[Reader-list] Join the Protest March Against POSCO Project

[Asit asitreds]

*JOIN THE PROTEST MARCH AGAINST POSCO PROJECT*

*From Mandi House to **Parliament Street***

*15 NOVEMBER 2008** *

*Stop Robbing People's Land and Resources for Corporate Greed*

* *

POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity, POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (Jagatsinghpur,
Orissa), and All India Students' Federation appeal to all progressive and
democratic forces to join them in a protest march from Mandi House to
Parliament Street in Delhi at 11 am on 15 November 2008 against the *illegal,
undemocratic and unjust POSCO project and to condemn the arrest of PPSS
leader Abhaya Sahu and other PPSS activists.*.



The POSCO project in Orissa is a blatant example of the government's open
robbery of peoples' resources in order to fuel corporate greed. Consisting
of a steel plant, captive iron ore mines and a private port, the project
will mean seizing the land of more than 4,000 families in the steel plant
area alone. The port will likely to displace another 20,000 people, and
there is no estimate of the even much larger number who will lose their
homes, lands and resources to the mines. The company will get more than 600
million tonnes of iron ore for a paltry amount. The projects are totally
illegal and in direct violation of the Forest Rights Act of 2006, under
which communities' resources cannot be seized without recognising their
rights and taking their consent. *This illegal project will destroy the
lives of tens of thousands of people and rob a huge amount of the country's
resources – with no benefit to anyone other than POSCO itself.*

* *

Since 2005, the people of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadkujang gram panchayats in
Jagatsinghpur, under the leadership of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti,
have been resisting the project.  They have faced massive violence,
including bomb attackss, police beatings, assaults by hired goons, and yet
have continued their peaceful resistance. Every state agency, from the
Central and State governments to the Supreme Court, has colluded in ignoring
the blatant illegality of the project and the just demands of the people.
The most recent instance of this repression was the arrest of PPSS leader
Abhay Sahu on 12 October 2008, following which repression is intensifying –
even as the people's resistance has been growing with every passing day.



*In this context it is crucial that we express our dissent and demonstrate
opposition to POSCO and our commitment to the struggle against corporate
attacks on people and their resources. Therefore, we call upon all
democratic forces to join us for a protest march on **15 November 2008**,
from Mandi House to **Parliament Street** , **New Delhi**. Please assemble
at Mandi House at **11 am** on **15 November 2008** and bring banners and
placards to the rally.*

* *

*The protest march will demand:*

* *

   - Immediate scrapping of the POSCO project;
   - Release of Abhay Sahu and all other PPSS activists, withdrawal of all
   cases against them, and withdrawal of the police from the area; and
   - Stop repression on people fighting to protect their lands and resources
   throughout the state.           **

                               **

More than 500 people from the steel plant site, and from other parts of
Orissa, will be participating in the rally.

*  *

* *

  POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS)



All India Students Federation (AISF)

POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity (PSS)