Submitted by Civically Engaged on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 12:34am
Konar spoke w/ us at the Stand Up For Ohio festival on Aug. 20 He said struggles for the rights of workers and the poor in the United States link w/ similar struggles in India.
“ The basic problem or crisis that we’re facing is that of capitalism. So, that stays constant across countries. Even in India, there’s been a lot of state oppression and people have stood up. There’s been a lot of fragmented resistance going on in different parts of the country.”
Konar said many of India’s poor are resisting the takeover of their land, water, and other resources by multi-national corporations.
“These are poor people who have access to no resources…all they have is access to common property and resources like the forests, the rivers, or the land on which they live, or water.”
Konar said the Indian government is allowing this so multinational corporations can mine bauxite and aluminum.
“But the people from which the government is taking away land, they do not stand to benefit at all. If you have industry, it’s going to benefit the rich and the middle class--the middle class who are going to get professional jobs like engineers.”
Konar said the mass media in India is part of the process of overlooking the interests of poor people there.
“If you turn on a TV channel , these (middle class professionals) are the people who speak in English that you see. And that’s the way that the whole (resistance) movement is being highlighted, as if these Maoists or these people are all terrorists, and they do not want development, or they’re Luddites. That’s not the true picture.”
