[GreenYes] Fighting Terrorism of All Brands -- Violence in Aluminum Coke Cans?

["Bill Sheehan" <zerowaste@grrn.org>]

THE HINDU, Saturday September 22, 2001

FIGHTING TERRORISM OF ALL BRANDS

By Vandana Shiva

September 18 was the day for solidarity with victims of 
the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11. 
I joined the millions of people to observe two minutes 
silence at 10:30 a.m. for those who lost their lives in the 
assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. 
But I also thought of the millions who are victims of 
other terrorist actions and other forms of violence. And 
I renewed my commitment to resist violence in all its 
forms.

At 10:30 a.m. on September 18, I was with Laxmi, 
Raibari and Suranam in Jhodia Sahi village in Kashipur 
district of Orissa. Laxmi's husband Ghabi Jhodia was 
among the 20 tribals who recently died of starvation. In 
the same village, Subarna Jhodia had also died. Later, 
we met Singari in Bilamal village who had lost her 
husband Sadha, elder son Surat, younger son Paila and 
daughter-in-law Sulami.

The deliberate denial of food to the hungry is at the 
core of the World Bank Structural Adjustment 
programmes. Dismantling the Public Distribution 
System (PDS) was a World Bank conditionality. It was 
justified on grounds of reducing expenditure. But the 
food subsidy budget has exploded from Rs. 2,800 
crores in 1991 to Rs. 14,000 crores in 2001. More 
money is being spent to store grain because the Bank 
wanted food subsidies to be withdrawn. This led to 
increase in food prices, lowering of purchase from PDS 
and build up of stocks. The food security of the nation 
is collapsing.

Starvation deaths in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Orissa 
are symptoms of the breakdown of our food systems. 
Kashipur was gifted with abundance of nature. 
Starvation is the result of waves of violence against 
nature and the tribal communities, of ecological plunder 
of the resources of the region, the dismantling of the 
food security system under economic reform policies 
and the impact of climate change which caused crop 
failures.

Twenty years ago, the pulp and paper industry raped the 
forests of Kashipur. Today, the herbs stand naked and 
the paper mills are bringing eucalyptus from 
neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Now the giant mining 
companies - Hydro of Norway, Alcan of Canada, 
Indico, Balco/Sterlite of India have unleashed a new 
wave of terror. They are eyeing the bauxite in the 
majestic hills of Kashipur as it is used for aluminium 
that will go to make Coca Cola cans and fighter planes.

Imagine each mountain to be a World Trade Center 
built by nature over millennia. Think of how many 
tragedies bigger than what the world experienced on 
September 11 are taking place to provide raw material 
for insatiable industry and markets. The Aluminium 
companies want the homelands of the Kashipur tribals. 
But the tribals refuse to leave. They are defending the 
land and earth through a non-violent movement. This 
forced apportioning of resources from people too is a 
form of terrorism - corporate terrorism.

The 50 million tribals who have been flooded out of 
their homes by dams over the past four decades are also 
victims of terrorism - they have faced the terror of 
technology and destructive development. For the 
30,000 people who died in the Orissa supercyclone, and 
the millions who will die when flood and drought and 
cyclones become more severe because of climate 
change and fossil fuel pollution, the U.S. President, Mr. 
George W. Bush, is an ecological terrorist because he 
refuses to sign the Kyoto protocol.

The WTO was named the World Terrorist Organisation 
by citizens in Seattle because its rules denied millions 
the right to life and livelihood. Terrorism can only be 
stopped  by cultures of peace, democracy, and people's 
security. It is wrong to define the post-September 11 
world as a war between ``civilisation and barbarism'' or 
``democracy and terrorism.'' It is a war between two 
forms of terrorism which are  mirror images of each 
other's mindsets. They share the dominant culture of 
violence. They use the same weapons and the same 
technologies. In terms of the preference for violence 
and use of terror, both sides are clones of each other. 
And their victims are innocent people everywhere.

As we remember the victims of Black Tuesday, let us 
also strengthen our solidarity with the millions of 
invisible victims of other forms of terrorism and 
violence which are threatening the very possibility of 
our future on this planet. We can turn this tragic brutal 
historical moment into building cultures of peace.

 The writer is Director, Research Foundation for 
Science, Technology and Ecology, New Delhi
Document2   -   Page 3


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