Content summary:

Activist, writer, journalist, teacher, philosopher and musician: Sanjay Sangvai who passed away on May 29 2007 in Kerala wore all these hats in the most unassuming way possible, but above all he was a tireless defender of people's struggles. We begin this issue with an obituary by the Narmada Bachao Andolan. We once again carry his November FOI 2006 piece on the politics of Special Economic Zones in India.   

This month's showpiece event was the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended the G8 outreach summit, apparently to push the stand of developing countries on key geo political issues such as climate change. He got his 10 minutes with US President George Bush, which did not amount to much. Washington issued a statement that it will not agree to a deal on slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

Walden Bello, who attended the Alternative G8 summit at Rostock, writes that nobody expects much from this increasingly outmoded talking shop of the complacent rich. On the crucial issue of climate change, he says, the G8 goal was to get around the reality that the only effective response is reduced economic growth and consumption levels.     

We carry 2 campaign appeals from Kerala - one on the controversial Smart City IT project in Kochi and another on the Environment Ministry's attempt to revise laws to accommodate more commercialisation along India's fragile coast.

A recent report highlights the danger of China's downward spiral to a neo-colonial economy. Data from the Development Research Centre of the State Council, China's cabinet shows that foreign capital controls the top five firms in every industry where Beijing allows foreign investment.

The World Social Forum will transform into just a global day of Action on January 26, 2008. We carry the global call from the WSF office in Brazil. But will a symbolic day of action have any lasting political impact?   

In our last article, Afsar Jafri reports on the World Bank faux pas in privatising water distribution in Mumbai.

Contents:

SANJAY SANGVAI IS NO MORE

1.       NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.a.  WSF 2008: Call for Global Day of Action on January 26th     
1.b.  Protest Rally at Tyothar Tehsil Headquarter, Distt Reeva (MP)

2.      STATEMENTS/REPORTS
2.a. Petition for release of Iraqi union leader
2.b. Goa: All India Secular Forum: Statement
2.c. China: Foreign capital controls three-quarters of industry
2.d. Statement on Smartcity SEZ, Kerala
2.e. Statement Against Implementation of Coastal Zone Management

3.      ARTICLES
3.a. The Climate Change Flap at the G8: A Spat over Detail, not Substance - by Walden Bello
3.b.  Land-Grab By Rich: The Politics of SEZ's in India: by Sanjay Sangvai
3.c.  World Bank attempt to privatise Mumbai's water runs aground: by Afsar Jafri