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

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

ML International Newsletter
May-June 2009

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An update on news and ideas from the revolutionary left in India. 
Produced by: Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation 
international team 
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Websites: [mlint.wordpress.com] and [www.cpiml.org]
Emails: [cpiml_elo@xxxxxxxxx] and [cpimllib@xxxxxxxxx]

Table of Contents

1)15th Lok Sabha Elections and Beyond
2)Indian Government Must Stop Intervention in Nepal
3)Sri Lanka: Playing Games with a Crisis
4)Stop Supporting the Genocidal War Against Tamils in Sri Lanka!
5)May Day Reports from India
6)Dr Binayak Sen: Punishment by Trial
7)Appropriating Ambedkar
8)World at the Crossroads Conference
9)Adieu Iqbal Bano!

Indian Elections

15th Lok Sabha Elections and Beyond

- ML Update, 5-11 May, 2009. 

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

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

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

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

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

South Asia

Indian Government Must Stop Intervention in Nepal

-  ML Update, 5-11 May, 2009.

The fledgling republic of Nepal seems to be standing on the verge of a new 
phase of civil war. Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Rookmangud Katawal had been 
asked by the civilian government to explain why he had continued military 
recruitment despite the government's halt order and reinstated eight 
brigadier-generals who had been retired by the defence ministry. Backed by its 
foreign patrons and right-wing parties in the country, the military high 
command openly defied the authority of the elected government. The government 
responded by removing General Katawal, who refused to accept this and the 
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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