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Commentary
June 2007
Annette Rubinstein 1910-2007
May 2007
The Nepali Revolution and International Relations
by John Mage
Reflections
by Fidel Castro Ruz
October 2006
It Could Happen Here
by Gregory Meyerson and Michael Joseph Roberto
September 2006
Did Mao Really
Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward?
by Joseph Ball
What Maoism Has
Contributed
by Samir Amin
May 2006
Universal Rights
and Wrongs: Roper v. Simmons, Torture and Judge Posner
by Michael E.
Tigar
August 2005
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on the
Successful Attack on the Fortified Army Base in Kalikot on August 7th-8th,
2005
July 2005
Internal Debate within the Communist Party
of Nepal (Maoist)
June 2005
Nepal—The
Most Significant Popular Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the World
Today
by Randhir Singh
Debate Over the Future of the AFL-CIO: More
Heat than Light
by Bill Fletcher,
Jr.
May 2005
Hands off
Assata Campaign
Statement from the Black
Radical Congress
Will Miller: The
Life of an Activist-Educator
by Ron Jacobs
André Gunder Frank
(1929-2005)
by Theotonio dos
Santos
April 2005
A Note on the
Death of André Gunder Frank (1929-2005)
by Samir Amin
March 2005
Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on the Royal
Dictatorship and the Need For a Democratic Republic in Nepal
February 2005
The Future of Organized Labor in the U.S.:
Reinventing Trade Unionism for the 21st Century
by Kate Bronfenbrenner,
Donna Dewitt, Bill Fletcher, Jr., et al.
January 2005
On December 24, 2004, Maoists in China Get
Three Year Prison Sentences for Leafleting
May 2004
William H. Hinton
(1919 –2004)
by John Mage
April 2004
Can the Working
Class Change the World?
by Michael D.
Yates
December 2003
A Turn for the
Worse in the United States: Criminalizing Dissent
by Lynne A. Williams,
Esq.
September 2003
Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on the Failure of the
Peace Talks in Nepal
August 2003
Remembering W.E.B. Du Bois
by Bill Fletcher,
Jr.
June 2003
Gilbert Achcar Interviewed by David
Barsamian
May 2003
Fidel Castro: May
Day 2003
March 2003
Understanding the U.S. War State
by John McMurtry
February 2003
Women’s
Leadership and the Revolution in Nepal
by Com. Parvati
November 2002
The Face of
Empire
by William K. Tabb
September 2002
A Communication from the Revolutionaries in
Nepal on the Current (September 2002) Situation in the Civil War
Comparisons
Between Recent U.S.-Backed Coups: Caracas and Kathmandu
by Wayne Madsen
May 2002
A Struggle Within
the Chinese Communist Party
Letter of the
Fourteen
Letter of Ma Bin
and Han Yaxi
April 2002
Goldilocks Meets
a Bear: How Bad Will the U.S. Recession Be?
by Fred Moseley
Hypocrisy and Human Rights
by H. E. Mr. Felipe
Pérez Roque
January 2002
Birthpangs of Democracy in Nepal:
Commentary from Dr. Baburam Bhattarai
November 2001
Terrorism and
Human Rights
by Michael E.
Tigar
September 2001
Terror Attacks of
September 11, 2001
Statement from the Black
Radical Congress
August 2001
Will We Awaken
and Find That No One Is Left
by Bill Fletcher,
Jr.
July 2001
A Tale of Two
Conferences
by Bill Fletcher,
Jr.
June 2001
The Letter of Dr.
Baburam Bhattarai on the Palace Massacre in Nepal
April 2001
Statement on the
Rebellion in Cincinnati and Continued Police Terror
Statement from the Black
Radical Congress
African Leaders
Hide Political Woes Behind Homophobia
Statement from the Black
Radical Congress
March 2001
Communists Return
to Power in Moldova: Hope for a Communist Democracy in the Former Soviet
Union?
by John Mage
Contemporary Police Brutality and
Misconduct: A Continuation of the Legacy of Racial Violence
Statement from the Black
Radical Congress
February 2001
A Silent Coup
d’État: Only in America
by Edward Greer
U.S. Wouldn't Tolerate Our Election in
Nicaragua
by Robert W.
McChesney
Media Giants Have
a Pal at the FCC
by Robert W.
McChesney
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Monday, 16 June 2007
 We, the undersigned, are dismayed at the continued detention of Dr Binayak Sen, General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), since May 14. Dr Binayak Sen is also the National Vice-President of the PUCL, one of the oldest civil liberties organisations in India.
Dr Sen epitomises a dwindling tradition in India of public health professionals taking health care to the poorest sections and most underdeveloped regions of this country. For the past 30 years, he has been promoting community rural health care centres. He was a member of the State Advisory Committee that piloted a community-based health worker programme in Chhattisgarh. He also helped establish the Shaheed Hospital in Dalli Rajhara, set up and operated by workers for over 25 years. We believe that the arrest of Dr Binayak Sen is a grave assault on the democratic rights movement in India. The PUCL Chhattisgarh has been one of the foremost independent organisations to draw attention to the excesses committed by the Chhattisgarh Government under its Salwa Judum campaign. The fake encounters, rapes, burning of villages and displacement of adivasis in tens of thousands and consequent loss of livelihoods have been extensively chronicled by several independent investigations. Dr Sen’s arrest is clearly an attempt to intimidate the PUCL and other democratic voices that have been speaking out against human rights violations in the State. In recent days, the targets of State harassment have widened to include Dr llina Sen, who for years has been active in the women’s movement, Gautam Bandopadhyaya of Nadi Ghati Morcha, PUCL’s Rashmi Dwivedi, and other activists of the PUCL.
Dr Sen has been detained under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2006 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004 on charges that are completely baseless. Both these extraordinary laws have been criticised by numerous civil rights groups for being extremely vague and subjective in what is deemed unlawful, and for giving arbitrary powers to the State to silence all manner of dissent.
As was feared, these undemocratic laws have been used to target Dr Sen and the PUCL Chhattisgarh.
We demand:
1. That all charges against Dr Sen be dropped and that he should be released immediately;
2. That the threats to and harassment of other activists be stopped immediately;
3. The immediate disbanding of the Salwa Judum; and
4. That the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2006 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004 be repealed.
Signatories:
- Professor Noam Chomsky
- Professor Romila Thapar
- Professor Irfan Habib
- Dr Ashok Mitra
- Habib Tanvir
- Arundhati Roy
- Professor Amiya Bagchi
- Professor Prabhat Patnaik
- Rajendra Yadav
- Professor Sumit Sarkar
- Dilip Chitre
- Professor Jean Dreze
- Professor Namwar Singh
- Shyam Benegal
- Professor Uma Chakravarti
- Professor Anand Chakravarti
- Anand Patwardhan
- Professor Imrana Qadeer
- Professor Utsa Patnaik
- Dr Rama Baru
- Dr Ritu Priya
- Professor Tanika Sarkar
- Anand Swaroop Verma
- Sayera Habib
- Professor Abhijit Sen
- Geetha Hariharan
- Professor Jasodhara Bagchi
- Gopa Sen
- Krishna Suman
- Dunu Roy
- Dr K. J. Mukherjee
- Amar Kanwar
- Vrinda Grover
- Dr Mohan Rao
- K. R. Nair.
Free Dr. Binayak Sen, Immediately!
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