We would like to express our disappointment and protest at what appears to be, in this event, the unwarranted prevention of Gladson Dungdung, a courageous Adivasi rights activist from Saranda Forest in Jharkhand, India, who has been blocked from coming to speak at  the University of Sussex, UK.

It is an unacceptable breach of democratic rights, that the state uses its powers to stop an invited speaker from attending an important workshop in the University of Sussex, in which he was due to give evidence to scholars on the condition of people and environment in Saranda forest where mining leases for natural resources have been granted to multi national mining companies including the British listed Vedanta Resources. Many scholars in academia are following developments there with interest and attention.

We are writing to the Indian government and the Indian High Commission here in the UK, to express our outrage and condemn the suppression of fundamental freedoms of movement and speech of a prominent Adivasi activist.

We demand that our colleague Mr. Gladson Dungdung is compensated and the authorities apologise for preventing him from attending this conference for which he had a valid British visa. We had invited him to the UK as our honoured guest to speak at several events and his presence was missed and plans had to be changed at last minute. This incident has been widely reported in Indian media as well as the Huffington and Washington Post, and we will ensure it is carried by British media also. 

Signed,

Feras Alkabani, History, Art History and Philosophy, University of Sussex

Aflatoon, Organisational Secretary, Samajwadi Jana Parishad.

अफ़लातून , संगठन सचिव , समाजवादी जनपरिषद

Sara Callaway, Women of Colour Global Women's Strike.

Vinita Damodaran, Centre for World Environmental History, University of Sussex

Ela Gandhi, Gandhi Development Trust

Sylvia Goddard, SPRU, University of Sussex

Malvika Gupta, Delhi University

Rumana Hashem, National Committee of Bangladesh and Phulbari Solidarity Group

Selma James, Global Women's Strike

Anuradha Joshi, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Raminder Kaur Kahlon, Scholl of Global Studies, University of Sussex

Minoti Chakravarty Kaul, Delhi University

Joseph Lambert, Gaia Foundation.

Alan Lester, Global Studies, University of Sussex

Nina Lopez, Legal Action for Women

Maurizio Marinelli, History, Art History and Philosophy, University of Sussex

Deepta Mehta, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Lyla Mehta, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Paola Moscoso, University of Sussex

Nick Nisbett, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Felix Padel, Centre for World Environment History Associate

Miriam Rose, Foil Vedanta, London

Sir Julian Rose, author and President of International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside.

John Rowley, The Gandhi Foundation, London

Minoli Salgado, School of English, University of Sussex

Ruth Santos, Global Studies, University of Sussex

Zuky Serper, Centre for World Environmental History, University of Sussex

Ashley Tellis, Independent Activist, Chennai 

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