Stop the land grab

Come to this initial discussion on a question facing
oppressed peoples around the world

Date: Saturday 30 June from 6pm to 9pm

Venue: ULU, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY

Invited participants so far: Tamil Solidarity, British Tamils Forum, Day-Mer Turkish
Kurdish campaign, TGTE , Tamil information centre, UNISON –Public sector union
representative, South Asian Solidarity group, Palestinian Solidarity campaign.

Tamil Solidarity is inviting various campaigns and activists to come together to work
out a strategy against the ‘land grab’ – an attack that is taking place in Sri
Lanka, Palestine, Kurdistan and India and throughout Africa and elsewhere.

More evidence has recently emerged that the Sri Lankan government is following the
Israeli model of taking up lands and settling poor military families with the aim of intensifying the
occupation of Tamil land and the
undoubted effect of complicating any future solution to the national
question.

Over centuries imperialist land grabs have
taken place in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
However, the Sri Lankan government’s attempts are a clear indication of their
following the Israeli state’s model and
part of their strategy of repression and attacks on democratic rights.

We must not sit and watch this example which has been used by other states be repeated. Opposing this model
across the world is also a fight against the Israeli state occupation of
Palestinian land and in solidarity with
the Palestinians’ decades-long struggle.

Similarly we hope to link this with the fight of Kurdish people from whom land is taken
by four different states.

India has seen one of the important modern movements
against the land grab by multinationals such as Vedanta, POSCO and TATA. There
is evidence emerging that the same multinationals and other Indian businesses
may be involved in taking up land in the East part of Sri Lanka which is a traditional
homeland for the Tamil-speaking population.

Please come together to work out a joint strategy against the land grab globally