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Statement against the Hyderabad Police closure of the anti-ADB film festival |
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Wednesday, 17 May 2006 |
Statement by Film Makers, Intellectuals, Journalists, Writers and Concerned People against Police closure of Anti-ADM Film Festival
We strongly condemn the sabotage of the film festival 'Images of Resistance-Asian Destruction Bank', scheduled to be held at NISIET, Yusafguda, Hyderabad from May 3rd to 6th 2006 by the Andhra Pradesh government.
The festival, organized by the 'People's Forum Against ADB' a coalition of 97 organizations from different parts of Asia, had to be called off due to severe pressure from the Hyderabad police.
The reason given for canceling the booking of the festival venue by the directors of NISIET, an institute owned by the Indian government, was that 'we cannot allow anti-government activities from government premises'. Since when has opposing the ADB become synonymous with opposing the Government of India?
Instead of resisting pressure from institutions like the ADB and World Bank to implement economically and ecologically destructive projects government the AP government is instead cracking down on the democratic rights of ordinary citizens.
The closure of the film festival constitutes a grave attack on the freedom of expression of not just film makers but also that of dalits and adivasis, whose struggles for protection of traditional resources, and public sector workers, whose fight against privatisation, the films portrayed.
We express our support for the right of everyone to communicate these voices among all available platforms. We call upon concerned groups, individuals, media people, filmmakers and other civil society organisations to protest against the violation of democratic norms by elected government acting on behalf of the Asian Development Bank.
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