[Marxism] MLIN [Nov-Dec 2007]: 8th Congress | Prosecute Modi | Nuclear Deal | Rizwanur | Pakistan | Bolivia Interview and More

["CPI \(ML\) Intl Liaison Office" <cpiml_elo@xxxxxxxxx>]

ML International Newsletter
November-December 2007

***********************************************************************

An update on news and ideas from the revolutionary
left in India. 
Produced by: Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist) Liberation international team 
***********************************************************************

Website: www.cpiml.org
Email: cpimllib@xxxxxxxxx and cpiml_elo@xxxxxxxxx

Table of Contents

1)      CPI (ML) 8th Congress Invitation
2)      8th Congress Draft Documents
3)      Arrest and Prosecute Modi
4)      Scrap the Indo-US Nuclear Deal
5)      Obnoxious Nexus that Killed Rizwanur
6)      Anti-Imperialism March
7)      Conference on 1857 War of Independence
8)      Pakistan?s Yearning for Freedom from US Dictates
9)      Custodial Killing of CPI (ML) Activist in Sitamarhi
10)     Karnataka: Betrayal of the Masses
11)     Leading Bolivian Organisers Speak

CPI (ML) Congress

Invitation

Dear Friends,

We are happy to announce that the Eighth Congress of
our Party will be held from 10 to 18 December in
Kolkata. This is the city where the foundation of our
Party was announced on 1 May 1969 and the First Party
Congress held a year later. The revolutionary storm of
those early years was soon met with a massive setback
as the Indian state unleashed a veritable war of
extermination against the fledgling party. But in
spite of the brutal offensive of the Indian state, the
CPI (ML) could not be crushed. In 1974 we picked up
the threads of struggle and began the task of
reorganizing the Party organisation. 

Since then, the Party has come a long way with a
steadily expanding organizational network and
activities spread over diverse fields of people?s
struggles. Every five years the Party has held
all-India Congresses and equipped the Party
ideologically, politically as well as organizationally
to meet the challenges of the developing situation. In
December 1992, the Party had reassembled in Kolkata
for its Fifth Congress soon after the barbaric
demolition of the Babri Masjid. Against the ominous
backdrop of communal fascist aggression and growing
imperialist domination, the Fifth Congress heralded a
new advance in the revolutionary mobilization of the
toiling masses and the progressive intelligentsia to
thwart the growing communal assault on the people and
combat the imperialist offensive against the dignity
and sovereignty of our beloved motherland.  

Today when we approach our Eighth Congress we are
faced with enormous challenges ? challenges in terms
of the conditions facing our people and the nation as
well as the tasks and direction of the communist
movement. Successive central governments have pushed
the country relentlessly into the strategic
stranglehold of the biggest enemy of the world?s
people ? the US imperialism. The Indo-US nuclear deal
is destined to mortgage the country?s strategic
autonomy and international role to growing American
control while India?s integration with the US-led
global war will make India and her neighbourhood
increasingly insecure. Washington has already
identified Pakistan as a safe heaven of Al Qaeda and
there are also growing talks of India?s links with the
international chain of terror. The implications are
quite clear. After Afghanistan and Iraq, the US war
machine is now headed towards Pakistan, and India has
certainly enough reasons to feel alarmed. 

Big corporations, whether foreign or Indian, are fast
appropriating all our natural resources including land
and minerals, water and forests. Special corporate
enclaves are being created across the country
expropriating hundreds of thousands of people to give
big corporate houses enormous tax exemptions and a
free hand to dictate terms to the workers. Corporate
profits have been soaring like anything ? three among
the world?s top twenty billionaires are now from India
and the number of dollar millionaires is also
increasing quite rapidly. But Indian agriculture is
facing an acute structural crisis ? the government has
admitted on the floor of parliament that more than
116, 000 farmers have been compelled to commit
suicides between the mid-90s and early years of the
present decade and the suicides are continuing as
unabated as starvation deaths in the countryside.
Small traders, shopkeepers and shop employees are also
faced with the threat of extinction as big business
storms the retail sector across the country. 

This economic war is certainly not being waged in a
vacuum, it is a war backed by the Indian state with
all its might. Wherever the people are rising in
protest to defend their land and livelihood or to
insist on their right to survival, the state is
resorting to brutal massacres. Kalinganagar,
Nandigram, Mudigonda ? the list is getting longer and
longer. And the massacres are becoming a new leveller
in Indian politics ? Kalinganagar is in NDA-ruled
Orissa, Nandigram is in CPI (M)-ruled Bengal,
Mudigonda is in Congress-ruled Andhra?

This cannot be accepted as the destiny of the Indian
people. This is not the India for which the fighters
of 1857 had revolted against the British colonial
rule. This is not the India for which Bhagat Singh and
his comrades had kissed the gallows. This is not the
India for which millions of Indian workers and
peasants have unfurled the red banner in the face of
all odds. 

But the parties of the ruling classes want us to
accept this state of affairs and surrender all our
resources and rights just as they are surrendering the
dignity and autonomy of the nation to their American
bosses. This is when the communist movement must rise
to the occasion and rescue the country and the people
from this destiny of devastation. We must win real
freedom, democracy and progress through a protracted
and powerful movement of the Indian people. We believe
in this goal, and we believe in preparing ourselves
for this long haul and making every sacrifice
necessary for this revolutionary cause.

We are aware that to fulfil this need of the hour, the
communist movement will have to strengthen itself both
ideologically and organizationally. The CPI (M) and
its Left partners have more than 60 MPs, yet not one
of them could raise a voice against the Special
Economic Zone (SEZ) Act when it was allowed to be
passed unanimously in 2005. The CPI (M) has been in
power in West Bengal for a record three decades, but
the country today identifies it more by Singur and
Nandigram than Operation Barga and land reforms. Yet
instead of taking any lessons from Nandigram, the CPI
(M) leaders arrogantly tell us that their job is to
build and manage capitalism and who but the Tatas and
Ambanis could do it best for them!

We are also aware of the activities of our self-styled
Maoists. Devoid of any political initiative or agenda
and any organic connection with the ongoing mass
struggles of the Indian people, they cling to armed
actions as the only form of struggle. And often such
arms are used against the common people and political
leaders and activists, including those belonging to
the Left and CPI (ML) organizations. Many of our
comrades in Bihar and Jharkhand have been killed in
recent past not by enemy bullets but by guns wielded
by self-styled Maoist squads. 

The communist movement can advance its cause only by
relentlessly combating the ideological derailment and
political bankruptcy from both these ends and by
forging still closer links with the masses. We appeal
to all sincere communists to march with the CPI (ML)
towards the shared goal of thoroughgoing
democratization of India. 

We view the communist movement as an integral part of
the diverse democratic struggles being waged by
different sections of our people. Be it the struggle
for winning equal rights for women and dignity for
dalits and adivasis or the battle against corruption
and criminalisation, we want to work together with
more and more friends, organizations as well as
individuals. 

The Eighth Congress of the Party will take up all the
urgent questions of the people?s movement. Standing
firm on communist ideological principles and the
glorious tradition of Indian communists and
revolutionary masses, we want to respond
wholeheartedly and energetically to the developing
situation and all the opportunities and challenges
that it poses for us. 

As the Party gets ready for the Eighth Congress, we
earnestly appeal to all our friends and well-wishers
to help us in this endeavour in whichever way you can.
We look forward to not only material and monetary help
but also your ideas and suggestions including any
criticisms you may have to help us expand and improve
our work and strengthen the Indian communist movement.


Wishing our struggling bond for the common cause be
strengthened and widened 

Sincerely yours,

Dipankar Bhattacharya
General Secretary, 
CPI (ML)-Liberation

CPI (ML) Congress Documents

8th Congress Draft Documents

The Eighth Congress of the CPI (ML) is to be held at
Kolkata, 10-18 December 2007. The Draft General
Programme and the Draft Agrarian Programme will be
available at:
http://www.cpiml.org/


Indian Politics

Arrest and Prosecute Modi and other Masterminds of the
Gujarat Genocide

- ML Update, 30 October ? 5 November, 2007. 

A recent sting operation revealed chillingly elaborate
details of the Gujarat genocide 2002, from the mouths
of men who feel no remorse or shame, only pride and
gratitude for ?Narendrabhai? Modi who made it all
possible. These revelations unearthed few new facts.
Their importance lies in the fact that they confirm
what many citizen?s fact-finding teams and eye-witness
accounts had documented: evidence of a massive
state-sponsored carnage conducted by the ruling
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in collusion with all arms
of the state machinery.

Leaders of the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP), BJP were heard describing how they raped a
young Muslim woman who was "like a flower"; how they
ripped open a pregnant woman?s womb; how they chopped
up and burnt alive former Congress member of
parliament (MP) Ehsan Jaffri; manufactured diesel and
pipe bombs on a factory-scale; and distributed
truckloads of swords.

Not a single institution - including police and
judiciary - remains free of the charge of aiding and
abetting the communal killers. The Sangh leaders
caught on spy cameras describe how "Narendra bhai got
the police on our side", how the police provided
cartridges, how the police "was standing right in
front of us, seeing all that was happening, but they
had shut their eyes and mouths." Public prosecutors
are busy sabotaging cases against rioters by bribing
and intimidating witnesses while judges are 'induced'
to look the other way. Not even the Nanavati
Commission probe into the riots remained untarnished:
one of the public prosecutors caught on camera
suggested that of the two Justices heading the
Commission, one was favourably disposed towards the
rioters and the other was busy making money.

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the
tapes do not prove anything since they might be mere
?empty boasting?. The very fact that BJP?s activists
boast of gruesome barbarities like slitting open a
woman?s womb, chopping up a man?s limbs and burning
people alive speaks for the communal fascist character
of BJP.

Five years after the pogrom, justice remains a far cry
for the victims. The killers go scot-free and enjoy
power in Gujarat, while Muslims continue to live in
terror. And on the eve of Gujarat elections, justice
for the victims of communal violence is not an agenda
the main opposition party the Congress wants to touch.
BJP leaders like Gordhan Zadaphia who led the communal
mobs in 2002 are now dissidents against Modi, and are
being wooed by the Congress. Asked why the Congress
associated with men like Zadaphia who were identified
with the 2002 violence, Congress? Gujarat leader
Shankarsingh Waghela, himself an import from the BJP,
argued that "the Congress was a ?samudra? (sea) that
absorbed all ideologies." (The Hindu Oct 9 2007) The
question is: can the likes of Zadaphia wash the blood
of their hands in the Congress? ?samudra?? Won?t the
Congress? own hands become stained with that same
blood?

In the wake of these damning indictments by Sangh
leaders of Modi?s personal involvement in that
genocide, the immediate arrest and prosecution of
Narendra Modi is a minimum first step in securing
justice for the victims of the genocide. If the
revelations of a sting operation in the
?cash-for-questions? scandal could lead to action
against MPs, revelations of mass murder surely call
for the arrest and prosecution of the man who
masterminded it.

Indo-US Nuclear Deal

Neither an Instant N-Deal nor a ?Paused? One ? 
Scrap the Deal Altogether!

- Liberation, November, 2007. 

The impasse between the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) government and its Left allies over the Nuke
Deal seems to have come to a sudden end with an
apparent climb-down by the Congress; for the time
being the government seems safe and the prospect of
mid-term polls seems to have receded. The US-led
nuclear establishment, the Congress and the UPA
Government ? all have made a dramatic turn-about in
their stance. Will they ever come clear on this sudden
nuclear somersault?

Last month, the US Ambassador was admonishing India
saying ?Time is of essence.? Now, we have
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief El
Baradei telling India to take its time, since there is
no timeframe to operationalise the deal. The prime
minister?s office (PMO) had said time and again that
Manmohan Singh was willing to stake his credibility
and the life of his government on the deal ? but now
the prime minister (PM) himself has said with
philosophical resignation that there are issues beyond
the nuke deal, that if the deal falls through he will
be disappointed but ?one has to live with
disappointments and move on.? Just a few days before
this change of stance, Sonia Gandhi had declared that
opponents of the Deal were enemies of development. But
now she has said that the Left must not be castigated
as anti-national; they had their ideology which must
be respected in the interests of ?coalition dharma.? 

What lies behind this dizzying volte-face? As far as
the UPA partners are concerned, the decision to halt
the operationalisation of the deal seems to have been
prompted by the fear of early elections. From Lalu
Prasad to Karunanidhi to Sharad Pawar, all UPA
partners who had been loudly advocating the deal
appear to have developed cold feet over the prospect
of facing a poll in the next few months. Despite
optimistic projections regarding the outcome of early
elections, the Congress too has perhaps developed
second thought. But how can the fear of elections sink
in so suddenly prompting a go-slow approach on the
deal? If from a fast forward mode the government now
seems to be prepared to press the pause button for
some time, this is surely happening not against the
wishes of the Bush administration and the American
nuclear establishment. Indeed the White House and
leading US Administrators like Nicholas Burns have
said that they respect India?s coalition democracy and
are confident that the deal will go through
eventually. Why did the American side become ready to
change its timetable? 

Instead of being taken in by the rediscovered rhetoric
of coalition dharma and victory of Parliament, the
democratic opinion in India must keep a close watch on
the American version of the story and reckon with the
threat of a sudden revival of the deal at an opportune
political moment. Negotiations leading to nuclear
deals and strategic agreements usually remain shrouded
in mystery and we must not believe simplistically that
the deal has been dumped. The strategic pause in the
public eye will be accompanied in all likelihood by
?track-II? negotiations behind the scenes, and a fait
accompli will be presented at a more opportune
political moment. In fact, it is not even the process
of pursuing the Deal that has been ?paused?; it is
rather the intensified debate over India?s strategic
autonomy and energy and foreign policies that the
rapprochement between the CPI (M) and the Congress
seeks to ?pause.?     

It is interesting to note how some representatives of
the UPA-Left partnership have now begun to liken the
UPA experiment to the national democratic alliance
(NDA) model. It is being argued by some that if the
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) was willing to shelve its
key Hindutva agenda in the interests of running the
NDA coalition government, Congress should surely be
willing to put its pet Nuke Deal on the shelf in order
to accommodate the Left and keep the UPA Government
afloat. The fact is that during the NDA regime, the
Hindutva agenda of saffronisation and communal
violence were both aggressively pursued; the BJP?s lip
service of not foregrounding Hindutva was merely a
fiction to allow its partners to make the alliance
palatable to their constituencies. In this instance
too, the ?climb-down? by the Congress on the Nuke Deal
will only serve to camouflage the fact that the Nuke
Deal as well as other anti-people, pro-imperialist
foreign and economic policies will continue
unhindered.  

Pressure must therefore be intensified for a complete
scrapping of the deal, dismantling of the entire
architecture of India?s strategic partnership with the
US and reversal of the very course of pro-imperialist
foreign and economic policies. The UPA and its Left
partners must be feeling happy and relieved with their
new-found face-saving formula, the country must insist
on clear and consistent democratic answers to all the
questions that have been thrown up by the nuke deal
debate.

Indian Politics

The Obnoxious Nexus that Killed Rizwanur in ?Secular
and 
Progressive? Bengal

- Kavita Krishnan, Liberation, November 2007.

We all know how caste panchayats try to stop
inter-caste marriages in the interiors of
North-Western India. They hold kangaroo courts and
deliver instant and exemplary ?justice? hoping such
brutal acts would deter all potential ?deviants? to
try and cross caste boundaries. We also know how
freedom of expression often attracts lethal fatwas.
But we always tend to think that such incidents happen
beyond the realm of our liberal and democratic
?mainstream? ? either in some remote feudal badland or
only in a fundamentalist culture! And we are told such
fundamentalism flourishes only in Madrasas and
Masjids. But what happens when a young Muslim man from
the world of computers and graphics designing decides
to marry a Hindu girl he loves?  And that too in
progressive cosmopolitan Kolkata, the capital of
Left-ruled West Bengal? 

Well, as Rizwanur Rahman discovered and we all have
discovered through his experience, such a marriage is
considered a taboo by the rich and the powerful, a
?crime? which needs to be punished with nothing short
of murder. It is perhaps not difficult to understand
that industrialist Ashok Todi, whose daughter Priyanka
had legally married Rizwanur in the month of August,
could never agree to this marriage. But what is really
shocking is that the police took it upon itself to do
Todi?s bidding and ?free? Priyanka. And imagine the
extent to which the top brass of Kolkata police went
in its mission! They repeatedly threatened Rizwanur,
even calling him and Priyanka over to the police
headquarters and ?advising? them to part ways. In
spite of their full knowledge of the marriage having
been legally registered on August 18, they filed a
case of abduction against Rizwanur. And finally when
Rizwanur?s battered body was discovered on railway
tracks on September 21, the Police Commissioner of
Kolkata promptly described his death as an unfortunate
case of ?suicide?! In a press conference, he said
?After taking care of the daughter for 26 years, if
the family finds one morning that she has left them to
start a new life with an unknown youth, parents cannot
accept it. The Todi family reacted because Rizwanur?s
social and financial status did not match theirs; she
was a rich girl from a Marwari family while the boy
was Muslim and from a middle-class background.? Asked
whether the police should have got themselves involved
in the parents? bid to break up the marriage,
Mukherjee declared, ?Then who will get involved? Do
you think the public works department (PWD) will
intervene? This is how we deal with such cases.? 

Don?t these public statements by the Kolkata Police
Commissioner reek of communal and class bias? Don?t
they go against the right of an adult woman to marry
according to her own choice? Why did Communist Party
of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] leaders and their state
government remain silent on such offensive communal
and anti-woman pronouncements by the Police chief?
What happened to CPI (M)?s proud claim that Muslims
facing persecution by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh
(RSS) and communalised police in Gujarat are welcome
to settle in West Bengal where the state machinery is
secular? 

Rizwanur has of course left behind ample evidence of
his will to live ? he gave intimation to the police
and to many of his friends regarding the threat to his
life. The Police Commissioner?s role becomes perfectly
understandable when one realises that he is also the
President of Cricket Association of Bengal; that Todi,
apart from being the managing director of Lux
Hosieries, is also the kingpin of a betting mafia, and
that Todi had ?facilitated? the election of the Police
Commissioner Mr. Prasun Mukherjee as the CAB chief.
What we see here in action is however not at all a
?private? relation between the top cop and a city
business baron, it is a veritable nexus between the
police top brass, big moneybags and the underworld. 

But there is more to the nexus than mere financial
muscle and licensed and unlicensed gunpower ? what
enables the nexus to have a free reign is political
blessings from the powers that be. Have we forgotten
how Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee had thrown
his entire weight behind Mr. Mukherjee?s candidature
(he however lost the first time he contested before
being elected unopposed on the second occasion)?
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya refused to order a Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry, reluctantly
ordering a Crime Investigation Department (CID)
enquiry which meant that the police would have sat in
judgement of themselves! Is it just the government?s
?compulsion? to keep the police top brass in good
humour? The Todis and Sardas (Govind Sarda, the
infamous jute baron, who is a prime accused in the
notorious blood kit scam) are of course all ?esteemed
investors? in the eyes of the Left Front government
and it does not have the will to take any action
against them even if they habitually steal the
provident fund of their employees. 

The Chief Minister of West Bengal Mr. Buddhadev
Bhattacharya had to bow ultimately before the
unprecedented public outrage and was forced to
transfer Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee,
Deputy Commissioner Gyanwant Singh and Ajoy Kumar,
Assistant Commissioner Sukanti Chakraborty and Sub.
Inspector Krishnendu Das for the role they played in
the mysterious death of computer graphics teacher
Rizwanur Rahaman after 26 days of the incident. And
this decision came just after severe indictment by
Kolkata High Court, which ordered for a CBI probe into
the whole matter. The CBI enquiry can decide whether
Rizwanur?s death was suicide or murder; but the Police
Commissioner?s own statements are an open admission
and in fact an aggressive ideological defence of the
fact that the police did indeed hound Rizwanur to
break up his marriage on grounds of class and
religion. ?Transfer? is hardly sufficient punishment ?
someone who openly proclaims communal and anti-woman
views ought to be dismissed from the police force.

The role of the West Bengal Women?s Commission headed
by eminent academic Jasodhara Bagchi too was
objectionable. The Commission was silent on the Police
Commissioner?s remarks. As late as October 9, they
chose to visit Priyanka Todi at her parents? home; and
later, on October 15, they visited Rizwanur?s mother
and assured her that they would convey her wish for a
CBI enquiry to the Chief Minister. In the statement
issued following the visit to Priyanka, they informed
the press that Priyanka had said she had returned to
her parents of her own accord hearing of her father?s
ill health from the police and not under police
pressure; she intended to persuade her parents to
accept her marriage and then to return to her husband
and she failed to understand why her husband had
committed suicide; she was traumatised by Rizwanur?s
death and still loved him; she did not like the media
publicity over her husband?s death and wanted to ?move
on? and live a normal life. No doubt, for a young
woman traumatised by her husband?s death, it is
difficult to accept the painful possibility that her
loving family on whom she now relies for emotional and
possibly material support might have had a hand in his
death. But Priyanka has not denied that her parents
were opposed to her marriage; neither has she denied
that it was the police who told her she should visit
her father since he was unwell. She has not accused
Rizwanur of any ulterior motive in complaining of
police harassment, rather she has reaffirmed that she
married him out of love and intended to return to the
marriage. Rizwanur?s own written testimony point to
insistent police harassment ? and above all, the
Police Commissioner?s own statements are an admission
and in fact an aggressive ideological defence of the
fact that the police did indeed attempt to break up
the marriage. Priyanka?s remarks in no way undermine
any of this evidence of gross communal and patriarchal
misconduct on part of the police. The Women?s
Commission is not expected to establish whether or not
Rizwanur was murdered; but it is expected to demand
action from the state government against public
functionaries who act to curb women?s rights. Instead,
the Women?s Commission remained silent on the
ideologically objectionable remarks of the police
chief and his own admission that he endorsed the
police interference in the marriage, and confined
itself to faithfully relaying Priyanka?s words to the
press, in a manner that subtly suggests that the media
should desist from pursuing the case, that Priyanka
absolves the police of the charge of interference and
concurs with the police claim that Rizwanur?s death
was a ?suicide?. 

After Nandigram., the response of ruling CPI(M), AIDWA
leaders and the WB Women?s Commission to the Rizwanur
matter are a comment on how the commitment of the
state government to corporate heads seriously
undermines the CPI(M)?s commitment to secularism and
women?s rights. 

Birth Centenary of Bhagat Singh

Anti-Imperialism March 

- Liberation, November, 2007.

CPI (ML) held an Anti-Imperialism March to Parliament
against the Nuke Deal in tribute to Bhagat Singh on
the 100th anniversary of his birth. Students and youth
from states of UP, Bihar, Punjab, Bengal, Jharkhand,
Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and
Delhi gathered at Ferozeshah Kotla Grounds. They
garlanded the statue of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and
Rajguru. Jan Sanskriti Manch?s cultural team from
Patna, Hirawal, sang rousing revolutionary songs.
National President of the Revolutionary Youth
Association (RYA) Mohd. Salim led the assembled
students and youth in taking a pledge to uphold the
revolutionary anti-imperialist legacy of Bhagat Singh
and the martyrs of the 1857 War of Independence and to
nurture and cherish the fighting unity of the people
of India against communalism, imperialist economic
policies and the growing unity of India?s rulers with
imperialist forces. Following this, the March was
flagged off by veteran human rights activist Justice
Rajinder Sachar, who reminded that Ferozeshah Kotla
was the spot where Bhagat Singh and his comrades had
launched their revolutionary organisation ? the
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
Justice Sachar exhorted young Indians to struggle for
a democratic India truly free from exploitation in
keeping with Bhagat Singh?s dreams. 

The March then proceeded towards Parliament Street,
ending with a mass meeting at Jantar Mantar. The main
speaker at the mass meeting was CPI (ML) General
Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. Addressing the
gathering Comrade Dipankar said that US imperialism
had replaced British colonialism and India?s ruling
class was playing the role of its agents just as
Bhagat Singh had predicted. He said that no inheritor
of Bhagat Singh?s legacy can allow a government which
is forcing such a slavish Deal on the Indian people to
continue for a single day longer. The UPA Government
must pass the test of Bhagat Singh?s anti-imperialist
nationalism and must scrap the Nuke Deal ? or else
must quit the seat of power. 

The mass meeting was also attended by Supreme Court
advocate Prashant Bhushan and writer Arundhati Roy.
The mass meeting was conducted by the National
President of All India Students Association (AISA)
Indresh Maikhuri; other speakers included the General
Secretary of RYA Kamlesh Sharma, Jan Sanskriti Manch
leader Madan Kashyap, All India Central Confederation
of Trade Unions (AICCTU) General Secretary Swapan
Mukherjee, and All India Progressive Women?s
Organisation (AIPWA) General Secretary Kumudini Pati.

Diaspora

Conference in London Highlights Contemporary Parallels
with 1857 War of Independence

- Liberation, November, 2007.

A one day conference was held in London on Saturday 6
October to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 1857
uprising. Speakers from India and Pakistan addressing
this conference drew parallels with the current
situation in South Asia today. Organised by South Asia
Solidarity Group, the 1857 Committee and the Centre
for South Asian Studies, SOAS, the conference
?1857/2007 Imperialism, Race, Resistance? drew more
than 120 participants. Speakers included Indian human
rights lawyer Nandita Haksar, feminist educationalist
Rubina Saigol from Pakistan; historian and writer on
colonialism and patriarchy Kumkum Sangari, Editor of
Indian CPI (ML) monthly Liberation Kavita Krishnan;
spokesperson of Cageprisoners (the campaign for
prisoners in Guantanamo) Adnan Siddiqui; eminent
civil-liberties lawyer Gareth Peirce; Iraqi Democrats
Against Occupation spokesperson Hani Lazim, and
historian and writer on British imperialism John
Newsinger.  

The conference looked at 1857 as one of the high 
points of continuing popular anti-imperialist
resistance, in which people identifying with different
communities and religions but sharing many aspects of
culture consciously came together to resist an
aggressively racist colonial power. Against this
background, contemporary imperialism, racism and the
rise of the religious right, and the struggles against
them in South Asia and here in Britain were discussed.


Professor Kumkum Sangari highlighted the way in which
the British colonialists involved in suppressing the
uprising recorded and relished their own violence and
acts of torture in pictures and photographs and
letters home mirroring the recent circulation of
videos of torture in Abu Ghraib and other US prisons.
She talked about the participation of women - not only
individual leaders but large numbers of labouring
Dalit and peasant women who made up the resistance.  

Dr Rubina Saigol talked about the way in which
representations of 1857 in Pakistan have been
communalised and masculinised. Discussing the current
situation she emphasised that the notion of terrorism
needs to be questioned since it ignores terrorism by
States. Pakistan?s current role as a front line state
in America?s war had led to de-democratisation with
the protagonists Musharraf and Benazir having been
pre-selected by the US - while all national data held
on all citizens of Pakistan is automatically
transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI).

Kavita Krishnan argued that the ruling elites in India
are still afraid of the spirit of 1857 in which people
have fought not only the colonial rulers but what
Bhagat Singh called the ?Brown Britishers? who
replaced them. Highlighting the thread running through
from 1857 to Bhagat Singh and Naxalbari she referred
to the current struggles against land grabbing by
multinational corporations for Special Economic Zones
in which many have lost their lives. She also
described the popular opposition to the
pro-imperialist Indo-US Nuclear Deal. 

Nandita Haksar drew attention to the injustice of the
Afzal Guru case where a man was facing the death
penalty without any direct evidence against him. She
read out the judgement of the Supreme Court of India
which sentenced Afzal to death to satisfy ?the
collective conscience of society.? Can the collective
conscience of any people be satisfied if a fellow
citizen is hanged without being given an opportunity
to defend himself, she asked?

The conference launched an exhibition on the 1857
uprising which will now be touring the UK and will
also be made available in India and Pakistan. It
concluded with organisers pledging to continue their
campaign for justice for Afzal Guru case and around
the issue of Special Economic Zones.

South Asia

Pakistan?s Yearning for Democracy and Freedom from US
Dictates

- Liberation, November, 2007.

[This article was written before emergency was imposed
in Pakistan- Ed.]
Benazir Bhutto?s return to Pakistan has been marked by
the worst ever incident of suicide bombing in the
recent history of the subcontinent, killing and
injuring hundreds of innocent people. Soon after the
incident Benazir said that she had been warned by
intelligence agencies of a ?brotherly country?
regarding a possible attack on her arrival. Regardless
of whatever input might have been provided by
intelligence agencies, it is not difficult to
understand what possibly triggered such an enormous
tragedy.  
?Join the war on terror or be bombed back to the Stone
Age? was the ?option? given to Pakistan in the wake of
9/11 by none other than Richard Armitage, then US
Secretray of State. Pakistan under President Musharraf
has dutifully heeded that advice and the bombings have
never really stopped. The popular mood on the
Pakistani street and the direction chosen by the
country?s ruling elite are so diametrically opposite
that the conflict can indeed explode anytime anywhere.
And with no credible democratic process to reflect
this public anger, suicide bombings and terrorist
attacks find an obviously fertile ground. 

The ongoing convulsions in Pakistan emanate from two
closely interrelated concerns. With Iraq and
Afghanistan bleeding so profusely under US occupation,
the average Pakistani?s sympathy clearly lies with the
people of Iraq and Afghanistan and Musharraf?s policy
of compliance and active collaboration with the US
naturally remains a source of tremendous mass anger.
Simultaneously, there is a visible yearning for
restoration of democracy, for a real end to military
rule and not just a civilian facade. Far from
satisfying either of these concerns, a US-brokered
?democratic deal? only adds insult to injury. 

How different was the welcome Benazir had got on 10
April, 1986 when she had returned seven years after
her father had been hanged by General Zia ul-Haq! On
that occasion she had landed in Lahore, which unlike
Karachi, is not a Pakistan People?s Party (PPP)
stronghold and yet she was greeted by a much bigger
crowd than could be managed by her party when she
reached Karachi on October 18. It was widely believed
that her father had been hanged at the behest of the
US and so in 1986 Benazir had the sympathy of all
sections of the people of Pakistan who wanted to get
rid of both military rule and American intervention.
It is another matter that far from fulfilling these
twin aspirations, Benazir?s two stints in power
(1988-90 and 1993-96) only earned notoriety for
unbridled corruption.  

Worse still, now in 2007 she has come back from her
self-imposed exile only as another pro-US face. Her
pro-democracy pretension has also been badly exposed
by the deal she struck with Musharraf. While her
member of parliaments (MPs) bailed out Musharraf by
abstaining during the controversial October 6
presidential poll, the latter fully reciprocated by
promulgating a National Reconciliation Ordinance just
on the eve of the poll withdrawing all corruption
charges against Benazir and her key associates.
Meanwhile on the question of the collaborating with
the US in the so-called ?war on terror? Benazir
continues to back Musharraf to the hilt as has been
evident during her response to the ?Operation Silence?
campaign when hundreds of people were killed by the
Pakistani Army in the name of freeing Lal Masjid from
the control of fanatics and terrorists. 

The events happening in Pakistan today are mostly
choreographed by the Bush administration. On September
10 Nawaz Sharif was bundled back to Saudi Arabia soon
after his plane had landed at Islamabad because he
still does not figure in the US scheme of things. But
the same Musharraf extended all courtesy and
assistance to Benazir thanks to the US-brokered
Bhutto-Musharraf power-sharing deal. The US has
offered all help to investigate the suicide bombing
plot and by all indications US intervention in
Pakistan?s internal affairs will continue to grow. The
threat of Pakistan being reduced to another
Afghanistan in the name of combating terrorism will
continue to loom large. 

Against this backdrop, we in India can only keep our
fingers crossed while hoping wholeheartedly for a real
anti-imperialist democratic resurgence in Pakistan
that alone can bring some meaningful political change
in that country and lasting peace in the subcontinent.


Struggles in India 

Custodial Killing of CPI (ML) Activist in Sitamarhi

- Liberation, November, 2007.

A popular leader of CPI (ML) in Runni-Saidpur of
Sitamarhi district, Comrade Ashok Sah, was killed in
police custody in the local thana after he was
arrested at mid-night on October 4 on fake charges.
Comrade Ashok, formerly a CPI (M) activist, had joined
the CPI (ML) along with many others some years ago and
had been at the forefront of people?s struggles.
Recently he had been involved in the movement for
providing relief to the flood victims in the district
and had exposed the nexus of local political leaders
with corruption in public distribution system (PDS)
distribution. 

Comrade Ashok?s wife Manju Devi, (who had also lost
the use of one of her legs in police firing on a 1998
protest for relief to flood victims) reached the thana
immediately after the arrest where she witnessed a
brutal beating of her husband by the thana in-charge
and other policemen. Seeing her, the thana in-charge
told her ?Let us see which [district magistrate] DM or
[chief minister] CM now comes to save the life of this
fellow who keeps on sending petitions against us.
Today we will end his game.? The police roughed her up
and sent her back home. She mobilised people and again
went back to thana, but was told her husband was not
there. 

CPI (ML) comrades immediately organised a road
blockade in protest, which forced the police to hand
over the mutilated body to the kith and kin. The
corpse had the tongue bulging out of the mouth, and
there were marks of laceration on the neck. These
signs were noted by the PUCL fact-finding team that
examined the body; though the inquest report fails to
mention anything unnatural about the state of the
corpse. 

Comrade Ashok Sah told the Chief Minister in the
latter?s Janta Durbar on 24 September that his life
was in danger because he exposed some politicians and
officers in the scam appropriating the flood relief
fund and he had been implicated in fake cases of
murder and rape by the local politician-police-mafia
nexus. He had named the husband of local JD [Janata
Dal] (U) member of legislative assembly (MLA) Guddi
Devi (noted criminal Rajesh Kr. Chowdhury who is now
in jail), and had also implicated a local corrupt
politician Devendra Yadav (of the CPI (M)). In
response to his appeal at the Janta Darbar, the Joint
Secretary, Chief Minister?s Secretariat, sent a letter
to the superintendent of police (SP) dated 25/09/07,
Sitamarhi, asking him to personally conduct an enquiry
and commenting that it appeared that Ashok Sah had
been framed on false charges due to local politics.
This was followed by a letter from the deputy
inspector general (DIG) to the SP dated 29/09/07
reiterating the same.     

Comrade Ashok Sah was currently the District Convenor
of All India Agrarian Labourers? Association (AIALA)
and Block Secretary of CPI (ML). Ashok Sah had exposed
politicians, officers, police and feudal forces
involved in corruption of the area. He successfully
fought the struggle to rehabilitate 256 patta-holders
and stopped the eviction of Dhaangar Scheduled Caste
people from their lands. He also fought against the
corruption in PDS, in MLA local area development fund,
and for the rights of vendors working on footpaths. He
had filed a case against local politician Devendra
Yadav, associated with the CPI (M), having unearthed
evidence of his involvement in a scam in PDS rations.
In reaction to this, it was Devendra Yadav along with
MLA Guddi Devi?s husband who had framed him in June
2007 on false charges of rape. 
An inquiry through Commissioner, Tirhut range and by
IG, Muzaffarpur, has been ordered by the state
government, owing to the immense mass pressure and
widespread condemnation of this heinous killing by the
police-mafia nexus. However, it is clear that any
enquiry will be an eye-wash unless the thana incharge,
the BDO and other accused policemen are arrested and
the DM and SP of Sitamarhi are removed and action
taken against them before the commencement of the
inquiry.  

The Peoples Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), Bihar,
has also come up with its investigation report which
holds the police as well as criminal-politician nexus
responsible for this murder. The report notes that
police officials had no business to arrest Ashok Sah
as the fake case against him was under investigation
by the IG, Muzaffarpur, and the police was supposed
not to take any action till the inquiry was over. The
report also notes that Ashok Sah was arrested at 12 AM
(mid-night) on 4 October but the concocted case diary
shows his arrest was made at 3.30 AM. Further, the
dead body was returned to the family members after the
post-mortem although, in case of custodial deaths, it
is mandatory for the police to inform the family
members of the deceased immediately. 

Thousands of people held a Protest March on October 12
at the Sitamarhi district headquarters to demand
immediate arrest Comrade Ashok?s killers. This march
was led by AIALA National President Rameshwar Prasad
and CPI (ML) CC member Meena Tiwary along with many
local leaders and cadres of Sitamarhi and Darbhanga
districts. A statewide protest day was also called by
the Party on October 10 and demonstrations and dharnas
were organised in almost all districts of Bihar on
these demands. The CPI (ML) will also protest before
the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on October
24.      

Patna March against Custodial Killing of Com. Ashok
Sah
CPI (ML) organised a protest march in Patna on October
24 and condemned the Nitish Govt. for giving a free
hand to the criminal-police-politician-bureaucrat
nexus in the state. Thousands of people from districts
like Bhojpur, Rohtas, Kaimur, Nalanda, Arwal,
Jehanabad and Patna including women, agrarian
labourers and poor peasants came to join this march,
led by led Party State Secretary Nand Kishore Prasad
and Ramjatan Sharma, KD Yadav, Saroj Chaube, Mina
Tiwary, Ramadhar Singh, Kamlesh Sharma, Shashi Yadav
and others. They condemned the brutal killing of
Comrade Ashok Sah in Sitamarhi and expressed their
outrage over not arresting the thana incharge and
block development office (BDO) of Runni Saidpur block
and other accused. Bihar government's deliberate
silence speaks enough of the protection extended to
the mafia they said, and reiterated for their demand
of a judicial inquiry.

Comrade Nand Kishore Prasad said that this killing is
indicative of the fact that criminal-mafia-politician
nexus is getting stronger day by day in state led by
Nitish Kumar, and all hype of 'good governance'
practically means an open threat to those who try to
raise their voice against oppression and loot. The CPI
(ML) pledges to carry forward the struggles and issues
for which Comrade Ashok sacrificed his life, he said.
AIALA President Rameshwar Prasad, AIKSS President
Rajaram Singh, CPI (ML) MLA Arun Singh and others also
addressed the gathering.

The meeting passed several resolutions condemning the
anti-people criminal nexus in the state, to intensify
the movement against the government, and demanding the
arrests of the killers of Comrade Ashok Sah. One
resolution criticized Nitish Govt. for its failure to
provide employment to the rural poor and for excluding
them from the below poverty line (BPL) lists and
demanded proper implementation of national rural
employment guarantee scheme (NREGS) and to bring every
poor under PDS. It also asked for compensation in case
of governmental failure in doing so. The increasing
attacks on poor, dalits, agrarian workers and women by
feudal-criminal-police-bureaucrat nexus were condemned
in another resolution and demand was made for
punishing the concerned DM and SP if such oppression
continues. The government was severely criticized for
a high rise in crimes under the Nitish rule. While its
apathy and criminal insensitivity towards the sorry
plight of flood affected people in Bihar was condemned
as thousands of people have been left unattended in
face of starvation and epidemics. It was demanded to
give them proper compensation besides ensuring free
rations and medication to the needy.

Politics in India

Karnataka: Betrayal of the Masses

- Divakar N., Liberation, November, 2007.

In Karnataka, ?Swamijis? are turning into politicians
while politicians are queuing behind astrologers.
Pejawar Mutt Swamiji of Udupi, who belongs to a
Lingayat mutt, is taking an active part in installing
a BJP-JD(S) government in the state. He is also
prepared to rope in the services of few more Swamijis
in the attempt. The corporate media and political
pundits are cautioning of a possible ?backlash? from
the powerful Lingayat community if the JD (S) does not
honour its agreement of transferring power to the BJP.
One is not sure if they really mean a backlash from a
community or from a section of industrial mafias in
mining and real estate businesses.
 
The Congress, once ditched by the very same JD (S) 20
months back, is weighing its options of fresh
elections, horse-trading and forming a good old JD
(S)-Congress coalition government. It is also keenly
watching the national situation to see if there are
chances of snowballing into mid-term elections. The
party expects a situation of simultaneous elections to
the state and the centre to be more beneficial to the
party in the state. The Congress is biding time as
immediate elections in the state may not go in its
favour in the backdrop of its not-so-impressive or
poor performance in the recently concluded municipal
elections. The Congress is also a little worried of
unnecessarily carrying an anti-incumbency factor to
the next elections if the coalition materialised. 

The BJP ? in spite of a major setback to its lifetime
dream project of installing the first ever communal
government in the state that is considered to be the
gateway of communal politics in the South ? is
courting ?martyrdom? eyeing a sympathy wave in the
future elections to get an independent majority.

JD (S), on the other hand, is conditioned by its
so-called secularism that is expected to lead to
retaining the Chief Ministership in another round of
coalition either with the Congress or with the BJP.
Kumaraswamy and his MLAs, inspired by their remarkably
improved performance in recent municipal elections,
are pinning their high hopes on a piece of master
strategy from Deve Gowda to retain the post of the
Chief Minister with them.

Hence, Devegowda has come up with five conditions for
the BJP aiming to reinvigorate its discredited secular
credentials and to keep the powerful lobby of steel
mines that call the shots in the form of corruption
and murder charges against the Gowda family either
through Janardhan Reddy, MLA or Sriramulu, minister of
the BJP from Bellary, under control. Hence, they want
the BJP hands off from the issue of riots in Mangalore
and of the Baba Budangiri in Chikmagalur. JD(S) is
also facing a crisis of reconciling the interests of
its own immediate base of farmers in Mandya ? Mysore
region and the larger class interest that the party
represents in the era of globalisation, where state
policies favour corporate big bourgeoisie in
governance. This is self evident in the issue of the
Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC). But
Deve Gowda wants only the removal of its MD leaving a
whole lot of affected farmers and people in the lurch.
In order to offset the effect of BMIC controversy in
the overall orientation of state policies, JD(S)
offered 7000 acres of land in Nandagudi on a platter
to corporate houses in spite of stiff resistance from
farmers. Neither the BJP nor the JD(S) had any quarrel
in terms of policy, just rival interests of
competitive politics representing this or that section
of real estate, construction, industrial mafias and
corporate houses.

In fact, in the past 20 months rule, the JD(S) has
played into the hands of the BJP and the BJP has
emerged as the ultimate gainer in the whole exercise
in spite of losing its term in the rule. The BJP has
cut into the vote-bank of both the Congress and the
JD(S). Recent municipal elections are the best
indicators. It has played the communal card very
effectively in order to cultivate its own brand of
politics in the state which was not so influential
otherwise. It was evident in the Mangalore communal
riots, the arrest of an editor of a secular magazine
in Mangalore as a part of suppression of freedom of
expression, scores of fake encounter deaths in
?Naxal?-dominated Western Ghats, attack on Christians,
Dalits and progressive intellectuals and so on. The
BJP used Baba Budanagiri issue to the hilt in order to
use it as a constant source of whipping up communal
frenzy in the region. Ananthakumar, MP went to the
extent of promising conversion of ?Bababudangiri? into
?Dattapeetha? if it was voted to power with
independent majority. Quite understandably, the JD(S)
had no quarrel with the BJP all these months but for
sermonising, at times, in order to protect the overall
class interests of the bourgeoisie. On the other hand,
the BJP has also made much progress in emerging as the
darling of the ruling classes in the state,
particularly to the industrial and mining mafias and
the forces of the new economy. In fact, neither BJP
nor JD(S) had any real quarrel over any real issue of
policy that affected the social fabric and economic
matrix of the society.

Some political pundits in Karnataka are worried over
the ?betrayal? to the coalition dharma. Unfortunately,
many of them tend to forget the larger picture of
fundamental betrayal to masses who gave the verdict
against the policies of liberalisation in the last
elections. They also conveniently forget the politics
of class interests that guide any adherence or
betrayal to any ?dharma? of any variety whether it is
religion, politics or coalition. Ultimately, it is the
hard economics that determines the hard politics.

International

Leading Bolivian Organisers Speak

- Surya.

The struggle in Bolivia has significantly intensified
in the last few months. While the Bolivian oligarchy
is plotting a coup against President Evo Morales in
cahoots with the United States of America (USA), the
people have taken to the streets. In the first half of
September 2007, 100,000 people from various streams
including peasants and indigenous movements converged
on Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia, for a
Social Summit in defence of the Constituent Assembly.

Bolivia is a country of 9.1 million people who are
largely of Quechua, Aymara or mixed ethnicity. Quechua
and Aymara are among the indigenous people of the
region. Bolivia is also one of the poorest countries
in Latin America. La Paz, located at a height of 11,
910 ft, is the highest capital city in the world. Evo
Morales, the first indigenous president, was elected
in December 2005 with a 54% vote after years of
massive peasant, workers and indigenous peoples?
protests. 

In July 2007 as the crisis was brewing Surya and
Tamarai met with activists in Bolivia. The interviews
were conducted on July 2 in La Paz, the capital of
Bolivia. Below are excerpts from interviews with
important organisers of the ongoing movement to change
Bolivia. 

The first interview is with Antonia Rodriguez, a
women?s leader from Movement Towards Socialism (MAS)
working in capital La Paz. Diane did the translation.
Antonia has been a MAS electoral candidate from Al
Alto section of La Paz. MAS came into being as a
result of the struggle for the right of peasants and
indigenous people to grow coca leaves, which are
deeply rooted in the culture of Bolivia. MAS works for
indigenous peoples rights and is for the
nationalisation of natural resources of Bolivia.
President Evo Morales is the leader of MAS. The full
interview will be published in Women?s Voice.  

S&T: What has been achieved since MAS won the election
in 2005-06?
MAS: There is tranquility and free speech but
economically there has not been much gain. Before the
shoe shine boys and other poor people would be afraid
and would hide themselves out of shame. People are now
proud of who they are.

In decision making the humble people have more of a
voice. Now for instance in the assembly for writing a
new constitution they have more of a voice. The
constituent assembly will be writing the new laws on
which there will be a referendum. We are hoping the
new laws will be beneficial to common and humble
people.

S&T: When will the constituent assembly process be
complete?
MAS: Recently there was a ruling to extend the
deadline for 3 months starting August. The delegates
have to come up with the draft of the new constitution
by then. The elections will follow in the following
year. 

It is estimated that the new constitution will come
into effect by August 2008.

S&T: What is the role of major industries in Bolivia?
MAS: The large industries are controlled by the
private owners. Recently it was found that large
companies are not paying taxes while the small
businesses pay a lot more taxes. The hope is that it
will be more transparent in the future.

S&T: In the next 5 years what are the major challenges
for MAS?
MAS: They are going to take back the natural
resources. The revenues from these natural resources
will be used for the benefit of the country. The taxes
will also be used for the benefit of the country.
Bolivia will be well known for its achievements in the
next five years. 

S&T: MAS stands for Movement towards Socialism. Is MAS
trying to move towards Socialism?
MAS: This is a process that will take several years
and we will suffer during this process. If it is
immediate there will be a civil war. We prefer to have
a slower process to take conscious moves and we can
wait for the results.


The second interview is with Salutiano Laura,
Executive Secretary of the Central Obrera Boliviana
(COB) i.e. the Bolivian Workers Center, in La Paz.
Jose Louis did the translation. COB was founded in
1952 after the revolution. It is the largest and most
militant workers federation in Bolivia. COB is the
umbrella organisation that includes the Union
Federation of Bolivian Mineworkers, the backbone of
organised labour in Bolivia. 

S&T: Could you provide a brief history of COB? 
COB: Welcome to the house of labourers. [We are
sitting in the COB office/auditorium.] COB is an
independent workers union. It was formed on 17 April,
1952. It was formed as a result of the
anti-imperialist, peasants, workers struggles and
struggles of other sectors of Bolivia. It was formed
after the national revolution. The fight against
injustice was both in urban and rural areas as the
government was pro-imperialist. It has branches in La
Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Oruro, Potosi (mining),
amongst other cities and regions.

S&T: How many workers does COB represent?
COB: The COD (Bolivian Workers Centre?s La Paz
Department (COD)), which is a constituent department
of COB, consists of 67 different union and federations
in La Paz. I (Mr. Laura) am the president of the
textiles union and the executive secretary of COD. COD
represents textiles workers, teachers (rural and
urban), mine workers, construction workers, student
and university workers, municipal workers in
telecommunications, water, and electricity. The total
number of workers in COD are around 150, 000. All over
the country the COB represents 500, 000 workers.

S&T: COB supported MAS in the 2005 elections. What was
its position?
COB: After 2005, the opposition to the neo-liberal
policies is intensifying. Politically, we are an
independent workers union. The most important position
of the COB is the nationalization of the hydrocarbons.

S&T: In May 2006 nationalisation of hydrocarbons was
announced. What do you think of that?
COB: On May 1, 2006, the only positive change was that
18% came into public hands but 82% stayed in private
control. COB wants the complete nationalisation of
hydrocarbons i.e. 100% under public control. 

S&T: Then, who controls the hydrocarbon industry in
Bolivia?
COB: The YPFB [Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales
Bolivianos is the state-owned hydrocarbons company] is
the owner of hydrocarbons in Bolivia but they in-turn
license to Multi-National Corporations (MNCs). There
has been protection of MNCs since 2006.

S&T: Evo Morales promised to invest in education,
healthcare etc. What do you think?
COB: The funds that will be received from the
nationalization of hydrocarbons can in turn be
invested in education, healthcare, etc. It seems to be
a priority of Evo Morales. 

S&T: Have the promises that were made during the
election of 2005 been met?
COB: This is part of an anti-globalization process.
Before this government, especially in the public
sector, there was a lot of corruption. Since 2006, the
victories for the workers have only been partial.
Still the stability for workers does not exist. Right
now it is impossible to have stability. For each
worker that is inside there are five workers outside
looking for work. The workers can easily be fired.
There is no justice for workers but justice for the
enterprise. 

S&T: What can be done to bring stability to the
workers?
COB: There is no stability for workers in Bolivia,
except for teachers. All workers work on short term
contracts. Some have a 3 month, some have a 6 month
and some one year contract. This is another cause for
instability. 
The demand of the textile workers is to have a more
export oriented products. Workers also should have
health care, social security etc. Only very few
workers have this now. All workers should have these
benefits. 

S&T: Any demands in the short term for the workers,
maybe in the next 5 years?
COB: The unemployment is very high. It is about 17%.
We would like that to be addressed. Also, more than
50% of the workers are in the informal sector. We
would also like this to be addressed.

S&T: Is it possible to have a Workers? party in
Bolivia?
COB: At this point it is very difficult to have a
workers? party in Bolivia, especially in urban areas.
The unemployment is so high and there is so much
competition between the workers that the conditions
are very difficult. 
The experience we have had is very difficult. The
political crisis, economic crisis and social crisis is
making it very difficult. The only solution for COD
and organizations affiliated with COB is to have a
social revolution of workers, peasants, students,
marginalized, and join social movement for
revolutionary social change under the leadership of
the workers. 

S&T: Is it similar to Cuba?
COB: Yes, we agree with the direction of Cuba. 

S&T: What is the position of COB on Cuba and
Venezuela?
COB: Cuba is undergoing a very good process. It is
anti-imperialist. Venezuela is not the best process.
It originated in the military. It does not have a
democratic and stable process and vision for the
evolution of the society.  




__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism