update from mumbai, n.b.a. hunger-strike continues

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Monday January 26, 2004 22:14

by caoimhe butterly

masasa73 at hotmail dot com

from caoimhe in mumbai

call to action, update on planned talks

Dear Friends,
Community activists from Narmada Bachao Andolan today continue a sit-in and hunger-strike initiated on the 19th of January.
Delegates from the N.B.A. movement maintain a 24-hour presence outside of the Secretariat building in Mumbai in the lead-up to a governmental meeting arranged for the 27th that will determine whether the level of an existing dam will be raised, which will determine whether their communities will be submerged under water this monsoon season.
Over 200 women, men and children continue the vigil- sleeping on the ground outside one of the gates of the building, effectively blocking it. The protestors have recieved visits from solidarity delegations from all over India and their spirits remain high, with cultural programs of resistance song and dance daily. Today, as an alternative to the military pomp of Republic Day, and as a means of symbolically reclaiming the day, the group staged a flag-hoisting of their own followed by a candle-lit procession through downtown Mumbai.
I've spent the past few days and nights with the group and have been humbled and inspired by their strength and courage. The organising and decision- making processes are so very similar to those practised in indigenous Chiapas- as are the concepts of autonomous education, with the creation of 13 schools in the Narmada Valley that provide an education to children in keeping with their context and reality.
Read more about their struggle on www.narmada.org, and write letters to the Indian Embassy in Dublin if you can.
As I come into contact with the huge array of various movements struggling here in India- which I net-worked through the w.s.f., and it's badly-needed antidote, Mumbai Resistance, humility is something I feel continually. I have met hundreds of Gandhis and Arundhati Rhois in a short time here. Their elequence and insight and strength is not unique or exceptional,here. It is the rule.
I will soon be starting a crazily- busy speaking tour around India- with a focus on trying to mobilise a response to the upcoming visit to India of Israeli minister,Silvan Shalom. It is thought that this visit will furthur solidify the Indian governments relationship with what Gandhi,following the massacres of the 1948 Nakba, referred to as an "illegitimate" state.
There is a deep, historical sense of solidarity with Palestinians here in India which is not being reflected by the normalisation process and arms deals forged in the wake of Sharon's Sept. visit here.
I will be speaking at Universities,on t.v. talk-shows and with activist groups across India and Kashmir for the next month and then returning,briefly, to Ireland.
The focus of the talks are on the need for more cohesive action and on the narratives that are silenced in the media's coverage of Palestine- trying to give voice to the stories of pain and resilience and to the everyday realities of occupation.
I will be spending the next few months on the advocacy trail- giving talks and presentations at conferences and public meetings in Cuba, Mexico, Chile( huge community of diaspora Palestinians with little representation or lobby within the government),Europe and Irish-American communities within the States.
I f anybody knows of any foundations or individuals who could help pay for airline tickets, my only real expense, please get in touch.
With the collective abandonment of Palestinians by our governments there is an urgent need to access,evolve and channel the latent solidarity felt by millions of people worldwide into an active,cohesive,sophisticated lobby and resistance. This is a time period of silence and complicity that will be looked back upon with shame. It is imperative, now and continually, to break the sacred cow mystique of Israel and to challenge the impunity. The Palestinian struggle is an emancipation movement for freedom,dignity and security- depite the spin and demonisation and re-writing of history by a controlled media , it remains so, and needs the same show of solidarity that helped to end apartheid in South Africa. Nelson Mandela stated ( the occupation of )"Palestine makes apartheid seem like a picnic".
Anyways, stay well and strong , ya uptal.
Love and solidarity,
Caoimhe