Free Binayak Sen Coalition
International Groups mark Global Day of Protest and demand an end to the Criminalizing of Democratic Dissent in India
Supporters in 12 cities- in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.- took to the streets to mark the Global Day of Protest on January 30th demanding the freedom of Dr. Binayak Sen and many other political prisoners, the repealing of draconian laws, and the disbanding of vigilante forces in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The coordinated actions- demonstrations, vigils, public meetings, film screenings, public marches, etc. (click here for video) were the result of a call by the Free Binayak Sen coalition, a broad grouping of over 57 civil society groups.
Dr.Ramachandra Guha, a well-known historian from India who has also worked to highlight grave human right violations by the government of Chhattisgarh joined the protest in Harvard Square, Boston, and urged the 50-odd protesters not to lose sight of the many ordinary adivasis (indigenous people) who, like Dr. Sen, are also victims of persecution, and have had their homes burnt or kinsfolk murdered by state-sponsored vigilantes, but in the prevailing atmosphere of intimidation are too terrified to file FIRs or seek justice.
Demonstrations were held in front of the Indian Consulates in New York, San Francisco, Washington DC and London, while in Vancouver, Canada, 80 people marched from the Public Library to the Consulate of India. Panel discussions and public awareness events were held in Amherst, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles. Supporters in the cities of Seattle and Austin held candle light vigils.
Protesters invoked the names of political activists, leaders of mass movements, human rights activists, journalists such as Ajay T.G., Lachit Bordoloi, Prashant Rahi, Shamim Modi, Abhay Sahoo, Bhukhan Singh, Niyamat Ansari, Govindan Kutty, Vernon Gonsalves, Ashok Reddy, Dhanendra Bhurule, Naresh Bansode, Kopa Kunjam, Sukhnath Oyami, Kartam Joga, Asit Sengupta, Sudhir Dhawale, KK Shahina, etc., some who have been charged under UAPA/CSPSA, some that have been denied bail for long periods, and often without any charges being filed; and some who have been convicted after deeply flawed judicial processes, such as Piyush Guha and Narayan Sanyal .
For Indian supporters of Dr. Sen, his case raises larger questions about the state’s punitive targeting of individuals (through the use of repressive legislation or extrajudicial killings, AKA “encounters”) and communities (through military offensives such as Operation Greenhunt) in response to their dissent against its vision of neoliberal development. As Dr. Manan Ganguli, who participated in protest actions in London, said, “there is a crisis in India today. Binayak’s conviction is just one example of it”.
The Coalition has worked since 2007 to highlight the increasing assault on civil liberties in India in the name of national security, and the use of repressive laws to target human rights defenders and journalists for speaking out about injustice and exploitation. The case of Dr. Binayak Sen, in particular, has captured the imagination of people worldwide and he has now become a highly visible symbol of a wider resistance to the political economy of resource extraction which in India has brutalized indigenous communities, and has subjected them to forced displacement, poverty and violence.
Dr. Binayak Sen is a renowned pediatrician, public health specialist and the national Vice-President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) with a lifelong commitment to the issues of community health and human rights. He was arrested in May 2007 on fabricated charges of sedition, and joined dozens of other human rights activists in Indian jails who have been arrested under draconian laws including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA, a federal-level law), the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA, a state-level law) as well as other repressive legislation such as the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), Sedition laws, etc. which allow the State to bypass legally mandated due process, and are inconsistent with constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Dr. Sen earned the ire of the government for opposing Salwa Judum, a private militia movement armed by the Government to combat 'Maoist insurgency'. Salwa Judum, and its current avatar, the Ma Danteshwari Swabhimani Adivasi Manch have unleashed a reign of terror in Chhattisgarh that has resulted in the displacement of at least 300,000 adivasis. Many human rights groups and independent citizen’s groups such as the Asian Center for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, and India’s National Human Rights Commission have documented these atrocities, and have called for an end to such privatized forms of state violence. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, has publicly expressed concern over the shrinking space for civil society in India, and about the “…branding and stigmatization of human rights defenders, labeled as ‘naxalites (Maoists)’, ‘terrorists’, ‘militants’, ‘insurgents’, or ‘anti-nationalists”.
The internationalization of the Free Binayak Sen campaign since 2008 has worked to highlight similarities between the struggles of marginalized and indigenous communities worldwide and has led to solidarity between seemingly disparate communities. At the rally in Vancouver, Canada, Ashley Zarbatany from the Social Justice Center at the University of British Columbia drew parallels between Dr. Sen and other icons of resistance such as Ken Saro Wiwa from the Niger Delta and environmental activist grandma Betty, “…who have become iconographic of the willingness to stand up against exploitation of the land and of human rights despite what it may cost them”. In Boston, Sergio Rios from the ‘Boston May Day Committee’, who survived three years of incarceration under the Chilean dictator General Pinochet claimed Dr. Sen as an inspiration for everyone worldwide that is “…struggling to speak, to organize, to defend, and to help”.
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Media Contacts:
Anu Mandavilli This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; 408-480-5805
Somnath Mukherji This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; 732-423-6662
Further Resources:
Videos
Austin, Boston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Washington DC
Pictures
Austin, Amherst, Boston, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco,
Seattle, Vancouver, Washington DC
· The International Coalition to Free Binayak Sen consists of:
Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, MIT
Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, San Francisco, CA (www.asata.org)
Act Now to End War & Racism – ANSWER- San Francisco, CA
Action for a Progressive Pakistan, USA
Asian Law Alliance, San Jose, CA
Association for India’s Development (www.aidindia.org), USA
Association of South Asian Political Activists (ASAPA), UC Berkeley
Birmingham Anti-SEZ Campaign, UK
Boston Coalition for Justice in Bhopal
Boston Mobilization (www.bostonmobilization.org)
Cambridge Free Binayak Sen Group, UK
Campaign against Forced Displacement, UK (http://tinyurl.com/6mgnne)
Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH), USA
CMC Alumni in support of Binayak Sen, USA
CMC Vellore Alumni Association-U.K. Branch
Culture and Conflict Forum, San Jose, CA
Defenders of the Environment and Ecology of Panjab (DEEP), UK
Dharma Megha, East Lansing, Michigan
Friends of South Asia, San Francisco, CA (www.friendsofsouthasia.org)
Gadar Heritage Foundation, Fremont, CA
Hillingdon Asian Women's Communication Service, UK (www.hillingdonwomenscentre.org.uk)
India Foundation, East Lansing, Michigan
India Relief and Education Fund, Fremont, CA
Indian American Muslim Council, USA (www.imc-usa.org)
Indian Progressive Study Group-L.A. (IPSG)
Indian Workers Association (GB)
International Accountability Project, San Francisco, CA (www.accountabilityproject.org)
International Coalition for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB)
International League of People's Struggles, UK (www.ilps-web.com)
International Service Society, Okemos, Michigan
International South Asia Forum (INSAF), NYC
Kashmir Solidarity Network
Massachusetts Global Action
Matahari: Eye of the Day
National Lawyers' Guild– San Jose (www.nlg.org)
Our Developing World, Saratoga, CA
Pakistan Solidarity Network, USA
Peace and Human Rights Trust, UK
Peninsula Peace & Justice Center, Palo Alto, CA
Peoples Health Movement, USA
South Asia magazine for Action and Reflection (SAMAR), USA
San Jose Peace & Justice Center, San Jose, CA
Sanhati (www.sanhati.com)
Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC)
Seva International, Okemos, Michigan
Sikh American Heritage Organization, USA
South Asian Alliance, UK (www.southasianalliance.org)
South Asians for Progressive Action (SAPA), Boston
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), Canada
South Asian Progressive Action Collective, Chicago (www.sapac.org)
South Asia Solidarity Group, UK (www.southasiasolidarity.org)
South Asia Solidarity Initiative, New York
South Bay Mobilization, San Jose, CA
Students for Bhopal, USA (www.studentsforbhopal.org)
The 1857 Committee (http://1857.org.uk)
Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment, Okemos, Michigan
Vedanta Society of East Lansing, Michigan
Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF) Oakland, CA (www.wslfweb.org)
Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) -San Jose, CA
A Joint Statement by a global civil society actors, including the Asian Legal Resource Centre
EGYPT: Global civil society condemns abuses, calls for democratic reform and elections
1 February, 2011
We, civil society organizations from across the world, strongly urge all governments, as well as regional and international organizations, to clearly and unequivocally denounce the ongoing violent crackdown against the public protests and demands for democratic reform and government accountability that have been occurring across Egypt since the 25th of January.
The Egyptian government has responded to protests with excessive force. This has included wide-spread use of beatings, arbitrary detentions and the use of rubber bullets and allegedly live ammunition against unarmed civilians, resulting in over a hundred deaths. Moreover, a state imposed black-out on national cell phone services, the internet and independent media channels was put in place on the 28th of January, making it very difficult for Egyptians to report any abuses occurring. On that same day the Egyptian government began to deploy military forces in supplement of internal security forces.
With the strong risk that repression, violence and instability in Egypt could escalate to unprecedented levels in the coming days, it is critical that individual governments from all regions of the world urgently exert strong and concerted pressure on the Egyptian government to curb human rights abuses.
We call on the United Nations, its Member States and regional bodies to condemn the serious and widespread human rights violations carried out by the Egyptian authorities against civilians throughout the country. The international community must remind the Egyptian government of its international human rights obligations, urge it to fully respect the rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of movement and freedom of expression, and support the demands of the Egyptian people for the holding of free and fair elections and the ending of the decades long State of Emergency law which has been used to enforce authoritarian rule.
Signatories:
Action for People's Democracy (Thailand)
The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS)
The Africa Democracy Forum (ADF)
Ain O Salish Kendra (Bangladesh)
Aitzaz Ahsan and Associates, Advocates and Attorneys(Pakistan)
Alkarama Foundation (Switzerland)
Angikar Bangladesh Foundation (Bangladesh)
Article 19
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health-South Korea (ACCEH)
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), the Philippines
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Asia Monitor Resource Centre- Hong Kong (AMRC)
Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE)
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Cambodian Center for Human Rights
Centre for Independent Journalism (Malaysia)
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales- CELS (Argentina)
Center for Health and Social Change- South Korea (CHSC)
Centre for Legal Awareness and Support (India)
Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), the Philippines
CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation
The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR)
Collectif des Familles des Desparus en Algerie
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
Committee to Support Imprisoned Workers (South Korea)
Community Legal Aid Institute, (Indonesia)
Community Resource Centre- Thailand (CRC)
Conectas Direitos Humanos (Brazil)
DAGA Center for JustPeace in Asia (Thailand)
Damascus Centre for Human Rights
Democracy Coalition Project (DCP)
Democratic Workers' Solidarity (South Korea)
The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRP)
Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, Inc.- Philippines (EILER)
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EURMED)
Federation of Independent Trade Union- Indonesia (GSBI)
Franciscans International (Switzerland)
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT)
Friends of Women (Malaysia)
Human Rights Agenda (Nigeria)
Human Rights First (USA)
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Imagination for International Solidarity- South Korea (IFIS)
Information & Culture Nuri for Disabled Koreans (South Korea)
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF)
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
Jagaran Media Center- Nepal (JMC)
Janasansadaya (Sri Lanka)
Japan Occupational Safety and Health Resource Center
JINBONET (South Korea)
Justice for Peace Foundation (Thailand)
Korea Center for United Nations Human Rights Policy- South Korea (KOCUN)
Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights- South Korea (KFHR)
Korean House for International Solidarity- South Korea (KHIS)
Lawyers for Liberty (Malaysia)
The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH)
Maldives Democracy Network (Maldives)
MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society (South Korea)
Muntada - Arab Forum for Sexuality Education and Health (Palestine)
Network of Accessible Environments for All (South Korea)
Open Society Foundations
The Other Media (India)
Palestine Peace Solidarity of South Korea (South Korea)
Partnership for Justice (Nigeria)
People's Health Movement (USA)
Peoples Training & Research Centre (India)
Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Malaysia)
PILIPINA Legal Resources Center (Philippines)
RightOnCanada.ca
River, indigenous people and human rights watch Arunachal (India)
Sisters' Arab Forum for Human Rights (Yemen)
Sisters in Islam (Malaysia)
Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination- South Korea (SADD)
Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea (South Korea)
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
Thai Labour Campaign
Triumph International Thailand Labour Union (TITLU)
Try Arm Underwear - Self-Managed Worker Cooperative (Thailand)
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
U.S. Campaign for Burma
Vikash (India)
VISION (Pakistan)
Western African Human Rights Defenders Network (WAHRDN)
Women's Aid Organization (Malaysia)
Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways (Turkey)
The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)
World Student Christian Federation Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)
The World Without War (South Korea)
Zi Teng (Hong Kong)
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About the ALRC: The Asian Legal Resource Centre is an independent regional non-governmental organisation holding general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is the sister organisation of the Asian Human Rights Commission. The Hong Kong-based group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human rights issues at the local and national levels throughout Asia.