January-February 2010

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Produced by:

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation

International Team

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Websites: [mlint.wordpress.com] and [www.cpiml.org]

Emails: [cpiml_elo@yahoo.com] and [cpimllib@gmail.com]

Table of Contents

1. Copenhagen: India Signs Undemocratic US-scripted Accord

2. Telengana and Beyond: The Issue of State Reorganisation and Autonomy

3. 25 years after the Bhopal Gas Disaster

4. Health Care in the United States and the Debate for ‘Health Reform’

5. Intensify the Struggles for Land, Livelihood, Democracy!

6. Struggle against Privatisation and Loot of Water in the Sone Canal

7. CPI(ML)’s Bihar Bandh on 24th November

UN Climate Change Conference

Copenhagen: India Signs Undemocratic US-scripted Accord

- Radhika Krishnan, Liberation, January 2010.

The 15th Conference of Parties (COP-15) has finally ended in Copenhagen, and it is now time to officially write the obituary. This week-long conference, where 110 countries of the world got together to try and evolve a blueprint to handle the climate change crisis, has quite predictably and most unfortunately ended in failure. Predictable, because for a long time now there have been indications that the US would continue to hold the rest of the world to ransom by refusing to accept responsibility for its role in creating the climate crisis.

Much was at stake at Copenhagen. The Kyoto Protocol, which was the first concerted attempt to address global warming, comes to an end in 2012 and the Copenhagen conference was meant to build on the foundations that Kyoto had set. The Kyoto agreement essentially suggested that all industrialized countries cut down on their carbon dioxide emissions. Scientists however believe that the emission reductions suggested in Kyoto are far from sufficient to keep the atmospheric carbon dioxide at an acceptable level, and therefore it was widely hoped that the Copenhagen summit would result in an agreement wherein industrialized countries would commit themselves to deep cuts in their current emission levels.

Before the negotiations officially began, the US came up with a proposal to cut its emissions to just 3 per cent below its 1990 levels. This proposal was patently absurd, since any meaningful effort towards mitigating the climate crisis demands that the US cut down its emissions by at least 40 per cent. Apart from this pathetic offer, Barack Obama (representing his corporate funders) came to Copenhagen armed with the usual bullying tactics and US’s oft-used trump card: unless India and China agree to binding emission cuts, neither will we. In a most shameful betrayal of third world unity, India and China responded to this blackmail by breaking away from the group of 77 countries (G-77) and signing a US-scripted ‘deal’ on the last day of the conference. It is indeed shocking and shameful that India and China, along with Brazil and South Africa decided to sign this deal – an agreement which signifies an important departure from the developing countries’ long-standing position at the climate change talks.

Copenhagen Agreement: A Recipe for Disaster

The ‘Agreement’ that was finally tabled (though not approved) at the conference is nothing but a recipe for an environmental catastrophe of monumental proportions. To those millions all over the world who were looking forward to an agreement with some teeth, capable of ensuring swift and effective mitigation of the climate crisis, the agreement is a huge disappointment.

To begin with, the agreement mentions no legally binding emission cuts for industrialised countries, thus effectively letting them off the hook. Given the fact that prior to the conference, many other industrialised countries had promised reductions (the EU for instance had unilaterally agreed to reduce its emissions by 20%, and the UK by 40%), it is clear that the US obduracy and arrogance finally scuttled any meaningful proposal. More importantly, the agreement asks developing countries to also ‘voluntarily’ reduce emissions, thus eliminating the important distinction between developing and developed countries. Developing countries have fought long and hard to maintain this distinction – and this huge political volte-face aided and abetted by Manmohan Singh absolves the developed world from their historic role in creating the present crisis, and essentially locks existing inequities for perpetuity. The agreement also states that developing countries’ performance on emission reductions (even those that are not funded by international finance and technology) will be subjected to “international consultation and analysis”. This clause clearly opens the door to enforcing international monitoring, and will soon lead to binding commitments by developing countries.

Regarding the other important agenda of funding mitigation efforts in developing countries, the developed countries have set a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion a year by 2020. This includes a short-term financing pledge (for 2010-2012) of $10.6 billion from the EU, $11 billion from Japan, and $3.6 billion from the US. To put this ‘dole’ in perspective, the EU’s contribution (which is the largest) is approximately 0.5% of global entertainment and media spending, 0.7% of the US military expenditure for 2008 and 1.4% of the bailout package that richest corporations of the world received following the economic recession! The priorities of the powers-that-be, and the level of their commitment (or the lack of it) to tackling the climate crisis, has become abundantly clear.

The UPA’s Surrender to US Imperialism

At Copenhagen, Jairam Ramesh and Manmohan Singh worked overtime to broker this blatantly pro-US deal. An effort which earned them praise from none less than Obama in his post-conference speech. And while this betrayal of G-77 and of India’s poor is shocking, it is certainly not surprising. Some time back, Ramesh wrote a “confidential” letter to the Prime Minister articulating precisely the agreement which has been now signed. At that time, the UPA tried to defend itself and fend off the resulting uproar by distancing itself from Ramesh’s proposals. Now, after the Prime Minister himself has signed this proposal, the slavish, pro-US kowtowing of the UPA stands thoroughly exposed. Let us not forget that India has already announced targets for reducing carbon intensity (i.e. not total greenhouse gas emissions, but emissions per unit of GDP generated) – as a result of a ‘bilateral agreement’ with the US.

Not surprisingly, India’s and China’s stand has deservedly invited an angry response from the other developing countries. And it was not just the content of the agreement that merited their anger. The entire process of drafting the agreement was marked by secrecy and a lack of respect for basic democratic principles – most countries were deliberately kept away from the drafting process. Bolivia, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Cuba have therefore blamed those who have drafted the deal for showing them great “disrespect” by leaving them out of the drafting process and imposing their document on the vast majority. The Sudanese delegate Lumumba Di-Aping has gone to the extent of comparing the deal to the Holocaust.

Overall, the Copenhagen summit was a shameful display of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)’s subservience to US imperialism. Instead of this betrayal, what Jairam Ramesh and Manmohan Singh should have done was to cash in on the massive world-wide support and aspirations for a meaningful agreement. They should have joined hands with the vulnerable coastal nations most likely to suffer the most from the climate crisis and the G-77 to build pressure on the US. The industrialised countries, including the US, have to be forced to accept responsibility for their huge greenhouse gas emissions. More importantly, they have to be held accountable for the historic role that they have played over the past two centuries in contributing to the climate crisis through their capital and energy intensive economies.

India should of course also reduce its emissions – not because the US demands it, not even because it is a huge contributor of greenhouse gas emissions (though India’s total emissions are quite high, its per capita emissions are just 0.9 tonnes per person per year compared to the US’s 20.1 tonnes and China’s 2.3 tonnes) but because it is in the larger interests of India’s poor and because it is essential for maintaining the delicate ecological balance. India should have demanded funding and technology transfer from the industrialised countries for reducing its emissions. Let us understand very clearly that this funding is not a ‘gift’ from some of the richest countries in the world, it is rather a small attempt on their part to compensate the millions of poor in the developing countries for the massive crisis that they have plunged the world into through the mindless, profit-driven, ecologically insane ‘development’ paradigm that they have been pursuing for centuries. This funding could have been used to completely revamp our internal energy policy. It is an ideal time and occasion to pull away from our fossil-dependent energy policy to a more ecologically sensible one that depends more on renewable sources of energy.

However, it is clear that the UPA is least interested in pursuing any of this. For instance, forcing Indian industry to invest in cleaner technology or to comply with strict pollution standards is complete anathema to the current regime, which is hell-bent on protecting the huge profit margins of corporations. The UPA, with its single-minded agenda of pandering to US imperialism and corporate interests back home, would much rather take the business-as-usual approach. And in the process, be party to what the Sudan has called the new Holocaust.

Struggles in India

Telengana and Beyond: The Issue of State Reorganisation and Autonomy

- Liberation, January, 2010.

The intense agitation for a separate Telengana, especially the upsurge of students, in the face of severe repression, eventually succeeded in wresting an announcement from the Central Government that steps would be taken towards formation of a separate State of Telengana. The demand for Telengana has been a long-standing one and it gained ground in recent years in the face of deepening economic backwardness and acute agrarian crisis in the region.

While the announcement ‘conceding’ a separate Telengana state has been greeted with predictable public rejoicing in the region, there has been a rash of resignations of Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and Members of Parliament (MPs) from Andhra Pradesh, including a large number from the Congress party itself as well as from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The issue that is particularly proving contentious is the future of Hyderabad. While Telengana agitationists have staked their claim to Hyderabad as the capital of their new state, discordant notes can be heard within Hyderabad while the dominant political establishment in Andhra is particularly loath to part with Hyderabad. Speculations are on that the Centre might seek a way out of the impasse on the lines of the Chandigarh model, by keeping Hyderabad as the capital of both Andhra and Telengana and converting Hyderabad into a Union Territory.

Against this backdrop, Congress leaders as well as TDP leaders in Andhra are now launching agitations to fan up frenzy in the coastal and Rayalseema regions of the State against bifurcation. In response, the Centre has begun to indicate that it will back-pedal on the issue of Telengana Statehood, with senior leader of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government Pranab Mukherjee stating that the resolution in favour of Telengana could only be passed by consensus in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly itself. While the Congress at the Centre has blamed the lack of consensus on the TDP, it is unable to answer for the lack of consensus within the Congress party itself.

It appears that as in the past, the Congress is once again playing politics with the issue of Telengana Statehood. If such a violent opposition to Telengana has existed among Congress leaders in Andhra Pradesh, one wonders why the Congress included Telengana in the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA Government formed in 2004, and in the party manifesto for the last Lok Sabha elections? Can the Congress explain why, in all the years since then, it has failed to create a consensus within its own party on this issue?

The Congress at the Centre and the State must not play politics with the Telengana issue any longer; and attempts to pit the people of Andhra Pradesh against those of Telengana by whipping up an agitation against the formation of the latter must be stopped forthwith. Communist Party of India (Marxist -Leninist) [CPI(ML)], while supporting the demand for speedy constitution of Telengana, appeals to the people of Andhra Pradesh to maintain unity, respect aspirations for separate statehood, and foil any attempts to ignite chauvinistic politics that can only be destructive for the struggling unity of the people on the burning and unresolved issues of their survival and dignity.

In the wake of the Telengana agitation, demands for separate statehood have come to the fore once again in many parts of the country. The UPA Government must immediately constitute a second State Reorganisation Commission to favourably and holistically address pending separate statehood demands.

There is also an urgent need to address the struggle for autonomous statehood for Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills (NC Hills). The people of these two hill districts of Assam, have been waging a peaceful struggle for the past two decades demanding implementation of Article 244A which provides for an Autonomous State comprising the two hill districts within the state of Assam. It is ironical that while the Centre has had no hesitation to amend the Constitution time and again to create newer states under Article 3, the most logical demand of the hill people of Assam which calls for no more than honouring an existing Article of the Constitution has gone unheeded.

The Congress Government at the Centre must not only honour its commitment to the formation of Telengana, it must also urgently address the aspirations for autonomous statehood in Karbi Anglong and NC Hills as well as several pending demands for separate statehood in other parts of the country.

Politics in India

25 years after the Bhopal Gas Disaster:

UPA Govt. and MP Govt Out to Bury the Truth and Bail out the Killers

- Liberation, January, 2010.

On the night of December 2nd and the early morning of December 3rd 1984, some 40 tonnes of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) spewed out of the Union Carbide Corporation’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, exposing over 5,00,000 people to the toxic fumes. 25,000 people died as a result, hundreds of thousands of persons were maimed for life, and entire future generations poisoned.

Union Carbide left without cleaning up the toxic chemicals dumped on the ground – and the toxins have seeped into the soil, poisoning the drinking water which people have no option but to consume. Studies have shown toxins to be present even in the breast milk of mothers living around the factory.

The past 25 years are a shameful saga of the Indian Government’s callous betrayal of the victims to appease the killer corporation. The Indian Government has done nothing to demand that Warren Anderson, CEO of Carbide, be extradited to India to face trial. And Dow Chemicals, which has taken over Carbide, has refused to take responsibility for cleaning up the Union Carbide factory wastes.

Soon after the incident, Union Carbide denied that poisonous gases had been released. One of the Carbide doctors recommended sodium thiosulphate as treatment – but withdrew this (correct) advice, since success of this treatment would have proven that poisonous gases had entered the bloodstream, resulting in heavier damages for Carbide! The MP Govt then even banned the sodium thiosulphate treatment method.

Today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government of MP and the Congress Government at the Centre are united in their efforts to exonerate the killers.

Visiting the Carbide factory site in Bhopal on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the tragedy, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh insulted the victims by brandishing a handful of waste and proclaiming, “I’m alive, I’m not coughing!” as proof that the factory site is now harmless and no longer poisonous. In other words, he suggested that the claims of victims who say their daily drinking water is poisoned are bogus and Dow is not called upon to clean up any further.

On top of this, the MP Government has now decided to throw open the doors of the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to the general public as a tourist spot – as ‘proof’ that the poisons are gone and all is well. Madhya Pradesh Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Babulal Gaur has announced that the waste lying in the Union Carbide factory site here for the past 25 years is no longer toxic enough to adversely affect human beings.

Indian ruling class parties and governments have done their best to roll out the red carpet for Dow. Among those who have pleaded and lobbied on Dow’s behalf between 2005 and 2007 are Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Home Minister (then Finance Minister) P. Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, as well as Ratan Tata.

The Bhopal crime is a damning instance of how India’s ruling class is committed to defending corporate killers and MNCs at the cost of Indian people’s lives and safety. Shamefully, Dow’s long-term legal counsel who peddles all the lies on behalf of the killer MNC is none other than the Congress party spokesperson – Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

In October this year, India approved the commercial release of Bt Brinjal, the first ever such Genetically Modified (GM) food crop anywhere in the world with the toxin-producing Bt gene in it. The Bt Brinjal is produced as part of a US Artificial Insemination Department (USAID) programme called Agri-Biotechnology Support Programme [ABSP] – a Public Private Partnership of various institutions with MNCs Monsanto and Mahyco. This is a direct effect of the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture, signed alongside the Nuke Deal. Now, Supreme Court observer to the committee Dr Pushpa Bhargava, in his letter to the GEAC and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, has revealed that Prof Arjula Reddy, Chairperson of the Expert Committee on whose recommendation the approval was granted, had complained of being under “tremendous pressure” to clear Bt Brinjal and had calls from Agricultural Minister, Genetic Engineer Approval Committee (GEAC) and industry.

Bhopal, Bt Brinjal – all are grim evidence of how governments are willing to lie to the people, even endanger their lives and allow them to be poisoned – all in order to serve corporate interests or partnership with the imperialist US.

On the eve of the 25th Anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, the people of India demand that the UPA Government seek extradition Of Carbide CEO Warren Anderson from the US; ensure that Dow pays for clean up both on the factory site as well as of ground water and surroundings; blacklist Dow and Union Carbide; and guarantee free medical treatment for the victims.

International

Unhealthy Medicine- Health Care in the United States and the Debate for ‘Health Reform’

- Padma.

Unhealthy Facts

The population of the United States (U.S.) per the U.S. Census Bureau is slightly above 300 million (July 2008). 47 million Americans do not have any kind of medical insurance. In 2006, 108 million Americans had insufficient coverage or were underinsured. The definition of underinsured varies but includes individuals who spend more than 10% of their post tax incomes on medical expenses. 62 percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses. Research released in September, 2009, in the American Journal of Public Health estimates that 45,000 deaths per year in the United States are associated with the lack of health insurance. A 2007 report ranked the U.S. 42nd in the world for life expectancy and 41st in infant mortality rate worse than most of Europe and Cuba.

Health Insurance – Private and Government

Having given the grim statistics above, what exactly is the health care system in the richest country in the world? The health care system in the U.S. has been described as ‘highly decentralized and fragmented’ and there is no Ministry of Health. Although the private sector dominates the health care delivery system, it is the government funded programmes and facilities that treat the mentally ill, native Americans living in dire poverty in reservations, short and long term care of the elderly, those with end stage kidney disease on dialysis, patients with AIDs etc. The Federal agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimates that the government pays for two-thirds of the nation’s health care, the private health insurances cover 2/3rds of the population and pay for a third of the total health expenditures. The private health insurance companies are known to ‘cherry pick’ insuring only healthy people and refusing to insure those who were unhealthy or are likely to become unhealthy.

There are about 1,300 private health insurers. The government insurances are Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals that treat the veterans (those who have fought in the innumerable wars that American imperialism has waged in the last 100 hundred years). Not all veterans are eligible for free health care. A research team at Harvard just released a study which reported that over 2200 veterans died in 2008 from lack of insurance. Medicare which is health insurance for citizens above the age of 65 was established in 1965 during the peak of the civil rights and anti Vietnam War movements in the U.S. Medicaid established at the same time provides some medical coverage for poor people. It is supported both by federal and state taxes and benefits vary by the states. A 2007 study by Public Citizen’s health Research Group reported that 60% of poor Americans are not covered by Medicaid.

Medical Industrial Complex

Vicente Navarro, Professor of Public Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, describes the private health insurance companies, for profit health care facilities and the pharmaceutical companies as the medical industrial complex. In 2002, the ten most profitable drug corporations earned about 36 billion dollars more than the other 490 corporations on the Fortune 500 combined! In 2007, insurance industry profits reached $12 billion, and pharmaceutical industry profits $49 billion, the highest in the U.S. and in the world. The top executive of United Health a powerful private health insurer makes 37 million dollars year and has billions in stocks. All this comes from hardworking Americans with many going without adequate coverage even after paying premiums! The health sector contributed $54.5 million to Democrats and $46.1 million to Republicans in the 2008 elections. The so called ‘lesser of the two evil’ ruling class parties received more than its right wing counterpart! Contributions linked to manufacturers of pharmaceutical and health care products were split about evenly between the parties.

Health Care Debate- Was the Ruling Class really that Disunited?

CBS News/New York Times poll found in June 2009 that 72% of Americans supported a government-sponsored health care plan. Most also thought the government would do a better job than private industry at keeping down costs and believed that the government should guarantee health care for all Americans. The mood of the working class and the middle class has been increasingly angry in response to the economic recession and the trillions of dollars doled out to Wall Street. The ‘change’ desired by the vast majority of Americans which led to the ‘historic’ election of Obama has been missing in action. Whether on immigration policy, on national security or on the bail outs to banks and corporations the two ruling parties have been united. Health care became the most controversial issue in 2009 as millions were forced into unemployment. The Taft Hartley Act established in 1947 forced the workers to get health care benefits through collective bargaining agreements at the place of employment. Workers who lose their jobs lose not only wages, but also health benefits for themselves and their family. The lack of universal health care has resulted in important U.S companies like the big automakers like Ford and General Motors closing factories in the U.S. because of huge health care expenditures for their employees (Ray O.Light Newsletter,July 2007). Interestingly, corporations like Walmart known for extremely unfair labour practices have supported health reform as they would like some sort of public health insurance for their employees. The Democratic Party which has traditionally been supported by organized labour and other ‘progressive’ and liberal groups in its election campaign had promised to bring changes to the health care system. President Obama who vociferously supported universal health care during his campaign changed his position in deference to the health care industry from universal care to ‘health reform’.

After months of debates and intense lobbying by the ‘medical industrial complex’, the House of Representatives (the lower house) on November 7 passed a health care bill by a vote of 220-215. The 1,990-page bill will fail to deliver even any real ‘reform’. While a small proportion of people will have improved access and that too in 2013 when they will be offered a public health insurance option, private insurance’s grip on the healthcare system will increase as uninsured Americans will be mandated to buy private insurance or else pay a hefty fine. There will be little assistance for individuals and families who presently have employer-sponsored health plans and face frequent erosion of their coverage and health security. According to California Nurses Association (CNA), with no effective limits on the insurance industry’s price gouging, out-of-pocket costs for premiums, deductibles and other fees may eat up from 15 to 19 percent of family incomes.

Senator Max Baucus of the Democratic Party who has been prominently involved in the health reform bill had reached agreements with his colleagues in the Republican Party (the so called ‘right’ wing of the ruling class) in private on the health bill. The Montana Standard a paper from the Senator’s home state reported that he received more campaign money from health and insurance industry than any other member of Congress in the past six years. Nearly 25% of the money raised by Baucus and his political action committee has come from groups and individuals associated with drug companies, insurers, hospitals, medical supply companies, and other health professionals.

At the peak of the heated discussions over national health insurance in June,2009, when the Democrats and Republicans appeared to be at loggerheads, a deal was struck between the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the White House and Senate Democrats. As detailed in a memo first published by The Huffington Post, the Obama administration agreed to oppose congressional efforts to use government leverage to bargain for lower drug prices. This will result in a net gain of more than $137 billion dollars in total market sales over the next four years.

The pharmaceutical and health insurance industry have used lies and propaganda in the last several months to create hysteria about the Obama administration’s efforts to bring in health reform. United Healthcare and WellPoint, two of the largest health insurance companies in the country, sent memos to their employees to take part in the town hall meetings. They are both under government investigation in California for these activities. (Workers World, Sept. 23, 2009) The fascist section of the ruling class has worked with these groups to fan chauvinism. Town meetings where Obama and other democrats addressed people over health issues have been attacked and disrupted. Stories have been spread about how universal health care will affect health care for the elderly and how it will benefit illegal immigrants and other dregs of the society like poor people and people of color at the expense of good hardworking whites. Politics of divide and rule as usual! Obama has been called a socialist for supporting a health plan which has been described by progressive health care activists as a gift to the private health industry! While there are differences and internal conflicts between the two ruling parties in the U.S which manifested in the debates over the health care system the bill that passed will continue to further the profits of the medical industrial complex that serves both parties.

Health Care as a Right: The struggle for National Health Insurance –A Brief History

In the late 19th century largely middle class professionals called ‘Progressives’ created a reform organization American Association for Labour Legislation (AALL). AALL campaigned for compulsory health insurance plan for all. The American Federation of Labour (AFL) teamed up with organization of business leaders and defeated the implementation of the plan. Samuel Gompers the president of AFL described compulsory health insurance as ‘a menace to rights, welfare and liberty of American workers”. The AFL union leadership felt that social insurance would lower wages as the contributions would have to come from the wages of workers. The AFL was in direct conflict with the Socialist Party which endorsed the national health insurance.

After the end of the World War afraid of the influence of the Soviet Union, imperialist countries made concessions to their working class which included national health care. In the U.S too national health care began to assume a central place in the discussions. The communists and their sympathizers had organized large numbers of the working class into unions. This period became infamous for the witch hunts of communists and their sympathizers in an organized fashion by the American state. The American Medical Association (AMA) and its supporters ardently opposed national health insurance. They succeeded in linking socialism with national health insurance. They had one pamphlet that said, “Would socialized medicine lead to socialization of other phases of life? Lenin thought so. He declared socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the socialist state.” The anti communist propaganda of the government and the efforts of the AMA helped to defeat the plan to have universal free health care. Private insurance systems expanded and provided enough protection to prevent any great agitation for national health insurance in the 1950’s and early 1960’s.

In the mid 1960s the civil rights movement was at its peak. Two thirds of people over 65 had no coverage for hospital treatment. There was militancy in the air with leaders like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King posing serious challenges to the system. The Black Panther party, a revolutionary party with its goal of real economic, social, and political equality across gender and color lines, was becoming popular with the youth. Against this background Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. However, universal health care remained elusive.

The Struggle for National Health Care Now

California Nurses Association (CNA) and Physicians for National Health Program (PNHP) are two organizations which have been in the forefront of the struggle for implementation of universal health care in the form of single payer health care or ‘Medicare for All’. Healthcare-NOW! is a coalition that has been mobilizing a large community of advocates composed of organizers and activists in more than 300 cities in all 50 states. There have been many rallies, sit-ins and voluntary arrests in front of large private insurance companies this year. Thousands of unionized workers have supported these actions. American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the largest federation of unions in the United States and Canada representing about 10 million workers and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers have supported the health reform bill. They have not gone all out for a national health insurance/single payer as demanded by other health care activists.

When Health Care is Not for Profit

In 1932 Sir Arthur Newsholme of the Local Government Board of England and Wales, and John Adams Kingsbury, former commissioner of public charities for the City of New York, traveled to the Soviet Union to examine that country’s health care system. Their observations were published in 1933 as “Red Medicine: Socialized Health in Soviet Russia.” Among their conclusions is the following… “It has surpassed all other countries in its socialization of medicine. It has removed the doctor almost entirely from the field of monetary competition…. it has made medical service of an astonishingly complete character promptly available for the vast majority of urban populations, a service which is being rapidly extended to rural Russia”. In China after the revolution, life expectancy doubled from 32 years in 1949 to 65 years in 1976. One of the important achievements at the time in China was community participation and people taking responsibility at the grass roots over health issues.

Cuba’s achievements in providing free quality health care at all levels are very well known. The New England Journal of Medicine, a premier U.S. journal reported, “Cuba has engineered a national medical apparatus that is the envy of many developing nations. For some of these nations, it is not Boston, but Havana that is the centre of the medical world.” This small country has approximately 28,000 health professionals now providing care in 68 countries.

Conclusions

Obviously, nationalization is not socialization. In fact, nationalization has been used by sections of the capitalist class to strengthen their position as in India during Nehruvian socialism. Nevertheless, from the example of the ‘health reform’ bill in the U.S., it is clear that the so called public-private partnership is really about putting the profits of the private corporations over people’s health. The struggle for “Medicare for All” in the U.S. is a step in the right direction. It has the potential to raise the consciousness of the working class in the U.S. The struggle for health care can become part of the larger struggles for economic and social rights.

[Article completed on October 20, 2009]

Politics in India

Intensify the Struggles for Land, Livelihood, Democracy!

- Liberation, January, 2010.

India’s common people continue to reel under ever-increasing prices, retrenchment and job loss, hunger and farmers’ suicides. While the whole world holds the United States of America (USA) responsible for the global crisis that has intensified the sufferings of the poor all over the world, Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh, visiting the US recently, took the opportunity to display his loyalty by hailing the strength of the US economy and the dollar. While many US citizens are calling for an end to the US occupation of Afghanistan, our PM shamefully assured his support for the occupation. Soon after, India once again voted against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). By reiterating his commitment for US-sponsored economic and foreign policies, Manmohan Singh has made it clear that the Congress Govt.’s priority is to protect the interests of the US empire, not those of India’s people.

The UPA Government, and state governments of various hues have displayed a consensus in favour of corporate loot of India’s resources and the land of the poor. In Jharkhand recently, we saw how former CM Madhu Koda amassed Rs 4500 crore illegally. The question arises – which mining companies paid him those thousands of crores in commissions; which other politicians got paid by mining companies? But all ruling parties that have shared in the loot want the answer to remain a secret. In Karnataka, however, the secret is out: the mining mafia of Bellary rules its illegal mining empire with the help of the BJP in Karnataka and the Congress in Andhra Pradesh!

The blatant corporate loot of precious resources exposed by the Koda scam, the Bellary episode, evidence of illegal mining in many other states including Chhattisgarh and Orissa, and the tussle between the Ambani brother over gas – all lend urgency to the demand for immediate nationalization of all mineral, oil and gas resources.

A recent report by the UPA Govt’s own Ministry of Rural Development highlights the “Unfinished Task of Land Reforms”, showing that, at last count, 77% of dalits and 90% of adivasis were landless in India. The report comes down strongly against betrayal of land reforms by Governments, violation of land laws and Forest Rights Act to grab tribal land, corporate land grab and misuse of water by SEZs and rampant homelessness in villages and cities alike. The report recommends strict implementation of ceiling laws with lowered land ceiling, redistribution of bhoodan land, tenancy rights to sharecroppers, and guarantee of homestead land for the rural poor and homes for the urban poor. But the UPA Govt. is turning a deaf ear to the report submitted by a Commission appointed by its own Ministry!

Struggles around land, livelihood and food are erupting all over the country. Corruption in NREGA and ration system, cutbacks in BPL coverage, eviction of street vendors, and of the urban poor from slums have all sparked off massive protests. Workers have been on the streets – be it in Coimbatore or Gurgaon – against the rampant violations in labour laws. Struggles against corporate land grab are being waged in the face of severe repression. In Bihar, the Nitish Government’s mask of ‘mahadalit’ empowerment has come apart, and the Government has chosen to be loyal to its primary feudal constituency and betray the recommendations of the Committee on Land Reforms headed by D Bandopadhyaya. With the entire ruling class opposition united against land reform, the CPI(ML) alone is mobilizing the rural poor to demand sharecroppers’ rights and homestead land. In Punjab, a struggle by agricultural labourers to make the Government keep its promise of homestead land for the poor resulted in mass jailing and repression of the rural poor.

At this juncture, it is becoming increasingly clear that the UPA Government’s declaration of ‘war on Maoism’ is a pretext – the real target is people’s movements and the protests of the poor. Any people’s movement that inconveniences the Government is being branded as ‘Maoist’ in order to justify repression of struggles and silencing of dissent. Draconian laws are mushrooming in every state. While military suppression of struggles has long been a grim reality in Kashmir and the North East, now the UPA Government is planning to bring the entire country under the shadow of its war on people – all to “make the country safe” for corporate loot and suppression of democracy – be it in industries or in society at large. Meanwhile, the so-called ‘secular’ Government is allowing those responsible for communal genocide to get away scot-free.

The CPI(ML) was born in 1969 in the crucible of revolutionary struggles where the rural poor sought to shatter the feudal fetters. The assault on democracy that began with brutal repression unleashed against the CPI(ML), very soon engulfed the entire country and ended with the imposition of Emergency. In the 40 years since its birth, the CPI(ML) has unleashed powerful struggles of the oppressed in several parts of the country in the face of fierce feudal violence and state repression.

Today, it is urgent that mass struggles for land, food, livelihood, democracy confront governments and ruling class parties with renewed vigour, defying the attempt to suppress and silence them with state repression. On December 18, 2009, the eleventh anniversary of the demise of former CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Vinod Mishra, the CPI(ML) rededicates itself to fulfil this task with all its might.

Struggles in India

Struggle against Privatisation and Loot of Water in the Sone Canal

- Kunal, Liberation, January, 2010.

Canals and irrigation too have not escaped the assault of privatisation. In Laloo Yadav’s term itself, President Abdul Kalam had begun the process by declaring the formation of a ‘Distributary Committee’ for the No. 10 Distributary on the Sone Canal. While this was said to be an ‘experiment’, it proved in fact to be the first step towards handing over the Canal to feudal forces, and gradually a feudal ‘canal mafia’ emerged. The No.10 Distributary irrigated the entire Paliganj area and Dulhin Bazaar Block, and the privatisation hit the farmers badly. 30% of the water tax is given to the government, and the remaining 70%, intended for maintenance of the canal, is instead looted in entirety. 150 workers, recruited for maintenance of the canals, have been kicked out of their jobs. The area that pays the water tax lies dry, while the President of the Distributary Committee, Valmiki Sharma colludes to sell the water on the black market. The canal is blocked at various spots to divert water, and the canal is even cut to sell the water. Much water is wasted too, as a result, since in the process it collects in holes. As it is, due to irregularities in the implementation of the Bansagar Agreement, Bihar gets less water, and what it gets is squandered due to corruption.

The Sone canal area, usually unaffected by drought, was hit by drought this time; canal water remained in the upper reaches of the canal, badly affecting the sowing of the rice crop and jeopardising the rabi crop in the lower reaches. Peasants were angry and worried at this situation. Around 12,000 acres of land in 20 villages were badly affected in the lower reaches of the No. 10 Distributary, but even the lower reaches of the main canal were affected and crops were drying in Bikram, Naubatpur, and Danapur blocks. When CPI(ML)’s Paliganj MLA Comrade Nand Kumar Nanda raised the matter with the Irrigation Minister, he pleaded lack of sufficient water in the canal. But the farmers were sure that water could reach the lower reaches if only the black marketeering and diversions could be stopped.

The Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha began an agitation, mobilising angry farmers on the issue of canal water, compensation for the damaged crops, and identity cards for the sharecroppers. First a dharna was held at the Dulhin Bazaar Block headquarters; receiving no response, they demonstrated at the Canal Department Sub Divisional Office (SDO) at Arwal and also gheraoed the office of the Distributary Committee at Paliganj. At the Arwal demonstration, it was declared that failing proper arrangement for irrigation, roads would be blockaded on 8 November at Dulhin Bazaar. A delegation also met the SDO at the Paliganj sub-division, to no avail. So the roads were blockaded on 8 November as announced. A very large number of farmers from outside the organisation unexpectedly joined the blockade (in all, around 1000 farmers participated in the protest). Finding themselves isolated, even the block presidents of The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)and The Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] were forced to join the blockade. Even after assurances from the Administration, farmers were in no mood to withdraw the blockade, saying they would stay till water reached their fields. Keeping in mind the party’s ongoing Land reforms Awakening Padyatra (march) from 10-16 November, however, we withdrew the blockade, resolving to raise the issue through the padyatra. On November 10, a meeting of farmers was convened to decide the course of action; but the meeting was held in the open with all farmers being invited through announcements on a mike. 400 farmers from 35 villages participated in the meeting, and it was decided that if water did not reach the fields by 16 November, an indefinite road blockade and lock-out at the block headquarters (HQ) would take place. These decisions were announced publicly in the course of a March in the market by the farmers following the meeting.

Seeing the mood of the farmers, the administration too became active and began patrolling the canal, identifying and removing blocks that had been created at various points, and gradually water began to flow downwards and reach the fields. In Arwal, feudal forces had even made a pukka dam on the main canal! When hundreds of farmers gathered and began breaking the dam, the police intervened to destroy the dam. Leaflets calling for protests on 6 November were distributed during the padyatra.

By 16 November, around 4000 acres of land in 7 villages had received water. In view of this, we went ahead with the plans for the road blockade but held back from the lock-out of block HQs. More than 1000 small and marginal farmers from 40 villages participated in the blockade this time, especially a large number from the Yadav mass base of the RJD. The blockade was called off after talks with the canal division SDO.

The struggle had its impact even in the Bikram and Naubatpur areas where we had not taken any initiative; water reached the lower reaches of the main canal too as a result. Farmers were encouraged by the victory. We formed a 35-member committee of farmers at Dulhin Bazaar to consolidate the impact, and it was resolved to conduct a membership drive of the Kisan Sabha.

The Sone Canal system, recognised as one of the most successful canal systems in the world, is in crisis thanks to the wrong policies adopted by successive governments. There are various suggestions for more efficient water management that can increase the irrigated area substantially, but governments have not adopted any of these. As a result, farmers in the Maner block of the Sone diara cultivate bajra instead of rice due to water shortage. During the Land Reforms Awakening campaign, the local party committee called for a movement to ‘Replace Bajra with Rice’ and this received widespread support.

Patna district suffers drought and flood despite of being in the lap of nine rivers; this can only be due to the anti-peasant policies of Bihar governments. The party is planning a long-term campaign demanding withdrawal of the privatisation of the Sone Canal; repair of the canal; stable solution to the flood problem; and comprehensive management for the water of the rivers in this region. The Paliganj MLA raised the demand for withdrawal of privatisation of the Sone canal in the Assembly. The Government has assured that this demand would be met but has as yet shown no signs of keeping its word.

Struggles in India

CPI(ML)’s Bihar Bandh on 24th November against

Four Years of Betrayal by the Nitish Govt

- Liberation, January, 2010.

On 24 November, in the midst of official ‘celebrations’ of the completion of four years of the Nitish Govt, the Commmunist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) [CPI(ML] held a Bihar Bandh against Government’s betrayal on all fronts – be it the failure to implement of the recommendations of the Land Reforms Commission as well as the Common School Commission; in providing relief, ration and employment to the poor under assault from severe inflation; in providing dignity and security to the dalits, women and poor; and in curbing loot and corruption in The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), ration and other schemes; or industrial and agricultural development.

The Bandh was the culmination of a campaign of ‘Land Reforms Awakening’ in which leaders of the party’s central and state committees had led padyatras highlighting the recommendations of the Bandopadhyaya Commission on Land Reforms, sharecroppers’ right to registration and homestead land for the landless poor.

During the bandh transport including rail traffic was completely shut-down and more than ten thousand people across the State were arrested. Thousands of bandh supporters all over the State carrying red flags and banners sat on dharna on roads/highways and railway tracks, blocking the traffic for hours. Massive rallies were witnessed at all district headquarters in Bihar, ensuring the closure of markets and businesses. All India Students Association (AISA) activists ensured total closure of Patna University and all colleges.

November-December 2009

Table of Contents

1. The Myth and Reality of Congress Revival

2. Defeat the UPA’s War on Democracy!

3. Open Letter to Indian PM

4. India’s China Policy: Calling for Cooperation, Not Confrontation

5. Pricol Workers’ Struggle: Justice Must Prevail

6. Land Reforms Sangharsh Yatra and Convention

7. Women Workers’ Convention

8. Tamil Nationalism: Ducking the Issues
9. Saluting the Memory of K Balagopal

10. Adieu to Comrade Ibn-ul Hasan Basru!

Assembly Elections in India

The Myth and Reality of Congress Revival

- ML Update, 27 October – 2 November, 2009.

In the recently concluded elections to State Assemblies in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, the Congress has predictably managed to retain power in all the three states, triggering a growing media buzz regarding the revival of the Congress and the return of the old era of Congress domination.

A closer look at the poll outcome however reveals a number of holes in the story of Congress revival. In Haryana, the Congress tally has dropped from 67 to 40 while a resurgent Indian National Lok Dal finished a close second with more than 30 seats in its kitty. The dramatic revival of Om Prakash Chautala signifies nothing short of a huge backlash by the aggrieved electorate of rural Haryana. In Maharashtra too, the Congress- National Congress Party (NCP) combined tally fell one short of the majority mark and its vote share dropped by six per cent. The big news from the state is the rise of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). More than anything else, it is the MNS factor which has helped the Congress by not only splitting the Shiv Sena vote, but also pushing a disillusioned electorate back to the Congress in search of some sense of safety and security from the MNS brand of divisive and aggressive politics.

The Congress would of course like to attribute its return to power to a ‘positive mandate’ from the electorate. But the ground reality in neither Maharashtra nor Haryana would endorse the Congress claim. Maharashtra is still reeling under the combined impact of agrarian crisis and economic recession while Haryana remains notorious for its retrograde and patriarchal social environment that continues to deny large numbers of dalits and women their basic human dignity and civil rights.

According to Maharashtra’s state economic survey, three out of every eight residents are below the line. Every day since 2006, 1,800 people have lost their jobs. Regional disparity is quite glaring – per capita income in Vidarbha (Rs. 29,000) is only 40 per cent of the per capita income of a Mumbai resident (Rs 73,930). The corporate-builder-politician-bureaucrat nexus reigns supreme in the state even as real estate and share market have replaced the manufacturing industries of yesteryears as the biggest sources of wealth accumulation. Haryana too has a similar story to tell. Congress rulers in Delhi and Chandigarh keep showcasing Gurgaon as the shining star of economic boom, but beneath all the corporate glitter and gloss, there is little urban infrastructure and no industrial democracy in this hugely over-rated success-story.

By all accounts, the Congress win in these elections is more a victory by default aided by a weak opposition and the absence of any credible and consolidated Left-democratic challenge. Both in Maharashtra and Haryana, the BJP failed to make any headway – in fact, it suffered further erosion and this in turn has aggravated the chaos in the party. Also notable is the decline of the BSP in both Maharashtra and Haryana. The rise of the MNS in Maharashtra of course marks a major challenge to the working class movement in the state. In the 1960s, the Congress had facilitated the rise of the Shiv Sena to curb the Left trade union movement in and around Mumbai; four decades later the MNS is raising its head, once again with blessings from the Congress, giving a distorted and divisive ex-pression to the popular anger against deindustrialization and joblessness.

As far as Arunachal Pradesh is concerned, election in the state continues to be viewed more in the context of border dispute and bilateral tension between India and China than as a reflection of the political situation and public mood in the state. Like most small states in the North-East, elections in Arunachal too are heavily influenced by money-power and bureaucratic manipulation. An NDTV correspondent covering Arunachal elections put the average amount spent by victorious Congress candidates at a staggering Rs. 5 crore per Assembly seat!

Far from returning to the old paradigm of Congress monopoly, Indian politics continues to evolve through the maze of multi-party competition. The forthcoming elections to the Jharkhand Assembly should provide further proof of this political diversity.

Struggles in India

Defeat the UPA’s War on Democracy! Build Broad-based Democratic Resistance!

- Liberation, November, 2009.

In the name of combating the ‘Maoist menace’ the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is gearing up for a massive combat operation. The Cabinet Committee on Security has already cleared the Home Ministry plan to take the “war on Maoists” to the next level even as Chidambaram shies away from describing the operation in terms of an outright war. While on record the Prime Minister has ruled out the possibility of deployment of the Army in the operation, the scale and framework of the proposed operation indicate nothing short of an all-out military offensive. The Home Ministry talks of waging simultaneous operation on eleven theatres covering over 2000 police station areas in 223 districts, and the Defence Minister and Air Chief Marshal talk of deploying (Indian Air Force) IAF’s special force Garuda with powers to fire in ‘self-defence’. A special central force called COBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) has already been raised and pressed into service. Chidambaram has also spoken of ‘amending’ the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) (presently deployed in Kashmir and the North East) in order to make it applicable in the whole of India.

In tandem with this military offensive, a full-scale propaganda war is also underway. Influential sections of the print and electronic media are working overtime to manufacture a ‘national consensus’ in favour of the military offensive. With state governments all joining in, contours of a grand political consensus are easily discernible. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) session at Rajgir has expressed its full-throated support to Chidambaram’s ideas. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee too made it a point to take time off from the CPI(M) PB meeting in Delhi to meet Chidambaram over breakfast to demand more forces and a more intensified and concerted drive. Mamata Banerjee of course conveniently seeks to distance herself from this consensus, expecting everybody to ignore the fact that the ongoing paramilitary offensive in West Bengal is very much a joint venture sponsored by the government at the Centre where she is a cabinet minister.

It can hardly be coincidence that key arenas of the proposed war are precisely those mineral-rich areas on which mining corporations have had their eye. Whether Chidambaram, himself one of the Directors of Vedanta until becoming a UPA Cabinet Minister, and a favourite lawyer for many of mining companies, will succeed in his stated goal of wiping out the Maoists is uncertain – what is however clear is that it will pave the way for corporate land grab.

The Maoists with their reckless actions are of course doing everything possible to alienate large sections of the democratic opinion. With every passing day, they demonstrate increasingly clearly how far they have moved away from the legacy of the Naxalbari peasant rebellion and Comrade Charu Mazumdar. Comrade CM was no advocate of isolated and exclusive armed actions – for him the two key phrases were “integration with the landless rural poor” and “politics in command”. The Maoists have delinked the whole question of arms from this essential context and have thus moved beyond the purview of the CPI(ML), the party founded by Comrade Charu Mazumdar. This is why they have had to find new names to describe their ideology and organization. The alienation and anger of the tribal masses does provide the Maoists with some favourable initial conditions, but they have done nothing to channelize it to any powerful mass awakening. On the contrary, Lalgarh shows how the Maoists have miserably misled a popular uprising.

The Government of India and the various state governments are however invoking the ‘Maoist threat’ not only to tackle the Maoists but to suppress every movement of the working people and stifle every democratic dissent. Reports of indiscriminate detention in false cases and on fabricated charges, custodial torture and harassment, and attacks on the press and on the freedom of expression are coming in from every corner of the country. The dark days of the Emergency seem to be staging a comeback in so many ways. The revolutionary Left movement must boldly face this situation by in close association with other democratic forces. There can of course be no condoning the reckless acts of the self-styled Maoists, and it is imperative to sharpen the lines of demarcation between anarchism and revolutionary Marxism even as we seek broad-based cooperation to defeat the growing war on democracy.

Struggles in India

Open Letter to Indian PM

- Liberation, November, 2009.

October 12, 2009

We are deeply concerned by the Indian government’s plans for launching an unprecedented military offensive by army and paramilitary forces in the adivasi (indigeneous people)-populated regions of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal states. The stated objective of the offensive is to “liberate” these areas from the influence of Maoist rebels. Such a military campaign will endanger the lives and livelihoods of millions of the poorest people living in those areas, resulting in massive displacement, destitution and human rights violation of ordinary citizens. To hunt down the poorest of Indian citizens in the name of trying to curb the shadow of an insurgency is both counter-productive and vicious. The ongoing campaigns by paramilitary forces, buttressed by anti-rebel militias, organised and funded by government agencies, have already created a civil war like situation in some parts of Chattisgarh and West Bengal, with hundreds killed and thousands displaced. The proposed armed offensive will not only aggravate the poverty, hunger, humiliation and insecurity of the adivasi people, but also spread it over a larger region.

Grinding poverty and abysmal living conditions that has been the lot of India’s adivasi population has been complemented by increasing state violence since the neoliberal turn in the policy framework of the Indian state in the early 1990s. Whatever little access the poor had to forests, land, rivers, common pastures, village tanks and other common property resources has come under increasing attack by the Indian state in the guise of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and other “development” projects related to mining, industrial development, Information Technology parks, etc. The geographical terrain, where the government’s military offensive is planned to be carried out, is very rich in natural resources like minerals, forest wealth and water, and has been the target of large scale appropriation by several corporations. The desperate resistance of the local indigenous people against their displacement and dispossession has in many cases prevented the government-backed corporations from making inroads into these areas. We fear that the government’s offensive is also an attempt to crush such popular resistances in order to facilitate the entry and operation of these corporations and to pave the way for unbridled exploitation of the natural resources and the people of these regions. It is the widening levels of disparity and the continuing problems of social deprivation and structural violence, and the state repression on the non-violent resistance of the poor and marginalized against their dispossession, which gives rise to social anger and unrest and takes the form of political violence by the poor. Instead of addressing the source of the problem, the Indian state has decided to launch a military offensive to deal with this problem: kill the poor and not the poverty, seems to be the implicit slogan of the Indian government.

We feel that it would deliver a crippling blow to Indian democracy if the government tries to subjugate its own people militarily without addressing their grievances. Even as the short-term military success of such a venture is very doubtful, enormous misery for the common people is not in doubt, as has been witnessed in the case of numerous insurgent movements in the world. We urge the Indian government to immediately withdraw the armed forces and stop all plans for carrying out such military operations that has the potential for triggering a civil war which will inflict widespread misery on the poorest and most vulnerable section of the Indian population and clear the way for the plundering of their resources by corporations. We call upon all democratic-minded people to join us in this appeal.

Indian Signatories include Arundhati Roy, Author and Activist, Amit Bhaduri, Professor Emeritus, CESP, JNU, Sandeep Pandey, Social Activist, Prashant Bhushan, Supreme Court Advocate, Nandini Sundar, Delhi School of Economics, Anand Patwardhan, Film Maker, Dipankar Bhattachararya, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Sumit Sarkar, Historian, Tanika Sarkar, Professor of History, JNU, Gautam Navlakha, Consulting Editor, EPW and many others.

International Signatories include Noam Chomsky, David Harvey, Michael Lebowitz, John Bellamy Foster, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Mira Nair, Howard Zinn, Gilbert Achcar.

Asia

India’s China Policy: Calling for Cooperation, Not Confrontation

- Dipankar Bhattacharya, Liberation, November, 2009.

The October 1 celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China has attracted worldwide attention. Considering the historical baggage of backwardness with which modern China had begun its journey and the size of China’s billion-plus population, China has indeed come a long way in these six decades. With “made in China” products virtually swamping the global market, the whole world obviously recognizes China’s economic prowess. Compared to China’s economic strength, its voice in the strategic domain of international relations has of course been rather soft and subdued, but of late China seems to have begun stepping up its role in this arena too.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, for a few years the world looked quite unipolar with unchallenged US domination in every sphere. But over the last one decade, the aura of American power has started fading. With every passing month, the burden of the economic, human and political cost of the US-led military misadventure in Afghanistan and Iraq is becoming increasingly heavy and unaffordable. The US has also had to bear the brunt of the global financial crisis and the recession that has revived memories of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The steady rise of China marks a striking contrast to this unmistakable decline of an overstretched superpower.

China of course does not seem to be in any hurry to assert its status as a rising global power. The keyword in Chinese foreign policy parlance is not superpower but multipolarity as opposed to a unipolar world. In its quest for a multipolar world, China is seeking closer strategic cooperation with Russia and the Central Asian republics within the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and closer bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation with major developing countries like India and Brazil (the combination of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) can indeed be a powerful bargaining bloc). Apart from pressing for restructuring of the IMF, China has also come up with the idea of ending the US dollar’s prolonged reign as the universal currency of international exchange. China has suggested that as a medium of international transaction, dollar should be replaced by a supranational currency basket like the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) used by the IMF.

While China’s record in terms of domestic economic advance is quite extraordinary and its growing role as a balancing force against unipolar imperialist domination is undoubtedly significant, a lot is however left to be desired when one judges China by the yardstick of socialism. Much of the initial post-revolution gains achieved by the toiling masses towards genuine liberation and social progress have been lost in the wake of post-1978 modernization. Disparity, social as well as regional, is assuming critical proportions, even as the working people in both rural and urban areas are faced with growing unemployment and insecurity. No wonder popular anger is also exploding in different parts of China at regular intervals, with the state often unleashing repressive measures to handle such protests.

For communistas and anti-imperialists the world over the sixtieth anniversary of the victory of the Chinese revolution is an occasion to gather inspiration and strength from the historical transformation of a backward country into a powerful modern nation even as the problems facing China demand close scrutiny and critical introspection. At the same time it is imperative that we must boldly denounce and resist the American design to encircle China. In India the pro-US lobby has been working overtime to project China as a big imminent threat. The US military-industrial complex wants to capture India’s lucrative defence market by promising to enhance India’s military capacity vis-à-vis China. Such a course will not only make India ever more dependent on the US but also cripple whatever democracy we have by subordinating the country’s economic and political agenda to the disastrous logic of war and militarization. We must learn from our past history and save the country from this US-prescribed road to disaster. Avoiding the path of confrontation, India must move towards comprehensive cooperation with China.

Workers’ Struggle in India

Pricol Tragedy: Witch Hunt Must Stop, Justice Must Prevail

- Liberation, November, 2009.

The tragic death of a senior management representative of auto part manufacturer Pricol in Coimbatore on September 22 has triggered a frenzied reaction from the Pricol management, the Tamil Nadu (TN) police and sections of the corporate media. Roy George, Vice President (Human Resources) of Pricol had reportedly suffered head injury in the course of talks with a group of workers on 21 September and succumbed the next afternoon in a city hospital.

The company describes the tragic end of its VP as ‘planned and premeditated murder’ and attributes it to a conspiracy hatched by the leadership of the fighting union of Pricol workers (Kovai Mavatta Pricol Employees’ Trade Union) as well as the central trade union (All India Central Council of Trade Unions) with which it is affiliated. The Coimbatore police have already arrested some thirty workers and a witch hunt is on against several other worker activists and their leaders including Comrade S Kumarasamy, President of AICCTU.

Newspapers and TV channels have all noted the similarity of the Coimbatore case with a similar incident that happened exactly a year ago in Greater Noida in which the local head of Italian firm Graziano Transmission was reportedly beaten to death by a group of sacked employees. It was reported that the Graziano incident was sparked off when goons hired by the management beat up workers who had been summoned on the pretext of talks. A similar incident has recently been reported from Gorakhpur. Meanwhile at Gurgaon, the killing of a worker by management ‘bouncers’ during an agitation against sacking of employees who were leading the struggle to unionise, has sparked off a massive strike in Gurgaon. A few incidents involving mill managers have also been witnessed occasionally in the jute mills in West Bengal notorious for huge PF defaults and most anarchic and arbitrary labour practices by the mill owners. The recent suicide of Manikandan, a worker at Pricol for the last 19 years, is the latest addition to the toll of human life taken by the undemocratic and repressive tactics of the Pricol management.

Yet instead of highlighting the common causal thread that runs through such cases – absence of industrial democracy, rampant violations of labour laws and complete denial of the right to unionise, miserable working and living conditions of workers, and recurrent violence by management against vocal workers, to name just a few causes – or helping us understand the incident in the context of the deep anxieties and uncertainties fuelled by the recession, most media reports have tended to join the corporate chorus defaming the organized trade union movement and calling for labour reforms to give still greater freedom to capital to dictate terms to labour. Some have even gone to the extent of demanding a ban on the AICCTU and CPI(ML).

The Pricol management has been notorious for its record of rampant violation of labour laws, court verdicts and government orders. Far from recognizing the union supported by the overwhelming majority of workers, it has constantly victimized workers for siding with a ‘Marxist-Leninist union’, hoping to break the union through coercion and intimidation. In recent months, in the name of facing the recession, it has resorted to harsh wage-cuts, robbing every worker of tens of thousands of rupees. On top of this, came the September 21 termination of 40-odd workers and the dam of workers’ patience burst asunder.

Even in the face of such a vindictive and arbitrary management, Pricol workers have actually been waging a protracted and patient battle exploring every legal avenue available for bringing the management to justice. From Madras High Court to Supreme Court to the floor of the Tamil Nadu State Assembly, the contention of the fighting workers has been upheld time and again and notice issued to the management for legal compliance. The tragic incident of September 21-22 should not blind us to this real history of Pricol workers’ struggle.

By launching a witch hunt against Pricol workers at the behest of the Pricol management, and framing the all-India leadership of a recognized trade union centre like AICCTU, the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) government is now playing its bit to intensify the state-corporate assault on industrial democracy and basic trade union rights. The trade union movement and the broader democratic opinion must resolutely resist this assault and stand by Pricol workers for fulfillment of their just demands.

The Centre too is trying to use Pricol-Graziano-type incidents to discredit the working class movement and push for the corporate-sponsored agenda of ‘labour law reform.’ In other words, instead of correcting the course of rampant violations of labour laws by managements which led to such tragedies, the Centre is planning to institutionalise and legalise those very violations! The Pricol tragedy cannot and must not be allowed to be utilized as a corporate handle to coerce workers and suppress the voice of justice. The deaths of Roy George and the worker Manikandan in Pricol, and of Gurgaon worker Ajit Yadav should serve as a warning bell to the government to strictly act against the anarchy perpetrated by managements across the country, legislate in favour of workers’ right to form unions, sternly penalise every violation of labour laws, and uphold principles of industrial democracy and collective bargaining.

At Coimbatore, a single day’s tragic incident is being deliberately sought to be used to prejudice public opinion against the Pricol workers and suppress the truth of the nearly one thousand days of their united and determined struggle.

Pricol: Confirmed Violator of Labour Laws

Among other basic things, a key demand of Pricol workers has been for the recognition of their unions which enjoy the support of the overwhelming majority of workers while the management has been constantly pressurizing workers to withdraw from the road of struggle and sever ties with the ‘Marxist-Leninist’/‘Maoist’ leadership.

In this long struggle of Pricol workers, the government of Tamil Nadu has repeatedly censured the Pricol management. The state government has issued three advices, passed one government order (GO) prohibiting the continuance of lockout, passed three GOs ordering references, passed two orders under section 10B of the Industrial Disputes Act (ID Act) 1947.

On 29th of July 2009 the state Labour Minister, while replying to a calling attention motion moved on the floor of the assembly by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI (Marxist), catalogued the various unfair labour practices indulged in by Pricol Ltd, and stated that the workers had given up their indefinite fast which had been continuing for the 15th day as their demands were accepted by the government. He further assured that the government would not let the workers down.

Have things completely changed in a few months and more particularly on a single day with the unfortunate death of an executive? In the heat and passion generated by this tragic incident, can we allow rational reasoning to become a casualty?

Will TN Police Consult TN Labour Department on Pricol Ltd?

Rampant violation of labour laws, court verdicts and government orders has been the trademark of the Pricol management.

Some highlights of Pricol’s notorious track record in the arena of industrial relations:

• Vindictive transfers.

• Refusal to engage in collective bargaining in good faith with the majority union.

• Illegal partial lockouts.

• Break-in-service orders.

• Stoppages of increments.

• Termination of more than 1000 employees

• Illegal deduction of wages and incentives running into crores of rupees; promises by the management to pay all these withheld dues if the workers leave the unions.

• Employment of apprentices and contract labour contrary to certified standing orders and the Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation) Act, 1970.

• Most recently, dismissal of 44 workers without any domestic enquiry.

In almost all these issues the state government has intervened under sections 10 (1), 10(3) and 10 B of the ID act 1947. In fact Comrade Kumarasami was trying to get the Labour Minister convene a meeting at the earliest to resolve the simmering discontent and this fact is known to the Labour Department.

The management does not want Comrade Kumarasami to defend the Pricol workers in the High Court as well as the Supreme Court on the 29th of September and other subsequent dates. This is the main reason for implicating Comrade Kumarasami, the national president of a centrally recognised trade union.

Continuing Witch-hunt

Subsequent to the incident at the Pricol automotive parts manufacturing company at Coimbatore on 21-22 September 2009, the police initiated a crackdown on innocent workers and their leaders. Murder cases were fabricated against more than 20 workers, including two women. The charges of murder and of damages to properties were framed against the union’s all-India President Comrade S Kumarasamy. The same cases were also foisted against many workers’ leaders and vanguards at factory level who are under suspension or dismissal and who are not entitled to enter the factory. More than 26 innocent workers, including eight women, were arrested within 24 hours on non-bailable offences, digging up some old cases of unlawful assembly that alleged to have happened in March 2009. These arrests were made two days prior to a meeting of an AICCTU delegation with the Deputy Chief Minister and the day before the anticipatory bail petition for S Kumarasamy was filed in the High Court of Chennai. At the next hearing of the bail petition of S Kumarasamy on 15 October, the police gave an undertaking to the Court not to arrest him until the anticipatory bail hearing was complete.

Around 26 workers arrested on charges of unlawful assembly were released on bail on 7 October after having been jailed for over a week. The workers of Pricol wanted to participate in struggles on 1 October as a part of all-India Protest Day called by AICCTU at national level. The police denied permission for the demonstration. On 3rd October, a Solidarity Committee with Pricol workers sought permission to hold a demonstration in support of the struggle and was denied by police. Hundreds of supporters of the struggle courted arrest violating prohibitory orders.

On 2nd October, a state level delegation of AICCTU led by N K Natarajan and comprising of state deputy general secretaries A S Kumar and Bhuvana, G Radha Krishnan and two Pricol workers, met the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin. The delegation urged him to initiate suitable actions to establish the rule of law and to discipline the Pricol management which is responsible for industrial anarchy.

An all India delegation of AICCTU led by its all-India General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee, and comprising all-India Vice-President V Shankar, Secretaries N K Natarajan and Balasubramanian visited Coimbatore on 6th October. When the delegation went to address the press at press club, more than hundred policemen cordoned off the place to create a situation of terror. The delegation also addressed a well attended convention of workers of Pricol on the same evening. In spite of heavy repression and prevalence of terror situation, workers participated in the convention in good strength and displayed utmost struggling spirit and a sense of fighting unity. The convention was symbolic of the renewed vigour and resolve of workers to carry forward the struggle. The convention also paid homage to a Pricol worker who committed suicide unable to bear the management’s victimization of workers and the police harassment.

The delegation also met the State Labour Minister, State Labour Commissioner and the state police Chief, the Director General of Police and submitted a memorandum demanding withdrawal of false cases against Comrade S Kumarasamy and other innocent workers. The delegation also demanded suitable legislative amendments for recognition of trade unions that enjoy the support of majority workers.

A peace meeting on 7 October was called, under the guidance of the Deputy Chief Minister, by the Deputy Commissioner of Labour Mr. Marimuthu at Coimbatore who served notices to the union and the management. The management chose to stay away from the meeting while the union attended it. The Pricol management continues to arrogantly defy any steps for peace.

The management also declared a differential bonus formula for different groups. While the majority workers in the union were unilaterally offered the statutory minimum bonus of 8.33%, the minority loyal workmen represented by treacherous unions were offered 20% bonus plus gift. This is also a sufficient indication that violation of laws by the management is going on unabated and there is no political or legal authority competent enough to prevail on the Pricol Management. This is the usual story of corporate or Multinational corporation (MNC) influence and control over the State authorities instead of the reverse.

It is heartening that almost all Left trade unions like All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC) and Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) offered support to the workers’ demands at national and state level. They also readily signed the joint statement. The struggles, rallies and demonstrations emphasizing the Pricol workers’ demands, are on in Chennai on every other day since 29 September. All India Agricultural Labour Association (AIALA) also joined the protest in support of workers in rural areas displaying the sense of unity with workers. Students and women too, joined the voice of protest in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The struggle of Pricol workers’ continues – even as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre is pushing the agenda of ‘reform of labour laws’ – a euphemism for rollback of labour laws to appease the corporations and to intensify the liberalization offensive.

Massive protests

Following the witch-hunt of workers and attempt to frame and implicate the AICCTU National President Comrade Kumaraswamy in the death of a Vice President at PRICOL industries, Coimbatore, there have been a flood of protests – not only in Tamil Nadu bur nationally and even outside the country.

In Delhi, AICCTU held a protest at Jantar Mantar on 24 September. On the same day, there was a demonstration in Ambattur industrial estate in which over 500 workers participated. TIDC workers held a gate meeting. Demonstrations were also held in Namakkal, Pudukottai district Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts too.

100s of protest telegrams were sent from all over the State to the Tamil Nadu CM and Governor. The Madras High Court Association passed a resolution against the false implication of Comrade Kumarsami.

On 25 September, a demo was held in Villupuram district. On 26 September, the first State Conference of AISA in Tamil Nadu was held in Chennai. The delegates staged a demo demanding withdrawal of the false charges against AICCTU National President and an end to the police hunt of workers.

TIDC workers held another gate meeting on 27 September. On 29 September, a demonstration was held in Chennai in which over 150 workers participated. Another demonstration took place under the banner of the Workers’ Solidarity Forum at Kumananchavadi near Poonamalli.

An AIPWA team met the State Women’s Commission Chairperson and demanded to stop police harassment on women workers. She appointed a one-woman Commission to look into the issue.

On 30 September, representatives of all Central Trade Unions in Tamil Nadu issued a resolution against the implication of AICCTU National President in the case and against violations of labour laws in the State. Demonstrations were held in Tirunelveli, Pudukottai and Tiruvallore districts.

The Progressive Advocates Association and MRF Workers Seeramaippu Movement of Tiruvottiyur releases posters on the issue.

1st October was observed as National Solidarity Day by AICCTU. Protest demonstrations were held at Ranchi, Lucknow and other centres. A demonstration was held in Chennai in which 1000 workers participated. CITU, AITUC and AIUTUC leaders attended the demonstration. Demonstrations were held in Villupuram, Kumbakonam, Cuddalore, Namakkal, Kanyakumari, Trichy, Salem, Dindigal and Madurai. In Tirunelveli, signatures collected were submitted to the Collector. A public meeting was held in Pudukottai town.

Pricol workers who arrived Chennai on 30 September met the State Labor Minister and demanded that the police harassment should be stopped. New Democratic Workers’ Union staged a demo in support of Pricol Workers.

On 3rd October AIPWA and Workers Rights’ Forum held a demonstration. In Coimbatore, over 120 people led by democratic forces held a rally. They were arrested and released later. A joint demonstration by many TUs was held in Ambattur.

On 4th October, TN Democratic Construction Workers Union organized a demo in Chennai. A Public meeting was held in Suthamalli of Tirunelveli district. On 5 October a demonstration was held in Kanchipuram and a memorandum was submitted to the Collector. A demonstration was held in Tiruvallore district by AICCTU-AIALA.

On 6th October, a hall meeting attended by 300 workers was held in Coimbatore addressed by AICCTU National General Secretary Comrade Swapan Mukherjee, Vice President Comrade V Shankar, Comrades N.K.Natarajan and S Balasubramaniam. AIPWA also held a demo in Chennai.

Also on 6th October, the Chennai Labour Court observed a boycott in solidarity with Pricol workers. On 9th October, a Court boycott was observed in Tirunelveli.

On 7th October, hundreds participated in a protest march in Chennai. A demonstration was held at Salem and Villupuram, and a public meeting at Tirunelveli. Protests continue across Tamilnadu.

Pricol Update

National President of All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) Com. S. Kumarasami was given anticipatory bail in the Pricol incident where he was falsely accused for the tragic death of Pricol’s HR VP. Fifty workers were arrested and put in jail out of which 26 have been given bail and barring one the Pricol management has taken back all 25 for work. Earlier the management never took-back the workers when there was court case involved after industrial dispute. This is the first time the workers released from jail have been allowed to resume their job. The remaining 24 workers who did not get bail have been charged with Sec. 302 of the IPC. The AICCTU is making all efforts for their bail as soon as possible.

At the heart of the incident in Pricol, Graziano and recently Gurgaon is the managements’ continuous denial to the workers to form and recognize their union and total absence of industrial democracy. The AICCTU and CPI(ML) have declared that the nation-wide struggle for workers’ right to form their union, trade union recognition and industrial democracy will be intensified and carried on until the working class win their basic rights.

Land Struggles in India

Land Reforms Sangharsh Yatra and Convention

- Liberation, September, 2009.

CPI (ML) in Bihar launched a state-wide campaign from 3-8 October to demand implementation of the recommendations of the D. Bandopadhyaya Land Reforms Commission (LRC). The Sangharsh Yatra called upon the masses to reject and oust the Nitish Govt. which is so blatantly on the side of landlords and land-grabbers.

On October 3rd, Sangharsh Yatras (struggle marches) were taken out – from Madhuban village in Patna led by All Indian Agricultural Labourers Association (AIALA)’s National President Rameshwar Yadav and Party’s MLA Nand Kumar Nanda; from Arrah in Bhojpur led by KD Yadav- State President of Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha (BPKS), from Karakat in Rohtas led by Arun Singh; from Biharsharif in Nalanda led by All Indian Progressive Womens’ Association (AIPWA) State Secretary Shashi Yadav, from Comrade Chandrashekhar’s statue at Siwan led by CPI(ML) MLA Amarnath Yadav, from Hathua in Gopalganj led by CCM Meena Tiwari; from Manjhaulia in West Champaran led by Virendra Gupta; in Muzaffarpur led by Jitenda Yadav; in Purnea led by Madhavi Sarkar; in Darbhanga led by Dhirendra Jha; in Begusarai led by Chandradeo Ram; in Aurangabad led by Rajaram Singh; in Patna led by Saroj Chaubey and in Bhagalpur led by SK Sharma. Apart from Yatras were also taken out in Chhapra, Vaishali, Araria, Banka, Munger, Lakhisarai, Jamui, Madhubani and Sitamarhi districts.

During the Sangharsh Yatra in 30 districts of the State more than a thousand public meetings and gatherings were organised and addressed. Foot marches and vehicle campaigns aided the intensive campaign. The Sangharsh Yatra crossed more than five thousand villages in 200 sub-divisions/blocks.

The Yatra culminated in a massive Land Reforms Convention at Patna on 10 October addressed by CPI (ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. He said that Mandal-ite politicians like Laloo and Nitish had conveniently forgotten that the Mandal Commission too had recommended land reforms as a key component of social justice. Nitish Kumar, he said, had set up Mahadalit Commission, Common School Commission and Land Reforms Commission galore – only to turn and make a mockery of their recommendations.

He said that carnages like Amousi could have been avoided if Nitish Kumar led government had implemented the recommendations of the D. Bandopadhyaya Commission, instead of leaving the landless poor and sharecroppers to the mercy of the prevailing agrarian anarchy. Under pressure from his primary constituency of feudal forces, he is now junking the agenda of Land Reforms.

The Convention also warned the Nitish Govt. that if no action is taken within a month’s time towards implementing the Land Reform Commission’s recommendations, the movement would be intensified.

Some of the resolutions passed at the Convention -

(1) This massive Convention of landless-sharecroppers-peasants holds the policy of reluctance and feudal attitude of the Govt. towards land reforms to be responsible for Amousi massacre. The Govt. that swears in the name of Mahadalits is only repressing them and painting them as criminals instead of providing them land, food-grains, dignity and housing. The Convention condemns the large scale repression, implicating in false cases and arresting of Musahar people at Khagaria, Saharsa, Darbhanga, Begusarai and Munger districts after the Amousi massacre, and demands that all the cases be withdrawn and arrested people be released immediately, and all landless families including the Mushahar community be granted 10 decimal housing plot and one acre of farm land,

(2) This convention terms the Rajgir conference of RSS as an exercise in vitalising the feudal-communal forces and calls upon all the poor-secular people to launch resistance against its proposed Gram Raksha Vahinis (village defence squad) aimed at encouraging the aggressiveness of feudal-kulak forces.

Declarations:

(1) In the light of recommendations of the D Bandopadhyaya Commission the State Govt. must urgently enact new laws for ceiling and share-cropping. Bhoodan, ceiling and housing plot parchadharis must be facilitated in gaining possession of the said land. Sharecroppers be safeguarded from eviction and get assured access to all facilities ranging from bank loans to crop-damage compensation and other Government agricultural welfare schemes

(2) The convention strongly condemns the betrayal by past Congress, RJD and current JD(U) governments on the issue of land reforms and calls upon rural poor and peasantry to intensify land struggle. A State-level workshop will be organised at Muzaffarpur on 28-29 October to provide impetus to the struggle for land reforms

(3) A parallel registration campaign will be conducted for share-croppers, landless poor and those without homestead land. The Convention demands that all matters related to land be handed over to panchayats and panchayats be authorised to issue identity cards to share-croppers and landless. This Convention calls upon the Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha (BPKS) and AIALA to collect records of feudal forces holding Govt. land and launch struggle against them.

Tailpiece:

The Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has finally declared outright that he has no intention of implementing the LRC recommendation to enact a new bataidari law. Instead he has directed SPs to deal with land disputes – confirming that in his govt.’s view, land is viewed as a law and order issue, and in effect issuing a veiled threat to the CPI(ML) (i.e that we will have to contend with the police if we take up land issues).

In response to queries by the press, Nitish has declared that when even West Bengal could not implement ownership rights for the sharecroppers, how can Bihar do it? But the fact is that the LRC headed by D Bandopadhyaya does not at any point recommend ownership rights for sharecroppers! It merely recommends registration of bataidars as the most modest and minimum security of tenure and right to cultivate the land, allowing the sharecroppers to thus access government schemes of agricultural compensation and credit, etc… Nitish is setting up a straw man of ‘ownership rights’ and then knocking it down! Nitish has also summarily ruled out the LRC recommendation of uniformity of land ceiling, and even the recommendation of 10 decimals of homestead land for rural poor.

The CPI(ML) has launched a widespread awareness campaign regarding ceiling land, homestead land and bataidari rights. Alongside this, the party has also begun initiatives to organise bataidars and create a pressure from below. In 10 panchayats of Patna where the party has a hold, we have begun to extend subsidy to bataidars. In Samastipur, our panchayats have distributed Kisan Credit cards to bataidars in Bhojpur, bataidari registration forms have been filled up as part of a campaign and submitted to the district administration.

Workers’ Struggles in India

Women Workers’ Convention

- Liberation, November, 2009.

A national Convention of women workers was held on October 9 at Bhilai, to facilitate ways in which to mobilize women workers to struggle for their rights.

The Convention, presided over by Sunita, Meena Pal, Dolly Dasgupta, was inaugurated by All India Agricultural Labour Association (AICCTU) National General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee.

All India Progressive Womens’ Association (AIPWA) Secretary Kavita Krishnan presented a position paper challenging the myths that globalization has empowered women workers. Subsequently, many women workers shared their experiences.

Veena Devi, General Secretary, Bihar State ASHA Employees Association said that ASHA recruits are responsible for a range of pre and post natal care for a mere Rs. 600 honorarium – even that was not paid in full anywhere. We’re demanding the status of govt employees and until then interim wage of Rs. 5000 per month.”

Sangeeta Devi of Bihar said, “I used to work at a juice factory in Hajipur Industrial Area. This year when I participated in a May Day programme organized by AICCTU at the gate of JK Cotton Mill, my factory owner spotted me and called up my manager on the mobile directing him to terminate my employment. But I did not lose heart, and I began to organise construction workers.” Baijayanti Devi, SAHIA worker from Pakhur, Jharkhand told much the same story.

Jaswinder Kaur from Punjab spoke of the agricultural workers’ recent struggle for homestead land in which a large number of women had been jailed.

Savitri Ghatowal said the Assam Tea Plantation Labour Act 1852 is outdated and requires change. The Assam Sangrami Cha Shramik Sangh has been demanding a new Act even the rights enshrined in the old Act are being violated. Facilities provided earlier to tea plantation workers have been withdrawn – for instance the provision of houses. 90 days maternity leave, provided for by the existing Act, is denied often pregnant workers give birth while working on the plantation.”

Thenmozhi spoke of bonded labour under the ‘Sumangali scheme” in the powerloom sector, whereby unmarried young girls worked in virtual bondage to earn a lump-sum amount for their dowry. Most of these women are dalits, she said; they are often dismissed on flimsy charges before the allotted time is up, so the cash amount can be cut. Many who worked the entire period received cheques that bounced.

Shanti Sen, an agricultural worker from Raipur described how her 17 year old son was framed in a false case in order to harass villagers for challenging corruption; her son eventually committed suicide in custody.

Savitri Sahu, a cleaning worker from Bhilai spoke of being victimised by contractors, who laid those branded as ‘leaders’ for several weeks. Geeta Mandal, AIPWA leader from Jharkhand spoke of how Mid Day meal workers and SAHIA workers are underpaid and overworked.

The Convention resolved to form an AICCTU Women’s Cell, and to take up a series of programmes designed to highlight women workers’ rights and develop leaders among women.

South Asia

Tamil Nationalism: Ducking the Issues

- S Sivasegaram.

Although the prospects of a military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rose with every setback suffered by the LTTE since its retreat from the Eastern Province in 2007, its rapid collapse from early 2009 surprised many observers including opponents and critics. Many questions concerning the failure of the LTTE to assess correctly the military situation remain unanswered.

Most Sri Lankan Tamil nationalists, especially among the diaspora, think that the defeat was due to betrayal by India. Many complain that the West, especially the US, too let down the LTTE by failing to intervene. There are also those who argue that weapons supplied by China did the damage, while some seek to justify the conduct of the Indian government based on the rising Chinese and, to a less extent, Pakistani influence in Sri Lanka.

Such explanations miss the point that the West as well as India wanted the elimination of the LTTE as a military force. The US was happy to disarm the LTTE using the negotiating table while weakening it through inducing divisions, whereas the Indian establishment desired the annihilation of the LTTE.

Some think that the LTTE would have survived to return to a position of strength, had it reverted to guerrilla warfare after its defeat in the East. Although this is speculation, resorting to guerrilla warfare would have spared the lives of many LTTE cadres as well as leaders, and more importantly the tens of thousands of civilians killed in the last few months of the war. It could also have averted the ending up of 280,000 in poorly sheltered detention camps, the maiming of well over 20,000, and other known and yet unknown forms of suffering.

What are missing in the explanations above for the defeat of the LTTE are the political reasons. The LTTE, like other Tamil nationalist movements, was never a mass movement, and all along it placed armed struggle above politics. Its anti-democratic approach, resentment of criticism and intolerance to opposition had their roots in Tamil nationalist politics, but the LTTE surpassed all predecessors. Also, besides its reluctance to oppose imperialism, it pinned its hopes on the imperialists as its fortunes declined in the battlefield.

The events of the past several months lead to important questions that are being avoided by nationalists of all shades, including those who support the government.

It is probably true that the people willingly followed the LTTE as it retreated from Kilinochchi at the end of 2008. But as life became harder, many wanted to cross over to government controlled territory, and the LTTE used force, including shooting at people who attempted to leave, to prevent them from leaving. Why did the LTTE insist on the people remaining with it even as the territory held by it was shrinking and difficulties mounted in meeting the basic needs of the people under its control, especially in the context of the government severely restricting if not blocking the supply of essential goods?

The LTTE could not have been ignorant of the firepower possessed by the Sri Lankan armed forces and their willingness to use it at tremendous risk to human life. The LTTE also knew that its military supplies had been effectively intercepted and severely curtailed since 2007 with the help of the Indian military intelligence. Did the LTTE seriously expect that some major power would intervene to save it and avert the impending disaster?

Those who encouraged the Tamils at home and among the diaspora to believe that intervention in some form was impending from the US, the UN and even some European countries include the Tamil elite among the diaspora who still believe in lobbying politicians, and includes the group calling itself ‘Tamils for Obama’. Tamil elitist support in the West called for unqualified support for the LTTE, and refused to distinguish between the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils demanding a just and lasting solution to the national question and the LTTE which claimed to be their sole spokesperson, with rapidly declining justification for such as claim. Why did the LTTE leadership wait until the last moment to announce its surrender? Why did it not let the people leave even when it was clear that military defeat was imminent? If any false hope was given to the LTTE leadership, who or what was its source?

There are also questions relating to the surrender and killing of the LTTE leadership which are as embarrassing to the government as to the supporters of the LTTE, which had demanded of its cadres to commit suicide rather than surrender.

Interestingly, LTTE spokespersons among the diaspora still debate Pirapakaran’s demise. The claim that he is still alive seems to be based on more dubious reasons than blind faith. Those who claim that he is alive seem to have control over much of the wealth accumulated for fighting the cause of Tamil Eelam. Funds came mainly from the Tamil diaspora, although contributions were not always voluntary.

The hope that the LTTE will revive as a fighting force is fast receding among the faithful. Meantime, the idea of setting up a ‘Trans-National Government of Tamil Eelam’ is being promoted by a section of the elite, who accept the demise of the leader. K Pathmanathan, a Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TNGTE) promoter who was named the leader of the LTTE among the diaspora since the fall of the LTTE, is now in the custody of the Sri Lankan government. The circumstances of his alleged abduction from a hotel in Malaysia and deportation from Thailand suggest possible surrender, the denial of which suits both the TNGTE elite and the Sri Lankan government.

Internationally, the stock of the Sri Lankan government is low, mainly in view of the detention under unacceptable condition of Tamils ‘freed from the control of the LTTE’, let alone charges of war crimes and human rights abuses by its armed forces. The Tamil elite among the diaspora is seeking solace in the prospect of the West punishing Sri Lanka, based on the some of the harsh criticism emanating from the US, UN and the EU. But they hardly realise that charges of war crimes and human rights violations only serve to bring wayward states into line and not to bring offenders to book and even less to rectify wrongs.

What is evident among the Tamil diaspora is that they are being fed with false hope to avert any serious analysis of what went wrong with the struggle for Tamil Eelam.

The situation in Sri Lanka is similar, with the Tamil nationalist leaders reluctant to discuss pressing issues concerning the plight of the Tamils. Despite superficial political differences, they are, as a whole, reluctant to seriously discuss or debate their political past and the failed armed struggle. As in the past, it is safer for them to blame ‘traitors’ and point to external factors with which they are not associated so that they can continue to fool the Tamil people the way they did for over half a century.

But changes are evident across the Tamil political landscape. Elections to the local authorities in the North were recently held by the government in a bid to show that life there was returning to normal. The New Democratic Party called for a boycott of the elections, but under prevailing conditions could not actively campaign for a boycott.

The people had their own ideas. In the election for the Jaffna Municipal Council nearly 80% of the voters kept off , with more than 6% of those voting spoiling their ballot papers. Voting in the Vavuniya Urban Council was just over 50% with over 5% of ballot papers spoilt, despite impersonation, intimidation and other ‘customary democratic practices’. There was no overwhelming support for any political grouping whether pro-government or not.

That is food for thought.

Short Obituary

Saluting the Memory of K Balagopal

- Liberation, November, 2009.

The untimely death of leading civil libertarian K Balagopal on 8 October 2009 is a great loss to people’s movements for justice and democracy.

Balagopal played a key role in building up a powerful human rights movement in Andhra Pradesh and confront regime after repressive regime in Andhra Pradesh. He was among the first to confront the State on the issue of fake encounter killings – often at risk to his own life.

At a time when both Central and State governments of every hue are intensifying their offensive on democracy and civil liberties through draconian laws, fake encounters and muzzling of dissent, K Balagopal’s memory is a source of strength and inspiration to all those involved in the struggle to defend democracy and resist state repression.

Short Obituary

Adieu to Comrade Ibn-ul Hasan Basru!

- Liberation, November, 2009.

With a heavy heart, we bid goodbye on 29.09.09 to Comrade Ibn-ul Hasan Basru, Central Committee member of the CPI (ML) and one of the leading lights of our party in Jharkhand. Comrade Basru, recently diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer of the gall bladder, breathed his last at 1 pm on 29 September 09 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Comrade Basru was born in 1943 in Godda district of Jharkhand (then undivided Bihar). He received his schooling at Mirzaganj in Giridih, in the same school where his father taught Urdu. He completed his school finals from Patna College, where he first came into contact with the communist movement, joining the All India Students Federation (AISF). In the 1960s he was drawn closer to the Communist Party of India (CPI), taking a formal party membership in 1968. In 1970 he formed the Mirzaganj unit of the party, and soon led a powerful anti-feudal peasant movement, challenging bonded labour, usury and assaults on dalits, adivasis and women.

Within a very short time, this militant movement made its mark and led to the rapid expansion of the party in the district. In 1972, he also led the resistance to communal politics of the Jan Sangh-Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

In 1973, he was jailed for the first time; in his subsequent political life in the thick of people’s movements, he was jailed many times. In the 1980s, he again led a powerful anti-feudal mass upsurge, and the success of CPI candidates in elections was attributed in significant measure to his efforts.

However, by the 1990s, he began to be dissatisfied with the politics and tactics of the CPI, and eventually came closer to the CPI (ML), which was rising as a powerful force in Giridih and Jharkhand. In 2002, he joined the CPI (ML), and in the 7th Party Congress of the CPI (ML) at Patna in November 2002, he was elected to Central Committee of the CPI (ML).

In the extremely challenging period following the martyrdom of Comrade Mahendra Singh, Comrade Basru shouldered a very crucial part of the responsibility, striving to achieve Comrade Mahendra Singh’s goal of achieving the party’s growth in Giridih.

A very modest and down-to-earth comrade, he easily integrated himself with the toiling poor. He epitomised the communist lifestyle; even with many economic and health travails faced by his family, he always relied on the people and dedicated himself to the party.

Comrades in Jharkhand know that till the very end, he remained quiet about his illness, playing a leading role in the recent militant struggle against irregularities in implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in Jamua.

Our thoughts are with his bereaved family in their hour of loss. Comrade Basru – your simplicity, your courage, your communist spirit and dedication will continue to inspire comrades!

Red Salute to Comrade Ibn-ul Hasan Basru!

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September-October 2009

Table of Contents

1) Intensify the Struggle against Price Rise and Hunger

2) India Teeters on the Brink of Food Crisis

3) Protests on Drought and Hunger

4) US Muscle in Latin America

5) Interview with MPD

6) March to Parliament against Betrayal on Women’s Bill

7) AICCTU’s Nationwide Campaign

8) Gangubai Hangal: A Brave Life

9) Chhattisgarh Government’s Cultural Fascism

Struggles in India

Intensify the Struggle against Price Rise and Hunger

- Liberation, September, 2009.

India observed her 62rd year of independence with a solemn Prime Ministerial pronouncement: not a single Indian citizen would be allowed to go hungry. The Premier was immediately contradicted and lampooned by fresh reports of starvation deaths (from Jehanabad) and farmers’ suicides (from Andhra Pradesh [AP]). More ominously, we know that for every starvation death we have at least a thousand men, women and children eking out a miserable existence on one or half-a-meal a day. It is evident that 62 years of independence have not given us freedom from either extreme hunger, which results in starvation deaths and grabs headlines, or from endemic hunger, the silent killer which slowly slaughters tens of thousands across the land unnoticed, the deaths being explained away as those caused by “disease” or “improper food habits”.

The situation is going to deteriorate further in the coming months; the Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister have told us, with rising prices and plummeting stocks of edibles. The reason: the failure of monsoons and consequent drought conditions in 246 out of 593 districts – nearly half the country. Well, quite a plausible argument. But wait, have not food prices been rising through the roof also during the past few years of good monsoons? Did India need unusual droughts or floods to report a chilling series of starvation deaths and farmers’ suicides during the rule of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) I, or to be placed below countries of sub-Saharan Africa and all of South Asia, barring Bangladesh, in the Global Hunger Index and the India Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute in October 2008? Food scarcity — at least for the poor — is thus perennial to this vast land of ours. Vagaries of monsoon only worsen it occasionally and do not constitute the root cause.

So we cannot just let the powers that be cover up their own policy failures by finding a convenient scapegoat in the failure of monsoons.  Why did they allow Indian agriculture, which boasts a much higher proportion of cultivable land compared to most other countries including China, to fall prey to decay and decline over the past six decades? What prevented them from expanding – rather than curtailing, as they had actually been doing – public investment in agriculture? Why does the Agriculture Minister denounce “black marketeering or hoarding” but remain silent on forward trading in agricultural commodities, a major source of speculation and artificial rise in prices?

We must confront the union government with questions like these.  We must demand: Meet the rural poor’s urgent need for a monthly provision of 50 kg rice or wheat at Rs. 2 per kg. Bring edible oils, sugar and pulses within the scope of public distribution system (PDS). Implement the recommendations, hitherto neglected, of the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) on Minimum Support Price. Vastly expand the scope of the NREGA, not just as a relief measure but to improve rural infrastructure such as ponds. Mete out quick punishment to all officials responsible for delays and irregularities in the implementation of the NREGA.

While conducting militant agitations on immediate demands like these against the Central and State governments as well as various local authorities, we should bring pressure to bear on the Centre to expedite the proposed legislation that vows to convert food security into a legally enforceable right. And why should bureaucrats, ministers and “experts” alone determine the contents of the proposed bill? We should demand that peasants’ and agrarian labourers’ organizations, trade unions and other mass organizations must be consulted, so that the Bill really addresses their needs and aspirations. Once the Act is passed, we should start using it as a catalyst for action, a tool for collective bargaining to pressure the state machinery, as we have been doing with the NREGA.

In a country with 200 million food-insecure people — the largest number of hungry people in the world – the struggle against price rise and for freedom from hunger including fear of hunger is both an immediate and long term movement. We must lead and win both.

Struggles in India

India Teeters on the Brink of Food Crisis

-  Sukanta Mandal, Liberation, September, 2009.

The spectre of one of the worst ever drought situations looms large over the country. Central India suffered a massive 93% deficiency in rainfall in the first week of August, while the North-West remained at 76% below the long-term average. This monsoon, the rain deficit in Punjab, the granary of India, varies from 35% to as high as 87% depending on location. In Bihar, the deficiency varies between 76% and 88%. The average all-India deficiency of monsoon stood at 25%. Desperate farmers have sown paddy twice or even thrice, only to see the crop dry up. Both the President and Prime Minister (PM) have expressed concern at the impending spectre of drought in their ceremonial addresses to the nation on the occasion of this year’s Independence Day. The PM has even gone to the extent of giving a call for a “Second Green Revolution” to underline the gravity of the situation.

In a way the PM has hinted at the right malady. It is not only ‘the monsoon, stupid’ that is responsible for this famine-like situation. It is indeed the bleak agricultural scenario that is largely responsible for the present food crisis. Hence the talk of second green revolution! It is an irony that India even after four decades of Green Revolution is still largely dependent on the ‘rain-god’ for its agricultural salvation. The UPA government has already proposed a Food Security Act. This indicates that all is not well on the food front. The questions of food security and right to food have become urgent political issues. The overall growth story so assiduously propagated by the Indian rulers has not addressed the basic issue of providing food security to the masses. Instead, stark hunger still haunts some parts of the country for most part of the year, nutrition indicators stagnates and per capita calorie consumption actually declines in most other parts, suggesting that the problem of hunger may have got worse rather than better.

At the all India level 1.9% of the households suffer from hunger (NSSO data). Malnutrition in the country as a whole, as measured in terms of underweight children below three years, is estimated at 45.9% as per National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2005-06. The comparable estimate for 1998-99 was 47%. These rates are among the highest rates in the world and nearly double the rate of Sub-Saharan Africa. More than half of women in India (55%) and 70% of children between 6-59 months of age are anaemic.

According to the National Sample Survey Organisation’s (NSSO) data of 2004-05, population reporting a calorie intake level of “less than 100%” of the norm of 2700 kcal, formed 66 percent of the total in rural areas and 70 percent of the total in urban areas. The same survey shows that average daily intake of calories by rural population dropped by 106 kcal (4.9 percent) from 2153 kcal to 2047 Kcal from 1993-94 to 2004-05 and by 51 Kcal (2.5 percent) from 2071 to 2020 Kcal in the urban area. Average daily intake of protein by the Indian population has decreased from 60.2 to 57 grams in the rural area between 1993-94 and 2004-05 and remained at around 57 grams in the urban area during the same period.

According to the Global Hunger Index and the India Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute in October 2008, India’s record on hunger is worse than that of nearly 25 sub-Saharan African countries and all of South Asia, except Bangladesh. The Index, which measured hunger by ranking countries on three indicators, — prevalence of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie- deficient, — found that not a single state in India fell in the ‘low hunger’ or ‘moderate hunger’ categories. The best-performing Indian state – Punjab – displays ‘serious’ hunger and ranks 34th on the Global Index. The worst-performing state, Madhya Pradesh, falls in the ‘extremely alarming category’ and ranks 82nd, with its people hungrier than those in Ethiopia or Sudan. Bihar and Jharkhand (73rd and 75th on the Global Index) have worse hunger records than Zimbabwe, Haiti and Bangladesh. Even a supposedly successful state like Gujarat dismally displays ‘alarming’ hunger, coming 13th among the 17 Indian states in the survey. West Bengal too falls within the “alarming” category.

The question of food security is inextricably linked with the agrarian situation in the country. The country is yet to come out of the nagging agrarian crisis. This is all the more borne out by the fact that incidents of peasant suicides are still continuing unabated despite a huge waiver of agrarian loans to the tune of Rs.60,000 crore (1 crore = 10 million) during the last year. As many as 21 debt-ridden farmers committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh during the last 40 days alone. The toll goes on increasing week after week. The number of farmers who have committed suicide in India between 1997 and 2007 now stands at a staggering 182,936. Close to two-thirds of these suicides have occurred in five states. The Big 5 – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh– account for just about a third of the country’s population but two-thirds of farmers’ suicides. The rate at which farmers are killing themselves in these states is far higher than suicide rates among non-farmers. Farm suicides have also been rising in some other states of the country.

The Economic Survey, 2008-09 informs us that the food grains production in the country is showing signs of gradual decline. As per the third advance estimates, production of food grains in 2008-09 is estimated to be 229.85 million tonnes, which is a marginal improvement of 1.97 million tonnes over the second advance estimates for 2008-09. This is, however, lower than the target of 233 million tonnes set out for the year as also the final estimates of 230.78 million tonnes for 2007-08. The overall production of cereals in 2008-09 has shown a decline of 0.2 per cent over 2007-08 and a shortfall of 0.8 per cent over target for the year. Wheat production was marginally below the target for the year and production level achieved in 2007-08. In the case of coarse cereals, there has been a large shortfall both with reference to the targeted production as also the level achieved in the previous year. The overall picture of food grains production in the country during the year 2008-09 is depicted in Table-1 as follows:

The commercial crop scenario like oilseeds, sugarcane, cotton etc. is most bleak. The production of most commercial crops (in particular, sugarcane and cotton) is lower than the levels achieved in 2007-08. Total production of the nine oilseeds is estimated at 281.3 lakh (10 lakh = 1 million) tonnes, which is about 5.5 per cent lower than the production in 2007-08 and about 11.4 per cent lower than the targeted production for 2008-09. The production of sugarcane during 2008-09 is estimated at 2,892 lakh tonnes which is lower than the production of 3,482 lakh tonnes during 2007-08. This represents a decline of 16.9 per cent over previous year and of 14.9 per cent vis-à-vis the target for 2008-09. The production of cotton, estimated at 232.68 lakh bales, is short of the final estimates of 258.84 lakh bales in 2007-08 by 10.1 per cent and as compared to the target by 10.5 per cent.

Food security essentially involves procurement of sufficient quantity of food grains by the government to be distributed to the masses through the Public Distribution System (PDS). But the overall procurement of rice, wheat and predominant cereals, which reached 42.4 million tonnes in 2005-06, declined to 35.8 million tonnes in 2006-07, but improved marginally to 37.6 million tonnes in 2007-08. The decline in wheat procurement in Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2006-07 is attributable to shortage of production of wheat below the targeted levels, lower market arrivals, high ruling market prices, negative market sentiments due to low stocks of wheat in the Central pool and aggressive purchases by the private traders.

Hence the government took the decision to import wheat to meet the deficit in the Central Pool for meeting commitments under TPDS and other food-based welfare schemes and emergency relief measures. Government placed orders to import 5.5 million tonnes of wheat in 2006-07 at a weighted average price of US$ 204.7 per tonne and 1.8 million tonnes in 2007-08 at weighted average price of US$ 373.8 per tonne. We are told that the buffer stock position of food grains in the country as on 1 April 2009 was comfortable. Still the talk of further wheat import is making rounds in the corridors of the Food and Agriculture Ministry. The private players have already been allowed to import White Sugar without paying any duty.

In the meanwhile food grains prices are skyrocketing. For example, the prices of pulses have increased by 10 to 45 per cent. Arhar/tur are selling at Rs.90 and Mung Dal at Rs.74 a kilo in Mumbai and the apprehension is that the prices of pulses may shoot up to Rs.100 to Rs.150 a kilo due to the pressure of international market in a globalised scenario. The central government is providing subsidy to the corporate houses to the tune of Rs.4,18,095 crore by way of tax breaks and revenue foregone, whereas the total food subsidy provided in 2008-09 is Rs.43,688 core only, which is just a shade over a meagre 10% of the former. This is the real face of inclusive growth under the UPA regime!

Apart from the faulty agrarian policies and failing monsoon, one of the principal villains behind the spiralling prices of food grains has been the adverse impact of the commodities futures market on the prices of agricultural goods. Commodities traded in the commodities futures market included a variety of agricultural commodities. The total value of trading in the commodity futures market rose from Rs.34,84,485 crore in 2006 to Rs.36,54,487 crore in 2007 and to Rs.50,33,884 crore in 2008. The average daily value of trades in the commodities exchanges increased from Rs.15,000 crore during 2007 to Rs.18,500 crore in 2008. Agricultural commodities accounted for a large share of the commodities traded in the commodities futures market. This spurt in speculative transactions in food grains has encouraged hoarding and manipulation of prices by a few unscrupulous big players through the intervention in the commodities market.

The persistence, in fact increase, of high levels of hunger in times of globalised growth indicates that, as the Resolution on Agrarian Crisis adopted by the CPI(ML)’s 8th Party Congress observed, the “severe malnutrition crisis widespread in India, especially among children and women, is inseparably linked with liberalization in agriculture.” The subversion and dismantling of state procurement and PDS, as well as high food prices thanks to widespread speculation and hoarding have aggravated hunger. The ‘targeted’ PDS regime introduced a decade ago restricts food subsidy to ‘Below Poverty Line’ (BPL) families. In practice, the poor and marginalised find themselves excluded from the BPL lists and the extent of coverage of BPL families is very low. Hence to deal with food insecurity in an effective way, it is not sufficient to restrict the PDS to the targeted sections like the BPL population alone. Because, the process of identification of BPL population adopted in the country is far from fault-free, a large number of people who are food insecure would be excluded in case PDS remains confined to the BPL section alone. For instance, the last NSSO survey found that the percentage of Indians living below the poverty line (BPL) declined from 26.09% in 1999-2000 to 22.15% in 2004-05. Whereas the Arjun Sengupta report found that 77% of India’s population subsist on Rs 20 a day. Are the 55.85% of Indian people excluded from the BPL lists in spite of subsisting on Rs. 20 a day, not ‘poor’? Can we imagine that they are not hungry, or are not entitled to food subsidy?

PDS is a major state intervention to ensure food security to people especially the poor. The Eleventh Five Year Plan has observed that PDS seems to have failed in making food grain available to the poor as is evident from falling levels of cereal consumption over the last two decades. PDS was redesigned as Targeted PDS (TPDS) where higher rates of subsidies were given to the poor and the poorest among poor. However the Economic Survey, 2008-09 candidly admitted that, some major deficiencies were also identified in TPDS. These included high exclusion and inclusion errors, non-viability of fair price shops, leakages and failure in price stabilization. Hence is the need for strengthening and universalizing the PDS mechanism.

Struggles in India

Protests on Drought and Hunger

- Liberation, September, 2009.

In Patna, CPI (ML) leaders observed a 48-hour mass fast dharna (sit-in) on 9-11 August, protesting against inadequate drought-relief measures in Bihar, and demanding a range of measures to safeguard poor peasants and landless labourers, including payment of NREGA dues, reviving of government water taps, increase in diesel subsidy, and a widespread drought-relief programme across the State. The fast and dharna demanded that small seasonal dams be made on rivers, pump sets be used to replenish ponds, debt-free water supply be provided to sharecroppers, and they be given Rs 4000 per acre as diesel subsidy. Implementation of recommendations of the Land Reforms Commission was also demanded. The CPI (ML) State Secretary Comrade Nandkishore Prasad led the fast, along with the entire range of party and mass organisation leaders of the State.

On 14 August, whole of Jharkhand virtually stood still as people led by CPI (ML) blockaded roads in most of the State. The demand was to declare the State as drought hit and urgently provide ten thousand crore rupees as relief package. The blockade was most effective in Bagodar where 3000 people led by Com. Vinod Singh (MLA) blockaded the main highway for five hours. Other prominent points were Birni, Saria, Bishungarh Chowk, Ramgarh dist., Bokaro City and Phusro, Nirsa in Dhanbad, Lohardaga in South Chhota-Nagpur, Albert Ekka Chowk in Ranchi, Bundu, Chakradharpur , Bhawnathpur, Garhwa in Palamu,  Nala, Dumka in Jamtada district and Mohanpur and Sarwan in Devghar. At about 15 places in Giridih district blockades were laid in which more than 8000 people took part.

International

US Muscle in Latin America

- Srilata Swaminathan.

Countries of Latin America are up in arms against the US decision to open seven military bases in Columbia (a move taken on the pretext of combating narcotics trade). Apart from this, the US is working towards their army, navy and air force getting a military presence in this region by the end of this year. But that’s not all – after a gap of 59 years the US Fourth Fleet is also being revived to cover South America. In just funds, the Columbia Plan has received $10 billion and another $40 billion is in the pipeline.

This build-up is necessary if US wants to continue its domination of Latin America as it comes at a time when the US is being forced to close down its infamous Manta military base in Ecuador. Ecuador’s President, Rafael Correa, has refused to renew the contract for it. In fact, this is a big month for Ecuador as it not only hosted the UNASUR conference (Union of South American Nations formed recently in 2008) but Rafael Correa starts his second term in office under the new constitution which allows him to run for a another term. This is precisely what Zelaya was hoping to achieve in Honduras when he was kidnapped and ousted by a coup in June of this year. Even though the whole world refuses to recognise the coup leaders and that the whole country has come to a halt as trade unions have now joined the peasants and indigenous people in protests, the coup leaders are frantically trying to maintain the present status quo till the elections in November when they hope that their right-wing tactics will get legitimised.

The US puppet ruler of Columbia, President Alvaro Uribe, has just finished a frantic seven-nation tour of major South American countries trying to reassure everyone that they have nothing to worry about from this US build-up but, of course, there have been no takers.

It is not difficult to understand the concern shown by Latin American countries to this build-up. Ever since the Monroe Doctrine was enacted in 1823 when the US made sure that no European country could colonise Latin America, these countries have just traded one colonial master for another. The US, for almost two centuries, has treated them as its neo-colonies, controlled and exploited their vast natural resources, cheap labour and markets. It has installed oppressive military dictatorships, and just between 1945 and the 1980s, has sponsored at least 16 coups d’état. In the present century alone, the US has sponsored and supported coups against Chavez in Venezuela, Morales in Bolivia and, in spite of all Obama’s rhetoric to the contrary, the coup in Honduras.

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Surinam, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela who have all condemned the US move in the recently held UNASUR conference held this week by signing a joint statement condemning the US.

Venezuela, which is the most strident anti-US voice in the region, is the most concerned as it shares a long and troubled history, and border, with Columbia. Chavez is right to be worried that the US will invade his country on one pretext or the other. Over a recent border spat he has withdrawn the Venezuelan ambassador from Columbia and has sent the Columbian envoy in Caracas packing. The US and Columbia have always accused the Chavez government of arming the revolutionary FARC guerrillas, who have been labelled terrorists, and providing them shelter. Alfonso Cano, leader of FARC also condemns the build-up and prophecies that it is going to have far-reaching political consequences in Latin America. He knows that under the guise of the anti-drug drive the US has always used its might to wipe out this Marxist-Leninist party.

The US has cause to be deeply worried about the anti-US politics spreading throughout Latin America and is trying its best to contain it. Along with the creation of UNASUR, the new-found courage shown by the OAS (Organisation of American States) which has not only denounced the Honduran coup but reinstated Cuba as a member, it is also the formation of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) on the trade front which poses a challenge to US-dominated NAFTA. ALBA, particularly, has shown how this region can effectively counter the political-economy of exploitative imperialist trade.

The US has always cloaked its imperialistic hegemony under pseudonyms such as ‘fight for democracy’, ‘regime change’, ‘fight against terrorism’ and now, its latest charade is its ‘continuing fight against narcotics’! Unfortunately, this super-power has become so exposed that no one for a moment thinks this massive build-up is just to fight the coca farmers of Columbia. As Fidel Castro asks, “What have ships of the Fourth Fleet and combat planes got to do with stopping narcotics?”

International

“We will have to establish Socialism in Ecuador”: Interview with MPD

- Surya.

Ecuador is a country of 14 million people located in the western part of South America. It has many nationalities including the dominant nationality of mestizos (mixed). There are 17 other nationalities in Ecuador with the blacks and indigenous people (such as Quechua and Shuar) considered as oppressed people. Due to a long history of colonization and domination, imperialist culture has been imposed on these people. Indigenous people have started to assert themselves with their own political and social organizations. 80% of indigenous people are peasants. The majority of mestizo population is working class. In total 70% of working age population are workers and 14% of them are in unions. More than 60% of population lives in urban areas. Amongst the people living in rural areas, 80% are peasants and the rest are agricultural workers and artisans.

Strategic sectors of the Ecuadorian economy are oil/petroleum and agriculture (palm, banana, sugar, and coffee) with auto assembly and textiles industry playing a minor role. The Spanish (Repsol), Brazilian (Petrobas), Canadian Multinationals (MNCs) dominate the petroleum sector with US MNCs having minimal presence. In the agricultural sector, 2% of Ecuadorians own 40% of land – these are large farmers and some of them work with MNCs e.g. one landowner owns 20, 000 hectares of land which is used to grow African palm for export. Ecuador is now part of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America). This alliance was initiated by Venezuela and Cuba as an alternative to Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Communist Party of Ecuador (Marxist-Leninist) (PCMLE) is a revolutionary communist party of Ecuador. It has been organizing workers and peasants for more than 30 years. It has also been working inside indigenous organizations since its founding. PCMLE has significant participation in black struggles, mostly of the black workers. Afro-Ecuadorians came as slaves for plantations or as freed slaves from other regions of the Americas. They are now mostly in the coastal region of Esmeraldas. PCMLE is working to unite all workers and peasants. Cultural differences are recognized but class solidarity is emphasized.

Movement for Popular Democracy (MPD) is the front organisation of Communist Party of Ecuador (Marxist-Leninist) (PCMLE). Excerpts of interview with Luis Villacis Maldonado, the national director of MPD and their last presidential candidate follow. Jittomy served as interpreter. The interview was conducted by Surya and Tamarai at the national headquarters of MPD in Quito.

LB: Could you tell us briefly about the history and current politics of MPD?

MPD: MPD was established 31 years ago on 17th March 1978. Workers and peasants wanted an alternative program of government. The objective was to combine both the economic and political struggles. We are trying to fight the leadership of the bourgeois state and establish popular power and socialism in Ecuador. We participate in elections from the local to presidential elections. Jaime Hurtado was the first elected representative of MPD. It was also the first time that a Black person was elected to parliament.

We are able to address different contradictions in Ecuador. Namely, the interests of the workers against the bourgeoisie; anti-imperialist struggles against US imperialism; national interests against anti-national interests. This struggle of classes has led to the growth of MPD as an organization. It has given MPD the opportunity to discuss socialism in Ecuador. This is another way to represent the people and a basis to organize them.

LB: MPD has 5 seats out of 124 seats in the parliament. How are you able to coordinate work inside parliament with struggles on the streets? Through your parliamentary work have you had any recent victories in Ecuador?

MPD: The relationship between MPD and the workers, peasants, teachers, students etc… is political and ideological. This relationship is a natural one. It is important that people in the parliament come from workers’, peasants’, teachers’ etc. organization. The organizations that work directly with us are UGTE (Workers organisation – 30, 000 members; 2nd largest trade union), UNE (Teachers’ organisation), FEUE (students’ organisation – 350, 000 members), UCAE (peasant organisation), PCMLE etc. We work with and organize in total 15 of these organizations (total membership – 2 million). In the last 20 years we have been working with this structure. All candidates for the elections come from these organizations. This is the principal way in which to obtain victory for the people.

The last constituent assembly and the new constitution got some rights for the people. They prohibited the    contract labour and ensured direct payment to workers. It is addressing exploitation of workers, low salary, long working hours, and right to social security. The salary should be able to afford basic necessities of life.  Social security should be for everybody. We have also put in our constitution that no imperialist country can have a military base in the country. The other issue that is being addressed is that natural resources should be protected from MNCs. This was a good victory. MPD was the party that enabled this victory. The five parliament members are fighting to implement this new constitution.

LB: What are the workers’ struggles outside the parliament that have had an impact?

MPD: We are mobilizing workers to defend the right to free association and of collective bargaining. We want to implement the labour law, which is part of 1701 presidential decree, that will force corporations to give better wages. We have had several mobilizations of workers that have been supported by the MPD. The leader of UGTE is a militant member of MPD.

There are several other struggles of workers. We have a mobilization of teachers. Evaluation of teachers is being used to fire teachers. There was a mobilization of miners. They are fighting for better wages but also against the pollution of the environment.

LB: In the strategic sectors of the economy, how strong is the MPD?

MPD: In agrarian reform we support the land to the tiller. We are demanding that any land that has been unproductive for more than 2 years should be given to the peasants. We have peasant organizations to check the land. We are also demanding to occupy the vacant land.

We participate in struggles in the oil sector; however, our presence is small. We are fighting for nationalization of the oil sector. The textile sector is small and MPD’s presence is also small. Another important sector is water. 75% of the water is monopolised by the water capitalists. The peasants are struggling against this monopolization of water. The new constitution says that this is public property. We are leading the protests in this area.

LB: Can you tell us about your work among women, indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian people?

MPD: We look at the struggle of women from a class perspective. The system denies them their rights – such as the right of social security for the house wife. They should be getting a salary for household work. We want equality between women and men. Only by destroying the capitalist system and establishing a socialist system will we be able to achieve this right.

We are also fighting for the rights of the Afro-Ecuadorian people. Our member of parliament Rafael is Afro-Ecuadorian and we serve as the main political front for the fight of the rights of these people. We also have several assembly members and mayors from who are fighting against the discrimination of black people. Regarding the indigenous people, we have relationships with indigenous organisations but it is limited. This is not the area where we are strong. MPD is for a multi-ethnic multi-nationality and multi-cultural Ecuador.

LB: Can you elaborate on your work amongst organised and unorganised workers?

MPD: During the years of the social democratic government, from 1988 to 1992 the movement suffered a setback. The neo-liberal policies led to the flexible labour laws. The stability of work was affected and it became difficult to organise workers particularly in the private sector. Earlier the workers of the public sector could organise but today the public sector has also been affected. We are the revolutionary wing within the union movement of Ecuador. The reformist unions are influenced by trade unions in US. We are also trying to politicise the workers to achieve socialism.

LB: What is your analysis of the coup in Honduras and how it relates to anti-imperialism in Latin America?

MPD: We condemn the coup in Honduras. We think that there is the hand of imperialism and probably Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It is not important what Obama says. The nature of imperialism does not change. The government might be taking progressive positions but Obama’s government is not a socialist government. The constitution of ALBA is changing the political equation in Latin America (LA). The inclusion of Cuba in Organisation of American States (OAS) is a reflection of the changing situation in LA. The resolution that was adopted in United Nations (UN) regarding Cuba reflects the changing situation. They are worried that privileges of imperialism are at risk in LA. This coup was a threat to other countries in LA such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. This why we think this is an imperialist plan. The army commanders were trained in US to serve the interests of imperialism.

This is the reason we said to (President Raphael) Correa that the workers, peasants or teachers are not your enemies. It is the bourgeoisie. So, do not stop the project of change in LA.

MPD is playing a significant part to change the situation in Ecuador. Today we have to support the government of Correa in the interests of people of Ecuador. We want this government to go past its reformist positions to revolutionary positions. This is the way we can challenge the bourgeoisie and imperialism. In order to meet the aspirations of all these people we will have to establish socialism in Ecuador.

[The authors thank Comrades Pablo, Oswaldo, Luis V., Edgar, Luis, Jittomy, Geovanni and Edison for sharing their knowledge and experiences of struggles in Ecuador. Comrade Pablo helped shape the introduction by sharing his profound understanding of Ecuador and Latin America.]

Women’s’ Struggles in India

March to Parliament against Betrayal on Women’s Bill

- Liberation, September, 2009.

The All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) held a March to Parliament on August 3 to demand that the 33% Women’s Reservation Bill be passed. Thousands of women from all over the country marched from Ramlila Maidan with colourful banners and placards, and raising slogans asking, “President Patil’s speech promised Women’s Bill in 100 days – Why the broken promise?” The March reached Parliament Street where a mass meeting was held. The March also protested against the pitifully inadequate allocation for women in the Budget, and against steep price rise, and against repression and rape in Shopian, Lalgarh, Bastar, Punjab and other places. Women from Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam (Karbi Anglong), Delhi and other states participated in the March.

Addressing the mass meeting at Jantar Mantar, AIPWA National President Srilata Swaminathan said that the Government has shamefully delayed the Women’s Reservation Bill yet again. United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s first Budget in its new tenure had betrayed women. Women’s health and education have been neglected completely, while measures to roll back price hikes and ensure food security have been woefully inadequate. Drinking water is scarce in villages but liquor is being encouraged by government policies. She also said that the principle of equal pay for equal work for women was being violated even in national rural employment guarantee act (NREGA) work.

Addressing the mass gathering AIPWA General Secretary Meena Tiwari said this Government, in spite enjoying a full majority in the House, is dilly-dallying when it comes to passing the Women’s Bill, backtracking from the promise spelt out in the President’s address that the Bill would be passed in the first 100 days. Very few days remain for the first 100 days of the Government’s tenure to be up, yet there is no sign of any plans to Table the Bill in the Lok Sabha or pass it. She said the Congress is playing a double game – wanting to woo women by espousing the Bill, while using the opposition by Janata Dal (United) [JD (U)], Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) etc as a pretext to delay the Bill. In the last 13 years, she said, innumerable Bills have been passed in spite of massive opposition – yet in the case of the Women’s Bill, the plea of ‘consensus’ is being invoked.

AIPWA National Secretary Kavita Krishnan demanded that men in uniform who are guilty of state repression and rapes of women – in Kashmir, Lalgarh, Bastar – must be punished. She demanded a law to punish Khaap Panchayats, families, and other institutions, which attempt to curb the right of women to choose partners of their own choice, and to guarantee the safety of couples who defied caste and community boundaries. AIPWA National Vice President Saroj Chaube demanded homestead plots for women and job guarantee for urban women.

Addressing the mass meeting, Comrade Jasbir Kaur Nat, who had recently been released after over two months in jail in Punjab, spoke of the struggle of women in Punjab for homestead plots, defying repression and illegal arrest. During the mass meeting, women also raised spirited slogans against the Bhartiya JAnata Party’s (BJP) agenda of attacking women’s freedom in the name of protecting ‘Indian culture.’

The mass meeting was also addressed by AIPWA leaders from Punjab, Jasbir Kaur Nat and Iqbal Kaur Udasi, Surajrekha from Madhya Pradesh (MP), Premlata Pande, Uttar Pradesh (UP) State Secretary, Bhanwari Bai from Rajasthan, Shashi Yadav, National Secretary and Sangita Singh, National Council member from Bihar, Anjali Upadhyay, National Secretary from Karbi Anglong, and others. After the demonstration, a memorandum was submitted to the (Prime Minister) PM’s office.

Workers’ Struggles in India

AICCTU’s Nationwide Campaign

- Liberation, September, 2009.

The Nationwide campaign undertaken by All India Central Council of Trade Unions’ (AICCTU) was flagged off on 9 August in most states. Some of highlights of the campaign until we go to press (21 August) are below.

In Bihar the AICCTU and Bihar State Non-Gazetted Employees Confederation (Gope faction) have jointly undertaken this campaign. The campaign was flagged off with a joint rally of workers and employees on 9 August in Patna. The rally reached R-Block where it merged with the 48-hour long hunger strike and mass dharna (sit-in protest) organised by Communist Party of India- Marxist Leninist [CPI (ML)]. On 8 August, a state-level cadre convention was organised at Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) club in Patna to discuss and chart out ways to take the campaign to maximum number of workers and employees of Bihar. More than 150 delegates from 25 districts of Bihar participated in the Convention.

The campaign in Jharkhand was flagged off with a district Convention of AICCTU in Bokaro, inaugurated by AICCTU State Secretary Comrade Shubhendu Sen, and conducted by AICCTU State President Devdeep Singh Divakar. An 11-member district committee was elected at the end of the Convention. Plans for the August campaign were enthusiastically made. In Delhi, street corner meetings were held at Kalkaji on 18 August and a dharna at the Deputy Labour Commissioner’s office on 21 August.

In Tamilnadu, a ‘Meet the People’ Campaign was undertaken. In Namakkal Dist, demonstrations were held on August 9 in 3 points and over 250 workers participated in these. Demands such as Rs.7000 minimum wages, 50 kg rice for rupees (Rs) 1 per kilo for a month in Public Distribution System (PDS), and housing for power loom workers are some of the demands raised in these demonstrations. In Salem, a cadre meeting of AICCTU was held on August 9. In Kanyakumari district, a cadre meeting was held on August 9. Since then street corner meetings have been held at over 10 points and more street corner meetings are to be held in the coming days. In Tirunelveli, on August 9, a cadre meeting was held. It was planned to organize street corner meetings and door to door campaign in 8 points among beedi and unorganized workers. On August 18, a demonstration of tailoring workers was held demanding minimum wages and other statutory benefits, in which more than 70 workers took part. In Coimbatore, a cadre meeting was held and it was planned to hold street corner meetings. On August 23, a hall meeting of unorganized workers of Workers’ Rights Forum will be held. In Chennai, street corner meetings are planned and door to door campaign is being held in our work areas on day to day basis. The Campaign is concentrated on demands such as amendments to the Trade Union Recognition Act, President’s Assent for the Standing Orders Amendment Act to protect the interests of trainees, 5 cent homestead patta (land registration) for the unorganized workers, and Rs.7000 national floor level minimum wages for all the workers.

At Karnataka, campaign yatras (tours) were held on 10, 11, and 12 August in three different parts of the H D Kote taluk (municipal set up), in more than 60 villages. The campaign culminated in a militant rally on 20 August in front of Tahsildar’s (revenue administrative officer) office, which raised issues related to construction workers and also of agricultural labourers that include expansion of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) (200 days of work, Rs 200 minimum wage), land issues, exclusion of the poor from Below Poverty Line (BPL) lists, and basic amenities, etc. More than 200 people including 150 women participated in this spirited demonstration which gheraoed (surrounded) the taluk panchayat office.

PRICOL Workers’ Struggle: Hard-won Victory

For the past two years in Coimbatore, workers of PRICOL, a auto components manufacturing factory supplying components to most leading auto majors, have been engaged in a protracted struggle against violation of labour laws by the management.

The PRICOL struggle is remarkable for the fact that permanent workers, ancillary unit workers, and contract labourers have joined a single union led by the AICCTU and launched a united battle; women workers have been at the forefront of the struggle; and the struggle is supported by other workers, law students, civil rights activists, and Dalit organizations.

The struggle had been waged against the management’s policies of violating contract labour laws through sham Contract Labour and Satellite Vendor systems, victimisation of workers through closure of so-called Satellite Vendor units, termination of workers and denial of Dearness Allowance (DA) and wage increase as per the settlements, and transfer of leading union activists through illegal transfers. The workers had been demanding that the government pass orders under Section 10B of the Industrial Disputes Act (ID Act) 1947.   Throughout 2007 and 2008, thousands of workers defied all attempts to divide and rule, braved all sorts of victimisation, and succeeded in making strikes lasting several months a popular issue for the wider society of Coimbatore beyond the factory.  Throughout the management played every devious ploy possible, and tried in vain to alternately threaten and woo workers to desert the Union led by what it mischievously branded as a ‘Maoist-Leninist’ leadership.

Finally at the end of June 2009, they won a victory, forcing the Government to pass orders under Section 10 B of the ID Act 1947, against violations of labour laws, such as employment of apprentices and contract labour in direct production activities and denial of DA and wage increase as per settlements. Apprentices and Contract Labour are engaged in direct production contrary to law in almost all public and private sector units for decades. This is a rare occasion on which a Government has invoked its powers against such violations.

Culture

Gangubai Hangal: A Brave Life

- Liberation, September, 2009.

The world of Hindustani classical music lost one of its brightest jewels recently when Gangubai Hangal, doyenne of the Kirana Gharana, passed away in Hubli, Karnataka at the age of 97.

Gangubai’s her journey in life was beset by the hurdles of poverty and caste and gender discrimination. Born in the boatman caste to a devadasi mother (an extremely talented Carnatic musician herself), Gangu was drawn to Hindustani music from early childhood. There is a particular poignancy to the image of the little girl listening with fascination at tea shops and outside people’s homes to catch the snatches of music on gramophone records by Abdul Karim Khan, Hirabai Barodekar and Narayanrao Vyas, and singing the same songs herself. It reminds one irresistibly of Ekalavya, learning from a clay image of Drona. Gangubai, with the help of her remarkable mother, survived hunger, and endured having abuse (“gaanewali”) and dung thrown at her, to find musical teachers and emerge triumphant with the highest awards and recognition. For every Gangubai who managed to overcome these obstacles, one wonders how many fell by the wayside, buried under the burden of deprivation and discrimination.

Her mother sacrificed her own music so that the Carnatic style should not interfere with her daughter’s chosen Hindustani style. Gangubai received early training from Shri Dattopant Desai and Shri Krishnacharya before becoming a disciple of Sawai Gandharva. Her early days were full of financial hardships. She recollects, in an interview, how Abdul Karim Khan once heard her sing and encouraged her, saying “Dekho beti, khoob khana, khoob gana” (Eat heartily, sing heartily); with a wry humour which never deserted her, she told her interviewer, “Where was the food?  There was only music…!” Her powerful voice (which became deep and ‘masculine’ following a tonsil operation) emerged from her frail and slight form.

Being born in a low caste and being born a woman put her in a doubly marginalised situation. She once narrated how as an 11-year-old she was part of a group which sang a welcome song at the Belgaum Indian National Congress in 1924 and she was elated to be singing in front of Gandhiji. But at the meal which followed, she was full of fear that as she was of a low caste, she would be asked to clean up after the upper castes had eaten. When asked by her guru to eat with the others, she was so mortified that she could barely raise her head. She spoke of how the Brahmin households in her native Dharwad’s Shukravaradapete were outraged when a ‘singer’s daughter’ dared to enter their orchard, and what’s more, steal mangoes. “The very same people now invite me to their houses and spread a lavish lunch for me,” she said.

Gangubai commented on the entrenched gender bias in the world of music: “A male musician will become an ustad or a pandit, but a female musician, even one of the calibre of Kesarbai or Mogubai, will always remain a bai!” As a woman, she never had the luxury of “being lost in the art of creation”. She said in an interview, “Peace of mind is very essential in anything that you do—particularly in music. But in my case, it was just the opposite. What new things could I learn when I was constantly disturbed and unhappy? This whole concept of getting lost in music and forgetting the world around you, is a myth.” Many women writers have similarly produced their creative work in struggle against the lack of privacy and economic and social security: Kamala Das wrote at the kitchen table after her family had slept; Jane Austen is said to have had to hide her writing under blotting paper when anyone entered the room; Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot and many others wrote under male pseudonyms.

Gangubai’s humour, humility, brave spirit and warmth, no less than her rich voice, will remain with us long after she is gone.

Culture

Ban on Charandas Chor: Chhattisgarh Government’s Cultural Fascism

- Pranay Krishna, Liberation, September, 2009.

True to its character, the Chhattisgarh Government on July 8 banned Habib Tanvir’s internationally reputed play Charandas Chor, which had been running since 1974. This play, based on a Rajasthani folk tale, was written by Vijaydan Detha, and was initially called Phitrati Chor. Habib Tanvir, in the process of adapting the play to suit the Chhattisgarhi language, culture and dramatic and musical traditions, introduced considerable changes in the script and dramatisation.

Charandas Chor is a contemporary classic in many ways. A petty thief makes four pledges to his guru – that he will never eat out of a gold plate; never sit on an elephant in a procession in his own honour; never become a king; and never marry a princess (pledges he thinks are far too unlikely ever to be tested). His guru imposes a fifth pledge – that he will never tell a lie. He eventually loses his life upholding these five pledges. Charandas knows all the ploys to cheat the laws and the system. He makes the powerful the target of his thieving. Charandas Chor, through its main character, playfully exposes the double standards of the power-structure, dominant classes and society. A thief turns out to be more true, honest and just than the establishment.

It is true that this play is based on folk tales and not on contemporary struggles in Chhattisgarh. Why, then, do those in power feel so threatened by this play? This play was first performed in 1974 when there was not even a remote possibility of the formation of a Chhattisgarh state. Neither could the footfalls of today’s movements in Chhattisgarh be heard then. The play was translated and performed in innumerable languages in the country and abroad. In 1975, Shyam Benegal made a film based on this play. The quality of a classic is such that is conveys meanings far beyond its literal words. Reaching across its immediate words, its characters and its time and place, it becomes relevant in entirely new contexts and eras. Why do the Mahabharat’s contradictions become relevant time and again in different eras and contexts? And of course, Charandas Chor, in the hands of Habib sahib, became entirely a part of Chhattisgarhi folk culture. Could it be that after the formation of the Chhattisgarh state, the play has begun to resonate with the character of the power-structure which is waging war against the adivasi people in favour of the corporations that are intent on looting the natural resources of the state, and jailing those like Dr. Binayak Sen, who dare protest? Is this play, by any chance, giving voice to the anti-establishment values and aspirations buried in the subconscious of readers and audience? Could it be that this play, thanks to its classicality, has in an entirely unexpected way, begun to reflect the ongoing war between Chhattisgarh’s rulers and its people? With the ban on the play, it is inevitable for all these questions to be asked.

Those who believe the Chhattisgarh government’s assertion that the ban has been imposed in the light of Satnami guru Baldas’ objections are naive. One should recall how some years ago an organisation calling itself the ‘Dalit Sanstha’ burnt copies of Premchand’s Rangbhumi. Most Dalit writers condemned this act and exposed that it was sponsored by the Sangh Parivar. Manipulating religious and caste identities as a pretext for repression and violence is a well-known tactic of the Sangh and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). It is notable that the Satnami community and its representatives never had any objection to this play before 2004, though it had been played for four decades and most of its actors were in fact from the Satnami community.

The Chhattisgarh Government is playing a devious double game. Through the ‘Pramod Verma Memorial Conference,’ it recently gathered a range of progressive and democratic cultural personalities on the same platform as the Chief Minister and Minister for Culture. Then, within a month of this event, it imposed a ban on Charandas Chor. The letter written by Satnami guru Baldas against the play was prior to the Memorial Conference, and the Government had clearly made up its mind to ban the play well before the Conference. But that event had the immediate utility of putting many of those voices which would naturally protest the ban, on the defensive, and of undermining the credibility of their protest.

Attacks on Habib Tanvir’s plays by the Sangh-BJP are nothing new. Even in his lifetime he faced such assaults bravely. There are many versions of the ban announcement in the media. One claim is that the play has not been banned – the book has been banned from being read during the ‘Book reading week’ in schools (3-9 August), while according to other versions the book as well as staging of the play has been banned. The Chhattisgarh Government is yet to offer any clarification. However, whatever be the nature of ban, there can be no excuse or explanation except that the ban is part and parcel of the RSS-BJP’s agenda of cultural nationalism, which Habib Tanvir himself called “another name for fascism.”

July-August 2009

Table of Contents

1) Lalgarh’s Battle for Dignity and Justice

2) Verdict 2009 and the Left

3) Manmohan Government’s Second Term

4) Sri Lanka: the Nationalist Quagmire

5) Crackdown on Struggles of the Rural Poor in Punjab

6) Realities of Recession and Racism

7) People’s Health’ Seminar in Kolkata

8) Habib Tanveer

Struggles in India

Lalgarh’s Battle for Dignity and Justice

- ML Update, 23-29 June, 2009.

A concerted paramilitary campaign is now underway in Lalgarh and surrounding areas in the tribal-dominated western region of West Bengal bordering Jharkhand and Orissa, ostensibly to flush out Maoists and restore the authority of the state. The campaign though being carried out by the state government is being actively guided and sponsored by the Union Home Ministry. The Union Home Minister has warned that the operation may take longer than expected and has appealed to political leaders and civil society organizations not to visit Lalgarh while the operation is on. Mamata Banerjee has called for declaring the three districts of West Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia a disturbed area. The Union Home Ministry has meanwhile included the CPI (Maoist) in the list of unlawful associations under the recently amended Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Chidambaram’s appeal against civilian visits to Lalgarh, coming apparently after a group of Left Front MPs wrote to the Prime Minister seeking his personal intervention to this effect, clearly shows that the government wants to keep the operation beyond the purview of public scrutiny. This is as good as an indirect admission about the real nature and purpose of Operation Lalgarh – a brutal war on the adivasis who had been offering such a determined resistance to state repression. In the absence of independent investigations, the actual extent of casualties and injuries inflicted by the ongoing operation is not really known. But hundreds of people have already been forced to flee and there are disturbing reports that the paramilitary forces are forcing local adivasi youth under duress to locate mines and explosives – under threat that they will be arrested as ‘Maoists’ if they refuse.

Lalgarh had first shot into national prominence in November last year when the local adivasis in their thousands revolted against police atrocities following an unsuccessful Maoist mine attack targeting the Chief Minister’s cavalcade. The resistance has since continued unabated and during the recent elections the state had to negotiate with the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) which is spearheading the resistance, for setting up polling booths outside the resistance area. The state was obviously waiting for an opportune moment and pretext to go for a crackdown. The opportunity came when Lalgarh recently erupted again against provocations by local CPI (M) leaders and Maoists made tall claims regarding their leading role in the Lalgarh resistance and dared the state to intervene.

At the heart of it, Lalgarh is a typical adivasi revolt against repression and injustice. The entire history of our anti-colonial struggle is replete with many such instances and the Indian state today has no problem recognizing the leaders of those revolts as popular heroes. In the eyes of the oppressed and deprived tribal people the Indian state in all these years has not really changed much and retains many of the colonial era trappings of utter insensitivity and unbridled brutality. But when the inheritors of Birsa Munda, Sidho-Kanu and Tilka Manjhi revolt against this contemporary reality, our post-colonial democratic system knows no other way but to declare a virtual war on these seekers of justice. It should be noted that the allegations of police atrocities made by the PCAPA have been found to be true by a senior official of the West Bengal government (Backward Classes Welfare Secretary RD Meena) but instead of taking adequate corrective measures as demanded by the PCAPA the state government has only announced meagre compensation of only a few thousand rupees to the eleven women victims of police repression!

For the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and its belligerent Home Minister who managed to win the recent election by administratively converting defeat into victory, Lalgarh is a test case to unleash a new pattern of governance in which paramilitary forces will become the custodian of constitutional niceties. There is also the larger political gameplan to trap the ruling Left of West Bengal in an increasingly repressive role while the Congress plays the benefactor and monopolises the mask of welfare measures!

For the people of West Bengal, Operation Lalgarh is a political eye-opener. During the recent elections, Mamata Banerjee claimed to champion the cause of the struggles in Singur, Nandigram and Lalgarh and the Trinamul Congress (TMC)-Congress combined reaped a bumper electoral harvest. Elections over, it is now time to thank the people and what could be a more suitable gift than Operation Lalgarh! Mamata Banerjee now says that the TMC expelled the PCAPA chief Chhatradhar Mahato two years ago when it came to know about his Maoist link! Chhatradhar says he was never expelled but quit the TMC when he found it incapable of meeting the tribals’ needs. He then recalls how following the killing of three PCAPA members in police firing in February, Mamata Banerjee had visited Jangalmahal, shed tears and said, ‘If these people are Maoists, then I too am a Maoist.’ “We never doubted her sincerity then”, says Chhatradhar. But he realizes that the circumstances have now changed: “after the elections, the same Mamata Banerjee got a Cabinet post, joined the government at the Centre, which in turn sent paramilitary forces to Lalgarh. Therefore, it is quite natural for Banerjee now to link me with the Maoists.”

It is also important to look at the doublespeak of the CPI (M) leadership. Prakash Karat says the Maoists need to be politically isolated from the people they are mobilizing even as Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee demands more central forces and Sitaram Yechury asks the Prime Minister to demonstrate his seriousness in tackling what his government claims to be the biggest threat to internal security! On the one hand, the government spearheads a paramilitary operation, and the MPs seek personal intervention of the Prime Minister to prevent political leaders from visiting the operation area, and on the other hand the party talks of fighting a political battle against Maoists! If the CPI (M) thinks that all this can be justified by invoking the party-government distinction and that the Centre-state or Congress-CPI (M) cooperation in ‘restoring the authority of the state’ in Lalgarh could help check the TMC’s advance, it is only deceiving itself.

As for the Maoists, they have only once again demonstrated the incompatibility of their ideas and actions with the needs of any radical people’s movement. With their penchant for exclusive and sensational military actions and aversion to the mass political process, they ultimately only produce a dampening and disruptive effect on any powerful people’s movement while letting the Mamata Banerjees reap the political benefit of people’s struggles and sacrifices.

We join the democratic opinion of the country and the justice-loving people of Lalgarh to demand an immediate end to the paramilitary offensive, withdrawal of paramilitary forces and a negotiated resolution of the conflict through fulfillment of the just demands of the Lalgarh people and quick redressal of all their long-standing grievances. We also do not support the idea of banning the CPI(Maoist) as a terrorist organization. The Maoists are anyway an underground organization and the experience of states like Chhattisgarh and Orissa where they have been banned for years clearly shows that the ban has been ineffective from the point of view of checking Maoist military actions. The ban is actually a weapon to terrorise the common people and stifle the democratic voice of protest. The case of Dr. Binayak Sen is a clear instance and for every Binayak Sen case that comes to the limelight, there are always hundreds of lesser known activists and ordinary men and women whose human rights continue to be brutally trampled upon.

Victory to Lalgarh’s glorious battle for dignity and justice!

Indian Elections

Verdict 2009 and the Left: Key Issues and the Road Ahead

- Liberation, July, 2009.

Five years ago, the 14th Lok Sabha had witnessed the largest ever presence of Left parliamentarians. Along with the defeat of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the arrival of the Left as a major player in national politics was a key message of the 2004 elections. Five years later, the 15th Lok Sabha now presents a drastically different picture. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] and the CPI, the two biggest constituents of the Left bloc in Parliament, have secured their lowest ever tallies, reducing the overall Left presence to a meagre 24.

On the face of it, this outcome appears quite baffling and out of sync with contemporary global reality. Global capitalism is passing through one of its roughest patches and in many parts of the world we can see a renewed assertion of the working people and a consequent tilt towards the Left. For quite some time India too has been in the grip of a protracted agrarian crisis aggravated by the onslaught of neoliberal policies, and now, thanks to increasing globalisation, more and more sectors of the Indian economy are feeling the heat of the global capitalist meltdown. Millions of toiling Indians are faced with the threat of outright pauperisation and ever shrinking means of livelihood.

On top of it, there has been this pronounced pro-US policy shift pushing India into a strategic alliance with the US and consequently rendering India much more vulnerable to both terror threats as well as greater American intervention in domestic affairs.

Such a context should have proved conducive to further growth of the Left, especially when the CPI (M) and its partners had already acquired a firm foothold in the 14th Lok Sabha. But the results of the 15th Lok Sabha elections tell a totally different story. Where and how did the CPI (M) lose the plot? There is a growing debate in Left circles on this question, and as the crisis of the CPI (M) deepens, the debate should also get deeper and sharper.

How does the CPI (M) look at its electoral debacle? The communiqué issued after the CPI (M) central committee (CC) meeting in Delhi on June 20-21 describes the outcome as “serious reverses” amounting to an “electoral setback”. It acknowledged “political, governmental and organisational reasons for the setbacks suffered” in West Bengal including “shortcomings in the functioning of government, panchayats and municipalities based on a proper class outlook”, “failure of the government to implement properly various measures directly concerning the lives of the people” and “alienation amongst some sections of the peasantry”. According to the communiqué, the CPI (M) CC also felt it was a mistake to extend the call for building a third alternative to the formation of an alternative government. The CC admitted that “In the absence of a countrywide alliance and no common policy platform being presented, the call for an alternative government was unrealistic.”

This CC review of course comes in the wake of a whole range of public statements already made by several CPI (M) leaders pointing accusing fingers in different directions. Kerala Chief Minister and veteran politburo (PB) member VS Achuthanandan has ruled out any ‘anti-incumbency’ factor against his government, thus indicating that the problems lie at the doorsteps of the party. Several West Bengal leaders hold the “third front” experiment responsible while some have started blaming the decision to withdraw support to the Congress. Two days before the last leg of the Lok Sabha (LS) election, a Bengali TV channel broadcast an exclusive interview with veteran West Bengal minister Subhas Chakraborty where he openly questioned the party’s choice of third front allies and described the Congress as an indispensable partner not only for the defence of secularism but also in any fight against imperialism! Only a handful of West Bengal leaders, most notably Land and Land Reforms Minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah, have dared mention the Left Front government’s forcible land acquisition drive as the main factor.

Addressing the press after the CC meeting Prakash Karat talked of “near unanimity” in the CC over the party’s act of withdrawal of support to UPA government on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal, thereby indirectly acknowledging differences within the CC over the subject. The review which expresses the majority opinion does mention some of the key problems associated with the party and governments in West Bengal and Kerala as well as with the implementation of the party’s all-India tactical line. But these problems and mistakes are symptomatic of a deeper malady rooted in the party’s understanding and practice of dealing with governments whether in the state or at the Centre. The obsession with somehow retaining or acquiring power has been pushing the party deeper into the quagmire of right opportunism and in the same proportion the party has been moving away from the basic masses and their interests and struggles. The erosion in the CPI (M)’s votes is only a belated electoral reflection of this growing disjunction between the party and the people, between governance and struggle. The CC review of course scrupulously shies away from any inquiry into the root causes.

As far as West Bengal is concerned, the results indicate nothing short of a massive anti-CPI (M) electoral explosion and this can no longer be attributed to any one single factor. Singur and Nandigram have definitely been big issues but we need to understand why Singur and Nadigram happened in the first place. There is something fundamentally wrong with the notion of governance and industrialisation that believes that a modest Tata plant could be showcased as a Left-ruled state’s biggest achievement in ‘industrialisation’, and then pulls out all stops to appease the ‘investor’ and crush every protest of the land-losing peasants and livelihood-losing sharecroppers and labourers. After Singur, many had expected the CPI (M) to learn its lessons, but Nandigram showed that the Left rulers had lost the very will or ability to learn any positive lesson. One really had to see the CPI (M)’s election campaign in West Bengal to have a sense of its world of political make-believe. While Mamata Banerjee’s campaign endlessly invoked the now famous trinity of “Ma-Mati-Manush”, giving a highly emotive human form to the agenda of land, livelihood and liberty, the CPI (M) campaign revolved primarily around Nano, the promised lakhtakia (Rs. one lakh) Tata car! The CPI (M) believed it could win the elections by holding Mamata Banerjee responsible for the Tata’s decision to relocate the Nano plant in Gujarat and projecting her as a demon who killed Bengal’s dream of industrialisation and employment generation!

The spectacular past electoral successes of the CPI (M) in West Bengal were rooted primarily in a broad class alliance that carried the rural poor along with the middle classes, erstwhile landed gentry and the neo-rich sections. Having consolidated the rural poor base through a combination of much touted rural reforms (Operation Barga, land redistribution and panchayati raj, to name the three most well-known measures), the CPI (M) thought it could switch over to the usual trajectory of the ‘trickle-down pattern of development’. The class contradictions and popular grievances that are handled in other states largely within the matrix of competitive bourgeois politics were sought to be contained with measured doses of coercion and patronage as the party retained its overall grip over the broad social coalition. But with the rise and consolidation of a narrow nexus of corrupt officials, leaders and middlemen and steady reversal of much of the earlier gains won by the rural poor, the coalition had already started cracking and Singur and Nandigram widened the cracks and opened the floodgates for popular resentment and resistance.

The CPI (M) has suffered an equally severe setback in Kerala too. Unlike in West Bengal, the CPI (M)’s domination in Kerala has never been unchallenged and the party here has always had to operate within a highly competitive environment. Yet the intensity of the rout suffered by the CPI (M) in the 2009 elections indicates a deeper structural erosion in the party’s support beyond the alternating cyclical swings one expects in Kerala. The CPI (M) in Kerala remains mired in factionalism, the spirit of commerce dominates the official culture of the party and now we have this shocking case of major corruption allegations and CBI enquiry against the party’s state secretary. Alienation of landless dalit labourers has also assumed serious proportions in Kerala.

The poll debacle of the CPI (M) must also be analysed in the context of the party’s all-India tactical line. With a sixty-plus-strong contingent of parliamentarians at its command, in 2004 the CPI (M) had come to acquire a greatly increased visibility and say in national politics. Even after cobbling a post-poll alliance, in 2004 the Congress had to rely on the CPI (M)’s support to form government. While not joining the UPA government, the CPI (M) utilised this juncture to enter into a programmatic alliance with the Congress, limiting dissent against Congress policies to talks within the framework of UPA-Left coordination committee. Even on the one issue of Indo-US nuclear deal, the opposition came too late and encumbered in lot of technicalities and devoid of any attempt to build any significant mass resistance.

The CPI (M) now claims credit for ‘pressurising’ the Congress to legislate National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and waive farm loans. These claims would have sounded somewhat convincing had the CPI (M) ever unleashed any major mass political initiative on the issues of rural unemployment or farmers’ suicides, or for that matter, if West Bengal could top the list of states in terms of implementation of NREGA. Ironically, while the Congress derived considerable political mileage from measures like NREGA and farm loan waiver, the CPI (M) exposed itself as the most brutal defender of corporate landgrab. Indeed, the failure of the Left to oppose the SEZ Act 2005 in Parliament and the wholesale adoption and implementation of neoliberal economic policies by the West Bengal government seriously dented the CPI (M)’s oppositional claims on the economic policy front.

After the eventual withdrawal of support, instead of going to the masses the CPI (M) leadership got busy with desperate attempts to seek dubious allies. On the eve of the elections, the CPI (M) formed a programme-free “third front” with motley regional forces ranging from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and projected it as the core of the next government. The CPI (M) now admits that the “third front” did not fit the bill of a credible and viable national alternative, yet Prakash Karat would like us to believe that it served two important purposes.

His first claim is that the third front denied the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) the luxury of finding any ally in the southern states and thus prevented the NDA from emerging as a national alternative. Well, if the AIADMK or TDP did not choose to ally with the BJP, it was because they did not expect to gain anything by entering into a pre-poll alliance with the BJP which has little presence in the southern states except Karnataka. Likewise, the BJD’s decision to dump the BJP just on the eve of the elections was also prompted by the BJD’s own electoral calculations and had nothing to do with the CPI(M)’s “third front” initiative. In the event of a hung parliament if the BJP-led NDA had any realistic chance of forming government, these parties would have had no problem in jumping on to the NDA bandwagon. Did not we all see how the TRS switched sides in anticipation of an NDA victory?

Karat’s second argument deals with the combined vote share of the “third front” parties and the BSP, a respectable 21 per cent. According to him, “this shows the potential for building up a third alternative … which is not merely an electoral alliance but a coming together of the parties and forces on a common platform through movements and struggles for alternative policies distinct from that of the Congress and the BJP.” If the combined vote share of the BJD and the BSP, and the AIADMK and the TDP shows the potential for a movement-based third front committed to “alternative policies distinct from that of the Congress and the BJP”, what prevented the CPI (M) from actualising that alliance? Karat’s answer is simple and smart: since electoral combinations were forged statewise, it “precluded any national policy platform from being projected.” But if all these parties are committed to alternative policies why could not they agree to a common policy platform? And if it was indeed so difficult on the national level what stopped the alternative policies from being projected in the respective states?

While Karat valorises the whole range of non-Congress non-BJP parties as prospective anti-corporate anti-imperialist partners, many of his comrades would love to return to the safety of a strategic understanding with the good old Congress. Both Karat and his detractors who find him ‘dogmatic’ and ‘adventurist’ actually reduce the question of revival and independence of the Left to the choice of allies and forging of convenient electoral combinations. Instead of sticking to a set pattern of alliance, Karat would prefer to swap allies and we have already seen this line in action in Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Orissa and Assam. Dumping the DMK the CPI(M) has now chosen the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu; in Andhra electoral understanding with the Congress has given way to mahakutumi (grand alliance) with TDP and even TRS (the TDP has all along been opposed to the idea of a separate Telangana and so has been the CPI (M), yet they had no problem in forging a grand alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) whose sole agenda is the formation of a separate Telangana state); in Orissa the CPI (M) has tied up with the ruling BJD and in Assam it wanted to have a seat sharing pact with the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF).

On paper, the combinations looked pretty formidable, but on the ground the results have been quite dismal. The alliance arithmetic has yielded only two seats to the CPI (M) – one LS seat in Tamil Nadu and one Assembly seat in Andhra. In Orissa and Assam, the CPI (M) has not only failed to win any seat but it has also suffered a major erosion in terms of votes. The loss must not of course be assessed only in terms of seats and votes, the credibility of the party and the morale of the party’s support base are far more important parameters. What did the CPI (M) expect to gain by glorifying and allying with Naveen Patnaik in Orissa? While Kandhamal happened, Naveen Patnaik’s government did nothing to stop the anti-Christian violence. On the eve of the elections, Naveen Patnaik dumped the BJP and the CPI and the CPI (M) rushed to glorify him as a new-found secular hero, enabling him to reduce the Orissa elections to a contrived showdown between the two estranged partners – the BJD and the BJP. The issues of displacement and deprivation of the tribal and other toiling masses were conveniently brushed aside. Will the CPI (M) ever be able to stand up in Orissa by glorifying Naveen Patnaik? (The story of the CPI’s victory from the Jagatsinghpur LS constituency that includes the site of the ongoing popular struggle against the land acquisition plans of the South Korean steel major Posco is no less shocking – while the local CPI leaders spearheading the anti-Posco movement languish in jail, a Congress leader opposed to the movement joined the CPI and won on the party’s ticket with the blessings of Posco and Naveen Patnaik!)

Basing on its stable bases in West Bengal and Kerala, the CPI (M) has over the years evolved a political line and praxis in which the oppositional role of the party is thoroughly subordinated to the agenda of power-sharing at the central level. The party programme too has been suitably ‘updated’ to provide for this scheme of things. In 1977 when the CPI (M) first came to power, it projected the Left Front government as a weapon of struggle. But now in the party’s perception state governments have been delinked from any idea of struggle and are seen exclusively as instruments of ‘development’ and ‘governance’ and, in the national context, as stepping stones towards power-sharing at the Centre. The CPI (M) now fights elections only with the slogan of government formation no matter whether the party is in a position to form one or not. The concept of a committed and vigorous Left opposition has virtually become alien to the CPI (M)’s entire tactical framework and political praxis.

While the CPI (M) has theoretically and practically ‘upgraded’ itself as a party of power, ironically the 2009 elections have pushed it closer to the oppositional slot. Nationally it has no other choice but to sit in the opposition and if the present trend continues, the CPI(M) will soon also have to reinvent itself as an opposition party in West Bengal too.

The other big question that confronts the CPI (M) is the issue of its attitude to people’s struggle and the democratic intelligentsia. While the CPI (M) has developed considerable expertise and experience in forging fronts with disparate forces and brokering peace among sparring bourgeois parties, it exhibits a near-pathological inability to deal with popular movements and people’s outbursts. To take a few examples, we can recall the CPI (M)’s response to the Naxalbari movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s in West Bengal, the 1974 youth movement in Bihar, the Assam movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Gorkhaland agitation in the 1980s which resurfaced again in the recent past and most recently the Singur-Nandigram movement in West Bengal. It has been a habit of the CPI (M) to dismiss every such popular movement as a conspiracy and side with the state in crushing these movements. And now in Lalgarh, the Congress has once again trapped the CPI (M) into discharging its repressive ‘responsibility’.

In the 1970s the Congress had usurped powers in West Bengal through highly dubious means and gone on to unleash systematic state terror on all sections of the Left. Even though the CPI (M) could not put up any significant resistance to the Congress-led reign of terror, and the CPI (ML) had already suffered a massive setback, the overwhelming public mood in West Bengal remained very much against the Congress. The semi-fascist terror in West Bengal soon gave way to a countrywide reign of Emergency that was overthrown by the people through the historic mandate of 1977. The CPI (M)’s ascent to power in West Bengal was an integral part of that larger democratic upsurge. But today, West Bengal is witnessing a reverse phenomenon when the CPI (M) is being rejected not only by large sections of the democratic opinion but also a significant section of its own base.

Prakash Karat is right when he says that the CPI(M) has in the past overcome many difficult periods, but the present juncture poses a different kind of challenge when the party is fast losing ground in what used to be its most stable and powerful stronghold. Karat is again right when he says that “anti-Communist quarters who have been rejoicing at the setbacks suffered by the Left … will be proved wrong.” But the point is not just to counter anti-Communist canards and wild dreams, but more importantly to address the questions that have emerged from within the CPI (M)’s own base and the larger Left and democratic circles that once provided such tremendous support to the party.

It is quite clear that the ruling classes see the poll outcome as a handle to malign and marginalise the Left. As mentioned in the CPI (ML) CC communiqué of 27 May, “Armed with a security doctrine that identifies Maoism/Naxalism/Left extremism as the biggest threat to internal security and an electoral outcome which has handed out the worst ever electoral drubbing to the parliamentary left, the ruling classes are now all set to launch a comprehensive assault on the Left as a whole.” The Left can thwart this design only by mounting a powerful counter-offensive. Reclaiming the Left role as a consistently secular, democratic and anti-imperialist opposition and reasserting the Left identity as the most committed and trusted champion of people’s interests and struggles is the need of the hour.

Indian Elections

Manmohan Government’s Second Term: Early Signals and New Rhetoric

- Dipankar Bhattacharya.

South Asia

Sri Lanka: the Nationalist Quagmire

- S Sivasegaram.

Struggles In India

Crackdown on Struggles of the Rural Poor in Punjab

- Liberation, July, 2009.

Soon after the Lok Sabha elections, the Akali-BJP Government of Punjab has unleashed an all-out offensive on the rural poor in Punjab, and on the Communist Party of India- Marxist Leninist [CPI(ML)], which was leading their struggles. Since 21 May, over 1300 agricultural labourers and labour leaders, of Mansa, Moga, Sangrur and Bathinda districts, including 511 women and 42 children, were confined in Punjab’s jails. As we go to press, virtually all activists and leaders of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha and the CPI (ML) in the state – nearly 40 – remain in jail. In spite of the fact that many of them got bail, the government contrived to keep them in jail by naming them in ‘open First Information Reports (FIRs)’ which they had earlier filed against unnamed persons. Jasbir Kaur Nat, a National Council Member of the All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), was among those jailed.

The arrests have happened in the course of a struggle for homestead plots and NREGA job cards which the SAD-BJP State Government had promised but failed to deliver. The Shiromani Akali Dal- Bharatiya Janata Parishad (SAD-BJP) Government launched this offensive immediately following the Lok Sabha elections, where the results reflected the disenchantment of the rural poor with the government.

A state of undeclared and selective ‘emergency’ continues to be imposed on the CPI (ML) and its mass organisations. Even the most peaceful protests and ordinary political activities are facing a crackdown.

In Punjab, where agriculture is highly mechanised, rural poor often get very few days of employment a month. As a result, the rural poor had pinned their hopes for survival on the extension of NREGA to all rural districts in the country. Consequently, the failure of the administration to provide NREGA job cards to many who had applied became a major issue.

The Akali-BJP Government had moreover reneged on its promise to provide homestead plots (5 marla plots for every rural poor family was initially promised, but Akali leaders had also declared to give 10 marla plots). It was in protest against this denial of basic rights of livelihood and housing, that agricultural labourers of Mansa district, led by the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha and CPI (ML), occupied a portion of panchayat/commons land allotted to be leased to workers. Under the Land Consolidation and Fragmentation Act 1961, one-third of panchayat land is meant for agricultural workers on lease for cultivation – and it was this land that the agricultural workers used to build their hutments, until such a time that the Government would keep its promise to allot house plots.

This movement for land and work began prior to the elections and continued even during the elections. Akali leaders, during elections, came campaigning with promises that post-poll, the land occupied by the labourers would be allotted to them. The Akali-BJP Government waited till the elections were over, to begin an all-out crackdown. The agricultural workers had begun a peaceful dharna (sit down protest) on 17 May and held a massive Rally on 19 May, which put enough pressure on local officials to effect an agreement to ensure job cards within one month and house plots to all within three months. The very next day, local upper caste land owners began a road-roko (block) protest demanding eviction of the poor from the panchayat land, and, one cue, on 21 May, labour leaders, including even the General Secretary of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Comrade Swapan Mukherjee, were all arrested. On 22 May, police indulged in indiscriminate lathicharge, and over 1000 workers including a very large number of women and children were arrested and jailed – from the dharna site, from their homes, and from the office of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha and CPI (ML).

The ostensible excuse for the arrests was the need to vacate the so-called “illegal occupation” of the panchayat land – but the arrests have continued even after the forcible eviction of the poor from that land, and the demolition of their makeshift homes.

In Punjab, when rich farmers habitually occupy common land, land allotted for waste disposal, etc. the government never lifts a finger against them. It is a shame that the same government, having blatantly broken its promises of housing and livelihood, has unleashed severe repression when poor rural workers are demanding fulfillment of the government’s own promise.

The struggle took place in 26 villages of Mansa district and 9 villages of Bhatinda and Sangrur districts of Punjab. The bulk of the agricultural workers are Dalits. Also of note, a protracted struggle has also been on in many of the villages against social boycott and other kinds of humiliation and intimidation of Dalit poor labourers by the upper caste landlords in connivance with the administration.

Diaspora

Rosy Hype of Globalisation vs. Realities of Recession and Racism

- Tapas Ranjan Saha.

The continuing spate of attacks and violence against Indians and Indian students in particular in Australia has once again exploded the much touted myth that globalisation promotes and respects pluralism and multiculturalism.

The Australian government initially tried to cover up and even deny the racist dimensions of the attack, terming them as just routine robberies and muggings. If that were so, why do Indians constitute a disproportionate share of the victims – 30% in Melbourne? One of the important demands of the protesting Indian students is to make the records of the assaults public – which would bring out the actual extent and dimension of these racist crimes. It is revealing that while the Australian police swooped down on the Indian students to thwart their protests against racist violence, the same police hardly displayed any urgency or sensitivity to stop the spate of crimes and violence.

The Australian authorities deny racism – but their own pronouncements and assumptions are racist. Take for example the “advice” of one Inspector Scott Mahony of the Melbourne police force, who asked Indians “not to talk loudly in their native language in public or travel around with expensive items such as mp3 players on display.” Is it not racist to blame the victims for the “display” of their “native language” and their electronic equipment?! Even more shocking is the fact that such racist “advice” has been echoed by the Indian authorities too! The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in guidelines issued by it in the wake of the attack, advised Indian students in Australia not to venture out alone at night, to avoid flaunting gizmos and, curiously, to keep their homes clean. The implication – that Indians provoke attacks by being unclean, and that the attacks would stop of Indians would only keep their heads down and avoid flaunting their identity or presence – could not be more offensive.

Attacks on Indians, though not a new phenomenon in Australia, have been especially violent during the last few weeks. There have been at least 60 to 70 incidents of serious nature. According to police records at least three cases of crime against Indian students are registered on a daily basis. Partly, of course, Indian students are being targeted for shining academically and because they are perceived as getting better jobs than local Australian unemployed youth. But that is not all the story.

Remember that not long ago, taxi drivers of Indian and Pakistani origin had protested against the Australian police’s indifference to a series of attacks on them. That story had not been highlighted much by the corporate Indian media because it made less interesting copy for elite India than the attacks on “people like us.”

The truth is that racism is deeply entrenched in Australia’s state policy: the worst of its racism is directed at its Aborigine population, from whom the country itself was stolen by colonial Europeans. Today, a disproportionate percentage of Aborigines are jailed, or killed in ‘encounters’ on the streets, and there is no Aborigine representation in Australian parliament. Australian Ministers have time and again got away with racist remarks against immigrants – the “boat people” who come seeking refuge to Australia. Australian policy treats such immigrant refugees as criminals – penning them into jail-like detention centres for months. And of course, that is not to mention the rampant and rising racism against Muslims in Australia, in the wake of the “war on terror.” The episode of Dr. Hanif was only the tip of the iceberg – the Australian Government’s racism today is reinforced by its role in the occupation of Iraq, and its partnership with the US in sponsoring Islamophobia. The attacks on Indian students are no aberration – they are part and parcel of the deep-seated racism in Australian society and politics finding renewed expression in the wake of the globalisation, war and recession.

Commentators have dubbed the recent developments as the “present day Pauline Hanson phenomenon.” Pauline Hanson was the conservative politician who got elected to the Australian Parliament in 1996, who spoke openly of the “swamping” of Australia by people from Asia and the consequent unemployment of “Aussie battlers”.

Racism is a simmering phenomenon not just in Australia, but also in other countries like the US and the UK which are championing globalisation. For them, globalization means the free mobility of capital to usurp the land and livelihood of people of developing countries; it has never meant the free movement of labour to their countries. It is important to note that within the framework of globalisation, immigration laws act not to prevent migration but to control it to meet the needs of capital. This is achieved particularly by creating the phenomenon of ‘undocumented’, and ‘illegal’ workers who can be denied all rights – and it is these workers who are doing the crucial but undervalued, lowest paid jobs; jobs like care work of various kinds which cannot be outsourced. Predictably, in the wake of the current economic recession spawned by their disastrous policies, we are seeing a renewed offensive of racism against migrant workers from the third world in these countries – from attacks on Sikh cab drivers and retrenchment of Asian teachers in the US, to Gordon Brown’s call for “British jobs for British people”, the drum of racism is clearly being beaten by the ruling class to divert and mislead the anxiety of the working class in the face of recession.

Some quarters in Australia have raised the demand for a multi-racial police force. It must be emphasized that such measures cannot change the institutionalized racism of the police in the West (emanating from the political economy) – against which there has been a long history of struggles. 2009 marks 30 years the Southall Uprisings in Britain where Asian (mainly Indian Punjabi) working class youth took to the streets to protest against violence by the neo-Nazi National Front, and specifically to stop the National Front marching through Southall. The police brutally attacked the protestors, killing Blair Peach, a teacher and left activist from New Zealand.

While the Indian media has extensively covered the racist assaults on Indian students, it has failed even to mention racial harassment of Pakistani students in Britain in the name of “anti-terror” actions (see accompanying story). The British police has, shockingly, evolved a phrase – ‘clean skin,’ to connote those who have “blameless backgrounds” and show no sign of terrorist involvement, but who are nevertheless “highly trained professional killers.” This definition allows the police to brand any and every Muslim as a “terrorist” without having to furnish any evidence. When we speak of racism against those of ‘brown skin,’ we cannot ignore the linkages with the racism levelled against ‘clean skin’ – innocent Muslims targeted not by racist individuals or groups but by the might of the state.

As we protest against the attacks on Indians in Australia, we must also, however, remind ourselves of India’s own homespun variant of ‘anti-migrant’ chauvinism – such as the violence unleashed by MNS and Shiv Sena against North Indian migrants in Mumbai, or the ethnic targeting of students from the North East India in India’s capital city of Delhi.

It is high time that the people of the third world and the working class all over the world speak out against the present spate of racist assaults and the politics of hate and chauvinism in which the promoters of recession-hit globalisation are seeking a convenient refuge.

Struggles in India

People’s Health’ Seminar in Kolkata

- Liberation, July, 2009.

Dr. Binayak Sen and Dr. Ilina Sen recently visited Kolkata responding to an initiative taken by People’s Health. They addressed the Calcutta press at Calcutta Press Club on 29th May. Dr. Binayak Sen’s two year long unlawful detention in a Chattisgarh jail ended on 25th May. “I want to resume my unfinished work as early as possible,” he said. “I could finally come out of jail but many colleagues and comrades of mine are still in Chattisgarh jails on fictitious charges – we have a long fight due for their unconditional release.”

Dr. Debasish Dutta, President, People’s Health, initiated the press conference by introducing Dr. Binayak Sen and Dr. Ilina Sen as pioneering figures in the people’s health movement who have been working for the last three decades in different corners of India where the Indian State has been absent completely in providing even the basic medical care. Dr. Sen was arrested on 14 May 2007 by Chattisgarh government on the charges of sedition, accused of being a Maoist conspirator.

People’s Health organised a seminar on 30 May on ‘Whither People’s Health’ and dedicated the seminar to the efforts of Dr. Binayak Sen. Speakers from different parts of India spoke at the seminar. Dr. Kaustav Roy presented an audio-visual documentation to expose the underdevelopment in primary health care services. He shows that some diseases which we assumed nearly extinct from the world are coming back, often in the form of epidemic. The last UPA government, Dr. Roy says, closed down three public sector factories which were there to produce a few crucial vaccines. The govt offered the tender to private companies and they supply low quality medicine at unusually high prices.

Swati Bhattacharya, researcher and journalist, focused on the poor scenario of primary health care services for women in West Bengal. According to the statistics, 57% of the pregnant women in WB are deprived of primary health care during child-birth. Dr. Sudip Chakrabarty of Medical Service Centre, Mr. Ramkishen of All India Central Health Care Services and Com. Suresh from Jharkhand addressed the audience.

Dr. Ilina Sen remarked that issue of people’s health must be seen from the point of view of equality and social justice. In India, Dr. Sen explains, primary health care progammes are more bureaucratic than participatory. She said that the demand for the primary health care must be framed in the perspective of the people’s rights movement. Dr. Binayak Sen said that anyone having body-mass index less than 18.5 is said to be suffering from malnutrition. And when most of the members of a population have body-mass ratio less than 18.5, the population is said to be affected by famine. He says that most of the tribal villages in Chattisgarh by this parameter are affected by famine.

Dr. Sen also spoke on the human rights conditions in Chattisgarh and said that as Chattisgarh is full of valuable minerals lying under land occupied by adivasis, Salwa Judum is often found deputed by mine barons to snatch the land from the poor villagers. In the name of encounters, police kill innocent poor people in villages. The villagers in Chattisgarh are living in a state of terror. The industrialists, with the direct help of the govt. are robbing the land, water resources and forests from the villagers. The poor people are becoming poorer every day. The issues regarding health, nutrition, education and occupation are entirely neglected.

Culture

Habib Tanveer

- Pranay Krishna, Liberation, July, 2009.

Habib Tanveer, the doyen of Indian theatre breathed his last on June 8, 2009. He was not only a theatre personality, but an organic cultural personality; one of the greatest products of the Marxist cultural movement in India. His lifelong association with Indian Peoples’ Theatre Association (IPTA) and Progressive Writers Association (PWA) shaped his ideological orientation and unflinching commitment to the development of a cultural movement dedicated to social change.

Probably no one else relied upon and learnt so much from the common masses in the arena of Indian theatre as Habib saheb did. Common Chhatisgarhi villagers and their art traditions were the biggest source of his theatrical arsenal – from costumes, music, dances, conversational styles, themes to actors and languages. He believed that every individual was an actor in her day-today life. Every space was a theatre where the unending drama of life unfolded itself continuously. These simple, yet profound insights made him develop a theatrical praxis which is unique. He found versatile actors from amongst the artisans, peasants, labourers and students. Actors of his troupe such as Madan Nishaad, Bhulva Ram, Madan Das, Thakur Ram, Lalu Ram, Jagmohan, Shiv Dayal and Govind Ram had no formal education. He discovered excellent themes and characters in traditional folktales, dances, songs and theatrical devices amenable to infusion of new consciousness critiquing contemporary realities. More than anybody else he displayed that theatre was not a ‘close-up’ art. He could turn a street, a marketplace, a village, practically any space into a stage.

Well- versed in the ancient Sanskrit drama tradition as well as modern European theatrical traditions, he was able to rope in both to the service of a distinct kind of Indian People’s theatre developed from the base of Chhatisgarhi folk theatre, firmly grounded in traditions, memories, and dreams of the struggling common masses. Chhatisgarhi dialect, Chhatisgarhi dance-drama ‘Nacha’, musical story-telling from Mahabharata in folk style – Pandavani got recognized globally through Habib’s theatre.

Habib successfully blasted the bourgeois myth that art forms committed to social change lacked in craft, technique and entertainment. Habib Saheb himself was a poet. He has been credited with introducing music and poetry as essential components of realist theatre in the country. He acted in almost all his plays and many films too.

Among his many inspirations, the greatest probably was that of Brecht. He internalized the spirit of Brechtian epic theatre, while developing his own variety of People’s Theatre. His continuous experimentations, improvisations and innovations with classical as well as folk forms, myths and legends made him evolve a distinct form suitably adapted to the Indian ethos. Habib always had a message in his plays totally comprehensible to the common people, yet his style was never didactic. The progressive consciousness echoed in all the dimensions of his plays.

The first play which brought the Habibian style into prominence was ‘Agra Bazaar’ (1954) based upon the songs and poems of 19th century Urdu poet Nazir Akbarabadi, not even considered a serious poet in his own time. Nazir was a poet of common people. A contemporary of Mir and Ghalib, Nazir was, in a way, re-discovered and represented to the people through ‘Agra Bazaar’. In this play, Nazir’s simple verses depicting the lives of artisans, small shopkeepers, vendors and common folks written in a spoken form of Urdu mingled with other dialects of area around Delhi and Agra, interspersed with the colloquial usages and idioms, was turned into commentary and chorus by Habib Saheb. The play had hardly any plot. Scenes were created on the basis of poetry itself. When the play was staged at Jamia in an open ground, the villagers passing by with their cattle would stop for a moment out of curiosity. Habib Tanveer announced to them that they could come to the stage and sit there along with the cattle. Many of them did so and ‘Agra Bazaar’ came alive with real characters of a marketplace on the stage. Habib’s rediscovery of Nazir through drama can only be compared to Kabir’s rediscovery by Kumar Gandharva through music.

‘Mitti ki Gadi’ (1958) based on Shudrak’s Sanskrit play ‘Mrichchakatikam’ was a marvelous display of how ancient Sanskrit drama could be adapted to modern sensibilities, that too through folk devices. ‘Charandas Chor’ (1975) based on a Chhatisgarhi folktale is an epic, yet hilarious commentary on state of social, political and religious affairs from the vantage point of a thief, which ends on a tragic note. Habib’s ‘Jin Lahore Nahi Dekhyan, Wo Janmyan Hi Nai’ based on Asghar Wajahat’s play is a masterpiece which posits the best of sub-continental composite culture against communal consciousness. ‘Jamadarin’, later renamed as ‘Ponga Pandit’ is a play based upon a folktale which attacks religious bigotry and caste atrocities. In the post-Babri Masjid demolition era, this particular play was attacked many times by Bajrang Dal and Sangh outfits during live shows at Gwalior and elsewhere. Each time Habib Tanveer refused to go backstage amidst stone pelting and hooliganism. ‘Zahreeli Hava’, an adaptation of an English play based on Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 by Rahul Verma, is a thorough critique of the multinational corporate onslaught on the people of this country. ‘Hirma ki amar Kahani’ questions the official paradigm of ‘development’ and assimilation of tribals in the so-called ‘mainstream’ of the nation from an authentic tribal worldview and successfully problematises the hegemonic discourse of ‘development’. Habib Saheb’s plays were never short of viewers, even after the arrival of Television in India. He made many small T.V. documentaries for UNESCO.

Habib Saheb won numerous international and national awards. He was nominated Rajya Sabha member, awarded Padmabhushan, and provided 5-6 acres of land near Bhopal for his ‘Naya Theatre’ complex by governments. Yet, his stature as an artist is far above such official recognitions.

Brief Life sketch

Habib Tanveer – Born on September 1, 1923 at Raipur, Chhatisgarh. Died 8th June, 2009 at Bhopal. Bachelor’s degree from Nagpur University. Learnt theatre at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London; Theatre School, Bristol and British Drama League, London.

Started career in film journalism as Assistant Editor of ‘Film India’ magazine, Mumbai in 1946. Was involved in acting, writing dialogues and songs and making documentaries at the Bombay film industry from 1946 to 1953. Active in IPTA, Bombay along with Shambhu Mitra, Dina Pathak, Balraj Sahni, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and others during 1948 to 1953. Founded ‘Hindustani Theater’ at Delhi in 1954. Founded ‘Naya Theatre’ at Delhi in 1959. Married theatre artist and director Moneeka Misra in 1961. Member of Rajya Sabha during 1972-1978. Awarded Padmabhushan in 2002.

Major Theatrical Productions

Agra Bazaar (1954), Mitti ki Gadi (1958), Lala Shohratrai (1960), Gaon ke naon sasural, mor naon damaad’ (1973) , Charan Das Chor (1974), Bahadur Kalarin (1978), Hirma ki Amar Kahani (1985), Ek aur Dronacharya (1988), Jin Lahore nai vekhyan, wo janmya hi nai (1990), Dekh rahe hain Nain (1992), Kamdev kaa apna, vasant ritu ka sapna (1994), Mudrarakshas (1996), Ek Aurat Hepatia kee thee (1999), Zahreeli Hawa (2002), Veni sanhaar (2002), Visarjan (2006)

May-June 2009

Table of Contents

1. 15th Lok Sabha Elections and Beyond

2. Indian Government Must Stop Intervention in Nepal

3. Sri Lanka: Playing Games with a Crisis

4. Stop Supporting the Genocidal War Against Tamils in Sri Lanka!

5. May Day Reports from India

6. Dr Binayak Sen: Punishment by Trial

7. Appropriating Ambedkar

8. World at the Crossroads Conference

9. Adieu Iqbal Bano!

Indian Elections

15th Lok Sabha Elections and Beyond

- ML Update, 5-11 May, 2009.

In vain were the galaxy of film stars and other celebrities pressed into service for encouraging citizens to pay ballot tributes to the great Indian democracy. The third phase of polling — which the Election Commission described as”extremely satisfactory” — saw a voter turnout of just about 50%, down from 55 per cent in phase II and 60% in phase I. The EC blamed it on “heat conditions”, but the argument does not sound convincing. West Bengal for example is witnessing an almost unprecedented heat wave this year, but polling has been relatively better at 64%. Behind this lies a combination of two factors: the people’s eagerness to teach the CPI(M) another lesson after the punishment meted out in last year’s panchayat polls and the ruling party’s desperate attempt to minimise the inevitable decline in its MP tally.

However, the general picture in the country as a whole (a degree of regional variations notwithstanding) is that today the major national and regional parties do not find themselves in a position to mobilise the dominant social groups and powerbrokers to ‘manage’ the polling the way they have done in the past. Here lies the most important political reason behind the very low voter turnout in the 15th Lok Sabha elections. The mainstream parties’ track records while in office have been extremely poor and they have no credible future plans for redressing the economic and other woes of the masses. As for the different alliances they belong to, these are either shattered by centrifugal forces or remain too amorphous to carry conviction with the voters. In a word, politically they are very much on the defensive.

On the other side of the same coin we see, most notably in large parts of the Hindi heartland, a correspondingly higher assertion of popular forces in the election process. Hopefully, this may also get translated into the emergence of a revolutionary opposition in Parliament — a genuine people’s opposition to consistently fight for the downtrodden. Even otherwise, the gains made by the revolutionary Left during the campaign will not be lost. The militant activism of the people unleashed during the campaign has already opened up broader avenues for further development of mass movements after the elections and for us this is the main thing, the permanent core agenda of left politics.

In sharp contrast to our perception and priorities, the national leadership of CPI(M) is zealously pursuing “politics as the art of the possible” in the meanest and most vulgar sense of the phrase. A very prominent Politburo member of the party was recently in Patna openly inviting the RJD, the JD (U) and the LJP — the very forces against which his party is currently locked in a pitched battle in alliance with the CPI (ML) and CPI — to help form a “secular government” at the centre. Even as resentment against this act of sabotaging the fledgling left unity in Bihar ran high in Left circles in the State, the senior leader reiterated his party’s position in subsequent interviews/press meets in Delhi and Kolkata. He had personally met Sharad and Nitish to advance the cause of this alliance, he added. (Curiously enough, Rahul Gandhi also has since called upon Nitish, Jaylalita and Chandrababu — the main opponents of the Congress in the States concerned — to help form a Congress-led government.) In Kolkata he also reaffirmed the Biman Basu- Budhhadev Bhattacharya line that on the question of supporting a Congress-led government the party will take a decision only after the election results are out. Clearly, this contradicts in no uncertain terms Parkash Karat’s previous statement that his party would rather sit in the opposition than support the Congress.

The political implication of all these overtures is clear. The leading party of the Left Front/Third Front as well as the leader of the UPA are both keeping all doors and windows open and bracing for a nasty post-poll game of numbers where anything can happen and everything can be justified in the holy cause of cobbling up a so-called secular government. Naturally the BJP too will be playing all its cards. For a time the pragmatic power politics of the ruling elite will thus dominate the Indian scene. But there is yet another kind, a very different kind of politics — the turbulent politics of the masses on the move demanding urgent solutions to the economic crisis they have been thrown into and the plethora of other unresolved problems. Sooner rather than later this kind of politics will come to predominate, the more so because none of the existing political formations will get a clear mandate to rule and instability will be haunting the assembled government of assorted opportunists from the very start. To redouble our efforts to lead this people’s politics of resistance remains the absolute priority and responsibility of all genuine left forces in the country.

South Asia

Indian Government Must Stop Intervention in Nepal

- ML Update, 5-11 May, 2009.

The fledgling republic of Nepal seems to be standing on the verge of a new phase of civil war. Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Rookmangud Katawal had been asked by the civilian government to explain why he had continued military recruitment despite the government’s halt order and reinstated eight brigadier-generals who had been retired by the defence ministry. Backed by its foreign patrons and right-wing parties in the country, the military high command openly defied the authority of the elected government. The government responded by removing General Katawal, who refused to accept this and the government’s decision was then illegally overturned by President Ram Baran Yadav of Nepalese Congress. With their coalition partners in government refusing to support the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [UCPN(M)], Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) announced that he had no choice but to resign.

Both New Delhi and Washington had been mounting a strong pressure on the sovereign Nepali government not to remove their trusted CoAS who was doggedly resisting the integration of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the national army as agreed in the peace accord. Senior Maoist leader and Finance Minister Baburam Bhattarai was perfectly right in his sarcastic comment that “The so-called democratic forces specially headed by the so-called democrats in New Delhi have been dictating their patrons in Kathmandu to side with the army and fight against the democratic forces”. We denounce in strongest possible terms the brazen foreign intervention and demand that it must be stopped immediately and for good.

We believe the abolition of the monarchy requires not just the removal of the King but a thorough restructuring of all organs of the state including the army, judiciary and bureaucracy. In this context we consider it very unfortunate that the UCPN (M) and Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) [CPN (UML)] could not arrive at an understanding on sacking the most powerful remnant of the monarchial order. Only a firm political unity of the main left forces on such matters could provide a solid core around which the required consensus in the coalition government could be built up. As things stand now, the fragile consensus has broken down and the apparent process of a peaceful transition to People’s Power has proved deceptive. From a Marxist viewpoint this was not unexpected and we are confident that, led by the communists of Nepal, the brave people will once again rise to the occasion and overcome all obstacles to carry the democratic revolution through to the end.

Meanwhile, progressive and left organisations around the world have condemned the Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav’s actions and foreign intervention while noting that the Nepalese Army is infamous for its human rights abuses, including murder, torture and rape and has a history of coups against civilian governments. The top ranks of the army recently admitted to planning a fresh coup against the current elected government! These organisations have demanded upholding of the peace accord and democracy for which the majority of the Nepalese people and poor people in particular had voted for the CPN(M).

The Democratic Socialist Perspective (from Australia) has said in a statement posted on its website (www.dsp.org.au) –”The removal of the Maoists from government is nothing less than a coup. It reveals the real situation in Nepal — that despite its democratic mandate for change, the Maoist-led government is being prevented by the old elite from implementing such change.” It further stated that the “…military high command, backed by right-wing parties tied to the country’s elite, has openly defied the authority of the elected civilian government, led by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M)” and “the UCPN-M’s proposals for a peaceful and democratic pro-poor transformation of Nepal that were endorsed at the ballot box have been frustrated by opposition within the parliament, the state and even the coalition government.” There is nothing more terrifying to the ruling classes globally than the sight of a people winning power. The right-wing forces in Nepal are counting on the support of foreign powers, especially the United States and the right-wing forces in India.

The Progressive Nepali Forum in Americas (PNEFA) has urged the Supreme Court to nullify the President Yadav’s unconstitutional action and restore civilian supremacy.

South Asia

Sri Lanka: Playing Games with a Crisis

- S. Sivasegaram.

Introduction: The number of Sri Lankan national flags on public display since early this year exceeds many fold that on any previous occasion including Independence Day, 1948. It is significant since President Rajapaksha recently said that the country will soon celebrate its second independence after defeating terrorism. Undoubtedly, there is enthusiasm among the Sinhalese for the military successes of the Sri Lankan armed forces against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The consequent surge in support for the government has been evident in the outcome of the four Provincial Council elections held since mid-2008, amid a visibly weakening economy, rising cost of living, unemployment, poverty, and an impending economic collapse, which the government hopes to avert with a massive IMF loan with stringent conditions that are sure to make life a bigger misery for the low income groups.

The war-induced popularity the government is supplemented by the preoccupation of the media and the main political parties with military gains in the North and will, at least for some months, divert attention from the crises faced by the country on various fronts.

Resumption of War and the Humanitarian Crisis: The scale of the human tragedy was large when the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) recaptured LTTE-held territory in the East. Bombing of public places, hunger and disease displaced around 200,000; civilian deaths were in the lower hundreds. Taking the war to the Vanni, the vast stretch in the North under LTTE control then, was certain to kill thousands and displace several hundred thousands.

Although supplies to the Jaffna peninsula by road ceased after August 2006 when the GoSL closed the A-9 highway, limited supplies went to the Vanni. As hostilities escalated, the GoSL and the armed forces restricted the supply of essential goods to the Vanni, including food, fuel and medical supplies. This was followed by the restriction of Non Governmental Organization (NGO) and media presence there, and around mid-2008 all media personnel and NGOs were ordered out. This to many was a sign that the GoSL was planning indiscriminate aerial and missile attacks. While the GoSL insisted, as always, that only identified military targets were being attacked, survivors of bombing and shelling told a different story. But in the absence of local and foreign media and NGOs, except for the limited presence of the Red Cross (ICRC), it has been hard to verify the number and nature of the casualties.

Whenever international organisations accused the GoSL of serious violations of human and fundamental rights, its spokespersons responded with vigorous denial, often in abusive language. A few European governments reacted with suspension of aid programmes, with no visible impact on GoSL attitude. The LTTE was accused too, mainly with conscription of children, and also of murderous attacks on innocent Sinhalese civilians.

What seemed a strategic retreat by the LTTE early this year with the fall of Kilinochchi, the civil administrative centre of the LTTE, turned out to be a prelude to defeat. By late March the area under LTTE control reduced to less than 100 square kilometres, and following a major blow suffered in early April the LTTE is confined to a 12 km long strip of land designated a “Safety Zone”. Without immediate ceasefire, that area too could fall to the GoSL forces before long, but with severe civilian casualties. It should be noted that a large section of the Vanni population opted to follow the LTTE as it retreated, so that through March, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 were in the fast shrinking area under LTTE control. The GoSL claimed that they were held against their wishes as human shields, while the LTTE has denied the charge. It has, however, been reported that the LTTE had forcibly recruited people including children and that its cadres had fired at escaping civilians.

The GoSL, amid its intense aerial and artillery attacks, had declared Safety Zones for the people in LTTE-held areas; but charges have persisted that hundreds of civilians had been killed and many more wounded by attacks on these zones. Again, independent verification of eye witness account and photographic evidence available on Tamil nationalist web-sites is not possible. The Sri Lankan media, polarised and intimidated as it is, publishes little, but for comments by international bodies of some repute.

The casualty rate rose sharply in the past few months, and victims were mostly from the Safety Zone. To illustrate the high casualty rate: UN figures for minimum number of civilian casualties from 20th January to 7th March 2009 in the conflict area of Mullaitthivu (the last bit of territory held by the LTTE) was 2,683 deaths and 7,241 injuries. Strangely, the information was withheld by the UN until internal documentation leaked in the latter part of March. The GoSL rejected the figures and accused the UN of relying on hostile sources.

International Concern: When undeclared war came to the East in 2006 amid efforts to revive the stalled peace process, international concern seemed to be about getting the parties to abide by the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) of 2002 and reactivating negotiations. Attitudes shifted as the GoSL won control of the East in 2007 and launched its offensive to capture the LTTE-held region in the North. India and the ‘international community’, meaning imperialist powers with interests in Sri Lanka, always paid lip service to restoring peace but did little to persuade either party, the GoSL especially, to end hostilities. Declared concerns drifted with the progress of war: calls for a negotiated settlement and an end to hostilities became calls for a ceasefire in 2008, and early this year concern for the safety of civilians entrapped in LTTE controlled areas. The way the concern manifested itself has been hypocritical if not cynical.

The tragedy of Tamil nationalism, its leadership and the Tamil Diaspora is their misplaced faith in the UK, US, EU, UN, as well as India, since the birth of Bangladesh. Despite evidence to the contrary, many hoped that one or several of them would come to the rescue of the Tamils. The hope still lingers on, in the light of GoSL disregard for ‘international opinion’. But lobbying has so far achieved little more than empty assurances.

India provided the biggest disappointment if not shock. What was seen as Indian indifference not long ago has now been found to be encouragement of the war effort of the GoSL and active political and military collaboration, including on-ground logistic support. Protests in Tamilnadu have thus far failed to make a serious impact on Delhi, where there is no love for the LTTE. The forthcoming Indian parliamentary elections are, however, a factor in the shifting stands of the various political parties of Tamilnadu; and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress are desperate to keep the Sri Lankan Tamil tragedy out of the electoral arithmetic.

In whatever form the LTTE may emerge from its present plight, it cannot return to its earlier claim to be the ‘sole representative’ of the Tamils or its politics by command or its purely militaristic line. On the other hand, even if the LTTE is thoroughly humbled or eliminated as a military force, the struggle of the Tamils will go on as long as the underlying issues remain. The approach of the GoSL hitherto gives little room to hope that it will address the issues. What is most likely is that national oppression will intensify with the blessings of imperialist and hegemonic patrons. That is a bad thing. But it could be changed into its opposite by Tamils learning from past mistakes of not just the LTTE but Tamil nationalism as a whole.

The struggle for Tamil national rights will soon need to link itself with the struggle in the rest of the country for democratic, human and fundamental rights, and against globalisation, imperialism and hegemony; and with anti-imperialist and progressive liberation struggles internationally. The impending economic and political disaster throws the challenge at the genuine left among the Sinhalese to take the initiative towards building a broad united front.

South Asia

Indian Government: Stop Supporting the Genocidal War Against Tamils in Sri Lanka!

- ML Update, 28 April – 04 May, 2009.

A shameful spectacle of opportunism is being played out in Indian politics even as Sri Lanka is waging a chilling ‘final solution’ to its Tamil national question. In the name of a war to eliminate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mahinda Rajapakse’s regime in Sri Lanka is waging war on the Tamil people. Independent observers, international rights groups and even journalists have been prohibited from covering the reality of the war. Conservative estimates, trickling through, put civilian deaths at a minimum of 5000, including at least 500 children, since January. At least 100,000 civilians are estimated wounded. The Sri Lankan army (SLA) is using cluster bombs and chemical warfare in blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions. Tens of thousands of innocent Tamils are caught up in the war zone, starved of food, water and medicine. Some 100,000 others, fleeing in desperation are being rounded up behind barbed wire fences in ‘camps’, where by all accounts they will be kept under detention for three years. Sri Lankan journalists questioning their government’s brutal policy have been silenced by assassination and arrest. International journalists reporting on the detention camps for Tamil civilians have been detained and deported.

Herding the Tamil population into detention camps after slaughtering thousands cannot end the question of Tamil nationality in Sri Lanka. It cannot wipe out the fact that it was bloody pogroms in the 1980s that catapulted the Tamil protests against systematic discrimination into a full-blown insurgency. The Sri Lankan Government is trying to justify its massacre in the name of fighting the LTTE. But there can be no getting away from the fact that it is the Sri Lankan Government’s brutal suppression of the right to self-determination of its Tamil population that is the biggest obstacle to peace.

The SLA’s gains are largely due to aid from imperialist powers. Israel has supplied Kfir jets to the Sri Lankan air force, which has used them to bomb Tamil areas. India’s role is the most dubious. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and its constituents like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), under pressure from emotions running high in Tamil Nadu, have taken the posture of pressurizing the Sri Lankan Government to call a ceasefire. Opposition parties like the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu, seeking to reap a rich harvest of votes from the resentment, have suddenly woken to the need for a ‘Tamil Eelam’ or separate Tamil state for Sri Lankan Tamils. DMK leader and TN Chief Minister Karunanidhi went on a ‘fast’ for a few hours, and claimed that Sri Lanka had in fact called a ceasefire as a result. The facts are otherwise: Sri Lanka, far from calling a ceasefire, has merely promised to avoid the use of ‘heavy artillery’ as far as possible – but has made it clear that the war will continue. The promise, in any case, carries little weight – coming as it does from a regime that has had no compunctions about using even chemical weapons against civilians, and that is in any case planning to treat all surviving Tamil civilians as potential terrorists.

The reality behind the Indian Government’s rhetoric of concern for Tamil civilians is exposed when one looks at a shockingly candid statement by the Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Parliament on 23 October 2008: “We have a very comprehensive relationship with Sri Lanka. In our anxiety to protect the civilians, we should not forget the strategic importance of this island to India’s interests… especially in view of attempts by countries like Pakistan and China to gain a strategic foothold in the island nation…Colombo had been told that India would ‘look after your security requirements, provided you do not look around’. We cannot have a playground of international players in our backyard…” While the Indian Government has consistently denied providing military support to the Sri Lankan Army, one wonders what shape the promise of “looking after security requirements” of Sri Lanka has actually taken.

The Congress party and UPA Government has also been suggesting that the ongoing war on Tamils is just punishment for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. How can Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka be held responsible for that assassination? The Congress party and the Indian State cannot deny the fact that the assassination was a fallout of the disastrously opportunist Indian policy of first extending support to the Tamil insurgency, and then sending in Indian ‘peace-keeping’ forces to help crush the militancy. J N Dixit, who was National Security Adviser to the Indian Prime Minister in 2004-05, and was Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka between 1985-89, has candidly admitted that “Tamil militancy received (India’s) support…as a response to (Sri Lanka’s)…concrete and expanded military and intelligence cooperation with the United States, Israel and Pakistan,” justifying this and the volte face of sending in the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) on the grounds that “Inter-state relations are not governed by the logic of morality. They were and they remain an amoral phenomenon…” It is shameful that a Government and a party that has in such an ‘amoral’ way played with the lives of millions of Tamil people, is today trying to offer the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi as ‘moral’ justification for the bloody end-game being played out against innocent civilians in Sri Lanka today.

The silence of the international community and the complicity of India on the ongoing slaughter and repression in Sri Lanka deserves the highest condemnation. It is urgent that democratic forces in India and the international community demand prosecution of the highest functionaries of the Sri Lankan state and the Government of the countries that supplied these bombs for commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Working Class Struggles

May Day Reports from India

- Rajiv Dimri.

May Day 2009 was organized by All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) independently as well as jointly with other left central trade unions (CTUs) and state/sectoral level fraternal trade unions. As May Day was being organized in the midst of India’s general elections, on this occasion the AICCTU called upon the working masses to reject and defeat the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), in power before elections, and communal-fascist BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and ensure the victory of struggling and fighting left. Some of the preliminary reports are as follows:

Delhi: Amidst preparations for elections in Delhi (on 7th May) the workers under the banner of AICCTU offered their Red Salute to the martyrs of May Day in an industrial area of Narela by hoisting the red flag and organizing a rally. This area falls under the parliamentary constituency- North West Delhi- from which Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) [CPI-ML] has fielded a workers’ leader for the elections. Apart from this, a joint rally and mass meeting of left CTUs including our union – AICCTU and CPM led Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and CPI led All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) – was held which was led by, among others, our leaders Coms. Santosh Roy and NM Thomas. Addressing the gathering, Com. Santosh Roy called upon the workers to vote for all left candidates including ours in the elections and reject Congress and BJP. The gathering released declaration demanding Rs. 8500 as minimum wages in Delhi, strict implementation of labour laws, benefits of employee state insurance (ESI) and provident fund (PF) to all workers, stop Foreign investment in Retail sector and bringing all unorganized workers under the social security net, among others.

Tamil Nadu (TN): Amidst election preparations, May Day Rallies were held in Chennai and Tirunelveli. In Chennai more than 500 workers participated in the rally led by Com.G.Radhakrishnan, State Vice President of AICCTU. Com. S. Kumarasami, president of AICCTU addressing the gathering called upon the workers to rise as real opposition as any formation at the center after elections would only be anti- people and anti-workers. Comrades S. Sekar, K. Palanivel, S. Eraniappan, State Secretaries, AICCTU addressed the gathering. Com. Bharathi, Sriperumbudur candidate of the Party claimed that no party other than CPI-ML, in the country can mobilize people for their election meetings without giving them money and biriyani and those assembled here are the real forces who will change the course of anti-people, anti-worker policies in the country. He called for the workers to take pledge on May Day to throw away the opportunist UPA and NDA combines and the so-called third front in TN and vote for change, vote for CPI ML.

In Tirunelveli, a rally of over 200 workers was held in the town area. Com T. Sankarapandian, state state committee member (SCM) and Tirunelveli candidate of the Party addressed the gathering. Com. N. K. Natarajan, State General Secretary, AICCTU also attended the rally and the public meeting.

In Perianaickenpalayam, Pricol factory workers hoisted AICCTU flags in 6 points around Pricol. In Coimbatore, in another 6 points flags were hoisted. Other than this all over the state, in over 35 points workers participated enthusiastically in May Day flag hoisting programs in Trichy, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallore, Villupuram, Mayiladudurai, Tanjore, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Dindugal, Pudukottai districts and vowed to teach a lesson to ruling Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) and opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the forthcoming elections.

Punjab: Amidst the preparations for elections, rallies were held under the banner of AICCTU and CPI-ML in districts like Mansa, Bhatinda and Sangrur. In Mansa a big rally was held with the participation of around four thousand workers (4,000) which was addressed by AICCTU general secretary Com. Swapan Mukherjee.

Assam: In Guwahati rallies were held in various districts. In Tinsukia town of this district a big rally with the participation of around 2000 workers was held under the banner of May Day Celebration Committee which includes AICCTU and various fraternal and close sectoral TUs. National Secretary, Com. Subhash Sen addressed the rally on behalf of AICCTU.

Patna (Bihar): A joint rally and a mass meeting of left CTUs was held in Patna, the capital of Bihar state. On behalf of AICCTU, national secretary Com. RN Thakur addressed the meeting. Besides, flag hoisting took place in the various factories and institutions in which AICCTU has its unions.

Apart from these states and areas, May Day was organized in Pondicherry led by National Secretary Com. S. Balasubramanian, in Bangalore led by vice president Com. Shankar, in Mumbai led by National Secretary Uday Bhatt and Haldwani (Uttarakhand) led by KK Bora.

Struggles in India

Dr Binayak Sen: Punishment by Trial

- Satya Sagar.

Every Monday, since 16 March this year, a group of between 50 to 100 protestors have been marching down the streets of Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh province, demanding the release of well-known paediatrician and human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen.

They are part of the Raipur Satyagraha campaign that involves courting arrest while marching to high security Raipur jail where Dr Sen has been incarcerated for the past nearly two years now on false charges of being an accomplice to the banned Maoist insurgency in the state. The campaign, which brings activists from around the country to Raipur every week, plans to go on indefinitely till Dr Sen is finally released. Till now hundreds have been arrested and released as part of the satyagraha.

While such classical Gandhian methods are not likely to melt the hearts of the BJP run regime of Chief Minister Raman Singh the campaign is having a positive impact by helping change the climate of fear that has enveloped the entire state for several years now. At last the local media and civil society is mustering the courage to take a critical look at the state’s brutal response to the Maoist insurgency instead of blindly toeing the official ‘war on terror’ rhetoric .

Since 2005 the government sponsored Salwa Judum operations, which pit paramilitaries armed by the state police against Maoist guerrillas and their supporters have claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands from their homes in what is a virtual civil war like situation. The draconian ‘anti-terorrist’ laws that the Chhattisgarh authorities have promulgated ensures there is hardly any discussion or dissent allowed on the subject with all opponents- like Dr Sen- themselves branded as Maoists.

State prosecutors claim Binayak, who was arrested on 14 May 2007, passed on a set of letters from Narayan Sanyal, a senior Maoist leader in Raipur jail to Piyush Guha, a local businessman with allegedly close links to the left-wing extremists. He was supposed to have done this while visiting Sanyal in prison both in his capacity as a human rights activist and as a doctor treating him for various medical ailments.

The trial of Dr Sen , which began in a Raipur sessions court late April 2008, has however not thrown up even a shred of evidence to justify any of these charges against him. By end 2008, of the 83 witnesses listed for deposition by the prosecution 16 were dropped by the prosecutors themselves, 6 declared ‘hostile’, while 30 others have deposed without corroborating any of the accusations against Dr Sen.

Dr Sen has never denied meeting Sanyal, which he did with prior permission and in the presence of jail authorities. To prove there was a ‘conspiracy’ the prosecutors for example have to establish that apart from meeting Sanyal in prison, Dr Sen also met Piyush Guha in person some time or the other, in order to pass on the letters. So far not a single prosecution witness has confirmed this charge and without the thread connecting him to Guha however there is no connection at all between Dr Sen and the cases against the other two defendants, Sanyal and Guha.

With the floor falling out of the entire case against Dr Sen, a desperate prosecution, during the course of the trial, has even been caught red handed by defence lawyers, trying to plant forged evidence of his ‘links’ with the Maoists. A number of witnesses too, under obvious tutelage from the police, have been found trying to ‘improve’ their original written statements presented to the court.

Even more disturbingly, in their attempt to keep Dr Sen in prison for as long as possible the court hearings themselves are being dragged on with breaks of up to a month or more at times thus making the trial itself a punishment. Several neutral observers following the case, including from the Commonwealth and the European Union, have expressed concern at the denial of Dr Sen’s right to an open and speedy trial.

Given the weakness of the prosecution’s position Dr Sen should have been given bail by now but mysteriously this has not happened as yet. Normally bail is refused only in cases where the courts believe the accused can tamper with evidence, prejudice witnesses or run away. In Dr Sen’s case none of these apply as shown by the simple fact that at the time of his arrest last year he chose to come to the Chhattisgarh police voluntarily and made no attempt to abscond despite apprehensions of his possible detainment.

Instead of taking all this into account, on 2nd December 2008, a High Court judge in Bilaspur summarily rejected a bail application filed by Dr Sen, confounding all known principles of law, fair play and justice. As if that were not enough a few days later the provincial police authorities, taking their political vendetta further, filed supplementary charges against him, adding on another 47 witnesses to the 83 already listed in the case.

In September 2007 too the same Bilaspur court had rejected a similar bail application after which on 10 December, the Indian Supreme Court in Delhi too had refused to admit a Special Leave Petition to consider bail. The Supreme Court bench initially heard the petition and even asked the Chhattisgarh government to file a reply but strangely dismissed the same petition at its next hearing without any explanation.

The real ‘crime’ for which Dr Sen is being punished for is his courageous work exposing the human rights violations carried out by police forces in Chhattisgarh. As national vice president of the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties, one of India’s oldest human rights groups, Dr Sen produced several reports criticising the Chhattisgarh government’s ‘Salwa Judum’ campaign.

The Salwa Judum campaign, according to many of its critics, is a thinly veiled attempt to relocate villagers – in the name of ‘protecting’ them from Maoists- while in fact plotting the handover of their land to corporations eyeing mineral wealth in the area. By focusing national attention on the brutalities accompanying this campaign Dr Sen obviously seems to have stepped on some powerful and sensitive toes somewhere.

Dalit Issues

Appropriating Ambedkar

- Kavita Krishnan.

Around 14 April, the 118th Birth Anniversary of Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Prime

Ministerial candidate L K Advani accused the Congress of having mistreated Dr. Ambedkar, referring among other things to his resignation from the Congress Cabinet in 1951, and said it was the BJP-backed V P Singh government which bestowed the Bharat Ratna on him in 1990 and not a Congress Government.

Once again, the BJP and Advani have made a bid to appropriate Ambedkar – based, as usual, on deliberate distortion and suppression of facts and shameless duplicity. Ambedkar did indeed resign from the Congress cabinet in 1951 in protest over the dilution of the Hindu Code Bill – a legislation intended to do away with gender discrimination in Hindu marriage and property laws. It is also perfectly true that the legislation was opposed by a powerful conservative section within the Congress itself, including leaders of the stature of Dr. Rajendra Prasad. But the opposition to the Hindu Code Bill was undoubtedly led by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee – founder of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, and Advani’s hero. Mookerjee said the Bill would “shatter the magnificent structure of Hindu culture”, as Dhananjay Keer recorded in his book Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission (1962, page 429, cited by A G Noorani in ‘Power Drive’, Frontline Volume 26 – Issue 08: Apr. 11-24, 2009). Advani’s mentor Guru Golwalkar also led the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (of which Advani is a proud member) in opposing the Hindu Code Bill, claiming that granting of rights to women would “cause great psychological upheaval” to men and “lead to mental disease and distress.” (Paula Bacchetta, Gender in the Hindu Nation: RSS Women as Ideologues, p.124). Ambedkar drafted the Constitution, while Golwalkar suggested that the Manusmriti, which is abhorrent and discriminatory towards women and deprived castes, should be the Constitution of Independent India, declaring that Manu was the “first and greatest lawgiver of the world.” Clearly, for Mookerjee, as for the BJP-Sangh Parivar-Ram Sene etc…today the subordination of women (and preservation of caste hierarchy) is essential to maintain what they proclaim is the ‘magnificent structure of Hindu culture’ – while for Ambedkar, caste and gender discrimination were abhorrent and had no place in a democratic India.

Advani’s brethren in the Sangh Parivar recently launched a campaign of massacre, rape and arson in Kandhamal – targeting Dalits who had converted to Christianity. It is well known that Ambedkar had seen conversion as a gesture of ‘opting out’, in protest, of the caste order justified by Hindu religion. Advani is a man of great gumption to attempt to appropriate Ambedkar, after endorsing such murderous assaults on poor Dalits for the ‘crime’ of conversion.

Ambedkar has faced the maximum vilification and distortion at the hands of BJP ideologue Arun Shourie (Worshipping False Gods, 1997). At the time, Advani spoke not a word in condemnation of this vicious and slanderous attack, and Shourie continues to be an apologist for the BJP. It is interesting that neither Manmohan nor Mayawati nor any of the self-proclaimed ‘social justice’ leaders challenged Advani’s claims with any of the above facts.

The BJP is undoubtedly the party that is most fundamentally opposed – both in self-avowed programme as well as practice – to Ambedkar’s social vision. But what of the Congress? And of parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which claim to espouse Ambedkar’s agenda and revere Ambedkar? Of course, the first thing that strikes one is that anti-Dalit atrocities like Khairlanji and the assault on Bant Singh occur in Congress-ruled states of Maharashtra and Punjab. And it is a BSP candidate who is responsible for the heinous murder of a Dalit candidate Vijay Bahadur Sonkar in Mayawati-ruled Uttar Pradesh.

But these parties have an even more fundamental discomfort with Ambedkar’s socio-economic vision. Ambedkar championed social dignity for dalits – but he believed that such dignity did not fall from the sky when written into the Constitution, but rather must be underwritten and set into motion by economic rights generated by a radical programme for economic democracy.

Ambedkar’s anti-feudal vision led him to propose nationalization of land. Ambedkar had actively backed the Mumbai textile workers’ strike in protest against the British Government’s draconian Bill against workers’ strikes, asserting that the right to strike was “simply another name for the right to freedom.”

Ambedkar held that the State’s role is to protect workers’ rights, not privileges of private capital, “Anyone who studies the working of the system of social economy based on private enterprise and pursuit of personal gain will realize how it undermines, if it does not actually violate, the last two premises on which democracy rests…Ask those who are unemployed whether what are called Fundamental Rights are of any value to them. If a person who is unemployed is offered a choice between a job of some sort, with some sort of wages, with no fixed hours of labour and with an indirect restriction on joining a union and the exercise of his right to freedom of speech, association, religion etc can there be any doubt as to what his choice will be? How can it be otherwise? …What about those who are employed? Constitutional lawyers assume that the enactment of Fundamental Rights is enough to safeguard their liberty, and that nothing more is called for. They argue that where the state refrains from intervention in private affairs, economic and social, the residue is liberty. What is necessary is to make the residue as large as possible and state intervention as small as possible. It is true that that where the state refrains from intervention what remains is liberty. …To whom and for whom is this liberty? Obviously, this liberty is liberty to the landlords to increase rents, to the capitalists to increase the hours of work and reduce the rate of wages. … Liberty from the control of the state is another name for the dictatorship of the private employer.” What a contrast these words are to the programmes of liberalization-privatization-globalisation espoused overtly by the Congress and covertly by the BSP!

To quote Comrade Vinod Mishra, from the 6th Party Congress Document of the CPI(ML), “A calculated move has been witnessed in recent times to denigrate Ambedkar and project him as having been opposed to Indian freedom….Meanwhile the BJP is seeking to appropriate Ambedkar for its communal ends. We must oppose these moves. In socio-economic terms, Ambedkar was much more radical than Gandhi, and even Nehru. Politically too, he was more conscious of the complexities of nation-building in India. Rather than trying to project himself as a national leader at the expense of everything else, he made a strong plea for making dalit emancipation an integral part of the freedom movement. And this is a question which India is struggling with even fifty years after independence.”

International

World at the Crossroads Conference

- Kavita Krishnan.

(A ‘World at the Crossroads Conference’ was organized by the Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP), Resistance and Green Left Weekly at Sydney on 10-13 April. Kavita Krishnan, who represented CPI(ML) at the Conference, reports.)

As the world reels from a severe recession, as wars, occupation and repression scar the entire globe, and as climate change threatens the very future of humanity, it is widely acknowledged that the world is in a crisis. But the nearly 500 people from six continents gathered at Sydney on 10-12 April weren’t there for a mere academic discussion of the crisis. They were there to say the world has a choice. The same choice that Rosa Luxembourg spoke of so long ago: a choice between socialism and barbarism – one could say today, socialism and devastation. The theme of the Conference – “World at a Crossroads” – expressed this choice, and its slogan – “fighting for socialism in the 21st century” – declared the determination to struggle to make the world turn left at the crossroads!

At the Conference, more than 70 activists representing a range of countries, movements and revolutionary parties, addressed 42 workshops and several plenary sessions, sharing experiences and strategies, and engaging in debates on issues ranging from climate change and meltdown to nationality struggles, cultural resistance and struggles and revolutions taking place across the world.

The Conference opened with an ‘Acknowledgement of Aboriginal Land’ by Aboriginal activist Jenny Munro, who reminded a packed hall that the conference was being held on land stolen from the indigenous Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

Capitalism’s Crises and Our Solutions

The opening session was on ‘Capitalism’s Crises and Our Solutions’ – addressed by Reihana Mohideen, leader of the newly formed Party of Labouring Masses in the Philippines, David Spratt, co-author of Climate Code Red, and Michael Lebowitz, renowned Marxist economist, now at the Centro Internacional Miranda, Venezuela, and author of Build it now: Socialism For the 21st Century.

Speaking at the session, Michael Lebowitz, said that the crisis notwithstanding, capitalism would not collapse by itself; it could restructure itself to ride over the crisis. To prevent this, it was important to educate people regarding the crisis. Struggles of the working class and the people in themselves were not enough – but these struggles are important because people change in the course of struggles. The task for revolutionaries is “to make the crisis in capitalism become a crisis of capitalism”, he said.

US Imperialism and the “War on Terror”

The next session featured a discussion on the “war on terror” in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world, assessing the situation after the election of US President Obama and his promises of ‘change’. Speaking at this session, DSP leader Pip Hinman confronted the lie peddled by US and Australian governments that the war in Afghanistan is the “good war”. Pointing out that Obama had intensified the US offensive in Afghanistan, she called for “all Australian troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan now.” Salim Vally, spokesperson for Palestine Solidarity Committee (South Africa), spoke of how there were photographs of Obama, as Illinois Senator, attending Arab fund-raising dinners with Palestinian academic Edward Said. This is marked contrast to his silence on Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and his declaration that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and must remain undivided.” He reminded of the racist remark that the father of Rahm Emanuel had made on his son’s appointment as Obama’s new Chief of Staff: “Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn’t he be? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to clean the floors of the White House.” Vally concluded that “Martin Luther King spoke the truth to power, Obama spoke lies to get into power.”

Two young medical doctors from the Australian Tamil community, Arun Murali and Pramod Devendra, held the hall captive with a quietly moving talk on the Sri Lankan government’s war on Tamils. Sri Lanka spends 45% of its gross domestic product on the war against the Tamils, they said. They said that after the Holocaust, the world said ‘Never again’ – and yet, at Palestine, at the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka, the genocide continues, and “the world continues not just to ignore it but continues to fund it.”

“Change the System, not the Climate”

Addressing another major session on ‘Confronting the climate change crisis: an eco-socialist perspective,’ Ian Angus, founder of the Eco-socialist International Network and editor of Climate and Capitalism, said that the ‘worst-case scenarios’ painted by the IPCC on climate change had proved too optimistic. ‘Green’ capitalists, he said, could offer nothing more than ‘greenwash.’ Now, increasingly, even those like James Gustave Speth, called the “ultimate insider” within the environmental movement, once part of the Carter and Clinton administrations, has penned a searing critique of capitalism. In his 2008 book Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, he concluded that thanks to capitalism’s built-in tendency to unbridled growth, “Capitalism as we know it today is incapable of sustaining the environment.”

Angus fervently advocated the espousal of ‘eco-socialism’ as a kind of socialism that embraced and expanded the legacy of ecological views embedded in socialism. Stressing that only such a socialism could save the planet, he quoted Walter Benjamin’s remark (in the context of Marx’s description of revolutions as the locomotives of history) that “Perhaps revolutions are not the train ride, but the human race grabbing for the emergency brake.”

Socialism: For a Full Development Human Potential

In a lucid and energetic talk that provoked much discussion and debate, Michael Lebowitz outlined the contours of what socialism really was. It’s easy to say what socialism is not, he said; but socialism is much more than the mere opposite of capitalism. Socialism is nothing less than society that creates conditions for the “fullest possible development of human beings.” In this context, he discussed the experience of building the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela.

Revolt and Revolutions in Latin America

One of the sessions which generated the maximum enthusiasm was the one discussing the tumultuous developments in Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia. Representing Cuba here was Abelardo Curbelo, no ordinary Cuban ambassador to Australia, because he is also a veteran of the Cuban revolution and central committee member of the Cuban Communist Party. He asked his audience to closely watch the developments at the impending Summit of the Americas at Port of Spain on April 17-19, from which Cuba was excluded, warning that Obama might be confronted by a remarkable display of solidarity for Cuba from the very countries which the US had taken to be pliant pawns. For decades, he said, the USA had isolated Cuba in Latin America – but now, among all the nations of the Americas and the world, the only country to have no relations with Cuba is the USA!

Nelson Davila, founding member of Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement (MBR-200), and head of Venezuela’s diplomatic mission to Australia reiterated that ‘US hegemony in the region is finished!’

Luis Bilbao, Argentinean Marxist and participant in the construction of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, comprehensively analysed the spectre of Latin American solidarity that haunted US imperialism. The revolutionary assertion of indigenous nationalism in Bolivia was also discussed.

The conference celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, the 10th anniversary of the Venezuelan revolution, and the electoral victory of the FMLN at El Salvador. Slogans of ‘Uh! Ah! Chavez No Se Va’ (Chavez isn’t going anywhere) rent the air, and toasts were raised the revolutions. Representatives of the Communist Party of Vietnam also addressed the Conference and were greeted enthusiastically.

Resistance to Neo-liberalism in the Global South

Another session, on the growing resistance to neoliberalism in the global South was addressed by representatives from East Timor, Zimbabwe and India. Addressing the session, Kavita Krishnan, of the CPI(ML) spoke of movements in India against the economic and foreign policies imposed by the Indian ruling class committed to remaining in the US’ strategic embrace. Challenging the myth of India’s ‘neoliberal success story,’ she spoke of the reality of farmers’ suicides – but also of peasants’ resistance to corporate land grab, and the struggles of agricultural labourers and unorganized workers led by CPI(ML) for employment and food security. Condemning the denial of visa to the comrade of Labour Party Pakistan who was to attend the Conference, she hailed the victory of Pakistani people on the street as an assertion of democratic spirit, and said CPI(ML) had mobilized students and youth against the anti-Pakistan hysteria whipped up by India’s ruling class. She also expressed solidarity with the aspirations of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka for self-determination, and condemned India’s ruling class for its support to the Sri Lankan war on Tamil people.

At the final session of the conference, Canadian socialist Ian Angus, M. Saraswathy, deputy chairperson of the Socialist Party of Malaysia, Daphne Lawless, central committee member of Socialist Worker (New Zealand), and Peter Boyle, DSP national secretary, spoke of the future of socialist struggles and stressed the need for unity among socialist forces.

Throughout the Conference, a series of workshops took place, with lively discussions. A sample: ‘Why be a Marxist today’, the French Left and the remarkable people’s struggles and workers’ strikes in France, cultural resistance, and detailed discussions of the struggles and debates on the left in a range of countries. Kavita Krishnan addressed two such workshops: one on ‘Sexism and the System,’ along with Reihana Moideen (Philippines) and Jay Fletcher (Green Left Weekly), and another on ‘Young socialists’ fighting back’ – where she discussed AISA’s experience along with a Resistance activist Jess Moore. And last but not least was the music, poetry and performances by cultural groups which made the Conference a celebration of the spirit of resistance.

The final session of the Conference passed two resolutions – demanding that the US Government immediately and unconditionally release the five Cubans imprisoned in the US since 1998 as alleged spies, but whose only ‘crime’ was to dare to resist the denial of the rights of Cuban people to determine their own social system and future; and expressing solidarity with the people and President of Bolivia (who was on hunger strike at the time of the Conference) in the struggle to have their democratic will respected and to advance the process of changing Bolivia in the interests of its majority.

Culture

Adieu Iqbal Bano!

- Liberation, May, 2009.

Adieu Iqbal Bano! You will live on as the sub-continent’s voice of defiance against tyranny

Iqbal Bano, the sub-continent’s beloved ghazal singer, born in India and trained in the Dilli Gharana by the legendary Ustad Chand Khan, passed away on April 21 2009 in Lahore at the age of 74.

In the hearts of all who knew and loved her music is the memory of that day: when, in protest against the jailing of the subcontinent’s foremost Left poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz by General Zia-ul Haq, she sang Faiz’s immortal song ‘Hum Dekhenge’ (We shall witness) at a Lahore stadium full of 50, 000 people, wearing a black sari in defiance of Zia’s ban on the sari. As her liquid voice reached the crescendo – declaring ‘Certainly we, too, shall witness that day … When these high mountains/Of tyranny and oppression turn to fluff and evaporate/And we oppressed/ Beneath our feet will this earth shiver, shake and beat/And heads of rulers will be struck/With crackling lightening and thunder roars/When crowns will be flung in the air — and thrones will be overturned….,” people joined with slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (Long Live Revolution!). In future years, Faiz would be requested, “Please recite that song of Iqbal Bano’s” – because she had made it her own. Smug Indian commentators like to contrast the supposedly superior democratic culture of India’s people with the supposed passivity of Pakistan’s people – but it is Pakistan that gave us that immortal moment of democratic culture – where thousands of people sang in defence of a jailed atheist and communist poet – who had drawn upon progressive traditions within Islam to confront the zealot Zia.

Iqbal Bano – As the people of the sub-continent confront the tyrannies of their governments, of imperialism and of jingoistic hate-mongering, yours will be the voice that will reflect their unity, their defiance, their confidence that one day, tyranny will be defeated and the people will triumph…

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March-April 2009

Table of Contents

1) Forward to a Vigorous Election Campaign on People’s Issues!

2) Budget: No Relief for Indian Poor Ravaged by Economic Crisis

3) CPI (ML) Protests against the War in Sri Lanka

4) Sri Lanka: A Matter of Judgment

5) Crackdown on Health Employees, Students

6) Defending Workers During Meltdown or Countdown for Elections?

7) Participation of AICCTU in the Indian Labour Conference (ILC)

8) Red Flag Hoisted on Satyam’s Lands

9) Film Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Indian Elections

Forward to a Vigorous Election Campaign on People’s Issues!

- Liberation, March, 2009.

India is bracing up for Lok Sabha polls under the dark shadows of a deepening economic crisis that our ruling elite has managed to import from the United States of America. The UPA government’s response to the crisis/recession has been essentially two-pronged. First, they are shifting the burden onto the shoulders of the common people while pampering the corporate biggies. Soon after the financial tsunami struck India, the government announced tax cuts to the tune of some 50,000 crore (1 crore = 10 million) rupees and in the recently held Indian Labour Conference Pranab Mukherjee suggested wage cuts as a pretext for avoiding job cuts — this at a time when corporate honchos are taking astronomical sums — anywhere between rupees 20 to 50 crore — as what is now called compensation! In the name of stimulus spending the interim budget has left a gap of 5.5 percent of gross domestic product in the coming fiscal year, way above the three per cent estimate made earlier. This will further worsen stagflation: the deadly double curse of price rise combined with economic stagnation and slowdown. The government says spending to revive the economy is more important now than worrying about the deficit. This would really make sense if the funds were utilised for facilitating employment in badly affected segments like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather, construction, retail trade etc.; for helping farmers of crops like cotton, rubber and coffee who are facing sharp price falls; and for expanding the scope of NREGA as well as introducing similar schemes for the urban poor. But the focus of the interim budget is not on expanding the home market by augmenting people’s purchasing power; it is on corporate welfare and unproductive sectors. Thus defence expenditure has been raised by a whopping 35 per cent on top of a 10 per cent increase last year, the major chunk of which will flow out to arms exporters like the US and Israel rather than creating effective demand within the country.

The second plank of the government’s policy orientation continues to be dependence on and concessions to footloose foreign capital. To cite one recent example, it is actively considering a proposal to lift restrictions on foreign investors to buy up stakes in its domestic airlines. True to tradition dating back to the early 1990s, the Congress-led government is utilising the crisis for selling out the country’s residual economic sovereignty to imperialist powers. Naturally this is accompanied by further erosion of our political independence, the direct FBI involvement in Mumbai investigations after the terrorist attacks being a case in point. The real meaning of “strategic partnership” between India and the US is thus getting clearer.

Economic woes and imperialist intervention apart, the pre-poll scene is marked by the growing menace of communalism. LK Advani in his inaugural election rally at Gorakhpur responded to the loud chants of “Jai Sri Ram” by saying that this will be realised only after the Ram temple is built in Ayodhya. Advani’s promises of Mandir and hanging of Afzal Guru indicate the BJP’s overtly communal plank in the coming election. Advani was audacious enough even to claim that Muslims were very happy in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat, where they reportedly enjoyed the highest per capita income in the country.

It is against these and other enemies like draconian laws and the repressive state that popular resistance must be intensified. A vigorous election campaign of genuine left and democratic forces focusing on people’s issues can serve as a very good instrument for this.

Resist the ravaging expedition of unbridled capital!

Uphold the banner of self-reliance and people’s welfare against the present reign of elitist and pro-US policies!

Champion the cause of people’s unity and democracy against the twin threats of communalism and terrorism!

March forward to raise the people’s voice inside Parliament!

Indian Budget

No Relief for Indian Poor Ravaged by Economic Crisis, Bailout for Global Arms Industry

- Liberation, March, 2009.

The interim budget presented by the Finance Minister – the last in the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government – displays a total unconcern for those ravaged by the global economic crisis. There is no indication of any measures to bring relief to those lakhs (100, 000s) of people who have lost and are fast losing their jobs in various sectors – like textiles, garments, gemstones, jewellery etc. No announcement of an effective and adequate stimulus package was made. No concrete promise was made of increased public spending in various crisis-ridden sectors of the Indian economy and society. However, keeping impending elections in mind, further concessions and bail-out packages for the India Inc. has been kept off for the post election general budget; there are therefore no changes in tax rates, exemption limits and the fiscal policy for the time being.

Even the much-touted increase in allocation for “flagship” schemes like NREGA is also an eyewash. Actually, the Plan allocation for the current fiscal is Rs. 30,000 crore (1 crore = 10 million) – revised from the previously declared allocation of Rs. 16,000 crore. This reflects only what the Government has already spent on NREGA: which is far below the actual needs of the scheme. The Plan allocation for the next fiscal year 2009-10 is just Rs. 30,100 crore, a tiny and far from adequate increase indeed. Further, while the total revised allocation for the Rural Development Ministry for the current fiscal is Rs. 64,854 crore, for the year 2009-10 the allocation has actually been slashed by 14.93%.

Pranab Mukherjee’s excuse is that the Government has “no mandate,” in its fag end, to introduce any far-reaching measures. This fact, however, did not stop the UPA Government just prior to the Budget session from bypassing Parliament to introduce new investment norms that virtually throw open the entire economy to foreign direct investment (FDI). According to these changed norms, FDI caps stand nullified, since investments by companies “owned or controlled” by Indians having substantial foreign capital are excluded. Even as legislation is pending in Parliament to raise the FDI cap in insurance, and working-class protests have prevented caps from being raised further in various other sectors, this piece of subterfuge allows FDI and foreign players to take control of sensitive sectors of the Indian economy via the backdoor. The very same forces responsible for the global economic crisis are being allowed to rampage into India unchecked.

The stipulations of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act have been thrown to the winds. As against the original FRBM target of achieving zero Revenue Deficits (RD) by 31^st March, 2009, the RD for 2008-09 has zoomed to 4.4% of GDP-1% higher than the budgeted figure. Similarly, Fiscal Deficit for 2008-09 also escalates to 6% of GDP as against 2.5% target. The projected corresponding figures for 2009-10 are 4% and 5.5% of GDP respectively. The government has already printed 1 lakh crore of paper money to make good the deficit.

The government is presently tinkering with the monetary policy to manage the economic slowdown and liquidity crunch. Government borrowing has jumped to two and a half times the budget estimates from 1.3 lakh crore to 3.3 lakh crore.

Unmatched with the fund crunched exchequer defence outlay has suddenly been increased by 34%. The pretext of “no mandate” has not caused the UPA Government to have any hesitation in introducing this massive hike in defence allocations – a whopping Rs 1,41,703 crore. This, when the Government was unable to utilise Rs. 7000 crore from last year’s allocation. Last year itself, the country’s defence budget shot past Rs 1 lakh crore for the first time, three times more than the expenditure on health and education. This time, the Mumbai terror attacks have provided the pretext for yet another steep hike in defence spending.

The Defence Ministry has “assured” the arms industry at the recently held arms expo near Bangalore that defence spending is “recession proof.” At the expo, it was Israeli and US arms manufacturers who dominated the show. In the past decade, India has emerged as Israel’s largest client and also the largest arms importer among the developing countries. In effect, at a time of recession, the UPA Government with its hiked defence budget has chosen to bailout the global arms industry rather than the Indian poor.

The slowdown in manufacturing and capital goods sector is not likely to be arrested by this budget. The Service sector is also to follow suit. The manufacturing may slip down to recession in the next year. The attrition in white-collar employment in finance, IT and information technology enabled services (ITES) is sure to go up in view of the global recession and blue-collar employment in sectors like gems and jewellery, garments, textiles, construction etc. is already gripped with huge attrition. The country is already in a state of stagflation and may slip into a deflationary situation due to acute slump in demand. The US, UK, Euro Zone and Japan, which account for more than 50% of India’s exports, are in the grip of nagging recession and hence the exports scenario appears very gloomy. As a result, both balance of trade and balance of payment position of the country is likely to deteriorate badly.

The Interim Rail Budget too is nothing but populist eyewash. The Rail Minister claims to have reduced fares – but was silent on the pre-budget hike in freight charges on agricultural commodities, iron ore and steel. This measure will inevitably further hike the price of essential commodities and is yet another burden on the shoulders of the recession-hit aam aadmi (common person). Also, the very day the Interim Rail Budget was presented; there was a major accident on the Coromandel Express in Orissa, followed by another in Bihar the very next day. These accidents point to the total neglect of public spending on rail safety, something the Rail Minister’s boasts cannot explain away.

In a budget speech that shamelessly doubled as election propaganda for the Congress party, Pranab Mukherjee ended with the claim that “our people will surely recognise the hand… that alone can help our nation on the road to peace and prosperity”. We can well say that the people of India in the impending elections will surely recognise the hand that gave succour to the imperialist US when its credibility was lowest and dragged the Indian people deeper into the abyss of the global recession.

South Asia

CPI (ML) Protests against the War in Sri Lanka

-  ML Update, 17-23 February, 2009.

The Delhi State Committee of CPI (ML) held a demonstration outside the Parliament in New Delhi on 16 February in protest against the ongoing war on the Tamils in Sri Lanka. The protest meeting was addressed by CPI (ML) Delhi State Secretary Sanjay Sharma, All India Students Association (AISA) State Secretary Rajan Pande, Delhi State Committee member Santosh Rai, All India Progressive Women’s Organization (AIPWA) National Secretary Kavita Krishnan and others. Coinciding with the Delhi demonstration, all over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry CPI (ML) activists came out on streets demanding the Manmohan-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to stop all military aid to Sri Lanka and pressurize the Rajapakse government to stop the war massacring the Tamil minorities in Srilanka immediately and start a political process for a democratic resolution. Starting from Kanyakumari to Chennai, Sirkazhi (Nagappattinam dist.) to Coimbatore, Party and mass organization leaders and activists assembled on the streets. Politburo member S. Kumarasamy participated in Pudukottai demonstration. Balasundaram, State Secretary of the party took part in Ulundurpet (Villupuram district). Apart from these, demonstrations were held in Salem, Kumarapalayam, Kattu Mannar Koil (Cuddalore district) and Tirunelveli. In Puducherry, Balasubramanian, State Secretary and Balasundaram, State secretary of Tamil Nadu, led the demonstration. Also on February 4th, CPI (ML) State units of Tamil Nadu and Puduchery observed a state-wide general strike on the same issue. Party cadres were arrested in Villupuram district for enforcing the strike call.

South Asia

Sri Lanka: A Matter of Judgment

- S Sivasegaram.

In bourgeois democracy, the legislature and the judiciary avoid treading on each other’s toes. Yet there is the occasion of questioning the legality of an act of parliament or a controversial verdict of a court of law. Sadly for Sri Lanka’s fragile democracy the number of occasions have been a few too many. The most recent one followed the Supreme Court (SC) ruling on a fundamental rights petition on a controversial oil hedging deal entered into by the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) that made it liable for around US$ 750 million to five commercial banks; and flared up after a subsequent ruling on the pricing of petrol.

On 28th November 2008 the SC issued an interim order to the CPC to suspend payments to the banks, to which it had already paid US$ 32 million. The SC also ordered the suspension of the Chairman and the Deputy General Manager of the CPC and asked for the removal of the minister in charge. The officials were removed after some hesitation; but not the minister. A succession of pointing fingers led to much discomfort for the government. A ruling on 17th December by the SC on the pricing of petrol called for a price reduction from Rs. 122 per litre to Rs. 100 or less. The CPC, on government instruction, refused to comply while its only rival, the Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC), reduced on the price to 100 rupees on 19th December but reverted to its earlier price under pressure. The SC rulings infuriated the President as they undermined the government’s credibility and meant a drop in CPC profits earmarked for purposes including the bulging defence budget. Open threats were made about impeaching the Chief Justice (CJ), which, under the constitution, needs only a simple majority in an impeachment motion in parliament. It was also unnecessary as the CJ is due for retirement in a few months and until then would only be a temporary discomfort. The CJ, meantime, in view of non-compliance by the CPC, cancelled all earlier rulings regarding the CPC making it once again liable to pay the banks.

Earlier Issues

The Supreme Court has intervened earlier in issues of greater consequence. Its power was not an issue when the rulings suited the government, like the one in mid-2005 (under the previous President) against the setting up of a provisional body for tsunami relief in the North-East, the de-merging of the Northern and Eastern Provinces in 2007, and rulings against strikes. The SC has embarrassed the government by ruling against proposed changes to school admission procedure, and against the expulsion of Tamils from Colombo by the police in 2008, which were resented but complied with. However, judges have continued to be intimidated from time to time.

The roots of the present contradiction go back to February 2006, hardly three months since the President took office, when two senior judges of the three-member Judicial Service Commission suddenly resigned based on ‘matters of conscience’, and no other reason. It was an expression of the simmering state of discontent within the Commission, but the President, as the head of state, did not ask the judges for details of the ‘matters of conscience’ mentioned in their resignation letters addressed to him.

In May 2006, the President bypassed the Constitutional Council (CC), whose term had lapsed in May 2005, to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, without following the constitutional provisions. The government, despite protests from the opposition parties, the legal profession, other professional bodies, and public interest organisations, has delayed the nomination of six new members to the CC from among members of parliament.

Roots of the Crisis

The plight of the judiciary begins with the Constitution of 1978 granting sweeping powers to the executive president. The legal fraternity hailed its provisions to protect the independence of the judiciary, in the context of irritating aspects of the earlier Constitution of 1972 which declared Sri Lanka a republic. Practice proved to be otherwise. The President and the parliament where his party, the United National Party (UNP) had a massive majority since election in 1977 systematically undermined the judicial system; and by a ‘referendum’ held in 1983 improperly extended the term of the parliament to 1989.

The government disposed of judges it did not like, appointed others, and gave preferential treatment to some, as part of a process of “reconstitution” of the courts under the provisions of the Constitution. Even the favoured ones, including a former Chief Justice who fell foul of the President, were humiliated. The government went a long way to ensure that the law of the land did not obstruct its vindictive agenda. On 20th November 1978 a law was passed with retrospective effect to declare as “null and void and of no force and effect whatsoever” the judgement and order of the Court of Appeal in a writ application by former prime minister Sirima Bandaranaike against a ruling by the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry (SPCI), set up for the express purpose of depriving her of civic rights. Hand-picked members of the judiciary in the SPCI loyally delivered the goods without further legal hindrance.

There were attacks and threats against the members of the judiciary for giving verdicts hostile to the interests of the government. Verdicts had been spurned. On 8th February 1983 a bench of the SC ruled unanimously that the seizure by the Superintendent of Police, Gampaha, of pamphlets carrying an appeal by Pavidi Handa (Voice of C1ergy) to hold the genera1 election due in 1983, was an illegal infringement of the right of expression and publication, and awarded Rs.10 000 costs and Rs. 2 000 damages to the petitioner. On 2nd March the Cabinet decided to promote the offending police officer, and to pay the damages and costs out of state funds. In another instance, the Supreme Court delivered judgment, again unanimously, on a fundamental rights case relating to the unlawful arrest of former MP Mrs Vivienne Goonewardene at an International Women’s Day demonstration on 8th June 1983, by a sub-inspector of police, awarding Rs. 2 000 as damages, and recommending police investigation of further allegations by her. The next day, an official communiqué from the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence announced that the work done by the sub-inspector in dispersing the procession has been gone into and that it has been decided that he should be given a special promotion. Accordingly the he was promoted to the rank of Inspector Class II.

Attempts at Salvation

It was as a result of such blatant abuse of power by the government that in 2001, well after the defeat of the UNP government in 1994, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution was unanimously passed by parliament to stipulate independent supervision over important appointments in public service and key commissions. Hailed domestically and regionally as a creditable effort towards remedying a highly-politicised police and public service in particular, the Amendment made it necessary for appointments to the commissions and offices concerned to be approved by an apolitical, 10-member Constitutional Council (CC). The intervening authority of the CC was to be an external check over the unrestrained presidential fiat in appointments. Its composition envisaged a process of consensual decision-making by the constituent political parties in parliament. It is that very CC that has been prevented from functioning for the past three and a half years.

It is not my case that the judiciary has been whiter than white. The present CJ was himself subject of an impeachment motion for personal misconduct, proposed by members of the opposition UNP in 2005, which was abandoned as a part of a shady deal to resurrect the political career of a UNP leader who was behind bars for contempt of court. The latter part of the deal was not honoured.

The prospects for the independence of judiciary seem no better than those for democracy and human rights in the country, let alone its economy and the national question. But the situation is not hopeless. The country has had a tradition of sustained struggles for democratic and human rights which need to be revived and restructured to encompass a larger number of issues based on an anti-imperialist, anti-chauvinist democratic agenda.

Working Class Struggles

Crackdown on Health Employees, Students:

Paving the Way for Privatisation of Health and Education

- Liberation, March, 2009.

Behind the imposition of Essential Service Maintenance Act (ESMA) and arrest of leading union activists among health workers in Delhi and the rustication of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students’ Union leadership and student activists in JNU lies the covert agenda of privatisation of health and education.

2.5 lakh (1 lakh = 100, 000) health employee workers across the country, under the banner of the All India Health Employees and Workers Confederation, have been struggling for the past several months against the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission of contractualisation and outsourcing of health services. When repeated appeals to the Prime Minister and Health Minister, as well as a massive demonstration at Parliament and nation-wide protests, failed to result in any dialogue with the Central Government, health employees and workers were forced to go on strike on February 23. The Government responded with threats and imposition of ESMA in Delhi. Five leaders including Comrade Ramkishan, Convenor of the Confederation were arrested, homes of at least 30 leaders of the Confederation were raided and individual letters were issued to all employees threatening termination and eviction from their homes. Comrade Ramkishan was taken into police custody on the night of 27 February; charges of violation of ESMA were imposed on him on 28 February and he was sent to Tihar jail (he has now been released on bail). Following the arrest of the leaders, the agitation intensified in Delhi, and the Delhi Government eventually conceded some of the major demands of the employees and workers of hospitals and health services administered by the Delhi Government. Those of centrally-administered health services like the central government health services (CGHS) are yet to get any relief, since the Central Government has done little except issue threats. However, the strike has been called off, keeping in mind the partial victory achieved vis a vis the Delhi Government, and also keeping in mind the inconvenience caused to the public by continuance of the strike – something for which the Central Government showed no concern.

At the Jawarhalal Nehru University (JNU), students for the past month have been engaged in a protracted struggle against a whole package of commercialization measures unleashed by the Administration. Making calculated use of the Supreme Court stay (based on the Lyngdoh Committee’s recommendations) on the JNUSU elections, the JNU Administration has bypassed the JNU Students’ Union [JNUSU] (now led by the AISA) to push through measures like hiking of the Prospectus fee by 67%, razing down trees and flattening out the ecologically-sensitive area of Parthasarathy Rock area in order to make it available for shooting of films and advertisements on a commercial basis, installing individual meters in hostel rooms with plans to levy ‘user charges’ on students for electricity, and violations of modalities for implementation of OBC reservations. Literally thousands of students turned out in massive protests – forcing the administration to withdraw some of the measures like the renting out of PSR rocks and user charges for electricity.

But on the issue of hike in the prospectus price, the Administration remained adamant. However, to maintain the pretence of being ‘pro-poor’, the JNU Administration proposed a clause that applicants from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families could avail the prospectus free of cost – a piece of tokenism that amounts to 100% subsidy for 0% applicants, when it is well known that availing a BPL certificate is a process fraught with many problems, and there is no adequate data on the extent to which such families are able to avail education, let alone enter the realm of higher education and apply for a JNU prospectus. As a symbolic response to the closing down of dialogue by the Administration, the JNU students’ union closed down one of the admission counters. Within a few hours of this symbolic protest, the Administration responded by rusticating the JNUSU President Sandeep Singh for two years, and Vice President Shephalika Shekhar and Joint Secretary Mobeen Alam, as well as two other senior activists for a year each. 9 students have been on hunger strike for the past five days, accompanied by many others on relay hunger strike, in protest against this draconian measure.

The AISA had conducted a national campaign in February against the ‘virtual emergency’ in campuses, arguing that the crackdown on student union elections in many campuses including JNU is necessary for governments that intend to privatise and commercialise education. The events in JNU, happening in the wake of the stay on the JNUSU elections by the Supreme Court, are proving the point of the campaign.

Privatising and commercializing health and education are policies dictated by the imperialist funding agencies and imposed by India’s ruling class. Unions and struggles of workers and students are the biggest hurdle in the path of such policies – and this is why the promoters of such policies seize every opportunity to victimize activists leading the movements. But crackdowns have never deterred movements – and the UPA Government can be sure that in the impending elections, it will pay for the crackdown on central government health employees and students of a leading central university.

Working Class Struggles

Indian Labour Conference: Defending Workers During Meltdown or Countdown for Elections?

- Liberation, March, 2009.

The 42nd Session of Indian Labour Conference (ILC) was held recently in Delhi. While at the inaugural session Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes took the opportunity to extol a range of Congress leaders down the generations, and to showcase the ‘achievements’ of the UPA Government, such as NREGA. As workers face a crisis of survival due to the meltdown, the ILC was being used as a platform for a countdown to elections! Instead of any review of the sorry record of implementation of schemes like NREGA, the ILC was instead being used to project these schemes. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee prescribed austerity and ‘wage cuts’ as an alternative to job cuts. Obviously such ‘austerity’ was not meant by the finance minister (FM) to apply to rich CEOs who, as recent reports show, continue to earn obscenely high salaries and indulge in unabated conspicuous consumption and lavish lifestyles. These latter continue to get huge sops and subsidies unabated – while the FM preaches ‘wage cuts’ for workers! This, while the Government’s own Arjun Sengupta Committee revealed that 77% of India’s people survive on Rs. 20 a day.

As a result of the made-in-USA crisis being imported by the Indian ruling class onto Indian shores, at least 20 lakh workers have been rendered jobless in just a few months. Several industries face ruin – particularly export-oriented ones like textiles, diamond etc., as well as automobile, steel, construction; and workers all around face severe wage cuts and increased workload. For the past several years, lakhs of farmers have been committing suicide – a haemorrhaging wound refusing to heal in spite of some band-aids applied by governments time and again. Now, there are ominous signs of this trend shifting to workers too – seventy-one laid-off diamond workers have committed suicide in Gujarat:; the state admiringly hailed as a ‘development model’ by the corporate class.

Meanwhile there is an all-pervading contractualisation of jobs in the name of promoting competitiveness – even in public sector units like steel, coal, oil and government departments like Railways, and core and perennial jobs too. The Central government, which used to be termed the ‘model employer’ has emerged as the greatest violator of contract labour laws. Through the ILC, the Government should have at the very least promised to implement their own laws regulating contract labour with the utmost strictness. Instead, for the last five years the Government has been pushing for amending the labour laws – thereby sending a clear signal to the employers that it condones their violations of the law of the land, and wants to turn those violations into policy!

Even the Government’s showpieces like the Unorganized Workers’ Act is far from adequate (with no provision of permanent fund and empowered boards) to address the needs and aspirations of the unorganized workers: the largest component of workforce. The crying need of the situation is that the Government must come out with a declaration to halt retrenchment/lay offs, wage cuts and closure on the pretext of financial crisis; and take measures to increase the purchasing power of common people.

Nothing less than reversing the disastrous economic policies – that favour corporates at the cost of the labouring poor – and delinking from the disastrously sinking ship of US imperialism – can correct the course and benefit the working people of India. No amount of window-dressing or manipulation of platforms like the ILC can change this fact.

Working Class Struggles

Participation of AICCTU in the 42nd Session of Indian Labour Conference (ILC)

- Liberation, March, 2009.

The 42nd Session of Indian Labour Conference (ILC) was held on 20-21 February 2009 in New Delhi. It was inaugurated by the Minister of External Affairs, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee and the Presidential address was delivered by the Minister of State (IC) for Labour & Employment, Mr. Oscar Fernandes. The representatives of workers, employers and the central & various state govts./UTs and central ministries/departments participated in the conference. The agenda of the conference was: 1 (a) All Issues connected with contractualisation of Labour (b) Issues related to Migrant Workers. 2. Role of Social Partners in appropriate skill development for employability. 3. Issues relating to Sales Promotion Employees in India. 4. Global Financial Crisis – its effects viz., large scale downsizing, layoffs, wage cut and job losses, etc. On behalf of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), General Secretary Com. Swapan Mukherjee addressed the inaugural session. Led by him three more representatives participated in the different agenda items of the conference, namely Com. R. N. Thakur on agenda regarding issues related to contractualization and migrant labour; Com. S. Balasubramanian on global financial crisis, and Com. Santosh Rai on issues of sales promotion workers in India.

This is the first time AICCTU officially participated (as delegates) in the ILC after getting national recognition (in the last session it participated in observer category). The participation was organized and effective. Com. Swapan addressing the inaugural session lambasted the Congress Party for using the ILC as election propaganda platform while prescribing wage cuts for workers. The delegation submitted its concrete suggestion on various items with effective participation on discussion on item nos. 1, 3 and 4.

Struggles in India

Red Flag Hoisted on Satyam’s Lands

- Liberation, March, 2009.

The Satyam scam has exposed corporate corruption and greed, protected by governments and even ‘watchdog’ institutions. Among the many aspects of the scam was the aspect of massive benami land transfers effected by Satyam. It became apparent that thousands of acres of land were acquired by Satyam – literally by hook or crook.

Land is a burning issue – in Andhra Pradesh (AP) as well as all over India. Land ceiling laws and laws against land grab have been openly violated, and the state has an abysmal track record of implementing land reforms. Governments, mouthing virtuous slogans of ‘development,’ have justified massive land grab to feed corporate greed. In AP, too, there have been fierce struggle against SEZs and other kinds of corporate land grab. Also, AP has seen militant struggles confronting the YSR Reddy Government on why it failed to keep its promise of house sites for the poor.

Now, the question arises, why rural poor are met with bullets (as at Mudigonda, Khammam) when they raise a legitimate demand for land; why anti-SEZ activists (as at Kakinada) are jailed; why, when the rural poor wage struggles to occupy ceiling-surplus and other kinds of land illegally grabbed from the poor, they are branded as ‘terrorists’; yet Ramalinga Raju and Satyam-Maytas were freely allowed to grab thousands of acres of land illegally – and both the previous NDA Government of Chandrababu Naidu as well as the present Congress Government of YSR Reddy turned a blind eye for so many years?

The CPI (ML), which has been at the forefront of land struggles in AP, acted promptly to corner the Government on this question as soon as the Satyam scam came to light. In Krishna district, the CPI (ML) Liberation and All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (AIALA) unit of Andhra Pradesh conducted an investigation which revealed that the Prapurna Estate, an agricultural firm, is a benami company of Satyam computers located in Kondaparva village of Vissannapeta mandal in Krishna district. The Prapurna Estate holds about 375 acres of land out of which 232 acres were purchased from small peasants. 44 acres was purchased illegally from poor Dalits allotted land by the State government. Moreover hundred acres of revenue bungar lands have been illegally captured by this firm. An application to the government to lease this land to develop a medicinal plants farm was rejected by the District Collector a year back.

CPI (ML) and AIALA activists decided to mobilise masses of six villages to seize the Prapurna Estate lands illegally in control of Satyam-Maytas. On February 13, hundreds of people from Vissannapeta, Kondaparva, Jannardhanavaram and Chatrai village, (led by CPI(ML) District Secretary Comrade D Harinath and AIALA State President Comrade Pulla Rao), marched to the lands held by Satyam carrying red flags and entered the Prapurna Estates. They successfully managed to occupy some 250 acres of lands illegally acquired by Satyam. Initially the employees of Prapurna Estate tried to put up a resistance but were soon overwhelmed by the militant mood of the masses. Attempts by the police to chase away the people were in vain. Prapurna Estate employees and the police claimed that these lands were legally purchased by some person of West Godavari district to develop as an agricultural farm. Revenue officials also said to the media that these lands are legally purchased but not owned in any way by Satyam. The police, though hesitant to arrest the activists, has been open in its defence of the Prapurna Estate.

The CPI (ML) has demanded that the State should confiscate the lands from Satyam and redistribute them among the poor. The struggle brought to the fore the question of Government double standards over the question of land: its complicity with the bid by the rich and the corrupt to grab (and literally steal) land over which they have no right, and its repressive attitude towards the struggles of the poor for land which legitimately belong to them.

Film Review

Slum-lord Aesthetics and the Question of Indian Poverty

- Nandini Chandra, Liberation, March, 2009.

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swaroop’s novel Q&A) is about a Bombay slum boy with his ample street knowledge who wins a twenty million dollar reality quiz show and then turns this into a universal tale of love and human destiny. In the quiz, Jamal is unable to answer questions that test his nationalist knowledge but is surprisingly comfortable with those that mark his familiarity with international trivia. For instance, while he knows that Benjamin Franklin adorns a 100 dollar bill, he has no clue about who adorns the 1000 rupee note. This is obviously meant to suggest the irrelevance of the nation to its most marginalized member but less obviously also indicates its supposed redundancy in a globalized neo-liberal setup.

The film is on an awards-winning roll, having won four Golden globes, it has won 8 Oscars this year, something that surely adds rather than subtracts from its imperial charm. The centrality of the neo-gothic structure of the Victoria Terminus as the transformative point in the film thus heralds a Dickensian aura as much as an imperial vision.

In contrast, Indians cannot quite see it in nationalist terms.

For one, Amitabh Bachchan’s blog has officially announced and sanctioned the hurt pride of nationalist Indians occasioned by the film’s exposure of its dirty underbelly. While one is unsympathetic to the chauvinist argument that outsiders have no right to depict the seamier side of native life; the way this hyper-nationalist sentiment has been refracted in the international press says something about the film’s motivations. For instance, most reports translate Bachchan’s statement as the Indian peoples’ inability to take a brutal look at themselves, assuming both that the so called west has a hotline with the underclass, and that Bachchan represents ‘the Indian people’.

Given this intermeshing of an Indian and global context surrounding the film’s production and reception, it becomes pertinent to frame the question of the specific nature of Indian poverty raised in the film. The film is hardly unique in addressing the spectacle of the Bombay poor, their dismal conditions of living and defecating. But what it does crystallize in very concrete terms is a general consensus achieved in recent years on the disengagement of labour from questions of poverty and wealth. Partha Chatterjee’s much talked about essay, Democracy and Economic Transformation (EPW, 19 April 2008), mobilizes the concept of a “political society” to merge the realm of peasant detritus and urban poor with petty-entrepreneurs as well as the more shadowy criminal class. His argument reads something like this: since this informal and irregular community has not been and cannot be integrated into the corporate-style capitalist structures, they not only lose out on the benefits of civil society, their only salvation lies in being appropriated by governmental structures and schemes. The idea therefore is to translate the poor’s lack of proletarian consciousness as an automatic admission into political-governmental terms without adequately addressing either the question of capital accumulation by forcible dispossession, through the judicious use of that very government’s repressive instruments in the first place or how to usefully channel this dispossessed labour surplus in a direction that will precipitate class struggle.

While the film in its neo-liberal optimism contradicts this understanding of the poor, seeing them as immediately appropriable within the interstices of corporatized service industries, it participates in the denial of the potential usefulness of the work they do and its lack of reward. However, like Chatterjee, it also insists on placing them outside the purview of the juridical civil state, where law and order do not prevail in the same familiar way, thus surrounding their lives with a mystique that films like Boyle’s can successfully unravel for a neo-liberal audience. Having been endowed with humanity and dignity, the poor cannot be seen through what is perceived as instrumental categories of labour or class anymore. They are instead seen as denizens of a shadowy, illicit realm which can be made comprehensible only by integrating it within certain humanist tropes like love and freedom. It is remarkable that the topography of the places in which the poor live is seen largely through aerial shots  mountains of garbage, huge green forests of wasteland, rivers of feces  and the little boys jumping back and forth through this panoramic natural landscape acquire the characteristic of blooming lotuses in mud. The goo scene in the beginning and the scene where a massive bogeyman-type figure gouges out the eyes of little children with a spoon are of course tightly framed to render the horror of the other world, which may be packaged for a poverty tour (like the one where Shantaram took Angelina Jolie by the hand and led her through the giddy lanes of Dharavi). The slum, the common tank where the mother was felled by one swoop of the Hindu fundamentalist sword, the brothel, the child labourer, the exploitative policemen, the curious school master in a dhoti and the mafia bosses are all stops on this guided tour which is only superficially different from the commodification of poverty one finds on the sets of more popular Bollywood fare. In fact, the new Bollywood aesthetics find an echo here in its severe eschewal of the institutions of state and civil society. But while Bollywood is equally welcoming of foreign capital, a non-Bollywood production like Slumdog takes on more immediately imperialist overtones. This is because the impetus of its rhetoric of good will and benevolence strives to conceal the conditions of its production, encapsulated by a patchy realism which seems to suggest that its real commitment is to the true heart of India, rather than a Bollywood imaginary which it uses merely as the scaffolding for its conventional plot’s unfolding.

The direct connectivity with an international public via tourism, call centres, media and other service industry networks makes the proximity to foreign capital extremely clear. The absence of an organized labour force or any political platform makes it possible to render the terms offered by this capital free of any vested interest.  For instance, the film is produced by Celador Films, the very company which originally created the “Who wants to be a Millionaire” contest, an idea never once mocked throughout the film. In fact, reality television with big money in rewards encourages the contestants to alternatively think of themselves as obligated to the jury and managers and entitled to earn or deserve the disproportionately large sums of money. At the same time, the ruthlessness with which the contestants are evicted draws brief attention to the bosses’ less than benign status as business entrepreneurs, only to deflect it to a professional ethic, which seeks to dignify its lottery or gambling mode. The dynamics of reality television get enacted when little Jamal is being propped up to be a singer by the beggar kingpin Mamman, and the little fellow really thinks his time has come. In true reality television fashion, he demands a fifty rupee note from him before he sings his piece, announcing that he is after all a professional.

The hotel kitchen seems like a refuge of freedom for the child waiter, who gets plenty of time off even as Salim complains of the utopian life they have left behind thieving tyres in the by-lanes of Agra. The tourist industry seems like a utopia of cast-offs and gullible ‘whities’ waiting to be ripped off by these wily self-appointed guides. In short, the film tries to show that for those who can think on their feet, access to wealth is not a problem. Child labour is not really seen as exploitative, but as enabling the education of these young adults. In fact, hardly do we perceive their contribution in terms of real labour. They are seen as gaining rather than giving to the system, sabotaging, picking up the leftovers, staying in empty hotel rooms, stealing from it. Their labour is forever in the background. What is in the foreground is the readymade wealth they are continually grabbing. Wealth is seen not as something created by labour but as already always there to be accessed like the 20 million to be won for the answering of 10 odd questions, a clear repudiation of the true dynamics of labour and class. Moreover, by making the state and civil society evaporate, the film is interested in showing that real harmony is ultimately produced by a direct interaction between capital and labour, in a context where capital will always be benefiting labour and not the other way round. This is probably an acknowledgement of the fact that under the present phase of free market enterprise, the state has proven itself such a good accomplice of capital that it need not even be reckoned with. The police, initially evil, are eventually reconciled to the market’s impartial dynamics when the Inspector comes round to Jamal’s story and escorts him to the media room.

The upper class body language of its avowedly slum-dwelling protagonists is a serious lapse in realism, as is the characterization of Anil Kapoor treating the slumdweller in an exaggeratedly condescending fashion. The use of English could have been justified by a simple suggestion that the boys picked it up from the streets of Agra or even the call centre. But what irritates the most is the fact that while they make an attempt to imbue the film with a self-consciously heroic Muslim profile, they overwrite it with a totally Hindu concept of destiny. Ironically, even the credit song jai-ho seems to suggest an orchestrated mass- pilgrimage to Vaishno-devi rather than the triumph of the Muslim underdog.

January-February 2009

Table of Contents

1) Workers, Students and Youth March to Parliament

2) India Must Not Succumb to the US Strategy of Proliferation of Terror

3) Corporate Governance and Nuclear End Games Cannot Make Us Secure

4) The Battle Now Begins for the Lok Sabha

5) Obama and ‘Change’: Analysis of the 2008 US Election

6) CPI (ML) Sankalp March on 6 December

7) Convention on Dalits’ Rights in Tamil Nadu, India

8) Sri Lanka: the State and the Media

9) New Book Examines the Character of the Deepening Crisis in Capitalist Globalization

Mumbai Attacks

Workers, Students and Youth March to Parliament

against Terrorism, Communalism, and Regional Chauvinism

- ML Update, 16-22 December, 2008.

On December 12, the streets of Delhi saw the largest mobilisation yet since the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008, with many thousands of students, workers and youth marching condemning the heinous attack in one voice, and paying tribute to the memory of its victims.

The media may be full of war cries trying to whip up a communal jingoistic frenzy, especially amongst youth, against Pakistan, and promoting army rule or dictatorship as an antidote to terror. This din is trying to drown out all the saner voices speaking out against US imperialism, or demanding investigation into the Sanghi terrorist network, punishment for regional chauvinists and communal hate-mongers, and justice against fake encounters and framing of innocents by the police. The March to Parliament on 12 December was a spirited rebuttal of these attempts to silence the voices of democracy and whip up a communal, anti-democratic and jingoistic frenzy.

Thousands of workers, students and youth from all over the country, under the banner of AISA (All India Students’ Association), Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA), AICCTU (All India Central Council of Trade Unions) and AIALA (All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association) marched towards Jantar Mantar from Ramlila grounds, holding up banners and placards and raising slogans proclaiming “Stop importing terror and economic crisis from the US,” “Shame on BJP for garnering votes in the name of terrorism,” “People’s Security = Democracy + Secularism + Anti-Imperialism; Recipe for Terrorism = Dictatorship + Communalism + Pro-US policies,” “Ban Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)-Shiv Sena,” “Why bail for Raj Thackeray and Jail for protesting students – United Progressive Alliance (UPA) – National Democratic Alliance (NDA) must answer.” At the head of the March were CPI (ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Politburo member Swadesh Bhattacharya, AICCTU general Secretary Swapan Mukherjee, AISA General Secretary Ravi Rai, RYA President Mohd. Salim and General Secretary Kamlesh Sharma, as well as Shri Kundan Singh, father of Rahul Raj, the young job-seeker killed in a police ‘encounter’ in Mumbai, and Prof. Naval Kishore Chaudhury, Head of Department, Economics, Patna University. Shri Kundan Singh held up a portrait of his son along with one of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh. The March culminated in a massive meeting at Parliament Street.

The meeting began by paying homage to the victims of terrorism, communal violence and regional chauvinism. Conducting the meeting, AISA General Secretary Ravi Rai was greeted by enthusiastic slogans and thousands of people clapping when he declared, ‘No war on Pakistan; united struggle of India and Pakistan against US Imperialism and the forces of terrorism!’ The meeting was addressed by AISA Vice President Abhyuday and RYA National President Mohd. Salim who recounted experiences of AISA’s and RYA’s leading role in the struggle against the MNS-Shiv Sena violence, which exposed the opportunism of UPA and NDA alike. AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee said that the US economic crisis was being imported into India by the Manmohan Government – and workers were being laid off as a result. He demanded that instead of layoffs for workers and bailouts for corporates, the Government should resolve the crisis by reversing pro-US economic policies, and enhancing public expenditure in pro-poor schemes.

Addressing the gathering, Shri Kundan Singh said that the Maharashtra police, which had treated the marauding Shiv Sena and MNS cadre with kid gloves, had cold-bloodedly killed his son, Rahul. The fact that those in power were avoiding to order a probe into the ‘encounter’ proved that they had something to hide. In the quest for justice for Rahul, he expressed his sense of betrayal by the parties that swore by the cause of Bihar, and said that it was the students, youth and workers of Bihar who were his partners in the struggle.

Prof. Naval Kishore Chaudhury said that governments were showing double standards by soft-pedalling communal and chauvinistic forces. He demanded a ban on the MNS, Shiv Sena, as well as Bajrang Dal. Opposing war-mongering and jingoism, he said that democracy, peace and justice were the best guarantee against terrorism.

Addressing the mass meeting, CPI (ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar said that “some sections of the media and politicians are trying to peddle dictatorship, army rule, war with Pakistan and partnership with the US as solutions for India’s security. Pakistan’s own experience is proof that this is a recipe for disaster. India’s ruling class – both Congress and BJP – are hell-bent on shackling India to the globally hated US imperialist policies, and thus importing the US’ economic crisis as well as terrorism onto Indian soil. To fight terror India must first of all de-link her foreign policy from the American strategic stranglehold, and must engage Pakistan in a shared struggle against terror.”

Condemning the UPA and NDA parties and Governments for failing to protect the migrant workers, students and job-seekers of North India from the regional chauvinistic violence of the MNS-Shiv Sena, Comrade Dipankar said that “the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Lok Janashakti Party (LJP), as well as Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) [JD (U)] have all proved equally hollow on the issue of confronting the MNS-Shiv Sena. It is the students and youth of Bihar and UP who challenged the MNS-Sena and yet they were punished with lathi-charges and jail.”

AIALA General Secretary Dhirendra Jha read out several resolutions, which were passed unanimously. A memorandum was submitted to the Home Minister as well as President of India. Apart from the above-mentioned concerns and demands, the memorandum also demanded legislation to ensure the security and dignity of migrant workers, and raised the concerns of the victims of the Kosi floods. The memorandum demanded year-long work under NREGA in these areas, as well as free and regular monthly rations, immediate temporary shelter and a time-bound provision of housing to all affected families.

Resolutions Adopted at the March to Parliament

1. This gathering expresses the deepest grief and condolences for the victims of the heinous terror attacks at Mumbai last month and for all the victims of bomb blasts and terrorist violence.

2. This gathering resolves to struggle against every brand of terrorism, communal violence and regional chauvinism, for a secular, democratic and united India. This gathering expresses the strongest condemnation of the political forces seeking to gather votes from the bloodshed in terror attacks and communal and regional-chauvinistic violence.

3. This gathering condemns the attempts to whip up demands for war, army rule, or partnership with the US as solutions to terrorism. We hold that a stronger democracy and de-linking from the pro-US policies as the foundation of our security. We condemn any attempt to whip up war between Pakistan and India, resist US meddling in the sub- continent, and call for a united struggle by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh against the shared problem of terrorism.

4. This gathering condemns the corporate bailouts and layoffs which can never be the way out of the current economic crisis. We demand that the Indian government reverse the disastrous policies of globalisation and stop importing the US economic crisis onto Indian soil, put an end to layoffs and instead enhance public expenditure and invest more in schemes for the poor in order to rejuvenate the economy.

5. This gathering condemns the UPA-NDA parties and governments for doing nothing to protect the migrant workers, job-seekers and students of North India who have been victims of regional chauvinistic violence by the MNS and Shiv Sena. We demand a ban on the MNS-Shiv Sena, prosecution of Raj and Bal Thackeray for murder, and withdrawal of all charges against students who were arrested for protesting against the violence. We demand a judicial enquiry into the ‘encounter’ in which Rahul Raj was killed in Mumbai.

6. We demand legislation to ensure the security and dignity of migrant workers, including rights like identity cards and comprehensive social security.

7. This gathering condemns the Nitish Government of Bihar for retreating from its promises to the victims of the Kosi floods. Relief camps are being closed and people forcibly evicted, and people are being forced to face the approaching severe cold without even minimum temporary shelters. Hunger and starvation loom large there. We demand year-long work under NREGA in these areas, involving their own rehabilitation work, free and regular monthly rations, immediate temporary shelter and a time-bound provision of housing to all affected families.

8. This gathering condemns the killer Soren Government for the recent police firing on adivasis protesting peacefully against land grab in Dumka, Jharkhand, and demands scrapping of all Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) and moratorium on land acquisition without people’s consent.

9. This gathering demands the immediate release of Dr. Binayak Sen and disbanding of the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh.

10. We demand a time-bound judicial enquiry into the Batla House ‘encounter’ and action against the Special Cell operatives found by the CBI to be guilty of framing two innocent Muslim youth as terrorists.

11. We demand a thorough probe into the role of the Sangh Parivar and Sanghi elements in the armed forces in terrorism.

Mumbai Attacks

India Must Not Succumb to the US Strategy of Proliferation of Terror

- Dipankar Bhattacharya, Liberation, January, 2009.

The recent siege of Mumbai for nearly three days by a small band of well trained terrorists has almost universally come to be described as India’s 9/11. In terms of sheer audacity of planning and execution, the places targeted and the scale and range of people killed and injured, the Mumbai terror siege can surely be bracketed with the original 9/11, and in terms of the duration of the skirmish it can also claim to have left the original way behind.

The analogy between New York 9/11 and Mumbai 26/11 must not however be confined to these operational details, what is most important is to recognise the Mumbai attack as an extension of the same terror trajectory that struck New York seven years ago. What should we learn from this?

The terror that visited the US in September 2001 was not just executed in the US but it was also born and brought up in Washington’s foreign policy laboratory. The history of development of the Taliban and Mujahideen variety of terror – the precursor of Al-Qaeda – under the aegis of Washington is too well known to merit repetition. But instead of effecting a policy change to terminate the trajectory of this terror, the Bush Administration could only think of attacking Afghanistan in the name of avenging 9/11. And soon enough it moved on to its next project – invasion, occupation and plunder of Iraq. The US has not been able to bring Laden to justice; all it could do was to capture and kill Saddam and create a huge vacuum that is now filled up by more terror and anarchy.

Some ‘terror experts’ in India claim that this ‘firm’ and ‘no-nonsense’ response has made the post 9/11 US a safer place. The American people evidently do not believe this story and hence we saw them deliver an emphatic mandate against the entire Bush strategy in the recent Presidential election. The US may well have escaped a repeat of 9/11 within its own territory, but at a price that has made Americans the world over more insecure and vulnerable to terror threats as once again confirmed by the Mumbai siege. And when more and more parts of the world reel under terror, the US can hardly expect to remain indefinitely insulated from its vicelike grip.

The US strategy to counter terror is therefore nothing but a strategy of proliferation of terror, and India can never afford to adopt such a strategy. While the US can in the short run hope to transfer its burden of terror on to other parts of the world till the accounts are settled and all the transferred terror begins paying a return visit to the US, India just does not have that kind of an option. India can only invite more terror with such a strategy.

Instead of realising that to fight terror India must first of all delink her foreign policy from the American strategic stranglehold, our US-crazy terror experts and policy analysts have begun prescribing that if the US had followed up 9/11 with Afghanistan and Iraq, India should follow up 26/11 with at least Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Nothing could be a surer recipe for disaster. Pakistan today is more susceptible to terror than India. The Lal Masjid siege, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the attack on Marriott Hotel in Islamabad and the blasts that are rocking and bleeding Pakistan at regular intervals, all confirm this undeniable reality. India must therefore seek Pakistan’s cooperation in a shared battle against terrorism and not try and bully or corner Pakistan, let alone ask for a US-led invasion or occupation of Pakistan on the lines of Afghanistan or Iraq.

Any attempt to destabilise Pakistan could only lead to an unprecedented escalation and proliferation of terror in South Asia. The US, which is desperately looking for an exit route from Iraq while intensifying its presence and intervention in South Asia, may find an Indo-Pak war, or at any rate a permanent state of heightened Indo-Pak tension, an attractive proposition for fishing in troubled waters. But India and Pakistan must by all means avoid such a scenario. Instead of inviting the US to act against Pakistan, India must keep the US out and directly engage Pakistan in a shared bilateral fight against the common problem of terrorism.

Mumbai Attacks

Corporate Governance and Nuclear End Games Cannot Make Us Secure

- Kavita Krishnan, Liberation, January, 2009.

Elections in India

Assembly Elections Are Over –

The Battle Now Begins for the Lok Sabha

- Liberation, January, 2009.

If the terror siege of Mumbai had left the country in a state of shock, the verdict of the recent Assembly elections should have a sobering impact.

The overall outcome of the Assembly elections held in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram suggests gains for the Congress and losses for the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). Before the elections the Congress was in power only in Delhi, now apart from retaining Delhi it has regained Mizoram and Rajasthan. The BJP will have to content itself with Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Chhattisgarh.

This election outcome has also challenged some rather well entrenched media perceptions about elections, the politics in these states and the present political situation in the country. The so-called ‘anti-incumbency factor’, invoked time and again by media analysts to explain election results and elevated to the status of almost an iron law, does not seem to have held good in these elections. The Congress has won in Delhi for the third successive time, the BJP in MP and Chhattisgarh for the second successive term. In the absence of powerful mass assertion and a viable electoral alternative, the ‘anti-incumbency factor’ by itself does not automatically lead to change even in a limited bourgeois context.

It was also commonly believed that the Amarnath land row in Kashmir and the issue of terrorism would yield considerable dividends to the BJP. In recent months, the BJP has once again been quite aggressive in invoking the bogey of ‘appeasement of Muslims’ and ‘persecution of Hindus’. It tried to justify the anti-Christian violence in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and elsewhere as a legitimate reaction to ‘religious conversion’ and the killing of an infamous VHP functionary in Orissa. The ATS investigation into the September 29 Malegaon blasts that led to the arrest of ‘Sadhvi’ Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt. Col. Purohit was sought to be rubbished as a conspiracy to defame the Sangh and Hindu saints. And finally following the Mumbai terror siege, the BJP went into overdrive with its ‘fight terror, vote BJP’ call.

The results do not suggest that this entire campaign has yielded any electoral benefit for the BJP. No less instructive in this context is the debacle suffered by Uma Bharti and her BJSP, who only gave the BJP’s theme a more aggressive and shrill note.

A third hypothesis regarding the ‘bi-polar’ nature of politics in these states may still seem to hold good. But the gains made by the BSP and the relatively impressive performance put up by the CPI (M) in Rajasthan, where the party has won three seats for the first time, point to a growing third camp in a political environment otherwise dominated by the BJP and the Congress.

The script of the downfall of the BJP government in Rajasthan was being written for quite some time. The Raje government had become infamous for its feudal-monarchical arrogance, record of brutal repression and utter insensitivity to the problems of the masses. The anger of the peasantry and alienation of powerful social groups had made the end of the Raje regime a near-foregone conclusion. The repressive Raman Singh government of Chhattisgarh too deserved a similar fate, but in Chhattisgarh the Congress remained busy colluding with the BJP to sponsor the infamous Salwa Judum campaign and every other assault on democracy. The Congress thus had neither the organisation nor the necessary oppositional plank to oust the BJP in the state. In Delhi, the anger of the traders over the issue of sealing of shops had already been played out in the 2007 municipal elections, leaving the Congress on a stronger wicket vis-a-vis a confused, divided and faded BJP.

The refusal of the electorate to get swayed by the BJP’s high-voltage propaganda and fascist communal campaign has surely sent out a healthy message. But as long as politics in the country will remain polarised between the Congress and the BJP, and pro-US policies will dictate the economic and foreign policy agenda of the country, there can be no respite for the people in any key sphere of national life. As we begin a new year and start preparing for the coming Lok Sabha elections, we must make sure that the battle for reversal of existing policies and freedom from the American strategic stranglehold acquires an unstoppable momentum and takes the rulers to task for all their betrayals and lapses.

Elections in US

Obama and ‘Change’: Analysis of the 2008 US Election

- Surya, Liberation, December, 2008.

Introduction

The 2008 election was historic as the United States (US) voters elected the first African American President. This is of immense importance in a country where African Americans had been systematically lynched for having the audacity to vote. In a country built using slave labour, it is the Blacks who built the White House. Now a Black man will reside in the White House.

Barack Obama won the presidential election after winning 365 electoral college votes, calculated based on number of states won, out of a total of 538. He received more than 65 million votes in total. Despite the institutionalized racism being perpetrated by the system and commercial media, white people voted for an African American candidate with the name Barack Hussein Obama. This again shows that it is possible for people to overcome their prejudices despite the propaganda. The highly unpopular eight years of the Republican party with George Bush as the most despised President did provide a conducive environment for this polarization.

The Dominant Issues

The election campaign started in 2007 with war in Iraq and Afghanistan as the top issue. In a matter of months, by 2008, economic issues started to dominate the election campaign. This recession is being called the worst since the great depression. Despite the massive infusion of government money the economy continues to plummet. Individuals backruptcies have jumped. Forclosure on houses has skyrocketed. People of color and women are the ones who are always disproportionately affected. The unemployment has increased to 6.5% and unemployment claims are highest since 2001. Amongst African-Americans it is 11.1% and Latin@s it is 8.8% [1]. As is well known, these numbers are underestimates of the actual unemployment and suffering. As peoples’ suffering intensifies the commercial press is full of articles on the great depression and speculation about its present re-incarnation.

The financial crisis has become a global capitalist crisis. The capitalist tactic has been the bailout of firms – socialization of losses – and lately massive government investment – socialization of investments. The first installment of the bailout money has already been spent on the large US financial institutions from American International Group (AIG) to Bank of America to Goldman Sachs. An economic ’stimulus’ package has already been spent and more are in the works – as tax rebates to massive infrastructure projects. More than $ 2 trillion of government money has been pumped into the economy. Now the three big US auto makers want a bailout. The US national debt will soon be more than $ 11 trillion. At this juncture the ideas of John Maynard Keynes are being promoted than those of Milton Friedman as possible solutions. The Democratic party and Republican party, along with their presidential candidates, worked together to implement the corporate bailout. Barack Obama has promised to continue to implement this corporate welfare program.

Obama launched his career at the national level as an anti-Iraq war candidate. However the Obama plan is to withdraw troops slowly but still keep a residual force in Iraq to conduct “targeted counter-terrorism missions.” Permanent US military bases in Iraq have already been built and US is likely tomaintain military presence for the foreseeable future. Whenever Obama talked about the Iraq war, which is estimated to cost $ 3 trillion, in the same breath he would add how he wants to increase military presence in Afghanistan. Even leaving open the possibility of attacking Pakistan if needed.

While campaigning Barack Obama gave a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a powerful pro-Israel lobby group. He said “We must preserve our total commitment to our unique defense relationship with Israel”, and promised continued American military assistance to Israel. Rahm Emmanuel, a big supporter of Israel’s policies, is now Obama’s chief of staff.

With the recent spike in energy prices, the ‘new energy’ policy also was on peoples’ minds. The solutions proposed by the two capitalist parties were nothing but ‘re-cycled’ energy industry plans. Healthcare costs have skyrocketed yet private industry based solutions continue to be proposed. Immigration policy of both the parties continues to support militarization of the border. Raids and deportations have increased dramatically. This was an important issue for the new immigrants, especially from Latin America.

Obama’s campaign mostly avoided the questions of race and class. When speeches of Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s radical black priest, stressed that present day racism and imperialism has to be understood in the context of colonization and slavery, Obama disassociated himself. The opposition campaigned to instill fear in the electorate that Obama was a Black radical a la Malcolm X. Obama actually quotes Martin Luther King but never his radical speeches against US militarism, imperialism, and bigotry. Obama was also accused of ‘palling around with terrorists’ such as Bill Ayers, a 1960s radical. In the same vein, he was also accused of being a socialist – a supposedly derogatory term. Interestingly, people, especially the youth, have become more curious about Socialism.

The Money Issue

Elections in capitalist democracies are money dominated. This election set a new record. The finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sector was the most generous and collected at least $13.4 million for Obama. Executives from firms such as Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers, and Goldman Sachs, who are at the epicenter financial and economic crisis, bundled millions of dollars. Courtesy of all the large and small contributions, Obama had an almost two-to-one monetary advantage over John McCain. This obviously gave the Obama campaign a major advantage [2].

The securities and investment industry contributed $101 million in total during this election, 56 % of which went to Democrats. The Democratic party became the favorite of the securities and investment industry that has preferred Republicans in the last 10 years. The average cost of winning a House seat was $1.1 million and the Senate seat almost $6.5 million. The total cost of the 2008 elections for Congress and the White House is estimated at $5.3 billion. Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics said “The 2008 election will go down in U.S. history as an election of firsts, but this was far from the first time that money was overwhelmingly victorious on Election Day,” and added “The best-funded candidates won nine out of 10 contests” [3].

The Change Issue

The campaign centered on “Change We Need” and “Hope”. In these depressing and alienating times, people needed something to ‘Believe In’. Obama’s campaign created this image of an African American who rose from an ordinary family to graduate from Harvard Law School and then gave up trappings of wealth to become a community organizer. This is a carefully crafted image. The Obama campaign mobilized youth and people of colour in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Traditional door to door campaings to Internet based social networking tools were used. People of color and youth in the US identified with Obama because he mirrored their aspirations for change. The hopes of people have been raised.

The Democratic party is doing what it has always done, being a good manager of capitalism and imperialism. Obama’s transition team consists of bankers and Bill Clinton appointees, including Indian American Sonal Shah. She has reportedly served on the governing body of Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. This appointment, with the Hindu fascist links, has become quite controversial. Bush policies have lowered the expectations such that if the Democratic party is willing to even talk with Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, it is a major sigh of relief. If organized labor, which supported the Democractic party, can conduct union-organizing drives under the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, it is groundbreaking. If minor progress can be made on social issues such as abortion and same sex union rights, it is a major achievement.

The anti-war and immigrant rights movement, including major sections of the progressive movement, were sucked into the election. This year witnessed very few demonstrations against the domestic and foreign policies of the Bush administration. Elections usually dampen the movement in the US and this year did that more than ever. Except for small spontaneous demonstrations against the Wall Street bailout or foreclosures, it has been an insipid year.

The two progressive independent/third party presidential candidates were Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader. Having run for president earlier he is a known figure and he received 672, 000 votes [4]. The Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, an African American woman, ran on a progressive platform for change. After being kicked out of the Democratic party, she has been trying to build a progressive movement and was supported by several socialist parties. Communist Party USA, as in previous elections, supported the Democratic party.

Obama as a person is an achievement of decades, if not centuries of struggle. Obama as President is the executive officer of the US capitalist and imperialist class. It is an illusion that he represents fundamental change. People definitely want change. History’s lesson is that for change to truly transform people’s lives it has to be a radical socio-economic change. Hope the progressive movement in the US steps up to the challenge.

Endnotes

1. Reports, US Bureau of Labor Statistics. [www.bls.gov]

2. News articles, Center for Responsive Politics. [OpenSecrets.org]

3. News articles, Center for Responsive Politics. [OpenSecrets.org]

4. Reports, The Independent Institute. [Independent.org]

Politics in India

CPI (ML) Sankalp March on 6 December

- Liberation, January, 2009.

On 6 December, on the 16th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, CPI (ML) held ‘Sankalp March’ programmes all over the country to pledge to intensify the struggle against the divisive forces of terrorism, communalism and regional chauvinism. Condemning the terrorist assault on Mumbai, the CPI (ML) protests on 6 December rejected all prescriptions of dictatorship, army rule, war with Pakistan and partnership with the US as ‘solutions’ to make us secure. They demanded punishment for the perpetrators of the Babri Masjid demolition as well as the communal pogroms at Mumbai (1992), Gujarat (2002) and Kandhamal (Orissa) and Karnataka in 2008.

In Delhi the Sankalp March started from Mandi House and culminated in a mass meeting at Jantar Mantar. The march was led by CPI (ML) Politburo member Swadesh Bhattacharya, AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee, AIPWA National Secretary Kavita Krishnan, CPI (ML) Delhi State Secretary Sanjay Sharma, AISA General Secretary Ravi Rai, JNUSU President Sandeep Singh, along with many democratic individuals, workers, and students. The meeting was addressed by the above activists as well as by noted journalist Jawed Naqvi, Tanweer Fazal of the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Group and student activists of various universities in Delhi.

At Patna, the Sankalp March from Gandhi Maidan culminating in a meeting at Patna Junction Circle, was led by CPI (ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar State Secretary Nand Kishore Prasad, Central Committee member (CCM) K D Yadav, Saroj Chaube, Meena Tiwary, and BB Pande, AISA State Secretary Abhyuday, AICCTU State Secretary R N Thakur and AIPWA State Secretary Shashi Yadav. Apart from CPI (ML) leaders, the meeting was also addressed by Prof. Naval Kishore Chaudhury, Head of the Department of Economics, Patna University, former NIT professor Prof. Santosh Kumar, Prof. Amarnath Singh of Patna University, intellectuals and social activists like Arshad Ajmal, Father Philip Methra, Prakash Louis, Prof. Bharti S Kumar as well as Shri Kundan Singh, father of Rahul Raj, the young man from Bihar who was killed in a suspicious encounter in Mumbai.

The Sankalp March at Lucknow from Charbagh to the Assembly was led by UP State Secretary Sudhakar Yadav, as well as state committee members Kranti Kumar Singh, Madan Singh, Vidya Rajwar, Balmukund Dhuria, district secretary Shiv Kumar, Jan Sanskriti Manch convenor Kaushal Kishore, Ravindra Sinha, poet Shobha Singh, AIPWA National Vice President Tahira Hasan, PUHR General Secretary Dr. Brijbihari, AICCTU leader Hari Singh and many other activists.

Similar marches were also held at Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Moradabad, Mirzapur, Sonebhadra, Jalaun, Azamgarh and many other centres. An impressive March was held at Sikandarpur in Ballia, and marches were also held at two other centres in the same district.

Marches were also held at Ranchi, Gumla, Giridih, Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, Dumka, Jamtara, Bundu, Bagodar and Barwadih in Jharkhand; and Agartala, Kailasahar, Udaipur, Dharampur and other towns in Tripura.

Dalit Struggles

Convention on Dalits’ Rights in Tamil Nadu, India

- Liberation, January, 2009.

CPI (ML)’s Tamil Nadu State Committee organized a convention in Madurai on December 9th, 2008 on the issue of protecting democratic rights of Dalits. Tamil Nadu witnessed several caste clashes in the last two months. A fact-finding team under the leadership of state secretary, Com. Balasundram, lawyers and students, met the people of the affected areas of Elumalai, E Kottapatty and Uthapuram. A report was produced based on the major findings of the visit and it was released in the convention at Madurai. More than 200 rural poor mostly women and agriculture workers participated in the convention.

A separating wall was erected between the Dalit and non-Dalit areas in Uthapuram village in Madurai district. Dalits there were attacked as they protested against the maintenance work of the caste wall. The fact-finding team found that the police at Uthapuram had sided with upper caste goons. Holding the government and political parties to blame, the team demanded that action be taken against the police and revenue officials.

The dalits’ demands included removal of the encroachment in the common path (that is, demolition of the caste wall), restoring worshiping rights of the dalits (that is demolition of another caste wall built around the worshipping area and removal of encroachment on the banks of the Kanmoy-water body), and construction of a bus shelter and so on. Instead of meeting these straightforward demands and implementing the law, the government was conducting peace committee meetings. When the government was forced to concede the demands eventually, the local casteist group attacked a convoy of Dr. Krishnasamy (Leader of Puthiya Tamilagam) and initiated a fresh round of clashes and attacks in and around Madurai district. Dalits were attacked in many villages and police killed a youth in E Kottaipatti in an attempt to suppress the voice of Dalits. The latest assault was the well-planned attack on dalit students of Dr. Ambedkar Law College of Chennai, aimed at sparking off a fresh round of castiest frenzy.

The report was released by Comrade Gundumalai and received by Comrade Thangapandiyan, editor of Puthiya Poraali (New Fighter or Militant) magazine. Comrade Mathivanan, who presided over the convention, briefly narrated the major findings. Comrades Sankara Pandiyan, Bharathi and Usha (State Committee members) addressed the gathering. Comrades Bhagat Singh (lawyer), and Vaiyavan (Tamilaga Manavar Munnani (Tamil Nadu Students Front) also spoke on the rights of Dalits. Comrade Balasundaram asserted that protecting the rights of Dalits is an integral part of democratic struggles.

The convention demanded that the rights of Dalits over land and livelihood should be protected and the dignity of Dalits should be maintained, the notorious elements behind the attack should be arrested, and erring civil and police officials should be suspended or transferred and action against certain officials be taken under the Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) act. The convention also demanded that the government should stop sponsoring ‘Thevar Jayanthi’ (‘Birthday of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar’) as the annual event is being used by reactionary forces to instigate caste frenzy.

South Asia

Sri Lanka: The State and the Media

- S. Sivasegaram.

The tolerance of the Sri Lankan state towards the media is at an all time low. Despite denials by spokespersons for the state, Sri Lanka is ranked very low by Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) in its Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Although the RSF criteria have their class bias and overlook imperialist meddling, the fall of Sri Lanka from a rank of 51st (among 139 countries considered) when ranking began to 165th (among 173, or the ninth worst) in 2008 was a consequence of the increased threats faced by media personnel since 2005. The Free Media Movement (FMM), a prominent media rights group in Sri Lanka, and its website (http://www.freemediasrilanka.org) persist in their protests about the treatment of the media by the state and the complaints are echoed by international bodies including the International News Safety Institute and the World Association of Newspapers among others.

What is most worrying is the threatening attitude of the state towards dissent: not long ago, the website of the Ministry of Defence carried a statement labelling journalists critical of the war effort “enemies of the state” and threatening to take “all necessary measures to stop this journalistic treachery”. Several Sinhala journalists have since 2005 been held in detention under Emergency Regulations and anti-terrorism laws. However, it is the Tamil journalists who have suffered the most in every way, including arrest and prolonged detention, physical and verbal assault, and cold blooded murder, mainly by forces loyal to the government and to a less but significant extent by those loyal to the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).

The decline of media freedom in Sri Lanka started many years ago and has culminated in a fall of journalistic standards and ethics, journalistic quality, and professionalism in the face of repressive political interference. What we witness now is a reflection of a deep crisis of democracy.

A Glimpse of the Past

The mainstream media in Sri Lanka for long since inception under colonial rule was owned by members of the reactionary capitalist class. However, despite the in-built bias, norms of journalism were observed and journalists enjoyed considerable freedom, provided that the system of government was not under threat. The print media as a whole was hostile to the government led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) that ended the rule of the pro-imperialist United National Party (UNP) in 1956. The government used the radio, which was under its direct control, to counter the newspapers; but that eroded the credibility of the radio in due course. The SLFP government, in the face of bitter hostility of the powerful Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL) towards it in the 1960s, made an unsuccessful bid in 1964 to nationalise it, and was forced to step down.

New players entered soon after, the Sinhala nationalistic Sun and its sister newspapers in particular, with agenda different from those of the older pro-West print media. A second bid to nationalise the ANCL, with most of its fixed assets divested in anticipation, succeeded in 1972. By then the Sun and sister newspapers turned hostile to the government for other than political reasons and conducted a vicious campaign against the food drive of the government in 1974-75, a time of serious food shortage precipitated by a severe drought. The government over-reacted by sealing up their printing press. It was a drastic legal action against the media, but there was no harassment of journalists, although the state-controlled media came under increased political pressure.

The return to power of the UNP with an unprecedented 5/6 majority soon led to escalated national oppression of Tamils and the curtailment of democratic rights throughout the country. Private broadcasting came into being in the 1990s but that did not mean real freedom of the media. In the pretext of fighting terrorism, newspapers in the Tamil North came under attack since the 1980s. Some newspaper reporters in the South were killed under mysterious circumstances. But the killing of the popular journalist Richard de Zoysa in the wake the witch hunt against the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in 1989 provoked public anger and contributed in a modest way to the fall of the UNP in 1994.

However, it was the Tamil newspapers in the North and Tamil journalists in general who faced the brunt of oppressive violence mainly from the state and forces loyal to it in government controlled areas, where journalists had also been targeted for being critical of the LTTE. The LTTE maintained an iron grip on journalism in areas under its control.

While the state used press censorship and other means under Emergency Regulations to control the media as necessary, criminal elements carried out acts of intimidation, physical harm, abduction and killings with the blessings of people in power. The last two years have been especially notorious for the revival since 1990 of open intimidation, physical attacks and abduction of Sinhalese journalists, including employees of the state media. It is against this background that the government seems to be moving for total control over the media.

New Threats

New rules were announced on 27th October to control the content not only for broadcast but also MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), a form of news dissemination rapidly gaining in popularity. The rules also seek to control private television and radio stations by placing them under the control of a single minister for the media. The rules dated 10th October 2008, but cited as the Private Television Broadcasting Station Regulations of 2007, cover all private television broadcasting stations including terrestrial, cable, satellite and internet TV and mobile telephony platform based TV.

Media groups and other public organisations have instituted legal action in the Supreme Court against the regulations, and several political parties have openly endorsed the move. Protesters have pointed out that these repressive draconian rules are unprecedented and designed to use the power of the Media Minister as regulator to cancel licences for broadcast on the flimsiest pretext by claiming that the content of a broadcast was detrimental to the interests of a national security, incited a break-down of public order, incited ethnic, religious or cultural hatred, was morally offensive or indecent or was detrimental to the rights and privileges of children. The rules are also restrictive in other ways by limiting the period of the licence to a year and excluding political parties and foreigners from operating stations.

The government whose only basis for public support is its claim of success in fighting terrorism hopes that with a continuous flow of news of unhindered government success on its battlefronts the people will bear with repression, corruption and mismanagement of the economy. News of military setbacks and losses to the armed forces hurts the government’s credibility as do reports of corruption and various misdeeds by people in power. Thus the rules, if implemented will lead to the suppression of not only news but also democratic views and objections against the government and pave the way for the government to continue its pursuit of war and to frustrate the protests of the people who are suffering under the economic crisis.

Some like to isolate the question of war, the national question, human rights, and democratic and media freedom from each other. Such segregation is illusory since the issues are closely interwoven; the struggles related to them therefore will inevitably be interwoven.

Book Review

New Book Examines the Character of the Deepening Crisis in Capitalist Globalization

- Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor, Pan-African News Wire.

Title: Colossus With Feet of Clay: Low-Wage Capitalism, What the new globalized, high-tech imperialism means for the class struggle in the U.S.”.

Author: Fred Goldstein

Publisher: WorldView Forum, New York, 2008

This is a must read book for those seeking answers to the current crisis in world capitalism. With the economic meltdown of 2008, the very future of the system of international finance capital has been thrown into question.

Just within the last year we have witnessed the monumental write-offs of hundreds of billions of dollars by the world’s leading banks and investment firms. Names such as Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, UBS, HSBC, Wachovia, Citigroup, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc., have become the focus of attention for not only the bourgeoisie but working people who have seen their jobs, homes, pensions and overall living standards plunge.

Over the course of 2008, official statistics on the United States economy indicate that in excess of 1 million jobs have been lost. Consumer confidence has plunged while greater signs of social discord have emerged, that in part, has resulted in the willingness of many whites to vote for the nation’s first African American president.

This crisis is not confined to the United States. The so-called “subprime mortage mess” or the “credit crunch”, as it was described during the early months of 2008, is now, even by the corporate press, being labelled as a major economic dilemma affecting billions throughout the globe.

What has generated profound anger among working people throughout the United States is the response to this crisis by the capitalist class and the bourgeois state which has given in excess of a trillion dollars in taxpayer money to the very same financial institutions that created the crisis.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, along with central banks througout Europe and the world, have handed over hundreds of billions of dollars and other units of currency to the bankers in order to stave off a more rapid collapse of the system. Despite all of these subsidies to the financiers, many of these firms have not survived. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have essentially been “nationalized” under capitalist control by the United States government in order to soften the fall of the multi-trillion dollar housing market in the country.

Yet there has been no bailout for the working people of the United States and the world. Millions have loss their homes and jobs. Their pensions are rapidly drying up because many of these funds were invested in the gambling houses of Wall Street and their allies around the world.

Nonetheless, the resistance and fightback is developing. Workers in Europe have staged general strikes against rising fuel and food prices. There have been food rebellions in various countries throughout the Caribbean and Africa. In the United States, a burgeoning movement calling for a moratorium on foreclosures has made a political impact and is influencing the political dialogue taking place inside the country.

What is the Source of This Crisis?

Goldstein, utilizing marxist economic analysis, has approached this crisis from the standpoint of those who are most seriously affected: the working class, the nationally oppressed and women. The author makes the case in very simple and straight forward language that the crisis is one of capitalist overproduction.

According to Goldstein: “This cycle dictates that, during periods of capitalist expansion, the powers of production increase ever more rapidly while the powers of consumption of society expand only gradually. Sooner or later production outstrips consumption. Profit does not arrive in corporate bank accounts until sales take place. If commodities cannot be sold at a profit, inventories pile up, production stops, workers are laid off, and a crisis ensues. That is the crude dynamic of the capitalist crisis of overproduction.” (pp. xi-xii).

The author continues by pointing out that: “The new international division of labor pits workers all around the world against each other in a race to the bottom. It depresses wages of the working class in imperialist countries and expands the sweatshop, superexploitation of the workers in low-wage countries. It makes each capitalist recovery more difficult and undermines the historic advantages accruing to the workers in a capitalist upturn. All this is aggravating the general crisis of capitalism. High technology and low-wage capitalism on a world scale are accelerating the crisis of overproduction and laying the basis for a massive counter-attack by the working class.” (p. xiii).

Women, Race and the Crisis in Capitalism

As it relates to the impact of the crisis on women and the nationally oppressed in the United States, Goldstein looks at this phenomena within the context of the historical development of the country. It was the stolen land of the Native Americans and the slave labor of the African people, along with the low-wage exploitation of Chinese workers in building the railways on the west coast, that made America the leading capitalist nation in the world.

The author takes note of the changing character of the labor force in the United States: “But the rise in the number of women compared to men in the workforce over the last three decades is telling. In 1970, 79 percent of all men participated in the labor force as opposed to 43 percent of all women. In 2005, men’s participation dropped to 72 percent while women’s climbed to 60 percent. Women’s participation in the labor force has steadily risen since 1980 and men’s participation has steadily declined. By 2005 there were 80 million men and 70 million women in the workforce.”

Nonetheless, Goldstein emphasizes that women are more likely to receive lower wages than men. He also points to the class nature of the Clinton-era “welfare reform” policy that advanced the “politically reactionary campaign to spread the idea that those on welfare were lazy people who just wanted to ‘live off the dole.’ It was racist in character because the racist regime of U.S. capitalism has left so many Black single parents in poverty and almost all references to the poor focus in on African Americans (even though the majority of the poor in the U.S. are white).” (p. 134).

In specific reference to African Americans, Goldstein illustrates how the restructuring of capitalism has devastated large sections of the Black working class. He says that: “The restructuring by the bosses devastated Black workers, partly as a result of a deliberate effort starting in the 1960s and 1970s to relocate plants away from the industrial central cities, where there were great concentrations of the African-American proletariat. But this devastation was also the result of a general decline in manufacturing and particularly of the general attack on the union movement.” (p. 137).

The Coming Fightback

Not only does Goldstein analyze the character of the modern-day capitalist crisis but he is bold enough to put forward a set of possible demands that can serve as a rallying point for a national and international fightback movement. Looking at the recent struggles that have taken place over the last three decades during the decline, he firmly believes that the present crisis can be reversed through a proactive approach by the working class and the oppressed.

This struggle will not only encompass the workers of the industrialized capitalist states but the proletariat in the United States and western Europe must understand the necessity of forming alliances with working people in the former colonial and neo-colonial countries. The globalization of capitalist production has created the condition for such an alliance that can transform the course of history.

Goldstein’s work not only makes a significant contribution to the resurgence in literature on marxist political economy, but it can, more importantly, serve as a guide for building broader and more militant social movements that directly address the need to transform capitalist societies in order to ensure a socialist future for humanity.

[Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire and has served as a contributing editor to Workers World Newspaper.]

November-December 2008

Table of Contents

1) Impact of US Meltdown on Indian Economy

2) Nuke Deal Is a Conduit to Import US Crisis into India

3) Campaign against Communalism and Terrorism

4) Fact-Finding Report on Kandhamal Situation

5) South Orissa Bandh by CPI (ML) and Other Parties

6) Students Revolt Against MNS-Shiv Sena Goons

7) The Tamil National Question in Sri Lanka Demands a Political Solution

8) Fighting Caste Oppression and Untouchability: A Sri Lankan Experience

9) Thank Ye for Thy Baton Comrade Shukla

World Financial Crisis

Impact of US Meltdown on Indian Economy:

A Quick Assessment

- B Sivaraman.

The Spreading Economic Contagion: A Reluctant Recognition

Indian economy is insulated from the crisis…The global financial crisis will not affect us much…First Chidambaram went on in this vein until both he and his boss Manmohan had to reluctantly admit that no developing economy could possibly remain immune to the global crisis. Still, it was projected primarily as a financial crisis or at best a precursor to a mild recession. But no financial crisis is ever a mere crisis of the world of high finance alone. Just as the gloom on the trading floors soon spread to the shopfloors in the factories, financial turbulence is just a symptom of the turmoil in the real economy.

In a global crisis of such historic proportion where the total bailout packages by all countries work out to some 3 trillion dollars but where there is still uncertainty whether the system can be salvaged, it is stupid to pretend that India would be immune to the systemic crisis. A finance minister’s (FM) job is not to give false hopes. Panic at the stock markets cannot be prevented for long with pep words from the FM. Till October 14, the Bush administration alone has announced bailout packages to the tune of over $ 990 billion apart from injecting fresh investment worth $ 200 billion in banks and private financial institutions to shore up their financial position.

The contagion is truly global in a globalised world. How can the high priests of globalisation in India expect to insulate the country from this all-pervasive crisis?! Already the financial crunch is having its impact on the foreign institutional investors’ (FII) hot money in India. Just wait for the impact on trade, foreign direct investments (FDI), exchange rates, remittances, balance of payments (BoP), forex reserves and, above all, on the macro-economy in India. Goodbye to the rosy stories of double-digit ‘growth miracle’, it is now an impending debacle that stares economic analysts in the face.

The possible social impact is mindboggling. The new middle class in India is witnessing its first financial meltdown and a possible deep recession. The information technology – business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) myth would soon be blown. The possible BPO gains could hardly make up for the IT sector losses inflicted by recessionary economies in the developed world. Anyway, if the job losses are already running into lakhs (100,000s) in the US, one can well imagine how much political pressure will build up there against outsourcing. If such leading names like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers start biting dust and their brightest kids are given unceremonious marching orders, Indian B-school products are surely in for a bad patch. Pre-election political pressure may have forced Jet Airways to take back its decision to terminate 1900 employees, but the job scenario in the so-called high-growth high-wage sectors has already turned gloomy.

All booms in India, based primarily on foreign money, will soon go bust. The recession-ridden US consumer/industry can hardly sustain the growth miracles of China and India. The surpluses of the Indian bourgeoisie would find a greener pastures in greater and greater acquisitions abroad than investing anew in a dwindling economy at home. Didn’t the Swiss bankers’ association point out a few months back that Indians were holding $1.4 trillion in Swiss banks? A sum about 40% larger than the gross domestic product (GDP)! The only breed that will thrive is the breed of speculators — in stock markets, currency trade and possibly in the real estate, gold and art pieces where the desperate wealth would flow.

In US, if it was first the speculative housing market bubble/subprime and then the financial bubble, in India it has just begun with the stock market bubble and possibly the real estate bubble. When it extends to the investment bubble (what with the special economic zones (SEZs) and other fabulous concessions, the telecom bubble, the IT-BPO bubble and so on), all claims of India having weathered the storm would wither. India perhaps might go under late and might take longer than the rest of the world to come out. All over the world there are 77 tax havens like St. Kitts and Cayman Islands. But in India there are 580 SEZs!

The Immediate Impact on Indian Stock Markets

The festival season in India was seldom so gloomy for the share market. Investor wealth worth Rs. 250, 000 crore (1 crore = 10 million) was wiped out on the bourses on a single day, on 10 October. The Sensex fell by 1000 points before recovering some 200 points, an intra-day drop of some 800 points. The lachrymal wave washed away the festive mood.

At the first sign of stock market crash and FII funds stampede, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government has once again permitted P-notes (participatory notes) paving the way for enhanced speculation. The present convulsion in the Indian bourses would look mild before any possible explosion in future as a result of this heightened speculation. Despite the government itself acknowledging that the P-notes were being abused/misused at the time of banning them, no safeguard has been put in place. Anyway, how can there be any safeguard within the realm of speculations? It is absurd.

Impact on Indian Banks

“Indian banks are safe,” reassured Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Subbarao repeatedly. Indian banks’ exposure to international markets is relatively small at 6 percent of their total assets, the rating agency Crisil said, adding that even lenders with large international operations have less than 11 percent of their assets overseas. But a mini-version Indian bailout was in the making simultaneously in the first week of October with the government virtually shoring up two mutual funds and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) coming to the urgent rescue of three more which landed into liquidity crisis in the backdrop of a steep crash in the stock markets.

At a time when the big names in Western banking industry are queuing up for bailouts, there may be a sudden leap in non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits in Indian banks as these funds would look for a safe haven back home. We can hence expect a big clamour from the NRI lobby for greater concessions for their deposits. Chidambaram would only be too willing to oblige. The RBI recently increased the credit cost on term borrowings (with more than 7-year maturity) to Libor+4.5% and even then the big Indian corporate names are finding it difficult to raise funds amidst the present turmoil. Indian borrowers will end up paying more for the foreign lenders and Indian banks might be forced to pay more for the NRIs – all in the backdrop of a creeping recession and falling rate of profits.

Even when Chidambaram was preparing to pass some 66 reforms-related pending Bills in possibly the last session of the parliament and a committee had prepared a blueprint for major financial sector reforms, the US financial crisis fell like a bombshell. No doubt, the UPA ideologues would also use the global meltdown as a pretext to push the same risky reforms. In the years to come, as the new investment projects go under one after the other and investors and insurance companies and hedge funds go under trading in credit default swaps and all such devices, the financial crisis here in India might be the denouement rather than the beginning as in US. ICICI, the symbol of new breed of unscrupulous financial manipulators, is already in doldrums.

Increasing Liquidity

Liquidity position in India is comfortable, said RBI Governor Subbarao after a slew of measures. But he avoided hinting at any possible reduction in prime lending rates. The liquidity position may be comfortable, the banks and financial institutions might be slush with funds once again but with interest rates ruling high there is no pick up in the credit offtake by SMEs (small and medium enterprises). As they are the main employment providers in the industrial sector, the employment in this sector has already taken a heavy toll. A deep and prolonged recession in the West might result in unemployment for millions of these workers.

The RBI hurried to cut Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 150 basis points to 7.5 per cent, releasing more than $12 billion fresh liquidity into the Indian banking system. But if mere money supply alone can drive the economy and industrial growth forward uninterruptedly, then no economy will ever face any recession and there cannot be a meltdown of this nature. However, amidst all-round alarmism and panic reactions, confidence building itself has become the main plank of economic policy!

The government has once again liberalized ECB (external commercial borrowings by corporates). It is a different matter that in the light of the meltdown nobody would bother to take a second look at dollar bonds issued by Indian banks despite all their backing by the Indian government and hence they are abandoning the idea raising external funds/borrowings. While RBI might come forward to infuse liquidity liberally in the short-term, wait for the booming NPA figures in the medium and long term.

Exchange Rate: Rupee Depreciation

When the western economies are going into a tailspin one after the other, the appreciation of dollar and euro looks somewhat paradoxical. From unprecedented appreciation earlier a few months back, the rupee fell to record low — reaching Rs.49 per dollar at some point. The dollar is gaining vis-à-vis rupee because of the outflow of the FII funds and since the worst is yet to come in the US/global meltdown, a repeat of the East Asian crisis in India is very much a possibility. During the preceding period, if the rupee appreciated by around 18%, now it has depreciated by around 19% during this Jan-Sept.

The exporters who were crying earlier are happy but it is now the turn of importers to come to grief. Not many people know or remember that manufacturing imports had overtaken total domestic manufacturing production in the domestic organised industrial sector this year. Apart from cost escalation and consequent reduction in profit margins, just wait for the impact of the rupee depreciation on inflation. The confident prediction of possible fall in inflation rate to single digit by January sounds hollow in the backdrop of this as well as the cut in CRR rates and other measures by the RBI aimed at increasing the liquidity.

Impact on Trade

The trade deficit is reaching alarming proportions. If exports are growing, imports are growing even more. Thanks to workers’ remittances, NRI deposits, FII investments and so on, the current account deficit at around $10 billion doesn’t look so threatening. But for some reasons if the remittances dry up and FIIs funds take flight, it will be a repetition of 1991 after a few years if forex reserves get depleted and trade deficits keep increasing at the present rate. Even as the country’s exports and imports registered a substantial growth of 35.1 per cent and 37.7 per cent in dollar terms, respectively, during the first five months of the current fiscal (April to August), the trade deficit during the period has shot up. The trade deficit was around $14 billion for a single month of August 2008, a record level. Even Goldman Sachs’ prediction that India’s forex reserves would decline to $271 billion by year end from $310 billion in March 2008 looks a very conservative estimate.

Unprecedentedly high forex reserves were becoming a burden. As most of these funds were in dollars, the government had parked most of them in US treasury bonds or invested them in securities and bonds in foreign banks. With the meltdown and consequent poor returns following rate reduction, these treasury investments have taken a beating. The government had its fingers burnt with the earlier dollar depreciation. A part of these funds could have been used to clear some of the external borrowings. Now with the recovery of the dollar, repayment costs in rupee terms have also shot up. A golden opportunity was missed. The government was toying with the idea of establishing a wealth fund/SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) with these reserves to finance private parties taking up infrastructure projects through PPP. But, despite all the hype, the PPP has been a total flop so far.

An Indian Recession?

It might be just a slowdown in India till now. But a recession cannot be ruled out in the medium term. Chidambaram is claiming 7.5 – 8% growth this year. ADB has predicted 7% growth. Many rating agencies estimate industrial growth between 6.5% and 5.2% from around 11-12% in 2006-07. It is hoped that agriculture would be the saving grace this year thanks to a good monsoon. But just recall that Chidambaram was boasting about a possible 10% growth early this year after the budget and the situation has changed!

True, there is a boom in FDI this year. The total FDI between April and August this fiscal stood at $14.6 billion. A record figure. Average monthly FDI inflow is above $2 billion whereas a few years back that was the annual figure. Kamal Nath was confidently asserting that the target of $35 billion for this year would be achieved. But a closer look reveals that a sizable chunk of this FDI going into mining loot, services, financial services in particular, entertainment industry including luxury hotels and so on and also on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) not mainly to fresh investments in the core productive sectors alone. The long-term sustainability of such a pattern of FDI flow is anybody’s guess. Especially, in the midst of the global liquidity crunch. Inflows into already committed projects might give a false impression and it remains to be seen how long this boom will continue. To sustain it, Chidambaram is bound to come up with a slew of fresh liberalisation measures. FDI caps in insurance, banking and financial services are already being hiked. There might be 100% FDI in single-brand retail. There will be more and more sellouts to attract foreign capital. Chidambaram keeps repeating ad nauseam that India, like China, will continue high growth despite recession in the developed countries.

Well, if high growth is to be driven primarily by foreign capital assisted by government landgrab, tax waivers, assured returns guarantees for infrastructure investments and fabulous BOT terms and so on, in short, by making the whole of India into a tax haven, the structural distortions this Manmohan gamble would lead to is mindboggling. Leaving a handful of big business houses and Indian MNCs, nothing Indian would be left in the “Indian” economy. And even the “India” MNCs have started looking outward. India Inc spent $26 billion in mergers and acquisitions abroad this year. The global meltdown would, if anything, only accelerate this trend and the scarce capital resources would be channelized for overseas spending. If this is the story of overseas M&As by “Indian” companies, M&As in India by foreign companies is even more breathtaking. In power sector alone, the merger and acquisitions worked out to $5 billion out of a total M&A value of $55 billion in the infrastructure sector alone. This is the secret behind the high FDI. But overseas M&A is not a rosy path. Tatas teamed up with AIG which was one of the first to go under. TCS, Infosys and WIPRO…all were on an acquisition spree abroad but at home they are the leading ones in issuing pink slips.

The nation would soon realize the real cost of the N-deal. N-deal was also a sort of bailout for the US industry. Kakodkar has once again made it clear that 20 nuclear reactors would be set up! How in the given situation the governments would foot the bill in the next ten years?

The Deflating Growth Bubble

And what about the growth story? Well, the ratio of savings and investment to the GDP reportedly remains high at 35 per cent. So far so good. Still, there is a slowdown in the Indian economy. The core sector growth is down to less than 4 per cent. All vital productive sectors are on a slowdown. With such a structural background, if and when the Indian economy slips into a recession, the recession will be protracted and there will be no a quick revival. Crude oil prices have declined to $80 a barrel. The monsoon has been good in most parts of the country. For a couple of years it is not difficult to continue with the growth story. But infusion of liquidity, i.e., increasing the velocity of circulation alone in other words, can hardly sustain production. The basic structural flaws are bound to come back to the fore and haunt.

The problem might be made to look minor — as that of liquidity — at present but if there is a severe constraint in demand then no amount of infusion of money into the system and supply side magic would be able to save it. And given the fiscal scenario, the government would not be able to go for any fresh neo-Keynesian binge either, leave alone any major corporate bailout as in the US. Pay commissions and loan waivers might sustain aggregate demand for a couple of years but signs of slowdown are already on the wall. Despite repeated promptings of Chidambaram, the bankers are not ready to reduce even the home loan rates and not just the prime lending rate for the businesses. After all, they are hardnosed businessmen and they will continue to be top executives in their banks while Chidambaram and his party might go out of power.

The 11th Plan estimates that to maintain an average annual growth rate of 9%, the investment in infrastructure would have to rise from Rs. 259, 839 crore in 2007-08 to Rs. 574,096 crore in 2011-12 at constant 2006-07 prices, aggregating to Rs. 2,011,521 crore over five years. In the terminal year, this works out to be 9 per cent of the GDP, up from 5 per cent of the GDP in 2006-07. The Plan document itself says that the government cannot manage this much money and a substantial part of it has to come from the private sector. PPP is supposed to pave the way. But what is the record so far? The Government of India’s Committee on Infrastructure which monitors PPPs notes that 244 PPP projects are ongoing and another 76 are in the pipeline in the country. The total capital outlay in the ongoing projects amount to a minor fraction of the total projection by the Planning Commission. To finance infrastructure projects, the GoI established an India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), a wholly Government-owned company to provide long term finance for infrastructure projects. According to the IIFCL website, it would provide loans upto 20 per cent of the project cost and projects “awarded to a private sector company … [a company established] through Public Private Partnership (PPP) shall have overriding priority”. And how big is this IIFCL? The GoI has successfully persuaded the World Bank to give it a loan of a meagre Rs.2700 crore to finance projects worth Rs. 2,011,521 crore! Making bogus projections to justify pro-private sector policy changes is the thriving industry in India. In such a situation, can any sizable fund flow into the risky infrastructure sector of a developing country amidst tottering private banks and investment funds?

Many approved SEZs are in doldrums as they are not getting any units and this whole thing is a massive real estate speculation of gigantic proportions. Even though the real estate speculation in India is taking a different trajectory and is not as reckless as credit instruments without any backing by collaterals as in the US subprime, the real estate bubble centering around SEZs landgrab is no less serious. Despite RBI’s reservations, the banks were competing to lend to SEZ promoters and even the nationalized public sector banks accumulating huge NPAs would be lined up for private takeover. SEZs might finally achieve what Narasimham’s two reports could not achieve. If millions of home loan borrowers are defaulters, the banks can take back their houses. Even they can takeover the SEZs. But if they themselves go deep into the red irretrievably, they themselves would be taken over. Companies incurring loss too would be taken over by stronger sharks. After a wave of takeovers, if the economy doesn’t revive, this would only amount to taking over the losses. A massive collapse in asset prices is the ultimate eventuality.

Social Impact

‘Suicides after market crash is an urban trend’ …screamed the headlines in a pink paper. Beneath that was the sob story of an entire family committing suicide after heavy loss in the stock market. “Whether it is a seemingly well-to-do US-resident of Indian origin wiping out his entire family or middle-aged brother-sister duo killing their parents and then committing suicide, the financial crisis has hit everyone, and has hit them hard”, the report added. At least, the desperate farmers go alone leaving their family members in the lurch. But the scorched middle class investors take their entire families along and that is the level of urban investing middle class insecurity. This explains the golden age for gold as investment in yellow metal is considered safer. Just think of the hundreds of new scrips by companies with ambitious investment plans counting on these investible surpluses of the middle classes and also the market opportunities opened up by their wealth. All these plans for new scrips will be scrapped. The middle class boom might be glamorous but the depression in incomes and losses in the markets are far more agonizing. Pink slips are painful indeed and joblosses are not limited to the West alone. Those who are hoping that jobs in the West would shift across to the cheaper shores of the India are missing the point that domestic job losses due to recession in the West as well as a slowdown in India would far outweigh such outsourcing gains. Even the real estate boom is going bust in Bangalore, the Indian El Dorado.

The Indian BPO sector derives 40 per cent of its revenues from the financial sector of the developed countries and exactly as they mushroomed fast they will wilt with the same speed. IT-BPO sector in India accounts for 5.5% of the GDP but 30% of exports and a very high share of service sector employment in cities like Bangalore. El Dorado is poised to turn into a hell!

Take the case of garments and textiles. Hardly a few months back, tens of thousands of workers, mostly women, were out of jobs in Chennai and Bangalore and towns like Tiruppur and Karur. The villain was the rupee appreciation, leading to some 18% reduction in incomes in rupee terms. After the loot by layers and layers of intermediaries, the factory producer was left with nothing and hence closed down the unit. Now dollar has appreciated, smile returned to the faces of garment owners but the smile soon vanished. The current exchange rate offers handsome returns but the orders are drying up due to impending recession. No margin then…no orders now! No jobs in both the scenarios.

The impact on the working class by means of wage compression and workloads, illegal retrenchment and worsening of job security and working conditions etc., would be onerous. Already this has started happening. For reasons of space, we are not elaborating. But we can only say there will be many more NOIDAs.

The employment in organised industrial sector – both public and private – was 8.98 million in 1997 but it was down to 7.62 million by 2005, i.e., precisely during the growth miracle if we leave out the disastrous year of 2001-02 for the industry when the growth was very low. If the growth miracle turns into a debacle what will happen to organised sector employment? Formal sector will be informalised and permanent workers will be booted out.

Bailouts for the bankrupt and boot-out for the workers. The same logic of capital! Total blackout of the possible social impact of the meltdown and almost virtual absence of any discourse on safety measures/nets is one of the characteristic features of the current crisis of capital, across the globe as well as in India.

Politics in India

Nuke Deal Is a Conduit to Import US Crisis into India

- Liberation, November, 2008.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has finally sealed the nuclear deal with the US. For the Congress and the coalition of Unashamed Partners of America headed by it, the nuclear deal is the supreme achievement of the government. On the eve of signing the deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee reiterated India’s commercial commitment to the US nuclear energy industry: “We look forward to working with US companies on the commercial steps that will follow to implement this landmark Agreement.” In a second statement issued after the Agreement’s signing he also reiterated India’s commitment to implement the Agreement in good faith even though no such reciprocal assurance was made by the US to confirm New Delhi’s claim regarding the so-called US ‘guarantee’ on uninterrupted fuel supply.

On India’s part, faithful implementation of the commitments, whether declared or undeclared, has long been underway. From the vote against Iran at IAEA to the continuing prevarication and procrastination on the issue of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline proposal, India has been complying with the Hyde Act, which requires India’s foreign policy to be congruent with American priorities and objectives, in letter and spirit. And now Pranab Mukherjee’s explicit assurance reaffirms the commercial component of India’s commitment, which can only be music to American ears at a time when the US economy is passing through its worst crisis in some eighty years. The dilapidated atomic reactor industry in the US is awaiting hefty orders from India even as massive military purchases are in the pipeline.

The day Pranab Mukherjee and Condoleezza Rice inked the nuke deal, George Bush met the finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 7 (G7) countries – the US, Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Italy and Canada – and leading officials of the IMF in a desperate bid to check the growing financial panic that has now begun to spread beyond the American horizons to overshadow the G7 sky. The meeting of the G7 finance chiefs called for “urgent and exceptional action” and the use of “all available tools to support systematically important financial institutions and prevent their failure.” In a separate statement US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson admitted “never has it been more essential to find collective solutions to ensure stable and efficient financial markets and restore the health of the world economy.”

History is replete with examples showing what the US really means by finding “collective solutions”. It desperately tries to pass on its crisis to other countries and refuel its military-industrial complex to underwrite its economy, and in the process steps up politico-military intervention across the world. And it is precisely at this juncture that the Indian ruling classes have pushed India into a tight strategic embrace with the crisis-ridden US – a country that is hated by most nations of the world for its imperialist arrogance and aggression and whose economy is now emitting waves of financial instability and panic across the global economy. Strategic partnership with the US can only prove to be a conduit for importing the entire gamut of crises facing the US into India.

Manmohan Singh and his ilk epitomise the typical Indian comprador mindset that considers the US to be the pinnacle of capitalist success and would do everything to bask in the American sun. But the much-trumpeted great American dream is now fast turning sour. Just a couple of days before Pranab Mukherjee signed the deal, almost every newspaper in India carried the shocking story of an MBA degree-holder from India killing his entire family as well as himself as all his fortunes collapsed in the ongoing financial meltdown. The nuke deal and Indo-US strategic partnership is not a passport to US-sponsored prosperity and power, it is an invitation to greater crisis and vulnerability to US blackmailing and arm-twisting. All right-thinking Indians must reject this sordid comprador capitulation with the contempt it deserves.

Politics in India

Campaign against Communalism and Terrorism:

Beyond the National Integration Council (NIC) Deliberations

- Liberation, November, 2008.

Orissa Pogrom

Fact-Finding Report on Kandhamal Situation

- Liberation, November, 2008.

A Communist Party of India [CPI (ML)] fact-finding team visited Orissa’s Kandhamal District on 15-16 October, 2008. The team visited affected villages and relief camps, after facing interrogation by the Orissa Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The team also met District Magistrate (DM) and various police officials of Kandhamal district. Below is a report by team member J P Minz.

1. The District Magistrate’s (DM) Statement: The DM told us that Kandhamal had been peaceful for the preceding ten days. Whereas there used to be fifteen relief camps, now only seven were operational, having 12,641 people. According to him, breakfast, meals, supplementary food meant for children, and iron and calcium tablets for pregnant women are available in these camps; a doctor is available round the clock; books are available for children and there are regular reading sessions. Blankets, sarees, buckets and mugs and similar essentials have also been provided.

2. Conditions at the Relief Camps: Our team visited Phulbani, Tikabali, Ji Udaygiri and Rakiya relief camps and found that the inmates of the camp are living in extremely bad conditions. In the name of breakfast they get only fifty grams of chura (beaten rice) and rice-dal for meals, which is not enough to satisfy the needs of hunger and nutrition. In the name of supplementary food, the children are occasionally given biscuits. Bathing soaps have been distributed just once in the camps. The doctors do visit but patients are told that there is no medicine. There is no arrangement for pregnant women. The camp inmates sleep on plastic mats on the ground. They have to defecate in the open, which apart from being unhygienic also puts them in danger. One inmate of Ji Udaygiri camp, we were told, was killed when he had gone to defecate.

3. Role of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal: The victims in all the relief camps unanimously told the fact finding team that it is the VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres who have sowed the seeds of communal division in the villages. They used to organize meetings of the Kandha tribals and incite them to attack the Christian hamlets and also provided funds for doing this.

4. Role of the Police and Administration: The anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal started on the day of the bandh called by VHP after the murder of Swami Lakshmananad, and these riots continued for over a month. In the communal fire two hundred Christian villages and 127 Church and prayer halls were either destroyed or burnt. Apart from this, schools, hospitals, hostels and convents also have been damaged. The incidents of killings, rape and loot also were carried out in addition to former incidents. The shocking fact is that all these incidents took place in full view of police and the police remained mute spectators. The official figure for deaths has been reported to be 31, however, a senior government official on the condition of anonymity informed that he himself consigned two hundred dead bodies – found from the jungle – to flames after getting them collected in a tractor. As per his estimates based on the intensity and pace of killings the number of those killed is over five hundred.

5. Atmosphere of Terror: The Christians continue to experience great terror. The Sangh outfits are campaigning for sending back the CRPF and the Nikhil Utkal Kui community is threatening to launch an armed movement. Riot-victims are frightened to go back to their villages because they have been threatened that if they return they will be hacked into pieces. The rioters are also proclaiming that only Hindu converts will be allowed to return. On the other hand, those in charge of the relief camps are pressurizing the riot victims to return to their villages saying that the life has returned to normalcy and peace has returned.

Conclusions:

1. This violence was a pre-planned anti-Christian communal assault, and in no way was it a ‘clash’ between adivasi (tribals) and dalits.

2. This violence which had full support from the Biju Janta Dal Government was planned and executed by VHP and Bajrang Dal.

3. The Sangh’s propaganda about ‘indiscriminate religious conversion’ is a far cry from facts, as the Christian population of Orissa is only 2.5 per cent of the total population. It is to be noted that Christian missionaries began working in Orissa 150 years back.

4. Dalits have far less proportion of land in comparison to the Kandha tribals. In Kandhamal 90 per cent land is government land, 5.5 percent belongs to tribals and rest 4.5 per cent belongs to Dalits, OBC and Oriya (businessmen). There is not much difference in the economic conditions of the tribals and the dalits. The dalits are very slightly better off as they engage in small businesses.

Our Demands:

1. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal (BD) should be banned.

2. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik responsible for the violence should tender his resignation immediately

3. The accused for the riots be immediately arrested.

4. The Orissa Govt. must reconstruct all houses, churches, schools, hostels, hospitals and other social-religious structures demolished during the violence and for other damages adequate compensation be granted after a proper survey

5. The relief camps be run for another six months and proper civic arrangements for food, medicine and sanitation be made in these camps.

6. Arrangements be made for registering First Information Reports (FIRs) related to the communal violence at all police stations.

7. Peace process be initiated and guarantees be made for reopening and running of schools, hospitals and other institutes run by the Christian missionaries.

Orissa Pogrom

United Protests: South Orissa Bandh by CPI (ML) and Other Parties

- Liberation, November, 2008.

On 13th October CPI (ML) Liberation along with four other parties – CPI (ML) New Democracy (ND), Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) [CPI (ML)], Socialist Unity Center of India (SUCI) and Samajwadi Jan Parishad held a successful bandh in five districts of South Orissa – Kandhamal, Rayagada, Gajapati, Koraput and Ganjam – against the carnage in Kandhamal, the complicity of the Navin Patnaik Government and the criminal inaction of the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre. The bandh was total in the five districts and marked by the spontaneous participation of people. Around 10, 000 people actively participated in Liberation’s initiatives to make the bandh a success in Rayagada; 1200 in Gajapati.

Holding that the ruling BJD as well as Congress which is in power at the Centre too have blood on their hands because of their hands-off approach towards the Sangh Parivar mobs, the CPI (ML) had declined to join a joint protest announced by Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Congress party in the state.

In Bhubaneswar, trains were stopped and the National Highway blocked by 200 Liberation activists. Comrade Tirupati Gomango held a rally of around 8000 people at Gunupur. The bandh sent out a stern political message rejecting the communal violence against thousands of Christians by the Sangh outfits and condemning the forces in power which are allowing the violence to take place unhindered.

CPI (ML) Liberation’s Nation Wide Protests

On October 3, CPI (ML) held nation-wide protests demanding prosecution of Chief Ministers of Orissa and Karnataka for allowing saffron mobs to indulge in an anti-Christian pogrom; demanding a ban on the Sangh outfits guilty of communal violence and protesting against the UPA Government’s refusal to take stern action against the communal killers. A memorandum to the President of India was submitted from all over the country. The memorandum, raising all the above issues and demands, also noted that the Sangh’s accusations of ‘forced conversion’ was actually serving to cover up their own acts of forcing adivasis and Christians to convert to Hinduism. Conversion from Hinduism has largely been an act of rebellion by the oppressed castes against the caste-ridden Hindu fold, noted the memo, and “the current wave of violence is therefore also an attempt to terrorise the Dalits and other oppressed social groups for their rebellion – and is therefore a continuation of social oppression in another form.” The acts of humiliation of Christians that have come to light – raping, parading naked, and forcing to eat excreta as ‘purification’ ritual – are all reminiscent of the atrocities against Dalits.

The party also noted the increasing incidents of communal violence in Dhule (Maharashtra) and Adilabad (Andhra Pradesh), in which the minority community bore the brunt of the attacks. Also, it condemned the Tarun Gogoi Government for allowing the Bodo-Muslim clashes to take place, which had resulted in thousands of people being driven into refugee camps.

In Delhi, activists of CPI (ML) gathered at Parliament Street and burnt an effigy of Navin Patnaik and Yeddyurappa, and submitted a memorandum to the President.

In Karnataka, another major centre of the ongoing communal violence, protest demonstrations were held in various places in the state, and the memorandum to the President was sent through the tahsildars in the taluks. More than hundred people protested in front of taluk office at Harapanahalli. The demo evoked much expectation in the town as a church near Harapanahalli was also attacked sometime back. Our comrades had helped in getting bail for the Christian priests, on whom false cases had been foisted in addition to the attack on their church. The demo at Gangavati was also impressive and demonstrators shouted slogans against BJP that is coming out with its true colours after assuming power in the state. The demo at HD Kote near Mysore protestors included construction labourers and All India Central Coordination of Trade Unions (AICCTU) activists.

In Jharkhand, hundreds of people marched in the capital of Ranchi. The March against Communalism, in the Sainik Bazaar campus, was led by CPI (ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar. The March culminated in a mass meeting at Albert Ekka Chowk, addressed by many leaders. Protest processions, effigy burning, dharnas and mass meetings were also held at various district headquarters (HQs) in Jharkhand; Bihar; Assam and Karbi Anglong; UP; W. Bengal, Tamilnadu, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Durg.

All India Progressive Womens Association (AIPWA) between 10-14 October, held protests and submitted a memorandum to the President of India demanding ban on the Sangh outfits Bajrang Dal and VHP responsible for assaults on Christians, and a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the rape of a nun in Orissa.

Politics in India

Students Revolt in Bihar Against Inaction on MNS-Shiv Sena Goons

- ML Update, 28 October – 03 November 2008.

Bihar Bandh called by All India Students’ Association (AISA) is a Success

The scale and level of students’ anger and outburst against attack on North Indians in Mumbai and Maharashtra was historic on the day of Bihar Bandh called by All India Students’ Association. The whole State machinery was out to stop the agitating students from expressing their anger and shock at the state of inaction by Maharashtra and Central UPA governments, but the students and youth, despite severe police crackdown on bandh and protests on 25th October overcame all suppression and made the bandh a success. The news agencies and media houses under instruction from Bihar Government tried to play down the news, however the scale of the actions on the streets were just too intense to be suppressed.

The non Maharashtrian students who had gone to Mumbai for appearing in an examination conducted by the Railways were brutally and severely attacked on Sunday 19 October by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) goons and were forced to return from Mumbai. The students from Bihar upon their arrival at Patna Junction Station next day and learning the tragic death of Pawan (examinee from Nalanda) virtually seized the Patna Railway Station and even firing in air by the police did not stop them. The Station was literally in the hands of the agitating students. The students wanted Bihar’s chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad both to come to the Patna Station and meet them. The students’ heightened anger was not just due to attacks only on them, but the fact that prior to the examination they had requested Mr. Lalu Prasad to change the centre and venue of the examinations from Mumbai citing the recent attacks on people and students from Bihar and other north Indian states. This request of theirs had fallen on deaf ears of CM and Railway Minister and students’ apprehension turned into reality. When the students had gone to Mr. Lalu Prasad prior to the examination for change in venue, he did not meet them and the reports of the same were carried in the news papers prior to the incident of attacks. The students gradually spilled over on the streets and vented their anger by smashing glass-panes of vehicles and breaking anything coming their way. The students in other districts of Bihar took similar action.

To orient the struggle towards the just demand of trying Raj Thackeray for murder and sedition and putting a ban on MNS and Shiv Sena, the AISA called for a meeting of all students’ organizations at Patna University on 21st October which was attended by State leadership of the student wings of the ruling Jananta Dal (United) [JD (U)], as well as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and National Student’s Union of India (NSUI), and also the student wing of Sharad Pawar’s National Congress Party (NCP); in fact most student organizations except Akhil Bhartiya Vidhayarthi Parishad (ABVP) which was not invited for the all party meet. At the meeting the joint decisions of all the student organizations was to call for arresting and prosecuting Raj Thackeray on charges of murder and sedition, calling on the forty members of parliament (MPs) from Bihar to initiate immediate action in Parliament to demand that the UPA Government rein in the MNS and Shiv Sena or else resign. It was decided to hold a protest march on the following day (22nd October) to voice their urgent demands, followed by Students’ Assembly

On 22nd morning, however, due to news of police firing on agitating students at Sasaram the AISA leadership of Bihar felt that Students’ Assembly was not enough in voicing the urge for urgent action for justice and decided to call for a Bihar bandh and it was accordingly communicated to all the students’ organizations that attended the meeting. AISA also asked the organizations to declare the bandh call from the podium during the protest meeting and on the following day all the newspapers carried it. Later while a press conference of the student organizations was on, an all-party meet called by Bihar CM Mr. Nitish Kumar was also going on that was boycotted by the CPI (ML). The meeting was not called so much as to discuss the growing attacks on the north Indians and people from Bihar, rather the agenda of the meeting was the situation in Bihar after the attacks – clearly indicating the Government’s mood to suppress the students and youth protests. While parties like JD (U), RJD, LJP and Congress were just paying lip service to the whole situation and then we saw a coming together of all arch rivals while meeting the Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh only to tell him that they have kept the angry youth under control and unless the UPA acts against MNS and Maharashtra Govt. the student-youth anger may become difficult to control.

Along with AISA, however, the students’ organizations of all these ruling parties (except ABVP) had declared the support for Bihar bandh on 25th October. The same evening as the all-Party meet ended and they came to know of their students’ wing’s declaration, the parties pressurized their students’ organization to pull out from the bandh. The Chhatra-RJD, was the first to pressure its members to stay away. Many of these ruling parties’ students’ organizations published their declaration of pulling out from the bandh and by 24th morning it was clear that no students’ organization was with bandh except AISA and Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) which also declared full support for the bandh. At this development the Patna University unit of almost all the organizations (except ABVP) terming this pull-out a betrayal of the student community, declared their intention to defy their State leadership and go with AISA to support the bandh, and eventually they did rebel (including the ruling Party’s Chattra–JD (U)) and implemented the bandh call in Patna on 25th October. The bourgeois parties could not suppress their students urge for justice as promised to the PM. There are also confirmed reports of students from organizations of ruling parties defying their Party’s order and coming out in full support of the Bandh. At some places even some sections of ABVP ranks defied their organisation’s order and supported the bandh. This trend is reflective of the spirit of unity among common students against criminal and corrupt politics of all mainstream parties.

The bandh was hugely successful in Patna and several districts of Bihar incuding Ara, Buxar, Arwal, Jehanabad, Gaya, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Siwan, Jamui, Lakhisarai, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Sasaram, Sheikhpura, Narkatiagunj, Samastipur etc. The AISA and rebel students from other organizations stopped trains and road traffic at several places in Bihar. The effigies of MNS president Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray were burnt at various places despite security forces trying to stop them. At some places even the effigy of railway minister Mr. Lalu Prasad was also burnt. The students everywhere demanded that both these leaders be booked for murder and sedition. ”If Union Ministers from Bihar fail to ensure the institution of cases against both the Thackerays under IPC sections relating to offences of murder and sedition, we would move ahead to intensify the agitation for their en masse resignation,” warned Abhyuday, State Secretary of AISA. Abhyuday also took exception to the silence of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Union Steel and Fertilisers Minister Ramvilas Paswan on the issue of taking constitutional action against the Vilasrao Deshmukh government for its failure in ensuring safety and security of Biharis in Maharashtra.

Two thousand students throughout the State were arrested. Police lathicharged the agitating students in several districts and the irony above all is that those now in jails were threatened by the police to be charged with sedition. There are hundreds of students and youth still in jails. The outburst of the student has been massive and entire police and administrative setup simply could not contain the protesting students except lathicharging and threatening to book them with sedition. Also, what was seen is the students’ unity as against the unity of all the ruling parties in suppressing the anger and urge for immediate action for justice to the families of Pawan and the other student who eventually lost their life at the hands of MNS goons, mute spectator Maharashtra government and an insensitive Lalu Prasad who did not heed to students’ requests for changing the venue of examinations.

Meanwhile, another incident of another cold blooded murder has taken place in Mumbai in which one youth Rahul Raj from Patna was shot dead in a so-called ‘encounter’ by the Maharashtra Police led by the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) of Mumbai. His dead body is being brought to Bihar on 29th October. After the bandh, CPI (ML) General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya and AISA State leaders visited Pawan’s family in Nalanda to share their grief and assure the family of justice for Pawan. It came out that Pawan’s father was an employee and a trade union activist in Maharashtra’s textile mills before being thrown out of the job in 90’s. A son is killed in the State where his father toiled in mills to bring prosperity to that state. Couple of days before the Bihar bandh a day long Nalanda bandh was also called by AISA and RYA to protest Pawan’s death. Nalanda happens to be home constituency of Bihar CM Mr. Nitish Kumar. He was also slated to hold some kind of meeting in Nalanda, however, the enraged students uprooted all the arrangements being made for his meeting and the bandh was a huge success in Nalanda.

South Asia

Stop the War!

The Tamil National Question in Sri Lanka Demands a Political Solution!

[Text of CPI (ML) Central Committee Statement on developments in Sri Lanka.]

The Sri Lankan government’s ongoing military campaign to corner and crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) has led to a terrible humanitarian crisis in the country. Reports emanating from the island indicate that the Sri Lankan state is on the verge of wresting military control over large parts of LTTE territory including the administrative headquarters in Killinochi. While the number of people killed so far in the crossfire between the advancing Sri Lankan armed forces is anybody’s guess, some 500,000 people are estimated to have been displaced and rendered homeless in their own land. With the Sri Lankan government not allowing any relief to reach the people in refugee camps, international humanitarian organisations have been forced to leave the battle zones and recently even UN food convoys have had to return, leaving a vast population in the battle zones on the brink of starvation.

Over the last two years the military balance has steadily tilted against the LTTE. Following the collapse of peace talks and withdrawal of Norway from the peace process, the Mahinda Rajapaksha government seized the opportunity to go for an all-out fight to the finish. In the post 9/11 international situation, the LTTE has already suffered considerable international isolation with the entire Western and developed world declaring it a banned terrorist organisation. The December 2004 tsunami had also delivered a crucial blow to the economy and general life in the LTTE areas. The magnitude of the disaster was compounded manifold with the forces of Sinhala chauvinism disrupting the relief and resettlement plans drawn up under the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). A split in LTTE following the desertion of the organisation’s eastern commander Colonel Karuna must have also prompted Colombo’s decision to push for a final military solution.

Even as the Sri Lankan armed forces intensify the war on LTTE, and the death toll keeps mounting, President Mahinda Rajapaksha waxed eloquent in the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in September 2008 on the goals of peace, resettlement and development. Quoting Isaac Newton, he lamented that the world was building too many walls and not enough bridges! He would like the world to believe that his government was employing military means only against those who were engaged in armed struggle. If it were really so, why has his government forced international relief organisations and humanitarian agencies from the battle zones?

The Sri Lankan government must understand that there can be no military solution to the Tamil national question. Even if the LTTE is militarily defeated, the national question will continue to haunt Sri Lanka. It must also understand that its attempt to impose Sinhala chauvinism as the exclusive Sri Lankan identity is doomed to fail. It is a political problem which modern Sri Lanka inherited from the British colonial days, and can only be resolved politically. Following the 1983 pogrom in which Sinhala chauvinists had killed thousands of Tamils, the LTTE had emerged as the predominant representative of Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka. In spite of its overwhelming emphasis on armed struggle and the demand for a separate Tamil Eelam, in the course of the peace talks the LTTE had agreed to the notion of ‘internal’ self-determination of Tamils within the framework of a federal Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government must resume this process and stop the war on Sri Lankan Tamils.

The Government of India must take urgent bilateral and multilateral initiative to stop the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka, bring about an immediate cease-fire and ensure relief and rehabilitation measures for the displaced Tamil people in the battle zones. In recent times several Indian fishermen have also been killed by the Sri Lankan naval forces. India has lacked a consistent policy regarding Sri Lanka – initially India was believed to be patronising LTTE while later the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) got embroiled in a disastrous war with the LTTE itself. Many political forces in Sri Lanka, both among Sinhala and Tamil circles, found the Indian intervention in the 1980s objectionable and smacking of regional hegemonic ambitions of the Indian ruling classes. Since then and especially following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, India has failed to evolve any effective diplomatic response to the civil war in Sri Lanka. The current phase of the war in Sri Lanka does call for an urgent and appropriate Indian response to bring about an immediate cessation of the war and facilitate a negotiated political settlement of the question of Tamil self-determination in Sri Lanka.

South Asia

Fighting Caste Oppression and Untouchability: A Sri Lankan Experience

- S. Sivasegaram.

The system of caste persists as an integral part of Hindu society. Colonial rulers let it be and where useful encouraged it. Modernisation made an impact, but did not eliminate it. Although the Hindu Varna system is the reference point for its justification, caste structure and hierarchy vary from region to region. In Sri Lanka, caste is an integral aspect of Sinhala and Tamil societies, and matters in social interactions. Even the Muslims, with claims to a distinct ethnic identity, are tainted by caste, but to a less degree. Untouchability was strictly practiced among the Tamils of the North and less strictly in the East. The Hill Country Tamils of Indian origin are mostly from depressed caste groups and despite caste differences open discrimination has been less prevalent than in the North and East.

This article is on the struggle against caste oppression in the North, the Jaffna peninsula mainly, where discrimination and oppression had been strong from pre-colonial times. The caste system in Sri Lanka differs from that in India in some ways. While the Brahminist ideology holds, the Brahmins play no serious role in caste society; and there are no Kshatriya or Vysya caste groups. Thus, unlike in South India, the caste at the peak of the caste hierarchy is the Vellala (cultivator) caste among Tamils and the Govigama, its equivalent, among Sinhalese. The Vellala are around 40% of the population of the Jaffna peninsula. The depressed caste groups deemed as ‘untouchables’ form around 30%. The rest belong to middle level caste groups bound by the caste hierarchy.

Although colonial intervention did not dent the caste system, early in the 20th Century missionary schools allowed access to modern education to a few members of the oppressed castes. But the depressed communities remained backward since even primary education was denied to their vast majority. Protests against caste oppression and demands for the right to education and better living conditions started in the early 20th Century with the formation of workers’ associations and campaigns for equal treatment. Notably, the Jaffna Youth Congress, a progressive group formed in 1920 and inspired by the Indian independence movement, was supportive of struggles against discrimination.

Social reforms, including the introduction of free education, in the run up to independence from colonial rule in 1948 failed to meet the needs of the depressed castes, especially in the North, since the Vellala elite dominated the social institutions. The initiation of the left movement in Jaffna in 1937 and the founding of the Communist Party there in 1945 gave fresh impetus to struggles against caste oppression. The Minority Tamils Association founded in 1943 that organisationally united the depressed castes was a reformist outfit controlled by moderates. Efforts by communists to make the Association take a more militant stand were frustrated by the moderates. Thus, despite some degree of success of various campaigns, the oppressive caste system and the practice of untouchability remained intact.

The coalition government led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) that came to power in 1956, despite aggravating the national question by making Sinhala the sole official language, introduced significant social reforms. The election in 1956 of P. Kandiah, the only Tamil communist to be elected MP, helped the oppressed castes of the North in a number of issues. He was instrumental in the passage of the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act in 1957 that made it punishable to deny anyone access to public places by reason of caste. The nationalisation of the schools in 1960 by the SLFP government elected that year loosened the grip of the Vellala elite on schools which were earlier under their control. Yet collaboration of the state machinery with the Vellala elite let the law turn a blind eye to continuing acts of systematic oppression, exploitation and humiliation based on caste.

Social disabilities suffered collectively by the depressed by caste persisted. The Communist Party (CP) successfully led local struggles against oppression in some issues. The reactionary feudal elite resented it and directed thugs to attack communists and militant members of the oppressed community. In response, some leaders of the depressed community prescribed conversion to Buddhism, a move rejected by the CP, failed to win popular support.

The return to power of the United National Party in 1965 in alliance with the Tamil nationalist Federal Party and the Tamil Congress emboldened the upper caste elite to uphold casteism. Earlier pledges to open public wells, eating places and temples to all irrespective of caste were breached, the affected communities had no choice but launch a militant struggle.

The split in the CP in 1964 led to opposed approaches to caste oppression. While the revisionists retreated to a passive approach, the Marxist Leninists took the initiative to launch a mass demonstration against untouchability on 21st October 1967 against a background of oppression by the reactionary elite backed by the police. The demonstration with a sizeable participation by members of the ‘uppers castes’ was brutally attacked by the police. The Marxist Leninists broadened the campaign to mobilise the masses and lead them under the banner of the Mass Movement to Eliminate Untouchability, an organisation to fight caste oppression that, unlike earlier caste-based organisations, was open to all progressive people.

Mass mobilisation and militant campaigns were launched to win access to public places and facilities that were denied to depressed communities. Expectedly, the reactionary elite took to criminal violence in the form of arson, murder and assault. And for the first time in the history of the island, oppressed masses resorted to armed action against the combined forces of reaction and the state apparatus. Not only the elitist Tamil nationalist parliamentary leaders but also the revisionists denounced the armed action. But support grew even among the ‘upper’ castes, for the campaign which also gained rising sympathy and support from a wide section of progressive forces across the country, including other nationalities.

Attempts by the upper caste elite to keep the oppressed castes outside public places, especially temples, and to continue with blatant discriminatory practices such as the denial of access to public wells, crematoria etc. were soundly defeated by the campaign that continued into the 1970s. The SLFP-led alliance that came to power consequently amended the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act of 1957 to make it more effective.

The success of the struggle meant that the socio-economic basis for caste oppression and open discrimination and humiliation by caste has been destroyed, and that is no mean achievement. What is particularly important is that a struggle against oppression of a section of a community enjoyed the support of a sizeable section of the community associated with oppression. Thus it has lessons for struggles against other forms of oppression in Sri Lanka and elsewhere on matters of the united front strategy, political mobilisation of the masses, and focussed application of armed action in a way that isolates the main enemy.

This does not mean that caste prejudices and discrimination are over. They are strong among the Tamil Diaspora and exist even in regions under the control of the LTTE. The campaign therefore needs to go on undeterred, not as armed conflict but as social and political activities to isolate the reactionaries defending casteism. The Dalitists who preach caste hatred have no answers nor do the Tamil nationalists. The initiative is still with the Marxist Leninists.

The struggle also has useful messages for those misled by Dalitist movements as well as for the left in India, the most important of which is that there can be no separation between class struggle and struggle against any form of social oppression, and it is harmful to seek such separation.

South Asian Diaspora

Thank Ye for Thy Baton Comrade Shukla

- Soumitra Bose.

Comrade IKS, or Professor Indra Kumar Shukla, passed away on September 17th at 3:00PM PST on a hospital near Long Island, Los Angeles after an innings he started on the 26th of May 1928. A long innings of 80 steeled him as a national compatriot of the Indian proletariat and a true internationalist.

Professor Shukla a scholar of Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Bangla and a professor of English in Allahabad University was a symbol of English writings in protest journalism. He grew younger with every passing year in his life. A never failing activist, a highly erudite intellectual, a compassionate comrade and a life long fighter for the cause of the people and the proletariat, Professor Shukla was an ardent supporter of CPI (ML) and the naxalbari movement. He raised his sole voice of protest against the repression of the peasants in Nandigram and Singur and in all recent repressions in India, Prof. Shukla’s pen never ceased to roar. He was a keen observer of CPI (ML)’s activities and still had his reservations against Stalin and even some of the communist big wigs. He however was very steadfast in supporting Comrade Charu Mazumdar. Prof Shukla followed from abroad very keenly the proceedings of the 8th Party Congress of CPIML-Liberation. He wrote in many left Indian journals and sent his comments against every kind of repression in the ever amazing linguistic style that he always had.

He chose to live among the workers of Long Island near Los Angeles and always shared his life with those inner city dwellings where normal Indian compatriots would never dare. He stuck himself there, raised his family and grand parents and involved them in workers’ struggles. A relentless fighter against every kind of obscurantism, racism, communalism and for rational thought he dedicated his 80 years of struggling life for the cause of Indian and world revolution.

We honor and respect with every fiber of our consciousness the duty and responsibility handed down by Comrade Shukla to us on the international basis! We learnt from him how to make the whole world his country and abode and how to belong to the people of the world! Prof Shukla lives on as he would ever in our works, in our struggles and in our consciousness toward the common objective of all the people of the world – A world for the workers and toilers!

September-October 2008

Table of Contents

1) Bihar Floods: Criminal Negligence, Not Divine Deluge

2) Bihar Floods: Relief Fund

3) Petition on Bihar Floods

4) Sangh Parivar Sets Orissa on Fire Again

5) Onslaught on Adivasis’ Land and Livelihood in Navin’s Orissa

6) CPI (ML) Condemns Crackdown on Protestors in Kashmir

7) Jammu and Kashmir: Urgent Need to Discard the Distorting Lens of Chauvinism

8) Jail Bharo (Fill the Jails) on August 20th, 2008

9) Mukhamukam ( Face to Face) with People’s Health in Caracas, Venezuela

10) AICCTU’s Seventh National Conference at Chennai

11) Greetings to Comrade Prachanda on Becoming Prime Minister of Nepal

12) Guest Workers in Australia: Are they Modern Day Slaves?

Politics in India

Bihar Floods: Criminal Negligence, Not Divine Deluge

- ML Update, 2-8 September, 2008.

The Nitish Kumar regime’s boasts of ‘Bihar Shining’ are now submerged by the cries of Bihar Drowning. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s claims of ‘good governance’ have proved a washout in the face of the floods, and now the Chief Minister is trying to paint the floods as a ‘natural’ calamity or divine ‘Deluge’ (‘Pralay’). Nothing could be further from the truth. The flood devastation was highly preventable – and is a direct result of callous negligence of basic flood-prevention strategies by Governments both at Patna and Delhi. Despite the fact that every year breaches in embankments cause floods in the State, maintenance and repair of embankments were rampantly neglected. It took the Bihar Chief Minister two weeks after the first breach appeared in the Kosi embankment to begin the most primary initiatives for evacuation, rescue and relief. As the Kosi changed its course and flood waters covered entire villages, affecting over 25 lakh (250, 000) people in nearly 12 districts of the State, the desperate pleas for help were ignored by the State Government. Even today – in all the flood-affected areas, there is an acute shortage of rescue motorboats and boats, as well as food, drinking water, polythene sheets and other emergency essentials. At the Centre too, the Prime Minister apparently woke up late to the magnitude of the calamity. And United Progressive Alliance (UPA) leader and Rail Minister Laloo Yadav (whose home constituency Madhepura is one of the worst-affected areas) has been fiddling as the floods swallow Bihar. His gesture of donating his ‘earnings’ at a TV reality show Paanchvi Pass mocks at the misery of the flood-affected people. Of course, that’s nothing new. When Laloo Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ruled Bihar, he is the one who made the remark (worthy of Marie Antoinette) that floods are good for the poor because that’s when fish from the ponds of the rich swim into the homes of the poor.

In the mirror of the Bihar’s flood waters every year, the rot in Bihar’s polity and society can be seen starkly: its nexus of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, and middlemen for whom the floods are a bonanza; criminalised goons governing and monopolising the structures of rescue and relief; and state repression on protesting people. Even last year, there were instances of police firing on protesting flood victims. A few years back, Time Magazine had lionised a young Bihar District Magistrate Gautam Goswami for his sterling work in flood relief – later it came out that he, along with thugs backed by ruling politicians, had siphoned off crores of funds meant for flood victims. This year too – the same story is unfolding. Recent reports in papers indicate that thugs are cornering rescue boats for themselves and are snatching and hoarding relief materials.

In the same mirror, we can also see clearly the sordid reality behind the Central Government’s boasts of ‘9% growth’, of India being a ‘rising Asian superpower’, and 61 years of planning and development in independent India. Chronic hunger and starvation in India, we know, is not due to ‘natural’ drought and famine but due to deliberate institutional callousness and skewed priorities. The same is the case with floods too – plans for flood control on the Kosi river have been shelved and sidelined year after year for half a century. In 1951, the people of eastern Bihar had faced the fury of the Kosi’s floods – and as a result, comprehensive plans had been chalked out to tame the floods. In keeping with these plans, a treaty was signed with Nepal in 1954 and the foundation laid for the Kosi Barrage in 1959. But subsequently the other dimensions of the Kosi Project were forgotten and neglected by successive Governments at Bihar and the Centre. Under the bilateral agreement with Nepal in 1954, maintenance and repair of embankments on the Kosi were the Bihar government’s responsibility. Today, in order to explain away its neglect of that responsibility, Governments of India and Bihar are seeking to shift blame for the floods onto Nepal.

Hurricane Katrina exposed the underbelly of the superpower USA – the mightiest Army in the world failed to protect its people; racist callousness of the Government towards the (largely Black) poor of Louisiana was on display; and the myth of corporate ‘efficiency’ was exploded. In contrast, Cuba (David to the US’ Goliath) did a far more creditable job of protecting its people when the same hurricane hit its shores. The episode proved that in dealing with such crises, it is the priorities of nations and administrations that are more decisive that actual affluence or wealth. It is concern for and participation of common people which is actually effective and ‘efficient’, while corporatized governance displays efficiency only in greed and loot. The floods in Bihar prove the same.

As the people of Bihar battle the floods, the first priority must of course be rescue, relief and humanitarian helping hands. But our concern also demands that we take Governments at Patna and Delhi to task for their apathy and negligence, so that the yearly recurrence of the tragedy can be prevented. Activists of our party and mass organisations in the affected districts of Bihar are at the forefront of rescue and relief activities. Apart from rescue, relief and rehabilitation as well as compensation for the flood-affected, we are also demanding that a time-bound judicial enquiry be set up to investigate the many instances of negligence by Governments in the matter of flood-control.

Appeal for Relief Funds

Bihar Floods

Dear Friends,

Some 12 districts of Bihar – Muzaffarapur, Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura, Katihar, Araria, West Champaran, Khagaria, Sitamarhi, Patna and Nalanda are reeling under the worst flooding of the Kosi in the last half century. Millions are affected and many lives lost.

The Bihar Government launched rescue and relief operations a full week after the first breach in the Kosi embankment – and even today, affected people remain stranded due to an acute shortage of rescue boats, and starved of basic emergency necessities like food, polythene sheets, medicine and medical care. Activists of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation [CPI (ML)] and the All India Agricultural Labourers Association (AIALA) on the ground, particularly in some of the worst-affected areas of Supaul, Araria and Madhepura, as well as in all other affected districts in Bihar, are at the forefront of organising rescue and relief operations. They are organising volunteers, and are guiding Government agencies and getting them to heed the voices and needs of the affected.

Contributions are urgently called for, ideally in the form of cash to procure food, polythene sheets and medicine. We are conducting a nationwide campaign for flood relief in Bihar. We appeal to you to make your contributions by cheque/draft in favour of “CPIML”. Also indicate that the donation is for “Bihar Flood Relief”.

Please mail your donations to:

U-90, Shakarpur

Delhi 110 092, India.

It is also important that we realise that the present tragedy, as well as the yearly devastation of floods in Bihar, are not a divinely decreed ‘Deluge,’ as Bihar’s ruling political class has tended to declare. It is a man-made tragedy, caused by callous negligence in basics like maintenance and repair of embankments, and also in the failure of successive Governments in Bihar and Delhi to implement comprehensive plans for flood-management. These Governments must indeed answer why the flood-management plans made for the Kosi river right since India’s independence and even discussed on the floor of Parliament, are yet to be implemented 61 years later – when rural poor are forced to bear the cruel brunt of this neglect year after year.

Petition on Bihar Floods

Politics in India

Sangh Parivar Sets Orissa on Fire Again

- ML Update, 26 August – 1 September, 2008.

The burning alive of Graham Staines and his little sons is being relived in Orissa again – with an orphanage being set on fire and a Christian woman being burnt alive by Sangh Parivar brigades. The ostensible pretext for this fresh reign of terror is the recent murder of 5 VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) leaders recently, including Swami Lakhanananda who had led a terror campaign against Christians – torching their homes and establishments and chasing entire villages out – in December 2007. More than 3000 people were forced to flee to refugee camps – and most of them remain there even today.

It was clear too all observers that the murder of the VHP leaders would be seen as a Godhra-like golden opportunity for the Sangh Parivar to revive communal violence against the Christian community. In spite of this, the BJD (Biju Janata Dal) – BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) Government did nothing to protect the poor Christians of Kandhamal, and to preventively arrest the makers of communal mayhem. The Navin Patnaik’s Government is guilty of tacitly allowing the saffron goons to wreak communal terror – and therefore has no moral authority to continue in Government.

In fact, the failure and refusal of the BJD-BJP Government to arrest and prosecute Swami Lakhanananda and his cohorts after the violence in December 2007, and its failure to ensure safe return for the Christian villagers who had been chased out, had given the message that communal killers enjoyed impunity in Orissa and the government would turn a blind eye to ethnic cleansing. It is this situation that was responsible for the killings of the VHP leaders. Instead of facing up to facts, the Navin Government is raising the ‘Maoist’ bogey while the VHP is baselessly blaming and targeting the entire Christian community. We can recall the Navin Government had tried to blame the December 2007 communal violence, too, on ‘Maoists’!

The Sangh Parivar is doing its best to turn Orissa into another laboratory for Hindu majoritarian fascism, even as the ruling class parties share a consensus on robbing Orissa’s people of their mineral and environmental wealth and land for corporate greed. Police firing and lathis on poor tribals protecting their land is routine – while communal forces can indulge in murder and mayhem with impunity. Democratic and secular forces in Orissa must unite to demand stern action against all those guilty of violence against the Christian community.

Struggles in India

Onslaught on Adivasis’ Land and Livelihood in Navin’s Orissa

- D P Buxi, Liberation, September, 2008.

Recently, the Supreme Court gave a ‘green signal’ to the Multi-National Corporation (MNC) Vedanta (a subsidiary of Sterlite industries (India) Ltd. owned by non-resident Indian (NRI) Anil Agarwal) to launch bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills, where the adivasi (tribal) population has been resisting eviction from their forest land and livelihood. It is another matter that the Supreme Court is not authorized to give such a green signal, since it would blatantly violate the Forest Rights Act – which protects the rights of Dongaria Kondh adivasi people of Niyamgiri – forest-dwelling tribal peoples – to the forest land and resources on which their lives depend.

After the massacre of adivasis at Kalinganager to oblige Tata; the bloody clash with “would-be” evicted farmers to make way for Korean major Pohang Iron and Steel Company’s (POSCO) steel plant-cum-port near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur, a potential confrontation is building up with the adivasis of Niyamgiri hills in the region bordering Kalahandi-Rayagada district, where the Navin Patnaik Government of Orissa has decided to allow bauxite mining to ensure supplies for a big alumina refinery of Vedanta in Lanjigada.

An agreement had been signed between the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) Limited, a Government of Orissa undertaking and Vedanta on 5 October 2004. As per the agreement, a joint venture company (JVC) would be launched as a private limited company with 26% share holding with OMC and the rest 74% with Vedanta. The shares would be allotted to OMC without any payment in consideration of the services rendered by it for operating the mines. The 6 directors of the JVC would comprise of two representatives from OMC and the rest four from Vedanta. The chairman and MD would be chosen from Vedanta nominees. OMC as part of JVM would mine three million tons of bauxite annually from the Niyamgiri hills for Vedanta for which Vedanta would pay OMC. In turn OMC would assist the JVC in obtaining required approvals from different government agencies.

723.343 hectares in Lanjigada for the alumina refinery and 721.323 hectares for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills is required. Of these lands, 58.943 and 672.018 hectares respectively are forest lands; the remaining government revenue land and private land also contain thick forests and eligible for classification as ‘forest’ as per the Supreme Court order dated 12/12/96.

Manipulations of Vedanta

a) Vedanta deliberately concealed the involvement of the forest land in the alumina refinery project despite the fact the acquisition notice dated 6-6-02 issued DC Kalahandi clearly mentioned the inclusion of 118 acres of forest land for the project.

b) To escape the Forest Conservation (FC) Act guidelines the project had been split into alumina refinery and bauxite mining even though bauxite mining is an integral part of the refinery project.

c) The construction work of the alumina refinery started on the project site much before the environmental clearance accorded on 22 September 2004. This will be clear from annual report of the project which claimed that 45% of work had been completed by 31 March 2005 and 29 million US $ had been spent (which would mean that within 6 months of getting clearance such work was done.)

d) The above mentioned forest area extends over a number of patches distributed in 7 villages. The villages that seem unaffected on paper are bound to face eviction in practice.

e) Despite the knowledge of State Government officials about the forest land involved in the project, the forest offence report, issue of notice to the company etc. for breaking/ encroachment of forest land was initiated by the Forest/Revenue department as late as 18 December 2004.

f) In the guideline no. 2-1/2003- FC dated 20-10-2003 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) it has been specifically stated that the maintenance of good forest cover is essential for sustaining the livelihood of tribal population and that in tribal areas only infrastructure development project (other than commercial) should be encouraged.

The manufacture of alumina is a commercial project which will only benefit the promoter company and cannot be considered an infrastructure development project. So, MOEF in this case has not followed its own guidelines.

Further the project has clearly violated provisions of the Orissa Scheduled Areas Transfer of Immovable Property (By ST Regulation) Act, 1956 and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. On the basis of a writ petition lodged by a group of social activists, Supreme Court installed a Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to look into the matter.

After detailed study and investigations and after hearing the views of the different parties, CEC proposed the following recommendations:

Use of forest land in an ecologically sensitive area like Niyamgiri hills should not be permitted;

The casual and hasty manner with which the environmental clearance for the alumina project has been issued smacks of undue favour and does not inspire confidence that the state Government and MOEF will deal with the matter in keeping with national and public interest;

Had a proper study of the environmental and human costs been conducted before embarking on such a project, the site would probably have been rejected.

The CEC recommended that the Court may considered revoking the environmental clearance dated 22-09-04 granted by MOEF for setting of alumina refinery plant by Vedanta and directing them to stop further work of the project. This project may only be reconsidered after an alternative bauxite site is identified. The Supreme Court, however, ignored these strong recommendations and went ahead to give the project a go-ahead!

Environmental Dimensions

The Niyamgiri forests are historically recognised for their dense population of endangered wild life: elephant, sambhar deer, leopards, tigers, barking deer, and various species of birds and other endangered species of wild life. More than 75% of the hills are covered by thick forest with an average density of 0.6. Wild relatives of sugarcane plants are available here which are valuable genetic sources of future hybrids and therefore need preservation to maintain a pure gene bank. It has more than 300 species plants and trees, including 50 species of medical plants. 6 of the species are listed in IUCN Red Data Bank and yet to be surveyed properly for their floral and faunal wealth. Many perennial streams originate from the Niyamgiri hilltop. It is a permanent source of water to the entire area including the Kalahandi and Rayagada districts.

22 water-harvesting structures are located in the foot hills which provide year-long water supply. Vamshadhara and Nagvalli are two major rivers of south Orissa which emanate from the hill. Lakhs of people of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh depend for drinking water and irrigation on these rivers.

Bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri Hills would destroy the dense forests and rare flora and fauna; evict indigenous tribes who are the traditional custodians and protectors of the forest; would destroy the water-recharging capacity of the perennial streams; by-products of bauxite mining would not only destroy the fertility of land on the hill slopes but also affect the land downhill during rain; and would also pollute natural water resources.

Most importantly, the project will rob the tribal forest-dwellers of their land, livelihood and traditional right on natural resources. These adivasis are completely dependent on the forests for their survival – and no means of ‘rehabilitation’ could give them livelihood, let alone ensuring any measure of dignity and self-confidence. All glib talk of ‘alternate employment’ apart, the fact is that they will be condemned to extreme exploitation as semi-bonded or contract rural labourers.

A meaningful campaign must take up the issue of the Dongaria Kondhs’ socio-cultural identity, and environmental devastation within the framework of the crucial battle of poor tribal people for land, traditional rights, dignity and democracy.

Towards a Powerful Resistance

In developing resistance against land grab, political mobilisation and motivation of the directly-affected people is most important, supported by an effective solidarity campaign. The Nandigram experience was a lesson that unleashing the creative initiatives of the affected people plays a decisive role in the agitation.

During the construction of the alumina refinery plant by Vedanta at Lanjigada, some protest and resistance were built up along with a crucial legal battle. Still, the aspect of the ‘solidarity’ by different social movements predominated in the campaign, which could not sustain for long.

Now at Niyamgiri, the challenge is to mobilize the Dongaria adivasi people. In this context the CPI (ML), which represents a powerful land struggle led by the rural poor and has a wide support base among poor adivasis along with a strong network of adivasi party leaders and activists, can intervene meaningfully. The CPI (ML)’s influence among the Dongaria hill people is growing and they have started to participate in the party’s political campaigns regularly. No doubt, Vedanta too realizes this; two years ago, the Vedanta management threw in their money power and control over administration in aid of feudal forces to crush the land struggle led by CPI (ML) in the adjacent area of Bissam Cuttack. In this crackdown fifty activists of the land struggle were booked in attempt to murder cases; and houses of poor tribal people were demolished and burnt. CPI (ML) is planning more concerted efforts to intervene in the struggle against corporate grab of forest land by Vedanta and the Orissa Government.

Politics in India

CPI (ML) Condemns Crackdown on Protestors in Kashmir

- Liberation, September, 2008.

The lakhs (1 lakh = 100, 000) of people protesting on the streets of Kashmir has been met, time and again, with brutal firing and killing by police and paramilitary. There was wanton firing even in hospitals and ambulances. Now, curfew has been imposed, and Kashmiri leaders arrested. CPI (ML) condemns this crackdown on the mass protest. The fact the Kashmiri struggle had taken the form of mass protest by lakhs of people, rather than armed militancy, is a positive and welcome sign – one that the Indian State can ignore only at its own cost. To continue to brand this enormous mass of common Kashmiris as ‘terrorists’ to justify the state-sponsored police firing is unforgivable on part of the Indian Government. In contrast, the violent protests in Jammu, including destruction of government facilities, has been handled with kid gloves – on the dubious claim that the protestors are ‘nationalists’! The CPI (ML) demands that the Central Government release the leaders of the mass movement in Kashmir without further delay, and initiate sustained dialogue without any preconditions.

Politics in India

Jammu and Kashmir:

Urgent Need to Discard the Distorting Lens of Chauvinism

- Kavita Krishnan, Liberation, September, 2008.

A Kashmiri student recently attended a popular TV debate show on Jammu and Kashmir, where the majority of the panellists were chauvinistic ‘hawks’ and there was a lone Kashmiri leader on the panel. During a brief break, one military gentleman on the panel came up to the anchor and said, casually and openly, that she should ‘Let an Indian (not the only Kashmiri panellist), conclude the show’! The very same people, who raise the war cry that Kashmir is an ‘indivisible’ part of the Indian body politic, routinely treat Kashmiris as foreign and subject people.

In independent India, for all mainstream political forces, Kashmir has always been a convenient political touchstone for chauvinism. It was always viewed through a prism of passions and prejudices that always excluded the history, rights, and aspirations of the Kashmiris. Right from the time of accession itself, the veneer of civil “democratic” rule has been enforced through military jackboots spawning more than fifty years now; killing, maiming, “disappearing” thousands of Kashmiris.

Mutual Game of Congress Repression and BJP Communalism

The Congress has had a long record of treachery, broken promises, and authoritarian and repressive approach to Kashmir. On the other hand, the communal fascist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has periodically used their points men in various positions, including the seat of the Governor (if it was Jagmohan earlier, it was S.K. Sinha more recently), for whipping up communal frenzy in Kashmir and also in the rest of the country and used Kashmir as permanent fodder for communal mobilisation in the rest of the country. It is not a coincidence that militancy heightened during Jagmohan’s tenure as Kashmir Governor during the late 80s. Today Kashmir and Jammu are suffering the fallout of the last Governor S K Sinha’s dubious role.

The hypocrisy of the Prime Minister’s rhetoric of ‘peace’ (on 15 August) is evident from the reverberating shots fired by police and paramilitary – fired indiscriminately on streets and even on ambulances and in hospitals, claiming many lives including many popular leaders of Kashmir.

The recent flare up across the state owes its genesis to the transfer of forest land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) and the subsequent reversal of the same. This bears an uncanny resemblance to another horrific communally motivated campaign which engulfed the sub-continent in recent times. One cannot but miss how in the Babri Masjid episode, the idols of Rama were illegally installed in 1949 in the Babri Masjid. The local Collector, a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) sympathizer, stalled the removal of the idols, sowing the seeds of the problem which finally led to demolition of Babri mosque, giving flesh, blood and political power to the BJP over a period of time.

Politics Of The Amarnath Issue

In the last ten years or so, successive governments in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) have intervened deliberately to change the secular character of the Amarnath shrine to suit their communal and jingoistic agenda in Kashmir. Since 1996, the relatively less publicized and peaceful Amarnath Yatra began to be promoted as a ‘Hindu’ ‘patriotic’ counter to the ‘Muslim’ insurgency in Kashmir. In 2003, S K Sinha (who happens to be an ex-Army man) became Governor – and as Chairman of the SASB began aggressively promoting the Shrine and the pilgrimage as a form of ‘cultural nationalist’ answer to the Kashmiri sentiment. The very same S K Sinha recently recommended changes in the demography and “culture” of the region as a “solution” to the Kashmir “problem”, and this was like a spark to the pent-up resentment in the Valley. One cannot forget that the racist fascist Israel Foreign minister Shimon Perez advised L.K. Advani for changing the demographic profile of the valley!

As a result of government aggressive promotion, the number of pilgrims to the Amarnath yatra increased from 12,000 in 1989 to over 400,000 in 2007 and the period of the yatra from fifteen days to two and half months. It is illuminating that the first fortnight is meant for families of service personnel! Over the years, the Indian government has also projected the yatra as a nationalist project. The official news portal of Indian government, Press Information Bureau, reads: “yearning for moksha (salvation) can move the devotees to the challenging heights of Kashmir and will be a fitting gesture of solidarity with our valiant soldiers who have been fighting the enemy to defend our borders”. Thus, what is otherwise a religious pilgrimage of the Shaivite Hindus has been elevated to represent a patriotic enterprise – against the ‘enemy’ (tacitly read as Muslim Kashmiris and Islam).

In this sensitive and politically volatile region, where Kashmiris as it is experience alienation and fear of an eclipse of their identity, the effects of the Indian Government promoting a Hindu pilgrimage as a patriotic duty are deeply divisive and disastrous. The agenda behind the aggressive promotion of the yatra is made all the more clear by the fact that communal fascist parties like the BJP have limited the number of pilgrims to Gangotri and Goumukh to 150 persons per day on environmental grounds, while pushing for a continuous increase in the period and the number of pilgrims at the Amarnath yatra: an obvious case of double standards. The recent flare-up, which is a direct result of the carefully crafted communalisation of the Amarnath yatra, has continued for several weeks.

Stereotyping Jammu and Kashmir

If Kashmir is being portrayed as the hub of ‘anti-national’ elements, Jammu has also been given a communal stereotype albeit of the “nationalist” Hindu colour. The emigration of Kashmir pundits from the valley has been grossly misrepresented and communalized and used by the Sangh Parivar to the hilt to create a communal atmosphere. The deep-seated sense of neglect in Jammu, and repression and alienation in Kashmir has not been addressed by successive Governments and political forces. Instead communal polarization is being sharpened by the mainstream political parties who are trying to project the grievances of the Jammu residents as having a Hindu and therefore ‘nationalist’ character (protests being organized with the tricolour in hand) while the alienation of the people of Kashmir is being portrayed as ‘Muslim’, ‘anti-national’ and specifically, ‘Pakistani’. The BJP’s all-out communal build-up has received fodder from the opportunisms of the Congress and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). So much so, that Ghulam Nabi Azad recently claimed that “protests against the land transfer in the Kashmir valley had been funded by Islamic countries”.

The National Conference, despite Omar Abdullah’s brave declarations of secularism in Parliament, has done its share to promote the BJP’s communal agenda in the State. All in all, the mainstream political parties in the State seem all set to push the situation dangerously towards the trifurcation of the State on communal lines – an agenda openly avowed by the BJP in the past and proposed by various think-tanks of the United States of America like the Kashmir Study Group.

With the opportunist creation and handling of the Amarnath controversy and the firing on Kashmiri protestors, the Valley once again reverberates with slogans of azaadi, while Jammu wants to break free from the perceived “domination” of the valley. The Congress and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government appear completely clueless while the BJP sees the unrest in Jammu as a promising passport to a political revival of the Hindutva brigade in the region as well as in the larger national arena. True to its tradition and character, the Congress has gifted the BJP a communally potent agenda on a platter, in the process doing far-reaching harm to the sensitive region of Jammu and Kashmir.

It is high time that we speak out against such unmitigated communally motivated state terror and economic strangulation against the people of Kashmir with the devious ploy to quell their democratic aspirations, rights, lives and livelihoods!

Workers’ Struggle in India

Jail Bharo (Fill the Jails) on August 20th, 2008

- Liberation and ML Update, September, 2008.

In support of the All-India General Strike called by the Sponsoring Committee of Central Trade Unions on August 20th, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) [CPI (ML)] held a ‘Jail Bharo’ (Fill the Jails) all over the country.

In Delhi, hundreds of activists converged at Parliament Street, shouting slogans and raising banners and placards such as “Be it Noida or Nandigram –Stop Corporate Land Grab and Massacre of Peasants”, “Price Rise = Death for the Poor, Profits for Corporates!”, “Manmohan Singh: Betraying Aaam Aadmi (Ordinary Person), Obeying Ambani and America!”, “Congress-UPA, Have Shame: Stop Shooting Kashmiris in Hospitals and Streets!”

Around 500 activists, including those from Delhi as well as from Bijnaur in Uttar Pradesh (UP), led by CPI(ML) General Secretary Comrade Dipankar, marched towards Parliament, broke the barricades and were taken into custody in the Parliament street thana (police station). Inside the thana, a mass meeting was held, which was addressed by CPI (ML) activists. On the same day, the All India Students Association (AISA) conducted a widespread campaign for a students strike in Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), mainly focusing against the Nuke Deal.

In Delhi, apart from the central programme, All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) and CPI (ML) activists actively participated in the General Strike in the new industrial estate of Bhorgarh near Narela, along with workers of other Central Trade Union organizations.

In Bihar, about sixty thousand people courted arrest all over the State, with protests and arrests of CPI (ML) supporters and members taking place in most districts and blocks of the State.

At Jharkhand, more than ten thousand people courted arrest all over the State, including Ranchi, Giridih, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Jamtara, Devghar, and Bagodar. At Dhanbad, the strike was very effective all over the coal belt including Dhanbad town. The strike was observed in all sectors – coal, steel, bank, LIC (Life Insurance Corporation), postal, Bharat State Nigam Limited (BSNL) and railways, in spite of the opposition of Congress-led unions.

300-400 workers, mostly coal workers, demonstrated at Maithon. At Dhanbad, workers, 60% of whom were coal workers from the organised sector struck work, marched from station to the district collector’s office and blockaded the road where they held a meeting. They then courted arrest under the leadership of AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee.

At Chhattisgarh, around 150 workers, mostly contract workers, marched via the Labour Commissioner’s office (where they raised slogans and submitted a memorandum) to the District Collector’s office, where they joined a dharna (march) jointly organized by Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha and AICCTU. AICCTU also had held a dharna at Boria Gate (Bhilai) where more than 100 contract workers participated.

In Tamil Nadu, at 30 places, around 6000 organized and unorganized workers, agrarian labourers, students and women participated in the Jail Bharo (Fill the Jails). Defying the efforts of the management to prevent the Pricol workers from participating in the general strike and the jail bharao, around 1200 Pricol workers blocked the road for half an hour in Thudiyalur of Coimbatore.

Comrade S Kumaraswamy, Polit Bureau Member (PBM) courted arrest with 350 construction and unorganized workers of Kanyakumari. Comrade Balasundaram, was arrested along with the rural poor and agrarian workers of Nagai and Thanjavur districts in Kumbakonam. He called for the rural poor to join the demonstration to be held in Chennai on August 23 against the police attack on the agrarian workers of Rettanai of Villupuram district who demanded Rs. 80 for NREGA work. Around 200 rural poor and agrarian workers participated in the Jail Bharo here.

In Tiruvallore District, more than 600 rural poor participated in the Jail Bharo which was led by Comrade Janakiraman, state committee member (SCM). Here, the local police was not prepared to arrest the workers who blocked the main road in the market. The arrested workers were first taken to one hall and they were then shifted to another hall. They were transported in police vehicles through the crowded market with the participants waving red flags and raising slogans against the central and state governments.

At two places in Tirunelveli, more than 300 beedi, construction and other unorganized workers courted arrest. In Villupuram, roads were blocked in 4 points. Around 330 rural poor and agrarian workers joined the protest. In Namakkal district, around 120 power loom workers were arrested. In Krishnagiri, around 150 workers blocked the road and courted arrest.

At Karnataka, the July 23 – August 20 campaign began with panchayat level demonstrations in Davanagere and Koppal districts of Karnataka. Demonstrations were organized on issues such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) and land. At Harapanahalli taluk in Davanagere district, many panchayat level demonstrations were organized including Mathihalli and Uchangi Durga panchayats.

In Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, the scene was different. While most of the unions decided to undertake high profile programs in the city, our union decided to march on the streets of high profile Information Park in the city. An impressive rally led by Comrade Shankar went through the streets of ITPL (Information Technology Park Limited) reverberating slogans against anti-people policies of the central government.

At Andhra Pradesh, the Jail Bharo programmes were held at four places. At Orissa, a four-week-long campaign culminated on 20 August when over 2500 activists (900 at Rayagada, 800 at Puri, 100 at Kendrapada, 100 at Kalahandi, 150 at Khurda, Bolangir and Bhubaneswar, 150 at Keonjhar) courted arrest.

The All India Strike and Jail Bharo were successful in different places of Assam including Guwahati. In the Dibrugarh the bandh was total at 10 tea estates and partial in others. In Nagaon more than 100 activists took out a procession and got arrested. The Strike and Jail Bharo was successful at Jorhat, Tinsukia and Silchar. AISA’s students’ strike was successful at Nagaon and Jorhat, where the bandh was total.

International

Mukhamukam ( Face to Face) with People’s Health in Caracas, Venezuela

- Padma.

Comrade Surya and I were in Venezuela in December 2005 when we were inspired by the inroads the Bolivarian revolutionary process was making in the areas of health, education and workers rights. At that time we were unable to obtain a first hand experience of the remarkable free public health care system (Barrio Adentro). Mission Barrio Adentro also called Inside the Neighbourhood programme was founded in 2003 by the government headed by Hugo Chavez with the help of Cuban health care professionals. In May 2008, we were able to get permission and help from Ministry of the Popular Power of Health and National Direction of Indigenous Health in Caracas, Venezuela. They arranged an extensive tour for us of the Barrio Adentro levels 2 and 3 over a period of 3 days.

Brief History of Health Care in Venezuela before Barrio Adentro

After the Second World War, Latin American countries in general used government interventions and protection to promote national development and industrialization. Welfare state policies were developed throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Venezuela in particular with its large petroleum and gas reserves helped to develop a decent health care system. The health expenditure which accounted for 13.3% of the national budget in 1970 fell to 9.3% in 1990 and a mere 7.8% in 1996. Decreased oil revenues in the 1980s contributed to the socioeconomic crisis (1). In 1989 figures indicate close to 54% of Venezuelans living in extreme poverty. Health care reforms dictated by World Bank and Inter American Development Bank in the 1990s led to expansion of the private health care sector and erosion of public health services. 50 new public health facilities were established in the 1980s and 1990s in contrast to 400 private clinics. A 1985 study revealed that in the capital city Caracas, inspite of the large number of doctors practising there, people had difficulty accessing medical care. In rural communities medical care was being provided by inexperienced doctors.

Barrio Adentro Programme – Inception and Results

After the victory of Hugo Chavez in the 1998 elections which was fought on an anti neo liberal platform, a new Bolivarian constitution was drafted by a special constituent assembly. Article 83 views health as a fundamental human right that the state is obligated to guarantee. Articles 84 and 85 expand on the duty of the state to create and manage a universal public health system providing free services and financed through taxes and oil revenues.

The concept of Barrio Adentro emerged in 1999 when torrential rains caused havoc in the state of Vargas. Poor people living in crowded barrios (neighbourhoods located in the hilly peripheries of urban centers) were affected. Several thousand people were killed by mud slides, 8000 homes were destroyed and up to 100,000 people displaced. The Cuban government responded in its usual humanitarian fashion by sending 454 Cuban health care workers. Based on this experience, the government in Caracas requested the help of the Venezuelan medical community to work with the underserved poor in the barrios. Little more than 50 Venezuelan doctors responded to the advertisement. The Venezuelan Medical Association has been a vociferous adversary of the free health care system enshrined in the Bolivarian constitution, not surprising as the vast majority of its doctors are from the elite and upper middle class families.

In April 2003, 58 Cuban doctors specialising in integrated family medicine started to see patients in various barrios in Caracas and its periphery (2). Within 2 months of launching the program named Mission Barrio Adentro by President Hugo Chavez, 1000 Cuban doctors were working in the working class neighbourhoods. 4 months later in 2003 their numbers doubled and Cuban health professionals were going into areas in Venezuela which had not sighted medicos for decades. By the end of 2003, more than 10,000 health care professionals were dispensing free health care all over Venezuela. So began the heart warming relationship between Cuba and Venezuela based on solidarity and human needs.

Barrio Adentro I provides basic primary and preventive health care. There were 4,800 health clinics in Venezuela in 1998. 6,569 new basic health clinics have been set up since then through the Barrio Adentro I programme. The clinics in the barrios have a characteristic hexagonal structure, the patients are seen below and the doctor and the nurse have living quarters upstairs. Health care committees have formed in the barrios with women largely heading the committees and they work hand in hand with the health professionals.

Barrio Adentro II was launched in 2005 to provide more sophisticated care. The Barrio Adentro II programme which consists of Integral Diagnostic Centers (CDI), Integral Rehabilitation Centers (SRI), and High Technology Centers (CAT) now has a total of 1,235 installations in the whole country which give free medical treatment to all Venezuelans. CDIs provide emergency services, intensive care treatment, diagnostic and laboratory procedures including cat scans, ECG and endoscopy. The CDIs and the SRIs represent four components of health care- prevention, promotion, treatment and rehabilitation.

Barrio Adentro III was launched in 2005 initially to upgrade 42 existing hospitals in the country which has now included 90 hospitals. The goal would be to upgrade all the existing 300 or so hospitals in the country. Barrio Adentro IV will involve construction of new hospitals in the country.

The facts are there for everyone to see. In 1998 there were 1628 primary care physicians for a population of 23.4 million, now there are 19,571 for a population of 27 million. In the Barrio Adentro program, per the statistics released by the Ministry of Health in 2007, there are 12,272 Cuban doctors and 1,935 Venezuelan doctors. With the other personnel included there are a total of 25,561 Cubans and 10,614 Venezuelans working for the health of the population. In 1998, the life expectancy was 71 years, now it is 73. The infant mortality rate has dropped from 21 to 13 per 1000 live births. The maternal mortality rate has dropped from 67 per 1000 to less than half that number.

The SUMED (Distribution of Medicine) programme works with the Barrio Adentro wherein subsidized prescription drugs are sold to patients. The community clinics offer 129 essential drugs and treat over 97% of the common illnesses (3).

Mukhamukham with the Barrio Adentro Programme

We spent three busy and memorable days observing and talking to health care professionals in Barrio Adentro levels II and III. The first day we were taken to a busy clinic in the neighbourhood of Catia which has a population of about 300,000 people and mostly working class. (Of note during the military coup in April 2003 when Chavez was illegally held as a prisoner many young people from Catia organized and surrounded the presidential palace). I interviewed a nurse and the doctor who were on duty at the clinic. The doctor and the nurse were both from Venezuela, they were happy to be able to deliver care to patients completely free of charge. I was informed that the clinic treated about 200 patients a day for various ailments that ranged from trauma to patients with diabetes, hypertension and related complications like heart attacks and cerebrovascular events. In addition, the clinic treated patients with gynaecological problems and also had a paediatric unit to treat children. The clinic was spotlessly clean and provided x-rays, electrocardiography and other radiology services. It provided 24 hour services, which were accessible to everyone and was in keeping with articles 83-85 of the Bolivarian constitution that enshrine free and quality health care to all citizens. There was a textile cooperative run by women located next to the clinic in the sprawling grounds. It had 103 women working in a spirit of togetherness sharing the profits made from sewing T shirts, uniforms for schools and the military. There was also a playground and a crèche in the same area.

The second day we were taken to a CDI and SRI in a middle class neighbourhood called Los Dos Caminos in Caracas. The CDI and SRI have Cuban professionals from doctors and nurses to podiatrists, occupational therapists and speech therapists. The CDI had a well stocked emergency room, an ICU with 4 beds, a general ward with several beds to treat illnesses from pneumonia to diabetic emergencies. I interviewed a patient a truck driver with diabetes and cellulitis (skin infection) who was touched by the loving and dedicated care he had received. He said it was fortunate to have Barrio Adentro to help poor patients like him who cannot afford treatment in private clinics. Patients were booked for endoscopic procedures on a routine basis. There are state of the art interventions available to treat patients with conditions like heart attacks, sepsis, asthma and heart failure.

I talked to the physician in charge whose responsibilities included seeing patients, teaching and some administration. She arrived with the first group of Cuban professionals in 2003 and has seen the growth of the Barrio Adentro programme. She said the Barrio Adentro program was saving lives and promoting health care to communities which previously had very little access. However, she was equally honest about the need to fight infectious diseases like dengue, malaria and diarrheal illnesses in Venezuela. Cuba of note has eradicated malaria since 1968, there have been no cases of diphtheria since 1971 and there are very few cases of gastroenteritis. Every Cuban professional that I met, exuded compassion and a passion to help their fellow human beings regardless of their colour, nationality or political affiliation. They felt that serving the health care needs of people was of utmost importance and they would stay as long as they were needed. However, there was general optimism that Venezuela under the Bolivarian process is training enough medical professionals whose presence in the Barrio Adentro program will be increasingly seen in the future. After a three year program of studies, 1,013 Venezuelan doctors graduated in General Integral Medicine in 2007 in the Cuban-developed system of preventative health care.

I was able to meet with a team of highly dedicated health care professionals mostly women in the Barrio Adentro III programme. The director was a woman nephrologist who heads the programme that oversees buying state of the art equipment and upgrading facilities in the hospitals in the country. I was able to meet the Director of the University Hospital in Caracas, a very well known doctor, who has trained medical students for more than 3 decades. The University hospital which is a beneficiary of the Barrio Adentro III programme is a famed centre for cardiac by pass and valve surgeries and also for cardiac transplants and kidney transplants. The medical community in the hospitals is highly polarised politically with some supporting the Bolivarian revolutionary process and others violently opposed to the changes and the involvement of the Cuban doctors. However, the director reassured me that the doctors are trying to put politics aside and work toward the common goal of providing optimal treatment to patients. Many hospitals in the country now have peoples’ committees to protect the new equipment purchased under the Barrio Adentro III programme from sabotage by those antagonistic to the new changes.

Cuba-Venezuela partnership-Putting People First

The solidarity and friendship that we witnessed between the Cuban and Venezuelan health professionals was an inspiring and moving experience. While the Venezuelan Barrio Adentro program is being compared to the celebrated Cuban health care system, there are differences in addition to the similarities. Cuba after the triumph of the revolution in 1959 expropriated land and private property and within a year nationalised all U.S and foreign property. The revolutionary government in Cuba believed that a band aid approach will not eliminate disease either real or metaphorical. Along with health care agrarian reform, housing, employment and education were instituted. The Bolivarian process has to be credited for investing money and resources on social programs like health care, education and subsidized food (Mission Mercal); 90% of PDVSA’s (government owned oil company) contributions last year went to Barrio Adentro programs and the subsidized food market. Having said that, in Venezuela, there has not been a rupture with the bourgeois state and the old structures are still in place. Private national and foreign banks earned over 30% rate of returns in 2005-2007. Some of the key industries such as media, communications, and food are still in private hands. Less than 1% of the landed estates have been appropriated and turned over to the landless. There is overcrowding in cities, areas with indigenous peoples are underdeveloped and there are many infectious diseases that need to be controlled and eradicated.

In conclusion, the creation of the free quality peoples’ health care system by the Bolivarian process indeed is a progressive measure and is a cause for celebration but it cannot reach its full potential until the community councils, the working class movement and the fight against imperialism get strengthened in Venezuela.

References:

1. World Health Organization http://www.who.int/nha/country/ven/en

2. Venezuela’s Barrio Adentro: An alternative to Neoliberalism in Health Care: International Journal of Health Services, Volume 36, Number 4, Pages 803-811, 2006

3. Ministry of Popular Power for Health. “There is medicine for HIV patients.” 14 March 2007.

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank venezuelanalysis.com for providing a lot of useful information.

Struggles in India

AICCTU’s Seventh National Conference at Chennai

- Liberation, September, 2008.

The 7th National Conference of All India Council of Central Trade Union (AICCTU) was held at Chennai from the 2 to 4 August. Nearly 400 delegates from 18 cities and 3 Union Territories participated in the conference. A cross-section of workers of unorganized and informal sectors, representatives of coal, steel, oil, power, private security, telecom, textiles, power-loom, automobiles, transport, brick-kilns, leather, hawkers, tea gardens, building construction, railways and corporate big industries like Pricol, Ashok Leyland, Hyundai, as well as State Government employees were present at the Conference.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) [CPI(ML)] General Secretary Comrade Dipankar inaugurated a poster-exhibition highlighting the first political strike of Indian workers and the history of the working class movement, which drew a lot of appreciation.

The opening session of the Conference was addressed by Comrade Dipankar, CPI (ML) Polit Bureau member Comrade D P Buxi, and others. Kalpana Wilson of the London-based South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG), Zubran Ali Jewel, Convenor of Bangladesh textile workers association , All India trade Union Congress (AITUC) Deputy General Secretary Comrade Mahadevan, Center of Indian trade Unions (CITU) Vice President Comrade Varadarajan were some of the guest speakers. Messages of greetings and solidarity from WFTU General Secretary George Marvarikos, John Percy, National General Secretary of Australia’s Revolutionary Socialist Party, Mashaharu Takei, President of the Japan Confederation of Railway Workers’ Unions (JRU) were presented at the session.

In the delegate session which began on 2nd August, AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee presented the draft document for discussion. August 3 began with a special session on ‘Unorganised workers in the Organised Sector’, where Comrade Subhash Sen placed the political perspective. On 4 August, All India Agricultural Workers Association (AIALA) Vice President Comrade Pawan Sharma addressed the Conference and spoke about the struggles of agricultural labourers. On August 4, a special session was organised on government employees, 72 delegates participated in the discussion of the draft document. Since the last national conference at Guwahati, AICCTU’s membership along with its rural proletariat membership has crossed the one million mark.

The AICCTU launched a Steel Workers Federation at a two-day Convention at Rourkela and held the founding conference of an All-India Federation of Construction Workers at Patna on the basis of 75,000 plus membership. Prior to this conference AICCTU extended its work to two important states – Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, where organized trade union work has been initiated and state units of AICCTU elected through state conferences.

The Chennai State Conference was marked by the warm and enthusiastic participation of a range of fraternal organisations which are working closely with AICCTU on a variety of unity initiatives. Among these were 3 unions of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM), working in the industrial belts of Bhilai, Raipur, and Rajnandgaon, which affiliated themselves to AICCTU. Leaders of the Lal Nishan Party Leninist-led Maharashtra Rajya Sarva Shramik Mahasangh, participated in the Conference, in Maharashtra, they have formed a State-level Federation and plan to affiliate it to AICCTU after securing registration.

Comrade Ray of the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) led Darjeeling Terai Dooars Chiakaman Mazdoor Union also participated in the Conference. In Thiruvattur, Tamilnadu, workers affiliated with various unions, working in Hyundai and other MNCs have come together under the banner of Solidarity Forum; AICCTU plays a leading role in these initiatives.

The conference elected a 179-member council, a 65-member working committee and Comrade S Kumarasami was re-elected President and Comrade Swapan Mukherjee General Secretary.

South Asia

Greetings to Comrade Prachanda on Becoming Prime Minister of Nepal

To

Comrade Pushpa Kamal Dahal

Hon’ble Prime Minister,

Republic of Nepal

Dear Comrade,

On behalf of the entire membership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) and the progressive and democratic people of India, I extend hearty congratulations to you on being elected Prime Minister of Nepal. This is a decisive victory for the CPN (M) and other left and republican forces. We also welcome the encouraging fact that the Left in Nepal, CPN (UML) and CPN (M), could forge this unity at this crucial juncture to make this victory possible.

We wish you all success in leading Nepal towards a modern democratic people’s republic, and assure you of heartfelt solidarity and determined support against any intervention or big-brotherly move on part of imperialist forces or the Indian ruling class.

With warm greetings of proletarian internationalism,

Comradely yours,

Dipankar Bhattacharya,

General Secretary

CPI(ML) (Liberation)

International

Guest Workers in Australia: Are they Modern Day Slaves?

- Lionel Bopage.

]]> http://mlint.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/12/feed/ 0 mlint http://mlint.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/10/ http://mlint.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/10/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:33:56 +0000 mlint http://mlint.wordpress.com/?p=10 ]]>

July-August 2008

Table of Contents

1) Soaring Prices and Manmohan’s Nuclear Chess

2) Nationwide Outrage Against Oil Price Hike

3) Murder of NREG Activists in Jharkhand

4) Sri Lanka and Nepal : A Tale of Two Conflicts

5) South Asian Taxi Drivers Demand Better Safety Measures

6) Letter from Jaipur

7) Women’s Assertion Rally by AIPWA in Patna

8) Karnataka Assembly Elections 2008

9) Message from West Bengal Panchayat Polls

10) Homage to Vijay Tendulkar

Politics in India

Soaring Prices and Manmohan’s Nuclear Chess

- Liberation, July, 2008.

They had been talking about double-digit economic growth. Instead, it is inflation which has crossed the double-digit barrier and the upward climb of the price spiral shows no sign of slowing down. As we go to press, officially measured inflation has reached a thirteen-year high, equalling the 1995 level when Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister in Narsimha Rao’s cabinet. The official measurement of inflation is based on the wholesale price index which is obviously quite removed from the actual prices that consumers have to pay at the retail market. But a quick look at the major segments accounting for the rise in wholesale prices – food and food products: 24%, petro products: 17%, iron and steel: 10% – gives us a clear idea of how badly the poor and fixed-income consumers are being hurt.

Even as prices of all essential commodities soar sky-high, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government keeps telling us that this inflation is a global phenomenon and we have to bear with it. Instead of taking urgent measures to douse the flame, the government has instead chosen to fan the fire by dutifully passing on the ‘global’ burden to the people at home. How does it help to know that the fire raging in the Indian market is ‘imported’ from abroad when prices of every local produce are going through the roof! Having broken down every potential protective barrier and opened up the entire economy to all kinds of external assaults, the UPA government can now hardly excuse itself by attributing the inflationary surge to global economic factors.

History tells us that when Rome was burning, Emperor Nero was busy playing his violin. In today’s India , when the market is aflame, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is busy playing nuclear chess. Media reports have it that Singh has offered to resign if he cannot push through his favourite nuclear deal with the US . The mainstream media is also more perturbed over the future of the deal than the crushing blow inflicted by soaring prices. Indeed, inflation is being seen as a spoilsport of sorts by the pro-deal lobby. The deal enthusiasts are wary that clinching the deal at this stage might lead to somewhat early elections and many in the ruling coalition do not seem to be ready to risk an election in conditions of double-digit inflation and face the ire of the electorate.

It is this utterly callous and anti-people attitude that best indicates the current degree of disconnect between the powers that be and the people and their plight. This disconnect has today become the hallmark of the UPA model of ‘secular governance’ and ‘aam aadmi’ (common person) rhetoric. Soaked neck-deep in the ideology of ‘corporate industrialisation and development’, the CPI (M) in West Bengal has also begun to revel in this disconnect. The panchayat results have merely provided some early electoral confirmation of the emerging popular mood in West Bengal . In a way the situation seems tailor-made for the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). True to the ideology and historical tradition of fascism, the BJP is evidently capable of exploiting any and every popular resentment for its own sectarian and retrograde agenda. Karnataka has once again confirmed this basic truth regarding the BJP.

What should be the Left and democratic response to this political challenge thrown up by the unfolding situation? More doses of ‘secular partnership’ with the Congress? Bihar and Karnataka have clearly revealed the basic fallacy in this approach. A decade ago elections had produced a ruling arrangement in the shape of a United Front (UF) backed from outside both by the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)]. On the face of it the UF had managed to keep the BJP out of power, but only for a few months. If today the UPA experiment seems headed in the same direction, it must compel Left and democratic forces to look beyond such suicidal tactical shortcuts. The way forward lies only through a bold, consistent and vigorous espousal of the cause of the people against the growing economic and national crisis home-delivered by the comprador Indian votaries of imperialist globalization.

Struggles in India

Nationwide Outrage Against Oil Price Hike

- Liberation, July, 2008.

There has been nationwide protest against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s decision to hike the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) [CPI (ML)] had given a call for an all-India protest on 6^th June, and on that day and since, the party has organised independent protests and joined other Left parties in resisting the oil price hike.

In Delhi on 5 June, immediately after the announcement of the hike in prices, the CPI (ML) held a protest demonstration at Parliament Street and burnt the effigy of the UPA Government.

In Bihar , the CPI (ML) along with other Left parties including CPI and CPI (M) called a bandh on 10 June. The bandh was a great success, and was vigorously implemented with demonstrations at almost all district headquarters. In Patna alone, 6 separate, massive contingents comprising more than 2000 people marched on the streets to implement the bandh. Over 1000 CPI (ML) activists were arrested in Patna including the State Secretary Nand Kishore Prasad, central committee members (CCMs) Ram Jatan Sharma, K D Yadav and Meena Tiwari and All India Progressive Women Association (AIPWA) leader Shashi Yadav, while around 85 activists from CPI and CPI (M) were arrested. All the National Highways were blockaded by people, and train routes blockaded at Buxar, Muzaffarpur, Siwan, Ara, Leheriasarai, Narkatiaganj, Hilsa, Bihar Sharif, and Masaurhi. At Jehanabad, CPI (ML) activists clashed with the police during the bandh.

In Jharkhand, the CPI (ML) gave a call for bandh on 7 June, which was highly effective. As many as 1,000 party activists and leaders were arrested by the police in different parts of the state, who were later released. In Ranchi , party activists blockaded the Main Road and brought traffic to a standstill. The bandh got a very good response in Bokaro, Ramgarh and Dhanbad districts. In Giridih district, the bandh was led by CPI (ML) member of legislative assembly (MLA) Vinod Singh with over 2,000 activists. CCM and former MLA Bahadur Oraon led the workers in the bandh in Chakradharpur. The bandh had an effect in Lohardaga, Garhwa, Barwadih, Nirsa and many other places. The traffic on the Ranchi-Tata Road came to a halt for over an hour as over 100 workers blocked the road at Bundu.

In Uttar Pradesh, a demonstration was held and an effigy of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government burnt outside the assembly building at Lucknow on 6 June. CPI (ML) State Secretary Sudhakar Yadav condemned the lathicharge against CPI (ML) demonstrators protesting at the Mirzapur district headquarters and the arrest of several activists including the party’s district secretary Nandlal and Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) National President Mohd. Salim. In spite of these arrests, protest demonstrations were held at the block headquarters at Ahiraura and Narayanpur in Mirzapur. Demonstrations were held and effigies of the central government burnt at the Sonebhadra District headquarters at Robertsganj, as well as at the block headquarters at Anpara, Duddhi, Babhani, Gherawal and at Mughalsarai and Chakia block headquarters in Chandauli district. At Varanasi , CPI (ML) activists burnt the effigy of the UPA Government near the Cantt. Railway Station. In Lakhimpuri Kheri town, as well as in Gorakhpur, Devaria, Maharajganj, Gazipur, Mau, Jalaun, Moradabad, Bijnaur, Sitapur and other districts, protest marches were held. Earlier on 4 June, immediately after the hikes in prices were announced, effigies of the UPA Government were burnt at Jamalpur in Mirzapur, as well as at Faizabad and Mau.

In Tamilnadu, demonstrations were held against petrol price hike in Chennai, Tiruvallore, Kanchipuram, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Nagappattinam, Coimbatore , Salem , Namakkal, Tirnelveli, Krishnagiri, Kanyakumari and Madurai districts. In Krishnagiri, on 5 June, 30 comrades were arrested for burning an effigy, and were released later. In Kanyakumari, comrades pulled an auto by ropes. In Chennai more than 100 workers mobilised by CPI (ML) participated in the protest. Demonstrations were also held in Pudukottai district in two points on 6 June against petrol price hike. The CPI (ML) supported the CPI – CPI (M)’s call for statewide bandh on 7 June, and our comrades were active in implementing the bandh at Vridhachalam (Cuddalore), Kotakuppam (Vilupuram), and Tirupanandal (Thanjavur). In Pondicherry too the bandh was a success and our comrades actively participated in it.

In Orissa, a road blockade was held at Rayagada on 6 June in which 100 people participated. A dharna was held at Laxmipur Block, Korapur district, in which 300 people protested against price rise, corruption and irregularities in issuing of below poverty line (BPL) cards and National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (NREG) implementation.

In Andhra Pradesh, the CPI (ML) Liberation along with CPI (ML) New Democracy, and MCPI held a rasta roko (road blockade) in Vijaywada on 6 June. In Prathipadu district of East Godavari, in Jaggampeta, in Gollaprolu, in Kakinada Rural, CPI (ML) held rasta roko programmes. In Vissampeta (Krishna District), a dharna was held at the Tehsildar’s office. In Jangareddygudem (West Godavari District), and in Visakhapatnam also, CPI (ML) Liberation, CPI(ML) ND, and MCPI held a rasta roko.

In Rajasthan, demonstrations were held and memoranda submitted on 6 June at district headquarters of Pratapgarh, Udaipur , Jaipur, Ajmer , and Bhuhana (Jhunjhuna). In Ajmer , the demonstration comprised a large number of women activists.

At Rewari in Haryana, CPI (ML) activists held a demonstration and burnt the effigy of the UPA Government on 6 June. In Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), a street corner meeting was held and an effigy of the central government burnt. In the Andamans, CPI (ML) conducted a protest demonstration at the Secretariat gate in Port Blair on 5 June. At Gangavati in Karnataka on 6 June, a demonstration was held and an effigy of the Prime Minister burnt.

Struggles in India

Murder of NREG Activists in Jharkhand

- Liberation, July, 2008.

On 14 May, a young activist Lalit Mehta, who had been active in the right to food campaign and had the previous day initiated a social audit to expose corruption in implementation of National Rural Employement Guarantee (NREG) in Palamu District, was killed on 14 May while on his way from Daltonganj to Chatarpur. The social audit threatened to expose corruption in high places. His murder was met with outraged protests all over the country, and eventually, after much delay, the demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the murder was accepted by the State Government.

Lalit Mehta’s killing was no exception. On 7 June, Kameshwar Yadav, of Khatauri village of Deori Block (Giridih District Jharkhand); a Block Committee member of CPI (ML) in Giridih; also an activist on NREG-related issues, was shot dead as he was returning home from Kisgo on a motorcycle in the evening. He is survived by his wife Babita Devi, two sons and a daughter.

The suicide of adivasi Turia Munda, due to failure to get his due wages under NREG act, exposed the sorry state of implementation of NREG scheme in Jharkhand. The murders of Lalit and Kameshwar are part of a spate of such killings and harassment of activists exposing rural corruption. There have been several recent murders of rural activists in Giridih itself. Last month, Rajinder Das, a dalit activist of CPI (ML) at Rajdhanwar, Giridih, who had been at the forefront of the struggle against grabbing of land allocated to dalits by local land mafia, was killed. Two months back, another dalit CPI (ML) activist Munshi Tori had been killed. In these two cases, the perpetrators of the murder – leaders of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Babulal Marandi’s party) – have been named in the first information report (FIR), yet they are yet to be arrested. Deuri Block is the same area where CPI (ML) waged a powerful struggle against public distribution system (PDS) black-marketeering, and a key leader of this movement, Comrade Osman Ansari is in jail since May 2007.

The CPI (ML) conducted a campaign for justice for Kameshwar from 16-25 June culminating in a Giridih March on 25 June. In Delhi , party mass organisations participated in a protest at the Jharkhand Bhawan along with other groups. Following this, a delegation comprising Central Employment Guarantee Council member Annie Raja, Kiran Shaheen and CPI (ML) CCM Kavita Krishnan met with Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh to apprise him of the situation in Jharkhand. The Minister claimed that Jharkhand was one of the few states where corruption was least because all wage payments were being done through bank or post office ( PO ) accounts. This rosy picture was challenged by the delegation, and a comptroller and auditor general (CAG) enquiry, especially for NREG in Jharkhand was demanded.

Letter to PM from Activists and Intellectuals

Activists and intellectuals submitted a letter to the Prime Minister, Rural Development Minister and Jharkhand Governor, excerpts of which are below:

We the undersigned would like to bring to your notice the serious problems in the functioning of NREG act in Jharkhand. These also include the murders of prominent activists like Lalit Mehta and a general atmosphere of terror against those who expose corruption in NREGA.

The announcement of a request for a CBI enquiry into Lalit Mehta’s murder by the Jharkhand government is a welcome development but insufficient. However the extent of terror and corruption in Palamu and adjoining districts is very high. A CBI enquiry into Lalit Mehta’s murder is not sufficient. There should be a high level enquiry by the CAG’s office into the corruption in the NREGA scheme in Palamu and elsewhere. A special CBI task force should also investigate the murders of other social activists in Jharkhand like Kameshwar Yadav [CPI (ML)] and Jawahar Singh (People’s Union of Civil Liberties) and the general atmosphere of terror unleashed against activists and labourers who expose corruption and stand up for their rights.

Regarding NREG Act (NREGA) and the safety of activists we have the following demands:

1] The safety of activists and others monitoring NREGA should be ensured, especially in districts like Palamu, Koderma and Singhbhum.

2] A political intervention be made to remove all hindrances to establish the panchayati raj institutions in Jharkhand at the earliest.

3] The Central Employment Guarantee Council should meet in Palamu and suggest measures to the Central Government regarding the eradication of corruption and the security of activists. It should also do an overview of the functioning of NREGA in Jharkhand and the weakness thereof. In particular it should ensure that social audits are conducted regularly and reports be made public.

4] Within 30 days necessary action be taken against NREGA irregularities, brought out during the investigations and on the registered complaints.

Signed by

Aruna Roy, Arundhati Roy, Nikhil Dey, Swami Agnivesh, Subhashini Ali, Kuldip Nayar, Annie Raja, Medha Patkar, Prof. Kamal Chenoy, Dunu Roy, Babu Mathew, Kavita Krishnan, and others.

South Asia

Sri Lanka and Nepal : A Tale of Two Conflicts

- S. Sivasegaram.

Both Sri Lanka and Nepal have faced long periods of insurgency, but the armed conflicts concerned different issues and the degree of success in resolving them differs vastly. They, nevertheless, have lessons for each other. Important social and political differences between the two tower over obvious geographical factors, despite the importance of the geographic location of each to its course of social and political development. Sri Lanka ’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean caused it to be subject to one of the longest, (if not the longest) uninterrupted colonial rules, by three successive colonial masters, lasting over four centuries. Landlocked Nepal , although subject to British Colonial domination from the 19th Century, was only a protectorate, declared independent in 1923 by treaty with Britain .

Modernisation of the Sri Lankan polity started in the late 19th Century under colonial rule, much after the Kandyan Kingdom , the last feudal monarchy, ended early that century. But vestiges of feudalism like the caste system and modes of agricultural production remained untouched by colonialism, which also created an elite class of landed gentry with feudal links. Nepal was slower to modernise; and the Indian successors to the British Raj, helped to restore the Shah dynasty in 1951 and dominated Nepal, whose geography made its trade and hence economy dependent on India.

Sri Lanka had universal suffrage in 1931, three years after Britain , an influential left party soon after, and a mature political party system when the British left in 1948. But, failure to address the national question made chauvinism and narrow nationalism emerge as major forces, and only the left was truly national in approach. Nepal had its first general elections in 1959, but royal interference ensured that, despite popular protests leading to restoration of democratic elections to parliament, the monarch prevailed and elected governments were dismissed at will. Thus democracy itself became a central political issue.

The Sri Lankan national question was deliberately aggravated by Sinhala chauvinists to degenerate into war by 1983. Despite heavy blows to the economy by a quarter century of war and untold suffering of the people, especially in war-affected regions, the dominant players lack the will to resolve the national question. Nepal , besides its complex national question, faced oppression by class, ethnicity, religion, caste and gender, certainly more severe than in Sri Lanka at any stage. Attempts to resolve some of the grievances were frustrated by the monarchy aided by the ruling elite and reactionary political parties. The withdrawal of the Maoists from parliament in 1995 to launch its People’s War in 1996 transformed Nepal ’s political landscape in one decade.

Sri Lankan parliamentary democracy though severely eroded is still formally intact. The weakening of the Sri Lankan left started in 1964 with its bulk losing its way in parliamentary politics. The left failed the working class and the minorities, since electoral alliances with bourgeois parties meant compromise and accommodation of policies pandering to base communal sentiments. Its decimation at the 1977 elections demoralised the working class; and the reactionary government that came to power in 1977 escalated the ethnic conflict, and used it as a smokescreen to negate the achievements of progressive and popular struggles led by the left, including democratic and fundamental rights, and to introduce a disastrous open economic policy. The Nepali left was, in electoral terms, stronger than that in Sri Lanka , but it too indulged in parliamentary folly. The parliamentary left failed to learn from the royal subversion of its short-lived government in 1992, and the country paid the price.

The first and only successful armed struggle in Sri Lanka was the Marxist-Leninist mass campaign (1966-1970) against caste oppression in the North. Care for the safety of the masses ensured that the number of deaths was small. Since then, the adventurist insurgencies led by the chauvinistic Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in 1971 and 1987-89 claimed nearly 100,000 lives, anti-Tamil violence several thousands, and the war of national oppression and internecine killings since 1983 well over 100,000. The war also displaced around a million internationally, besides up to 500,000 displaced internally. But there is little to show by way of progress on the national question, despite various political deals up to 1983, and efforts since 1983 to resolve the armed conflict, including the Indian intervention in 1987 and the Ceasefire Agreement of 2002, ritually abandoned early this year. In contrast, ten years of armed conflict in Nepal cost 13,000 lives, with the state’s armed forces answerable for over 10,000; and a peace process, born of a crisis created for the parliamentary political parties by the monarch who assumed absolute power, made way for the securing and consolidation of important victories for the people and an end to the monarchy.

Escalation of national oppression, war and armed struggle in Sri Lanka , along with the weakness of the Sinhala left, let the initiative be with the Sinhala chauvinists, irrespective of party label, and the Tamil militants. With the genuine left in disarray and chauvinism dominating politics in the South, and democracy denied on the pretext of the armed conflict in the North-East, the national question remained over-simplified as a Sinhala-Tamil conflict to the neglect of all else. The war, now portrayed as war against terrorism, takes precedence over mounting economic problems and the denial of democratic, human and fundamental rights. All peace initiatives including the failed ceasefire came about under external pressure; and subject to interference by hegemonic powers. Negotiations did not progress beyond formal cessation of hostilities and a vague demarcation of domains of authority that allowed the two sides to conserve and rebuild. Where even humanitarian relief to the victims of war and tsunami has faced stiff chauvinist resistance, efforts to resolve the national question will certainly be sabotaged by disruptive forces within the country and without. As long as the present group of players dominate the scene, there is scant hope for any peace and even less for a solution to the national question; and foreign intervention will use pretexts of human rights and democracy to control the country rather than resolve the national question.

In Nepal, a mass struggle aimed at ending a dictatorial monarchy under a leadership with a working class perspective also dealt constructively with several contradictions, some hostile like that between landlords and agricultural labour, and others ‘friendly’ like those based on identity. But there can be no complaisance since vested interests will kindle ethnic, caste and religious conflict, as seen in the Terai region a year ago, and the opportunist ‘left’ joining hands with the right to undermine the people’s democratic structures secured through mass struggle. Besides subversion in the form of foreign investment, ‘development projects’ and ‘aid’, the corrupting influence of the bourgeois parliamentary system on individuals is a potential danger from within. Yet, even if the new democratic structure anticipated by the Maoists fails to materialise, the politicisation and empowerment of the masses through struggle will act as an immune system to combat attempts to subvert democratic rights and restore oppression by class, gender, ethnicity, caste and religion.

Sri Lanka’s hope could be embedded in its impending tragedy. The deterioration of the political situation will sooner than later make it necessary for the entire people to struggle for democratic and fundamental rights against a reactionary repressive regime backed by one hegemonic power or another. Given the record of narrow nationalism on all sides thus far, only a genuine left leadership can show the way out of the morass.

The lessons for Nepal can be from the experiences of the Sri Lankan left and the dangers of allowing issues of identity dominate over issues of class and class struggle. Such a risk can be averted only through the Maoists holding on to their revolutionary initiative.

South Asian Diaspora

South Asian Taxi Drivers Demand Better Safety Measures

- Lionel Bopage.

Adelaide and Melbourne witnessed thousands of South Asian students, predominantly Indians holding direct action to demand better safety conditions in the pursuit of their role as taxi drivers. In Adelaide they held up traffic at the airport after a colleague was bashed and robbed. In Melbourne they staged a sit down protest at peak hour in the middle of the central business district (CBD) after a colleague was stabbed. In Melbourne their action was spontaneous, vocal, passionate and peaceful. Their action took the state government and the police by surprise. Even though government concessions did not go far enough and was limited to boosting driver safety and security it served as an example for our pensioners, who staged a similar protest in the CBD to get their concerns across. They followed the taxi drivers’ example in taking off their clothing in protest to prove they were ‘fair dinkum’. The reason for the taxi drivers protests are not hard to discern.

The state government has not addressed the broader issues of the overseas students that underpin these protests. Globalisation allows capital to freely move but does not allow labour to do so. In India the process has exacerbated the gap between the rich and the poor but also has created a bourgeoning entrepreneurial middle class caught up in trappings of consumerism. Traditional jobs do not provide sufficient opportunities to maintain such life styles. Hence, those who miss out try moving overseas to countries like Australia .

Overseas students are allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours a week to repay their loans and to pay their exorbitant tertiary fees! Of course, they cannot survive by working 20 hours. If they get caught working more hours they are taken to a detention centre and are instantly deported with no chance of appeal. Melbourne alone has over three thousand such students who mostly work night shifts. Driving taxis is not considered a safe or well paid job by the majority community.

If overseas students are considered Australian for tax purposes, they should be given the same opportunity and security provided to the majority of taxpayers. However, taxi drivers in the majority of cases are considered independent contractors. As such, they do not enjoy the employment rights most other workers are entitled to. The federal minimum wage and work conditions do not apply to them. Hence most drivers are paid less and work longer shifts. After deregulation taxi licences were bought by speculating investors causing licence plates to be sold at extremely high prices, the current costs running up to about $500,000 per plate. In their desire for profit maximisation, the licence-owners not only take advantage of drivers in terms of their pay and conditions, but also passengers in terms of the service provided, to pay for the over-priced licenses.

Many of these protestors have not played an active role in any of the previous protest actions held by the organised trade union movement against the employers and the state implementing their neo-liberal industrial relations agenda which is to sack workers as and when necessary. Nevertheless, the trade union movement needs not only to learn from these exploited students on how to stage direct action but should organise and harness their enthusiasm and guts to raise the consciousness of their own workers.

The trade union movement should immediately start a campaign to ensure taxi drivers are entitled to the normal wage and working conditions enjoyed by the rest of the Australian drivers such as working eight hour shifts enjoying minimum wage and working conditions with entitlements for superannuation. An industrial union for the whole transport industry covering all types of drivers is in the order of the day.

Struggles in India

Letter from Jaipur

- Srilata Swaminathan, Liberation, July, 2008.

Tuesday, 13 May, 1900 hours saw the first of a series of bomb blasts in the crowded Pink City of Jaipur. In all, seven powerful blasts shook the old city, one after the other, and all within thirteen minutes and within a one kilometre area. An eighth bomb was found and diffused by the police.

From the point of view of the bombers the timing was perfect to cause the most damage and havoc. All the places targeted were in the over-crowded, shopping and commercial areas, tourist-oriented spots, mainly residential areas, and the temple areas of Chandpol, Johri Bazaar and Tripolia where, being a Tuesday, there was a good crowd of devotees plus lines of beggars and destitute who get fed by the temples. To make matters worse, it was also the rush hour, and roads were packed with a profusion of pedestrians and vehicles. The colourful confusion of Jaipur’s congested markets which is a great attraction to both foreign and Indian tourists was at its height. At the end of the day, there were 65 dead and 280 wounded. Many of the residents, survivors still complain of hearing defects from the deafening explosions.

Both the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) [CPI (ML)] and All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) were active and helped collect one lakh (100, 000) rupees which was donated to the poor victims of the blasts that were hospitalised. One was struck by the reaction of people in Jaipur who, from the humble rickshawala, vendor and flower-seller to the rich trading communities, intellectuals, teachers, lawyers as, one and all, they have come forward, without being asked, to help in whatever way they could. Immediately after the blasts, people rushed into action. The wounded were immediately taken to the hospital by rickshaw pullers, on cycles, scooters and whatever was handy. Many groups of citizens immediately started collecting fruit, food and drinking water so that the patients and their families did not go thirsty or hungry. Hundreds of blood donors rushed forward. The first to donate blood were the Muslims who donated so much that they met almost the full demand. The lawyers also came forward in hundreds to donate blood as did the employees of the state roadways department, a motorcycle club and hundreds of individuals.

We are also heartened by the mood in the old city. While many are mourning the loss of loved ones, there is no communal tension. Many Hindutva forces tried to raise anti-Muslim slogans both in some residential areas in the affected city and in the hospital where the victims were being treated. They were swiftly dealt with by the local residents, both Hindu and Muslim, and speedily sent on their way.

All this is even more amazing when seen in the light of how the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government and Hindutva forces have been working overtime for several years to spread anti-Muslim sentiments throughout Rajasthan, saffronising textbooks to paint Muslims as traitors, encouraging ghettoisation of Muslims and taking lessons from Modi’s Gujarat . Although it is early days yet, it is remarkable that Rajasthan has not burst into a communal conflagration. Forces in Jodhpur , Ajmer , Kota and elsewhere tried to light the communal fire but failed.

But the blame game between the BJP government in the state and the Congress at the Centre has begun with each holding the other responsible for lack of warning, information etc. The BJP is also desperate to find the culprits especially after their bungling the Ajmer bomb blast investigation last year where they are still to trace or arrest the culprits. They are busy harassing innocent ‘Bangladeshis’, who are very poor and work as rag pickers or unskilled labour but happen to be Muslim, in their frantic attempt to make arrests. They are also threatening them with deportation even though these ‘Bangladeshis’ have ration and voter identity cards and swear they are from West Bengal and are also wooed for their votes by every party! Democratic forces in Jaipur are vigilant, refusing to allow the blasts to provide a pretext for the Sangh Parivar’s and BJP Government’s communal agenda.

Struggles in India

Women’s Assertion Rally by AIPWA in Patna

- Liberation, July, 2008.

The Bihar unit of All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) organised an impressive rally on 30th May consisting of large number of women demanding to rein in the growing incidents of victimisation and rapes of women in the State. Despite the scorching sun, women came in thousands from various corners of Bihar to participate in the rally. Stopped by police barricades, and told that the chief minister (CM) would not meet them, the rallyists held a spirited protest meeting. The march was led by AIPWA National Secretary Meena Tiwary, State President and Secretary Saroj Chaube and Shashi Yadav and others.

Addressing the mass meeting the speakers said that the projects for women’s empowerment in Bihar have proved to be a damp squib. They expressed deep resentment and anger at the rising graph of assaults on women’s life and cases of rape, saying that even women’s dignity is not guaranteed in the State. Among the main demands addressed to the CM in a memorandum are: holding the administration and police accountable for the incidents of victimisation and rape of women, increasing the number of primary schools for girls’ education, stopping distribution of licenses to liquor shops in the name of excise tax collection, declaring Asha and Aanganbadi workers as govt. employees and fixing a minimum of Rs.5000/- for the Asha workers. On the occasion AIPWA also released a booklet titled “Women’s victimisation in Nitish rule – an open letter to Chief Minister: Governmental claims vs. ground realities”

Elections in India

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2008:

Congress- JD (S) -Opportunism Paves the Way for BJP’s Rise to Power

- N. Divakar, Liberation, July, 2008.

Within a week after assuming power in Karnataka, the communal fascist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has come out in its true colours by killing four and injuring many innocent farmers who protested by demanding seeds and fertilizers at Haveri. Instead of coming down heavily on corporate and multinational houses that refused to supply the much needed inputs inspite of pocketing heavy subsidies, the killer BJP government has fired bullets on innocent farmers. With this incident, the BJP has made its class position obvious against small and marginal farmers who are the worst sufferers wanting inputs for the already crisis-ridden cultivation. Perhaps, the BJP did mean ‘development’ – at the graveyards of small and marginal farmers and the rural poor. The incident of police firing at Haveri is a mere taste of the repressive BJP tenure to come.

BJP’s victory in Karnataka assembly elections – 2008 is not a surge of saffron but a failure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) model of soft Hindutva to halt the communal and neo-liberal BJP. It is also a rejection of the opportunist Janata Dal (Secular) [JD (S)] variety of ‘secularism’. The UPA model of governance and alliance has failed to halt the progress of Hindutva forces all over the country and Karnataka has also witnessed the same pattern.

Like most other poll outcomes in recent period, the Karnataka result too reveals the people’s anger against the raging agrarian crisis and spiralling prices, both of which are direct offshoots of the neo-liberal policies being implemented by the UPA and in this regard the UPA has proved to be perfect successor of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In the absence of any credible democratic alternative, people voted for BJP which was not in power in the state independently so far. BJP won not because of its assertion of communal brand of politics, not because of any one national issue but because of a combination of both ‘national’ and ‘local’ factors.

The BJP’s rise in Karnataka has been a steady process spread over the last two decades. In 1983, the BJP had 18 members in the Karnataka state assembly; went down to 2 in 1985; again rose to 4 in 1989 and saw a phenomenal increase to 40 in 1994. Since then, it has steadily increased its tally – 44 in 1999, 79 in last elections in 2004 and 110 in 2008. Karnataka has witnessed various avatars of Sangh Parivar outfits from the days of Jan Sangh right up to the BJP. On the face of it, the BJP victory has been won on the plank of development, anti-price rise and stability, but the BJP’s politics of communal propaganda and communal violence has obviously played a catalytic role. The party has systematically exploited the Idgah Maidan issue in Hubli and Baba Budangiri issue in Chikmagalur, and has engineered anti-Muslim riots in Mangalore and Bangalore on various occasions. Having struck roots in the state, the BJP now seeks to conceal its communal colours behind the garb of ‘social engineering’, pro-farmer postures and advocacy of ‘development’.

The Assembly elections have also indicated a certain realignment of social and political forces in the state. The moot point is the shift in a section of hitherto vote banks of established parties, viz., Dalits and Vokkaligas, and the BJP’s victory in Malnad region which is claimed to have been the region of Left influence, and also in most backward districts like Bellary . BJP has secured more seats in Malnad region because of its communal politics, whipping up communal frenzy centering on the Baba Budangiri issue. Its victory in coastal districts too can well be attributed to communal clashes and the extremely active Sangh Parivar outfits. But, its victory in Bangalore is mainly because of its success in convincing middle classes and the elite about its ‘commitment to development’. The BJP has secured 17 seats out of 28 in Bangalore urban areas. This is an indication that the elitist section of middle class that benefited out of liberalisation policies has lent a much needed helping hand to the BJP in the metro city. Likewise, aggressive sections of real estate and mining mafia have also played a decisive role in the victory of the BJP, even though the backing of the mining mafia is equally enjoyed by other bourgeois parties like the Congress and JD (S). It is an assertion of mafia, the lumpen variety of bourgeoisie, and an offshoot of the process of liberalisation. The entire industry sector has faced a decline in recent months with the exception of the mining sector, which has, contrary to the general pattern, witnessed tremendous growth.

Its victory in the Hyderabad Karnataka region is mainly because of the people’s anger against the extreme backwardness in the region, and the generous supply of money and muscle to BJP by the mining mafias. The pattern is amply evident in the BJP’s victory of 7 out of 9 seats, most of which are reserved (ST) seats, in Bellary region. Its victory in Harapanahalli is a case in point, where Karunakar Reddy, a powerful mining mafia leader, was the candidate. Notes of the denomination of Rs. 500 and Rs.1000 were not only delivered at the doorsteps of voters but were literally flying in the air in this drought-ridden, most backward constituency. The fact that neither the Dalit parties (including the Bahujan Samaj Party [BSP]) nor the Left forces were effective in channelising the discontent brewing among Dalits and other downtrodden is a warning signal for progressive forces in the state. The BJP has won 22 out of 36 seats reserved for scheduled castes (SCs) against 10 by the Congress and 7 out of 16 seats reserved for scheduled tribes (STs). Prof. Assadi says that most of the reserved seats that BJP won are from Lingayat dominated areas, which means that the dominant community of Lingayats has supported Dalit candidates for the victory of the BJP. Dalits have by and large backed the BJP in this election with the Bahajun Samaj Party (BSP) hardly succeeding in making an inroad. It managed to finish second only in two constituencies, that too mainly because of locally popular candidates.

At the same time, it’s also a lesson for the progressive forces in the state that are not yet successful in mobilising and asserting the agenda of the poor and the downtrodden. This is evident from the performance of Left forces, including the new platform of Sarvodaya Party. Perhaps, the Sarvodaya platform of Dalit and farmers organisations paid a heavy price for adopting a soft approach towards the Congress. In fact, they declared open support to the Congress in constituencies where they were not in the fray.

Performance of all Left parties are almost similar barring the Communist Party of India-Marxist [CPI (M)]’s performance in one seat where though they lost their MLA they secured more than 30000 votes and became the runner-up. In all other constituencies, maximum number of votes that the Left could secure was only around 10,000. The Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist [CPI (ML)] polled nearly 7,000 votes in the SC reserved seat of Kanakagiri and polled nearly 2000 and 1000 in two ST reserved seats.

Overall, the BJP has tasted victory by emerging as a party of dominant castes, Lingayats and Brahmins while winning the support of elitist sections of the middle class and the aggressive backing of the money- and muscle-power of the lumpen bourgeoisie represented by real estate and mining mafia. Its main success lies in tilting the balance in its favour by engineering a divide among certain sections – Vokkaligas and Dalits that were hitherto interchangeable social base of the Congress and Dalit parties. With the BJP coming to power, the degeneration of Lohiaite, socialist influence and also the influence of the much acclaimed Dalit movement in the state has come a full circle. With communal fascism in state power, the polity has offered an excellent opportunity for the Left, democratic and progressive forces to wage a direct battle against the forces of obscurantism and of the status quo. It is for the progressive forces to grab the opportunity without displaying any vacillation towards the so-called ‘secular’ potential of the Congress and the JD(S).

Elections in India

Message from West Bengal Panchayat Polls

- Liberation, July, 2008.

Culture

Homage to Vijay Tendulkar

- Liberation, July, 2008.

Noted progressive playwright Vijay Tendulkar passed away on May 19 2008 at the age of 80 following a protracted illness.

Tendulkar revolutionised Marathi theatre with his ruthless exploration of social and political issues. His plays were a weapon to change society and challenge all hidebound ideas and injustices. They exploded the hypocrisies of polite society, broke new ground in their treatment of gender issues, and evolved a fresh genre of political satire full of vitality and contemporary meaning.

‘Shrimant’ (1956) jolted the conservative audience of the times with its portrayal of an unmarried young woman who decides to keep her unborn child while her rich father tries to “buy” her a husband in an attempt to save his social prestige. ‘Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe’ (“Silence! The Court Is In Session”, which went on stage in 1967) was a remarkable comment on the double standards of society towards women. ‘Sakharam Binder’ (1972) explored the different implications of unconventional lifestyles for men and women, and faced accusations of ‘obscenity’.

‘Ghasiram Kotwal’ (1972), based on the life of Nana Phadnavis (1741-1800), the prime minister in the court of the Peshwas, was a fearless satire on the rise of the Shiv Sena, and was met with violent attacks by political opponents. Tendulkar never lost that fearless voice against communal fascism: after the Gujarat genocide he raised the same bold voice against Narendra Modi.

Tendulkar’s writing always retained its sharp and unsparing eye for the exploitative and hypocritical attitudes in society towards women and sexuality. In Kamala, he took the real-life story of a journalist who bought a woman in the rural sex trade to expose the police and political powers involved; only to abandon her once his purpose was served. His ‘Mitrachi Goshta’ took up a theme inspired by the real-life story of an actress whose career was ruined after her same-sex affair became public knowledge.

Tendulkar also turned his pen to writing scripts for cinema and left his mark there too – with stark social commentaries like Manthan, Nishant, Aakrosh and Ardh Satya in Hindi and Samana, Simhasan and Umbartha in Marathi.

Tendulkar’s plays never maintained an artificial separation between society and the stage: his theatre spilled on to the streets while the streets resonated in his plays. The curtain has fallen on his life: but his work lives in the hearts of all those who seek the vital link between literature and lived life.