Dear PEN-Lers, Please see details below. They have collected nearly 300 signatures so far but need upwards of 500+ signatures. They need to rally more signatures for this petition. Please forward to colleagues and other groups. Thanks! In solidarity, Brian _______________________ 5/9 update from Orissa. The news is that all indications (inside news from Govt of Orissa sources) suggest that the Orissa govt is going to move for forcible land acquisition starting May 18th. The whole area is tense with a constant confrontation between the PPSS activists and the police at the Balitutha gates. There are about 3 platoons of police in place and more than another 5 in close proximity who are called in for back up. We need to move the petition fast. If TIAA-CREF issues a statement to divest this will be a major setback to the Indian govt's promotion of POSCO. Please sign at the earliest and those who have already signed THANKS! and pl. forward to friends and other listservs for their support. Sangeeta ------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE FORWARD TO COLLEAGUES, NETWORKS AND RELEVANT LISTSERVS ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Faculty Member: We are seeking your signature to a petition asking TIAA-CREF, the largest pension fund for US-based academics, to withdraw its investment from the Pohang Steel Company (POSCO). Your support of this initiative will be a crucial sign of protest against the growing record of human rights violations, environmental degradation, and violation of democratic processes POSCO and the governments of India and Orissa have committed in seizing the lands of small cultivators and adivasis (indigenous peoples) to make way for a new plant, port and mines. The project is a telling example of India's neoliberal economic policy and will displace more than 22,000 people and destroy, at the minimum, the livelihoods of yet another 50,000 residents of the Jagatsinghpur, Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts of Orissa, India. A spirited and peaceful social movement, the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS)-- POSCO Resistance Struggle Alliance has resisted the project for over five years and is seeking our support at a moment when it is facing the immediate threat of brutal police and government-backed violence. Two minutes of your time NOW, will mean a lot. We urge all faculty and research scholars (even if you are not investing within TIAA CREF) to sign the petition immediately and stand in solidarity with the people of Orissa. To sign the petition follow this link -- NOW!!: <http://miningzone.org/campaigns/posco/divestment/tiaa-cref/faculty-petition-to-tiaa-cref> Once you have signed the petition, please do not forget to forward this call to other faculty members, academic listservs and update your facebook page (if any) with a link to the petition. For more information on the POSCO project: <http://miningzone.org/campaigns/campaigns/POSCO/iron-and-steal/ch00> To read a short backgrounder on the neoliberal project in India: <http://miningzone.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/POSCO_Backgrounder.pdf> For more information on the Mining Zone Peoples' Solidarity Group (MZPSG) and to follow updates on the campaign: <http://www.miningzone.org> Thanks in advance, Sangeeta on behalf of The Mining Zone Peoples' Solidarity Group ------------------------------ Sangeeta Kamat Associate Professor UMASS Amherst and Member, South Asia Solidarity Initiative Member, Faculty support group, MZPSG, TIAA-CREF divestment campaign
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