with the shake of a hand, even a single swift movement or rubbing of hands etc. It easily transfers to clothes or car seats etc.

2) It is entirely possible for non-shooters to be contaminated by GSR. Police vehicles are particularly prone to GSR contamination and non shooters can likely acquire GSR traveling in vehicles ferrying shooters, or in which shooters have previously travelled. Indeed, experiments conducted by forensic scientists have revealed that even those non-shooters who entered a room a few minutes after there had been firing acquired GSR.

3) Particles that are ostensibly peculiar to GSR can be produced in ways other than fire shots, for example particles similar to GSR can be found in brake linings.
(Among others, see New Scientist, 23 November 2005, magazine issue 2527/ http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18825274.
300-why-we-cannot-rely-on-firearm-forensics.html?full=true)

So really, GSR is hardly the kind of clinching evidence that the NHRC, and following it, Swami would have us believe. Indeed, as the post mortem reports clearly demonstrate, the two boys were shot from a close range, making it that much easier for GSR to be deposited on their on their bodies.
Second, he responds to our charge of refusing to comment on the Batla House ‘encounter’ in light of the post-mortem reports:

I didn’t. I still don’t. Having studied the available evidence, the NHRC concluded: “In such circumstances, the action taken by the police party in which Mohd. Atif Ameen and Mohd. Sajid received fatal injuries and died is fully protected by law”. [6] Parenthetically, I note that members of the Facebook group I believe the 2008 Batla House encounter was FAKE insist that “not only the JTSA report, but also NHRC (a statutory body of GOI) says that the encounter is fake”. [7] Either these people have not read the NHRC report—or are lying.

At the cost of repeating ourselves, we would like to place the following facts:

The NHRC’s ‘available evidence’ consisted of the statements of senior police officers:

1) R.R. Upadhayay, Additional Commissioner of Police, Vigilance;

2) Satish Chandra, Special Commissioner of Police (Vigilance), Delhi;

3) Neeraj Thakur, DCP (Crime & Rly.), Delhi;

4) Karnail Singh, Joint Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, Delhi.

These are the very same people who were being supposedly investigated. Not a single neighbour from Batla House or family member of the deceased was called for deposition to verify or cross check the police version despite them having filed applications wishing to testify before the Commission; the NHRC did not even bother to visit the site of the ‘encounter’. Mr. Swami may not find it of interest that the NHRC did not deem it necessary to investigate the presence of non-firearm ante-mortem injuries; neither did it exercise the NHRC that the two boys did not receive a single bullet injury in the frontal region of their bodies—or that such evidence does not square with the statements made by the senior police officers’ descriptions of the sequence of events in their notes to the NHRC.

III
On our raising of Swami’s linking of Bhatkal and IM to the Bangalore stadium blasts, Swami says:

Leaving aside the minor irony here—the JTSA’s great faith in an embarrassed BJP politician—there are two facts that need to be recorded. In pursuit of the government’s “betting mafia” story, the Karnataka Police arrested five Uttar Pradesh suspects. Those suspects were cleared of any involvement in the attacks by the Uttar Pradesh Police. [8] Second, I clearly identified that suspicions directed at Mohammad Zarar Siddi Bawa, a.k.a. Yasin Bhatkal, were based on what investigators were telling me. Similarity in bomb design is quite evidently reasonable ground for suspicion—though it is not of course proof. Since I have no independent expertise in bomb forensics, the information was clearly attributed to investigators. Its up to readers whether they want to believe them or not.

No body expects Swami to have independent expertise in bomb forensics, but independent reporting certainly. There were other journalists who were not buying the investigators’ story that the presence of easily available samay clocks could be proof alone of the omnipresent IM’s hand.

“But as far as the suspects are concerned, it is turning out to be an old game for the Karnataka police. They have zeroed in on Riyaz Bhatkal and Bilal—who have been blamed for any terror attack on any part of the state for the past four years.

The police do not have any evidence to link Bhatkal to the Bangalore blasts. The only premise on which their argument is based is the “similarity in planning the attacks”. Karnataka police's inability to make a breakthrough in the case has drawn flak.

“It is highly intriguing that the police have not made any major breakthrough. They are trying to find scapegoats and hence naming the usual suspects," said Rakesh Para, a former intelligence officer of the Karnataka police.” (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/93651/India/
IPL+betting+mafia+behind+twin+blasts:+K'taka+HM.html)
There were also others who were willing to cite alternate theories:
“Sources in Bangalore said the Indian Mujahideen is being linked to the April 17 bomb episode outside the cricket stadium largely on account of the presence of the clocks. “But as these clocks are easily available all over the country it is not easy to corroborate only on this basis or the usage of ammonium nitrate gel as the explosive,” said the sources.

Karnataka DGP Ajai Kumar Singh said: ‘We are looking at the similarities between these blasts and blasts in other parts of the country. There are however a lot of dissimilarities between these blasts and the July 25 serial blasts in Bangalore’.”(http://www.indianexpress.com/news/clock-in-
stadium-bombs-points-at-im/609027/1)
It is of course up to the readers to decide whether to believe the investigators or not, but surely by obfuscating other view points, Swami is telling his readers that the investigators information is the sole authoritative version of affairs.

On the link between SIMI and IM and terrorism, he further writes:
I’m a little uncertain here about precisely what the allegation is here—but think the JTSA has some problem with my suggesting that SIMI and the Indian Mujahideen are linked to terrorism. I’m in good company, I think, in this belief. Javed Anand had a must-read article on the issue some time back. [9] Yoginder Sikand had some good background earlier. [10] If you’re willing to fork out a few bucks for more detail, do read C. Christine Fair on the subject. [11] This is just a tiny part of a mass of literature—not including charge-sheets, trial records and so on—on the subject. You don’t need access to the Intelligence Services to access it—just a few hours in a good library
Yes indeed, we have a problem with Swami’s linking of SIMI and IM’s connection with terrorism, but in particular with his linking of these groups to the stadium blasts. And we are not in bad company either. In August 2008, Justice Geeta Mittal, who headed the High Court Tribunal on the ban on SIMI asked the Centre to produce any “fresh material” to “connect” the organisation to “bomb blasts, riots, destructive activities”. She said: “You say that SIMI is connected to bomb blasts, riots, destructive activities. Place specific material before me, you (Centre) cannot presume their involvement.” JTSA finds SIMI’s ideology abhorrent, particularly its views on women, but that does not mean that we are willing to let them be hanged on charges of terror when there is no evidence to prove it.

Second, the IM’s links with SIMI are tenuous. The DGP of Gujarat, P.C. Pande provided a semantic link between SIMI and IM: “You remove S and I from ‘SIMI’ and you get IM, for Indian Mujahideen.” (Ahmedabad, Aug 16 2008, IANS) Well, it could as easily be argued that if you remove ‘B’ from IB and supplant it with ‘M’, you get IM.

The only proof of this shadowy organisation’s existence are the dubious emails sent in the aftermath of the blasts claiming responsibility, and the lengthy chargesheets filed by the various police departments.

We did not see any link between the life story about a supposed IM operative and the stadium blast, neither did Swami provide any in his rejoinder. As for trial records, Tehelka has done a series on SIMI which can be cited and which prove Swami’s confident assertions utterly wrong. These are also easily accessible on the Internet. Moreover, none of the IM trials have even begun for Swami to cite. As for forking out a few bucks for detail, don’t bother, because Christine Fair approvingly cites among others, Praveen Swami himself! Talk about friends in need, friends indeed!

We cannot speak for either the Facebook Page I Believe the 2008 Batla House Encounter was fake or the page, Shut up Praveen Swami as none of us are members of either of the pages, but cannot help noticing that the ‘Shut Up Praveen Swami’ page was hacked into and destroyed on 28th April 2010. When its creator, re-started the page on the same night, it was again hacked into on 30th April 2010.

PS: a member of the JTSA did indeed email the release to the Hindu on this email id openpage@hindu.co.in on 27th April 2010. We would be grateful to the editors of the Hindu were they to publish the entire text of the exchange, including our rejoinder to Swami’s response. It is a little unfair to ask us to circulate Swami’s email, as the Chief of Bureau asks us to in the name of ‘fairness’, when they have a newspaper and a weekly magazine at their disposal, which has always given Swami a free run.

Released by the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (www.teacherssolidarity.org)

Distributed by Countercurrents.org

Asian Human Rights Folk School

The May 18 Memorial Foundation of South Korea has invited applications for participation in the 2010 Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School.

The Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School started in 2004. Till now, 127 people from 22 countries have participated. The aim of the Folk school is to introduce the participants to Korean History and various democratic movements, including the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, through both theoretical and practical experiences.

The Folk School strives to contribute to the development of democracy and human rights through out Asia by hosting 20 invitees from all over Asia who have been working for human rights and peace organizations in their own countries. The emphasis is on organizational partnership, so applicants endorsed by their organization will be given priority.

Junior Staff - 8 (with 2-5 years experience)
Middle Management/Advisory- 8 (with 5-15 years experience)
Senior/Director- 4 (with more than 15 years experience)

One of the perks of attending the Folk School is the opportunity to be endorsed for a scholarship at Sungkonghoe University’s Master of Arts in Inter-Asia NGO Studies (MAINS). Students will be chosen and selected by the folk school committee based on their active participation and performance during the folk school.

Applicants are advised to read the guidelines carefully. The foundation will only accept and consider applicants who will properly comply with the set guidelines and rules.
Incomplete applications will not be considered.

See Application forms for more details.

Useful Information
Applicants should ensure that they have no potential visa problems. If an applicant is denied entry to Korea because of personal history which they did not disclose to the May 18 Memorial Foundation, the foundation will absolutely not cover their travel expenses. This is the applicant’s responsibility.

If an applicant later decides not to come to the folk school (cancels their application) after they have accepted a place, the May Memorial Foundation will not accept any applications from their organization for three years.

The May 18 Memorial Foundation will cover the following expenses during the programme:
• Visa fees
• International airfare to Korea
• Transportation in Korea
• Accommodation

The following expenses will NOT be covered:
• Internal transportation, including internal flights, in your country (for example, to the airport or to the embassy)
• Official fees other than visa fees (for example, travel tax)

Please send your application to
518folkschool@gmail.com
Application deadline May 31, 2010.
Period of event: August 09 – August 27, 2010

UID is an assault on our privacies

BINU KARUNAKARAN
Countercurrents.org

"In societies of control the individual is doubled as code, as information, or as simulation such that the reference of the panoptic gaze is no longer the body but its [digital] double, and indeed this is no longer a matter of looking but rather one of data analysis." B. Simon

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram was right when he said the gravest threat to Indian democracy comes from within. There's a slight change though -- the threat does not stem from the Maoists who are waging a war to ususrp state power by the year 2060. It comes from a super-panopticon project that aims to create a 12 digit UID/Aadhar number for the 1.2 billion citizens of India.

The UID/Aadhar, in reality a tracking, profiling and surveillance project fast-tracked post 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, is being sold to us as an ICT panacea -- a one-click fix for all the ills of a modern welfare state.

For Nandan Nilekani, the czar of India's Silicon Valley, who paratrooped straight from a corporate boardroom to the helm of the UIDAI and the UPA's neoliberal mandarins the UID project is nothing but the translation of the world into a problem in coding, the society reinterpreted as a cybernetic system with informational flows as control loops – a society subject to social and political control where privacy and dissent will remain -- to borrow a phrase from Rondald Rumsfled -- known unknowns.

It is to hide this real and devious intent that the UIDAI sings a lullaby of welfare and shows us its silicon (forgive the pun) mammaries. Who wouldn't love a technology that will plug the leaks in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and optimize the PDS delivery of food grains to the poorest of poor, all by de-duplication of identities of the 'fraudulent' Indian citizens? A good 37.2 per cent of population, according to the Planning Commission, falls under the Below Poverty Line (BPL).

Democracy can now cut the long story of its upstaging short. Why wait till 2060 for the gun-toting Maoists if you can cut five decades of crap with the UID that will roll out in early 2011? A bloodless coup in the digital realm.

The birth of UID also means that the singularity so far discussed in the realm of science fiction is already here. Not the technological singularity of domination by a super-human intelligence, but a panopticon singularity described by Charles Stross, that arises from a situation in which the human behaviour is deterministically governed by processes outside their control. With the advent of the UID, citizens will cease to be individuals and their relation with the state will be drastically altered forever. From individuals with power over our destinies we will turn into dividuals in perpetual cybernetic slave mode. Our 'databased selves' acting as our body doubles conditioning our behaviour in realtime and transforming our physical selves into zombies.

The metaphors of Orwellian Big Brother and Bentham's prison architecture pales in comparison. If in the Foucaultian vision of prison the object of surveillance was the physical body, in the panoptics of UID, the object of control is the digital representation of the body. It is no longer necessary to create a real cyborg: all you need is a virtual cybernetic double that can hold your biometric and other ID info and authenticate the Real You in all virtual and physical transactions.

UID should be opposed because it is an assault on our privacies which form the basis of free speech, autonomy and personal dignity. Privacy is a solemn zone and a powerful right by which we form opinions and express them fearlessly. We concede in private, what cannot be said in a public sphere - often political opinions and radical thoughts germinate within the four walls of a room. Journalists know the volatile power of information that is shared in private conversations with bureaucrats and politicians and of the solitary acts of whistle blowers - all which help democracy to flourish.

The UID seen in the context of its linkages with the National Population Register and the NATGRID that involves sharing of information by 11 agencies which run over 20 different databases, ranging from IT returns to bank accounts, and telephone records to internet search histories is sure to undermine democracy by infringing on our privacy in a way not visualized before. When the row over illegal phone tapping by NTRO surfaced recently the opposition was indignant. If a foxy Rs.70 million sophisticated snooping instrument can unnerve them what about the consequences of the UID whose potential for datamining and human rights infringement crosses every imaginable threshold?

In his essay Future Map US born theorist Brian Holmes quotes from scientist Norbert Wiener's seminal work God & Golem, Inc.: “Can God play a significant game with his own creature? Can any creator, even a limited one, play a significant game with his own creature?” The question we need to ask Nandan Nilekani and the UPA government is the same.
-----------------
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Man reported living without food for 70 years!

Sky News says Indian doctors are studying the case of Prahlad Jani, an 83-year-old holy man in Ahmedabad who has been living without food for seven decades.

The source of the report is not clear.

I had worked in Ahmedabad as a news agency correspondent during 1966-68. If the report is correct, Prahlad Jani must have been living without for more than 25 years already. But I did not hear of him and his feat.

During that period a couple of cases of elderly devout Jains inviting death by going on indefinite fast were reported. But I did not come across any mention of this holy man in the local media.

Earlier in my professional career I had come across the case of Dhanalakshmi, a teenaged girl of Coorg (Kodagu) who was reportedly managing without food. The story was broken by The Hindu’s Mercara (Madikeri) correspondent and picked up by national and foreign media.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru asked the Bangalore Medical College to study the case of Dhanalakshmi, whom the media had dubbed the Wonder Girl of Coorg. After a few days doctors reported that her brother was caught trying to smuggle food into her hospital room.

Here’s the Sky News report reproduced by Yahoo! News

Also reproduced are archival material about the Dhanalakshmi case:

Time magazine report

A follow-up report published by The Hindu

Indigenous peoples assert their rights and Mother Earth's

The following is the Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples of the World adopted at World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth held at Tiquipaya, Bolivia, from April 19 to 22, 2010:

Mother Earth can live without us, but we can’t live without her

We, the Indigenous Peoples, nations and organizations from all over the world, gathered at the World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, from April 19th to 22nd, 2010 in Tiquipaya, Cochabamba, Bolivia, after extensive discussions, express the following:

We Indigenous Peoples are sons and daughters of Mother Earth, or “Pachamama” in Quechua. Mother Earth is a living being in the universe that concentrates energy and life, while giving shelter and life to all without asking anything in return, she is the past, present and future; this is our relationship with Mother Earth. We have lived in coexistence with her for thousands of years, with our wisdom and cosmic spirituality linked to nature. However, the economic models promoted and forced by industrialized countries that promote exploitation and wealth accumulation have radically transformed our relationship with Mother Earth. We must assert that climate change is one of the consequences of this irrational logic of life that we must change.

The aggression towards Mother Earth and the repeated assaults and violations against our soils, air, forests, rivers, lakes, biodiversity, and the cosmos are assaults against us. Before, we used to ask for permission for everything. Now, coming from developed countries, it is presumed that Mother Earth must ask us for permission. Our territories are not respected, particularly those of peoples in voluntary isolation or initial contact, and we suffer the most terrible aggression since colonization only to facilitate the entry of markets and extractive industries.

We recognize that Indigenous Peoples and the rest of the world live in a general age of crises: environmental, energy, food, financial, ethical, among others, as a consequence of policies and attitudes from racist and exclusionary states.

We want to convey that at the Copenhagen Climate Conference, the peoples of the world demanded fair treatment, but were repressed. Meanwhile the states responsible for the climate crisis were able to weaken even more any possible outcome of negotiations and evade signing onto any binding agreement. They limited themselves to simply supporting the Copenhagen Accord, an accord that proposes unacceptable and insufficient goals as far as climate change action and financing to the most affected countries and peoples.

We affirm that international negotiation spaces have systematically excluded the participation of Indigenous Peoples. As a result, we as Indigenous Peoples are making ourselves visible in these spaces, because as Mother Earth has been hurt and plundered, with negative activities taking place on our lands, territories and natural resources, we have also been hurt. This is why as Indigenous Peoples we will not keep silent, but instead we propose to mobilize all our peoples to arrive at COP16 in Mexico and other spaces well prepared and united to defend our proposals, particularly the “living well” and plurinational state proposals. We, Indigenous Peoples, do not want to live “better”, but instead we believe that everyone must live well. This is a proposal to achieve balance and start to construct a new society.

The search for common objectives, as history shows us, will only be completed with the union of Indigenous Peoples of the World. The ancestral and indigenous roots shared by the whole world must be one of the bonds that unite us to achieve one unique objective.

Therefore we propose, require and demand:

1. The recovery, revalidation and strengthening of our civilizations, identities, cultures and cosmovisions based on ancient and ancestral Indigenous knowledge and wisdom for the construction of alternative ways of life to the current "development model", as a way to confront climate change.

2. To rescue and strengthen the Indigenous proposal of “living well”, while also recognizing Mother Earth as a living being with whom we have an indivisible and interdependent relationship, based on principles and mechanisms that assure the respect, harmony, and balance between people and nature, and supporting a society based on social and environmental justice, which sees life as its purpose. All this must be done to confront the plundering capitalist model and guarantee the protection of life as a whole, through the search for inclusive global agreements.

3. We demand States to recognize, respect and guarantee the application of international standards of human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights (i.e., The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ILO Convention 169) in the framework of negotiations, policies, and measures to confront climate change.

4. We demand States to legally recognize the pre-existence of our right to the lands, territories, and natural resources that we have traditionally held as Indigenous Peoples and Nations, as well as restitution and restoration of natural goods, water, forests and jungles, lakes, oceans, sacred places, lands, and territories that have been dispossessed and seized. This is needed to strengthen and make possible our traditional way of living while contributing effectively to climate change solutions. Inasmuch, we call for the consolidation of indigenous territories in exercise of our self-determination and autonomy, in conformity with systems of rules and regulations. At the same time we demand that states respect the territorial rights of Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation or in initial contact, as an effective way to preserve their integrity and combat the adverse effects of climate change towards those peoples.

5. We call on States not to promote commercial monoculture practices, nor to introduce or promote genetically modified and exotic crops, because according to our people’s wisdom, these species aggravate the degradation of jungles, forests and soils, contributing to the increase in global warming. Likewise, megaprojects under the search for alternative energy sources that affect Indigenous Peoples’ lands, territories, and natural habitats should not be implemented, including nuclear, bioengineering, hydroelectric, wind-power and others.

6. We demand changes to forestry and environmental laws, as well as the application of pertinent international instruments to effectively protect forests and jungles, as well as their biological and cultural diversity, guaranteeing Indigenous Peoples’ rights, including their participation and their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.

7. We propose that, in the framework of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, states establish a policy that Protected Natural Areas must be managed, administered and controlled directly by Indigenous Peoples, taking into account the demonstrated traditional experience and knowledge towards the sustainable management of the biodiversity in our forests and jungles.

8. We demand a review, or if the case warrants, a moratorium, to every polluting activity that affects Mother Earth, and the withdrawal of multinational corporations and megaprojects from Indigenous territories.

9. We urge that states recognize water as a fundamental human right, avoiding its privatization and commodification.

10. We demand the application of consultations, participation, and the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples and affected populations in the design and implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures and any other intervening actions on Indigenous territories.

11. States must promote mechanisms to guarantee that funding for climate change action arrives directly and effectively to Indigenous Peoples, as part of the compensation for the historical and ecological debt owed. This funding must support and strengthen our own visions and cosmovisions towards “living well”.

12. We call for the recovery, revalidation and strengthening of Indigenous Peoples’ technologies and knowledge, and for their incorporation into the research, design and implementation of climate change policies. This should compliment Western knowledge and technology, ensuring that technology transfer processes do not weaken indigenous knowledge and technologies.

13. We propose the recovery, development and diffusion of indigenous knowledge and technology through the implementation of educational policies and programs, including the modification and incorporation of such knowledge and ancestral wisdom in curricula and teaching methods.

14. We urge States and international bodies that are making decisions about climate change, especially the UNFCCC, to establish formal structures and mechanisms that include the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples. They must also include local communities and vulnerable groups, including women, without discrimination, as a key element to obtain a fair and equitable result from climate change negotiations.

15. We join in the demand to create a Climate Justice Tribunal that would be able to pass judgement and establish penalties for non-compliance of agreements, and other environmental crimes by developed countries, which are primarily responsible for climate change. This institution must consider the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, and their principles of justice.

16. We propose the organization and coordination of Indigenous Peoples worldwide, through our local, national, regional, and international governments, organizations, and other mechanisms of legitimate representation, in order to participate in all climate change related processes. With that in mind, we call for an organizational space to be created that will contribute to the global search for effective solutions to climate change, with the special participation of Elders.

17. We propose to fight in all spaces available to defend life and Mother Earth, particularly in COP16, and so we propose a 2nd Peoples’ Conference to strengthen the process of reflection and action.

18. The ratification of the global campaign to organize the World March in defence of Mother Earth and her peoples, against the commodification of life, pollution, and the criminalization of Indigenous and social movements.

Nepal Maoists call indefinite strike to force political change

Nepal'sMaoists have announced an indefinite strike from May 2 if the ruling parties don´t come around to their agenda of a national government and drafting a people´s constitution.

Maoist Chairman Puspa Kamal Dahal declared the infinite strike amidst an interaction programme with media persons at Hotel Yak and Yeti on April 26. The party has set the deadline of May 1, the day of the party´s proposed mass urban-centric demonstrations, to meet their demands.

"Taking into account the whole political scenario and background, our party has reached a conclusion that massive pressure and intervention of the people is essential to safeguard national independence and people´s supremacy and for peace and constitution-drafting," Dahal said. However, the Maoist chairman said his party would remain open for talks with the ruling parties.

According to him, thousands of party volunteers would be mobilized from May 1 in the major cities to make the "third Mass Movement" peaceful, and warned that the government would be responsible for any untoward incident if demonstrations are suppressed though violent tactics.

Dahal also denied reports that his party has been training its cadres in urban warfare tactics. "They were trained to manage the massive demonstrations," he said, "We absolutely dismiss the propaganda that they were being trained in military skills." There are news reports and pictures about the Maoists training their cadres with khukuris and sticks at camps in various districts, and that they would be at the forefront of the Maoist demonstrations.

He claimed that such training took place only in Morang and that the party has directed its local bodies not to train cadres with lathis and Khukiris. He also said the seizure of more than 600 Maoist sticks by police in Kavre on Sunday had been hyped up.

"If the other side resorts to violent tactics, there will be violence. It is said the state begins violence at first," he said.

Accusing the government of making massive preparations to suppress the demonstrations, he said the Maoists have already decided to "retaliate" if the government takes to violent methods to crush the demonstrations.

In closed-door training sessions, Maoist leaders have been telling their cadres that they should now be ready for a "last battle" to capture state power.

Dahal also argued that the general strike is not his party´s wish, but is the only option for fulfilling the historic necessity of peace and constitution.

The former rebel leader also argued that his party had withdrawn the party´s continuous strikes earlier after the High Level Political Mechanism was formed, but the mechanism could not make headway due to the apathy of NC and UML leaders following the demise of NC president Girija Prasad Koirala.

He also passed the blame for breaking the system of consensus onto the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, which, according him, led to the current political deadlock.

The Maoist chairman said his party mulled a no-confidence motion, but decided to drop the plan after the game of "buying and selling parliamentarians´ votes" began.

According to Dahal, the more people hit the streets, the quicker will come the results, and people won´t have to suffer long.

Praveen Swami’s not so fabulous fables

The following is a statement released by the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association:

If there is one infallible indicator of what the top Indian Intelligence agencies are thinking or cooking up, it is this: Praveen Swami’s articles. Each time the security establishment wishes to push a certain angle to this bomb blast or that, Swami’s articles appear magically, faithfully reflecting the Intelligence reports. After the Batla House ‘encounter’, he launched a tirade against all those who were questioning the police account of the shootout labelling them all ‘Alices in Wonderland’. He went so far as to identify ‘precisely’ how Inspector Sharma was shot by claiming that "abdomen wound was inflicted with [Atif] Amin's weapon and the shoulder hit, by Mohammad Sajid".

And no sir, Swami’s conclusion was not based on postmortem reports of the killed, fire arm examination report or ballistic report but on this innocent fact: “the investigators believe that…” He certainly brings in a whole new meaning to ‘investigative journalism’.

Swami, however, felt no need to pen an article when the postmortem reports of Atif and Sajid revealed that they had been shot from close range and that neither of them sustained gunshot wounds in the frontal region of the body—an impossibility in the case of a genuine encounter. Was it because the police and the Home Ministry chose to remain quiet after the revelations—hoping that the storm would blow over?

Flip-flops on German Bakery Blasts

And meanwhile there was the German Bakery blast in Pune. Writing less than a week after the blasts, Swami hinted at the possible involvement of the Hindutva groups, namely Abhinav Bharat (“Hindutva Terror Probe Haunts Pune Investigation”, 19th February 2010). Indeed, this was mood in the ATS (though this was no deterrent to the large-scale illegal detention and brutal interrogation often at private premises, of scores of Muslim youth in Pune.) Even the following week, the Home Department officials were not ruling out the possibility of the involvement of the Right-wing Hindutva groups. But that was February. By March, political impatience at the probe taking such a turn was palpable. Responding to a riled Shiv Sena in the legislative assembly, Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil thundered: “I will inquire if Raghuvanshi really indicated to the media about involvement of Hindu organizations in the Pune blast and if he did, action will be taken (against him)." As if on cue, two days later, Rakesh Maria was installed as the new ATS chief. This was of course only after a few months when Vinita Kamte, widow of the slain ATS officer Ashok Kamte, made serious allegations casting aspersions on Maria’s role in responding to the then ATS chief Hemant Karkare’s call for reinforcements during 26/11.

CCTV Footage

Since its start, the probe had little to go on by way of leads except for the CCTV footage. While the Pune police commissioned experts to draw sketches of the suspects based on this footage, ATS dismissed this exercise as “anything but useful” as their source, the CCTV footage, was itself grainy. (Siasat, April 12). Where does Swami stand on this? He wrote in his 19th February piece: “All that investigators have by way of suspects are three men recorded holding brief meetings before the blast by a poor-quality closed-circuit television camera. From the videotape, it is unclear if the men had anything to do with the attack.”

Exactly a month later, Swami conveniently develops an amnesia about Abhinav Bharat and even about the poor quality of CCTV footage. What was earlier ‘unclear” and hazy has in one month segued into solid shape: in the form of top Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Mohammad Zarar Siddi Bawa ie., Yasin Bhatkal. Suddenly imparted with enlightenment, Swami writes dramatically of how a closed circuit television camera ... “recorded evidence that Bawa had returned to India—just minutes before an improvised explosive device ripped through the popular restaurant killing seventeen people and injuring at least sixty.” The poor quality (by Swami’s own admission) and useless (by the ATS’s admission) visual evidence has morphed into precious footage of Bhatkal, “the fair, slight young man with a wispy beard” … “dressed in a loose-fitting blue shirt, a rucksack slung over his back.”

Clearly, Swami’s changing perceptions about the CCTV footage is in accord with the shifting attitude of the ATS itself. The ATS began by keeping the option of probing Abhinav Bharat open; developed cold feet, preferred to lapse into the usual Lashkar-IM litany, ‘rediscovered’ hitherto worthless footage and resurrected the IM. In an unequivocal reference to the manner in which innocent Muslim youths were arrested earlier by the ATS in its pre-Karkare days, a senior officer of the Pune Police admitted that “There have been some arrests in the Pune blast incident just as in the case of the 2006 Malegaon explosions. But we would never know whether those arrested were actually the men who triggered the blasts.” (Siasat, April 12, 2010). Rumours that the probe might be handed over to the National Investigative Agency must have also pressured the Maharashtra ATS to show ‘results’—and viola, within two weeks of taking over, Maria submitted a preliminary report to the state government identifying the hand of Bhatkal and IM in the blasts. This was of course promptly and proudly relayed by R.R. Patil to the legislative assembly (surely to the relief also of the Shiv Sena legislators). Is it a coincidence that the Pune Police Commissioner has been transferred, ostensibly for the rising crime graph a couple of days ago? It seems improbable that the running battle between the Pune police and the ATS—whose current chief Maria had thrown a tantrum following Vinita Kamte’s accusation, demanding the support of the state Home Ministry—had no role to play in this.

The Bangalore Blasts

When two crude bombs went off outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium ahead of the match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore on 17th April, Karnataka Home Minister V.S. Acharya announced that the State Police were investigating the alleged involvement of the cricket betting lobby. He forcefully denied any link with the earlier blasts in the city in 2008.

But Yasin Bhatkal seems to have preoccupied Swami’s mind on 19th April for he evokes him again in connection with the stadium blasts (“Stadium Blasts herald new IM offensive”). Citing the ever cooperative ‘investigators’, he says that the ‘similarity in design’ and the manner in which some bombs failed to explode are a sure indicator of the IM hand. Beyond this, he has nothing to link Bangalore bombs to Bhatkal. But good stories can always compensate for lack of facts. His piece, “To Bangalore with Hate” on 21st April (which has charming subtitles such as Jihad at ginger plantation”), is no less crude than the two bombs at the stadium. Swami here details the biographies of SIMI activists in South India, making the link, ever so cleverly, between SIMI—and yes, IM—and the stadium blasts, without providing any evidence of their actual linkage. Life stories of these men are proof enough, he assumes.

It is quite clear that Mr. Swami has provided a (sometimes entertaining) dramatized version of the charge-sheets files by the various police departments across the country. While it may make for a good script, we do hope that Mr. Swami understands what charge-sheets are: a list of charges or allegations, which the police has still the burden to prove in a court of law--not irrefutable or established truth. Perhaps, Mr Swami fancies himself a literary genius who believes in narratives acquiring their own lives. In which case, he has manufactured a large corpus of mediocre short stories.

Courtesy: Countercurrents

Hind Swaraj Centenary Journey from Kerala to Manipur begins on May 8

The march has been christened Hind Swaraj Centenary Journey as it coincides with the 100th anniversary of the publication of Mahatma Gandhi’s work of that name.

Civic Chandran, one of the coordinators of the event, has stated that the march will be flagged off from Cherthala, home town of Defence Minister A.K.Antony. It will pass through Bengalooru, Chennai, Nellore, Vijayawada, Pune, Bhopal, New Delhi and Kolkata and end at the Imphal jail where Irom Sharmila is incarcerated.

Irom Sharmila, a Manipuri poet described by Maheswata Devi as the woman set to be the iconic figure of the 21st century, is in the tenth year of her fast. Repeatedly released and rearrested, she has been continuing her hunger-strike in jail. The authorities are keeping her alive through nasal feeding but her internal organs are said to have suffered irreparable damage.

As is well known, her non-violent movement is in support of the demand for repeal of the five-decade-old Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the North Eastern states under which the civilian population has practically no legal recourse or redress against excesses or atrocities committed by the armed forces. This situation contravenes the basic tenets of justice and human rights.

“Defence Minister A. K. Antony is a Malayalee and it is to address his conscience and through him that of our Government that we are beginning the Hind Swaraj Centenary journey from Cherthala, from where he hails,” Civic Chandran says. “It will culminate in Imphal where Irom Sharmila is jailed. The journey traverses through the major cities of India.”

The march will be led by Sara Joseph, writer and activist. The following is the itinerary:

May 8, 2010: Flag-off from Cherthala, Kerala

May 9, 2010: Bengalooru, Karnataka

May 10, 2010: Chennai, Tamil Nadu

May 11, 2010: Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

May 13, 2010: Pune, Maharashtra

May 15, 2020: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

May 16, 2010: New Delhi

May 18, 2010: Kolkata, West Bengal

May 20, 2010: Guwahati, Assam

May 21/22, 2010 Imphal, Manipur

Civic Chandran hopes the authorities will appreciate the need to respond humanely, as is appropriate for a state that respects human rights and the rule of law, to the ten-year-old struggle by Irom Sharmila.

The noted human rights activist and Nobel laureate Sherin Ibadi has said, “If anything happens to Irom Sharmila, the Indian state, the Indian Parliament, the Prime Minister and the media that closed its eyes to this decade-long struggle should be held responsible.”

Adds Civic Chandran: “We too, cannot shirk our responsibility. Amidst the deafening noise of violence speaking to violence across the length and breadth of our country, here is a call to respond to non-violence, with humility, with truth.”

He has requested all people to cooperate with the Hind Swaraj Centenary Journey by organizing events in the cities through which it passes, publicizing the journey, raising finances to meet its expenses and talking to the local media about it.

Contacts:
Civic Chandran:
civicchandran@gmail.com
Phone: 09633751353

T.R.N Prabhu:
trn.prabhu@gmail.com

Sunny Paikada,
Convenor, Hind Swaraj Centenary Samithi
Phone: 09446234997

Nepal Maoists take lessons on media handling, plan to launch TV station

Nepal's Maoists plan to launch their own television channel and a national broadsheet daily to disseminate "correct information" about the party.

Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai presented a concept paper in this regard during a training session at the party headquarters, Paris Danda, last Sunday, according to the website of Republica, which describes itself as “a team of professional management and journalists — one of the best in the Nepali media”.

Maoists have already formed two committees – editorial led by Dr Bhattarai and managerial by Dinanath Sharma -- to study if a television channel will also be viable.

According to a participant in the training session, the party has classified the Maoist publications into three categories -- central, regional and local. "While the central publications will be directly monitored by the party's top body, the regional and local publications will be handled by the corresponding committees," he said.

He added that the party took the decision as various publication houses have been found collecting advertisements in the name of the party. He hoped the new move would discourage the trend.

The meeting categorized Janadisha daily, Janadesh weekly, Red Star fortnightly and Samsleshan monthly as central publications under the direct monitoring of the party.

"Perhaps the tabloid-sized Janadisha daily will be converted into a broadsheet daily and Janadisha weekly into a magazine," he said.

Journalists Prashanta Jha, Tirtha Koirala, Raghu Mainali, Krishna Jwala Devkota and Narayan Sharma trained Maoist leaders on handling of the media.

Jha dwelt on effective dissemination of information in the international arena, Koirala on the relationship between leaders and media houses, Mainali on professionalism and management and Devkota on advocating the rights of the proletariat.

Speaking at the training session, Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal directed the revolutionary journalists to ask people to hit the streets for the promulgation of the people's constitution.

"This month, just ahead of constitution-drafting, is crucial for Nepali people. So you have to ask people to hit the streets," a participant quoted Dahal as saying.

Dahal presented two possible scenarios amidst the looming crisis: "They will either dissolve the Constituent Assembly and enforce presidential rule, or ask us for the CA deadline. But the constitution will not be promulgated as they just want to adopt the 1990 constitution and we will not agree. So there is no alternative to hitting the streets," Dahal said. He argued that the constitution would be drafted only if the people took to the streets.