[IPSM] APRIL 27: Alcan out of Kashipur! Picket at Alcan AGM

[Nora Butler-Burke]

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Subject: APRIL 27: Alcan out of Kashipur! Picket at Alcan AGM
Date:    Thu, April 20, 2006 11:49 pm
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[Please diffuse widely]

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ALCAN OUT OF KASHIPUR!
Picket at Alcan Annual Shareholders Meeting in Solidarity with
Kashipur Resistance!
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DATE: Thursday, April 27th
TIME: 8:30 am to 4 pm
PLACE: Centre Mont-Royal, corner of Mansfield and Sherbrooke, Peel Metro

Communities from India’s Kashipur region in the state of Orissa
continue to face repression and state-sponsored police brutality in
their struggle against Alcan’s proposed bauxite mine and alumina
smelter.  On April 27th, Alcan executives and shareholders will gather
at the Annual General Meeting in downtown Montreal. Come out and bring
the Kashipur struggle to the streets of Montreal!

** AT 8:30 AM, MAKE NOISE FOR ALCAN EXECUTIVES AND SHAREHOLDERS!!

BRING YOUR POTS, PANS AND NOISEMAKERS TO MARK THIRTEEN YEARS OF RESISTANCE!!

Over the last thirteen years, the adivasi (indigenous) and dalit
(low-caste) grassroots resistance movement in Kashipur has prevented
Alcan and its corporate partners in UAIL from building a bauxite mine
and smelter on their land. Since late 2004, the consortium and its
allies within the local government have been executing a wave of
police violence and political repression.  Dozens of anti-mine village
activists are being held on false charges and the entire region is
under police occupation, creating an escalating climate of fear for
communities fighting for their land and livelihoods.

THE KALINGANAGAR MASSACRE: A MESSAGE TO ALCAN

In January 2006, in nearby Kalinganagar, police opened fire on
villagers protesting against a steel plant, killing dozens and leaving
behind severely mutilated bodies in an incident which sent shockwaves
throughout India. The political regime behind the Kalinganagar
massacre is the same regime which is working closely with Alcan and
its partners to crush resistance to the Kashipur project. This
incident is a stark reminder of police shootings at an anti-mine
protest which left three villagers dead and thirteen seriously injured
in Kashipur in December 2000.

DEMAND DIVESTMENT!!

In solidarity with the grassroots resistance in Kashipur, India,
Montreal’s Alcan’t in India collective is demanding that Alcan divest
from the UAIL alumina mine and smelter project. This demand is based
on :

1.The ongoing police brutality and political repression which has
resulted in dozens of political prisoners, three deaths and increasing
militarization in Kashipur and nearby Kalinganagar,

2.The serious environmental risks which could jeopardize the lives of
tens of thousands of marginalized dalit and adivasi people, whose
means of livelihood are dependant on agriculture,

3. Recognition of the right to land and self-determination of the
dalit and adivasi people.

For more information or to get involved in the Alcan’t in India
Campaign: alcantinindia at yahoo.com.

www.alcantinindia.org