Joint statement against defamation

November 7, 2022

Following is the Solidarity joint statement by various National based and Kerala based Social – Political – Human rights organisations, Scientists, Poets, Academicians, Religious leaders, Writers, Lawyers, Political – Social Activists and Journalists against the slander campaign run by media and powerful lobbies with vested interests against the activists fighting against Vizhinjam Adani International Seaport.

Solidarity Statement against malicious slandering of activists who are fighting against Adani International Seaport at Vizhinjam, Kerala, India

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 News18,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 sectorsince1980.

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 fisherfolks in Vizhinjam, under the leadership of Thiruvananthapuram Latin Archdiocese, have been protesting for the last 105days,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 as ustainable 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 neigh bouring state TamilNadu model.

(5) Provide minimum wages to the fisherfolks 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 over turn 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

1.Aflathoon,Gen.Secretary,SamajwadiJanParishad
2.AmmuAbraham,FAOW &PUCLMaharashtra(E.C.)
3.AnandPatwardhan,Film Maker
4.AnjaliBharadwaj,CollectiveDelhi
5.ArundhatiDhuru,NationalConvenor,NationalAllianceofPeoplesMovements
6.AshokChoudhary/Roma,AllIndiaUnionofForestWorkingPeople
7.AvinashKumar,FormerDirector,AmnestyInternationalIndia.
8.Aysha,RighttoFoodCampaign
9.ChandanaPusapati,DakshinFoundation
10.DelhiSolidarityGroup
11.Dr.JohnDayal,Writer,HumanRightsActivist
12.Dr.Ram Puniyani,NationalSolidarityForum
13.Dr.Suneelam ExMLA,PresidentMultaiKisanSangharshSamiti
14.Dr.SyedaHammed,FormerMemberPlanningCommission
15.EvitaDas-PakistanIndiaPeoples’forum forpeaceanddemocracy
16.GDevarajan,GenSecAllIndiaForwardBloc
17.GabrieleDietrichMovementforWomrn’sRightss
18.GeetaSeshu,Co-Editor,FreeSpeechCollective
19.GuttaRohith,HumanRightsForum
20.IndianSocialActionForum –INSAF
21.JoySinha-COLLECTIVEDelhi
22.KBabuRao,HRF,President,HyderabadCity
23.KPSasi,ActivistFilm Maker
24.K.G.JagadeesantrusteeCentreGandhiSmarkNidhi
25.K.J.Joy,Forum forPolicyDialogueonWaterConflictsinIndia,Pune
26.K.Sajaya,Women&TransgenderOrgsJAC,Hyderabad.
27.Krishnakant(NAPM,Gujarat)
28.LeenaDabiru,Anhad,Delhi
29.MadhuBhushan,Women’srightsactivist,Bangalore
30.Madhuri,JagritAdivasiDalitSangathanMadhyaPradesh
31.MedhaPatkar,NarmadaBachavoAandolan
32.MeeraSanghamitra(NationalAllianceofPeople’sMovements),NAPM
33.N.D.Pancholi,CitizensForDemocracy,Delhi
34.NityanandJayaraman,Writer,SocialActivist.ChennaiSolidarityGroup.
Chennai
35.PradipChatterjee,NationalConvener,NationalPlatform forSmallScaleFish
Workers
36.PriyaDharshini,FinanicalAccountabilityNetworkIndia
37.Prof.S.PUdayakumar,Antinuclearactivist
38.Prof.SandeepPandey,Writer,SocialActivist
39.RanjitSur,APDR
40.SandeepPandeySocialistParty(India)
41.SoumyaDutta,BharatJanVigyanJatha
42.SubhashLomte,SwarajIndia
43.TapasDas,NationalConvenior,NodiBachaoJibonBachaoAndalon
44.VidyaDinker,President,INSAF
45.VihaanVee-Ambedkarite,QueerFeministActivist
46.XavierDias,Editor,KhanKaneejAurADHIKAR(Minesminerals&RIGHTS)
47.Yash,LetIndiaBreathe
48.YugmaCollective

Academicians/Writers

49.ASunilDharan,MotilalNehruCollege(DelhiUniversity)
50.A.Suneetha,IndependentResearcher,Hyderabad
51.AlakaBasu,Researcher
52.AmodShah,PhDResearcher
53.AshaAchyJoseph,Dean,SHSchoolofCommunication,SHCollege,Thevara,
Kochi
54.BrinelleDsouza,Chairperson,CentreforHealthandMentalHealth,TISS
55.ChhayaDatarEx-professorofWomen’sStudiesinTISS
56.Devika,feministscholar
57.Dr.K.T.Rammohan,Economist
58.Dr.K.G.Tara,FormerHead,DisasterManagementCentre
59.Dr.KarunaDW,
60.Dr.MaryGeorge,Economist
61.Dr.P.A.Azeez,Salim AliCentreForOrnithologyAndNaturalHistory
62.Dr.T.G.Jacob
63.FransManjali,Prof.Linguistics,JNU
64.HariprasathR,Researcher
65.JashodharaDasgupta,IndependentResearcher
66.KochuraniAbraham,feministtheologian,Kerala
67.M.Dasan,DalitThinker
68.MaggieAllessu,Vidhyadeepcollege,Gujarat
69.NanditaNarain,AssociateProfessor,St.Stephen’sCollege,DelhiUniversity
College
70.NiveditaMenon,ProfessorJNU
71.PadmaVelaskar,Professor(Retd)TISS
72.Prof.Iris
73.Prof.Janakiabraham,
74.Prof.Kusum Joseph
75.Prof.SanilV
76.Prof.VidaSequeira(Retired)
77.Prof.VindoChandran
78.RakhiSehgal,Researcher,NewDelhi
79.RitaPaesRetiredProfessor
80.RohiniHensman,writerandresearcher,Mumbai
81.Seethalakshmi,IndependentResearcherandActivist
82.ShilpaParthan,PhDstudent,UniversityofIllinoisChicago
83.ShwetaWagh,AssociateProfessor,KRVIA.PhDresearcherIITBombay
84.SomaKP,Independentresearcher
85.SwatiBirla,UniversityofMassachusettsAmherst
86.TrishaGupta,UniversityofOxford
87.Dr.P.Udayakumar
88.VineethaVenugopal,Researcher

Poets, writers and solidarity from Kerala Groups

89.B Rajeevan,Culturalcritic
90.BinithaThampi,Poet
91.C Radhakrishnan,Novelist
92.DamodarPrasad,Journalist
93.Dr.AmbikasuthanMangad
94.Fr.JoseKaliekkal,
95.HameedVaniyambalam,statepresidentwelfareparty
96.JosephJude,KeralaRegionalLatinCatholicCouncil(KRLCC)statevicepresident
97.K Ajitha,Feministactivist,Anweshi
98.K.Sahadevan,writer
99.KalpattaNarayan,writer