[Reader-list] Halt the Offensive Against People and End Militarisation of the Forests

[Anivar Aravind]

*Halt the Offensive Against People and End Militarisation of the Forests
*

*Joint Statement of Forest People's Movements*
http://orissaconcerns.net/2010/05/end-militarisation-of-the-forests/

Yesterday, the police have killed one person in Kalinganagar and critically
injured at least thirty more; at the proposed POSCO plant site in
Jagatsinghpur, Orissa, 25 platoons of police have been deployed to crush the
people defending their land. They expect an attack tomorrow or the day
after.

As national platforms of democratic forest movements, with more than 200
organisational members spread across the country, we unequivocally condemn
this brutality. But such atrocities are not occurring in isolation.
Operation Green Hunt and the increasing miitarisation of the conflict in
central India is wreaking devastation in our homelands.and closing the space
for democratic struggles. We first reiterate the following facts, to expose
the myths being promoted by the government:

   - *In all the areas where Operation Green Hunt is underway, aside from
   individual atrocities, security forces are now preventing people from
   entering the forest, cultivating their lands or collecting minor forest
   produce. The numbers that are threatened with starvation or disease as a
   result is not even known.** *These facts have been ignored even as the
   tragic loss of lives in Maoist attacks have received a lot of attention. How
   can an offensive with such results be justified?


   - *An offensive in the name of the “rule of law” has been launched in
   areas where the government has never shown the slightest respect for the law
   **. * Under the law, land acquisition in Scheduled Areas is subject to
   consultation with the gram sabha (village assembly); diversion of forest
   land in all forests is subject to the consent of the gram sabha; and people
   have rights over village common lands, forests, water bodies and grazing
   areas. *Can the government name a single place in the country where the
   rights of people over forests and lands have been fully recognised and
   respected? Can it name a single “development” project in the forest areas
   that has complied with the requirements of law? *Rather, in Madhya
   Pradesh and Chhattisgarh alone, after 2006 the government has illegally
   granted in principle or final clearances for the use of 15,411 hectares of
   forest land to various “projects”.


   - *The government's true intentions are revealed by their response to
   democratic movements in the majority of forest areas, where the CPI(Maoist)
   does not exist.* As an indicator, in just the few weeks between March 20
   and April 20, activists in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam and
   West Bengal were arrested or attacked by police for the crime of standing up
   for the law and demanding legal rights. The protesters at POSCO and many
   other places, who have no link whatsoever with the Maoists, are being
   attacked. These are examples of a trend that has become far worse with
   Operation Green Hunt, under which the label “Maoist” is used to justify all
   kinds of brutality. The Home Minister's latest statement threatening anyone
   “supporting Maoism” with jail is clearly aimed at justifying yet more such
   brutality.


   - *The conflicts in forest areas, whether with the CPI(Maoist) or with
   other movements, have nothing to do with “security” or
“development”.** *What
   is at stake is the right of people to control their ecology, their
   production systems and their lives. Can a community lead a life of dignity
   when they are harassed, beaten or killed every time they cultivate forest
   land, collect minor forest produce or protest evictions? People are not
   demanding *welfare*; they are struggling for the right to live with
   freedom and dignity.* This is the true meaning of security, development
   and the rule of justice. *


   - *It is clear that the government's offensive is driven by more obvious
   interests – resource grabs (in water, minerals and land) have become a key
   source of profits.* As the Maheshwar Dam, Vedanta or POSCO projects were
   found to break the law, the government has scrambled to bend or break the
   law itself to favour the corporates. When the Forest Department promotes
   illegal policies in international negotiations on climate change (i.e. the
   REDD agreement), these are not just condoned but promoted as a point of
   pride. Meanwhile, people's rights over minor forest produce, forest land and
   common lands are frustrated at every turn by official violations of the
   Forest Rights Act. Clearly this is why the government now wants to crush all
   resistance, whether it is organised by the CPI(Maoist) or not.

*Beyond Green Hunt: A Call for Democratic Space*

*We believe in and stand for the mass democratic struggle of the working
people for social transformation. From this perspective, **the damage is not
limited to this offensive and the devastation it is wreaking.* More
insidious but much longer lasting is the destructive impact this
militarisation is having on the democratic space for people's struggles.
This militarisation is not limited to Operation Green Hunt.

Even outside this offensive, the government has consistently used its force
against all democratic formations and those who speak the language of
people's rights; it has thrown the Constitution to the winds. The
CPI(Maoist) has also engaged in indiscriminate physical attacks against
those who are of a different political allegiance, and has often shown
little tolerance for those who are engaged in other movements or who are
critical of them.* **T**he turning of vast areas of the country into war
zones, where all else is subordinated to the perceived military needs of the
government or the CPI(Maoist), is unacceptable**.* It constitutes a betrayal
of the values that both the CPI(Maoist) and the government claim to believe
in. For this reason above all, there is an urgent need at this moment to
restore basic democratic norms in the conflict zones.

*Our Call:*

   1. The paramilitary forces must be withdrawn and the salwa judum, as well
   as other similar private militias in other states, must be disbanded. Public
   facilities – schools, clinics, etc. - must be treated as out of bounds for
   the conflict.
   2. The government must respect the rights of people over their lands,
   forest produce and community forest resources as provided by the
   Constitution, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, the Forest
   Rights Act and other such laws. It must comply with the requirements under
   these Acts relating to the consent of the community prior to diversion or
   acquisition of land.
   3. The security forces must stop interfering with the rights of people to
   cultivate their fields, go to markets and engage in their livelihood
   activities.
   4. Illegal arrests, fake encounters and police murders must be halted
   immediately.
   5. The CPI(Maoist) should make clear its position on the activities of
   other political forces in the conflict areas. It should respect the right of
   the people to be members of other parties, including opposing parties, or
   other movements and to otherwise exercise their democratic rights.
   6. The right of refugees and the displaced to return home, especially in
   Dantewada, must be respected by the security forces and their private
   militias.