People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) May 16, 2012
Idinthakarai & P. O. 627 104
Tirunelveli District
Tamil Nadu, India
Press Release
The PMANE Denies Any Role in the Alleged Bomb Threat to KKNPP
There are reports in the media today that the KKNPP has received three inland letters threatening them with possible bomb attacks. The PMANE has no role whatsoever in this as we have been leading a peaceful, democratic and nonviolent struggle for the past nine months without even a single incident of violence.
In fact, the members of the PMANE Struggle Committee have also been receiving several death threats, and some of the physically challenged men of Koodankulam were brutally attacked by the police on October 13, 2011 in front of the Koodankulam plant. These incidents have been glossed over by the police and the governments.
On May 11, 2012 one of our Struggle Committee members, Mr. V. Rajalingam from Koodankulam, was badly beaten up and verbally abused at 5:15 PM near the East Bazaar of Kodankulam by Mr. Stanley Jones, Vallioor Deputy Superintendent of Police and Mr. Rajapaul, Inspector of Koodankulam police station. Both Mr. Rajalingam and one Mr. R. K. Selvakumar who witnessed this brutal attack have submitted written and signed depositions at the Public Hearing conducted on May 14, 2012 in Chennai by the Chennai Solidarity Group for Koodankulam Struggle.
Some 15 other people from Idinthakarai, Koodankulam, Koothenkuzhy, Koottapuli, Nagercoil, Erode and Chennai also deposed on police brutalities, excesses and harassments at the above Public Hearing. The Panelists headed by Justice (Retd) A. P. Shah are in the process of preparing a report which is going to be submitted to the Central and State governments.
This alleged “bomb threat” must be seen at this backdrop. The PMANE would like to state categorically that our people have nothing to do with this threat and we would like to assert that we have been and will continue to be a peaceful and nonviolent movement. We would only request the authorities to treat the actual attacks on the School of the Struggle Committee Coordinator with this promptness and seriousness and apprehend the culprits in both cases.
The Struggle Committee
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
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Tags: anti-nuclear, koodankulam, letter, Nuclear, pmane, russia, tamilnadu, vver
May 16, 2012
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
Idinthakarai & P. O. 627 104
Tirunelveli District
Tamil Nadu, India
An Open Letter to the People of Russia
Dear Sisters and Brothers of Russia:
Greetings! We, several millions of people from the southernmost tip of India, are writing to you to send our love and seek your support for the peaceful and nonviolent struggle that we have been waging for the past nine months against the Koodankulam nuclear power project (KKNPP). This mega nuclear power park is being built with Russian loan and technology against the will and wishes of the local people.
The Indian authorities have not conducted any public hearing to seek our permission or consent for this project. They have not shared the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report, the Site Evaluation Study, and the Safety Analysis Report with our people. After a long and hard struggle of more than 22 years, we have just obtained a copy of the EIA report which is outdated and so full of inaccuracies and incomplete information.
After two years of application and appeal, we have just got an order from the Center Information Commission (CIC) of India that we must have copies of the Site Evaluation Study, and the Safety Analysis Report to ensure and enhance public safety. The Site Evaluation Study is very important because there are some undisclosed secrets about the siting of the reactors 1 and 2. The Russian scientists and engineers had strong objections over the Indian engineers’ and scientists’ shifting the sites from the ones that the former had chosen for the reactors 1 and 2. It was reported here in the local newspapers that the Russians had left the project site in disgust but the entire episode was covered up by the officials here. And they have refused to divulge any information until now.
Similarly, the authorities refuse to give us a copy of the Safety Analysis Report saying that it contains proprietary information of the Russian company, Atomstroyexport (ASE). Please understand that we are not interested in any such information but the rest of the report is important for our safety and security. The Indian authorities refuse to give this report also.
Our people have no information about the Koodankulam project and whatever little information we have is in English which most people in our area do not understand. Moreover, the authorities have not given us any disaster training or evacuation exercise to safeguard our families in case of an accident at the Koodankulam site. With high and dense population in our area, we desperately need complete safety and evacuation drills.
Our expert team claims that there are serious hydrology, geology, oceanography and seismology issues involved in the Koodankulam nuclear project and hence we demand a complete and thorough probe into all these issues. After all, this area has been hit by the 2004 tsunami, and there have been several small to big earthquakes in the Indian Ocean rendering the Koodankulam site vulnerable. But the Indian authorities summarily reject our legitimate demand to study these concerns. Similarly, both the Indian and the Russian governments have signed a secret Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on liability and they refuse to share a copy of that with us. Our officials are silent about the amount and management of the nuclear waste from the Koodankulam project also.
There are credible reports that the Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief is making frequent visits to Moscow and taking orders from the KGB. Already the Russian Ambassador to India has been interfering in the internal affairs of India by making unwanted statements about our energy policy issues and other related subjects.
Please do understand that we want your country to prosper and become strong. We also like our country to do business with Russia at the bilateral level and through multilateral institutions such as RIC, BRICS etc. But we certainly do not want any business in the dangerous nuclear sector. Would you please request your lawmakers not to support the Koodankulam nuclear power project or more reactors in India. We desperately need your kind cooperation and help to safeguard the right to life and livelihood of millions of our fisherfolks, farmers, workers, women, youth and children.
Let us together secure the interests of our children and grandchildren and leave a clean, green and safe Earth for them all. Looking forward to your support and solidarity, we send you our best regards and all peaceful wishes.
Cordially,
Millions of Indian Citizens
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Tags: anti-nuclear, koodankulam, letter, Nuclear, pmane, russia, tamilnadu, vver
Idinthakarai Update
16May12
Idinthakarai Update
May 15, 2012
PMANE Withdraws Indefinite Hunger Strike and Plans a Conference
The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) has withdrawn its latest indefinite hunger strike as per the request of Justice (Retd) A.P. Shah, former Chief Justice of Madras and Delhi High Courts, Advocate Geeta Ramaseshan and Professor Prabha Kalvimani who presided over the public hearing on “Koodankulam and State Suppression of Democratic Rights” held in Chennai on May 14, 2012.
Although 25 men and 302 women were on indefinite hunger strike from May 1st and May 4th respectively, neither the Government of Tamil Nadu nor the Government of India invited us for talks or any kind of negotiations on the eleven demands that we had put forward. Although the local county administrator sent a medical team on May 5th and May 7th to check up on the strikers’ health, the higher officials turned a blind eye.
When we invited the people from the neighboring villages for a massive show of strength on May 10, 2012, the district officials promulgated prohibitory orders for up to 7 kms from the Koodankulam plants. Since our people could be arrested and harassed by the police as happened in March 2012, we asked our people to organize a “Day of Prayer and Fasting” in their respective villages on May 10th instead of coming to Idinthakarai.
The federal and state governments rush to talk to Maoists and Naxalites who kidnap and kill officials and politicians. They even grant their wishes and demands. But these governments completely dismiss the legitimate demands of our fishermen and farmers who have been waging a peaceful, nonviolent and democratic struggle for the past nine months. This is definitely not a healthy trend and it could send wrong messages to our youth and children.
While no government official or minister came forward to talk to us, one local police officer, a local correspondent of a sunny TV and a local correspondent of a Hindu-ish newspaper were calling a member of our team giving orders, suggestions and even imposing conditions for possible talks. We hear that these two “journalists” are the local wheeler-dealers for some powerful institutions and agencies in our area and have built palatial houses recently with their “hard-earned” money. And we took a principled position not to talk to any of them. Naturally, the talks about talks did not bring any results.
On May 11th we decided to scale down the number of hunger strikers as we did not get any medical help from the government or an ambulance to ferry the fainting strikers to the nearest health centre as we requested. We advised the older people and people with health concerns to terminate their strike and continued the indefinite hunger strike with some 102 men and women.
Now that we have terminated the indefinite hunger strike, we are resuming our relay hunger strike from May 15th. We are planning a one-day youth conference on “The Futures of the Tamils” on May 17, 2012, the third anniversary of the Mullivaikal operation in Tamil Eelam. We also plan a candle-light procession and flower-throwing ceremony in the sea to honor the Tamils who lost their lives in the Sri Lankan genocide. We will have a planning meeting with the community elders, women and youth to plan the future course of our struggle on May 17th.
The Struggle Committee
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
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Tags: anti-nuclear, chernobyl, fukushima, hunger strike, idinthkarai, japan, koodankulam, Nuclear, protest, russia, udaykumar
By Andy Koch
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Published Apr 9, 2012 10:35 PM
More than 300 students from across North Carolina stormed and occupied the University of North Carolina Board of Governors meeting Feb. 10, forcing the unelected, mostly ruling-class board members to exit out the back door of their own building. Moments before, the board had approved unprecedented tuition hikes, resulting in the students fighting back with the strongest resistance the state has seen in years.
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