Greetings,

I just signed the following petition addressed to:

Stop State Repression in Tamil Nadu, India

Dear Sir/ Madam

Police have arrested 18 men more at Koodankulam last night but nothing happened here at Idinthakarai at night. Some 5,000 women, men and children slept around St. Lourdes Church. Some 185 men and women and their Parish Priest Fr. Suseelan were arrested at Koottapuli village when they sat down by the side of the road protesting against the police peacefully. They are being held at Tirunelveli armed reserve camp. The other group of 9 people including our Struggle Committee members Adv. Sivasubramanian and Rajalingom, arrested yesterday and now charged with sedition including Sections 121, 121A and 153A, has been taken to Tirunelveli also and we do not know where they are being held.

6000 armed policemen, led by Tamil Nadu’s Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), 3 DIGs (Deputy Inspector Generals) and 20 SPs (Superintendents of Police) who are present themselves and are presiding over this operation that can turn up into a state-sanctioned carnage of its own civilians.

As drumbeats approached Idinthakarai, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry hails the decision to start the Koodankulam reactor as it is necessary for the State’s “progress”.

A 5-page press statement from the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu ended the rituals of “engaging people”, “dialogue with the locals” and “allaying their fears” in the world’s largest democracy. Not surprisingly, the government crackdown on people’s movement waited for another mega-ritual to end: the elections in the neighbouring assembly constituency of Sankarankoil on March 18.

Since yesterday afternoon, the police squads have blocked every road leading to Koodankulam and Idinthikarai to prevent people from gathering there. Yet, more than 20,000 people have gathered at the gate of Koodankulam nuclear power project, with several hundreds getting detained on their way.

Learning from the democracies in the West, the corporate media here has also embedded itself to this ‘shock and awe’. Newspapers and TV channels are abuzz with the ‘green signal’ given to the nuclear project and the country’s progress. The titles say it all: Koodankulam nuclear power plant issue ends (DNA), Koodankulam to ease power crisis (DNA). S K Jain, the Chairman of the Nuclear Power Corporation (NPCIL) has been quoted saying: “The NPCIL is very happy, and we are thankful to the Tamil Nadu government and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in particular. Under her guidance and the initiative taken by the Centre, we are in a position to allay the fears of the people”. All this when people in Koodankulam are going through nightmare in full gaze of the Indian democracy. Democracy today is all about overriding democratic right of the people to decide whether they want a reactor in their backyard, through brutal force of state repression.

We Demand-
[1] the immediate release of Anti- KNPP activist
[2] the withdrawal of the Tamil Nadu cabinet resolution,
[3] a thorough and complete probe of geologists, hydrologists and oceanographers into the safety issues of the Koodankulam nuclear power plant,
[4] release of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) signed secretly by the governments of India and Russia on liability in February 2008, and
[5] conduct safety drills and evacuation drills in the 30-km radius of the Koodankulam project.

Yours sincerly

[Your name]