URGENT CALL TO ACTION IN DEFENSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000

Last week the Supreme Court of India showed that the law of the world's biggest democracy and the lives of its people are on sale to the highest bidder. An urgent call has been put out by activists and half a million affected villagers of the Narmada Valley for all around the world who would resist globalization and who value freedom and democracy to support them in their struggle for life, before it is too late.

DEMONSTRATE at the Indian High Commission, after the rally against Ilisu dam in Parliament Square on 31st October (Ilisu rally 12-2pm, we'll be at the High Commission by 3 or 4pm) - see below for more info and directions.

SEND A FREE FAX to the President (91 11 301 9545) and Prime Minister (91 11 301 6857) of India from the website http://www.tpc.int/sendfax.html - see below for more info about this - it will take just 2 mintues of your time.

It is no coincidence that the Undercurrents video of the anti-WB/IMF protests in Prague opens with a shot of villagers in the Narmada Valley resisting the unjust submergence of their homes during the 1999 monsoon, as a result of the Sardar Sarovar dam being built miles downstream across India's second most holy river. Those who have visited the valley cannot help but be infected by the feeling that, in some sense, it is at the very centre of the growing global struggle against the attempt by the world's rich to steal ruthlessley from the powerless. Without doubt, the issues surrounding the Sardar Sarovar dam are a paradigm example of the rich stealing (with the barest pretence of legitimacy that falls apart instantly at the seams when you see what's actually going on on the ground) the land and only means of livelihood of thousands (400 thousand) of indigenous tribal people and farmers (condemned to the streets and slums of India's cities by India's highest court). Yet the feeling that the valley's visitors are left with comes not so much from the facts of the case, as from the inspirational movement that has grown up in Narmada, one of the strongest grassroots resistance movements in the world and the inspiration for many other grassroots movements across India, whose activists have sacrificied everything in their nonviolent struggle for their lives.

The Supreme Court majority verdict (one of the three judges actually listened to the facts of the case rather than just his wallet, and gave a dissenting judgement against further construction of the dam) allows work on the dam to continue until it is at its full height, twice the present height, after a six year stay on construction. This will result in the flooding of massive areas of the fertile agricultural land and villages on the Nimad plains (imagine creating a reservoir on a plain - its like trying to use a desk as a tea cup!) as well as drowning thousands of indigenous tribal families out of their homes and wreaking untold environmental destruction. It should be seen not just as a blow for Narmada but as a blow to the whole movement for global democracy. The Supreme Court of India has sent a clear signal that the law of the largest democracy on the planet has just been floated on the free trade market and is on sale to the highest bidder. Whoever said you can't put a price on life?

But the people of the valley have vowed to fight on more fiercely than ever before, risking their own lives if necessary (though not inflicting violence on others), to reverse this historic injustice. It is absolutely crucial at this time for the international community to show its solidarity with the valley and their outrage at the ongoing plunder of resources by the world's rich elite, at the expense of the lives of the world's powerless.

ACTION!!

DEMONSTRATE outside the Indian High Commission in London on 31st october - the day that construction on the dam is due to recommence. Bring banners, whistles, drums and optimism. The Campaign Against the Ilisu Dam (a dam in Turkey which British Company Balfour Beatty want to help build if our government grants them an export credit garuantee) are holding a rally in PARLIAMENT SQUARE in Westminster, London between 12-2pm, so we will be going along there first to support the protest against British invovlement in the Ilisu Dam (top speakers and entertainers such as Mark Thomas, Felicity Arbuthnot, Jenny Tonge MP, Kurdish dancing and others will be there). After the Ilisu rally we will be moving to the Indian High Commission to show our support for the Narmada activists and villagers. If you wish to go directly to the High Commission (i.e. not go to the Ilisu rally first), we will be there by 3 or 4pm and the address is: The Indian High Commission, India House, Aldwych WC2B 4NA (I am told that the nearest tube is Embankment and that from there it is fairly easy to get to India house: you walk up the hill away from the riveruntil you get to a big road parallel to the river - India House is on the Cresent which joins the main road on either side of where you met it - but this may be worth checking).

SEND A FREE FAX to the President and Prime Minister of India from the website http://www.tpc.int/sendfax.html The fax numbers are (use these exact numbers, no extra zeros at the start) : 91 11 301 9545 (President) and 91 11 301 6857 (Prime Minister) of India from the website see below for more info about this. Both of these people have the power by the Indian Constitution to prevent further construction of the dam. This will take between 2 and 5 minutes - even if you only send a centence to each of the (use the internet 'back' button and send the same scentence to both!) it would be really effective to have lots of people doing this - PLEASE spare just 5 minutes. You could also write to the High Commissioner at India House (address above).

TELL OTHERS about the rally and internet fax action - forward this email to people you think might be interested (we are especially keen to contact other concerned people in other countries and hold a global day of protest (not quite the same scale as S26 though!) on the 31st when work on the dam recommences.

PLANNING MEETING to discuss the rally and methods of continuing to demonstrate our solidarity with the Narmada valley and dam affected people around the world: 9pm tonight (Wednesday 25th October), Room 4, Abraham Building, Linacre College, Oxford

FOR MORE INFORMATION

http://www.narmada.org/ - lots of info about the background to the struggle, the dam and the Supreme Court Verdict

Arundhati Roy's (Booker Prize Winner) very short, lively and readable book, 'The Cost of Living'

UK Campaign Against Big Dams: nobigdam@email.com

Below is a transcript of an interview with Medha Patkar, leader of the Save Narmada Movement, speaking from the vallley in the last week, just days after the news of the Supreme Court Verdict:

"It Has Been a Big Blow to the People": Patkar

SAFIA SIRCAR
10/21/00 4:20:28 AM

Medha Patkar's name is synonymous with Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), the organization spearheading the movement against the displacement of people from Narmada valley in the wake of the construction of Sardar Sarovar and other dams.

In an exclusive interview of ThinkIndia.com on the fall-out of the recent Supreme Court judgment permitting the construction of the dam to its full height, Patkar said the decision was a "big blow to the people."

Question (Q): Do you think that the Supreme Court decision affects the people's struggle against big dams?

Medha Patkar (MP): It has been a big blow to the people. It is an injury in itself. The decision is absolutely illegal and unconstitutional.

Q: Why do you think that the decision is unjustified?

MP: The decision gives the go ahead for raising the height to 90 meters. As per the affidavit there are few thousands who have yet to be rehabilitated. But come next monsoons they won't have any land, any home or any place to go to and the numbers of homeless are much more.

A basic thing like the benchmark level of the dam is wrong. Land rights and land records, leave alone concern for people's livelihood, have been totally ignored. Just to give a small example for six villages in Madhya Pradesh, no salient features of the Land Acquisition Act were followed There is no land for rehabilitation. Even the Madhya Pradesh government admitted this.

In fact the decision is contradictory in nature. The Narmada Tribunal part of the government's own query reported that further construction can go ahead only after the complete rehabilitation of the presently displaced people, yet the court turns around and says something totally different. Justice S P Bharucha's judgment, the only dissenting voice in the court, vindicates our stand.

Q: The NBA is a very visible movement, but then there are other 'lesser known' movements in Goa, Karnataka or Orissa for example. How will it affect them?

MP: It expresses a totally callous attitude towards people's struggles. NBA is a part of a whole larger movement and in a way represents other activist organizations. This is a blow not to the NBA but to a whole range of underprivileged people who constitute India.

Q: What factors you think are responsible for driving the project forward?

MP: Politics of vested interests, who have a very different economic lifestyle, are driving out simple communities from their own land and houses. People in 248 villages living on 20,000 hectares will have to move on to a measly 400 hectares.

Have any of armchair decision makers ever had the experience of being thrown out of a comfortable house and existence and reduced to impoverishment? Have they ever had to see any of their children subsisting in hovels and slums? It is a massive exploitation and daytime loot for reaching out to globalize in order to build a 'better world.'

Q: How critical is role of activists, filmmakers, lawyers and others to the movement? NBA is very visible but a 20-year struggle in Koelkaro dam in Bihar remains more of a local issue.

MP: People sympathetic to the issue join on their own. The media becomes interested or is influenced on number of reasons, right from the 'connections' of the supporters to the degree to which the State itself gets involved that turns a local struggle into an international issue.

Q: What hope do the people in the Valley have now?

MP: Today we had a meeting where 150 representatives from various part of the country came to support our stand. The people of the valley cannot be flushed out. We have planned a rally on 23rd of this month and are appealing to the President. While in Bangalore youth activists took out protests, there are voices being raised in Bombay, Poona, Malegaon and various other parts of our country.

The NBA's struggle is a part of a larger issue where lives of millions all over the world is concerned and it is our duty to take the bull by its horns. It is also the duty of every sensitive, upright and bold citizen to speak out now.

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