Solidarity Statement Against Malicious Slandering of Activists Who are Fighting Against Adani International Seaport at Vizhinjam, Kerala, India

07/11/2022

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vizhinjam protest

The coastal fishing community is on a struggle path against the disastrous International seaport which is being built at Vizhinjam by Adani ports. The port has resulted in coastal erosion leading to the disappearance of coasts and the destruction of houses in the fishing villages. The dredging in the port will result in the loss of local fishing habitats leading to the destruction of the livelihood of thousands of fishing families and their displacement from the coasts.

As the coastal community's sit-in protest continues against the distress caused by the Vizhinjam Adani port gathering solidarity and support at the state level, corporate-backed media such as News 18, Janam TV, Desabhimani, Kerala Kaumudi are now resorting to blatant lies and misinformation against the protest and protesters. As a part of this, attempts have been made to slander Ms Aleyama Vijayan who is the founder trustee of the feminist organisation Sakhi women’s resource centre and has been working for women’s empowerment for the past three decades, along with AJ Vijayan, who has been working as a trade unionist and researcher in the fisheries sector since 1980.

It is accused that Sakhi, a women’s rights organisation based out of Thiruvananthapuram, which has no direct affiliations with the protest committee, is receiving foreign contributions for the protests. They have already issued a defamation suit against the media for spreading misinformation and rumours. The details on the Sakhi website show that all their activities are transparent. We support this legal suit and wish this organisation to operate smoothly in the future.

The attempt to portray the struggle as a foreign conspiracy through funding is malicious and an insult to the fishing community who is fighting against the port and its sponsors. We request that all people who believe in democracy protest against this false propaganda. This slander campaign is done together with attempts by vested groups to create communal issues and problems of law and order on the coast, to divide the fishing and host communities in the name of religion. We urge the government, masses and civil society groups to positively intervene to keep communal harmony and peace.

The fisher folks in Vizhinjam, under the leadership of Thiruvananthapuram Latin Archdiocese, have been protesting for the last 105 days, raising seven demands, including stoppage of the construction of the seaport in Vizhinjam and a complete study on the impact and damages by the port by an independent team of experts including people representing the fisher community.

The rest of the six demands from the formation are:

(1) Find a sustainable solution to coastal erosion on the Thiruvananthapuram coast due to the unscientific constructions in the sea, including that caused by the Vizhinjam port construction.

(2) Provide temporary rental accommodation to people whose houses were destroyed due to coastal erosion

(3) Plan and implement reasonable policies to rehabilitate the people who have lost their land and houses.

(4) Intervene to revoke the kerosene price hike; provide subsidised kerosene following the neighbouring state Tamil Nadu model.

(5) Provide minimum wages to the fisher folks to compensate for the loss on the days of fishing weather warnings.

(6) Find sustainable solutions to the problems instead of temporary ones. The claim that all the demands have been more or less accepted by the government has been debunked by the Convener of the protest committee, Thiruvananthapuram Latin Archdiocese, Fr. Eugene Pereira, in a press conference on October 31st, 2022. It is undemocratic that, instead of fulfilling their obligation to settle the strike, the ruling government is resorting to covert attempts to tarnish coastal communities and overturn their struggle.

We strongly condemn attempts by certain media houses to malign civil society organisations and vilify A J Vijayan, who has been researching and writing on the eco-social impacts, the unscientific nature of the project and the contract irregularities. He has been doing so since the period of the environmental impact study during the UDF regime, which initiated the Adani port project with special interest. We believe it is essential to have independent research and scientific studies on the impact of the port on coastal communities, and any such studies should be encouraged.

We urge the government to settle the Vizhinjam issue urgently by arriving at a reasonable and sustainable solution and defending the rights of fishing and coastal communities. Vizhinjam Struggle Solidarity Committee, Keralam

Social Movements, Eminent Persons, Social Organisations

Aflathoon, Samajwadi Jan Parishad
Ammu Abraham, FAOW ; PUCL Maharashtra (E.C.)
Anand Patwardhan, Film Maker
Anjali Bharadwaj, Collective Delhi
Arundhati Dhuru, National Convenor, National Alliance of Peoples Movements
Ashok Choudhary/ Roma , All India Union of Forest Working People
Avinash Kumar , Former Director, Amnesty International India.
Aysha, Right to Food Campaign
Chandana Pusapati, Dakshin Foundation
Delhi Solidarity Group
Dr. John Dayal, Writer, Human Rights Activist
Dr. Ram Puniyani, National Solidarity Forum
Dr. Suneelam Ex MLA
Dr. Syeda Hammed, Former Member Planning Commission
Evita Das – Pakistan India Peoples' forum for peace and democracy
G Devarajan, Gen Sec All India Forward Bloc
Gabriele Dietrich Movement for Womrn's Rightss
Geeta Seshu, Co-Editor, Free Speech Collective
Gutta Rohith, Human Rights Forum
Indian Social Action Forum – INSAF
Joy Sinha – COLLECTIVE Delhi
K Babu Rao, HRF, President, Hyderabad City
K P Sasi, Activist Film Maker
K. G. Jagadeesan trustee Centre Gandhi Smark Nidhi
K. J. Joy, Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India, Pune
K. Sajaya, Women & Transgender Orgs JAC, Hyderabad.
Krishnakant (NAPM, Gujarat)
Leena Dabiru, Anhad, Delhi
Madhu Bhushan, Women's rights activist, Bangalore
Madhuri, Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan Madhya Pradesh
Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachavo Aandolan
Meera Sanghamitra (National Alliance of People's Movements), NAPM
N.D.Pancholi, Citizens For Democracy, Delhi
Nityanand Jayaraman, Writer, Social Activist. Chennai Solidarity Group. Chennai
Pradip Chatterjee, National Convener, National Platform for Small Scale Fish Workers
Priya Dharshini, Finanical Accountability Network India
Prof. S. P Udayakumar, Anti nuclear activist
Prof. Sandeep Pandey, Writer, Social Activist
Ranjit Sur, APDR
Sandeep Pandey Socialist Party (India)
Soumya Dutta, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha
Subhash Lomte, Swaraj India
Tapas Das, National Convenior, Nodi Bachao Jibon Bachao Andalon
Vidya Dinker, President, INSAF
Vihaan Vee – Ambedkarite, Queer Feminist Activist
Xavier Dias, Editor, Khan Kaneej Aur ADHIKAR (Mines minerals & RIGHTS)
Yash, Let India Breathe
Yugma Collective
A Sunil Dharan, Motilal Nehru College (Delhi University)
A.Suneetha, Independent Researcher, Hyderabad
Alaka Basu, Researcher
Amod Shah, PhD Researcher
Asha Achy Joseph, Dean, SH School of Communication, SH College, Thevara, Kochi
Brinelle Dsouza, Chairperson, Centre for Health and Mental Health, TISS
Chhaya Datar Ex-professor of Women's Studies in TISS
Devika, feminist scholar
Dr . K.P Rammohan, Economist
Dr. K. G. Tara, Former Head, Disaster Management Centre
Dr. Karuna DW,
Dr. Mary George, Economist
Dr. P. A. Azeez, Salim Ali Centre For Ornithology And Natural History
Dr. T. G. Jacob
Frans Manjali, Prof. Linguistics, JNU
Hariprasath R, Researcher
Jashodhara Dasgupta, Independent Researcher
Kochurani Abraham, feminist theologian, Kerala
M. Dasan, Dalit Thinker
Maggie Allessu, Vidhyadeep college, Gujarat
Nandita Narain, Associate Professor, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University College
Nivedita Menon, Professor JNU
Padma Velaskar ,Professor (Retd) TISS
Prof. Iris
Prof. Janaki abraham,
Prof. Kusum Joseph
Prof. Sanil V
Prof. Vida Sequeira (Retired)
Prof. Vindo Chandran
Rakhi Sehgal, Researcher, New Delhi
Rita Paes Retired Professor
Rohini Hensman, writer and researcher, Mumbai
Seethalakshmi, Independent Researcher and Activist
Shilpa Parthan, PhD student, University of Illinois Chicago
Shweta Wagh, Associate Professor, KRVIA. PhD researcher IIT Bombay
Soma K P, Independent researcher

Academicians / Writers

Swati Birla, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Trisha Gupta, University of Oxford
Vineetha Venugopal, Researcher

Poets, writers and solidarity from Kerala Groups

B Rajeevan, Cultural critic
Binitha Thampi, Poet
C Radhakrishnan, Novelist
Damodar Prasad, Journalist
Dr. Ambikasuthan Mangad
Fr. Jose Kaliekkal ,
Hameed Vaniyambalam, state president welfare party
Joseph Jude, Kerala Regional Latin Catholic Council (KRLCC) state vice-president
K Ajitha, Feminist activist, Anweshi
K. Sahadevan, writter
Kalpatta Narayan, writter
KG Sankarapilla (KGS), Poet
Kumar Kalanand Mani, Save the Western Ghats Movement
Kuripuzha Sreekumar, Poet
Pandavath Baburaj, Activist Film Maker
S Rajeevan, K Rail Virudha Jankeeya Samara Samiti
Sarath Cheloor, State Coordinator, NAPM- Keralam
Savithri Rajeevan, Poet
Sridhar Radhakrishnan , Kerala Paristhithi Aikya Vedhi
V Dinakaran , Akhila Kerala Dheevara Sabha
Vijayaraghavan Cheliya, State Convenor, NAPM Keralam