Open letter to the writers attending Vedanta JLF London 2016
from Niyamgiri mountain to the river Kafue
calling Vedanta to justice
12th May 2016
Dear All,
We are deeply shocked and dismayed to hear that you have agreed to participate at the Jaipur Literature Festival claiming to be “The Greatest Literary Show on Earth” which has ‘the world’s most hated company‘ Vedanta as its key sponsor. Are you aware that Vedanta’s activities are destroying the lives of thousands of people in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Punjab and also in Zambia, South Africa and Australia? Are you also aware that Zambian villagers are currently taking Vedanta subsidiary KCM to court in the UK, accusing it of consistently poisoning their water over the last decade?
In 2011 Zambian High Court Judge Phillip Musonda said he wanted to make an example of Vedanta for their ‘gross recklessness’ in polluting the River Kafue without remorse, and highlighted ‘KCM’s don’t care attitude whether human life which sacrosanct in our constitution was lost or not.’ In 2014 Vedanta 69% owner and Chairman Anil Agarwal was caught on video bragging to businessmen at a Bangalore conference that he had bought the Zambian copper mines at a fraction of their value and was making $500 million each year despite declaring a loss in Zambia. The Zambian government reacted by auditing the mines, and discovered vast tax evasion schemes and asset stripping.
In Korba, Chhattisgarh, India between 40 and 100 workers died at Vedanta subsidiary BALCO’s aluminium smelter complex when a chimney under construction collapsed on them in September 2009. The subsequent judicial inquiry into the incident found Vedanta guilty of negligence and using sub-standard materials and construction methods. However, Vedanta’s lawyers suppressed the report which was leaked by activists in 2014.
In Odisha, India a nineteen year struggle by indigenous communities, Dalits and farmers led to a historic victory in 2014 when Vedanta was stopped from mining the sacred Niyamgiri hills for bauxite. Vedanta’s attempt to secure the mountain through State Owned OMC was rejected by the Supreme Court again on May 6, 2016. Vedanta Aluminium Ltd had built the 1 mtpa Lanjigarh refinery at the base of the Niyamgiri hills in 2004, and even expanded it six fold, despite having no permission to mine bauxite from the hills above. Vedanta’s launch on the London Stock Exchange in 2003 was based on the impression given to financiers that they had permission to mine Niyamgiri.
In Goa, India, Vedanta’s iron ore mining subsidiary Sesa Goa (now Vedanta Limited) was the largest company indicted by the Shah Commission in 2012 for illegal mining, including failure to obtain leases or environmental clearance, and exporting 150 million tonnes of iron ore from Goa in 2010/11 while only declaring 76 million, their agreed export allowance.
Not far from Jaipur itself Vedanta is accused by an employee’s union of casualising and de-unionising the labour force at Hindustan Zinc Ltd by reducing permanent workers to only 2,500 of 18,000 workers. The Maton Mines Mazdur Sangh (Maton Mines Workers Union) is also opposing Vedanta for poor working conditions and destruction of crops and houses around their phosphate mines. Meanwhile, on 11th May 2016 Anil Agarwal promoted Sterlite Technologies announced its successful bid to to run a second ‘smart city’ project in Jaipur.
Vedanta has been attempting to create favourable public opinion by sponsoring International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the Our Girls Our Pride gender project and even the oxymoronic Mining Happiness campaign, using celebrities and media houses to hush up its liabilities. But each of these attempts has been exposed by grassroots groups and people’s movements pointing out Vedanta’s corporate crimes using social media and letter writing.
The Vedanta JLF at Southbank is yet again another cynical attempt to distract attention from Vedanta’s crimes at a time when it stands exposed across India and internationally. Vedanta’s interests are directly opposed to the Dalit, Adivasi, Bahujan Samaj and black communities it claims to be helping.
Literature doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As public figures, we believe that writers and artists also have responsibilities. It makes little sense to discuss books and ideas and the problems of the world in abstraction, while being funded by and publicising a company that has been and continues to be a gross violator of human rights across the world. We hope that you agree, and will withdraw from involvement in this discredited and damaging PR campaign, rather than lending your name to it.
Yours sincerely,
~ Anu Ramdas, Editor, Round Table India
Naren Bedide (Kuffir), Editor, Round Table India
Courttia Newland, writer
Dr. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar
Medical doctor and author, Jharkhand, India
Firoze Manji, former Editor, Pambazuka News
Gladson Dungdung, Activist, Author
Arao Ameny, Founder of Association of African Journalists & Writers
Neetisha Xalxo
V.Divakar, Editor, The Baroda Pamphlet
Sruthi Herbert, Doctoral Candidate, SOAS
Ashley Tellis, writer, lecturer, activist
Akash Poyam, Founding Editor at adivasiresurgence.com
Surya Shankar, Filmmaker
Ashutosh Wasnik, senior human resources analyst at SaskPower, govt of Saskatchewan, Canada
Gaurav Somwanshi, Entrepreneur
Akshay Pathak, Writer
Cathal Healy-Singh, Environmental Engineer, Trinidad & Tobago
Atul Anand, Researcher & Documentary maker
Alex Lubin, Professor, University of New Mexico
Rafiq Kathwari, poet
Hemant Divate, poet, editor, publisher and translator
Amrit Wilson
Murali Shanmugavelan, Researcher, Media and Anthropology, SOAS
Madhusree Mukerjee, writer
Shiv Prasad Joshi, Poet-Writer, Translator, Media Teacher, Journalist
Wayne Kublalsingh, writer
Anitha Thampi, Poet
Hartman de Souza, writer, theatre director, teacher
Sukant Chandan, Malcolm X Movement
Kavita Bhanot, writer
Manju Rajak, Artist
Gouri Patwardhan, filmmaker
Aflatoon, All India Organisational Secretary, Samajwadi Janaparishad
Vinay Shende, HR Professional
Nilesh Kumar, PhD Researcher, TISS
Vijay Chandra, Telugu poet
Sruti Bala, Asst. Professor, Theatre Studies, Univ of Amsterdam Netherlands
Dharma Teja, Dalit Camera
Satwinder Kaur, activist
Mangalesh Dabral, The Public Agenda (Hindi fortnightly), poet, journalist
Asad Zaidi, writer and publisher, Three Essays Collective
Sufi Hussain, Anthropologist & Coordinator DST at Dalit Sujaag Tehreek
Sir Julian Rose, author and President of International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside
Ujjwal Bhattacharya, Journalist and Writer.
Professor Patrick Bond – Centre for Civil Society, Johannesburg
Charu Soni, independent journalist & writer
Pamela Gonsalves – Save Goa Campaign
Amita Kanekar
Ananta Dash
Rollie Mukherjee, Artist & writer, Vadodara.
Tariq Mehmood, writer, Assistant Professor, American University, Beirut
Vinita Damodaran, Director, CWEH, University of Sussex
Saransh Gautam, IT Professional
Prameya M, Ph.D student
Vaibhav Wasnik, postdoctoral researcher, Saarland University, Department of Physics
Pinak Banik, Artist and Teacher
Stalin K., Director, Video Volunteers
Priyadarshini Ohol, Artist
Abhiyan Humane, Artist and Teacher
Priyabrata Mahapatra, IT Professional
Subash Kulesika, Youth Leader, Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti
Rebecca Oliner, Artist
Devangana Kalita, Foil Vedanta
Amarjit Chandan, poet
Taru Dalmia, the ska vengers
Samara Chopra, the ska vengers
Mohinder Singh, Assistant Professor, Political Science JNU
James Michael, writer
Surya Vahni Priya Capildeo, poet
Nabina Das, poet and writer
Nitasha Kaul, author academic and activist
Balvinder Banga, writer
Samantha Asumadu, Media Diversified
Koonal Duggal, Researcher, Department of Cultural Studies, EFL University
Ganesh Digal, Odisha Research Scholars For Social Justice (ORSSJ)
Roshan, Odisha Research Scholars for Social Justice (ORSSJ)
Rajesh Bagh, Odisha Research Scholars for Social Justice (ORSSJ)
James Nyasulu, community activist and pollution affected person, Chingola, Zambia.
William Chitundu, KCM former miners, Zambia.
Jonathan Mbewe, Residents of 1st Street against Pollution, Chingola, Zambia.
Miriam Rose, Foil Vedanta
Samarendra Das, Foil Vedanta
Richard Solly, London Mining Network.
Alfredo Quarto, Executive Director, Mangrove Action Project
Kofi Mawuli Klu, PANAFRIINDABA Grassroots Pan-Afrikan Community Advocacy, Research and Think Tank, London, United Kingdom
Rabinarayan Pradhan, Sr.sub editor, The Prameya, Odisha
Rumana Hashem, Bangladesh National Committee
Lyla Mehta, Professor , Institute of Development Studies, UK
Ananya Chakravarti, Assistant professor of history, Georgetown University
Zuky Serper, artist, Foil Vedanta
Amarjit Singh, activist
Charu Soni, independent journalist & writer
Swayambar Naik, Researcvh Scholar, ORSSSJ
Rohith Jyothish, Student, JNU
John Hutnyk, Professor, National Chiao Tung University
Anandi Ramamurthy, University of Central Lancashire, School of Journalism Media & Communication
Eye Art Collective
Siddhartha Deb, author
Biswajit K. Bora, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Shyama Prasad Mukherji College (for Women) University of Delhi
Ravinder Singh
Sushil Kumar Jain
Stefan Kaye, The Ska Vengers
Sumit Mahar, Community Media Student, TISS Mumbai
Raghavendra Rao, Srishti, School of Art, Design and Technology, Visual Artist
Shyamolie Singh, MA student, JNU
Manohar Naga, Ex teacher, University of Hyderabad
Shreya Sinha, Doctoral Candidate, SOAS
Dr. Rashmi Varma, University of WarwickSonal Chunarkar
Dhanu River
Aditya Sinha
Phiroze Vasunia
Metis Bishwaroopa
Harmony Siganporia
Nagesh Anand
Madhuresh Kumar
Uma Murugan
Teja Pusapati
Pratham Sagar
Alex Steele
Chandra Shekhar A.K
Harsh Punja
Laurel Fredrickson
Tarun Bhartiya
Ujjal Banik
Jeffrey Blehar
Stephen Cowden
Ajin K Thomas
Amla Pisharody
Jeni Hunneyball
Karlijn Arts
Gunjan Jain, Textile Designer, Vriksh
Satabdi Mishra, Walking Bookfairs
Ashutosh Panchbhai
M Galberdi
Anette Schreiber
Samudra Saikat
Hazel Jordan, Manager, Alcohol and Drugs Services
Laurèl Hadleigh
Anni Movsisyan
Aniket Chatterjee
Yusuf Musse
Ishan Banerjee
Shefalee Jain
Anuradha Ramanujan
Ifrah Javaid, University of Delhi
Karen Coelho, Madras Institute of Development
Ms. Yanbeni Yanthan, Assistant Professor, Naga Tribal Language Studies, Nagaland University,
Bela Bhatia, Activist, Social Researcher
Anuj Gupta
Rosheena Zehra
Zeeshan Hasan Akhtar, Theatre practitioner and filmmaker
Idris Bhat, Ph.d Philosophy, Jawahar Lal Nehru University.
Tathagatan Ravindran
Jamminlian Vualnam, Manipur Tribals Forum
Gowhar Fazili Researcher from Kashmir Dept. of Sociology, DSE, University of Delhi
Asmita Chaudhuri Sushmita, actiivist and researcher, CPDR and Aaghaaz
Kalpana Wilson, London School of Economics
Saunvedan Aparanti, South Asia Solidarity Group
Ananya Rao Middleton, Cambridge University
Sarbjit Johal South, Asia Solidarity Group
Nirmala Rajasingam, South Asia Solidarity Group
Shruti Iyer, South Asia Solidarity Group
Mridula Koshy, writer and community organizer
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Readers who wish to express solidarity with the protest may please add their names etc in the comments.
Update: Please visit the Facebook ‘Boycott Vedanta JLF London‘ page for details on the protest planned on 21 May in London.
