[Bloquez l'empire!] (friday!)Alcan out of Kashipur! Vigil for 3 Activists Killed Protesting Alcan Mine

[tamara]

DEAD + 5 YEARS + NO JUSTICE = NOT JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE FOR ALCAN!

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VIGIL IN MEMORY OF THREE COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS KILLED AS A RESULT OF 
ALCAN'S "DEVELOPMENT"
IN INDIA: 5TH ANNUAL COMMEMORATION
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CANDLE LIGHT VIGIL & FILM PROJECTIONS
+ music, speakers, tea, snacks

WHEN: DECEMBER 16TH, 2005, 4:00 TO 6:00 pm
WHERE: MAISON ALCAN, 1188, Sherbrooke W. @ Stanley (Peel Metro)

Called by the Alcan't in  India Solidarity Project

Alcan't in India will also hold an all-day picket outside the Maison 
Alcan (8 am to 6
pm). Come show your support!

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REMIND ALCAN THAT DECEMBER 16TH WILL NEVER BE JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE.
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On December 16th 2000, several policemen were dispatched to the village 
of Maikanch, in
India's Kashipur region. Their orders: to search for and arrest 
targeted "leaders" of a
peoples' rally that had taken place the day before.

The gathering had been organised to denounce the development of a 
lucrative mining
project by the Utkal Consortium - owned in part by ALCAN of Canada - on 
the sacred land
of the Adivasi (indigenous) and Dalit (lower-caste) People of Kashipur.

On that day, the police shot and killed three villagers: Damodar, 
Raghunath and Avhilas
Jhodia. These men's opposition to the plundering and destruction of 
their ancestral land
by a foreign corporation was their only "crime".

ON DECEMBER 16TH, 2005, THE ADIVASIS AND DALITS OF KASHIPUR WILL 
CONFRONT POLICE AND
PARAMILITARIES TO GATHER IN COMMEMORATION OF THE SHOOTING OF DAMODAR, 
RAGHUNATH AND
ABHILASH. SOLIDARITY MOVEMENTS FROM ALL OVER INDIA AND THE WORLD WILL 
GATHER TO DO THE
SAME.

Five years later, ALCAN still denies any responsibility in this 
tragedy. Yet the company
continues to push the Utkal project forward and its active share has 
grown to 45%.

Despite having no documented evidence, Alcan executives continue to 
allege that the
project has the support of local villages. At the same time, Alcan 
refuses to acknowledge
signed statements of opposition by elected village leaders and a motion 
passed in the
village council calling for the projects' cancellation.

THIRTEEN YEARS OF RESISTANCE & MOUNTING REPRESSION

Over the last thirteen years, the people's grass roots resistance has 
actually prevented
the company from beginning construction. But in the last year, the 
company and its allies
within the Orissa government have once again resorted to police 
violence to repress the
people's movement.

After Chief-Minister of Orissa called for the suppression of all 
anti-mining activity in
Kashipur in late 2004, police executed a violent charge with batons 
against villagers who
had gathered to propose the mine. Since then, targeted "leaders" have 
been bullied and
jailed under dubious charges while anti-mine villagers and local 
pro-People NGOs have
been submitted to continued political harassment. The entire region is 
essentially under
police occupation.

STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT IN KASHIPUR.

Remind Alcan, as repression continues due to its investment, December 
16th is not just
another day at the office.

For more information on Alcan's Kashipur project and the people's 
resistance movement or
to get involved:

-ALCAN'T IN INDIA-

www.alcantinindia.org