[Marxism] MLIN [May-June 09] | Elections | Nepal | Sri Lanka | May Day | Dr. Sen | and More

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

ML
International Newsletter
May-June
2009



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

An
update
on news and ideas from the revolutionary left in India. 

Produced
by: Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation
international team



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

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

Emails: [cpiml_elo@xxxxxxxxx]
and [cpimllib@xxxxxxxxx]



Table of Contents

15th
        Lok Sabha Elections and Beyond
        Indian
        Government Must Stop Intervention in Nepal
        Sri
        Lanka: Playing Games with a Crisis
        Stop
        Supporting the Genocidal War Against Tamils in Sri Lanka!
        May
        Day Reports from India
        Dr
        Binayak Sen: Punishment by Trial
        Appropriating
        Ambedkar
        World
        at the Crossroads Conference
        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
governmentâs 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 Yadavâs 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) â"The removal
of the Maoists from government is nothing less than a coup. It
reveals the real situation in Nepal â 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 "âmilitary high command, backed by right-wing parties
tied to the countryâs 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-Mâs 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 Yadavâs 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 âSafety Zoneâ. 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 âinternational communityâ, 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 âinternational opinionâ. 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 âsole representativeâ
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 â 04 May, 2009.




A shameful spectacle of opportunism is being played out in Indian
politics even as Sri Lanka is waging a chilling âfinal solutionâ
to its Tamil national question. In the name of a war to eliminate the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mahinda Rajapakseâs 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 âcampsâ, where by all accounts they will be kept
under detention for three years. Sri Lankan journalists questioning
their governmentâs 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
Governmentâs brutal suppression of the right to self-determination
of its Tamil population that is the biggest obstacle to peace.





The SLAâs 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. Indiaâs 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 âTamil Eelamâ or separate Tamil
state for Sri Lankan Tamils. DMK leader and TN Chief Minister
Karunanidhi went on a âfastâ 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 âheavy artilleryâ as far as possible
â but has made it clear that the war will continue. The promise, in
any case, carries little weight â 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 Governmentâs 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: âWe 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 âlooking after security requirementsâ 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 Gandhiâs
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 âpeace-keepingâ
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 âTamil militancy received (India's) support...as a
response to (Sri Lanka's)âconcrete and expanded military and
intelligence cooperation with the United States, Israel and
Pakistan,â justifying this and the volte face of sending in the 
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) on the grounds that âInter-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 âamoralâ way played
with the lives of millions of Tamil people, is today trying to offer
the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi as âmoralâ 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 stateâs brutal response to the Maoist
insurgency instead of blindly toeing the official âwar on terrorâ
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 âanti-terorristâ 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 âhostileâ, 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 âconspiracyâ 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
âlinksâ with the Maoists.  A number of witnesses too, under
obvious tutelage from the police, have been found trying to 
âimproveâ 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 Senâs right to an open and
speedy trial.



Given
the weakness of the prosecutionâs 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 Senâs 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 âcrimeâ 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 Indiaâs oldest human
rights groups, Dr Sen produced several reports criticising the 
Chhattisgarh governmentâs âSalwa Judumâ campaign. 




The
Salwa Judum campaign, according to many of its critics, is a thinly
veiled attempt to relocate villagers - in the name of âprotectingâ
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)âs 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 â
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 â
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 â founder of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh,
and Advaniâs hero. Mookerjee said the Bill would âshatter the
magnificent structure of Hindu cultureâ, as Dhananjay Keer recorded
in his book Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission (1962, page 429, cited by
A G Noorani in âPower Driveâ, Frontline Volume 26 - Issue 08:
Apr. 11-24, 2009). Advaniâs 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 âcause great psychological upheavalâ to men and âlead
to mental disease and distress.â (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 âfirst and greatest lawgiver of the world.â Clearly, for
Mookerjee, as for the BJP-Sangh Parivar-Ram Sene etcâtoday the
subordination of women (and preservation of caste hierarchy) is
essential to maintain what they proclaim is the âmagnificent
structure of Hindu cultureâ â while for Ambedkar, caste and
gender discrimination were abhorrent and had no place in a democratic
India.     




Advaniâs
brethren in the Sangh Parivar recently launched a campaign of
massacre, rape and arson in Kandhamal â targeting Dalits who had
converted to Christianity. It is well known that Ambedkar had seen
conversion as a gesture of âopting outâ, 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 âcrimeâ 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 âsocial justiceâ leaders challenged Advaniâs
claims with any of the above facts.      




The
BJP is undoubtedly the party that is most fundamentally opposed â
both in self-avowed programme as well as practice â to Ambedkarâs
social vision. But what of the Congress? And of parties like the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which claim to espouse Ambedkarâs 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
Ambedkarâs socio-economic vision. Ambedkar championed social
dignity for dalits â 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.   




Ambedkarâs
anti-feudal vision led him to propose nationalization of land.
Ambedkar had actively backed the Mumbai textile workersâ strike in
protest against the British Governmentâs draconian Bill against
workersâ strikes, asserting that the right to strike was âsimply
another name for the right to freedom.â 

Ambedkar
held that the Stateâs role is to protect workersâ rights, not
privileges of private capital, âAnyone 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. â Liberty from the control of the state is
another name for the dictatorship of the private employer.â 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), âA calculated move has been witnessed in recent times
to denigrate Ambedkar and project him as having been opposed to
Indian freedomâ.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
âWorld at the Crossroads Conferenceâ 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 werenât 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 â one could say today,
socialism and devastation. The theme of the Conference â âWorld
at a Crossroadsâ â expressed this choice, and its slogan â
âfighting for socialism in the 21st centuryâ â 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 âAcknowledgement of Aboriginal Landâ 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 âCapitalism's Crises and Our Solutionsâ â
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 â but
these struggles are important because people change in the course of
struggles. The task for revolutionaries is âto make the crisis in
capitalism become a crisis of capitalismâ, he said.



US
Imperialism and the âWar on Terrorâ
The
next session featured a discussion on the âwar on terrorâ in
Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world, assessing the
situation after the election of US President Obama and his promises
of âchangeâ. Speaking at this session, DSP leader Pip Hinman 
confronted the lie peddled by US and Australian governments that the
war in Afghanistan is the âgood warâ. Pointing out that Obama had
intensified the US offensive in Afghanistan, she called for âall
Australian troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan now.â 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 Israelâs genocide
in Gaza, and his declaration that âJerusalem will remain the
capital of Israel and must remain undivided.â He reminded of the
racist remark that the father of Rahm Emanuel had made on his sonâs
appointment as Obamaâs new Chief of Staff: âObviously he will
influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldnât he be? What
is he, an Arab? Heâs not going to clean the floors of the White
House.â Vally concluded that âMartin Luther King spoke the truth
to power, Obama spoke lies to get into power.â 




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 governmentâs 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
âNever againâ â and yet, at Palestine, at the Tamil areas of
Sri Lanka, the genocide continues, and âthe world continues not
just to ignore it but continues to fund it.â 




âChange
the System, not the Climateâ
Addressing
another major session on âConfronting the climate change crisis: an
eco-socialist perspective,â Ian Angus, founder of the Eco-socialist
International Network and editor of Climate and Capitalism, said that
the âworst-case scenariosâ painted by the IPCC on climate change
had proved too optimistic. âGreenâ capitalists, he said, could
offer nothing more than âgreenwash.â Now, increasingly, even
those like James Gustave Speth, called the âultimate insiderâ
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 capitalismâs built-in tendency to unbridled growth,
âCapitalism as we know it today is incapable of sustaining the
environment.â



Angus
fervently advocated the espousal of âeco-socialismâ 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 Benjaminâs remark (in the context
of Marxâs description of revolutions as the locomotives of history)
that âPerhaps revolutions are not the train ride, but the human
race grabbing for the emergency brake.â
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.
Itâs 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 âfullest possible
development of human beings.â 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 â 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 Chavezâs Bolivarian Revolutionary
Movement (MBR-200), and head of Venezuelaâs diplomatic mission to
Australia reiterated that âUS hegemony in the region is finished!â


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 âUh! Ah! Chavez No
Se Vaâ (Chavez isnât 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 USâ
strategic embrace. Challenging the myth of Indiaâs âneoliberal
success story,â she spoke of the reality of farmersâ suicides â
but also of peasantsâ 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
Indiaâs ruling class. She also expressed solidarity with the
aspirations of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka for self-determination,
and condemned Indiaâs 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: âWhy be a Marxist todayâ, the French Left
and the remarkable peopleâs struggles and workersâ 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 âSexism and the
System,â along with Reihana Moideen (Philippines) and Jay Fletcher
(Green Left Weekly), and another on âYoung socialistsâ fighting
backâ â where she discussed AISAâs 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 â demanding
that the US Government immediately and unconditionally release the
five Cubans imprisoned in the US since 1998 as alleged spies, but
whose only âcrimeâ 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-continentâs voice of
defiance against tyranny     

Iqbal
Bano, the sub-continentâs 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 subcontinentâs
foremost Left poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz by General Zia-ul Haq, she sang
Faizâs immortal song âHum Dekhengeâ (We shall witness) at a
Lahore stadium full of 50, 000 people, wearing a black sari in
defiance of Ziaâs ban on the sari. As her liquid voice reached the
crescendo â declaring âCertainly 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  â and thrones will be overturned....,â people joined
with slogans of âInquilab Zindabadâ (Long Live Revolution!). In
future years, Faiz would be requested, âPlease recite that song of
Iqbal Banoâsâ â because she had made it her own. Smug Indian
commentators like to contrast the supposedly superior democratic
culture of Indiaâs people with the supposed passivity of Pakistanâs
people â but it is Pakistan that gave us that immortal moment of
democratic culture â where thousands of people sang in defence of a
jailed atheist and communist poet â who had drawn upon progressive
traditions within Islam to confront the zealot Zia.   




Iqbal
Bano â 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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