[Reader-list] Anti Nuke Protest In Delhi

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

All on the  Sarai Reader List

Apologies for Cross Posting if any of you have got this from other sources. 
This is a call for a silent public protest in Delhi against the Nuclear 
Tests by India and Pakistan on the third anniversary of Pokhran 2.Please do 
spread the word, and be there if you think that bombs kill people. The 
posting was originally done by Sonia Jabbar. You can find out more from her 
about the protest by e mailing her at  - sjabbar at vsnl.com

Cheers

Shuddha
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Dear Friends,
May 11 is the third anniversary of the Indian nuclear tests. Far from 
maintaining a fire-break after the tests, the government
seems to be steamrollering ahead with its nuclear weaponisation programme.
Obviously, huge investments in the Defence and Nuclear establishments will 
be at the expense of investment in Health, Food
Security, Education and other social spending— a disastrous situation for a 
poor country like India.
At a MIND meeting held last week, we decided to make Defence Spending and 
the Right to Information the focus of our
campaign this year. Below is a copy of a "parcha" which will be printed in 
both English and Hindi to be distributed at a silent
demonstration at Patel Chowk. Those of you who participated in the "Friday 
Campaign" after the tests in '98 will be familiar with
the format of the demo. For the others, a brief description:
We assemble on Friday May 11, by 5:15 pm at Patel Chowk , banners and 
placards in hand and stand silently around the circle
facing the traffic which has to slow down as they come around. The 
visibilty is great and in the hour or so that we are there,
thousands of commuters get to see our messages. Few volunteers stand at key 
points distributing the leaflets to people in buses
and cars. Some also leaflet at the bus stands and make themselves available 
for discussions.
Those of you who can volunteer to help in making the placards and banners 
please call Sonia at 4310511 and we'll set up a time
in the next day or two to meet. These should be ready by Thursday May 10 at 
the latest. Those of you who have placards and
banners left over-- hindi & english-- from past demos please also call me 
and let me know what you have. Obviously, we can
have some general anti-nuke & peace stuff, but we must try & have the bulk 
of the messages about Defence spending. Those of
you interested in doing street performance-- either a skit or songs-- can 
plan to do so. You could target the corners near the bus
stands. But do let me know as soon as possible so that we can plan it 
properly.
Come & participate fully. Let's make this May 11 a memorable one. Bring 
your spouse, your children, your friends, your
grandmother, your dog... Let's shake that miserable, ossified, insensitive 
establishment out of its complacency!!
Cheers!
Sonia



Shuddhabrata Sengupta
SARAI: The New Media Initiative
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29, Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 052, India
www.sarai.net