By Abu Zafar, India Tomorrow,
New Delhi, 20 Jan 2014: As the popular Jaipur Literature Festival is going on in Rajasthan’s capital city Jaipur, a civil rights group has suggested the organizers of the festival not to accept sponsorships of such corporates who are ‘guilty of crimes against humanity and environment’.
In an email appeal to hundreds of art & literature lovers the Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) expressed its disappointment over such sponsorships and sought endorsement and support to its appeal.
“Authors and writers who have to be spokesperson of humanity and human concerned issues how they can take support from such corporates who have criminal track records,” Gopal Krishna, founder member of CFCL told India Tomorrow.
“Companies with dubious background are supporting it. We are disturbed and we are expressing our disappointment and appeal to the organizers to choose only those corporates who have clean track records,” he added.
“Companies which are guilty of committing crimes against humanity, against environment and violating human rights if they support literary festival then moral teaching of the festival will go down,” Krishna argues.
He said that authors who are participating in this festival are not known for their writing about corporate issues but human issues.
“If they are writing for corporate then it is fine but if they are articulating concern of public emotions and public issues then it is totally unethical on their part,” he further said.
He said that on the one hand these corporates are committing crimes against nature and humanity and other hand they are supporting for good cause.
“They are involved in public causes just to advertise themselves so they can get some ethical positioning of their brand,” he said.
CFCL also explained in its appeal as to how such corporates who are sponsoring the festival are violating several values and rights.
“Coca Cola Company has dried up groundwater and local wells that have forced residents to rely on water supplies from outside their areas and the immorality of the Company’s water-intensive bottling plants in Plachimada, Kerala and Kala Dera, Rajasthan. The same situation is witnessed in and around the areas of almost 52 water-intensive bottling plants of the company in India,” reads the statement.
“The US government institutions like American Centre have failed to reveal as to why there are some 702 military installations of world’s super power throughout the world in 132 countries along with 8,000 active and operational nuclear warheads?,” it further reads.
“Is literature interested only in lies that create a make belief reality? If writers at the festival believe that a better life is possible and should be achieved, it would be germane for them to ponder how being complicit in promoting status quo is contrary to their beliefs? Is it not possible that a literature festival supported by unethical and immoral business enterprises is an exercise aimed at clinical manipulation masquerading as a feel good event akin to be an act of hypnosis?,” the statement asked.
CFCL has appealed to authors to condemn ‘crimes’ committed by these sponsors in the festival.
“We appeal to the writers attending the festival to condemn corporate crimes, motivated public opinion engineering and state sponsored acts against humanity and disassociate from events that are sponsored by dubious sources,” it added.
