AWAMI BHARAT

PRESS RELEASE

SATYAGRAHA TO PROTEST THE ZIONIST ATTACK ON SHRI ARUN GANDHI !!

VENUE: MAHATMA GANDHIJI'S STATUE, OPP. MANTRALAYA, MUMBAI
DATE: 26th FEBRUARY, 2008 (TUESDAY), TIME: 3.00pm


"I do believe that the Jews have been cruelly wronged by the world. But in my opinion the Jews have erred grievously in seeking to impose themseleves on Palestine with the aid of USA and Britain and now with the aid of naked terrorism".
- Mahatma Gandhiji, 14th July, 1946.

"It has become a problem which seems almost insoluble. If I were a Jew, I would tell them: "Do not be silly so as to resort to terrorism". The Jews should meet the Arabs, make friends with them and not depend on British or American aid, save what descends from Jehovah". - Mahatma Gandhi to Doon Campbell of Reuters, a few months before his assassination.

We demand that the Indian Government support Shri Arun Gandhi against his persecution by the Zionist lobby in America!

Dear Friends,

As you may be aware that Shri Arun Gandhi was attacked by the Jewish Zionist lobby in America and was forced to resign from the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence at the Rochester University which he himself had founded. His only "sin" was that he decided to denounce and condemn Israel for its brutal and violent colonial occupation of Palestine. Shri Arun Gandhi has been involved with the Palestine - Israeli conflict and his only plea is for a just and peaceful resolution to this tragedy that today lies at the fulcrum of geo-politics and is the central political issue of our times.
The problem goes goes even beyond the persecution of Arun Gandhi. A section of the Zionists are also demanding that he repudiate Mahatma Gandhiji's support to the Palestinian people itself. So the attack goes right to the core of India's sovereign and independent foreign policy which has historically evolved from our anti-imperialist struggle against the British Empire. Our support for all anti-colonial struggles of Third World Nations was and is part of our national ethos & consensus.

And thus the utter silence of the Congress led UPA government is all the more strikingThus our support to the Palestinian cause is two fold. Firstly, Palestine continues to be occupied by a European Settler Colonial power - Israel, backed by America, which is the global Imperial hegemon, albeit on the decline. Secondly, Israel is an apartheid state and the ruling state ideology of Israel, Zionism is based on ethnic and racial superiority. Thus our opposition to Israel, stem from the same values that were evident in our support to the independence struggle against Apartheid South Africa.
The increasing complicity of the Indian State and the axis of the political, corporate and media elite in reducing India to a junior partner of the US-Israeli-NATO alliance constitute a betrayal of our National Independence Movement itself.
This attack on Shri Arun Gandhi once again proves the power of the Jewish Zionist lobby and the influence that they wield in the power centres of America. Any voice of dissent or criticism against the Israeli state and its culture of violence and wars is immediately quelled. For a country that is bent upon imposing freedon and democracy with the barrel of the gun, it is ironic itself that within America, the media is stifled by the Zionists.

The fact is that the Jewish Zionists are more than aware, that they have lost the moral and ethical case and are thus unwilling to participate or allow any debate or discussion that critique the brutal and criminal Israeli Occupation of Palestine. The role of the Zionist lobby within America in safeguarding the interests of Israel even at the cost of undermining the strategic interests of USA, itself is being increasingly challenged. Infact the Occupation and the Nazi policies of the Israel are detrimental to the long term interests of both Israel and the Jewish people themselves.
For us in India, it is a matter of grave concern as the Indian state has clearly aligned itself with the US-Israeli Neoconservative Zionist Imperial project for global domination.
We appeal to all concerned organizations to attend and endorse their solidarity with Shri Arun Gandhi for his spirited and principled resistance.

In Solidarity


M R Khan, Tushar Gandhi, Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishore Jagtap, Yusuf Muchala, Meena Menon, Ram Puniyani, T.K. Somaiyya, Dutta Iswalkar, Gajanand Khatu, Jatin Desai, Lalit Babur, Ismail Batliwala, Daniel Mazgaonkar, Jayant Dewan, Irfan Engineer, Sayeed Khan, Varsha V V, Amol S B, Aslam Ghazi, Sanjay MG, Mukta Srivastava, Anand Ohade, Shakeel Ahmad, Varsha Berry, Sarfaraz Arzu, Meraj Siddiqui, Arif Kapadia, Afaq Azad, Pervin Jehangir, Avinash Kamble, Jyoti Badekar, Asif Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asad Bin Saif, Munawwar Khan, Harshavardhan Vartak, Ghazala Azad, Mulniwasi Mala, Jagdish Nagarkar, Kazim Malik, Rehan Ansari, Riyaz Khan, Irfan Mulla, and Noorjehan.

Awami Bharat supported by:
Vidyarthi Bharti, Phule-Ambedkar Vichar Manch, Peace Mumbai, EKTA, Yusuf Meherally Yuva Biradari, Sadhbhavna Sangh, Yuva Sarkar, Nirbhay Bano Andolan, Sangarsh Vahini, Hindu Vikasini, MY INDIA, Muslim Intellectual Forum, Indian Social Movement, NEEDS.