A MESSAGE FROM NOAM CHOMSKY
March 04, 2009
Dear Enrique,
I'm writing you today because hundreds of
thousands of children in Gaza are suffering
terribly following the recent Israeli
attacks-paid for by your tax dollars and
mine.
Even before this horrifying assault, there
were tremendous shortages of food, medicine,
electricity and fuel because of the Israeli
blockade that has been going on for nearly
two years.
We must do everything we can to stop the
immoral acts of the Israeli government and
our own government's political and financial
support.
But right now, the children desperately need
our immediate help. I'm asking you to make a
contribution to the Middle East Children's
Alliance (MECA) to help meet the most basic
needs of children in Gaza.
I am a founding advisor and supporter of
MECA. For the last 21 years, MECA has been
sending food and medical aid to children in
Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon-more than $12
million in aid to date. And MECA supports
community projects to improve children's
lives in the West Bank and Gaza.
MECA's Director Barbara Lubin just returned
from three weeks in Egypt working to get aid
into Gaza, and then four days in Gaza. She
said, "I have been to Palestine many times
over the last two decades, but never have I
seen anything like what I saw this time. I
will never forget the sadness, the smell of
death, the destroyed homes, schools, mosques
and cemeteries"
In the aftermath of the bombardment MECA
delivered four tons of medicine for infants
and children, an ambulance that's
outfitted
as a mobile intensive care unit, several tons
of powdered milk and baby cereal, 29
state-of-the- art wheelchairs, and a truckload of
crayons,
coloring books and paper to the children of
Gaza and their families.
I am asking you, please, give
whatever you can possible afford to help
save the lives and ease the pain of thousands
and thousands of children who are
traumatized, injured, orphaned, and
homeless.
Your contribution now will help:
* Send more medical aid in the months
ahead
* Launch a major mental health intervention
program for children in Gaza
* Build water purification and
desalinization systems in Gaza
schools
Gaza is no longer on the front page, but I
know you understand that the catastrophe is
far from over for the children and families
who are trying to survive and rebuild their
lives under the most desperate
circumstances.
Thank you so much for your support,
Noam Chomsky
Cambridge, Massachusetts
DONATE
NOW
Middle East Children's Alliance
____________ _________ _________ __
email: meca@mecaforpeace. org
web: http://www.mecaforp eace.org
Forward email
Lancet Withdraws Gaza Article, Author Responds
http://pulsemedia. org/2009/ 03/04/lancet- withdraws- gaza-article/
On 2 February 2009,
The Lancet Medical Journal’s Global Health Network online published Dr
Swee Ang and Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta’s ‘The Wounds of Gaza’, first published here at PULSE. It introduced the article by stating:
Two Surgeons from the UK, Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah and Dr
Swee Ang, managed to get into Gaza during the Israeli invasion. Here
they describe their experiences, share their views, and conclude that
the people of Gaza are extremely vulnerable and defenseless in the
event of another attack.
On 2 March 09 the Journal removed the article (though The Lancet Student still has it), stating: “We have taken down the blog post The Wounds of Gaza because of factual inaccuracies.”
No specific faults or amendments to the alleged inaccuracies are
suggested. The reader comments, overwhelmingly in support, remain
posted. A letter penned by four israelis (surprise, surprise!) that
objects to the article was published on February 18. Our friend Dr Swee responds to this development and elaborates on the figures.
Dr Swee Ang on reporting from Palestine and Lebanon
Many of us are afraid to put numbers down because the
pro-Israel Lobby will inundate us with emails and complaints. This has
gone to the extent that only figures sanctioned by the Israelis are
credible. Everything else is viewed as suspect!
Over the last twenty-six and a half years, I have taken many blows
over this kind of issue. The only question I ask myself when writing is
- when is the version according to the victims going to be articulated?
The people of Gaza knew that 5,000 were killed in the Khan Younis
massacre in 1956; 100,000 gone missing in 1967 of which 35,000 were
murdered - just because they cannot go to the Sinai and take pictures,
or dig up the mass graves, does not mean we refuse to let them state
their case.
I looked at Northern Gaza - how often have I driven down Sala -Uddin
Road in 1988 and 1989. I remember every turn and corner- I know the
citrus orchards, the farms and the homes. Often I would stop my
ambulance to give a ride to the farm workers and they in return would
give me freshly picked lemons and oranges. I now see it completely laid
waste by Israeli explosives like the nuclear holocaust of Hiroshima,
and yet we were called liars when we put forward the figure of one and
a half million tons of explosives. We have seen apartment blocks not
only reduced to rubble but incinerated - how many kilotons of
explosives are responsible for this kind of damage?
The Lancet Global Health Network withdrawing ‘The Wounds of Gaza’ is not a problem at all. The wonder is how it even got to be published in the first instance.
My book From Beirut to Jerusalem,
when first published in 1989, was reprinted hard back and then
paperback within 2 months, as it was sold out on publication, and again
sold out as soon as reprinted. Then Tom Friedman came out with a book
with exactly the same title half a year later and by the same
publisher. My book was withdrawn from the shelves. It went out of print
for many years.
But the truth has to come out. Most times at great inconvenience to some of us as we well know.
I just want you to know that I am not afraid to believe the
Palestinians. It is a scandal that the extent of the Khan Younis
massacre had not come to light for all these years. It is a scandal
that what happened in the Six Day War was not published. The
intimidation to silence witnesses has to stop. We cannot allow the case
to be stated only by the perpetrators of the killings.
Like the Palestinians in Gaza - I am also not afraid. My witness of
Gaza counts. So does your witness. We should not be afraid of saying
what the Palestinians told us. They are the ones whose families were
killed, who bear the wounds of violence, who are dispossessed and
persecuted. Their voices must be heard.
Dr Swee Ang on the explosives used in Gaza
The actual tonnage of the explosives dropped on Gaza can
only be accurately known to the IDF themselves. So other figures can
only be estimates. However some of us have many years of experience
looking at bombed out countries.
Over the 22 days, Gaza was intensely bombed from land, air and sea.
The bombs dropped from the air are large, and most of them are more
than a ton on average. In the south the bombs used to destroy the
tunnels and structures around them are large heavy bombs.
Of the 21,000 buildings destroyed, 4000 of them are completely
demolished. Some believe that these are by small nuclear fission bombs.
However there is no proof and it is impossible to tell, though the
effect of all structures, especially concrete, being incinerated, would
suggest that the size of these bombs are of the order of
kilotons—whether they are conventional explosives or otherwise. If you
were to look at the effect of the atom bomb on Hiroshima (about 15 - 20
kilotons), you would see the incineration of concrete similar to that
of that seen in these 4,000 buildings. These 4,000 buildings would have
been destroyed by 4,000 kilotons of explosives. The other 17,000
destroyed buildings are the result of bombs of single figure tonnage
judging from the kind of destruction. Apart from bombs being dropped on
buildings reducing them to rubble, bombs were also dropped on fields,
orchards, farms and roads.
We do not know enough of the explosive values of DIME to comment and
hence have not speculated on it. They have been used in Gaza. But from
what is commonly known about them, they are very heavy bombs, more so
than conventional.
As to the person who queried the “million and a half tons of
explosives dropped in 22 days” as such an amount would have obliterated
Gaza [a question put forward to www.womenforpalesti ne.org, a site which
carried Dr Ang’s article]—we can safely answer him that the whole of
Northern Gaza has indeed been obliterated - he or she is most welcome
to see for themselves! The whole stretch of Northern Gaza has been
converted to a complete wasteland. In the South again vast stretches of
agricultural areas have also been demolished.
The figure of one and a half million tons of explosives in our view
is a conservative estimate. Those who are sceptical about it need to
see it for themselves.
Dr Swee Ang on the figure of 35,000 political prisoners being executed during the 1967 Six Day war
The number 35,000 was from the International
Co-operation Department (ICD) of Gaza. Within the first 2 hours of the
attack on Egypt, 11,000 Egyptian soldiers were killed. But we are not
talking about them, as they would be those killed in action.
After the first 2 hours till the end of the 6-Day War, about 100,000
Egyptian and Palestinian combatants were missing and never found. These
included many young men in Gaza who had joined the Egyptians and the
early PLA (of Nasser) to fight the Israelis. There are at least 2 mass
graves in El-Arish on the edge of the Sinai desert, and the Israelis
themselves had admitted to killing those captured, but had not admitted
to killing so many. The Gaza information had stated 35,000 executed,
but we had not asked them the whereabouts of the remaining 65,000. Many
of the missing still have surviving relatives living in Gaza. The names
of those executed could be traced from the ICD in Gaza. 1967 is a long
time ago, and I do not see what advantage it is to the ICD in Gaza to
make up these figures.
As many of you will be aware, a similar situation occurred with the
Sabra and Shatilla massacre, where Palestinian sources believed that
3,000 were killed and IDF only admitted to over 300. Bayan Al-Hout had
compiled at least one and a half thousand names to date, and the list
is still increasing. We still do not know the whereabouts of the men
murdered in the Stadium, now that some soldiers of the Phalange have
admitted to executing people there. The bodies buried in Martyr’s
Square were from within the camp itself, and not those abducted to the
Stadium.
March 4, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Palestine
Tagged with Dr Swee Ang, Lancet, The Wounds of Gaza
http://www.presstv. ir/detail. aspx?id=87468& sectionid= 3510203
US marks 4 more years of lapdog policies
Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:23:56 GMT
The US pledges 'unshakeable' commitment to Israel, suggesting a Palestinian state to be viable only without its democratic government.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Israel on Tuesday after a visit to Egypt to attend a reconstruction conference on Gaza. She held talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and right-wing Israeli politicians who are set to take over affairs in Tel Aviv.
"It is important that the United States always underscore our unshakeable, durable and fundamental support for the state of Israel" and "our unrelenting commitment to Israel's security," she told the echelons on Tuesday.
US "support" for Israel consists mainly of monetary and political support as well as help at the UN Security Council in countering anti-Israel resolutions through the use of its veto powers.
The right-wing success in winning the majority of Knesset seats in the recent Israeli elections has raised questions as to whether the White House will give in to the right-wing idea of a pure Jewish state or whether it will support a two-state solution.
Clinton did touch on the issue, drawing a picture that was not entirely in line with that of hawkish Prime Minster-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, who is charged with forming the next government.
"We happen to believe that moving towards a two-state solution is in Israel's best interests", she told a news conference attended by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, saying that "eventually, the inevitability of working towards a two-state solution is inescapable. "
Without mentioning the issue of Israel violating its ceasefire agreement and it killing nearly 1,350 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in its three-week war on the Palestinian territory, she tacitly attributed the crisis in the region to rocket fire from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
According to the US official, military measures adopted by the democratically- elected Palestinian government contradict the demands of "international actors".
"In the absence of Hamas agreeing to the principles that have been adopted by such a broad range of international actors, I don't see that we or they -- or anyone -- could deal with Hamas," Clinton said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.
Clinton had also explained the US stance on Hamas at the aid conference in Gaza, insisting that the Palestinian government confined to Gaza is obliged to recognize Israel and accept previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements if it seeks an end to its isolation by the West.
She made no mention, however, of Israel having violated UN resolutions adopted against its policies and its requirement that Tel Aviv withdraw to its 1967 borders -- which is a major bone of contention between the Palestinians and Israel.
Several UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israeli actions against Palestinians have been defied by Israel. The US, Israel's number one ally, has also exercised its veto powers to prevent the adoption of nearly 45 anti-Israeli resolutions sought by the council since 1972.
Since 2004, Washington has vetoed numerous resolutions which called for Tel Aviv to halt its operations in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip -- which had been occupied by Israeli forces from 1967 to 1994.
With US support, Israel continues to defy agreements it entered at the Annapolis conference and has stonewalled peace by refusing to compromise on key issues, including the status of Jerusalem (al-Quds), the fate of Palestinian refugees, the final borders, Israeli settlements and prisoners.
MSH/AA
The Israel donors conference
By Amira Hass
Tags: Gaza, Hillary Clinton, U.S.
The extent of the funding pledged to the Palestinian Authority by donor
countries reflects the extent of their support for Israel and its
policies. The American taxpayers' contribution to the Ramallah
government's bank account is dwarfed by the large sums the U.S.
government donates to Israel every year. It's impossible to get excited
over the American pledge of $900 million (two-thirds of it for
strengthening Salam Fayyad's government and the rest for Gaza's
recovery) and forget the $30 billion the United States has promised
Israel in defense aid by the end of 2017, as last week's Amnesty
International report noted.
The $900 million pledged to the Palestinians in Sharm el-Sheikh
should be seen as part of the regular American aid to Israel. As an
occupying power, Israel is obligated to assure the well-being of the
population under its control. But Israel is harming it instead, after
which the United States (like other countries) rushes to compensate for
the damage.
The Clinton and Bush administrations - and Barack Obama appears to
be following in their footsteps - erased the phrase "Israeli
occupation" from their dictionaries and collaborated with Israel in
ignoring its commitments as enshrined in international law. The
billions of dollars that Israel receives from the United States for
weapons and defense development - which played a significant role in
the destruction in the Gaza Strip - are part of Israel's successful
propaganda, which presents the Rafah tunnels and Grad rockets as a
strategic threat and part of the Islamic terror offensive against
enlightened countries.
The West has blown the Hamas movement out of proportion, exaggerating
its military might to the point of mendacity; this allowed for an
extended siege and three weeks of Israeli military intractability. In
the Palestinian and larger Arab world, this embellishment helps Hamas
depict itself as the real patriotic force.
The hundreds of millions of euros that have been donated or pledged
to help Gaza, as though it were beset by natural disasters, are
overshadowing the trade ties between Europe and Israel. The Western
countries concerned about humanitarian aid for the Palestinians also
buy from Israel arms and defense knowledge developed under the
laboratory conditions of the occupation, that serial creator of
humanitarian crises.
And the 1 billion petrodollars? First of all, they were generated
from a natural resource that logic dictates should benefit the Arab
peoples. Second, they were pledged at a conference that boycotted Gaza
(neither Hamas nor business people or social activists from the Strip
participated in the donors conference). This is how Saudi Arabia lends
its hand to the American and Israeli veto of inter-Palestinian
reconciliation.
Every cent paid to the Palestinians - whether for the Ramallah
government's budget or medical treatment of children wounded by Israeli
pilots or soldiers - lets Israel know that it can continue its efforts
to force a capitulation deal on the Palestinian elite. Only by
recognizing that surrender is the goal can one understand that 16 years
after Oslo, no Palestinian state was established. When did Shimon
Peres, Ariel Sharon and Tzipi Livni begin talking about two states?
Only after their bulldozers and military bureaucrats crushed the
realistic physical basis of a Palestinian state. And this basis is:
June 4, 1967 land (including East Jerusalem), Gaza - an inseparable
part of the state - and zero settlements (and that applies to Gilo and
Ma'aleh Adumim).
During the 1990s it was still possible to describe donations to the
Palestinians as an expression of confidence and hope in Israel's
readiness to free itself of the occupation regime it had created. But
not in 2009. Support for Israeli policy - this is the only way to
understand the fact that other countries keep pouring in hundreds of
millions of dollars meant to put out the fires set by this policy,
without extinguishing the source of the blaze.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1068553. html
The monumental folly at
Sharm el-Sheikh
By
Rami G. Khouri
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
The
international pledges at Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday of some $4.5 billion
in aid
to the Palestinians to rebuild the Gaza Strip and promote the
development of
the West Bank seem like a monumental folly in view of the surrounding
political
context of this gesture. The financial generosity of the donors was
largely
offset by their political cowardice on two fronts: in challenging
Israel to
live according to the norms of law in its treatment of the Palestinians
under
its occupation; and in coming to grips with Palestinian political
realities,
especially the legitimacy and role of Hamas.
On
both
counts, the generous donors seem unwilling to admit that they are
perpetuating
a wasteful cycle of Palestinian and international construction in
Palestine
that is being set back by repeated Israeli destruction through war,
followed by
repeated rounds of reconstruction. This recurring cycle is striking for
its
sheer waste, but also for what it reveals about the willingness of the
international community to use reconstruction aid as a political tool -
a
failed tool that should be abandoned in favor of a more productive
approach.
It
was
bad enough when the Israeli government in recent years was able to
convince the
United States to largely adopt its positions in the Arab-Israeli
conflict; it
was another step backwards two years ago when the four Quartet members
(the US,
the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia) also sided with
Israel by
refusing to deal with Hamas until the latter recognized Israel and
stopped
military resistance. This trend has now gone one step further by lining
up a
wide range of donors who seem to be willing to use their aid to try to
bolster
the authority of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, while denying
Hamas any
international legitimacy and ignoring Israeli actions on the ground
that make
peacemaking seem so distant.
This
occurs while Israel makes it clear that it plans to continue expanding
its
settlements in the occupied West Bank, and while the expected coalition
that
will rule in Israel seems to represent a step backwards in peacemaking
-
through its unwillingness to formally accept the creation of a
Palestinian
state in the West Bank and Gaza as a realistic element of a permanent
agreement. Throwing large amounts of money into Palestinian
reconstruction
while reinforcing a political context that only perpetuates Israel's
regular
destruction of Palestinian institutions is wasteful folly at best, and
complicity in criminality at worst.
The
latest danger is that major external players like the United States and
the
Europeans will now try to equate the Israeli colonization of the West
Bank and
Jerusalem with the small and largely harmless mini-rockets that Hamas
and
others are firing mostly into the desert of southern Israel. These are
not
parallel or equal actions and should not be bundled into a package of
moral or
political equivalence. Both must stop if peace and normalcy are to
reign one
day for both people, but lasting peace requires the ability to grapple
with the
deeper causes of the conflict.
This
means, from the Palestinian perspective, addressing the siege and
strangulation
of Gaza, the colonization of the West Bank by Israeli settlers, and the
wider
issue of Palestinian refugee-hood from the 1947-1948 period. From the
Israeli
viewpoint, peace requires the Palestinians and Arabs to live with a
predominantly Jewish Israeli state that is seen as legitimate, and to
stop
armed resistance against it. This is the equation that touches on the
core,
existential needs and rights of both sides.
Camouflaging
the Israeli colonization of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem under
a cloak
of money while the underlying colonization remains unchanged has not
worked in
the past and will not work today. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
will
discover this for herself soon enough as she enters the difficult world
of
Arab-Israeli politics. Her statement at the Gaza reconstruction
conference
Monday that the US supports the creation of a Palestinian state
alongside
Israel will remain devoid of credibility or impact if Washington
continues to
acquiesce silently in the Israeli colonization of Palestinian land.
Resolving
a conflict must start with a clear and honest acknowledgment of the
basic
causes of the conflict. In this case conflict resolution requires
ensuring the
integrity of statehood for Palestinians and Israelis, and removing the
causes
of their mutual communal exile, disenfranchisement and sense of
vulnerability
in the recent past. Using billions of dollars in international aid to
maintain
much of the Israeli siege of Gaza while trying again to prop up the
Abbas
government and ignoring the role of Hamas will not move anyone closer
to
genuine peace or security.
Repeating
the mistakes and biases of the past is a foolish way of approaching
peacemaking. We have enough adults in the Middle East who act like
animals; the
last thing we need is adults in the international donor community who
act like
children.
Rami
G.
Khouriis published
twice-weekly by THE DAILY STAR.
ISRAELI ARMY IMPOSES ANOTHER CURFEW ON WEST BANK VILLAGE,
INVADES HOUSE OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE TEAM
For Immediate Release
Date: March 3, 2009
Time: mid-evening to late night
HARIS, SALFIT –
Several Israeli military jeeps entered Haris, a village in the Salfit
district of the West Bank, again tonight and declared an all-night
curfew, allegedly in response to stone-throwing on Highway 5, which is
used by Israelis. This was at least the second time in the past month
that curfew had been declared in this village; on February 24th the army also placed a roadblock in front of Haris's main
entrance, which it did not remove for five days. Tonight was also the
first time that soldiers entered the home of the international peace
team based here.
Villagers
returning to Haris tonight, including an International Women's Peace
Service team member, were questioned as they entered and asked to show
identification. A few metres on from the entrance of the village,
soldiers from two jeeps surrounded the IWPS team member with guns
pointed, demanding to know where she was going, and to open her bag.
By 9:30 p.m. two military vehicles had arrived on the street and at the house where this peace team is based. Outside the house, IWPS's landlord,
who holds a responsible position with the local government, was
questioned as to his international tenants. One soldier insulted him by
calling him a bad name, he reported.
The
soldiers then entered the home of the landlord and of one of his
brothers next door, bringing the brother out of the house and asking
him about the stone-throwing – and what he did for a living. The
landlord was also asked about the stone-throwing. He was at home alone
with his young son (aged seven), and worried about his wife returning
home during the curfew with their four-year-old daughter (from a visit
with their eldest son in prison).
Soldiers
insisted that the landlord and the IWPS team member come out of the
house; the soldiers again had their guns pointed, and the team member
was once again asked to show her passport. One young soldier told her
it was illegal for her to be living in Haris, as it was a "closed area," though later retracted this statement after consultation with his senior officer.
Soldiers
then demanded entry into the IWPS flat, on the second floor of the
house, and two soldiers searched from room to room with guns drawn.
Only one team member was at home at the time. The house was not
ransacked or searched for anything other than people, and the incursion
was brief.
The
visit marks the first time that soldiers have entered the apartment of
this volunteer organization. As well, Haris has not had a roadblock in
front of its main entrance for several years, nor is curfew routinely
declared. Since February, military planes and helicopters have also
been heard flying overhead at night. These incidents form part of an
increased army presence and control over Salfit (West Bank) villages in the last two months.
For further information, please contact the IWPS office at 09-251-6644, or iwps@palnet. com.
Aftermath (4) Hammad’s death barely made the
news
04 March 2009
In this new series of personal testimonies, PCHR looks at
the aftermath of Israel’s 22 day offensive on the Gaza Strip, and the ongoing
impact it is having on the civilian population.
html format:
http://www.pchrgaza ..org/files/ campaigns/ english/aftermat h/4.html
pdf format:
http://www.pchrgaza .org/files/ campaigns/ english/aftermat h/aftermath_ 4.pdf
The following article brings us the psychological scars in the aftermath of the horrors lived by the Gaza residents. But please notice what the BBC understands by a "balanced" and "impartial" report: blaming the "militants" on all accounts, parroting Israeli lies to justify their crimes against an innocent and besieged population.
Struggle to help Gaza's traumatised
Hala, 7, has stopped speaking since her brother's death, and covers her head when he is mentioned
By Heather Sharp
BBC News, Gaza
Omsyat, 12, has become nervous and aggressive, Hala, 7, has
completely stopped speaking and Sobhy, 11, burned the toys he was
brought with a candle, says their mother, Wafa Awersha.
Psychiatric nurse Rowiya Hamam nods as she sits on a thin mattress on floor of the tent in al-Atatra in northern Gaza.
In what is now their home, Mrs Awersha updates her on how the
five children are coping with their brother's death in the recent
conflict.
Sobhy stares at the floor fiddling with a toy as he is asked about his loss
Ibrahim, 9, was hit by Israeli bullets on 4 January and
died before his siblings' eyes, with their injured parents barely
conscious nearby, the family say.
His body lay for four days outside their house before the fighting waned enough for neighbours to take it away on a donkey cart.
Israel blames civilian casualties on militants' practice of
operating from populated areas and says Palestinian fighters fired at
its forces during the daily unilateral three-hour ceasefire it
instituted to allow emergency workers to reach the dead and injured.
Several hundred of the 1,300 Palestinian deaths were children
and some accounts of civilian deaths have raised concerns of war
crimes.
After Ibrahim's death, Sobhy began behaving like his sibling and asking to be called Ibrahim, Ms Hamam says.
"School's fine," he says, when asked. "I like maths." But he stares at the ground and tears soon well in his eyes.
Audio gallery: Children's drawings
Mrs Awersha says he used to be top in his class, but he struggles to concentrate now.
Hala covers her head with a blanket whenever Ibrahim is mentioned,
while Diya, 3, beheaded the soft toys he was given, Ms Hamam says.
'For my kids'
Ms Hamam is one of a team of mental health workers in Gaza that
say they have been "overwhelmed" by the scale of the needs since the
conflict.
She has visited the Awersha family several times, bringing toys
and games, trying to help the children express their feelings and
teaching them deep breathing exercises.
Mrs Awersha smiles and teases the children as she scrapes the
girls' matted hair into pony tails and helps them put on the school
smocks rescued from the rubble of their home. The tent buzzes with fat,
black flies.
Mrs Awersha exhales hard when asked how she is coping. And then the tears flow.
Wafa says she jokes with her children, but cries when she is alone
"Maybe you found me making people laugh, but honestly I'm doing this just for my kids," she says.
Whenever she goes back to her bulldozed home and stands in the spot where Ibrahim was killed, she weeps and weeps, she says.
Gaza's mental health professionals have been working flat out in
schools, kindergartens, clinics, homes and tents to try to help similar
cases.
Hassan Zeyada, who heads the Gaza Community Mental Health
Programme's centre in Gaza City, and his colleague, psychiatrist Sami
Owaida, say they are exhausted.
"Many of our colleagues lost relatives. We have to give support, but sometimes we feel that we need support," says Dr Oweida.
Dr Zeyada also points out the difficulty of treating "ongoing
and continuous trauma" in a place where a long-term political solution
remains elusive.
"Sometimes you feel you are wasting your efforts. Another
invasion, another war, another attack will happen - you feel they will
demolish or destroy all your efforts," he says.
Anxiety
Ongoing trauma too plagues the residents of Israel's southern
towns, who live under the constant threat of Palestinian rocket fire,
with about 8,000 rockets and mortars fired since 2001.
At least 18 people have been killed in that time. Children
under eight have known little else but a constantly heightened state of
anxiety.
Children hit hard as Gaza toll rises
Sderot longs for end to rockets
And even after the recent fighting, which Israel said was aimed at
reducing the rocket fire, a steady flow of rockets and mortars has
continued.
But while mental health workers on both sides say at least 20-30%
of the population suffers symptoms of trauma, the Israeli south is
clearly better equipped to tackle the problems than Gaza.
GCMHP say there are only five clinical psychiatrists in Gaza trained to international standards, and no clinical psychologists.
'Basics for life'
John Jenkins, the World Health Organization' s mental health
project manager for the West Bank and Gaza , says that, as well as
difficulties in getting people with the right skills into Gaza ,
shortages of drugs such as tranquilisers and antidepressants are a
constant problem.
He says it is too early to assess the scale of the mental
health needs from the recent conflict, as the impact of trauma takes
time to emerge.
Living in a tent makes it harder for children to regain a sense of normality
But human beings' ability to deal with stress is "quite remarkable",
he says, and the majority of people do not need specialist treatment.
"What people
Report on UK companies with links to settlements
An
excellent 68-page comprehensive report on UK companies that have direct
economic links with illegal Israeli settlements, prepared by researchers
at the School of Oriental and African Studies in
London.
See www.monabaker. com/documents/ UK_companies_ and_Israeli_ settlements_ SOAS_090210. pdf
++++++++++++ +++++++++ +
CALL FOR ENDORSEMENT OF BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS
The Palestine National Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)
Committee has launched a major endorsement gathering drive for BDS
leading up to the Global Day of Action on March 30 (which was called by
the World Social Forum last month). (See below for more information) .
BDS is a people's tool, focused on mobilizing world public opinion on a
tangible effort to end the era of Israeli apartheid, occupation and
human rights violations against the Palestinians. Like with South
Africa, it has the real potential to transform the situation here
sooner rather than later. Israel's apartheid and occupation will not
last and the sooner it ends, the more lives will be saved and the
sooner the building of a real non-secular democracy can begin (or two
democracies depending if there is one state or two).
Please support this important effort by:
1) Adding your organizations as an endorser:
www.bdsmovement. net/?q=node/ 52
2) Asking other organizations you work with to endorse.
3) Posting a link on your group’s home page (if you have a website) to
the BDS endorsement page for the month of March
4) Publicizing the BDS to your members and at your events.
5) Organizing and/or participating in a local BDS event for March 30
CALL FOR ENDORSEMENT OF BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS
Now is the time to endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
to end the disastrous era of Israeli apartheid, occupation, and human
rights violations against the Palestinian people.
During the month of March, 2009, the Palestine National BDS Committee
has launched a major endorsement gathering drive. This leads up to the
Global Day of BDS actions on March 30 that was announced at the World
Social Forum held last month in Brazil.
Please join us by endorsing BDS! Sign on at:
www.bdsmovement. net/?q=node/ 52. If you can sign on by March 28, your
name will be included in the endorsement declaration for March 30.
If you can, please add a link to this endorsement page on your
organization’s home page for the month of March. And please pass this
request along to other groups and help publicize BDS to your members,
constituents, and the general public.
We also invite you to take part in the March 30 Global BDS Day of
Action by organizing and participation in local and regional actions.
Please promote this day of action on your websites and to your mailing
lists. For more information, see:
http://www.bdsmovem ent.net/? q=node/314
After efforts and sacrifices of many years, we are at a historical
turning point. Poignantly aware of yet another war crime by Israel,
concerned citizens and activists around the world are mobilizing. Now
is the time to accelerate the international campaign for BDS. This
successful strategy has been used in many human rights efforts
including the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. With the
momentum of world opinion and action, it will also work to end the
systematic violation of human rights by Israel.
Formore information, please contact endorsements@ bdsmovement. net.
Consider sending a Rapid
Response
Dear
all
I trust some or most
of you are aware of the very telling analysis in this week's BMJ re hostile mass
lobbying of medical journals when they publish something that casts Israel in a
bad light. Rapid Responses- which can be posted up by anyone at bmj.com- are
flowing thick and fast. Usual accusations etc. Fiona Godlee and Tony Delamothe,
who wrote the editorial, could I'd say do with a few more Rapid Responses of
support. They have been brave!
One point not made
yet is that its not just BMJ, and World Medicine previously. The Lancet has had
pressure and threats periodically from the same sort of sources- this goes back
as far as their reporting of Pauline Cutting's experiences as a surgeon in
Beirut refugee camps in 1982 during Israeli invasion.
Please
consider sending a Rapid Response asap, even if brief and no more than
to support BMJ coverage of this issue and their resistance to hostile pressures
to suppress debate legit in a medical journal that has always taken seriously
its remit to address not just disease etc but its social and political
roots.
All papers can be
accessed easily via bricup.org.uk# bmj. Or go to bmj.com, find the article, click
on 'Abstract' or something, click on 'Sens a Response'.
To send Rapid
Response click on 'Send a Response' to left of each article.
Cheers
Derek
Adalah-NY: The
Coalition for Justice in the Middle East
Media Contact: info@adalahny. org
UK Government Boycotts Israeli
Tycoon Lev Leviev over Settlement Construction
Decision a Victory for Coordinated Campaign in Palestine,
US, UK and Israel
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY, March
4 – The government of the United Kingdom has
decided to boycott Israeli diamond and real estate mogul Lev Leviev over his
companies’ construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the
Occupied West Bank, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz Daily reported today. The decision by the UK government followed a coordinated advocacy
campaign by human rights advocates in New York, the UK, Palestine and Israel
demanding that the UK government end plans to rent the new UK Embassy in Tel
Aviv from Leviev’s company Africa-Israel.
The UK’s Tel
Aviv Ambassador notified Leviev of the decision by letter, following a British
parliamentary debate, and inquiries with Leviev’s company Africa-Israel over its
activities in the West Bank, Ha’aretz reported. According
to Ha’aretz, “The embassy in Tel Aviv confirmed the
details of the story.”
The Ha'aretz article did not note the construction
of the settlement of Zufim on the land of the village of Jayyous by Leviev's company Leader.The Israeli army has
recentlyintensified
efforts to crush Jayyous’ protest campaign against the construction of
Leviev’s settlements and Israel’s wall on village land. Sharif Omar, the head of
Jayyous’ Land Defence Committee, commented, “We feel heartened by the UK
government decision opposing Leviev’s settlement construction, and we expect our
brothers and sisters in the UAE to follow the UK government's
example by banning Leviev from selling his diamonds in Dubai. We need
more pressure in order to end Israeli repression, return our land, and
restore our rights.”
Adalah-NY has
held 13 protests at Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store since it opened. UNICEFand Oxfam have renounced Leviev over human
rights abuses, Hollywood stars have distanced themselves from him,
and the Dubai government is under pressureto boycott Leviev’s businesses.. Additionally,
Africa-Israel has also lost 90% of its value and has been engaged in
an embarrassing New York
real estate battle.
Leviev's
companies have built Jewish-only homes on occupied Palestinian land in the
Israeli settlements of Zufim, Mattityahu East, Har Homa and Maale
Adumim, impoverishing villages
like Bil’in and Jayyousand violating international law. Leviev
also funded the settlement organization the Land
Redemption Fund. In December, the Israeli financial
journal Globes published an expose of Leviev's serious
human rights abuses and failure to fully comply with the Kimberley Process in
Angola (article in
English). And in Namibia, Leviev
recently fired around 200 striking diamond polishers,
some of whom were already struggling to
survive on less than
$2 per day.
After Israeliand Britishpapers reported the UK’s plans to rent its new Tel Aviv
embassy from Leviev, eight groups in the US, UK and Palestine
launched a letter-writing
campaign to the UK’s Foreign
Office. Among those writing to demand a boycott of Leviev were ex-BBC Middle
East Correspondent Tim Llewelyn, US academics Norman Finkelstein and Noam
Chomsky, Vice President of the European Parliament Luisa Morgantini, and British lawyer Daniel Machover, writing in the
Independent. A November 22
letter in the Guardian by
eight Palestinian civil society leaders, including Palestinian Legislative
Council members Mustafa Barghouti and Hanan Ashrawi, called on the UK to
“publicly guarantee that it will not do business with settlement-builders
such as Lev Leviev.”
Omar
Barghouti, one of the initiators of the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions (BDS)said, "I wholeheartedly congratulate British
activists and Adalah-NY for this substantial achievement for the boycott
movement. This is a step in the right direction for the British government, a
government that has taken thousands of steps in the wrong direction, not least
of which is its open complicity in Israel's war crimes in Gaza and the rest of
the occupied territory. Time for a British arms ban on
Israel.”
PSC Upcoming Actions and
Events Update
- Protest at Israel Science
day
- Lobby of Parliament for
Gaza
- PSC Activists
Days
- 30 March Boycott
Actions
============ ========= ========
Protest at Israel
Science Day
LondonThursday 5 March
Meet at 9.30am, Science Museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington,
London
For more information: www.bricup.org. uk
Please circulate widely!!
=========== ========= ========
Join us at
the Emergency Lobby of Parliament for Gaza - Wednesday 11 March
We all watched
the carnage in Gaza with horror in January. Hundreds of
thousands of us marched in protest and in solidarity with the people trapped
under Israeli bombardment.
We need to take
that spirit of solidarity right into Parliament, on an emergency lobby in
support of Gaza
from 2-6pm on March 11th. MPs rely on your vote - we need as
many people as possible to come to the lobby and show MPs that this is an issue
that they cannot ignore.
Lobbying your MP
is easy and effective –It’s best to
contact them in advance, but if you can’t, please just turn up on the day and
we’ll give you all the information you need.
The Lobby
will be followed by a meeting in the House of Commons “Remember Gaza” at 7pm in the House
of Commons, Committee Room 9.
Speakers include:
Jamal el
Khoudary, independent MP from Gaza
Richard
Burden MP
Martin
Linton MP
Sarah Teather MP
For more details
visit http://www.palestin ecampaign. org/index9b. asp?m_id= 1&l1_id=3& l2_id=62& Content_ID= 452
============ ========= =======
PSC
Activists Day Workshops
PSC is having
a programme of activists days across the country, starting with Bristol and Sheffield on 14 March and London on 21 March. More
activists days will be set up over the next few weeks.
These
activists days will focus on discussion on the current situation and how we can
build a mass solidarity movement and work to change government policy. We will
be looking at how to build support including; working locally, acting globally;
getting the message out; liaising with local media; lobbying MPs and MEPs; and
involving all sections of the community.
Whether you are a new member, or have
been involved for some time – whether you are already part of a branch or want
to set a new one up – these days are for you!
-14 March
Bristol 12-4pm: BroadmeadBaptist Church, Union Street:
BS1 3HY
-
14 MarchSheffield 12-4pmSt.MatthewsCh urch, 45 Carver Street
(off Division
Street) S1 4FT
- 21 March London(Central London - venue
to be confirmed)
============ ========= ========
March 28-30th – Mass
Boycott Focus on Waitrose and Tesco
At the World Social Forum in Belem last year
the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions National Committee
called for a global day of action on Monday March 30th 2009 in support
of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
In the
UK we are urging PSC supporters to
take action against Waitrose and Tesco during the 28th-30th March as part of the
international call to action. Waitrose and Tesco are the most intransigent
British supermarkets on the issue of Israeli settlement goods and Israeli
produce. Both supermarkets have failed to engage with Palestine Solidarity
Campaign when we have raised the issue of settlement goods and labeling with
them.
Supermarkets are beginning to feel the effects of our boycott actions.
During January and February countless stalls, pickets and demonstrations were
held outside supermarkets. There have been several reports in the press that
Israeli goods are remaining in warehouses or on the shelves past their
sell by date. The groundswell of support for Gaza has brought the boycott to the attention
of thousands of supporters; we need to engage these supporters in our
actions.
For more info on the Waitrose and Tesco positions and
points to make to them on Israeli and Israeli settlement produce see http://www.corporat ewatch.org/ ?lid=3207
Or you can always just say 'I believe you
should not be selling Israeli goods or goods from the illegal Israeli
settlements - because Israel is occupying stolen land, is destroying
Palestinian lives and livelihoods and has committed many war crimes against the
Palestinians - most recently in Gaza'. Or words to that
effect…
Actions we
would like you to take:
- On Monday March 30th make
sure everyone you know calls Waitrose Customer Services on 0800
188 881 and Tesco Customer Services on 0800 505555 to complain
about their sale of Israeli products and illegal Israeli settlement
products.
- Organise a boycott action in your area outside
Waitrose or Tesco during the period from 28th-30th May
- Try to get local
press interested. Why not organise a stunt, street theatre for example, outside
your local store, to attract media attention.
- send a text message to 4 other people and ask them
to call Tesco and Waitrose too. We need as many people to phone in on the 30th
as possible.
- Write to
Waitrose and Tesco:
Waitrose:
Email: customer_service@ waitrose. .co.uk
Waitrose Customer Service Department
Waitrose
Limited
Doncastle Road
Bracknell
Berkshire
RG12 8YA
Fax 08456 049
050
Tesco:
Email:customer.service@ tesco.co. uk
Tesco PLC
New Tesco House
Delamare Road
Cheshunt
Hertfordshire
England EN8 9SL
============ ========= ========= =======For more events
up and down the country please visit our website, and click on events to see the
full list.
www.palestinecampai gn.org
============ ========= ========= =======
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign
(PSC)aims to raise public awareness
about the occupation of Palestine and the struggle of the Palestinian
people. PSC seek to bring pressure on both the British and Israeli government to
bring their policies in line with international law. PSC is an independent,
non-governmental and non-party political organisation with members from
communities across the UK. Join PSC
today!
PalestineSolidarity Campaign
Box BM PSA
London
WC1N
3XX
Tel: 020 7700
6192
Fax: 020 7609 7779
Email: info@palestinecampa ign.org
Web: www.palestinecampai gn.org
Last update - 12:00 04/03/2009
Revealed: German firm used hair from Auschwitz victims in textiles
By Haaretz Service
Tags: israel news, jewish world
The German auto parts manufacturer Schaeffler used the hair of Auschwitz inmates in order to make textiles during the Second World War, according to Polish researchers.
In an interview with the German Spiegel TV, Dr. Jacek Lachendro, the deputy head of the Auschwitz Museum research department, stated that almost two tons of the hair on display in Auschwitz was found at the Schaeffler factory in Kietrz at the end of the war.
He added that former factory workers had said that in 1943, two trainloads of hair were delivered to the Kietrz factory.
Polish authorities found it bore traces of Zyklon B, the gas used to murder over 1 million Jews in the Auschwitz gas chambers.
Related articles:
· New Berlin exhibition shows blueprints for Auschwitz death camp
· Poland seeks foreign donations to preserve Auschwitz facilities
· Auschwitz security officers arrest Nazi memorabilia dealer
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1068584. html
http://www.huffingt onpost.com/ 2009/03/03/ un-racism- conference- euro_n_171419. html
UN Racism Conference: European, Muslim Nations Clash Over Israel
ELIANE ENGELER| March 3, 2009
GENEVA — European Union countries Tuesday stepped up
their opposition to Muslim attempts to shield Islam from criticism and
attack Israel through a U.N. conference on racism.
EU members were unusually outspoken in
appearances before the U.N. Human Rights Council, saying they were
worried about preparations for a global racism conference to be held
next month because attention was being diverted from the real problems
of racial discrimination.
"I am deeply disturbed by the turn this event is taking," Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Verhagen said.
"The thematic world conference is used by some to
try to force their concept of defamation of religions and their focus
on one regional conflict on all of us," Verhagen told the 47-member
council.
References to Israel and protection of religion
in the current draft conclusion being negotiated for the so-called
Durban II conference are unacceptable, Verhagen said.
"We cannot accept any text, which would put
religion above individuals, not condemn discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation, condone anti-Semitism or single out Israel," he
said. Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Italy voiced similar concerns..
Islamic countries, still angry over cartoons and
films attacking Muslims, have been campaigning for wording that would
equate criticism of a religious faith with a violation of human rights.
The informal negotiations have proven difficult with many issues that
marred the first U.N. conference on racism in 2001 re-emerging _ such
as criticism of Israel.
The April 20-25 meeting is designed to review
progress in fighting racism since the global body's first such
conference eight years ago in Durban, South Africa.
That 2001 meeting was dominated by clashes over the Middle East and the
legacy of slavery, and particularly marred by attacks on Israel and
anti-Israel demonstrations at a parallel conference of non-governmental
organizations.
The U.S. and Israel walked out midway through the
2001 conference over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for
criticism and likened Zionism _ the movement to establish and maintain
a Jewish state_ to racism. The European Union also refused to accept demands by Arab states to criticize Israel for its "racist practices."
In the end, the 2001 conference dropped criticism
of Israel. It urged governments to take concrete steps to fight
discrimination and recognized the plight of the Palestinian people and
the need for Israel to have security.
Israel and Canada had already announced they
would will boycott Durban II. The Obama administration said Friday the
U.S. will stay away from this year's conference unless its final
document is changed to drop all references to Israel and the defamation
of religion.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottakisaid Monday that countries should not put conditions for the
participation in the meeting. Durban II should deal with contemporary
forms of racism, such as religious profiling and Islamophobia, he said.
CONTROVERSY:
This is a very interesting item, more for what is implied than for what is said. So the author says: Yet the religion of those who carry out this campaign is not to be
mentioned, lest it "associate" the faith with human rights violations
or terrorism.
Well? Why should the Islamic faith be mentioned always a Muslim commits a crime, but silenced when it is a Christian or a Jew or a Buddhist? The draft isn't so wrong after all: the faith of the criminal or terrorist or offender should not be relevant, even if he or she claims to do it on its behalf.
And now look at this: In Paragraph 6, an obvious attempt is being made to confuse
ethnicity with confessional allegiance. Indeed this insinuation (incidentally
dismissing the faith-based criminality of 9/11 as merely "tragic") is
in fact essential to the entire scheme. If religion and race can be run
together, then the condemnations that racism axiomatically attracts can be
surreptitiously extended to religion, too.
You know, for a moment I thought the author was referring to Israel, as enshrined as a Jewish state, a definition which raises a lot of criticism for its apartheid implications. But no, God forbid, the author is referring to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Don't expect for him to add Israel to the lot, he may be afraid and rightly so to be branded as anti-Semitic! !!
But let us concede that the author has a point in stating: the absurd and
many-times discredited assertion that religion can be the basis of a
nationality. Great! As extended to the Jewish nationality, the pillar of Zionism and its state, Mr Hitchens might contribute to the root of a big problem we have in the Middle East, lest he loose his job!
And last but not least: The
useless and meaningless term Islamophobia, now widely used as a bludgeon
of moral blackmail, is testimony to its success.Meaningless ? Useless? I wouldn't dare say so as far as anti-Semitism is concerned. And yet both "terms" share a lot. For sure the hatred of neo-Nazis... And in reverse, if Islamophobia is a bludgeon
of moral blackmail, what about anti-Semitism when used to silence anti-Zionist criticism of Israeli racist policies ...?
Oh, oh, look out, this is mined territory: don't say a word!
http://www.slate. com/id/2212662/
Don't
Say a Word
A U.N. resolution
seeks to criminalize opinions that differ with the Islamic faith.
By Christopher HitchensPosted
Monday, March 2, 2009, at 2:07 PM ET
The
Muslim religion makes unusually large claims for itself. All religions do this,
of course, in that they claim to know and to be able to interpret the wishes of
a supreme being. But Islam affirms itself as the last and final revelation of
God's word, the consummation of all the mere glimpses of the truth vouchsafed
to all the foregoing faiths, available by way of the unimprovable, immaculate
text of "the recitation," or Quran.
If there
sometimes seems to be something implicitly absolutist or even totalitarian in
such a claim, it may result not from a fundamentalist reading of the holy book
but from the religion itself. And it is the so-called mainstream Muslims,
grouped in the Organization of the Islamic Conference, who are now demanding through the agency of the United Nations that Islam not only be allowed to make
absolutist claims but that it also be officially shielded from any criticism of
itself.
Though
it is written tongue-in-cheek in the language of human rights and of opposition
to discrimination, the nonbinding U.N. Resolution 62/154,
on "Combating defamation of religions," actually seeks to extend
protection not to humans but to opinions and to ideas, granting only the latter
immunity from being "offended." The preamble is jam-packed with
hypocrisies that are hardly even laughable, as in this delicious paragraph,
stating that the U.N. General Assembly:
Underlining
the importance of increasing contacts at all levels in order to deepen dialogue
and reinforce understanding among different cultures, religions, beliefs and
civilizations, and welcoming in this regard the Declaration and Programme of
Action adopted by the Ministerial Meeting on Human Rights and Cultural
Diversity of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, held in Tehran on 3 and 4
September 2007.
Yes, I
think we can see where we are going with that. (And I truly wish I had been
able to attend that gathering and report more directly on its rich and varied
and culturally diverse flavors, but I couldn't get a visa.) The stipulations
that follow this turgid preamble are even more tendentious and become more so
as the resolution unfolds. For example, Paragraph 5 "expresses its deep
concern that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights
violations and terrorism," while Paragraph 6 "[n]otes with deep
concern the intensification of the campaign of defamation of religions and the
ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities in the aftermath of the
tragic events of 11 September 2001."
You see
how the trick is pulled? In the same weeks that this resolution comes up for
its annual renewal at the United Nations, its chief sponsor-government
(Pakistan) makes an agreement with the local Taliban to close girls' schools in
the Swat Valley region (a mere 100 miles or so from the capital in Islamabad)
and subject the inhabitants to Sharia law. This capitulation comes in direct
response to a campaign of horrific violence and intimidation, including public
beheadings. Yet the religion of those who carry out this campaign is not to be
mentioned, lest it "associate" the faith with human rights violations
or terrorism. In Paragraph 6, an obvious attempt is being made to confuse
ethnicity with confessional allegiance. Indeed this insinuation (incidentally
dismissing the faith-based criminality of 9/11 as merely "tragic") is
in fact essential to the entire scheme. If religion and race can be run
together, then the condemnations that racism axiomatically attracts can be
surreptitiously extended to religion, too. This is clumsy, but it works: The
useless and meaningless term Islamophobia, now widely used as a bludgeon
of moral blackmail, is testimony to its success.
Just to
be clear, a phobia is an irrational and unconquerable fear or dislike. However,
some of us can explain with relative calm and lucidity why we think
"faith" is the most overrated of the virtues. (Don't be calling us
"phobic" unless you want us to start whining that we have been
"offended.") And this whole picture would be very much less muddied
and confused if the state of Pakistan, say, did not make the absurd and
many-times discredited assertion that religion can be the basis of a
nationality. It is such crude amalgamations—is a Saudi or Pakistani being
"profiled" because of his religion or his ethnicity?—that are
responsible for any overlap between religion and race. It might also help if the
Muslim hadith did not prescribe the death penalty for anyone trying to abandon Islam—one could then be surer who was a
sincere believer and who was not, or (as with the veil or the chador in the
case of female adherents) who was a volunteer and who was being coerced by her
family.
Rather
than attempt to put its own house in order or to confront such other grave
questions as the mass murder of Shiite Muslims by Sunni Muslims (and vice
versa), or the desecration of Muslim holy sites by Muslim gangsters, or the discrimination against Ahmadi
Muslims by other Muslims, the U.N. resolution seeks to extend the
whole area of denial from its existing homeland in the Islamic world into the
heartland of post-Enlightenment democracy where it is still individuals who
have rights, not religions. See where the language of Paragraph 10 of the
resolution is taking us. Having briefly offered lip service to the rights of
free expression, it goes on to say that "the exercise of these rights
carries with it special duties and responsibilities and may therefore be
subject to limitations as are provided for by law and are necessary for respect
of the rights or reputations of others, protection of national security or of
public order, public health or morals and respect for religions and
beliefs." The thought buried in this awful, wooden prose is as ugly as the
language in which it is expressed: Watch what you say, because our declared
intention is to criminalize opinions that differ with the one true faith. Let nobody
say that they have not been warned.
--
Thanks for your support and commitment,
!VENCEREMOS!
Enrique
Email: Enrique Ferro: ferro.enrique@ gmail.com
BSP and future of India
Posted by: "Karthik Navayan" navayan@gmail.com
Thu Mar 5, 2009 9:39 am (PST)
BSP and future of India
The elections of 2009 will go in the history of Indian politics as the
unprecedented one. This is the outcome of the politics that or
socio-political dynamics triggered in the past by the great leaders like
Phule and his worthy successor, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. The concern for more
equal society led these men (and many more men and women) into public life.
They devoted their lives to the creation of equal society, and they were
very clear about their goals and how they can be achieved through humane and
non violent way. Using surgical tools, they performed autopsy of the
diseased Indian society to free it from the great disease- the caste system.
The social movement in India has no parallel. The plights of the people
discriminated by the caste system has no parallel. In each social group,
humanity is divided on various grounds. The caste system divided humanity on
the ground not intelligible to rational mind. It is difficult to discern the
ground on which the humanity is divided into 6000 conflicting castes. The
principles of division; purity and accident of birth, the former more
abstract and later more concrete, in practice led to straightforward
classification of Indians into three major classes. These are Brahmins,
non-Brahmins and Bahishkrit, besides the religious minorities, more or less
divided into the same the classes.
The cornerstone of Babasaheb Ambedkar€ ’²s life was to gain humanity for the
Bahishkrit (the Obstracised Indians/boycotted Indians). His politics was
shaping in the context of changing political situation in India. He
formulated his strategies based on the real time need of the time and its
future implications. The strategies that he formulated worked and triggered
movements and organisations, which are acting as an instrument to realise
his vision. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is one of instruments or, as it were,
an organ evolved out of churning that took place within the Bahishkrit
Indians, since the advent of Babasaheb Ambedkar. BSP is not only evolved,
but kicking as more advanced political species in the game of struggle for
survival. This is not at all Darwinian struggle for the survival of the
fittest. This is the struggle for the survival of the values to ensure the
survival of all. The value that will ensure the survival of all is the value
of fraternity; is the value of equality and value of liberty. Edmund Burke
remarked liberty, without wisdom and virtue, is dangerous, when he
criticised French revolution, and by all means all revolutions, that are
sudden and bloody. Babasaheb Ambedkar realised this very early on, and never
guided his people on the track of violence (sadly, some of his followers are
praising the violent ways in his name). This does not mean that Dr.
Babasaheb Ambedkar was political pacifist, far from that, he politically and
legally very aggressive, and participated in the political and social
reforms, to change the dynamics of the society.
The Government of India Act 1935 was the outcome of debates following Round
Table Conference during 1930-1933, in which Babasaheb Ambedkar participated
and contributed in evolving the principles of transfer and distribution of
powers amongst the Indians. Though political groups like Indian National
Congress wanted power to be transferred to them, they opposed any
distribution of it to Bahishkrits. The post 1917 struggle in India is
nothing but the discussion on distribution of power, as it was made clear
that power will be eventually transferred to Indians. Power is transferred
to Indians in 1947, and then began the process of creation of a nation
state. Our Republic is the creation of the constitution that came into force
in 1950. Lot of content of the Government of India Act was mainstreamed into
the present constitution. The distribution of power to all Indians, and to
the Depressed Classes (Scheduled castes of today) is therefore not only
important in the historic light, but also in the light of our Nation. Our
nation is not just founded on the principle of sovereignty over land, but on
liberty, equality and fraternity and much needed social harmony. Social
harmony is unattainable in the unjust and unequal society.
In the present circumstances, the power is not distributed equally in India
and tilts heavily in favour of certain classes. BSP is the great leveller of
the power following on the principles and strategies that Babasaheb Ambedkar
developed. Even if we take the state wise survey of the distribution of
power post-constitutional era, it is largely concentrated in the hands of
dominant castes. Marathas in Maharashtra, Kammas and Reddys in Andhra,
Vokkalingas in Karnataka, Chettiyars in Tamil Nadu, to cite a few cases of
unequal distribution of power. South India is totally hijacked by a few
castes, and the dominant castes not only perpetuate the atrocities, but
divide the other fragile castes to further their political goals, to cite an
example, Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra.
BSP is not only upsetting the dominant castes, but the dominant political
rhetoric of the political parties. Congress party has no issue, their only
issue is to retain the power, and eventually control the administration.
There is no commitment to constitutional goal and furtherance of it. BJP has
issue of Hindutva (to state it clearly, Brahminatva) , and its commitment to
Brahminatva is clear. Only BSP has the clearly led program of annihilation
of the caste system and hence program for the realisation of our
constitutional goal and hence of realisation of the nation state as the
ground for liberty, equality, fraternity and harmony. The success of BSP
lies in building on the political consciousness that Babasaheb Ambedkar
cultivated throughout his struggle. In Indian political scenario, only BSP
has and will have the strong national core group of the voters. Congress
party is benefitting from its structures and experiences in manipulating
caste groups and its history of 128 years. BJP benefitted by its educated
executives. The BSP benefits from the strong core of voters (and possibility
of further consolidation in all the states over time) belonging to
Bahishkrit Samaj fighting for creation of values for all. No political party
commands such a strong core of voters in India. This is going to make BSP a
central player in the coming years. The consolidated power of the followers
of Babasaheb Ambedkar will attract other castes cheated and exploited over
years by other dominant castes and parties they represent.
The success of BSP depends on two factors: strong core of committed voters
and all inclusive alliances. Strong core of committed voters will lead to
people ready for alliances from all over. Non transferable vote bank and
consolidation of it is the key to success of the political process in India
and levelling of power. In great sweep, power was snatched away from
Scheduled Castes in 1932, but reworking on important issues and several
areas, Babasaheb Ambedkar ensured that India will be ushered into a great
nation. The election of 2009 is a call for change and democracy and
potentially an important stepping stone in creating just and harmonious
India. To compare Indian politics with the American politics is stretching
the imaginations too far, as the nature of the politics is widely different.
BSP€ ’²s rise to power will have unprecedented impact on the world polity.
--
Battula Karthik Navayan, Advocate, C/o Siddhartha Hospital,Parigi Road,
Shadnagar,
Mahaboobnagar District, 509216-AP Cell:09346677007,
email:navayan@gmail. com<email%3Anavayan@ gmail.com>
http://karthiknavay an.blogspot. com/
http://www.orkut. co.in/Main# Profile.aspx? uid=103798050959 32756525
Latest news on Bt brinjal and GM crops in India
Posted by: "Indian Society For Sustainable Agricultur" indiansocietyforsustainableagri@yahoo.co.in
Thu Mar 5, 2009 9:41 am (PST)
News Bulletin from Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development
************ ********* ********* *********
€ ¢Â
1. SC to hear plea on GM crops€ ¢â’ ’¹ moratorium
2. Mahyco€ ¢â’ ’¹s Bt brinjal encounters health safety roadblocks
3. Study shows Mahyco€ ¢â’ ’¹s Bt brinjal is unsafe
4. Bt brinjal can resist attack of FSB larvae, safe for consumption: ISAAA study
€ ¢Â
5. 6,000-year-old species of rice discovered in Meghalaya
------------ --------- --------- --------- --
€ ¢Â
SC to hear plea on GM crops€ ¢â’ ’¹ moratorium
€ ¢Â
http://www.financia lexpress. com/news/ sc-to-hear- plea-on-gm- crops-moratorium /428093/0
€ ¢Â
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted: 2009-02-26 20:22:35+05: 30 IST
Updated: Feb 26, 2009 at 2022 hrs IST
€ ¢Â
New Delhi, Feb 25: The Supreme Court is slated to hear next month a petition seeking moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops as the petitioners have now come up with fresh evidence from some leading scientists with a view to strengthen their argument on the issue.
€ ¢Â
In a supplementary rejoinder affidavit filed before the apex court last week, the petitioners namely Aruna Rodrigues, PV Satheesh and Rajiv Baruah submitted six letters from eminent scientists like Dave Schubert, Dr Michael Antoniou, Stuart Newman, Andrew Kimbrell, Bill Freese, Jack Heinemann and Lawrence Busch endorsing Pushpa M Bhargava's regulatory guidelines as essential criteria for safety testing and risk assessment of GMOs.
€ ¢Â
Bhargava is the founder-director of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and former vice-chairman of the National Knowledge Commission. He is a special invitee to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) by an order of the Supreme Court in the ongoing writ petition 260 of 2005.
€ ¢Â
Bhargava has been critical about GEAC's haste in releasing GM crops without adequate bio-safety protocol. He has alleged a nexus between seed companies, bureaucrats and politicians.
€ ¢Â
The scientists in their letters have expressed anguish and surprise at the "unprofessional and unscientific attitude" of GEAC. Jack Heinemann of the University of Canterbury criticised GEAC's "distasteful personal attack of a truly significant figure of Indian science, Pushpa M Bhargava" which according to him is neither relevant to his expertise nor to the dispute.
€ ¢Â
The petitioners also filed reviews made by Gilles-Eric Seralini, University of Caen, France and president of the Scientific Council of the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering, (CRIIGEN) and Judy Carman, director, Institute of Health and Environmental Research Inc. (IHER), Australia exposing the hollowness of the claims of Mahyco's bio-safety data on Bt brinjal.
€ ¢Â
In their rejoinder, the petitioners pointed out the genetic contamination of maize by GM crops in Mexico, the centre of origin.
€ ¢Â
They have also submitted five more independent and "peer reviewed" studies that raise serious concerns about the bio-safety hazards of GM crops. These include a new report by the Italian government's National Institute of Research on Food and Nutrition published in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry and has found significant changes in the immune response of young and old mice that have been fed the GM maize MON 810.
€ ¢Â
A long-term study on female mice fed on genetically modified soybean: effects on liver ageing' published by Histochem Cell Biology, 2008 and a three generation study on rats fed with Bt corn - Biochemical and Histopathological Investigation - by Aysun Kilic published by Elsevier in late 2007 have also been submitted before the apex court.
€ ¢Â
The petitioners also submitted a peer reviewed study on Bt cotton was carried out at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute which suggest that Bt cotton may constrain the availability of N, but enhances P-availability in these soils. The study is entitled € ¢â’ ’³ Mineral Deficiency Stress: Transgenic Bt-Cotton Affects Enzyme Activity and Nutrient Availability in a Sub-Tropical Inceptisol. The study - Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic and Placental Cells € ¢â’ ’³ made by Nora Benachour and Seralini in 2009 has also been submitted before the apex court.
------------ --------- --------- --------- ----
€ ¢Â
Mahyco€ ¢â’ ’¹s Bt brinjal encounters health safety roadblocks
€ ¢Â
http://www.financia lexpress. com/news/ mahycos-bt- brinjal-encounte rs-health- safety-roadblock s/412210/ 0
€ ¢Â
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted: 2009-01-19 23:10:24+05: 30 IST
Updated: Jan 19, 2009 at 2310 hrs IST
€ ¢Â
New Delhi, Jan 18: The commercial release of Mahyco's Bt brinjal has run into rough weather, with the Union health ministry and consumers' organisations questioning about the health safety aspect. In the 91st meeting of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee GEAC), the representative from the health ministry raised the issue of health safety on the basis of some international studies.
€ ¢Â
The Union health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss has also recently taken cognisance of the developments, after pressures from NGOs and farmers' organisations. The Supreme Court's nominee and noted biotechnologist Pushpa M Bhargava has been equally critical of GEAC's hurry to release GM food crops without adequate bio-safety studies. Mahyco, however, continues to claim absolute safety of its product.
€ ¢Â
The NGOs campaign against the release of Bt binjal has been fuelled by global studies questioning the health and bio-safety generated by developer Mahyco, which has borrowed the technology from the US seed multinational Monsanto. The first such study to come in recent times was that by a team headed by Gilles-Eric S€ ¢Ã©ralini of the France-based Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN). This study is followed by that of the Australia-based Institute of Health and Environmental Research Inc (IHER).
€ ¢Â
Judy Carman and her team at IHER found that the type of studies undertaken by Mahyco were insufficient to prove the health safety of Bt brinjal. The study alleged that there have been no reproductive studies and the studies that have been done, often used animals and measurements that were inappropriate or insufficient measures of human health.
€ ¢Â
The methodology and results were often insufficiently reported to be able to determine what the studies were actually measuring or how various variables were measured.
Included in this, the study said that the statistical results have not been reported to a suitable standard. For example, means, standard deviations, and p-values, which would be required for any peer-reviewed scientific journal, were not done. The sample sizes were insufficient to be able to find statistical difference for many measurements even if real clinical differences were occurring between groups. Indeed, much of the research presented by Mahyco could be regarded as being burdened with Type II error. This type of statistical error occurs when sample sizes are so low that the study cannot realistically be expected to find a difference between groups of animals even if clinical differences were occurring, the study said.
€ ¢Â
The study concluded that in such a situation, Bt brinjal was unsafe for human consumption and would expose 1.15 billion Indians to health hazards, particularly children, expectant mothers and elderly persons. Cancer, autoimmune problems, heart diseases, diabetes, or infectious diseases may be the outcome.
€ ¢Â
The pro-GMO lobby has, however, raised the issue that food and environmental security can be achieved, by citing the Environmental Resource Indicators report recently released at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting by Field to Market, the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --
€ ¢Â
Study shows Mahyco€ ¢â’ ’¹s Bt brinjal is unsafe
€ ¢Â
http://www.financia lexpress. com/news/ study-shows- mahycos-bt- brinjal-is- unsafe/408810/ 0
€ ¢Â
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted: 2009-01-10 22:07:12+05: 30 IST
Updated: Jan 10, 2009 at 2207 hrs IST
€ ¢Â
New Delhi, Jan 9: An independent analysis of Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company€ ¢â’ ’¹s (Mahyco) Bt brinjal bio-safety data revealed that it was unsafe for human consumption.
The finding was based on the dossiers submitted by the seed company in its application to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) requesting for commercial release of Bt brinjal.
€ ¢Â
The study was submitted by a team headed by Gilles-Eric S€ ¢Ã©ralini of France-based Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) which concluded that Bt brinjal might be a serious risk to human and animal health.
€ ¢Â
The study noted, € ¢â’ ’¼The parameters affected in animals fed with Bt brinjal are in blood cells or chemistry, but in different manners according to the period of measurement during the study or sex. In goats, the prothrombin time is modified and biochemical parameters such as total bilirubin and alkaline phosphates are also changed, as well as feed consumption and weight gain. For rabbits, less consumption was noted and also prothrombin time modification, higher bilirubin in some instances, albumin, lactose dehydrogenase and the hepatic markers alanine and aspartate aminotransferases. Sodium levels were also modified, as well as glucose, platelet count, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and haematocrit value. In cows, milk production and composition changed by 10%-14% .€ ¢â’ ’½
€ ¢Â
€ ¢â’ ’¼Rats which were GM-fed had diarrhoea, had higher water consumption, suffered from decrease in liver weight as well as decrease in the relative liver to body weight ratio. Feed intake was modified in broiler chickens with glucose in some instances. Average feed conversion and efficiency ratios are changed in GM-fed fish. All that makes a very coherent picture of Bt brinjal to be potentially unsafe for human consumption. It will be also potentially unsafe to eat animals who have these problems. These differences are most often not reported in the summaries of different experiments, but are present in the raw data, € ¢â’ ’½the study added.
€ ¢Â
According to the study, these differences were, when discussed, disregarded often on the grounds that they were within the range of a wide € ¢â’ ’¼reference€ ¢â’ ’½ group. The reference group represents a wide range of brinjal types and is not a strict comparison. Other reasons for disregarding the differences were that they did not show linear dose response or time response, or that they were only present in either males or females, but not both. Such declarations that the differences seen were not of biological relevance and unsubstantiated by the data presented from the feeding trials.
€ ¢Â
Clear and significant differences were seen to increase food safety concerns and warrant further investigation. Bt brinjal cannot be considered as safe as its non-GM counterpart, the study concluded.
------------ --------- --------- --
€ ¢Â
€ ¢Â Bt brinjal can resist attack of FSB larvae, safe for consumption: ISAAA study
€ ¢Â
http://www.financia lexpress. com/news/ bt-brinjal- can-resist- attack-of- fsb-larvae- safe-for- consumption- study/429491/ 0
€ ¢Â
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted: 2009-03-02 23:01:04+05: 30 IST
Updated: Mar 02, 2009 at 2301 hrs IST
€ ¢Â
New Delhi, March 1: A study conducted by the global pro-GMO lobby, ISAAA, has claimed that Bt brinjal can resist the attacks of the common enemy fruit shoot borer (FSB) larvae and also be safe for human consumption.
€ ¢Â
The study, co-authored by Bhagirath Choudhary and Kadambini Gaur, said that Bt brinjal hybrids containing cry 1 Ac gene express Bt protein in all parts of the plant throughout its life cycle. To get activated and exhibit insecticidal property, Bt protein must be ingested by FSB.
€ ¢Â
When FSB larvae feed on Bt brinjal plants, they ingest Bt protein along with plant tissue. In insect gut, it is solubilised and activated by gut proteases generating a toxic fragment. The activated insecticidal protein then binds to two different receptors in a sequential manner.
€ ¢Â
Quoting extracts from a paper in the American Academy of Microbiology, the study said that the first contact of the insecticidal protein is with the cadherin receptor, triggering the formation of oligomer structure. The oligomer then has increased affinity to a second receptor, amino-peptidase- N (APN).
€ ¢Â
The APN facilitates insertion of the oligomer into membrane causing ion pores. These events disrupt digestive processes such as loss of trans-membrane potential, cell lysis, leakage of the mid-gut contents and paralysis that in turn cause the death of FSB.
€ ¢Â
The 102-page study entitled - The Development and Regulation of Bt brinjal in India - however, said that Bt brinjal does not harm or pose any threat to higher order organisms and non-target organisms, as they lack specific receptors and conditions for activation of Bt protein in their gut and hence is safe for human consumption.
€ ¢Â
Apart from Cry 1 Ac gene, Bt brinjal contains a selectable marker, nptll gene, which encodes enzyme neomycin phosphotransferase, Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 355 promoter and aad gene, which encodes for bacterial selectable marker enzyme3n(9)- 0- aminoglycoside adenyl transferase.
€ ¢Â
Addressing the concern of a possible genetic contamination of non-Bt brinjal, the study said that the maximum distance travelled by pollen could be between 15 to 20 metres and outcrossing could vary from 1.46% to 2.7%.
€ ¢Â
The study attempted to resolve the issue of the centre of origin of the crop by saying that reports suggested Central and South America as the centre of origin of the species of genus Solanum to which potato and brinjal belong.
€ ¢Â
It further said that brinjal probably originated from African wild species S incanum, S melongena and was first domesticated in South-East China and taken to the Mediterranean region during Arab conquest in the 7th century. There are studies, which also report that brinjal originated in the Indo-Burma region.
€ ¢Â
The ISAAA study however noted that as brinjal appears in ancient Indian literature, India may be a secondary centre of diversity, while Africa may be the primary centre. Noted scientist Vavilov, however, regarded India as the original home of brinjal.
€ ¢Â
The ISAAA study lauded the regulatory system in India and hoped that India would be able to give to the world the first Bt brinjal.
------------ --------- --------- -
€ ¢Â
6,000-year-old species of rice discovered in Meghalaya
€ ¢Â
http://www.financia lexpress. com/news/ 6-000yearold- species-of- rice-discovered- in-meghalaya/ 409467/0
€ ¢Â
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted: 2009-01-12 23:11:04+05: 30 IST
Updated: Jan 12, 2009 at 2311 hrs IST
€ ¢Â
Shillong, Jan 11: Meghalaya Mission for Indigenous Knowledge has found a 6000-year-old traditional species of rice in the Garo hills of the state.€ ¢Â
€ ¢Â
This biological diversity is now an important genetic store for rice worldwide. Mira Nair's film - Still, the Children are Here - told exclusively through the voices of the Garos, follows two extended families in the village Sandolpara, as they grapple with survival and change in this native community. Elders say they are poorer today. "Even though we reap the same grain as the grandmothers, we are poorer," they say.€ ¢Â
€ ¢Â
In Sandolpara, 6,000-year-old species of rice are still grown. Women are the caretakers of these varieties of rice. They select the right varieties for cultivation and handle processing and storage of rice. Men help in cultivation and manage the fields. "These hardy strains of rice must be protected and should not be contaminated by any hybrids or genetically modified (GM) crops," the document paper of the Meghalaya Mission for Indigenous Knowledge noted.€ ¢Â
€ ¢Â
The draft document also pleaded that the government should provide subsidies to farmers for growing these traditional varieties, so that the traditional rice varieties are available to consumers at cheaper rates and can compete with already-subsidised rice from other parts of the country.€ ¢Â
€ ¢Â
The vice chancellor of the Shillong-based North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Pramod Tandon said, "Our major objective is to conserve and conduct research in traditional knowledge and to improve the socio-economic conditions of the people." He said that the important gene centre located in the campus had not been given due consideration by the Union government, which funds this university. The gene bank contains rich depositories of traditional rice and citrus among other rare plants.€ ¢Â
€ ¢Â
He mentioned water lily as a rare species now found only in Meghalaya. Earlier, some species of water lily were found in Siberia, Russia, though the climatic conditions in Meghalaya and Siberia vary to a large extent. "We have taken up the difficult job of micro-propagation of the water lily in a farmer's pond in Smit village," he said. The seeds of the water lily are eaten by the local people.€ ¢Â
€ ¢Â
Among other rare plants are Dancing Girl, Holly Tree and Mishmi Getta. Dancing Girl varieties are under the women's empowerment scheme of the department of biotechnology (DBT). "Unplanned urbanisation, mining and quarrying have destroyed the biodiversity and ecology of the region, alleged Tandon. He disclosed that the Mishmi Getta was illegally exported to China for its medicinal value and how the Italians once indulged in biopiracy of the Texas Bacata, the extracts of which are used to cure breast cancer. The Khasiana variety of the Picher plant is grown in nitrogen deficient land in the state. Out of 13,000 orchid varieties, 560 alone are found in north-eastern India.€ ¢Â
€ ¢Â
The Guwahati-based North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd has documented the methods of propagation and the use of several aromatic and medicinal plants like Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin Benth), Citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt), Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus Steud Wats), Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides Linn), Sugandhmantri (Homalo,ena aromatica Schott), Agar (Aquilaria agallocha Roxb), Sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentine Benth ex Kur), Pipali (Piper longum Linn), Amlakhi (Emblica officinalis Gaertn), Hilikha (Terminalia chebula Retz), Bhomora (terminalia belerica), Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna Wight and Arn). Among other crops of economic importance are Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni-Nemsi, Vanilla planifolia Andrews and Brahmi or Bacopa monnieri (L) Wetts.
EIGHTH REPORT: A SEARCH TO GORKHA - POINT: AIGL AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Posted by: "Dipak De" ranjan2dev@bsnl.in
Thu Mar 5, 2009 9:43 am (PST)
TO
PWAP,
INDIA.
EIGHTH REPORT: DATE 28/02/2009
A SEARCH TO FIND 'GORKHA' - POINT: ALL INDIA GORKHA LEAGUE AND HUMAN RIGHTS.
A SECTION OF NEPALESE IN DARJEELING AGITATING TO CREATE A STATE, NAMED "GORKHALAND" BY BIFURCATING THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL IN INDIA.
According to information -
In 1923 the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (All India Gorkha League) was formed at Dehradun in United Province i.e. Uttarpradesh state, now in Uttaranchal state. It spread to Darjeeling. On 15 May 1943, All India Gorkha League (AIGL) came into existence in Darjeeling of West Bengal.
[...Damber Singh Gurung, B.L (LLB) M.L.A (Bengal) raised the voice on behalf of Gorkhas living in India. Resolving in view of the fact that the condition of the Gorkhas spread throughout India was very deplorable and the political status of the Gorkhas was uncertain and the future of the Gorkhas was at stake, a political party of Gorkha [Nepali, Bhutia and Lepcha], THE ALL INDIA GORKHA LEAGUE was born on 15th May, 1943. League made an article of faith that Gorkha minorities should be given equal rights at everything. League brought to the notice of the House that there were three million Gorkhas domiciled in India who were educationally and economically backward. League looked after the interest of Gorkhas in all respect, particularly to establish the political rights of Gorkhas in India. Gorkhas domiciled in British India realized that at this time it was their first duty to fight all they can] - website of AIGL dated 17/10/2008 (to be checked with original to find correctness) .
[History, 1940:
Within five generations, our forefathers cleared the vast areas of forest in Bengal, Assam and Burma in quest of new life........ ........
.........In due course of time, the Gorkhas domiciled in British India consisted of Military pensioners, Government servants, Traders, Farmers, and Plantation Laborers and were about 3 million, most of whom were settled in Darjeeling (in Bengal), Shillong (in Assam), Dehra Dun (in United Provinces) and in Burma and the rest scattered all over British India] - website of AIGL dated 17/10/2008 (to be checked with original to find correctness) . [Note: 3 million means 30,00,000]
[In India, Nepalese were living in great numbers since five generations. Every State of India had Legislative Assembly where laws were framed on behalf of interest of the public. If arbitrated correctly, according to the number, ten seats in the Legislative Assembly of Assam should be allotted but Gorkhas were debarred. In Bengal, only one Gorkha, the president of All India Gorkha League, Mr. Damber Singh Gurung was the representative of Darjeeling District but this seat was not reserved, neither appointed. It was Bengal's sly policy of appeasement toward Gorkhas, perhaps to win their votes. Damber Singh didn't see much advantage in being a member of the Constituent Assembly as long as we didn't have our own representative in the Advisory committee. It was the function of the Advisory Committee to give advice to the Constituent Assembly as to the manner in which the safeguards for the minorities, backward and tribal peoples were to be provided] - website of AIGL dated 17/10/2008 (to be checked with original to find correctness) .
[In other countries, according to the law, foreigners were entitled to have citizenship if they complete five or ten years of service toward that country. But, Gorkhas were denied citizenship and constitutional rights in these countries [India and Burma] they fought and gave their life for] - website of AIGL dated 17/10/2008 (to be checked with original to find correctness) .
WHO IS A GORKHA (as appeared in the above-mentioned presentation) ? ---------
1. Within five generations, our forefathers cleared the vast areas of forest in Bengal, Assam and Burma in quest of new life .. Gorkhas domiciled in British India... were about 3 million.
2. A political party of Gorkha [Nepali, Bhutia and Lepcha], THE ALL INDIA GORKHA LEAGUE was born.
3. In India, Nepalese were living in great numbers since five generations.
4. According to the number, ten seats in the Legislative Assembly of Assam should be allotted but Gorkhas were debarred.
According to above (in the year 1940) -
GORKHA MEANS NEPALI, BHUTIA AND LEPCHA;
GORKHA MEANS NAPALESE;
GORKHAS WERE DOMICILED IN INDIA AND REACHED ABOUT 3 MILLION;
GORKHAS WERE NOT CITIZEN OF INDIA (as mentioned Gorkhas were denied
Citizenship) .
[Aims and Objectives of Gorkha League:
1. To organize and consolidate all the Gorkhas spread throughout India and elsewhere into one organic whole.
2. To make realize that the Gorkhas belong to the great martial race.
3. To preserve the civilization, tradition and culture of the Gorkhas.
4. To further the development of the Nepali language and make the propaganda for its use.
5. To establish the political rights of the Gorkhas in India.
6. To promote friendships and harmony with all the communities of India.
7. To have connection with the Independent kingdom of Nepal the mother country of the Gorkhas with devotion and loyalty.
8. To have separation of Darjeeling district and Doors from Bengal] -
website of AIGL dated 17/10/2008 (to be checked with original to find correctness) .
According to the website of the All India Gorkha League, as mentioned above -
It appears that GORKHAS WERE NOT CITIZEN OF INDIA as mentioned in the 'aims and objectives Gorkha League', in serial number 7 -
[To have connection with the Independent kingdom of Nepal the mother country of the Gorkhas with devotion and loyalty].
[Shri Dambar Singh Gurung: L.L.B., MLA (Bengal), Member of Constitutional Assembly of Free India, President: AIGL (1943-1948)
No Gorkhas should forget the most respectable person Sri. Dambar Singh Gurung, because he was the main person to move the intellectuals to raise the voice for the Gorkha identity and the rights of the Gorkhas interspersed among the people in India.
He was both foresighted and farsighted, so he formed a political party named "All India Gorkha League" in order to seek the security and the rights of the Gorkhas on the 15th May 1943 in Darjeeling.
He use to be anxious about the Gorkhas uncertain future. So he met with the then prominent leaders of India, namely Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Baldeu Singh, Subhas Chandra Bose, Manlana Azad, Jinna, Sardar Patel and so on, and discussed the difficulties the Gorkhas were facing and their future] - website of AIGL dated 17/10/2008 (to be checked with original to find correctness) .
[1934 - The All India Gorkha League submitted the Memorandum to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar B. Patel, the Congress High Command, the Cabinet Mission and the Constituent Assembly through the Sub-Committee.
1934 - The All India Gorkha League submitted the Memorandum at Gangtok to Honorable Dr. B.V. Keskar, Deputy Foreign Minister.
1948 - One of the esteemed members and also President of the All India Gorkha League debates in the Constituent Assembly Debates.
1952 - All India Gorkha League led by N.B. Gurung its President, submitted another Memorandum on the Problem of Darjeeling District on 29th April 1952 to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Prime Minister of India when he visited Kalimpong. This Memorandum summarised the demands made at different times during the last 45 years. Firstly by local organizations of the Hill people including the Hillmen's Association and, in recent years, by the All India Gorkha League.
1957 - On 1st December 1957 representatives of various political parties including Deo Prakash Rai, the leader of the All India Gorkha League and Ratanlal Brahamin leader of the Communist Party of India submitted another Memorandum to Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlala Nehru during his visit to Darjeeling.
1981 - The All India Gorkha League led by its President P.T. Lama, sent a letter to the Home Minister Zail Singh on 13th April, 1981 ] -
website of AIGL dated 17/10/2008 (to be checked with original to find correctness) .
When the All India Gorkha League (AIGL) formed? - In the year 1923 or in the year 1943? (Note: 1948, it might be 1946).
[A Letter to Damber Singh Gurung by Netaji Subash Chandra Bose
The following is a letter sent by Netaji Subash Chandra Bose to Damber Singh Gurung
ALL INDIA CONGRESS COMMITTEE
38/2 Elgin Road, Calcutta
8th August 1938
Dear Mr. Gurung,
I was very glad to have discussions with you regarding the grievances of the Hill people of the District of Darjeeling. The grievances as jotted down by you are just and legitimate, and I think it is the duty of the Government to remedy them. So far as the Congress Party is concerned, I can assure you that we will do our very best to remove these grievances as early as possible. As you are aware Congress Party represents the opinion of the masses. It is therefore, our duty to serve the masses and to redress their just and legitimate grievances. Most the grievances you mentioned are common to the masses in the rest of Bengal. It is our firm belief that not only should these grievances be redressed but we should aslo give special attion to Hillmen in the District of Darjeeling, who from a small minority in the province and who have been suffering from various disabilities and unfortunately are backward in many ways. When the Congress Party is in a position to remedy the above grievances, not only will it undertake that work as speedily as possible but will also see that a special Committee is appointed to investigate the special problems of the Hillmen and report as to how these problems should be solved. In the light of the above remarks, I hope you will have no difficulty in appreciating the attitude of the Congress towards the special problems and grievances of the Hillmen in your District.
Yours sincerely,
Subash Chandra Bose] - to be checked with original to find correctness.
According to above-mentioned presentation, it appears that - Shri Damber Singh Gurung submitted representation to Shri Subhas Chandra Bose for the 'grievances of the Hill people of the District of Darjeeling' AND NOT ON BEHALF OF GURKHAS i.e. Gurkha soldiers.
[Constituent Assembly Debates (Proceedings) - VOLUME I
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
Thursday, the 19th December 1946
The Constituent Assembly of India met in the Constitution Hall, New Delhi, at Eleven of the Clock, Mr. Chairman (The Honourable Dr. Rajendra Prasad) in the Chair.
PROGRAMME OF BUSINESS
Mr. Chairman: Yesterday I told the Members that I would be able to give some decision with regard to the programme of the work of the Assembly this morning. I have been considering that matter and some Members have seen me also in that connection. The work we have to get through is this........ ....
............ ......... ......... ......... .........
Mr. F. R. Anthony (Bengal: General): It is quite impossible. I am personally prepared to sit as long as the Members are ready to sit but not after the 26th......
The Hon'ble Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru (United Provinces: General) I want to bring to your notice a fact that may interest the House, that the- United Nations General Assembly did sit even on Sundays, both the Committees and the General Assembly, in order to expedite its work........ .........
............ ......... ......
Mr. Kiran Shankar Roy (Bengal: General): Mr. Chairman, I think that the Members should have copies of the Rules at least two or three days before general discussion so that they may consider the Rules ............ ......
The Hon'ble Mr. B. G. Kher (Bombay: General): May I be permitted to say that the drafting of the Rules ............ ......... ....
Dr. Syama Prasad Mookherjee (Bengal: General): I think we should not meet during the Christmas week........ ......... ........
Mr. Somnath Lahiri (Bengal: General) : Mr. Chairman, The Right Hon'ble Dr. Jayakar, grown grey in the service of interpreting British Imperialist laws, has probably interpreted the limitations of the Cabinet ............ .....
Sri Raj Krushna Bose (Orissa: General): We have a right to know whether the speaker is supporting the Resolution or opposing it. I am afraid all that he is saying at this time is not relevant ............ ......... .......
Shri Vishwambhar Dayal Tripathi (United Provinces : General): Sir, we must know whether he is supporting the Resolution or he is supporting the amendment... ...
............ ......... ......... ......
Mr. H. V. Kamath (C. P. and Berar: General): I submit, Sir, that Mr. Lahiri when speaking on his own amendment was ruled out of order by you, and is he in order now in doing the same?....... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... .........
Mrs. Hansa Mehta (Bombay : General): Sir, I consider it a proud privilege to speak in support of this historic Resolution so ,ably moved by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. I do not wish to refer to the
Mr. P. R. Thakur (Bengal: General): Mr. Chairman, Sir. Dr. Ambedkar did not say anything last time about the Depressed Classes. So, I consider it a great honour to speak to the Members of the Constituent Assembly on behalf of the Scheduled Castes in general of India. I stand here to support..... ......... ........
Diwan Bahadur Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar (Madras: General): Sir, after the eloquent speech of our......... ......... .......
Mr. Jaipal Singh (Bihar: General): Mr. Chairman, Sir, I rise to speak on behalf of millions of unknown ............ ......... .......
Sardar Harnam Singh (Punjab: Sikh): Just a misprint. The original text contained the words "should contain full representation of the interests affected." ........
Dr. Suresh Chandra Banerjee (Bengal: General) : May I know what is the correct word Sir ? 'Due' or 'Full'...... ......... ......... ..
Mr. Debi Prosad Khaitan (Bengal: General): Mr. Chairman, Sir, representing the mercantile community, I want to look at this proposal from the businessman' s point of view. From that standpoint, I heartily support the proposal that has been put forward by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, and oppose the proposal.... ........
Mr. Damber Singh Gurung (Bengal: General) : Mr. Chairman, Sir, I understand here today as the only representative of 30 lakhs of Gurkhas permanently domiciled in India. It is 30 lakhs, near about the population of the Sikhs, still I am the solitary representative here in this House. I need not give any introduction as to who these Gurkhas are. They have made themselves sufficiently known to the world by their excellent fighting qualities. It has been proved to the hilt during the last World War No. 1 and No. 11 that they are the greatest fighting race in the World.
It is on behalf of these valiant Gurkhas that I, as the President of the All--India Gurkha League, wholeheartedly support the Resolution moved by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. It is high time that we should take such a strong step. If we adopt the policy of wait and see as has been advocated by Dr. Jayakar and supported by Ambedkar, we will never reach our goal. The Interim Government which is functioning to-day would not have come into existence if we had adopted that policy. Fortunately these two Doctors are not Doctors in Medicine, otherwise they would have killed the patient by delaying the operation. (Laughter). We have waited too long and we should riot wait any longer. It will be simply our weakness.
Sir, it has been very often said that the Gurkhas have been the stumbling block on the path to freedom. It may be true if it is viewed from that angle of vision but it must always be remembered that, especially in the Military Department, duty first and duty last, and the discipline is the most essential thing without which no nation can rule. Now in Free India you will ask us to do the same thing as we were asked to do under the British Government, if there be any disrupter of the constitutionally established Government, and you will praise them for maintaining that discipline.
Sir, the problem of the Gurkhas is quite different. They are scattered throughout India. It is only in the district of Darjeeling and the Province of Assam that they are concentrated to a certain extent. Their number in these two areas is about 14 lakhs and the rest are scattered throughout India. They are very very backward educationally and economically. Though we were made to do the dirtiest work in India for which we have been even called butchers by Indians, though hundreds and thousand of Gurkha lives were sacrificed to keep the British rule in India and elsewhere, nothing has been done by the British Government so far for the uplift of the Gurkhas. We have been very sadly neglected. Only at the time of War they remember the Gurkhas. It has always been the policy of the British Government to keep us backward and ignorant so that we may be sacrificed any time, anywhere they liked.
The
Gurkhas are apprehending whether the same policy will be followed by the Congress too. There is strong ground for this apprehension. Before the election of Members to the Constituent Assembly, the 'All--India Gurkha League approached the Congress High Command to give adequate representation to the Gurkhas too in the Constitution Assembly but our claim was totally ignored and not a single seat was given for 30 lakhs of Gurkhas, whereas as many as 3 seats were given to the AngloIndians whose population is only 1 lakh 42 thousand in India. I do not think that Gurkhas will, any more, tolerate this kind of injustice. I have, very recently been to Nepal, leading a delegation of the All-India Gurkha League to His Highness the Maharaja of Nepal and I hope Nepal will not allow any such exploitation of the Gurkhas. Sir, the demand of the Gurkhas is that they must be recognised as a minority community and that they must have adequate representation in the Advisory Committee that is going to be formed. When the Anglo-Indians with only I lakh 42 thousand population have been recognised as a minority community, and Scheduled Castes among the Hindus have been recognised as a separate community, I do not see any reason why Gurkhas with 30 lakhs population should not be recognised as such. The Gurkhas whose total population including Nepal is 15 millions shall have to play a very very important part in Free India. I request the leaders to consider this very seriously.
Lastly, I would like to say a word, Sir. If Mr. Jinnah thinks himself to be an Indian, I would request him to come to India and settle the differences here, as this is' our domestic quarrel. Why should he seek the help of those who kept us in slavery for centuries? I would think that a kick from a brother is more palatable than a hypocritc pat from an outsider. If the major party does not do any justice to the cause of the minorities, we will combine together and revolt and make India a hot bed and I am afraid, the ancient history of India may be repeated. But I must make one point clear, that no minority will support the fantastic claim for Pakistan of Mr. Jinnah. We stand for a United India.
In spite of all this, if Mr. Jinnah goes on throwing the challenge of civil war, I ask the country-men to accept that challenge and let us fight it out. As for the Gurkhas, we will fight along with those who want one India and oppose those who want to divide it.
Dr. Sir Hari Singh Gour (C. P. and Berar: General) : Sir, as I listened to the speeches of the Hon'ble ............ ......... ....
Shrimati Dakshayani Velayudan (Madras: General): Mr. Chairman, before I express my views on the......... ......... .....
Mr. Chairman: It is already quarter past one. The House will now adjourn till day after tomorrow, 11 o'clock.
The Assembly then adjourned till Eleven of the Clock, on Saturday, the 21st December 1946] ------------ ----
(to be checked with the original to find the correctness) .
Some points from the above-mentioned presentation of Shri Mr. Damber Singh Gurung (Bengal: General) -
1. 30 lakhs of Gurkhas permanently domiciled in India. It is 30 lakhs, near about the population of the Sikhs, still I am the solitary representative here in this House. I need not give any introduction as to who these Gurkhas are. They have made themselves sufficiently known to the world by their excellent fighting qualities.
2. It is on behalf of these valiant Gurkhas that I, as the President of the All--India Gurkha League.
3. Sir, it has been very often said that the Gurkhas have been the stumbling block on the path to freedom.
4. It is only in the district of Darjeeling and the Province of Assam that they are concentrated to a certain extent. Their number in these two areas is about 14 lakhs and the rest are scattered throughout India.
5. Though we were made to do the dirtiest work in India for which we have been even called butchers by Indians, though hundreds and thousand of Gurkha lives were sacrificed to keep the British rule in India and elsewhere, nothing has been done by the British Government so far for the uplift of the Gurkhas.
6. I have, very recently been to Nepal, leading a delegation of the All-India Gurkha League to His Highness the Maharaja of Nepal and I hope Nepal will not allow any such exploitation of the Gurkhas.
7. The Gurkhas whose total population including Nepal is 15 millions shall have to play a very very important part in Free India.
8. If the major party does not do any justice to the cause of the minorities, we will combine together and revolt and make India a hot bed and I am afraid, the ancient history of India may be repeated.
From the above-mentioned points, it appears that -
1. Gurkha means the Gurkha soldiers under service for British rule in India;
2. All India Gorkha League was formed for the cause of valiant Gurkhas i.e. for the cause of Gorkha soldiers;
3. Citizens of India often said that the - Gurkhas have been the stumbling block on the path to freedom (Gurkhas means Gurkha soldiers) i.e. they are colonial British service for their interest who tried to keep India as their colony.
4. 30 lakhs of Gurkhas permanently domiciled in India. It is only in the district of Darjeeling and the Province of Assam they are about 14 lakhs and the rest are scattered throughout India - i.e. GURKHA SOLDIERS WERE NOT CITIZENS OF BRITISH INDIA but domiciled.
5. We have been even called butchers by Indians i.e. citizens of India do not like them.
6. Hundreds and thousand of Gurkha lives were sacrificed to keep the British rule in India and elsewhere i.e. Gurkha soldiers served for the cause of British rule in India and elsewhere and this was the stumbling block on the path of freedom of India.
7. I have, very recently been to Nepal, leading a delegation of the All-India Gurkha League to His Highness the Maharaja of Nepal and I hope Nepal will not allow any such exploitation of the Gurkhas i.e. Gurkha soldiers had direct connection with the Maharaja of Nepal as it appears that they were citizens of Nepal and they were only domiciled in India.
8. Revolt and make India a hot bed i.e. this is a warning that the Gurkha soldiers would might be one day revolt against the Government of India after the independence of India. [the speech delivered was on Thursday, the 19th December 1946].
Part II, CITIZENSHIP, Article 5 of the Constitution of India reads: "At the commencement of this Constitution, every person who has his domicile in the territory of India and - (a) who was born in the territory of India; or
(b) either of whose parents was born in the territory of India; or
(c ) who has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years immediately preceding such commencement,
shall be a citizen of India."
[IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSITUTION]
Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: '(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality, (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. "
Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights reads : "An alien lawfully in the territory of a State Party to the present Covenant may be expelled there from only in pursuance of a decision reached in accordance with law and shall, except where compelling reasons of national security otherwise require be allowed to submit the reasons against his expulsion and to have his case reviewed by and he represented for the purpose before, the competent authority or a person or persons especially designated by the competent authority."
Declaration by the Government of India - "With respect of Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Government of the Republic of India reserves its right to apply its law relating to foreigners," - signed on 07/03/1979.
General Comment No. 15: The position of aliens under the Covenant : . 11/04/86.
CCPR General Comment No. 15. (General Comments)
Convention Abbreviation: CCPR
GENERAL COMMENT 15
The position of aliens under the Covenant
(Twenty-seventh session, 1986)
7. Aliens thus have an inherent right to life, protected by law, and may not be arbitrarily deprived of life. They must not be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; nor may they be held in slavery or servitude. Aliens have the full right to liberty and security of the person. If lawfully deprived of their liberty, they shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of their person. Aliens may not be imprisoned for failure to fulfill a contractual obligation. They have the right to liberty of movement and free choice of residence; they shall be free to leave the country. Aliens shall be equal before the courts and tribunals, and shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law in the determination of any criminal charge or of rights and obligations in a suit at law. Aliens shall not be subjected to retrospective penal legislation, and are entitled to recognition before the law. They may not be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with their privacy, family, home or correspondence. They have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the right to hold opinions and to express them. Aliens receive the benefit of the right of peaceful assembly and of freedom of association. They may marry when at marriageable age. Their children are entitled to those measures of protection required by their status as minors. In those cases where aliens constitute a minority within the meaning of article 27, they shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion and to use their own language. Aliens are entitled to equal protection by the law. There shall be no discrimination between aliens and citizens in the application of these rights. These rights of aliens may be qualified only by such limitations as may be lawfully imposed under the Covenant.] - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland.
Article VI of Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between The Government of India and The Government of Nepal (1950) reads: 'Each Government undertaken, in token of the neighbourly friendship between India and Nepal, to give the nationals of the other, in its territory, national treatment with regard to participation in industrial and economic development of such territory and to the grant of concessions and contracts relating to such development. "
Article VII reads: 'The Government of India and Nepal agree to grant, on a reciprocal basis, to the nationals of one country in the territories of the other same privileges in the matter of residence, ownership of property, participation in trade and commerce, movement and other privileges of a similar nature.'
It is an allegation - who is the citizen of India and who is the citizen of Nepal inside the Nepali agitators who are demanding GORKHALAND by separating the State of West Bengal in India? It is to be seriously ascertained.
Colonial British recruited the Nepalese as soldier in GURKHA REGIMENT and these Nepalese called as GURKHA SOLDIER when they were in service.
Upon Independence of India in 1947, the name of Gurkha Regiment changed to GORKHA REGIMENT. When a Nepali is in service as soldier in GORKHA REGIMENT, he is called Gorkha soldier and after retirement or separation from the Regiment he is an ordinary Nepali person.
After enquiry it is found -
THERE IS NO EXISTENCE OF 'GORKHA ETHNIC GROUP' IN NEPAL, AND
THERE IS NO EXISTENCE OF 'GORKHA RACE' IN NEPAL - according to National Census of Nepal 2001.
THE ORIGINATION OR EXISTENCE OF 'GORKHA ETHNIC GROUP' OR
'GORKHA RACE' IN INDIA DOES NOT ARISE AT ALL.
Date: 28/02/2009.
Address: 18/20A, Dover Lane, Dipak De
Kolkata - 700 029. [Human Rights Activist; acceptable to National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi; Doing M.Phil in Human Rights; with the: Amnesty International India with permission; in touch with: PWAP, India; PUCL, India; Asian Human Rights Commission, Hongkong; Human Rights Watch, Geneva; United Nations on line volunteer on Human Rights]
E-mail: ranjan2dev@bsnl. in; dipakdev@vsnl. net
Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has seized one food company and threatened to nationalise another as he demands that the industry produce cheaper rice.
Chavez seized a local unit of Cargill, an American food corporation and also threatened to nationalise Polar, the country's largest private company, on Wednesday, less than three weeks after he won a referendum allowing him to run for re-election indefinitely.
Chavez is popular among many low income citizens for pressing companies to produce cheap goods as well as launching government initiatives to provide subsidised food to slum areas.
Chavez said he ordered the takeover because Cargill was skirting price controls implemented by his government, by not producing the type of rice that is subject to the controls.
"Prepare the decree, we are going to expropriate Cargill," he said. "We are not going to tolerate this."
In recent days, he also seized some rice mills belonging to Polar, after accusing the food industry of skirting price controls and failing to produce enough cheap rice.
Polar, which is the country's largest private sector employer and produces and distributes everything from beer to flour, has vowed to take legal action over the rice mill takeovers.
Cargill operates one rice mill in Venezuela, and said earlier in the week that it was expecting a visit from officials
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