Transcribed by Claudine Fähndrich, BDS Switzerland http://www.silviacattori.net/article1429.html I begin by thanking all the organizers; I know it took quite a lot of efforts to bring us all together. It is a great achievement, and as Mazen and Eider mentioned, and Lubna, yesterday, you also provided a great opportunity for us to meet and we are very grateful to you for this opportunity to meet you and to meet each other. It is easier because of the Israeli oppression to meet here than to meet in Palestine where we should meet and hopefully one day we will all be there without the need to go to the frozen hills of Stuttgart to create a joint life! And I think that's the gist of the Zionist story that it does not allow people to meet normal life and to be normal friends that they … [read more]

Dear colleagues and friends, New Year’s Greetings! Tomorrow, the 4^th of January, 2011, is the 61^st birthday of Dr. Binayak Sen. Let us flood the Raipur Jail with greetings, telegrams and cards to Dr. Sen wishing him on his birthday. Raipur Additional District and Sessions Judge B. P. Verma sentenced PUCL’s (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) National Vice President Dr. Binayak Sen to life imprisonment under charges of sedition 124 (A) of the IPC read with conspiracy (120-B IPC) along with convicting him concurrently u/s 8-(1), (2), (3) and (5) of the Chhattisgarh Vishesh Jan Suraksha Adhiniyam,2005 (Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Act, 2005) and u/sec 39 (2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 2004 (amended) on the 24th of December 2010. Dr Binayak … [read more]

Delhi Convention on Kashmir AZADI: THE ONLY WAY 21 OCTOBER 2010, NEW DELHI ORGANISED BY COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS (CRPP) *A REPORT* The convention on Kashmir that was held on the 21 October 2010 proved to be historic in every aspect given the topicality of the issue. As can be noticed from the title of the convention itself we at the CRPP thought it necessary to pose the question directly, as the people of Kashmir, in their persistent struggle for their right to self-determination braving the repressive apparatus of the Indian State had dared even in their death. When people are being killed in hundreds; maimed, tortured, raped and put behind bars in thousands; it is of utmost significance as a responsible body which gives paramount importance to … [read more]

By Emily Wax Washington Post, Foreign Service Saturday, July 17, 2010 SRINAGAR, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR — One minute, a shaggy-haired 21-year-old is on the Internet, mixing brooding rock music with video footage of young Kashmiris protesting Indian control of this disputed Himalayan region. The next, he’s out on the streets wielding a more traditional weapon: the stone. The latest outbreak of dissent here, dubbed “Kashmir’s stone war,” marks a shift in the mostly Muslim region’s long-running struggle for autonomy. In a post-9/11, globalized world, Pakistan-backed separatists no longer roam the streets of this summer capital with guns. Instead, the heirs to the conflict are styling their discontent after cellphone images of the Palestinian uprising and its … [read more]

First of all in the mineral-rich belt in the south-east the Indian government awarded vast swathes of land to mining companies and heavy industries with contracts worth dozens of billions of Euros. They come to exploit the natural resources leaving little more than pollution and depleted resources. On the land they wish to appropriate, however, happen to live people mostly without property titles – the Adivasi, Hindi for native people. They are the poorest of the poor, excluded from caste society like the untouchables (Dalits), but differently to them living in formerly remote areas, in the jungles, which provided their livelihood in subsistence. Thus for business there is only one solution: drive them off their lands like its predecessor evolving capitalism did with the European … [read more]

A Note of POSCO Pratirodh Sangharsa Samiti ( PPSS), Jagatsinghpur, Odisha A Brief Background: On June 22 2005, Pohang Steel Company (POSCO), a large South Korean corporation, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Orissa in eastern India. This MOU outlined POSCO’s proposal to invest in the mining industry and build a steel plant, captive power station and port in Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district. For the last five years, people living in the villages of the proposed site under the banner of POSCO Pratirodh Sanghrsa Samiti (Anti-POSCO People’s Movement) have been relentlessly protesting against the land acquisition process. More than 4000 families totaling a population of 30,000 will be affected by the project. These include all those persons … [read more]

Brothers, Sisters and comrades, I am glad and honoured to be addressing you for this event. I would like to tell you that from the start of our Palestinian revolutionary movement, we knew we were not alone, that our struggle was part of the international struggle. This makes us continue our struggle without fear in facing zionism and imperialism, especially US imperialism, as we know people around the world are with us practically and not just theoretically. We have learnt from history that when a people is occupied and oppressed they will revolt to liberate themselves using all methods including armed struggle, which is also enshrined in the UN Charta. Our homeland has been occupied since 1948, and I Leila Khaled have been a refugee for 62 years like 6 million other … [read more]

“Palestinian guests in Lebanon are working with total freedom. First of all we do not refer to them as “refugees”. They are our brothers who are suffering and in a very difficult situation that they did not cause and they have lost their country. They sought our help in Lebanon as brothers. You Americans really need to understand that in our Arab, Muslim, and Christian culture, you help your brother. You share with him your loaf of bread. You split it in half and give half to your brother. So out of this sacred tradition, out of the long history that binds us with our Palestinian brothers we host them in Lebanon temporarily until they can go back to their country. But while they are here, of course Lebanon is living through a difficult situation ourselves but our Palestinian … [read more]

28.07.2010 The Sumud centre was cleaned and enough chairs were prepared. Visitors from inside the camp were expected, who were also excited to meet the historical figure again. Thirty minutes before the scheduled arrival the electricity was cut. Ironic comments were heard in the dark place ‘Well, this shouldn’t be a surprise’; ‘Let’s get some candles, the meeting will be romantic’; ‘You think we should move to the PFLP office?’…. More interesting was the scene outside, as Nashet activists and two old PFLP guards neighbouring the building: - Comrade, you have an electricity generator. Can you lend us some electricity? - Our generator is too small. It barely runs the refrigerator and two lamps! - Please comrade, it is Leila Khaled coming! - And even if it was … [read more]

A Brief Report of the proceedings of the Sit-In on the evening of 7 August 2010 against the crimes on the people of Kashmir by the Indian State The evening of 7 August 2010 witnessed after a long long time voices of freedom from the people of Kashmir. Despite the heavy repression and the draconian laws to maim and incarcerate the people of Kashmir, to subjugate their indomitable spirit for Azadi, the evening of August 7 at the heart of Delhi just half a kilometre away from the parliament witnessed unprecedented scenes of assertion of the political will not to say genuine desire of the Kashmiri people for freedom from the exploitative and oppressive rule of the Indian State. Around six to seven hundred people had gathered including people from various peoples organisations in Delhi to … [read more]

Meeting Hamas Thursday evening, July 29, one part of the delegation met the Hamas leader of Beirut and Saida, Abu Achmad Alfatel while the others remained in Beirut to visit Al Akhbar Newspaper. Abu Achmad Alfatel explained the delicate situation of the Palestinian people in Gaza to the participants. Since the elections in 2006, political conditions have tightened through the extended embargo and the general isolation from the rest of the world, which makes daily life very difficult. It seems to him that the western governments were ready to accept the elections, but not the unexpected result - this gives a clear idea of western perception of democracy. Due to the 2009 war in Gaza 70% of the region is destroyed, there exist hardly any infrastructure: ‘We live like in stone age’, … [read more]

2 PM, 3RD AUGUST 2010, RAJENDRA BHAVAN, DEEN DAYAL UPADHYAY MARG, NEW DELHI The Public Meeting to demand the judicial enquiry into the killings of Azad, the spokesperson and Polit Bureau member of the CPI (Maoist) along with journalist Hem Chandra Pandey at Rajendra Bhavan, New Delhi was addressed by a large number of prominent citizens in the presence of packed auditorium. Dr. B D Sharma, former National Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Tribes of Government of India chaired the public meeting and started the proceedings of the meeting by calling upon the audience to observe one minute’s silence in commemoration of Azad and Hem Chandra Pandey. Dr Anup Saraya a well-known doctor and democratic rights activist convened the meeting to start it proceedings. G N Saibaba, … [read more]

First stop was the village Maghdusheh up the hill above the camp. In 1986, the village had witnessed one of the most crucial battles of the Palestinian resistance against the then pro-Syrien Amal militia. The Palestinian counter-attack to take over the hill put an end to months of a starvation siege imposed by Amal, forcing a cease-fire and free access to the camp. After this short stop, the group moved on to Mlita, which was an important starting point of the Hezbollah guerilla actions during the fights to liberate South Lebanon. There, a war exposition is established in a formal mountain military base of Hezbollah. Destroyed and abandoned tanks, canons, armored cars and weapons of the Israeli army and the collaborator South Lebanese army are exposed. Resistance weapons, tunnel … [read more]

The first station was the Market of Sabra. Sabra is a poor district of Beirut, which has merged together with the Palstinian refugee Camp Shatila. In Sabra, the population is mixed: Lebanese of all confessions, Palestinian and other poor foreigners live there. Sabra and Shatila are considered as one and the same place, in particular when mentioning the 1982 massacre. At Sabra Market one can find “everything”. The deeper you go into the long market street, things become cheaper and more illegal. The delegation headed from there to Shatila. Different than Ein El Hilweh, Shatila camp is accessible. No checkpoints and ID controls by the Lebanese army are present. The camp was demilitarised in the context of the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1991. Nevertheless, the situation of the … [read more]

CONSTITUTE JUDICIAL INQUIRY INTO THEIR KILLINGS IMMEDIATELY Rajendra Bhawan, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg 2PM, 3 August 2010 Speakers: Agnivesh, Amit Bhaduri Arundhati Roy Ashish Gupta/ PUDR B D Sharma G Haragopal G N Saibaba Jagmohan Manoranjan Mohanty Mehar Engineer Mrigank PC Tiwari Rajender Sachar/ Pushkar Raj/ PUCL Rajkishore, RDF SAR Geelani Satnam Sujato Bhadro Neelabh Pankaj Bisht Sumit Chakravartty Varavara Rao And Others Azad, the spokesperson of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist) along with a freelance journalist, Hemant Pandey from Delhi was murdered in cold blood in the early hours of 2 July 2010. The circumstantial evidence clearly shows that both were caught in Nagpur by Central and Andhra Pradesh intelligence agencies in a joint … [read more]

The assassination of Azad is a continuation of state terror and war on the people of India. This act exposes the disinformation campaign surrounding the state’s “ceasefire” proposal, which is nothing but a deception by the Government of India. It puts a spotlight on the real intentions of the regime in launching “Operation Green Hunt” which has turned the whole of India into a war zone and hurled the unrestrained brutality of 250,000 paramilitary and police forces against the people, in its attempts to auction off the natural resources of the country. Those in power in India know full well that the brutal abduction and killing of Azad and other popular leaders of the resistance will deter neither the tribal people nor his party the CPI (Maoist) nor any who oppose the … [read more]

As Palestinians living inside Israel commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba; Israel continues its political persecutions of Palestinian leaders, recently arresting two veteran activists: Dr. Omar Said, a political activist and Mr. Ameer Makhoul- director of Ittijah and chairman of the Popular Committee for the Defense of the Political Freedoms. The arrests were conducted in fierce violation of basic human and civil rights and mark an alarming escalation in Israel's political persecutions to anyone who defies its institutionalized policies of discrimination. Ameer Makhoul and Omar Said join a long list of political persecutions routinely practiced by Israel's General Security Service 'Shabak', including denying professor Noam Chomsky, a Jewish political activist, … [read more]

The Italian agricultural industry has been relying mostly on immigrant workers since the Nineties; their number has multiplied by ten in the last twenty years, reaching an estimated 172.000 in 2007. Among them, especially in the South, many thousands are seasonal labourers, who move from town to town during the year harvesting tomatoes, olives, etcetera. They are the ones who face the harshest conditions. In Rosarno there lived several thousands of African immigrants (the estimations I’ve read vary between 2000 and 5000; the “native” population of the town is around 1500); they were harvesting the Calabrian oranges on the quality of which we Italians pride ourselves so much, and lived and worked in conditions challenging any minimum standard of human … [read more]

In this regard, we want to sign the Commitment of Caracas as a revolutionary guide for the challenges ahead of us. We have gathered with the aim of unifying criteria and giving concrete answers that allow us to defend our sovereignty, our social victories, and the freedom of our peoples in the face of the generalized crisis of the world capitalist system and the new threats spreading over our region and the whole world with the establishment and strengthening of military bases in the sister republics of Colombia, Panama, Aruba, Curacao, the Dutch Antilles, as well as the aggression against Ecuadorian territory, and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. We consider that the world capitalist system is going through one of its most severe crises, which has shaken its very foundations and … [read more]

a) The collapse of the world economy following the financial crash which erupted in the USA on September 2008 (a crash which had been announced by several creaks in the previous decade) is not one of those cyclical recessions followed by a recovery. It is more of an alarm bell pointing at a historical systemic crisis of western capitalism, in the first instance at a crisis of those imperialist countries which constituted, after World War II, the gravitational centre of global capitalism and which, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has dominated the world despite some resistance here and there. b) The historical systemic crisis of the imperialist gravitational centre does not automatically mean that the capitalist production system as such has entered its final phase or finds … [read more]