saibaba campaign in Italy

A tour of previews of the documentary “Red Ant Dream” by Sanjay Kak, attended by the author, took place in several cities in Italy in June. Activists of ICSPWI took part in most of initiatives. Here is a report from one of them, from Milan.

The first event took place at the Teatro Macello, at occupied space Macao. "Red ant dream" was not entirely showed but an excerpt, along with 2 other excerpts of Snjiay’s works, from "Words on Water", 2002, that concerns the struggle against the dam on the Narmada river – for which Arundati-Roy was arrested, and “Jasshn-e-Azadi”, 2007, on the uprising in Kashmir. These excerpts brought more general and very interesting portraits.

Although the movie was not shown as expected, the event was interesting for a number of reasons.

First, the high interest of participants, about 50 people who, in spite of an almost tropical climate, remained at their seats in a small and muggy room for more than 2 hours. Most of them, for various reasons, had been in India and were interested in this country / continent. They had the opportunity to get a different view of Indian reality and be informed about the ICSPWI campaigns, first of all that for the freedom of G.N. Saibaba.

Sanjiay Kak was enthusiastic about the ICSPWI speech appealing the freedom for Dr. Saibaba, who he mentioned as the mentor of a whole generation of progressive intellectuals, including Sanjiay himself, Arundati Roy and others.

The activists of Macao Cultural Centre took the leaflets and the petition of ICSPWI for Saibaba’s freedom and committed to collect signatures when the movie will be showed.

The second event took place at the Arci / Peoples Expo, in occasion of a commemoration of the unforgettable Italian progressive singer Ivan Della Mea, who would have not lost the opportunity to write struggle songs inspired by the Sanjiay’s pictures. The program was not the show of the movie but the Sanjiay’s work as photo-reporter. His photos document the Adivasis struggle for their sacred mountain, rich of bauxite, the uprisings in Njamgiri / Odissa against Vedanta and the dam on the Narmada River, the trip of Arundati Roy in Bastar. A positive thing is that the organizers will try to organize a sort of Forum for the Peoples Expo in which they will include the issue of people’s struggles in India.

The third event was held at the "House of Rights", thanks to the efforts of Francesca Casella of Survival International, already active in the defense of the Adivasis rights in their struggle against Vedanta. "Red ant Dream" was entirely shown. Dozens of people attended, mostly human rights activists and progressive intellectuals. Some of them took the petition to collect signatures. The movie shows how the history of India is a history of revolts of the natives, that dates back to before the French Revolution, and the current binding of these riots with the Naxalites. It has been very touching to hear the voice of Comrade Azad, see the actions of PLGA, see the commemoration held in Delhi in death of Comrade Azad. At the end of the almost 3 hours-long program, questions were asked about the link between Adivasis and Maoists.

In all the events, the presentation touched many different issues: the reality of castes in India; the reasons for the electoral victory of Narendra Modi, at light of which the well known slogan of 60s in Italy “China is near” can be renewed today as “India is near”. There was also some discussion about workers' strikes and struggles in India, a country where “workers burn the bosses” and the battle for health and safety on jobs, mentioning the opportunity to build a “bridge” between the workers of Ilva steel factory in Taranto and those of Mittal - the big Indian group interested to acquire the control on Ilva.

In their speeches, warmly welcomed, the ICSPWI activists spoke about the world-wide campaign to free Saibaba and stressed that Maoists are the only ones that put forward solutions in the interests of the people.

The brilliant and tireless organizer of tour Daniela Bezzi agreed on the need to organize further initiatives in the Autumn in the Universities in Italy, where the current tour has been weak, reaching other cities over Milan.