Petition to Save the Koodankulam Protesters URGENT PLEASE SIGN
KUDANKULAM ANTI-NUCLEAR SATYAGRAHA, INDIA, 14 May 2012
Antonio C. S. Rosa, editor – TRANSCEND Media Service
CLICK TO SIGN THE PETITION AND SEND TO YOUR CONTACTS – avaaz.org
Over 6,000 people face prison for their non-violent opposition to the Koodankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, India. Now, 330 protesters (302 are women) have commenced an indefinite hunger strike in a last-ditch attempt to save their freedom and stop the nuclear plant — and only our added pressure can force the government to stop this illegal persecution of peaceful protesters. They need your help urgent, PLEASE.
The people protesting the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu, India need our help like never before. This grassroots struggle started in the 1980s, and has gradually grown in the face of strong community opposition — with about 10,000 people today actively resisting the imposition of the plant in their backyard.
The Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011 provides unambiguous testimony of the dangers associated with nuclear power, and the Koodankulam plant has also been constructed in an area susceptible to earthquakes and tsunamis. But the struggle in Tamil Nadu is about something even greater than threat from a very dangerous technological dream. It is about the collapse of freedom in a country that has long claimed to be the world’s largest democracy in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi.
Authorities imposed a blockade severely limiting access to food, water and electricity to many thousands of protesters. Mothers were forced to feed their babies sugar water as no milk was allowed into the village. Despite the non-violent nature of the protest, 6800 people have been charged with the serious crimes of sedition and/or waging war against the state, and formal complaints have been filed against many thousands more. The leaders of the movement have been falsely charged with attempted murder. This is not only a parody of law but a severe violation of the Indian Constitution, which the police and government have sworn to uphold.
On May 1, 2012, 25 protesters began an indefinite hunger strike as a final measure as the plant prepares to go online. On May 4th, an additional 302 women and 5 men joined the indefinite strike. We need your urgent help to save these non-violent protesters from serious bodily harm and possibly death.
Please help by asking the officials of the Tamil Nadu and central Indian governments to drop all charges against these non-violent protesters and allow them to freely exercise their constitutional rights without punishment! Sign the petition now.
For more information please see: http://www.transcend.org/tms/2012/04/cases-against-koodankulam-protestors-a-parody-of-law-fact-finding-team/
CLICK TO SIGN THE PETITION AND SEND TO YOUR CONTACTS – avaaz.org
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 14 May 2012.
Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: Petition to Save the Koodankulam Protesters URGENT PLEASE SIGN, is included. Thank you.
If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
One Response to “Petition to Save the Koodankulam Protesters URGENT PLEASE SIGN”
Read more
Click here to go to the current weekly digest or pick another article:
KUDANKULAM ANTI-NUCLEAR SATYAGRAHA, INDIA:
please stop kudankulam nuclear power plant.