In the wake of the arrests of human rights activists and lawyers by Pune police in relation to the Bhima Koregaon case, over 80 Palestinian, Latin American and members of international organisations have sent a message of solidarity to the arrested activists. They demand their release and also an end to draconian laws that are used as tools to stifle dissent. In their statement they observe that this pattern of targeting is common to right-wing governments across the world. They also highlight the close ties between India and Israel, and see it as part of Israel’s connection to right wing regimes across the world through exchanges of weapons, technology and ideology. This is exemplified in the militarisation of public life and civil dissent as we are seeing today in India. They call for solidarity amongst movements across the world to struggle against militarism and stifling of dissent. Read their solidarity message below followed by the endorsements:

Solidarity Statement against Repression

On 28th August, 2018, police forces from the city of Pune conducted raids across India and arrested lawyers and civil society activists. Among them is Gautam Navlakha, a human rights activist from India who had joined us in the Public Hearing against militarism: United Struggles against Militarisation from Latin America to Palestine, held in Rio de Janeiro on July 27 2018.

These raids and arrests were conducted on charges around an event which none of those arrested had participated in, and which at any rate was a public gathering against India’s centuries old reprehensible caste system. The police has also concocted charges of supporting a guerilla armed struggle against these human rights defenders. Indian civil society has risen in outrage against these arbitrary and vindictive arrests that have been made under the draconian Unlawful Activities Protection Act. Prominent academics moved the Supreme Court of India on these raids and arrests, and the courts have taken this violation of civil liberties seriously, stating that “Dissent is a safety valve for democracy.”

The script of this story is not new to any of us. The arbitrary use of law to silent and repress those speaking up for justice and equality is a global issue. Right-wing anti-people regimes wield this weapon when they find that their illegitimacy and violence is being challenged by people’s movements. India under Modi-regime has made unprecedented leaps in the direction of and aggressively deepened its ties with Israel. India buys half of Israel’s weapons exports and sees Israel’s militaristic control and surveillance as a model. Right wing regimes across the world are connected to Israel through exchanges of weapons, technology and ideology. This is the Israeli ideology of paranoia and militaristic control of civilian life.

We send our solidarity to the human rights defenders being targeted by the regime for their work of speaking truth to power. We urge struggles in India and across the world to unite against growing militarism and stifling of dissent. We demand that the arrested activists be released immediately and that there be an end to the use of draconian laws to repress activists.

Endorsements:

Rio de Janeiro/Brazil:

 Favela em Foco (Favela in the Focus)
 MARÉ 0800
 Raízes em Movimento (Roots in the Movement)
 Rolé dos favelados
 Centre of the Theatre of the Oppressed
 Network of the communities and affected families against Violence
 Solidarity Committee with Cuba, Rio de Janeiro
 Fórum Grita Baixada (Forum Shout out Baixada)
 Coletivo Papo Reto (Collective Straight Forward Talk)
 Youth Forum of Rio de Janeiro

Argentina:

 Liga Argentina por los Derechos del Hombre (Argentinian League for Human Rights)
 Federation of Argentinian-Palestinian Entities
 Jóvenes con Palestina (Youth with Palestine)

Chile:

 BDS Chile
 General Union of Palestinian Students, Chile
 Autonomous Feminists CI, Chile

Colombia:

 BDS Colombia

Costa Rica:

 Palestine Solidarity Network, Costa Rica
 Centro de Amigos para la Paz (Friends for Peace Centre), Costa Rica

Ecuador:

 Committee of Permanent Solidarity with Palestine, Ecuador

Mexico:

 Palestine Solidarity Coordination, Mexico (Corsopal)
 BDS México
 Universidad de la Tierra (University of the Land), Puebla

Uruguay:

 Committee Free Palestine, Uruguay

International:

 Observatory of the Human Rights of the People. Members:
 Soldepaz – Pachakuti, Spain
 Latin American Network, Zurich, Switzerland
 School of the Americas Watch (SOAWatch), USA
 Global Justice Alliance, USA
 SOA Watch – Observatorio por el Cierre de las Escuela de la Américas de Estados Unidos;
 Network of feminist collectives LA Araña (The Spider), Venezuela
 Revolutionary tendency Bolívar and Zamora, Venezuela
 International Movement for the Economy of the Workers, Venezuela
 Multisectorial Commission, Uruguay
 Network for Organic Integration (RIO) for the protection of Mother Earth and Human Rights, Guatemala
 National Confederation of Farmers, Indigenous and Black People’s (FENOCIN), Ecuador
 Unified Trade Union Confederation of the Rural Workers (CSUTCB), Bolivia
 Observatory of the Human Rights of the PEople, USA and Switzerland chapters
 Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall), Palestine
 Land Defense Coalition, Palestine
 Alliance for a better Darién – AMEDAR, Panama
 Asamblea de los Pueblos en Defensa del Territorio, la Educación Pública, Laica, Gratuitay los Derechos Humanos (Assembly of the Peoples in Defense of the Territory, Public, Secular and Free Education and Human Rights)
 Asamblea Permanente de los Pueblos de Morelos (Permanent Assembly of the Peoples of Morelos)
 Bases Magisteriales (Teachers Collective) de Tabasco, Sección XXIX de Tabasco
 Bases Magisteriales Democráticas (Democratic Teachers Collective) de Quintana Roo, Sección XXV de Q. Roo
 Caja Popular de Ahorro (Popular Savings Bank) “Emiliano Zapata”
 Centro de Atención en Derechos Humanos a la Mujer y el Menor Indígena (CADHMMI) (Center for Human Rights Care for Women and Indigenous Minors)
 Centro Regional Indígena en Derechos Humanos “Ñuu-Savi” (CERIDH) (Indigenous Regional Center on Human Rights)
 Coalición de Jubilados y Pensionados “Elpidio Domínguez Castro”; Talleres
 Coalición de los Pueblos Indígenas de Valles Centrales (COPIVAC) (Coalition of the Indigenous Peoples of the Central Valleys)
 Coalición Nacional de Cooperativas y Empresas Sociales (CONACyES) (National Coalition of Cooperatives and Social Enterprises)
 Colectivo de Estudios (Study Collective) “Ricardo Flores Magón”
 Comité de Defensa Ciudadana (CODECI-MNPP) (Citizen Defense Committee)
 Comité Ejecutivo Nacional Democrático del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación en Lucha (CEND del SNTE en Lucha) (National Democratic Executive Committee of the National Union of Education Workers in Struggle)
 Comité Estatal Democrático, Sección XXXII y LVI de Veracruz; Sección XXXVI del Valle de México; Consejo Nacional de Sistematización; Escuelas Integrales de Educación Básica de Michoacán; Colectivo Pedagógico “Francisco Javier Acuña Hernández”
 Community of Nezahualcoyotl Municipality – Estado de México Comunitarios del Municipio de Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México
 Congreso Nacional de Bases, Movimiento del Magisterio Democrático Nacional (National Popular Congress, Movement of the National Democratic Teachers): Sección III de Baja California Sur; Sección V de Campeche; Sección X de la Ciudad de México; Sección XIII y XLV de Guanajuato; Sección XIV de Guerrero; Sección XV de Hidalgo; Movimiento Magisterial Jalisciense, Secciones XVI y XLVII de Jalisco; Sección XVIII de Michoacán; Movimiento Magisterial de Bases, Sección XIX de Morelos; Consejo Democrático Magisterial Poblano, Secciones XXIII y LI de Puebla
 Consejo de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEP-MNPP) (Council for the Defense of People’s Rights)
 Contingentes del Comité Ejecutivo Nacional Democrático del SNTE en Lucha (CEND SNTE en Lucha) (Contingents of the National Democratic Executive Committee of the SNTE in Struggle)
 Coordinación de Comunidades Indígenas de la Sierra Sur (COCISS) (Coordination of Indigenous Communities of the Sierra Sur)
 Coordinator of United Neighborhoods from Salina Cruz (CCU)
 Council of Interdisciplinary Organizations Bounded for Oxaca (COIVO-MNPP)
 Federation Brazon: Estado de Mexico, Queretaro, Morales, Veracruz, Guerrero and Mexico City – Barzón Federación: Estado de México, Querétaro, Morelos, Veracruz, Guerrero y Distrito Federal
 Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra en San Salvador Atenco (FPDT-Atenco) (Front of Peoples in Defense of the Land in San Salvador Atenco)
 Instituto Mexicano de Desarrollo Comunitario (IMDEC), Mexican Institute of Community Development
 Movimiento de Unidad Social por un Gobierno del Pueblo (MUSOC-GP) (Movement of Social Unity for a People’s Government, Michoacán)
 Movimiento del Magisterio Democrático Nacional (Movement of the National Democratic Teachers)
 Movimiento Magisterial de Bases (Grassroots Teachers Movement) de Querétaro, Sección XXIV de Querétaro
 Movimiento Nacional del Poder Popular (MNPP) (National Movement of Popular Power)
 Movimiento Nacional del Poder Popular Zacatecas (MNPP – Zacatecas) (National Movement of Popular Power – Zacatecas)
 Organización de los Pueblos Indígenas de la Cuenca (OPIC) (Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Cuenca)
 Organización de los Pueblos Indígenas del Bajo Mixe (OPI) (Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of Bajo Mixe)
 Organización Nacional del Poder Popular (ONPP) (National Organization of People’s Power)
 Organización Nacional del Poder Popular de Morelos (ONPP-MORELOS) (National Organization of People’s Power – Morelos)
 Organización Nacional del Poder Popular del D. F. (National Organization of Popular Power of the district of Mexico City
 Promotora del Poder Popular de Michoacán (Promoter of the Popular Power of Michoacán)
 Trabajadores del Colegio de Bachilleres de Tabasco (Workers of the Bachilleres de Tabasco high school)

Members of the Consultative Council of the Observatory for the Human Rights of the People:

 Argentina: Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (Peace Nobel Prize Winner), Stella Calloni (Journalist with La Jornada, Buenos Aires)
 Colombia: Dra. Piedad Esneda Córdoba Ruiz (Senator and Human Rights Defender and International coordinator of the Observatory  of the Human Rights of the People, spokesperson of the Colombians for Peace), Camilo González Posso (President of INDEPAZ), Dr. Mario Hernández Álvarez (Coordinator of the Interfaculty PhD program on PUblic Health, National University of Colombia)
 Spanish State: Ana Andrés Ablanedo ( Human Rights Defender, Soldepaz Pachakuti), Ricardo Sanchez Andrés (board member of (ACP) Catalan Association for Peace, member of the International Assembly of the Catalan Communists, permanent member of the Solidarity Council of the city of Manresa), María Victoria Fernández Molina (PhD candidate in Human Rights)
 USA: James Patrick Jordan (National Coordinator of the Global JUstice Alliance),Nasim Chatha (activist of the Global Justice Alliance  and part of the Observatory for the human rights of the people, USA chapter)
 Switzerland: José Manuel González López and Gerardo Romero Luna (Latin American Network, Zurich, activist of the Global Justice  Alliance and part of the Observatory for the human rights of the people, Switzerland chapter) Venezuela: Héctor Orlando Zambrano (Member of Parliament and member of the national coordination of Revolutionary Tendency Bolivar and Zamora – CRBZ), Gioconda Mota Gutiérrez (Network of the feminist collectives La Araña), José Miguel Gómez García (International Movement of the Economy of      the Workers,
 Bolivia: Strio. (Unified Trade Union Confederation of the Rural Workers – CSUTCB);
 Palestina: Jamal Juma Coordinator of the Palestinian grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign
 Guatemala: Ana Laura Padgett Rojas (Network for Organic Integration (RIO) for the protection of Mother Earth and Human Rights)
 Panama: Ligia Arreaga (member of the Alliance for a better Darién – AMEDAR)
 México: Eduardo Correa (Professor at the Autonomous University in Mexico City, UACM), Carlos Fazio (Journalist), Dr. Gilberto  Lópezy Rivas (Researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History), Dr. José Enrique González Ruiz ( PRofessor at the Autonomous National University of Mexico), Dr. José Rafael Grijalva Eternod (Human Rights expert), Dr. Felix Hoyo Arana (Professor at the Autonomous University of Chapingo), Dr. John Mill Ackerman Rose, Daniela González López (international coordinator of the Observatory for the Human Rights of the People), Samuel Hernández Morales (CODEP – MNPP), Juan Torres Pereda (CODECI), Herzahin Michel López (COIVO), Artemio Ortiz Hurtado (CEND – SNTE), Sergio Espinal (CEND – SNTE); Prof. Antonio Castro López (Secretary General of CEND – SNTE), Prof. Miguel Guerra Castillo (Secretary General CEND – SNTE), Prof. Alejandro Trujillo González, Secretario General del CEND – SNTE, Prof. Eugenio Rodríguez Cornejo CEND – SNTE, Prof. Jerónimo Sánchez Sáenz (CEND – SNTE), Roberto Palma Juárez (ONPP – Morelos), José Márquez Pérez (Architect, President of the PRO – OAX), Lic. Hugo      Aguilar (Defender of the Human Rights of the Indigenous People).