FACAM – Israel and India’s Unity in Genocide: An International Appeal
Hereby we publish a statement we have received. We also share a report that was attached.
We, of the Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization, Delhi (F.A.C.A.M.) are writing to you making an urgent internationalist appeal. FACAM is a joint platform consisting of various organizations including, democratic, socialist, women’s rights, labour rights, lawyers, students, trade unions, academics and Marxists, based out of Delhi, India. In the present situation, Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people is ongoing with no signs of a pause and in India, we are witnessing a similar phenomenon. The Indian state has been waging a war against its own people in various parts of central India where the forest-dwelling, indigenous, farming communities called the Adivasis live. This region, comprising of the states of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Telangana, parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, is also highly rich in natural resources such as bauxite, iron and gold and is a site of great struggle between the big corporations and international conglomerates hell-bent on extracting these resources at the cost of genociding the people who live on these lands and destroying the forest areas. India is, at the present, the world’s biggest importer of arms and the biggest customer of Israeli arms. India acquired UAVs from Israel, including the Heron Mark 2 drones, which have been used to remotely drop bombs on the unsuspecting Adivasis and their forests four times in a two year period! Since the coming to power of the ruling Modi-BJP government in 2014, the Hindutva ideology upholding government has formed a strong bond with the Zionist Israeli government and the arms purchases by India from Israel have increased by 175%, with India shelling out over 1 billion USD every year in Israeli arms purchases.
Aerial bombings on civilians, be it in Gaza or in India, is a violation the Geneva Convention and a complete negation of all democratic rights. The Indian government, in the name of countering “left-wing extremism”, has even collaborated with the Israeli government directly in formulating strategies of displacing Adivasis from their lands in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. In 2009, under the garb of countering the communist guerrilla in India, the government initiated the now-infamous Operation Green Hunt where this war on people intensified to the degree of the Indian government utilizing a self-created proxy militia called the Salwa Judum to burn Adivasi villages and commit rapes en masse. After much struggle, this militia was later banned by the Indian Supreme Court but the tactics of Operation Green Hunt have now shifted into the more intensified Operation SAMADHAN-Prahar. The aims of both these operations have been straightforward: increase the presence of armed police forces to militarize the region, clear the way for big corporations to conduct mining operations by any means necessary, including genocidal measures like aerial bombings. But under Operation SAMADHAN-Prahar, the attempts at this land- grabbing and resource loot have intensified with larger armed presence and the creation of “Forward Operational Base” military camps which aim to create ‘fortresses-like’ structures in every 5 kilometres. Fake encounters, abductions of democratic activists and false cases are regularly used to curb dissent towards this militarization. Tens of thousands of Adivasis have been peacefully resisting these camps in the on-going anti-camp movement in the region. Under Operation SAMADHAN-Prahar, the Indian government has evicted or arrested more than 200 journalists from this region to create a war with no witnesses.
The Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization is deeply concerned about this situation. We are sharing with you a fact-finding report on this subject, organized by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations (CDRO), a country-wide joint platform of democratic rights and civil liberties organizations. We are sharing this report with you, along with our statements on this subject. We are also sharing with you our fact-finding report on the anti-camp movement in the village of Silger, Chhattisgarh, which exposes the brutalities of Operation SAMADHAN-Prahar upon the lives of the indigenous peoples.
We appeal to you to take action against the aerial bombings in whatever capacity possible and urge you to inform, mobilize, write and/or protest against these genocidal policies.
FORUM AGAINST CORPORATIZATION AND MILITARIZATION
F.A.C.A.M.
Constituents: All India Students’ Association (AISA), All India Revolutionary Students Organization (AIRSO), All India Revolutionary Women’s Organization (AIRWO), Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students Organization (BASO), Bhagat Singh Chatra Ekta Manch (bsCEM), Collective, Common Teachers Forum (CTF), Democratic Students Union (DSU), Lawyers Against Atrocities, Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS), Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI)
