tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12755264.post7218274025360321504..comments2007-08-01T01:25:55.582-07:00Gopal Krishnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17801809794795753601krishnagreen@gmail.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12755264.post-69352647475240866472007-08-01T01:25:00.000-07:002007-08-01T01:25:00.000-07:00(text of the statement dafted by Jayati Ghosh et al)<BR/><BR/><BR/>A STATEMENT<BR/><BR/> We the undersigned are shocked and appalled by the police firing at Mudigonda village in Andhra Pradesh during the state-wide bandh on July 28, which led to loss of lives and serious injuries to a large number of people. The fact that the firing occurred despite the Chief Minister’s instructions to the police, according to his own statement, not to use force during the bandh, only underscores the extent of police high-handedness. But such high-handedness cannot be explained without reference to the repressive manner in which the state government has sought to deal with the movement for land by the poor. Over three thousand cases have been filed against the leaders of the movement, and thousands have been sent to jail.<BR/><BR/>Instead of dealing with the mass upsurge of the poor with sympathy and in a manner consistent with its own electoral promises, the state government has embarked on a futile and dangerous attempt to crush the movement. We appeal to the state government to desist from this course, we express our total solidarity with the mass upsurge of the poor for land, and we demand that the state government take immediate steps to distribute the 60 lakh acres of land which are in its possession according to the Rangarao Committee Report.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12755264.post-61161056736288783072007-07-30T03:01:00.000-07:002007-07-30T03:01:00.000-07:00Protests against the dam by Adivasi communities in Khammam, West Godavari and East Godavari.must be kept in mind.,<BR/><BR/>Strong grassroots mobilisation by youth groups in Khammam district has forced the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to reconsider its ambivalent position on the dam. Local leaders of the party are now completely opposed to the dam while state and national level leaders continue to play around with demands like height reduction and complete rehabilitation<BR/><BR/>• People’s committees in Khammam, East and West Godavari districts are raising larger questions about the purpose of the dam and its relationship to the growth corridors along the coast where massive domestic and foreign investments in industrial and tourism infrastructure are being made at the expense of fishing communities.<BR/><BR/>The Polavaram dam cannot be understood outside its geohistoric specificity. While Narmada Bachao Andolan raised many important issues, resistance to Polavaram is moving ahead very creatively and attempting to articulate a new sets of questions.<BR/><BR/>Anantha Krishna and Sagari R Ramdas<BR/>sagari.ramdas@gmail.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com