The Dominion - India

The Simple Art of Terror

Maya Rolbin-Ghanie — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:22:39 +0000

by Anamitra Deb

The Simple Art of Terror

On November 26th, 2008, Bombay was the target of a terrorist attack allegedly carried out by men from the jihadi organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), meaning 'Army of the Pure.' Armed with AK-47s, hand grenades, and RDX (an explosive chemical used in military applications), the terrorists targeted civilians, killing over 200 men, women and children.

Ten men came to my city by the sea and docked their rubber dinghy in a forgotten fisher-people’s slum. Ten men, armed with guns and grenades, headed nonchalantly in the direction of the city’s main attractions. Dressed in jeans and t-shirts, and carrying backpacks, ten men split into four groups, maybe five, and started the shooting later that evening.

In an attritional siege that lasted more than 60 hours, severe damage was done to the inhabitants of a city that is no stranger to terror.

Over half of the casualties took place within the first few hours, all at frequented landmarks – at the touristy Leopold Café, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Train Station, used by millions of local commuters daily. At the already-overflowing Cama Hospital and outside of Bombay's oldest cinema, the Metro. Inside of the city’s best-known five-star hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi Trident, men fired guns in lobbies and staircases, bars and restaurants, chambers and kitchens.

Komagata Maru and the Politics of Apologies

Moira Peters — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:33:40 +0000

In the past few weeks, much has been written about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's so-called Komagata Maru apology, delivered at the "Gadhri Babian Da Mela" (Martyrs Festival) in Surrey, B.C., on August 3, 2008. The debate has focused on whether the apology needed to be made in the House of Commons for it to be afforded the respect and dignity it deserves. Many South Asian Canadians have expressed that the racist discrimination inherent to the Komagata Maru incident in 1914 is mirrored today in the treatment of members of the South Asian Canadian community as second-class citizens who are not considered worthy of a full apology from the Conservative government.

Beyond the location of the apology, there are other reasons to believe that the apology was disingenuous. Consider this: Harper left the stage before hearing the response of the 8,000 people gathered; the prime minister’s office pre-screened and approved the thank-you speech to be given by festival organizers; and Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity Jason Kenney insisted that, “The apology has been given and it won't be repeated.”

History of Exclusion

In order to discourage South Asian migration, in 1908 the Canadian government amended the Immigration Act with the Continuous Journey Regulation, under which travel to Canada required continuous passage from the country of origin, and entry with at least $200 cash. In conjunction with policies such as the Chinese Head Tax, these restrictions were intended to reinforce a "White Canada" policy, restricting non-white migrants at a time when massive numbers of European immigrants-–over 400,000 in 1913 alone-–were entering Canada.

The Continuous Journey Regulation was emphatically challenged in May 1914, when 376 Indians aboard the Komagata Maru out of Hong Kong arrived in Vancouver harbour. The steam-liner was not permitted to dock and its passengers were deprived of food and water by Canadian authorities, subject to a legal challenge, intimidated, and finally coerced to depart by Royal Navy boats. The Komagata Maru was eventually forced back to India and the Continuous Journey Regulation remained in effect until 1947.

Symbolism and the politics of apologies

What is behind the string of recent Conservative government apologies, not only to Indo-Canadians, but also for the internment of Japanese-Canadians, the Chinese-Canadian Head Tax, and the survivors of the residential school system?

According to a May 16, 2008, Globe and Mail article, “The motivation and timing behind the announcements are the subject of much debate...What is clear is that many of those Canadians most affected by these acknowledgements live in some of the most competitive ridings in Canada--particularly in British Columbia and Central Canada.”

Government apologies have been politically expedient for the Conservatives. They are cognisant of the emotional appeal of apologising to a constituency that is otherwise cautious about voting for them. Savvy politicians are acutely aware that these apologies are not intended to further a substantial discourse about the state’s responsibility and complicity in perpetuating racist subjugation, or to bring about practical change in people's lives.

It is, in fact, just the opposite. Through the politics of symbolism, apologies are a painless way of achieving closure while reinforcing the superficial veneer of Canadian multiculturalism and benevolence.

While formal acknowledgements from governments-–particularly in light of their resistance to doing so-– are one part of a reconciliation process, movements pushing for government apologies rarely further the demands for restitution, reparations, transformation of power, abolition of a repressive system, or solidarity with other communities. Instead, such movements often reinforce the status quo by seeking equality with, and financial compensation from, an oppressive and colonial state that continues to maintain the power to grant or withhold citizenship.

Putting racism behind us

Such apologies are also a form of political opportunism that seeks our blind loyalty and gratitude for a government that hypocritically continues to perpetuate the very realities for which it is apologising. There is a strong temptation when hearing an apology, particularly for an incident that happened almost 100 years ago, to think that amends have been made and that racism is in the past.

In response to the Harper Government’s recent apology to Indigenous residential school survivors, the Quebec Native Women’s Association issued a statement, declaring, “In order for this apology to be considered genuine, more efforts must be undertaken to correct current oppressive measures under the Indian Act that prevent Indigenous peoples from prospering socially, culturally, politically and economically... And while we may recognize the Government’s admission of guilt, the fact remains that many obstacles must be removed in order to give meaning to the spirit and intent of their apology.”

Sid Tan, president of the Chinese Canadian National Council and the B.C. Coalition of Headtax Payers, has cautioned, “The historical injustices of the Chinese Head Tax are being replicated today through Canada’s exploitative guest-worker programs and restrictive immigration policies. The descendants of these policies will be demanding apologies in future decades. We should deal with this present reality and not just dwell on the past, especially if a history that we are supposed to have learnt from is repeating itself.”

Similarly, the story of the Komagata Maru is not one of a century ago; it is a story about today. News about immigration visa delays and restrictions; daily reports on racial profiling and no-fly lists; escalating workplace raids and deportations; and the Safe Third Country Agreement are happening right now.

Ali Kazmi’s award-winning film “Continuous Journey” highlights the clear links, often suppressed, between the Continuous Journey Regulation of 1908 and the present day Safe Third Country Agreement. This 2004 agreement does not allow (with minor exceptions) asylum seekers into Canada if they first arrive in the US, forcing most asylum seekers to make a non-interrupted journey through North America, resulting in at least a 40 per cent decrease in refugee applications in Canada.

When, where, and how the government apologises for the Komagata Maru will not change today’s devastating reality; it will only change through our determination and dedication to actively struggle against current immigration controls. It was a Conservative government that forced the Komagata Maru to turn back from the shores of Vancouver and it is a Conservative government today that is legislating policies such as Bill C-50, a recent amendment to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act already negatively impacting immigrants, primarily from South Asia.

On the eve of the anniversary of the South Asian subcontinent's formal independence from British colonial rule, the sacrifices of the 376 migrants aboard the Komagata Maru must be honoured. These heroes challenged not only the nature of Canada's exclusionary immigration laws, but as leaders or sympathizers of the revolutionary pro-Indian independence Ghadr party, they also understood how their treatment in Canada was related to their status as subjects of the British Empire. It is a little-known fact that upon returning to Calcutta, India, in September 1914, the Komagata Maru was stopped by a British gunboat and the passengers were placed under guard. A riot ensued and the British-Indian police opened fire, killing 20 passengers.

The realities of political and economic migration today are similarly embedded in a system of global apartheid and neo-liberal rule that demarcates the asymmetrical relations between rich and poor, North and South, citizen and subject.

As we remember both the legacy of the Komagata Maru and the formal Independence Day anniversaries that are upon us, we can draw some lessons from seemingly disparate histories that span the oceans. We must not be easily blinded by the false expectations-–and in this case false apologies-–rendered by governments to placate us. We must always be vigilant and never be silent or desensitized in the face of injustice, especially as injustice carries forth into the future. And we must always remember that the legacy of the Komagata Maru teaches us that no human being-–whether our ancestors or our future generations-– deserves less than a full measure of justice and our solidarity.

Harsha Walia is a Vancouver-based activist and writer. A version of this article originally appeared in the Indo-Canadian Voice.

KM1

KM Group

Deaths In Police Firing In Nandigram, India

hillarybain — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:18:11 +0000

...maddening way to begin the International Day Against Police Brutality...

Amnesty International India is concerned at reports that atleast fifteen people were killed in police firing today in Nandigram which has been the scene of protests for the last few months against possible displacement due to a new chemical project in a proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

Reports say that atleast fifteen people (there are varying reports on the number of people killed) were killed and over hundred people injured in police firing today in Nandigram, Eastern Midnapore district, West Bengal where farmers have been protesting an initiative by the West Bengal state government to acquire land.

India state of Kerala orders end to Coke and Pepsi operations

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 20:52:56 +0000

The state government of Kerala in south India has banned the production and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The companies will be asked to close their operations entirely, according to the India Resource Centre.

"We have arrived at the decision to ask both Coke and Pepsi to stop production and distribution of all their products, based on scientific studies which have proved that they are harmful," said Mr. Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan.

The Center for Science and Environment carried out tests on 57 samples taken from 11 soft drink brands made by Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India and found a "cocktail of three to five different pesticides," all apparently present in groundwater used to make the drinks, reported the CBC.

The residues were 24 times above the limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards, the laboratory said.

"The pesticides in soft drinks in India is a classic case of double standards, one for Americans and Europeans, and another for Indians," said Amit Srivastava, coordinator of the India Resource Centre. "Coca-Cola products made in India could never be sold in the European Union markets or the United States." On at least 10 occasions since January 2005, the US Food and Drug Administration has rejected the shipment of Coca-Cola products made in India coming into the US, on the grounds that they do not conform to US laws and that they are unsafe for the US public.

In various parts of India, from Plachimada in south India to Mehdiganj in north India, communities living around Coca-Cola bottling plants are experiencing severe water shortages. The communities accuse the Coca-Cola company of creating water shortages because of over extraction of water and pollution of the scarce remaining water.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi pay nothing for water used in India. "It takes Coca-Cola nearly four liters of freshwater to produce one liter of product," said Srivastava. "In other words, the company converts seventy five percent of the freshwater it extracts into wastewater, which in turn has contaminated the scarce remaining groundwater and land."

Four other Indian states have already banned the sale of the soft drinks in schools, colleges and government offices, while several other states have said they are examining the issue.

Pakistan relaxes laws against Indian films

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 23:14:50 +0000

For the first time since the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, a Hindi film will be screened in Pakistan. The news comes after an amendment to the laws of the Pakistani Censor Board, which had been preventing the screening of all films involving Indian actors or directors.

No final decisions or official announcements have been made, but the Times of India has reported that the film Sohni Mahiwal, a joint production between India and the then Soviet Union, will be the first Bollywood film to hit Pakistani movie theatres in forty years.

Directed by Latif Faiziye and Umesh Mehra, Sohni Mahiwal was originally released in 1984 and stars Indian actors Sunny Deol and Poonam Dhillon. It was submitted to the censor board nearly three years ago.

Despite the ban and fears that Indian movies would have a negative influence on Islamic culture, their popularity in the country has exploded, as pirated versions, radio, and an affordable cable network have made both the films and their music readily available. The Pakistani piracy market, in particular, has mushroomed, generating some $27 million dollars a year. This has come at the expense of local movie theatres, which have seen their audience numbers plummet.

Where The Mountains Are Still Growing

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 22:27:48 +0000

Will mega dams in Manipur, India 'solve' climate change?

Manipur is an earthquake prone zone.

"I live in what's called a remote area which means that it's far from large cities. Of course, large cities are also remote from us - but it's not usually thought of like that."

Anna Pinto is sitting across from me in a small Montreal cafe. Her voice is deep, melodic and warm as she speaks of her home region in Northeastern India.

"On this very narrow strip [of land] we have some parts almost below sea level and some parts are the highest mountains including Mount Everest and the Tibetan Plateaus. We have a vast span of climates, in a very small geographical space. So we have this amazing biodiversity. It's a very rich area. We have lots and lots of different plants, animals, people. With biological diversity comes cultural diversity. In this little region we have over 100 different languages."

Pinto's pride and love of where she comes from is clear. I ask her why she has left her husband and children to travel thousands of miles to attend the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Montreal, held between November 28th and December 9th 2005.

Her face hardens. "Someone has to be here to say 'No.'"

Anna Pinto is a representative for an Indigenous people's organization based in the Indian state of Manipur called the Centre for Organization, Research and Education. She came to the UN conference to advocate for her people, and other peoples in her region, concerning the processes that are being developed to address climate change.

Climate change and its extreme weather manifestations are not an abstract notion for Pinto. For the past two years her region has experienced multiple floods on a massive scale. "When I say floods, I'm talking about floods that displace 15 million, 6 million, 4 million people at a time. The lowest figure that a flood has displaced is 4 million and that 4 million has been displaced 4 times in a year."

"You tell me if we can allow this to continue," she challenges me, her voice shaking. "It is intolerable. It is vicious."

She pauses and smiles apologetically, suddenly becoming aware of the anger in her voice. Pinto is enraged. The intensity of her emotions are a stark contrast to the relaxed suit-clad delegates that have been negotiating agreements throughout the conference, agreements that will affect millions of villagers in northeastern India.

Ironically, it is not the impacts of climate change that has Pinto most worried, but the alleged solutions - solutions that are being pushed forward by governments, development banks and multinational corporations around the world.

There are 192 high dams being considered for development in Pinto's small region of India.

"In the last four to five years the hydro industry has put a lot of effort into promoting hydro power as the solution to climate change," explains Aviva Imhof, Campaign Director for the International River Network. That effort is being supported by institutions like the World Bank, says Imhof, whose recent report shows that 60 per cent of the Bank's support for renewable energy and energy efficiency is in fact for big hydro projects.

Big dams are not environmentally sustainable, argues Imhof, even when considering climate change. New science is revealing that the level of greenhouse gases emitted from rotting organic matter in flooded areas is much higher than originally expected. But beyond their impacts on climate change, says Pino, these high dams will have devastating impacts on people in her region of Manipur, India.

Besides the economic and environmental cost of carting thousands of tons of materials up to remote mountain regions, once built, these dams will flood vast areas. This low-lying land, notes Pinto, is where the richest soil lies, and where people have traditionally lived and grown their food.

As it turns out, this land is also rich in something else. "We have two sites in the region in which we have very very rich uranium deposits," explains Pinto, shaking her head at the 'luck' of living in such a resource-rich region. The Uranium Development Corporation of India hopes to strip mine the deposits. "Strip mining means, like an orange you peel off the top and like a sorbet you scoop it out - we're talking about highly radioactive substances here, downstream of over 100 reservoirs, which are built on geographical faults.

That's the other thing: It's not uncommon for the region to experience more than 3 earthquakes a week above five on the Richter scale. In Manipur, the mountains are still growing.

"The Eastern Himalayas are the growing tip of a growing range of what's called fold mountains. Fold mountains are formed when the geographical plates underneath the surface of the earth bang into each other. This banging causes the skin of the earth to wrinkle and fold." This banging is what the rest of us experience as earthquakes, and these wrinkles and folds are the mountains and valleys where the dams are set to be built - along geological faults.

"We're setting ourselves up for disaster," warns Pinto. "What we're going to have, if one of these reservoir's cracks, is a massive flooding downstream. If - as is the plan - you're going to have multiple dams, one after the other, each breach is going to breach the next dam. These floods will hit the mine either on the surface or through the water table. We're looking at a scale of contamination that is probably unthinkable."

The plan is not sustainable, Pinto argues. More big dams and nuclear development will not solve climate change, but benefit those "who already have so much money they don't know what to do with it."

Pinto doesn't intend to let this happen, but she and others in her community are up against terrific odds. "We have been told categorically by the government of India - in the presense of international financing institutions and corporates - that if we do not sign off the rights of our lands for these purposes, they will be declared a national resource and put under military control." Those who agree to sign over the rights to their land will be given nominal compensation to start their lives over. "It is a a hard thing for a mother to say that 'you will kill me and my child in front of me but I will not give you this land,' when she knows he's going to take it anyway." Even so, notes Pinto, "Most people have said that they would rather be thrown off their land and killed than sign and be compensated"

The threat people face in Pinto's region is a real one. Amnesty International has urged the Indian Government to repeal or review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. In areas declared to be 'disturbed' such as the Northeast region, the Act gives security forces powers to - among other things - use excessive force, including to shoot to kill without members of the security force lives being at imminent risk.

At least one of the proposed Manipur dams has been approved for construction by the Indian Government (the uranium mines remain in the proposal stage.) The Tipaimukh Dam will stand 162 metres and flood approximately 2500 acres of land once it's completed. Construction has been slowed due to frequent earthquakes. So far, the mountains seem to be on Pinto's side.

Hillary Lindsay investigates the human cost of a 'business as usual' approach to climate change in Northeastern India.

The Rising of The Rising

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 15:32:12 +0000

Canadian film critics pass on Bollywood blockbuster's hard look at imperialism

Scenes from The Rising.

A strange Canadian silence seems to have descended over the Bollywood film, The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey, a historical epic depicting the Indian sepoy uprising against their British masters in 1857. It is the year's most anticipated Indian film, with an unprecedented number of UK and North American screenings in mainstream movie theatres. Yet it has been completely bypassed by Canadian film critics.

In the week following its August opening, neither the National Post, Globe and Mail, nor Toronto Star have reviewed the film, nor have the alternative weeklies from Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver. The only article to appear relating to this movie was an Associated Press story reprinted in the Toronto Star and Montreal Gazette, which related the experiences of white tourists enlisted to play extras in the film! The movie itself was not reviewed.

While this is somewhat indicative of how the Canadian media is gravely disconnected from the cultural milieu of ethnic minorities, it is also disturbing because The Rising has a powerful anti-imperialist message, one resonant with the experience of contemporary American hubris in Iraq and the brutality and bloodshed it has entailed. The movie's depictions of what the British call the mutiny and what Indians call their first war of independence shapes the awakening of the main character and leads him from servitude to outright rebellion against his former masters and retains strong social commentary. The nature of the racist and capitalist oppression of Company Raj (India was then ruled by the East India Company) is also explored, as are the ambiguities of culture and religion in the fight for freedom.

In the UK, some British historians have pilloried the film for depicting the British East India Company in a negative light. Even the Conservative Party and right-leaning newspapers have stepped into the fray, demanding an explanation over why the UK Film Council helped fund the film. Their indignation may stem from the fact that the victors are no longer solely writing the history books, and that subaltern views are finally getting the chance to be vividly expressed in the mainstream. The sour response may also stem from the fact that the film offers a powerful rebuke to recent attempts by hawkish neo-conservative scholars and politicians to rehabilitate imperialism, a trend that has reached the highest levels with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent statements at Oxford, declaring that the British empire was "an act of enterprise, adventure, creativity", comitted to "fair play" and the "rule of law". The hue and cry over historical inaccuracies was also contested by Toby Stephens, the English lead in the film who admitted to a "shameful ignorance" about the East India Company's record in India, a record that has been whitewashed in British history.

Indeed, the issue of historical licence has been trumped up to discredit a profound examination of the nature of corporate colonial rule. Residents of Pandey's hometown of Ballia have objected to the depiction of Pandey's love for a dancing girl in keeping with socially conservative values. This minor change to the story misses the artistic purpose of the change--the comparison of prostitution of the body to the prostitution of the soul.

Criticism based on alleged historical distortions are something of a red herring; not only has cinema long been tinkering with facts to suit the exigencies of producing compelling plots, but it is made clear from the outset that the film is a ballad and not the definitive story, in keeping with the Indian oral tradition.

Yet it is the themes of Hindu-Muslim unity as well as strong social commentary on untouchability and prostitution that are likely to be fuelling the British and Indian media campaign against the film. Aamir Khan, who plays Mangal Pandey and is also one of the most respected and popular actors working in India, has made the film's anti-imperialist message abundantly clear. In recent interviews, he has drawn a direct link between the behaviour of the East India Company and the United States' colonizing actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and previously in Vietnam. (On a historical note, the East India Company's red and white striped ensign is the direct inspiration for the stars and stripes.) The film's economic critique is also pointed, with a notable opium subplot illustrating the company's corrupt practices in the name of the "Free Market." Mangal Pandey's Scottish officer friend explains in the film how the Company can be described as Ravan, Indian mythology's most notorious villain, except that instead of ten heads, the Company has a thousand all stuck together by greed. This is capped off by a song (and dance) about commodification, entitled "Takey, Takey" where everything including human beings and love itself can be bought and sold.

The film itself is technically and aesthetically brilliant, a point that can hardly be disputed by even the most hardened critics. Some of the jarring aspects stem from the layering of a historical epic on a Bollywood frame that is not usually given to contemplating serious political matters. However, even this risky blending of genres was attempted to ensure the film reached a wider audience in both the Subcontinent as well as internationally. At the very least, the film succeeds on the back of its outstanding leads, Aamir Khan and Toby Stephens. While on these grounds alone it is a great movie, important messages about oppression and freedom, collaboration and resistance are what make it an instant classic, and thus a film that poses a threat to the interests of the powerful.

Why aren't Canadian media paying any attention to international bollywood blockbuster The Rising? Rajiv Rawat explains.

Alcan Workers Refuse to Smelt Alumina from Kashipur

Sun, 17 Apr 2005 19:09:10 +0000

Over ten thousand people would be displaced by a proposed mining operation in the Kashipur region of the Indian state of Orissa. Montréal-based Alcan Inc. is a key investor in the project.

Employees at two Canadian smelting operations run by Montréal-based Alcan Inc. have passed resolutions refusing to process aluminum from planned Alcan-financed mining operations in the Kashipur region of Orissa, a state in eastern India.

The resolutions were passed in locals in Kitimat, British Columbia and Arvida, Québec, both affiliated with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW). The resolutions were passed in solidarity with the popular resistance to mining in Kashipur. Thousands of people have demonstrated against mining in the region; three demonstrators were shot and killed by police in 2000. In 2001, ten thousand people gathered in Kashipur to proclaim "we are not afraid to die, we will not leave our land," in resistance to the mining projects. There have been recent reports of intimidation and "false arrests."

According to activists, the proposed mining project would displace tens of thousands of people and destroy self-sustaining Adivasi communities. The Adivasis are an indigenous people who live outside of the traditional Hindu social system.

Attention has also been called to the massive environmental impact of the mine and refinery, which would require burning an estimated 3000 tonnes of coal per day and and would cause the contamination of two streams on which local communities rely for water.

Under pressure from Norwegian solidarity groups, lead investor Norsk Hydro divested from the project in late 2001. Alcan acquired Norsk Hydro's 45 per cent stake; its former Indian subsidary, Indal, owns the remaining 55 per cent of the shares.

In 2003, Alcan't in India, a Montréal-based solidarity group "inspired by successes in Kashipur and Norway" was founded.

CAW members and solidarity activists at demonstrate outside of Alcan's April 28 shareholders' meeting. Two CAW locals representing workers employed by Alcan have endorsed the aims of Alcan't in India.

Elected representatives in 22 out of 24 of the affected villages in the region passed a resolution against the mining project in 2000. Alcan has claimed that 23 out the 24 have since supported the mine, but activists claim that they have "offered no evidence" to back up the claim.

An estimated 33 million people have been displaced by "development projects" in India since 1947--1.4 million in the state of Orissa. According to Alcan't in India, the primarily rural Adivasi communities account for eight per cent of India's population, and 40 per cent of its displaced.

According to the CAW, the locals "unconditionally endorse" the "sustainable agro-centric democratic development objectives" of the Adivasis and the activities of Alcan't in India, a Montréal-based solidarity group that is pushing Alcan to divest from its stake in the Kashipur project.

Alcan't in India is continuing to call on Alcan to "recognise the Kashipur peoples' title to the land and constitutional guarantee for self-determination," and to divest from the joint venture.

The group staged a demonstration at Alcan's annual shareholders meeting on April 28th in Montréal. A few dozen CAW members attended in a show of support.

» Alcan't in India

» Alcan, Inc.: Official Site

» CAW: CAW Stand in Solidarity with Anti-Mining Movement in India

300,000 displaced; Slum Demolitions on Hold in Mumbai

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 08:39:42 +0000

An estimated 300,000 people were left homeless in Mumbai, India when authorities bulldozed acres of slums that were housing the city's poor. The razing of shantytowns began in December 2004, as part of a program put in place by the municipal government of Greater Mumbai and the government of the state of Maharashtra.

The plan aims to clear squatters from government-owned land to make way for infrastructure and commercial development. Roughly half of Mumbai's population lives in slums. Due to high real estate costs, many middle class families also opt to live in huts on unused land.

"It took us a lifetime to build our houses," one former resident was quoted as saying in a Reuters report. "But the government is destroying them in a minute. We won't allow this." Hundreds of demonstrators continuously opposed the demolitions, some attacking crews that lacked police escorts, others shaving their heads in protest.

"We want to put the fear of the consequences of migration into these people. We have to restrain them from coming to Mumbai," said Vijay Kalam Patil, a Mumbai revenue officer. Hundreds of thousands have moved to the city from the countryside, looking for work in India's financial capital.

On the busiest day, over 6,000 houses were destroyed.

Finding themselves homeless and sleeping in rubble, many former slum-dwellers have discovered they are losing their democratic rights. Representatives of the National Congress Party recently filed a court injunction to remove those whose houses had been demolished from the voting rolls.

Many say that the Nationalist Congress party owed their success at the municipal level to the support of slum dwellers. Politicians had promised to regularize all huts built before the year 2000 but went back on the promise in a bid to "clean up" Mumbai.

Under intense pressure from the party's grass roots, Nationalist Congress representatives have put a de facto hold on demolitions.

While some commentators have condemned the demolitions as a "human made tsunami," Nationalist Congress officials are worried about a "growing perception" that their policies are anti-poor.

BBC: India's 'biggest slum demolitions'

Reuters: Bombay slum dwellers protest against demolitions

India News: House demolished, names removed from electoral rolls

Business Standard: Mumbai demolitions get Sonia`s nod

CounterPunch: Mr. Deshmukh's Bulldozers: Mumbai's Man-Made Tsunami

Floods and Droughts Strike India

Wed, 25 Aug 2004 23:24:07 +0000

Northern India is experiencing what are being called the worst floods in two decades. For the past month, over 700 people have died, and millions of acres of farmland have been destroyed as a result of overflowing rivers fed by abnormally heavy rain in the region. Aggravating the effect of the heavy rainfall is the half-completed Sardar Sarovar Dam, which began overflowing into the Narmada river valley late last week.

At the same time, the south has been languishing without rain for months, particularly in the agriculturally crucial Haryana and Punjab states. The disastrous summer weather is feeding fears of disease brought by the floods and famine caused by the destroyed cropland and lack of rain.

The United Nations University's Institute for Environment and Human Security has recently stated that it expects threats of flood to double by 2050 due to deforestation, rising sea levels and climate change. Floods in the relatively undeveloped economies of Asia are believed to have caused in excess of $136 billion in damage between 1987 and 1997.

40 Million Indians Strike Against Strike Ban

Wed, 07 Apr 2004 01:13:49 +0000

In response to a decision by India's Supreme Court denying public employees the right to strike, an estimated 40 to 50 million Indians went on strike. The strike shut down government offices, schools, and public transport.

The Supreme Court decision stated that those employed by the government have no right to strike, as it inconveniences citizens and costs the state money. "The right to strike is a fundamental right," said Hashubhai Dave, president of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, or the Indian Workers' Union. "We were left with no choice because the government didn't give us a sympathetic hearing," he added.

» Reuters: Millions of workers strike for right to strike

» Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh

International News

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 22:23:21 +0000

Uruguay Votes Against Privatization

Uruguayans at a rally opposing an IMF-backed plan to privatize the nationally-owned oil company. Photo: Indymedia Uruguay

In a referendum on the privatization of Ancap, the Uruguayan national oil company, Uruguayans voted decisively to keep the company's monopoly on oil import and export. In a plan backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-a body that grants loans to countries when certain conditions are met-the government had decided to terminate Ancap's control over oil in Uruguay in order to make it more efficient.

The opposition campaign noted that Ancap provides the government with a substantial part of the income used to fund pension plans, health care, and education. The IMF has considerable clout in Uruguay due to the country's massive foreign debt, most of which is left over from the rule of US-backed military dictators in previous decades.

San Francisco Indymedia Center

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Cost of Climate Change to Exceed Global GDP by 2065: Study

Insurance companies in the US and UK are increasingly questioning their ability to insure against weather-related catastrophes. According to the Reinsurance Association of America, insurers paid $57 billion for weather-related losses in the first half of the 1990s. In the whole of the 1980s, they paid $17 billion.

With weather-related damages growing by 10 per cent per year over the last decade, insurance companies are increasingly refusing to insure vulnerable areas like Florida and the Caribbean. A report released by the Chartered Insurance Institute of the UK estimated that economic losses from extreme weather will exceed the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2065.

In recent years, climate scientists have increasingly concluded that human-created greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming, leading to increased occurrence of "extreme weather events." (Engineers Australia)

Engineers Australia:

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Unions Banned in Iraq

As many as 7 million Iraqi workers-70 per cent of the country's workforce-do not have jobs. Those workers who have hoped to find security or improved situations by forming unions have been disappointed in recent weeks by the US-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) enforcement of a Hussein-era law banning the formation of unions in state-owned enterprises. Currently, most working Iraqis are employed in such enterprises.

The CPA has also passed a measure to hold anyone who "incites civil disorder" as a prisoner of war, a charge that many Iraqis say could be interpreted in order to target union organizers. According to an Iraqi organizer interviewed by phone, one union office experienced a raid by 10 personnel carriers and Humvees. Files and equipment were seized from the office of the Transport and Communications Workers union, and organizers were arrested and held without explanation overnight.

US Congress recently appropriated $87 billion for the reconstruction of Iraq. None of the money was set aside for unemployment relief. Most Iraqis employed by CPA earn $60 per month, which many say is not enough to provide the bare essentionals for a family. Many of the firms with reconstruction contracts shy away from hiring Iraqis, prefering to bring in subcontractors from Pakistan and India.

Many Iraqis have expressed alarm over the US policy of rapid privatization aimed at attracting international investment. The manager of one oil refinery claimed that if his firm were privatized, he would have to lay off 1500 of his 3000 workers. "In America, when a company lays people off, there's unemployment insurance and they won't die from hunger. If I dismiss employees now, I'm killing them and their families." (The Progressive, Pacific News Service)

Z Magazine:

Pacific News Service:

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Indian Court Orders Coke to Stop Depleting Water Supplies

The top court in the Indian state of Kerala has ordered Coca Cola to stop drawing groundwater. The court said that the Coca Cola bottling plant, which used 400,000 gallons of water daily, was depleting groundwater in the area, leading to a regional water shortage. (ENN)

Environmental News Network: