[Marxism] ML Update Vol. 12 No. 20 May 12--18, 2009

[CPIML Liberation <cpimllib@xxxxxxxxx>]

*ML Update*

*A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine*

*Vol. 12        No. 20      13 -- 19 May 2009*

**

*Indian Foreign Policy and Immediate Neighbours*

*A*s curtains come down on the mega show of parliamentary elections in the
"world's largest democracy", nobody knows which particular khichdi or
combination of parties will finally make it to the seat of power through
what type of realignments and murky post-poll deals. What is almost certain,
however, is that the people of India will refuse to give a clear mandate to
any of the existing alliances, thereby expressing themselves clearly against
the basic policy frameworks of successive governments and current
frontrunners in parliamentary power politics. So whichever section of the
ruling elite may ultimately form the government, democratic and progressive
forces will have to continue and further intensify the struggle for a
paradigm shift in policies; for example in the way we handle our relations
with other countries, our immediate neighbours in particular.





New Delhi's antipathy to the Sri Lankan Tamils who are being slaughtered by
the hundreds and thousands is fully consistent with its role in the island
nation since 1980s. It is well-known that at one time India had extended
support to the Tamil insurgency, and then sent a ‘peace-keeping force’ that
engaged in series of war crimes including the Operation Pawan and the
Jaffnateaching hospital massacre. And today
India's diplomatic initiatives actually boil down to keeping the Sri Lankan
government in humour while simultaneously pretending to try and restrain the
inhuman military offensive launched by the latter. If the former motive is
guided by an urge to maintain and strengthen its influence in what it
considers to be a traditional backyard, the second concern is dictated by
the compulsion of wooing Tamil parties and voters ahead of Lok Sabha polls.
Such dualism and dishonesty must end now. The Government of India must exert
maximum possible pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure that the
United Nations Security Council resolution asking both the Sri Lankan armed
forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to cease hostilities and
allow international aid agencies to enter the war zone is implemented
forthwith and the process of a dignified political solution is started,
better late than never.





Where India extends covert support to the repressive national chauvinist
government in its southern neighbour, in the north too it has chosen to side
with the regressive forces bent on stalling the process of progressive
change. It denies any involvement in the denouement of the crisis in Nepal,
but defends the actions of the Nepal President as head of state and
commander in chief of the armed forces. But the constitution does not allow
him to use that authority against the advice of a lawfully constituted
government because parliament is sovereign. (Just imagine what type of
constitutional crisis India would find itself in if Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat,
who was unjustly sacked as Navy chief by the Vajpayee government in 1998,
had been reinstated by President K.R. Narayanan!) The Indian authorities
know all this well enough, but they cannot digest the prospect of the
Maoists, who control 40 percent of the parliament seats, getting stronger
and more coherent. So they threw a spanner in the wheel of progress.





Earlier, during Jan Andolan II in April 2006, India sent Karan Singh to
Kathmandu hoping against hope to somehow save the monarchy. Later it
interfered on all sorts of issues ranging from appointment of a head priest
in a major temple to the Nepali government contemplating a treaty of
friendship with Beijing. And now, again, it has destroyed the prospects of
long-term democratic stability in the Himalayan republic for the short-term
goal of undermining the Maoists, in the process isolating itself from the
people and the government in that country.





India is well aware how in Pakistan and Bangladesh the political dominance
of military over civil authorities has permanently damaged the democratic
institutions in these countries. As comrade Prachanda said in an interview
published in The Hindu on 11 May, on this score his party wished to learn
from the experience of India, not Pakistan, and expected that the former
would take a consistent position in favour of civilian supremacy because of
its own traditions and because it had supported the struggle for democracy
in Nepal. In the event, he was badly let down.





Equally shortsighted is India's attitude to the trouble- torn country on its
western border. As previously pointed out in this column, by unilaterally
withdrawing from the composite dialogue, and by refusing to resume it
despite repeated requests from Islamabad, New Delhi has unwittingly served
to further complicate the situation in the subcontinent. With the Pakistani
government engaged in a bloody offensive—including strafing by warplanes and
heavy artillery—against Pakistani Taliban militia in the North West Frontier
Province and still facing a two-week ultimatum from the US, it is urgent
that negotiations are resumed and all outstanding issues are settled without
the intervention of the world policeman.





The home Minister of the outgoing government has said India is caught in a
“ring of fire”. But there is no denying that in most cases India itself, in
its quest for strategic influence over smaller neighbours, stoked the
flames. Now it is time for the people of India to force the next government
to get rid of all these baggage of the past and work up a just, forward-
looking and pro-people foreign policy that would help ensure peace,
stability and friendship in South Asia.





Election Campaign in TN


In TN, CPI(ML) is contesting in five constituencies - Thiruperumbudur,
Villupuram, Trichy, Mayiladudurai and Tirunelveli and Comrades Bharathi,
Venkatesan, Aasaithambi, Gunasekaran and Sankarapandian are the candidates
respectively. Party had started its campaign much earlier.

Thiruperumbudur is termed by Karunanidhi government as the Detroit of TN
wherein, MNCs such as Hyundai, Nokia, Samsung, Foxconn, Visteon have set up
their shops. It is an unofficial SEZ of TN. In all these MNCs, temporary
workers outnumber permanent workers and 21st century technology co-exists
with 19th century working conditions. Attempts to unionise the workers are
met with victimisation. And this is projected by the ruling Karunanidhi
government as a mark of development in the state ushered in by his
government.

In Thiruperumbudur constituency, campaign was launched by a rally and public
meeting held on March 8. Com. S. Kumarasami, PBM, addressed the rally and
introduced the candidate. Election campaign was spread out in 4 phases. In
the first phase, (March 9 -31), emphasis was on identifying our voters in
our work areas. We started with one-to-one contact with workers of Workers’
Rights Forum and TN Democratic Workers' Union. General Body meetings of
industrial workers were held and to a greater extent fund collection done in
that same meeting. To plan work among students and youth a hall meeting was
held on the eve (March 22) of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom day, in which 100
students and youth from our work area participated. A public meeting was
held in Ambattur on March 28 to spread our message of defeating the ruling
consensus, oppurtunist alliances that have sprung-up in poll season and vote
for change and vote CPI(ML).

In phase Two, (April 1-16) door to door campaign in our work areas was taken
up, and "Give One Vote and One Note" was the slogan raised by the
campaigners to collect funds. It was well received by the voters. In this
phase more than 200 workers were also involved in the campaign.

In phase 3 (April 17-May 3), after filing nomination on April 17, in eight
wards in Ambattur, many padyatras were held with 30 to 50 workers
accompanying these yatras in their work areas. On April 22, Party Foundation
Day, a public meeting was held in Thiruperumbudur. Before this meeting,
comrades, along with the candidate, met and addressed the Hyundai workers
who were on indefinite strike. In this phase, a whirlwind tour was conducted
by the candidate on April 28, 29, May 2 and 3 covering 5 Assembly
constituencies.

In phase 4 (May 4-13), concentration of our campaign was among the
identified voters, meeting them again, distributing voters' slip etc. May
Day rally was attended by hundreds of workers and Com. Kumarasami addressed
the meeting. In all, 1,25,000 pamphlets were released. In all these phases,
our campaign has reached more than 1 lakh voters. In our concentrated work
areas, campaign has reached 1000 families repeatedly. Com. Kumarasami
participated in the door to door campaigns held whenever he was available in
the constituency and this has enthused the cadres to great extent.

In Villupuram, election campaign is being run by our comrades, who
left CPIand joined
CPI(ML). During the campaign there were many instances of members of CPI,
CPI(M), DMK, AIADMK and DPI attending our Party meetings and coming to us.
In April 22 rally, around 300 rural poor participated. Party is here
identified by the initiatives taken to ensure statutory wages in NREGA, and
work among rural poor. Party State Secretary Com. Balasundaram camps in this
constituency and guides the campaign. In Ulundurpettai Assembly
constituency, the campaign has covered 20 villages in door to door campaign.
in Thirukovilur Assembly constituency in 15 villages door to door campaign
was held. In Vaanur assembly constituency door to door campaign was held in
20 villages. On May 1, flags were hoisted in almost all our work areas.

In Trichy, Party's slogan is "Transform Gandarvakottai into a Communist
fortress". Target is to get significant votes in this election and prepare
the ground for contesting two assembly constituencies, 50 panchayats and
over 100 wards in the forthcoming local and Assembly elections. Campaign
work concentrates in six pockets in the constituencies. Party structure,
from DC to branches, is completely involved in the campaign, and this has
ensured the democratic forces cutting across caste lines, joining our
campaign. In all the phases of the campaign Com. Kumarasami involved in all
forms of campaign and this has enthused the cadres. Our struggle against the
liquor factory has made an impact in and around Kallakottai.

In Gandarvakottai assembly constituency, there was no street left in the
villages without our posters and pamphlets. Campaign has reached all the 36
panchayats in this Assembly constituency. Door to door campaign was taken up
in all these 36 panchayats. Likewise, in Karambakudi and Kundrandarkoil
areas door to door campaign was held in 28 and 12 panchayats respectively.
Our candidate has met over one lakh voters in over 200 villages. In the May
Day rally held on May 2 more than 300 rural poor participated. In
Tituvarembur, May Day public meet was held on May 3. In the last phase, van
campaign was held on May 5 to 9 in various places in the constituency.

In Mayiladudurai constituency, campaign was planned in the cadre meeting in
which 68 participated on March 17. Election committees were formed in the 5l
areas where campaign was concentrated. Despite efforts on the part of the
vested interests to prevent people from attending our rally, On March 31, a
rally with hundreds of rural poor was held in which the candidate was
introduced. Door to door campaign was held in the work areas on day to day
basis and SCMs took part in these programs directly. Around 400 participated
in the rally held on April 22 in Kumbakonam. This rally has created an
impact among those beyond the party. Our candidate has met 40,000 voters so
far. Around 300 were involved in the campaign work. On May 1, flags were
hoisted at 14 places in the constituency.

In Tirunelveli Constituency, our struggle against digging unauthorised
borewells in Tamirabharani river which is the source of drinking water and
water for irrgation, by a private paper mill has yielded results and during
our campaign, government intervened and ordered removal of unauthorised
borewells. This has created a positive impact among the farming community in
the constituency. Again, during the campaign, as a result of our struggle
against TVS company management after it closed the factory when workers
protested against the management, the management was forced to announce that
it would reopen the factory. This is unprecedented in the history of TVS
management, which, in 80s, even declared that the accord it reached with the
then Chief Minister, M.G. Ramachandran would not bind it. But the management
did not open the factory as announced and the candidate Com. Sankarapandian
announced that if the management did not open the factory he would sit
before the factory along with the workers. The management has since said
that it would reopen the factory on 20th May. These struggles have helped in
our campaign and the TVS workers took part in the campaign enthusiastically.
In all, campaign was concentrated in 12 wards, 4 panchayats and 10 other
pockets where party has work among the beedi workers.



Barhania Massacre: Popular Protest Forces Administration to Reject Police’
Version



On the eve of phase one of 15th Loksabha election the CRPF forces in
Jharkhand picked up five innocent tribal villagers from Barhania village,
massacred them in cold blood and tried to portray the victims as Maoists, in
an attempt to pass off the whole incident as a successful police operation
and bravery in fight against Naxalism. Initially, they won accolades from
the higher-ups in Administration. But, sooner, rather than later this
attempt was shredded to pieces after a courageous and timely action by the
villagers and CPI(ML) in association with other democratic and progressive
organisations. In the first couple of days after the killings, one could
easily sense the air of fearfulness lingering all around as hardly any one
wanted to openly speak against the killings. But once on our initiative
organisations came together to speak out, people were all over on the
streets asking for punishment to the perpetrators in the CRPF. The
Administration and the Police concocted various stories to save the
criminals in uniform and tried various means to ‘prove’ the killed villagers
as extremists. However, the mass outburst and anger was such that the
DIGand SP of police had to change their statements but they still
contrived to
propagate that the villagers were not killed by the CRPF personnel but by
the explosion carried out by Maoists. But the bullet marks were all too
prominent on the bodies of all the victims to mislead the people with false
versions. The Administration roped in middlemen to convince the families of
the victims by their concocted explosion version and if convinced the
families would receive compensation too. However, the resolve of the
families of the killed tribals proved too much for all this dirty tricks and
they refused to accepts any money from the administration which was trying
to shield the killers. CPI(ML) was present everywhere throughout all of this
and acted as people’s voice. Lastly, the Govt. had to transfer the SP,
DIGand the Dist. Collector in order to quell people’s anger and
declared that a
magisterial enquiry will be conducted. It has also asked the enquiry team to
publicise its report in a week’s time. Commissioner of Palamu region AK
Pandey has been delegated the responsibility for enquiry.

Investigation has started, but there is general suspicion among people
regarding the probe’s efficacy in implicating the Policemen involved in the
massacre. So far, police in Jharkhand have been killing innocents and
proving them Naxals in order to win promotion. CPI(ML) organised Barhania
march on May Day in which more than one thousand villagers participated. The
march was laid by Party’s central Committee member Com. Bahadur Oraon and
other comrades – Janardan Prasad, State Secretary CPI(ML), Kalicharan Mehta,
SCM, Jayprakash Minz, Party State Spokesperson, Sunita, AIPWA Secretary and
Sukhdeo Munda among others. Through this “resistance march” Party has
declared that unless the perpetrators of this heinous crime are arrested the
movement will be intensified. Party has also cautioned the people to beware
of those who are calling for rising above Party banners and affiliations in
this fight, making it clear that all such attempts are to confuse the
people, weaken the edge of the movement and reap favours and gains out of it
by ultimately shielding the CRPF and police involved in this massacre.





World Witnesses First Mass Murder under Obama Administration



The massacre of at least 150 civilians in Afghanistan by the NATO troops
commanded by the US has given rise to such levels of anger in that country
that even Bush appointed President Karzai had to speak about it and express
his regret while in Washington. This was a mass murder of such starkness and
brazenness and that it could not be portrayed to the world in any other
guise like "civilians who were human shields for terrorists". US air strikes
that killed up to 150 people in the western Bala Baluk district two weeks
back are just the latest atrocity in a war aimed at terrorizing the Afghan
people and suppressing any opposition to the neo-colonial occupation. While
all this being done in the name of “advance(ing) security, opportunity and
justice” for the local people, however the real motive is to pursue
Washington’s strategic goal of dominating energy-rich Central Asia. Prior to
this also massacres of alleged militants have been taking place on Af-Pak
border by the Pakistan military under US pressure, but many international
opinions have expressed their suspicion at the credibility of the killed
people as militants.

So, as the Obama Administration regresses from disguised mass murders to
blatantly massacring civilians, concerned and peace seeking people around
the world watch in horror and shock the continuation of Bush era US’
military offensive on the poor and helpless people including children and
women, and wonder whether Bush has really exited the White House. Obama
cannot get away with any excuse for this unforgivable crime or by cover-up
measures like joint investigation into the massacre. Such incidents of
extreme proportion and terrible crime will be repeated as long as the US and
NATO forces occupy Afghanistan and try to strengthen their foothold in the
region. A couple of months ago while responding to a question on US’ history
of brutal imperialist aggression against weaker nations, he had said he
could not be held responsible for the acts perpetrated when he was a kid or
not even born. However, for this mass murder of 150 civilians, he can be
held directly responsible as it’s his Government which decided to intensify,
rather than end, the brutal occupation of Afghanistan.

Afghan Students Rally Against the Massacre

Students took to the streets saying they held the US responsible for the
killings in Farah province and demanding that those who ordered the air
raids be put on trial. During the protest outside Kabul University, a
student leader read out a statement saying: "Our people are fed up with
Taliban beheadings and suicide bombings." On the other hand, the massacre of
civilians by the American forces is a crime that our people will never
forget."





Swine Flu: Corporates in Food Business are Deadly for the Planet



The ordinary Mexicans in last few days faced the shutdown of their country
by swine flu and an unknown number of deaths. The source of the current
epidemic was easy to identify in their eyes. Near the town of La Gloria,
east of Mexico City, which appears to be the epicentre of the flu outbreak,
is a giant industrial pig complex jointly owned by the world’s largest pig
processor, Smithfield Foods. It won notoriety a decade ago when two of its
US subsidiaries were given the largest ever environmental fines by the
government’s Environmental Protection Agency, having to pay $12.6m for
illegally discharging pollutants from its operations in to the Pagan river
in Virginia. It had committed more than 5,000 violations of permit levels
for discharging faecal coli forms, phosphorus, ammonia, cyanide and oil from
its pig factories over more than five years, destroying fish stocks and
polluting water tables. Even more troublingly, it was also found guilty of
falsifying documents and destroying records.

It is the very nature of today’s globalised meat industry that is at the
heart of this swine flu pandemic. The factory unit near La Gloria fattens
nearly a million pigs a year. Globally Smithfield slaughtered 26 million
pigs in 2006, generating sales of $11.4bn and profits of $421m. The huge
amount of waste that is generated at such slaughtering farms are excellent
breeding grounds for the viruses. Swine flu is currently being passed from
human to human, and it is possible that this particular strain of swine flu
was created without ever seeing a pig directly, as U.N.’s Food and
Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) experts on animal health point out.

The 1918 flu pandemic was an H1N1 strain and was a kind of bird flu new to
humans so they had no immunity to it. It killed at least 50 million people
as it raged around the world in less than a year. The 1918 H1N1 strain
passed from humans to pigs, and became the dominant form of flu among pigs,
albeit one that evolved into a fairly mild strain. But then in 1998 there
was an explosive new outbreak of swine flu in a factory farm in North
Carolina that made thousands of pigs ill. The virus had evolved into a
triple hybrid that had never been seen before, containing gene segments from
bird, human and swine flu. It had found the ideal breeding ground. Pigs,
whose immune systems were suppressed by the stress of crowding and fast
feeding, and kept confined indoors, were perfect disease incubators for flu
whose preferred method of transmission is virus-infected aerosol droplets,
expelled by the million in the hog’s barking cough. Thanks to the modern
practice of transporting live animals, the new virus spread rapidly through
pig herds around the US. Six of the eight genetic segments of today’s swine
flu outbreak isolated by CDC experts can be traced back to the triple hybrid
from North Carolina.



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