Statement on the killing of CPI(Maoist) Politbureau member Kishenji

Twenty two member team of four constituents of Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation namely Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, Bandi Mukti Committee and Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (Delhi) undertook a fact finding into the alleged encounter killing of Mallojula Koteswar Rao (aka Kishanji) on 1st December, 2011.

Tehelka, May 21, 2011
GN Saibaba says the real alternative will come from the maoists, not the Trinamool

THE RECENT debacle of Communist Party of India (Marxist) has led to widespread speculation in the media and elsewhere that this indeed is the end of the CPI(M) in West Bengal. It is being predicted that the way they have been literally routed in the assembly poll will lead to their gradual demise. The defeat of the CPI(M) in West Bengal after its uninterrupted rule of 34 years is literally seen as the fall of the fortress. However, such a reading of the situation is misplaced.

The Report of the United Nations "on accountability in Sri Lanka" is finally out, having nothing to add but for a further brandishing of the liberation struggle for separate Tamil Eelam as 'violent ethnic conflict'. It is a follow-up on the joint statement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the Government of Sri Lanka made on 23^rd May 2009. They spoke of the importance of an 'accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law violation'. The UN secretary-general made his visit to Sri Lanka just after the official announcement of the end of the bloody "Final war" on 19^th May 2009.

by the International Campaign against War on the People of India

All over the world, people are beginning to ask questions about the nature of India's society and government, and about the war on the adivasis--the tribal peoples--that has been launched by that government, with strategic assistance from the US and Israel.

Most commentators admit that the Indian people suffered greatly under British rule. But today, it is claimed, India is on a path of rapid technical progress and development; India has its own Silicon Valley, complete with high-tech R&D and hundreds of call centers for everything from Amazon to Victoria's Secret.  New wealth is being created at a rapid rate, a large middle class is developing that is enjoying shopping malls, multiplex cinemas and imported cars, and much of this wealth is allegedly working its way down to the villages and urban slums seen in Slumdog Millionaire.

David Pugh

In July and August 2008, I spent three weeks gathering information about the anti-displacement movement in India. As a guest of Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (People's Movement against Displacement and for Development), I traveled across five states in central and eastern India visiting the sites of proposed industrial and mining projects, Special Economic Zones and real estate developments. I spoke with hundreds of villagers who are threatened with displacement and with many dedicated activists who are helping to organize the people's resistance.

The villagers I spoke to, tribals, dalits (untouchables) and members of "other backward castes," told me that the lives of their families are at stake. Rapacious industrial and mining enterprises, supported by the state and central governments, are trying to grab fertile agricultural land. When bribery doesn't work, the industrialists and government officials send in the police and hired goons to terrorize the villagers into submission.