JOIN THE PROTEST MARCH AGAINST POSCO PROJECTFrom: "Ecological Democracy" <saded.bharat@gmail.com>Date: November 11, 2008
JOIN THE PROTEST MARCH AGAINST POSCO PROJECT
From Mandi House to Parliament Street
15 NOVEMBER 2008
Stop Robbing People's Land and Resources for Corporate Greed
POSCO
Pratirodh Solidarity, POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (Jagatsinghpur,
Orissa), and All India Students' Federation appeal to all progressive
and democratic forces to join them in a protest march from Mandi House
to Parliament Street in Delhi at 11 am on 15 November 2008 against the illegal, undemocratic and unjust POSCO project and to condemn the arrest of PPSS leader Abhaya Sahu and other PPSS activists..
The
POSCO project in Orissa is a blatant example of the government's open
robbery of peoples' resources in order to fuel corporate greed.
Consisting of a steel plant, captive iron ore mines and a private port,
the project will mean seizing the land of more than 4,000 families in
the steel plant area alone. The port will likely to displace another
20,000 people, and there is no estimate of the even much larger number
who will lose their homes, lands and resources to the mines. The
company will get more than 600 million tonnes of iron ore for a paltry
amount. The projects are totally illegal and in direct violation of the
Forest Rights Act of 2006, under which communities' resources cannot be
seized without recognising their rights and taking their consent. This
illegal project will destroy the lives of tens of thousands of people
and rob a huge amount of the country's resources with no benefit to
anyone other than POSCO itself.
Since
2005, the people of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadkujang gram panchayats in
Jagatsinghpur, under the leadership of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram
Samiti, have been resisting the project. They have faced massive
violence, including bomb attackss, police beatings, assaults by hired
goons, and yet have continued their peaceful resistance. Every state
agency, from the Central and State governments to the Supreme Court,
has colluded in ignoring the blatant illegality of the project and the
just demands of the people. The most recent instance of this repression
was the arrest of PPSS leader Abhay Sahu on 12 October 2008, following
which repression is intensifying even as the people's resistance has
been growing with every passing day.
In
this context it is crucial that we express our dissent and demonstrate
opposition to POSCO and our commitment to the struggle against
corporate attacks on people and their resources. Therefore, we call
upon all democratic forces to join us for a protest march on 15
November 2008, from Mandi House to Parliament Street, New Delhi. Please
assemble at Mandi House at 11 am on 15 November 2008 and bring banners
and placards to the rally.
The protest march will demand:
- Immediate scrapping of the POSCO project;
- Release
of Abhay Sahu and all other PPSS activists, withdrawal of all cases
against them, and withdrawal of the police from the area; and
- Stop
repression on people fighting to protect their lands and resources
throughout the
state.
More than 500 people from the steel plant site, and from other parts of Orissa, will be participating in the rally.
|
POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS)
|
All India Students Federation (AISF)
|
POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity (PSS)
|
For
further details, contact: Prahsant Paikray (Bhubaneswar 09437571547) /
Jyoti (Bhubaneswar 09178078225) / Subrat (Delhi 9868182363) / Sayantoni
(Delhi 9999038672 )
--
South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy (SADED)
For more information on anti-POSCO efforts, please visit www.saded.in
