The Southern Illinois Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (SIDSA) is proud to announce our support for the call to end state violence against Adivasi communities in Central India by signing on to the “Global Solidarity Call to End State Militarization and Extrajudicial Killings in Resource-Rich Adivasi Regions in India.” The Adivasis have been under attack by domestic and foreign capital for decades. Their land is home to immense mineral wealth, lumber, and water, and they’ve consistently been struggling to preserve their autonomy and access to their own resources. The struggle can be summed up by the slogan “Jal, Jangal, Zameen” (water, forest, land) coined by Gond tribal leader and freedom fighter Komaram Bheem.
While this struggle has a long history, it has recently seen an expansion through brutal state-sponsored killings as part of the government-run “Operation Kagar.” While supposedly to stop “infections of Maoist rebels” who are fearless in their now sixty-plus-year struggle against the forces of reaction, Indian state forces have slaughtered countless civilians. These killings have mostly targeted members of Adivasi groups in rural areas of the country.
Again, this is part of a much longer history of repression by the Indian state, here summed up by martyr G.N. Saibaba:
“The particular context actually expresses the hidden agenda of the Indian government. During the past five years [2005-2010], it has been very busy making agreement[s] called memorandums of understanding, MOUs, with many foreign and domestic companies, but mainly for foreign investment. These agreements are mainly for large-scale mining projects and industrial projects in special economic zones…Now after five years of this resistance, when the government understands that none of these agreements have gotten off the ground due to the resistance of these movements of the people, now in the name of flushing out the Naxalites or Maoists they want to actually acquire this land.”
We encourage the community to read the full statement, and to consider asking their own organizations to sign on or otherwise signing on as individuals if they are in a position to do so.