[sustran] Appeal re Violent Arrests at expressway protest in Bangalore

[ecoplan (paris)]

Dear Friends,

I wonder if we might do better yet than just those letters.  I say this
because I am, sad to say, a bit cynical about what happens when paper comes
through the door in situations like that -I am afraid that they will be
ignored or otherwise discounted, hidden or misinterpreted.  Moreover, for we
cannot, I am afraid, entirely eliminate the possibility of reprisals when
the identity of certain people become known to others.

In the case of the Bogotá Car-Free Day, we combined the personal letters
with an open "Guest Book" which we then made available to both the local and
world press and media, with some quite positive results. Might we somehow
get together to try this again in the present contact in Bangalore. Of
course it would not be a "Guest Book" in this case, but it might be worth a
thought that we try to give this open campaign as much of a positive twist
as the circumstances permit.  By that I mean not that we try to run away
from the shameful events, but that we try to help those who will be making
the necessary decisions to get in step with the leading edge of not only
transport practice and policy but also of course of democracy and social
equity.

The resulting "Visitor's Book" or whatever it might be called could be kept
fully updated not only on the ESG site, but also on others as well. We
certainly would be pleased to give it a place of honor under our The
Politics of Sustainability programs at http://www.ecoplan.org/politics.

This is however only a first cut of this proposal.  We need to hear from
others in order to figure out what is going to be the wisest and most
effective way to do this. And, might I add, rather quickly too.

With very best wishes to you all,

Eric Britton
PS. What about local media? Including for instance Virtual Bangalore at
http://www.virtualbangalore.com/, who I know have an interest in this sort
of thing.

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