Dear colleagues
The arrest of the women activists at Indinthakarai is unjustified if they
are at safe distance from the plant and causing no obstruction.
Public space at a reasonable distance from the reactor must be provided for
the agitation to carry on their protests in a manner so as to educate public
opinion on the entire issue of nuclear power and alternative sources of energy
immediately available and in the future along with the issue of displacement
of traditional livelihoods , without in any way obstructing the plant, till a
final decision is taken on the issue of the safety or otherwise of all
existing nuclear power plants and those contracted for and the availability
of alternative energy sources.As the debate and dialogue cannot be confined
only to one Nuclear Plant ,it must involve an assessment of all the existing
plants and those contracted for , including the issue of storage of nuclear
fuel and whether adequate safeguards exist , whether they cover all existing
plants , and what provisions have been made by the Regulatory authority for
regular inspections at short intervals with reports to be made public .
The world is adopting dangerous methods of accessing energy . 'Fracking' as a
method of extracting oil presently on in the United States and Canada is
going to destroy the environment and pollute the water resources of North
America in a big way and this may be irretrievable.
What BP and Shell have done in the Gulf of Mexico and Nigeria respectively
among oil companies polluting several regions of the world while drilling for
oil from the sea and seabed among other such ventures has been catastrophic,
and now we have Fukushima !In Japan despite the clear and present danger of
Tsunamis and earthquakes Nuclear Power Plants dangerously constructed by
General Electric have been built across earthquake fault lines. In this context
debate and dialogue on the issue cannot be shut down by affecting arrests ;
however the protestors must carry on their protests at a reasonable distance
from the plant . In Nigeria activists against the pollution of the environment
were murdered by the Company.
An open and continuing debate and dialogue are required in India and all over
the world on alternative energy resources between citizens and the Scientific
community on the one hand and with governments on the other , without which the
choices cannot be made in a rational and objective manner , in keeping with the
scientific spirit , free from any form of populism, coercion or fear .
What happened in the Petition filed in the Supreme Court against this Nuclear
Power Plant ? What were the nature of orders sought by the Petitioner on all
existing Nuclear Power Plants and what were the orders passed ?
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: Ramu & Lalita Ramdas
To: Romila Thapar ; vandana ; Vandana Shiva ; [email protected] ;
Arundathi Roy ; Medha Patkar ; devaki jain ; feminists ; mallika sarabhai ;
Aruna Roy ; Mahashweta Devi ; Teesta Setalvad ; kamla bhasin ; Srilata
Swaminathan
Cc: Usha Naik ; Geetha V ; Anitha Sharma ; Susie Tharu ;
[email protected] ; Abha Bhaiya ; sarojini N.B ; Suneeta Dhar ; MARTHA
; farida lambay ; Rukmini Banerji ; Rita Dhamankar ; Rita Thapa ; Alice Slater
; [email protected] ; shabnam hashmi ; Dr MIRA SHIVA ; Mira Kamdar ;
[email protected] ; Tehzeeb Katari ; charanya r ; Sheela Patel ;
Jayawati Shrivastava ; Gabriele Dietrich ; SanghamitraMalik ; Sanghmitra
Gadekar ; saraswati kavula ; Vidya Patil ; [email protected] ; Maithili
Libby ; mallika ramdas ; Ana Toni ; Malika Virdi ; Poornima Kumar ; Raja Menon
; ammu joseph ; Ammu Abraham ; [email protected] ; Poppy Berry ; Jenny
Stannard ; Jenny Stannard ; Maria Khan ; Amarjeet Kaur ; runa banerji ;
[email protected] ; AshaRani Mathur ; Amita Baviskar ; Pushpa Bhave ;
Geetha Rao ; Sonya Fatah ; manjula reddy ; manjulika dubey ; Aparna
Bakhle-Ellis ; Meenakshi Ganguly ; Meena Menon ; Vasanth Kannabiran ; Kavita
Ramdas ; meera udayakumar ; Vrinda Grover ; kalpana sharma ; Nasreen Fazalbhoy
; Gurveen Kaur ; Radha Gopalan ; Primila Lewis ; Indeera & Ramesh Chand ;
kalpana Mehta ; Ulka mahajan ; Vaishali Patil ; Manasi Mhatre ; Pamela
Philipose ; Sheela Patel ; Priya Nanda ; Arati Chokshi ; NILOFER BHAGWAT ;
kamayani bali mahabal ; Varsha Rajan Berry
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2012 12:59 AM
Subject: WHAT AILS OUR DEMOCRACY - THE SILENT EMERGENCY?
Dear friends,
Over two weeks ago, many of you - in fact a group of a hundred women - signed
on to an appeal letter addressed to Selvi Jayalalitha, Chief Minister of Tamil
Nadu, and the Chairperson of the National Commission on Women, asking that
immediate action be taken to release Selvi, Sundari and Xavier Ammal - the
three women activists and leaders from Idinthakarai who had been arrested on
Sept 10 while carrying out a totally peaceful protest on the beaches near the
KKNPP.
Press releases were sent out to several newspapers and news channels carrying
the names of several eminent women who had added their names to the petition,
in addition to scores of other academics, writers, housewives, students and
activists from across the country. With the exception of one or two newspapers,
the news was ignored/blanked out by media.
Worse still, there has been no acknowledgement of receipt of the letters, let
alone the courtesy of a reply, to date.
And just today, when I spoke to Uday Kumar in Idinthakarai - to tell him of
our round of visits to party leaders and MPs in Delhi on the issue of
Koodankulam and Nuclear Energy, he gave us the shocking news below:
"Four more cases against Xavier Ammal and Sundari slapped today by police.
Yesterday morning, bail was ordered by the Madurai High Court on 6 cases
against Xavier and Selvi, and 8 cases against Sundari. Evidently, the police
filed fresh cases to prevent their release and suppress the Koodankulam
movement.
Organise, Agitate. Demand release of the ~100 prisoners, revocation of the
thousands of cases, and immediate moratorium on the reactor."
2Like · · Promote · Share
This is both shocking and frightening. for the last three days a group of us
has been doing the rounds in Delhi, meeting MPs from many political parties to
raise concerns on Koodankulam, why nuclear energy , and demanding action
against the
repression let loose on peaceful protest against KKNPP.
Many of them have expressed themselves personally against nuclear Energy.
Without exception they have condemned the action as undemocratic, but then hide
behind the fact that this is a state subject about which they are helpless to
take any action! Unbelievable and shameful.
What recourse do we have as citizens when even Parliament is unable or
unwilling to take action on such blatant trampling of a peaceful, totally non
violent campaign with all the might of the law against unarmed citizens who
were only carrying out their democratic right to raise their concerns against
the imposition of a dangerous plant in their midst?
RAISE YOUR VOICES, ORGANISE, AGITATE, DEMAND THE RELEASE OF ALL THOSE
ARRESTED. AND YES, AN IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON THE REACTOR.
In closing, may I add that it this point it does not matter if you personally
believe or dont believe in the value or inevitability of Nuclear energy for
India. Personally I oppose it totally, but right now we are protesting the
sheer brutality , as also the arbitrary and authoritarian manner in which the
State has chosen to put down peaceful dissent.
Please raise your voices in and from every forum to which you belong. Write,
speak, send messages to the leadership - both national and especially in Tamil
Nadu.
I can do no better than to leave you with this inspirational message from Dr
Helen Caldicott which I am copying below. Hard hitting and direct. Can she be
more clear?!
Greetings to all - in solidarity - and requesting you to pass this on widely
- take action as you think fit, we need to be heard.
Lalita Ramdas
--
Ramu and Lalita Ramdas
`Lara' - Ramu Farm
Bhaimala Village
P.O.Kamarle,
Alibag 402201
Raigad Dist, Maharashtra, INDIA
Phone: 0091-2141-248711
Fax: 0091-2141-248733
Cell: [L] 0 9422495315
Cell: [R] 0 9860170960
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