Tuesday, 31 May 2011

Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

May 31: Can call for revolution be dubbed an offence? SC asks Govt of India

May 31, 2011
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/can-call-for-revolution-be-dubbed-an-offence-sc-asks-govt/707991.html
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) The Supreme Court today granted bail to alleged Maoist sympathiser Piyush Guha wondering whether a call for a revolution to reform the society could be treated as an offence. “A large number of material and news come to us. Similarly, such material come to you and this person also. If that is his ideology and he says revolution is the only way to reform society, can we say that is an offence”? a vacation bench of justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad said. The apex court made the remarks after senior counsel U U Lalit, appearing for Chhattisgarh government, opposed the bail on ground that Guha was an active sympathiser of Maoists and there were a large number of material and pamphlets to link him to the banned organisation. The bench said mere possession of certain material cannot be a ground for convicting a person. “Apart from these documents, are there any other material? Possession of papers is not an offence. We can’t go on the
basis of mere surmises and conjectures”, the bench said. Lalit submitted the state had material to show that Guha, besides being a Maoist sympathiser, had eulogised the killing of policemen by Naxalites and was also an accused in the Purulia arms drop case in West Bengal. (more) PTI AAC RB

Pakistani Journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad Found Murdered

May 31, 2011: Asia Times Pakistan Bureau Chief and TRNN contributor Syed Saleem Shahzad was found murdered in Islamabad on Tuesday. In a recent report for Asia Times and a TRNN interview, Shahzad reported on splits in the Pakistan military over support for al Qaeda. Collected here are his interviews for TRNN.

Asia Times Online journalist feared dead Report from Asia Times http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MF01Df03.html Syed Saleem Shahzad, the Pakistan Bureau Chief for Asia Times Online who went missing on Sunday evening, has been killed, according to police.
Shahzad, who has been writing for Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online for nearly 10 years, failed to show up for a scheduled appearance on a television talk show in the capital Islamabad.

Police reported that his body was found in a canal in Mandi Bahauddin in Punjab province about 150 kilometers southeast of Islamabad and about 10 kilometers from where his car was found. They said that his body bore marks of torture.

Earlier, the International Federation of Journalists released a statement saying it "urgently appeals to the Government of Pakistan to order its security and police agencies to respond immediately to find a senior journalist who disappeared in Islamabad on May 29".

The following article is still relevant.

Posted by Mike E on February 12, 2008

A World to Win News Service. February 11, 2008. The twelfth anniversary of the launching of the people’s war by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on 13 February 1996 will see the country involved in intense preparations for countrywide elections to elect a Constituent Assembly, which is to implement the end of the monarchy and establish a new regime.
These elections had been scheduled and then delayed several times before. The question of a constituent assembly to decide a new form of government came onto the agenda in 2006, when in the wake of weeks of enormous anti-monarchy street protests, the CPN(M) and the parliamentary parties signed an agreement that led to a cease-fire in the revolutionary war and an interim government, which the Maoist party joined in April 2007. The country’s political institutions fell into a deadlock when the party left that government last September. It rejoined that government at the end of 2007, with five junior ministers, clearing the way for the elections to be reset for 10 April.

Remembering Ibrahim Kaypakkaya

The founder and leader of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist Leninist, Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, was born in 1949 in Corum . He met with revolutionary ideas when he was a student in the Istanbul University’s Science Faculty Physics Branch. He joined in the foundation of the Capa Idea Club in March 1968 and became the president of the club. He was expelled from school in November 1968 because of preparing a leaflet against the American 6th Fleet.

Kaypakkaya, who adopted the view of National Democratic Revolution, worked in the newspaper called Isci-Koylu (Worker-Peasant). He wrote articles in the magazines called Aydinlik (Enlightenment) and Turk Solu (Turkish Left). He split from D. Perincek and his group because he considered D. Perincek a revisionist and opportunist. Kaypakkaya, who participated in the struggle of peasantry, formed TKP/ML-TIKKO and carried out activities in the cities of Dersim, Malatya, Tunceli and Antep.

Kaypakkaya and his comrades interrogated and shot the informer village headman who caused the killing of THKO (People's Liberation Army of Turkey) members, Sinan Cemgil and his two other comrades, by the state forces during a gunfight. Kaypakkaya showed a good example of revolutionary solidarity and camaraderie at the time of martial law.

On January 24, 1973, heavily wounded he escaped from an ambush set by the fascist Turkish state forces in Vartinik Meadow. He was caught as a result of informing by a teacher in a village where he took shelter. Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, who was tortured under custody for 3.5 months, became a model of resistance for the revolutionary movement by "choosing to die rather than give information". He was shot and killed in detention by the fascist dictatorship on May 18, 1973

PUDR Statement against detention of Gautam Navlakha at Srinagar airport

by PEOPLES UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS (PUDR)

In yet another instance of the state’s harassment of civil rights activists and organizations, Gautam Navlakha, long term member of the of the Peoples Union for Democratic Rights(PUDR), Delhi, and for long a campaigner against state repression in Jammu and Kashmir, was detained by the J&K Police at Srinagar airport today and denied entry into the state. The reason being touted for the denial of entry is that S. 144 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC)has been applied in Badgam District (where Srinagar Airport is located ) and that Navlakha’s visit presents a threat to public order. No specific details or proof has been furnished to back up the police’s claim.

Navlakha is to be detained overnight and will be put on a flight for Delhi tomorrow morning. The incident is an illustration, albeit a minor ones of the arbitrariness and audacity with which fundamental rights are routinely violated (and have been for years) in the name of law and order in J & K.

PUDR condemns this action of the J&K Police and appeals to all democratically minded people to protest against such arbitray curbs on the fundamental freedom of movement in the interests of preventing the further erosion of the democratic nature of our polity.

PUDR demands that:

1) Gautam Navlakha be immediately released and allowed to proceed on his journey forthwith.

2) such undemocratic restrictions on the fundamental freedom of movement of citizens be revoked forthwith.

3) action be taken against those responsible for his arbitrary detention.

Paramjeet Singh , Harish Dhawan

(Secretaries, PUDR)

Friday, 27 May 2011

No surrender of the PLA by Rishi Raj Baral

Rcently, in the meeting of standing committee, senior vice chairman of UNCP , Comrade Mohan Baidhya ‘Kiran’ registered another note of dissent regarding the issue of PLA integration. Dahal denied the latest Central committee decision and passed his document by majority–with the support of Baburam Bhattarai. It raised a lot of questions and worried all the revolutionaries. It was infact , a surrender of the PLA. The decision done about PLA was not a minor issue, it was a vital one and an issue which will have a long term effect.

I think it is necessary to take PLA out of the cantonment. We should know that there is also a class division within the PLA. The high rank commanders, specially who support Prachanda’s line are enjoying luxurious life. They have each and every thing to consume. There has been a vast change in their life style and daily life. Their dreams are different from the PLA of lower ranks. They don’t think about revolution and they don’t have the dreams of revolution. Rather , they are threatening the lower PLA cadres, in the name of discipline and chain of command. Lower cadres are prohibited by minimum requirements and are disallowed to study revolutionary materials. They are prevented to take part in meetings and ideological debates and discussions. They are forbidden to study books of war memoirs, to listen to revolutionary songs and to go through the literature related to ten years people’s war.

It is true that the recently passed document of Prachanda is an ideological continuation of Chungwang meeting: preparation for deviation and betrayal of the revolution. When Comrade Kiran and Gaurav were imprisoned in Indian jail, Prachanda abandoned the People ‘s War. In fact detainment of Kiran and Gaurav was part of the grand design to make the party organisation and revolutionary line weak and to make revisionists strong and in majority. And no doubt, it was done with the support of revisionists and Pro Indians, who have disguised themselves in one or the other name and faction within the party. The main objective of this design was to turn the revolutionary party into a revisionist party. It was a long term plan and policy to destroy the party’s revolutionary line and spirit. The people’s court and the base areas and local people’s governments all were dissolved in the name of peace process. Only the PLA remained to be dissolved. Now they are going to complete the remaining task , disarming and surrendering the PLA in the name of integration.

No surrender of PLA, was the conviction and dedication of the party. And it is natural to be one of the main issues of two line struggle. It is a political crime to humiliate the PLA, who faught bravely against the reactionary forces and never were defeated.

In reality the lower rank of PLA cadres want revolution. They want continuation of revolution and people’s revolt. They want to go ahead. Too much staying in the cantonment means to ruin oneself. Therefore they want to come out and participate in the class struggle. They don’t want to surrender in the name of integration. The major issue is: PLA must not be humiliated. It is the matter of dignity, value and class outlook. If the party leadership does this type of humiliating decision, they will not accept this. No liquidation but revolution: they are free to choose the path to revolution and revolt.

Days and Nights in the Heartland of Rebellion

April 1, 2010
[In January 2010, leading democratic rights activist Gautam Navlakha accompanied Swedish writer Jan Myrdal to the jungles of Central India, and engaged in conversations with the leadership of CPI(Maoist). In the following essay, being published exclusively at Sanhati, he explores further the various facets of Maoist politics and the socioeconomic and cultural life in the Dandakaranya region. - Ed]

When every abuse has been hurled and epithet employed against the Maoists, half-truths and untruths begin to acquire wings. They are diagnosed, dissected, and demonised; the intelligentsia are reluctant to face facts. Yet we are still compelled to demystify reality and to answer some fundamental questions: Why this war? Who are these people, the “single biggest threat” to India’s internal security? What is their politics? Why do they justify violence? How do they perceive their “people’s war”, their political goals and themselves? How do they intend to take a leap from their forest strongholds into the world outside?
This desire to humanize the demonised and to get to know the Maoists first hand, i.e., not simply through conversations, books, and documents, but to travel and meet and to see for myself, had been building up for many years. Twice I came close to making the trip. On the first occasion, I was ditched by two young journalists who failed to show up at the rendezvous. On the second occasion, I was unable to prepare myself at short notice. I was not going to miss out on this, my third opportunity. Anyways, what follows is that I - along with Swedish writer Jan Myrdal - saw, heard, read, discussed, debated, and argued during a fortnight-long journey in January 2010 in what the CPI (Maoists) describe as a guerilla zone, where they run Jantanam Sarkar (JS) or their “people’s government”. Although “guerilla zone” is still an area of contention and control between the government and rebels, it is nevertheless an area where the Indian State has been forced to retreat and is using military force to re-establish its authority.

On the Arrest and Torture of Harbhinder Jalal

May 26, 2011
by N.K.Jeet (Lok Morcha Punjab)
Harbhinder Singh Jalal, who has been editing a revolutionary Punjabi magazine “CHAMKDA LAL TARA” (Shining Red Star), was arrested by Kharar Police while he was traveling in a bus near Gharuan village. The police alleged him to be the head of Punjab unit of CPI Maoist. A 32 bore pistol and some live cartridges were shown to have been recovered from him.
In police custody Harbhinder was severely tortured and subjected to third degree methods of interrogation. A case under S.10,13,18 & 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act; S. 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act and Section 121, 419, 420, 471 of the IPC has been slapped against him. He was denied the legal assistance of his chosen lawyers. Lok Morcha Punjab, along with his family approached S/Sh. R.S. Bains and Harinder Pal Singh Ishar, Chandigarh based Human Rights lawyers, who moved an application for permission to meet Com Harbhinder in police custody and for his medical examination. The State vigorously opposed this application on the fictitious ground of threat to national security. However the court allowed the advocates to meet him daily in the Police Station between 7 PM to 8 PM and also to get him medically examined every 48 hours from the Civil Hospital.

India: The Growth-Discrimination Nexus

From http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ghosh060511.html
India: The Growth-Discrimination Nexus
by Jayati Ghosh
Many people, especially in India, tend to believe that the process of economic growth is likely to be mostly liberating for those oppressed by various forms of social discrimination and exclusion. The argument is that market forces break open age-old social norms, especially those of caste and gender, that have for so long denied opportunities and restricted options for so many.
Unfortunately, the current Indian reality is more complex than that. The strength of Indian large capital, which is leading the current economic boom, derives at least partly from the persistence and even expansion of a wide range of workers engaged in precarious and low-productivity employment. Most significantly from the point of view of the Indian corporate sector, different degrees of outsourcing have blurred the lines between formal and informal activities, and the proliferation of such low-paying self-employment has become an important means of reducing costs for the corporate sector as well as passing on the risks of production to smaller units that are essentially part of the working class.

The U.S.: Sticking By and Stuck with Israel

Much is being made of the fact that in his May 18 speech on the Middle East, Barack Obama said, “The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.”
Immediately after Obama’s speech, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly expressed outrage and reminded Obama that successive U.S. administrations, Democrat and Republican, have not called for Israel to withdraw from territory beyond “the 1967 lines.”
Obama’s statement does illustrate tension between the U.S. and Israel. But it is critical to dispel dangerous illusions about the nature and potential in those tensions. They are within a framework of a highly interdependent relationship between U.S. imperialism and Israel. And there is no real justice of any kind for the Palestinians within the confines of what tension does exist between the U.S. and Israel, or within the U.S. ruling class over Israel policy.
For starters, the modifier “with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states,” means that whatever “authority” is recognized by the U.S. and Israel to supposedly represent the Palestinians is free to be bullied and bribed into giving up territory Israel wants in exchange for territory Israel might deem better handed over to this U.S./Israel-approved Palestinian authority.
Beyond that, “the 1967 line” refers to Palestinian territory seized by Israel through war. There would be nothing just about Israel maintaining control over territory up to that line, even if an Israeli withdrawal to that line occurred.
And Israel, as is noted elsewhere in this issue, has consistently arrogated for itself the “right” to invade, bomb, blockade, carry out assassinations within, and generally terrorize people in countries and territories beyond, its formal borders, including the Palestinian Authority-administered West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza. In 2009-2010, Israel massacred over a thousand people in a devastating one-sided “war” on Gaza.
Obama endorsed this whole situation in his speech. Immediately after his reference to the “1967 line,” he said: “As for security, every state has the right to self-defense, and Israel must be able to defend itself—by itself—against any threat. Provisions must also be robust enough to prevent a resurgence of terrorism; to stop the infiltration of weapons; and to provide effective border security. The full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign, non-militarized state. The duration of this transition period must be agreed, and the effectiveness of security arrangements must be demonstrated.”
And Obama reiterated that as a bottom line for any negotiations, “Israelis should know that their basic security concerns will be met.”
In short, even as there are real tensions over how to maintain Israel and its oppression of the Palestinians, there is agreement between every significant figure in the U.S. ruling class and the rulers of Israel that the present-day status quo, the state of Israel sitting on the blood and bones of displaced Palestinians, enforced by overwhelming Israeli military force, must continue.
As we wrote in our special issue on Israel, “It has not proven easy for the U.S. to broker a settlement that would integrate the Palestinians into some semblance of a stable situation, and, at the same time, satisfy what the Israelis see as their need for unchallenged domination and a thoroughly Zionist state. This has remained a sore point in the region and around the world, and as Israel resorts to more and more extreme measures to lock down the Palestinians, this contradiction becomes sharper.
“And yet, in profound ways, the U.S has not only stuck by Israel—it is stuck with Israel. Despite real problems and even significant differences at times, the unique ‘strategic relationship’ between the U.S. and Israel continues because, from the perspective of U.S. imperialism, there is no real alternative on the chessboard in terms of the role Israel plays in the Middle East and throughout the world.” (Revolution #213, October 10, 2010)

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Banerjee’s Election in West Bengal: An Uncertain Hope

Posted by redpines on May 23, 2011

The election of Mamata Banerjee to the position of chief minister in West Bengal may have important ramifications for revolutionary forces in India. Banerjee, a founding member of the Trinamool Congress has been an opponent of the revisionist CPI(M) for decades, and, since her recent victory is touted as a “communist giant-killer”. Many of her policies appear more progressive than those of the CPI(M)–she fought against the forced eviction of small farmers from their lands and has opposed corporate development schemes and Special Economic Zones.
Both Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress have been accused of having links with India’s Maoists. Yet, from afar, those connections seem tenuous. The issue has been the source of much speculation in the bourgeois press and statements by the CPI(M). The Hindustan Times reports that Maoist leader Kishenhi has denied these ties. What impact, if any, Banerjee’s election will have on the Maoist armed struggle in India is unclear. But it is a significant development, and one that bears watching, especially given that it means a major setback for the CPI(M), whose forces have been responsible for numerous attacks on Maoists and tribal peoples.
The following article originally appeared at dawn.com. As usual, posting here does not imply endorsement.

‘Big Sister’ set to evict Communists from India

KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee clasped a microphone with both hands, beads of sweat clinging to her brow, bathroom sandals on her feet as the crowd of mainly women shouted her campaign slogan, “Mother, Earth, People.” Many raised their mobile phones to take pictures, like fans at a rock concert.
Reuters
The woman with a fiery voice belying her short frame came, spoke and conquered the Kolkata crowd in the manner of someone who is about to become the fulcrum of power in the world’s largest democracy.
She railed against the Marxist Left Front, which has ruled West Bengal, one of India’s most populous and politically important states, since 1977. She decried economic stagnation, slammed corruption and accused the world’s longest-serving democratically-elected communist government of perpetrating political violence.
Exit polls show the 56-year-old Banerjee will win a landslide vote when ballots are counted on Friday to become the next leader of this state of 90 million, a population equivalent to Germany. As the latest powerbroker to emerge in India’s fractured politics, she left no doubt about what she stood against at the rally. But what does she stand for?

Nepal’s Kiran: Against dissolving the Peoples Liberation Army

Posted by celticfire on May 22, 2011

Nepali revolutionary forces training

” The issue at hand is about Peoples Liberation Army integration [into the government army]. The peace process and constitution drafting should move ahead simultaneously. So many people sacrificed their lives for the sake of a “People’s Constitution”, but attention has not been paid in that regard.

“We have suspicions that we may be betrayed.”

The following interview with Mohan Baidya (nom de guerre is Kiran) reveals that the struggle within Nepal’s Maoist party focuses increasingly on the fate of the Peoples Liberation Army.
There is a well-known saying from Mao Zedong’s red book that has been important to Maoism-since-Mao:

“Without a peoples army, the people have nothing.”

This question now stands center stage — in Nepali politics, in the struggle among the Maoists, and in the strategic decisions being taken for the Nepali revolution. The following is from myrepublica.com.
* * * * * * * * *

by KIRAN PUN
Maoist Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, who leads the hardline camp in the UCPN (Maoist), has registered a note of dissent against the party’s decision to accept Nepal Army’s modality for PLA integration.
Earlier, he had registered his dissent when Chairman Dahal adopted the line of peace and constitution overturning the mandate of the Palungtar plenum.
Baidya has accused Chairman Dahal of deviating from the revolutionary course of the party. Republica’s Kiran Pun caught up with him at the party headquarters Paris Danda after the standing committee meeting of the party held on Saturday. Excerpts:

Throw a shoe at Obama’s betrayal

Ilan Pappe

The Electronic Intifada

23 May 2011

Palestinians protest after Obama’s Middle East policy speech, Qalandiya checkpoint, occupied West Bank, 20 May 2011.

(

Anne Paq

ActiveStills

)

At 4:17pm GMT on Sunday, I threw a shoe at my television screen, aimed at US President Barack Obama, precisely at the moment he began to explain that the reference in his Thursday speech at the State Department to the 1967 borders was in accordance with the Israeli interpretation of these borders.
Not that I was thrilled with that speech either but it was at least as meaningless as his previous speeches on the topic. But at 4:17 he said there will be “no return to the borders of June 4, 1967” and the thousands who attended the AIPAC convention cheered wildly. Annexation of Israeli settlement blocs built illegally in the occupied West Bank and the creation of a small Palestinian bantustan in the spaces in between was the essence of Obama’s real vision for peace.
It was a soft shoe and all it did was to bounce off the screen. Being such a harmless weapon it was also directed at my Palestinian friends who since Friday explained, publicly, how unusual and important was Obama’s speech at the State Department.

Madhya Pradesh - PUDR strongly condemns vicious attack by Adani goons on those protesting against the power project

May 24, 2011
Press Statement by PEOPLES UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
At about 6.oo pm Dr. Sunilam, Aradhana Bhargava and several leaders and activists of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti were viciously attacked by the goons of Adani Power Limited in Chhindwara district, MP. They were set upon on the Narsinghpur Road near Bhulamoh Gaon by 15-16 goons of Adani . Their car was smashed and they were brutally beaten. Sunilam has sustained a head injury and has fractures in both arms. Aradhana Bhargava too has been hurt. The SP though informed immediately did not take action.
Adani Power Limited has been assigned the contract for setting up a 1,320 MW coal-based thermal power plant in Chhindwara. The water for the project will be drawn from the Pench river on which the Pench Diversion Project is planned to be completed by 2012-13. While the land on which the Thermal Power Project is planned was taken by the MP government 24 years ago, it hadn’t taken possession. As a result the villagers were continuing to farm the land. Two years ago the villagers were again served notice, and have since been agitating against the Project as they don’t want to give up their land.
The immediate context of the attack is that the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti is organising a padyatra from 28-31 May against the Pench Thermal Power Project beginning from the Project site. The Kisan Sangharsh Samiti has also been raising the issue of compensation for villagers displaced by the Pench [water] Diversion Project. Sunilam and Bhargava both members of the Samjwadi Party and respected farmers’ leaders were returning after holding talks with villagers effected by the Project.
Today’s attack was not the first sign of aggression on Adani’s part. In February Adani’s goons had also intervened at a Jan Sunwai and tried to disrupt proceedings. A students’ fact-finding team that had visited the area last year was also threatened by Adani’s men. The attack by Adani Power Limited’s armed goons is yet another instance of how powerful corporate houses are resorting to organized violence perpetrated through their private mafias to silence those who come in the way of their interests and to break people’s attempts to organize on the issues of land, water, forests. The fact that a prominent person like Sunilam- an ex-legislator- could be attacked so brutally in broad day-light only emphasizes the audacity of the state-corporate nexus, and the impunity it provides.
PUDR demands:
1. Immediate action against the Adani Power Limited .
2. The District administration ensure that the padyatra proceeds unhindered.
Paramjit Singh (9910262062)
Harish Dhawan (9811667776)
Secretaries
PUDR ( pudrdelhi@yahoo.com, pudr @pudr.org)

Two Years after the Eelam War

May 23, 2011
The Flames of Liberation Continue to Expose the Oppressors and their Apologists!
by Democratic Students’ Union (DSU), JNU, New Delhi
Two years back, on 18 May 2009 the Sri Lankan army claimed to have killed Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of LTTE, along with hundreds of his comrades. The next day in the Sri Lankan parliament a jubilant Rajapakse declared victory in the Eelam War IV. This was the day, two years back, when the Eelam Tamils lost their hard-fought freedom at the hands of the fascist and expansionist Sri Lanka. This week the Tamils in Eelam and outside remember the heroic sacrifice of the sons and daughters of Eelam who laid down their lives fighting the armed forces of the chauvinist Sri Lankan ruling classes. Braving threats, intimidation and harassment from the Sri Lankan armed forces and intelligence, the people of Eelam paid homage to those who have fallen in the decades-long struggle for national liberation. They reiterated that it is the people of Tamil Eelam alone who have the mandate to chose their destiny, denouncing and warning against any ‘negotiated settlement’ of the issue which compromises with the historical realities. The people have stated that any secret deal or confidential talk with the Sri Lankan state by those who claim to represent the Eelam Tamils will not be acceptable. The ‘solution’ only lies in the recognition of the historical reality of Tamil Eelam, i.e., its right to exist as a free and independent national state.

Condemn repression of workers’ movement in Gorakhpur

http://www.petitiononline.com/mayawati/petition.html

To: Ms Mayawati, The Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh

Respected Madam,

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the repression of the workers’ movement in Gorakhpur by the district administration and police machinery. Workers of Gorakhpur have started a peaceful 'Workers’ Satyagraha' since May 16 for their demands related to the incident of firing on workers by the hired goons of factory owner on May 3 in Ankur Udyog Ltd, a yarn factory in Bargadwa industrial area of Gorakhpur in which 19 workers sustained injury. Instead of paying attention to the genuine demands of the workers, the district administration is unabashedly taking the side of factory owners and is hell bent on crushing the entirely peaceful movement.

As part of the workers’ Satyagrah the workers have been undertaking fast-unto-death and staging dharna since the morning of May 16. But on May 20, in order to disperse the workers, this peaceful satyagrah was dealt with heavy lathi charge by police force in the presence of the DIG and 73 workers were taken into custody. Most of them were released by late night but a B. H. U. Student Shweta, woman worker Susheela Devi and 12 others were arrested. The police took away labour leader Tapish Maindola from some other place and was refusing to show his arrest till today morning. Later in the afternoon Tapish was suddenly presented before the court. The Police have registered a case of attempt to suicide under section 309 against all the labour leaders. It is ridiculous because most of the arrested leaders were not among those who sat on the fast. Shweta and Susheela Devi whose health had worsened after five days of hunger strike have been later released on bail. Rest 12 workers have been sent to jail. It is noteworthy that some police and administrative officials had been continuously warning the workers' leaders of 'dire consequences'. They had been particularly targeting Tapish, Pramod Kumar and Prashant and branding them as 'Maoists-Terrorists'.

On May 21, when hundreds of workers started proceeding towards the office of district collector according to a pre announced program, the police resorted to lathi charge at several places and did not allow them to assemble. After that the workers tried to stage a dharna at Gandhi statue in Town Hall but the police did not let them reach even there. For hours, the office of district collector had turned into a cantonment and the police personnel chased out the workers by searching in the neighbouring areas. As soon as police was finding four to five people looking like workers, they were dispersed through lathi-charge. This naked reign of terror continued throughout the day. Although most of the arrested workers were released, 12 labour leaders including Tapish are still in jail and are being implicated in false charges.
It is indeed shocking to learn that instead of rule of law, naked reign of terror prevails in Gorakhpur. Even after more than two weeks of the firing incident, no action has been taken by police to arrest the culprits. No action has been initiated against the officers who were responsible for letting the goons go scot free after firing on workers despite the fact that the goons were captured by the workers when the police arrived on the spot. Even though the factory owner of Ankur Udyog Ltd was forced to end the illegal lock out and take back the arbitrarily dismissed workers after massive protest by the workers on 9th May, the illegal lock out in the two factories of V.N. Dyers still persists and 18 dismissed workers from these factories are yet to be taken back.
Under these disturbing circumstances we demand from you to take immediate action to restore the rule of law in Gorakhpur by taking following steps:
• Immediate release of all the labour leaders and revocation of all the false charges slapped on them
• Arrest of the accused of the firing incident on 3rd May
• Action against the guilty officers who allowed the goons to escape
• Judicial enquiry of firing and repression,
• Compensation to the injured workers
• Ending the lock out in the two factories of V.N. Dyers and reinstatement of all the 18 dismissed workers

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

Monday, 23 May 2011

World Interactive Map of Protests - from Spanish Comrades of Spanish Revolution

http://www.thetechnoant.info/campmap/

Greg Philo speaks at SOAS about his new book, 'More Bad News from Israel' which looks at the media coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict

Revolution #234, May 29, 2011

Mr. Netanyahu: Tear Down That Wall!

By Alan Goodman

It slices and zigzags through 400 miles of the West Bank four times longer than the Berlin Wall. It carves up an area that is home to two-and-a-half-million Palestinians.
It towers as high as 25 feet into the air. It is built of thick gray concrete, topped with prison-style watchtowers, electronic sensors, thermal imaging devices and video cameras, and sniper towers. It cuts off neighbors from neighbors, farmers from their plots, people from schools, hospitals or jobs. It is patrolled by occupying soldiers and monitored by unmanned aerial drones which enforce a 75-foot “no go” zone against the civilian population. It protects highly armed religious fanatic illegal settlers.
It is The Wall—what Palestinians correctly call Israel’s Apartheid Wall, invoking the brutal segregation that was enforced by the racist apartheid regime in South Africa. It protects and enforces the rule of a country built on land stolen from the Palestinians, that serves a unique and terrible role as a hit man and enforcer for oppression—within the Middle East and beyond.
In all the mainstream news coverage of Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S., the reality of The Wall is being covered over, denied, and lied about.

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2011, 15:57 GMT]

Tamil genocide was planned by international powers: British academic

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=33977

The British, the Europeans and the great powers played a dubious role. There was a peace process. But, visas were banned and the political status was denied to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. They were branded as a terrorist organisation by the European Union under the prompting of Britain and United States and they deliberately broke the peace process, which had its horrible termination in the killing fields of Rajapaksa. So, there is co-responsibility. This was not just any genocide; this was a genocide planned, including by the international powers, who knew what was going on, said Dr Andrew Higginbottom, the Principal Lecturer in Politics/Human Rights at Kingston University in London, taking part in the Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance event in London on 18 May.

Spain Taken the street for a TRUE DEMOCRACY - May 15th 2011

Reflections on Spain Protests in 50 Cities - Inside Spanish Revolution Square - Madrid

“Real Democracy Now!” Revolution begins in Spain – next stop Australia?

Sun 22 May 2011
By Flowerpower

Inspired by the Arab Spring movements in the Arab world and movements in other places such as Portugal, hundreds of thousands of Spanish citizens have mobilized to demand real democracy or “Democracy Real Ya” in Spain under the banner of the “May 15th” or “15th de Mayo” which was the day the movement began. On that day 100,000 Spanish people marched in Madrid and tens of thousands in other cities around Spain, but what made this movement different to the phoney resistance to the austerity measures in Ireland, Greece and the UK was that the protestors have stayed on, setting up a protest camp in the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid as well as in many other city squares around Spain. They are uniting under many demands including opposing cuts to public spending and services and demanding more employment. They state that the bankers should pay for their own crisis. The movement is an independent one free of all institutional control, that opposes both major parties, the mainstream press and the Union movement for all supporting the attacks on ordinary people currently being carried out by the state in Spain. The movement is happening in the week preceeding a national election but many of the protestors reject the idea that the Parliament will bring the changes they demand. .This is exactly the kind of movement we need in Australia where all Parliamentary parties and the Union movement share the consensus that it is ordinary people not the banks and big business that should bear the costs of the financial crisis.

Splits in Pakistan Military over Co-operation with US

Saturday, 21 May 2011

THREE SHORT POEMS - Mao Tse-tung

Mountains!
I whip my swift horse, glued to my saddle.
I turn my head startled,
The sky is three foot three above me!*

Mountains!
Like great waves surging in a crashing sea,
Like a thousand stallions
In full gallop in the heat of battle.

III

Mountains!
Piercing the blue of heaven, your barbs unblunted!
The skies would fall
But for your strength supporting.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

A folk song runs :

Skull Mountain up above,
Treasure Mountain down below,
The sky is only three foot three away.
Bend your head if you go by foot,
Dismount if you go by horse.

Srikakulam: Will It Be The Yenan of India? - Charu Mazumdar

Published: Liberation, March 1969

Not even full two years have passed since the Naxalbari struggle started; yet, within this period, its sparks have spread to different States of India. And in Srikakulam in Andhra, the fire they have started is fast developing into a forest-fire.

Here, in the midst of a jungle surrounded by hills, I am sitting in a room on a hill-top and before me are seated about a score of young men. They are not well-known or renowned men, nor men who enjoy an all-lndia fame. But they are men who are young, men who dream. They dream of liberating the tens of crores of peasants who have been exploited and oppressed through the ages, they dream of liberating them from the yoke of exploitation, from the murky depths of ignorance, from grinding poverty, from hunger. They believe in making revolution. They are firmly convinced that only an armed peasantry can make the revolution victorious. They have come from various districts of Andhra ? from Srikakulam, from Nalgonda, Warangal and Adilabad districts in Telengana, and from the districts in Rayalaseema, and they represent the majority of the districts of Andhra. They dream dreams, but they are no idle day-dreamers. All of them have left their hearth and home and live and work among the peasants and observe secrecy. It is they who have built up the Srikakulam struggle ? the struggle that has filled the hearts of the revolutionaries of India with joy and confidence. The events of Srikakulam have made the conviction firmer than ever that India will create her own Yenan in no distant future. It is they who have built up the peasant struggle in the Koraput district in Orissa. The brutal repression carried on by the frightened reactionary government failed to suppress the struggle. Nor could they touch the leaders of the struggle. And it is they who constitute the Andhra State Co-ordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries.
A report prepared by the Srikakulam District Committee was placed at the meeting. It is not for me to judge whether there are errors and shortcomings in the report. The comrades of Srikakulam have published that report and placed their experiences before the Communist revolutionaries of the whole country. They are men who have no interest other than that of the revolution. That is why they do not fear criticism; on the contrary, they have invited criticism. In this report they have recorded their valuable experiences of the Srikakulam struggle and have tried to draw conclusions from them. In the report they have forcefully asserted that there can be no compromise with opportunism. Such compromises with opportunism do not add to the strength of the revolutionaries but weaken them. A firm class-unity can be built only through struggle against Right and 'Left' opportunism.
They have analysed the nature of opportunism in Andhra, marked out those who represent this opportunism and have taken upon themselves the responsibility of carrying on struggle against them.
At this meeting they have resolved to build up a revolutionary Party in the whole of Andhra ? a Party that bases itself on the thought of Chairman Mao Tse-tung. They have declared that everything that is happening in Srikakulam today is based solely and entirely on the thought of Chairman Mao. That explains why Srikakulam has become the sole criterion for the people of Andhra to judge who is a revolutionary and who is not. And Srikakulam serves today as this yardstick not merely for the people of Andhra but for the people of the whole of India.
As I said before, these comrades are no idle day-dreamers. So, they are not thinking of winning victory the easy way. They realize that attacks are sure to come and that they may even have to suffer serious set-backs. They are quite aware of that danger and are preparing to face such eventualities.
They are convinced that to carry on revolutionary struggle, they must have a revolutionary Party. That is why they have put the task of building such a Party before everything else. At the same time they also realize that a task of such a revolutionary Party will be to imbue the Party members and the people with the spirit of sacrifice. Chairman Mao teaches us: "Wherever there is struggle there is sacrifice, and death is a common occurrence." So, in order to win victory in the revolution, the revolutionary cadres must be able to make sacrifices. They must sacrifice their property and belongings, sacrifice comforts, sacrifice old habits and aspirations after fame, rid themselves of the fear of death and give up ideas of seeking the easy path. Only in this way shall we be able to train and prepare the revolutionaries to conduct a hard, difficult and protracted struggle. Only in this way can we inspire the people to make great sacrifices, who then, with tremendous blows, will smash all the power and might of imperialism, revisionism and the Indian reactionaries and thus win victory for the revolution.
It is after a long time that I have attended a meeting like this of Communist revolutionaries where they have taken the vow to sell out their properties and donate the entire sum thus obtained to the Party fund. In this meeting alone promises were made to raise about a lakh of rupees in this way. The slogan: "Let us build Srikakulams in the different areas to support the Srikakulam struggle!" instantly changed the atmosphere of the meeting and the very air in the room seemed to have been electrified All the comrades present resolutely declared that they would build Srikakulams in Telengana, in the districts of the Rayalaseema region, in the whole of Andhra. At that moment, throbbing as it was with the vigorous, bright spirit of revolutionary ardour, one thought repeatedly haunted me ? the thought of the heroic revolutionaries of Telengana who had laid down their lives fighting. I was thinking that the sacrifice of those glorious fighters has not been in vain; for India's Yenan will be created here. The meeting ended in the midst of great enthusiasm.
As the time came for me to leave, I suddenly felt sad. Who knows whether I shall again meet these comrades. They are revolutionary comrades who are dedicated and not afraid to make even the supreme sacrifice. They are going back from this meeting to plunge into the struggle again, and nobody knows who would survive. But one thing I know ? the people of India will never forget them.
Suddenly the India that is enveloped in darkness vanished, and I saw before me my motherland India ? a vigorous, throbbing India, sparkling in the bright sunshine ? People's Democratic India, Socialist India!
Srikakulam is fighting valiantly, tomorrow the whole of Andhra will join the fight. Confirmation of this I received on the morning I was coming back. Newspapers on that day reported that one class enemy was killed in an attack by the peasant guerrillas.
Srikakulam forges ahead irresistibly.
March 6, 1969

Long Live the Heroic Peasants in Naxalbari! - Charu Mazumdar

Published: Liberation, July 1971-January 1972

The social system that exists in India is semi-feudal and semi-colonial. So the democratic revolution in this country means agrarian revolution. All the problems of India are related to this one task. On this question of agrarian revolution there has been difference of opinion in Marxist circles from the beginning of this century and among Marxists the struggle between the two policies-the one revolutionary and the other counter-revolutionary-continues. The Mensheviks side-tracked the question of State power and searched for a solution in municipalization. Lenin declared a crusade against it and said that it was not possible to solve the problem by side-tracking the question of State power. He showed that however progressive the legislation framed by one might be, the present State structure could not implement it. The condition of the peasant will remain the same. That was why he said that only the democratic State of workers and peasants, led by the working class, could solve this problem. Only the other day even the Soviet Party writer, Yudin, while criticizing Nehru's Basic Approach, said that Nehru had not till then been able to solve the peasant problem. He challenged Nehru to show, in practice, how this problem could be solved in a peaceful way and added that Nehru would fail to do so. History has proved that, far from solving this problem, Nehru was not able even to bring about an iota of change.

After the twentieth congress of the Soviet party, the door to revisionism was opened wide and, as a result, the Soviet State has been transformed from a Socialist State into a capitalist State. By making the theory of peaceful transition to socialism-adopted at that twentieth congress-their basic guiding principle, the revisionists of our country are shouting loudly that the peasants' struggle for land is a struggle for realization of economic demands and that it is adventurism to talk of the State machinery. What strange similarity between the words of Dange and Basavapunnia!
What strange cooperation between Biswanath Mukherji and Harekrishna Konar! This is not accidental since its source is one and that is the Menshevik counter-revolutionary ideology. That is why the cunning rulers of the Soviet State have repeatedly declared that it is only by using fertilizers, improved seeds and agricultural implements that India's food problem can be solved. It is in this manner that they are coming forward to save India's reactionary ruling clique; they are concealing from the masses the basic and effective way of solving India's food, unemployment, poverty and other problems. This is because the Soviet State is today collaborating with British-American imperialists and has been turned into a State which exploits the masses of India. With the help of the native bourgeoisie the Soviet Union is also trying to invest capital in our country. In the sphere of trade and commerce with our country it has come to enjoy special facilities. That is why the arguments of the reactionary ruling clique are pouring out from the mouths of its spokesmen in a continuous flow and at an uninterrupted speed. That is why, as a collaborator of Britain and the U. S. A., the Soviet State also is our enemy and it is by taking shelter under their wings that the reactionary Government of India weighs like a corpse upon the shoulders of the masses. But even then Naxalbari has been created and hundreds of Naxalbaris are smouldering. This is because on the soil of India the revolutionary peasantry is heir to the heroic revolutionary peasants of great Telengana. The then Party leadership betrayed the heroic peasant struggle of Telengana and it did so by using the name of great Stalin. Many of those who are occupying the positions of Party leaders today were a party to the act of betrayal on that day! On bent knees, we will have to take lessons from those heroes of Telengana, not only to have strength to carry the red banner of revolt but also to have faith in the international revolutionary authority. What boundless respect they had for the international leadership-the name of Stalin made them place their lives fearlessly at the disposal of the reactionary government of India. In all ages and in all climes this revolutionary loyalty is necessary for organizing revolutions. We must learn from the experience of the heroes of Telengana: we must take the mask off the face of those who oppose Marxism-Leninism by using the name of Stalin. We will have to snatch from their hands the Red Flag dyed with the blood of hundreds of workers and peasants. The traitors have, by touching that Flag with their hands, stained it.
Naxalbari lives and will live. This is because it is based on invincible Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. We know that as we move forward we shall face many obstacles, many difficulties, many acts of betrayal and there will be many setbacks. But Naxalbari will not die because the bright sunlight of Chairman Mao's Thought has fallen on it like a blessing. When Naxalbari receives congratulations from the heroes in the rubber plantations of Malaya who have been engaged in struggle for 20 years, when congratulations are sent by Japanese comrades who have been fighting against the revisionist leadership of their own Party, when such congratulations come from the Australian revolutionaries, when the comrades of the armed forces of great China send their greetings, we feel the significance of that immortal call, "Workers of the World, Unite", we have a feeling of oneness and our conviction becomes more strong and firm that we have our dear relations in all lands. Naxalbari has not died and it will never die.

MILITIA WOMEN - Mao Tse-tung

How bright and brave they look, shouldering five-foot rifles
On the parade ground lit up by the first gleams of day.
China's daughters have high-aspiring minds,
They love their battle array, not silks and satins.

Tuesday, 17 May 2011

From Kasama project :Posted by Mike E on October 13, 2009

Understanding Che Guevara — 42 Years After His Murder

Che was executed in cold blood 42 years ago by a U.S. lead death squad that captured him in Bolivia. Then, as now, he had emerged as a prominent symbol of self-sacrifice, armed struggle, internationalism and uncompromising opposition to U.S. domination. His death stands as a glaring example of the role the U.S. and its agents play in the brutal repression of humanity’s highest aspirations. The torturers of the CIA were not invented on 9/11 — but have a very long and bloody history.

Tunisia: The people want another revolution!

Posted by Mike E on May 10, 2011

Kasama received the following article from A World to Win News ServiceTunisia: “The people want another revolution!”
9 May 2011. A World to Win News Service. The kind of popular anger that drove out the hated tyrant Ben Ali on 14 January and brought down two successor governments has erupted again in Tunisia.
Since 7 May an overnight curfew has been in force in the capital city and its working class suburbs and three cities in the country’s interior after the most violent confrontations since January. The first protests broke out on 5 May following a televised interview in which the recently fired Interior Minister, Farhat Rajhi, a so-called “Mister Clean” whom President Foued Mebazzaa supposedly brought into the government to clear out former regime elements from the security forces, said that he was kicked out for trying to do just that and proclaimed that the president’s words were not to be trusted. Most explosively, he warned that the president and armed forces head General Rachid Ammar were discussing the possibility of a military coup if the Constituent Assembly elections scheduled for July do not turn out to their liking.

Afghani Maoists on Osama bin Laden’s Death

Posted by Mike E on May 17, 2011

“American imperialists and their allies consider bin Laden’s death a big victory for themselves. Now they show off their power even more than before, pretending that no force can resist them. If we look at this claim from a short term tactical perspective then there is no doubt that it possesses some truth. …

“If we take a deeper look at this issue, however, the imperialists’ strategic weakness and fault can clearly be seen within their current tactical triumph.”

Thanks to Maoist Revolution for sharing this piece.

Statement of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan on Osama bin Laden’s death:

Forward towards Initiating and Carrying Forward
the People’s Revolutionary War of National Resistance!

The actual pretext for America and its allies’ imperialist military onslaught to invade and occupy Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 was to kill or arrest Osama bin Laden, who was suspected as the real mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
During the past ten years of the war of aggression, and the presence of the occupying forces in Afghanistan that have continued under this pretext or others, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives and thousands of the poor huts of the wretched villagers have been destroyed.
But finally it became clear that bin Laden was not in Afghanistan but in Pakistan, close to this country’s capital, Islamabad, and beside the country’s biggest military training center––a training center for a military that is a vassal of the American imperialists and their allies. Apparently, a small group of 14 American special forces with three helicopters–and definitely with the close cooperation of the Pakistani armed forces–attacked bin Laden’s residence on the early morning of May 1, 2011 and killed him, along with one of his sons, and some of his close associates after a limited fire-fight. Immediately after this assault, Barack Obama announced the “American victory” with tympani and cockalorum.

EGYPT 2011: MILLIONS HAVE
HEROICALLY STOOD UP...
THE FUTURE REMAINS TO BE WRITTEN

A Statement By Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

February 11, 2011
Millions of Egyptian people from all walks of life, drawing inspiration from the people of Tunisia, have heroically risen up, defied the hated regime of Hosni Mubarak and forced Mubarak to resign. This has shattered the notion that "things can never change." It is a powerful demonstration that there is no permanent necessity to the existing conditions under which the great majority of humanity suffer so terribly. Oppressed people and people who hunger for an end to oppression, in every country all over the world, have deeply shared in the joy and hope of these massive uprisings. And the stirrings of revolt continue to spread.

BRINGING FORWARD ANOTHER WAY by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

The following are excerpts from Bringing Forward Another Way: an edited version of a talk by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, to a group of Party supporters, in the fall of 2006. Subheads and footnotes have been added for publication here. This talk is available in its entirety on-line at revcom.us, and has been published as a pamphlet. The essential analysis laid out in this talk has ongoing importance, and we are reprinting these sections in this issue for their particular relevance.

More on the "Two Historically Outmodeds"

This leads me to the question of World War 3. A number of pundits and "analysts"—including once again right-wing squawking heads like Glenn Beck—have continued to insist: "This is World War 3, we are already in World War 3." This specter of World War 3 involves, in a real sense, both considerable distortion of reality and actual reality. And this does get to the "two historically outmodeds" and how in fact they do reinforce each other even while opposing each other. As I have formulated this:
"What we see in contention here with Jihad on the one hand and McWorld/McCrusade on the other hand, are historically outmoded strata among colonized and oppressed humanity up against historically outmoded ruling strata of the imperialist system. These two reactionary poles reinforce each other, even while opposing each other. If you side with either of these 'outmodeds,' you end up strengthening both."
While this is a very important formulation and is crucial to understanding much of the dynamics driving things in the world in this period, at the same time we do have to be clear about which of these "historically outmodeds" has done the greater damage and poses the greater threat to humanity: It is the "historically outmoded ruling strata of the imperialist system," and in particular the U.S. imperialists.

From Revolution #213, October 10, 2010

Bastion of Enlightenment… or Enforcer for Imperialism:

The Case of ISRAEL

The state of Israel is projected to the world as an outpost of democracy and tolerance in a sea of hostile, intolerant Islam bent on its destruction. To be considered a credible mainstream voice in U.S. politics, academia, or the media, one must present Israel as a front line of defense against Jihad, and a critical fortress defending "our way of life."
When Israel carries out acts that are simply indefensible under international law, such actions are defended by the U.S., rarely noted in the media, and allowable criticism in the U.S. is constrained to mildly taking issue with Israel's "disproportionate response" to what is always branded "terrorism."
To take just one recent example: In May of this year, the Israeli army violated international law by boarding the Mavi Marmara in international waters. This ship was part of a flotilla bringing relief supplies to Palestinians and challenging Israel's illegal and inhumane blockade of the Palestinian area of Gaza. Israeli military forces killed nine passengers in storming the ship.
An investigation of the deaths on the Mavi Marmara by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights determined: "The circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution." The report found that two passengers, including a 19-year-old U.S. citizen, "were shot at near range while the victims were lying injured on the top deck." Four others "were shot on the bridge deck while not participating in activities that represented a threat to any Israeli soldier. In these instances and possibly other killings on the Mavi Marmara, Israeli forces carried out extralegal, arbitrary and summary executions prohibited by international human rights law, specifically article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
The 47-member UN Human Rights Council voted to endorse this report with a single "no" vote—cast by the United States. The report received extremely limited press coverage in the U.S. (See "UN Report finds Israel 'summarily executed' U.S. citizen on flotilla," by Glenn Greenwald, Salon, October 1, 2010.)

* * *

Palestinian Poetess Suheir Hammad : I will not dance to your war drum

Monday, 16 May 2011

From Revolution #233, May 22, 2011

50th Anniversary

Freedom Riders—A Legacy of Defiance

Imagine yourself taking a little trip back in time. Not too long ago—50 or 60 years. And not too far—imagine you’re still in the U.S., in a southern state like Mississippi or Alabama or Georgia.
A lot of what you see is familiar; yet at the same time shockingly, grotesquely different. Public spaces, like restaurants, bus stations, parks, movie theaters, libraries—even water fountains and restrooms—are marked either “White Only” or “Colored Only.” The spaces marked “White Only” are always cleaner, more up to date, more spacious. The “Colored Only” areas are back entrances, alleyways, rusted water fountains, maybe “rest rooms” pointing to a cow pasture.
It has been 100 years since the Civil War ended slavery in the United States. But the economic and social relations all around you bear the scars of the shameful history where Black people were owned by white people and produced much of the wealth for the foundation of U.S. capitalism. The end of slavery supposedly “freed” Black people. But instead, Black people continued to be subjugated as a people, in no less exploitative, oppressive forms. Under the sharecropping system, once again, they were chained to the land and worked like slaves, producing profits for the capitalists. And a whole range of laws and “traditions” codifying all this arose—and were violently enforced by the police and the KKK.
It is 1960 and Black people have not been outright owned by white people for nearly 100 years. But walking through the rural South in 1960, you see poor Black farmers still working the land, barely able to feed their families. And Confederate flags still fly “proud.” Everywhere you look, you can feel the threads of history in which white supremacy and the systematic oppression of Black people has been, and continues to be, embedded in every aspect of U.S. society.
The U.S. proclaims it is a bastion of freedom and equality. But every thing around you drives home how an entire group of people are denied the most basic rights, the target of official and mob violence, and subjected to countless, daily, humiliations—because of the color of their skin.
This was the nightmare of Jim Crow America.

Palestinians Killed at Nakba Rally

"I hold that it is bad as far as we are concerned if a person, a political party, an army or a school is not attacked by the enemy, for in that case it would definitely mean that we have sunk to the level of the enemy. It is good if we are attacked by the enemy, since it proves that we have drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves. It is still better if the enemy attacks us wildly and paints us as utterly black and without a single virtue; it demonstrates that we have not only drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves but achieved a great deal in our work."

Mao Tse-tung, To Be Attacked by the Enemy Is Not a Bad Thing but a Good Thing (May 26, 1939), first pocket ed., p. two. *

Palestinian Protests Erupt on the West Bank

Wikileaks Reveals US Wanted to Keep Russia Out of Libyan Oil.flv

Caroline Lucas speaking at Gaza/ Nakba meeting outside Downing Street London 14th May 2011

Sunday, 15 May 2011

naxalite : Indian Spring Thunder

Naxalbari : Indian Spring Thunder

Brothers and sisters of the soul unite
We are one indivisible and strong
They may try to break us but they dare not under estimate us
They know our memories are long
A mass of sleeping villages
That's how they're pitching it
At least that's what they try to pretend
But check out our history
So rich and revolutionary
A prophecy that we will rise again
That we will rise again...

Again and again until the land is ours
Again and again until we have taken the power
Again and again until the land is ours
Again and again until we have taken the power

Deep in the forest
High up in the mountains
To the future we will take an oath
Like springing tigers we encircle the cities
Our home is the undergrowth
Because I am just a naxalite warrior
Fighting for survival and equality
Police man beating up me, my brother and my father
My mother crying can't believe this reality
And we will rise again
And we will rise again...

Again and again until the land is ours
Again and again until we have taken the power
Again and again until the land is ours
Again and again until we have taken the power

Jump into the future dub zone

Roots rockers

And we have taken the power
And the land is ours
And we have taken the power
And the land is ours
And we have taken the power
And the land is ours
And we have taken the power
And the land is ours
It's ours

Because I am just a naxalite warrior
Fighting for survival and equality
Police man beating up me, my brother and my father
My mother crying can't believe this reality

Iron like a Lion from Zion
This one going all the youth, man and woman
Orginal Master D upon the microphone stand
Cater for no skeptical man- me no give a damn

'Cos me a naxalite warrior

Saturday, 14 May 2011

May 11: Plan panel backs Binayak Sen’s nomination

May 11, 2011
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2009422.ece
Even as the Planning Commission on Wednesday strongly backed its decision to nominate human rights activist Binayak Sen on its steering committee on health, there was a loud note of disapproval from the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who questioned the rational behind the appointment as he was still facing trial. “The people of Chhattisgarh do not approve of the appointment,’’ he said.
“The issues that we would tackle in the 12th Five Year Plan are extremely important including children’s health in the tribal areas. Since Dr. Sen has worked with the poorest of the poor, his contribution would be useful,’’ Syeda Hameed, Member, Planning Commission, who chairs the steering committee on health told The Hindu here.
Confirming Dr. Sen’s appointment as member of the steering committee on health to advice for 12th Plan, Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwali told reporters that it was Planning Commission’s proposal to appoint him.
However, the Commission is yet to get a formal acceptance from Dr. Sen, though informally it has been confirmed that he would accept the appointment and it was a matter of time before he did that.
“We are bringing the best brains together from across the country to formulate policies to tackle issues like malnutrition, Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate, and our feeling was that Dr. Sen would help us in this,’’ Dr. Hameed said. The first meeting of the steering committee is scheduled for May 26.
The 61-year old rights activist, a pediatrician, has worked in Chhattisgarh’s tribal belt. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition and links with Naxalites. However, the Supreme Court granted him bail in April, after which he was released from Raipur Jail.
Meanwhile, questioning the rationale behind the selection, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said Dr. Sen was still facing trial in the Chhattisgarh High Court. “He has not been absolved of the charges by the court, but just given bail,’’ Dr. Singh told reporters here.
Pointing out that generally for such appointments a proper procedure is followed, including scrutiny of the antecedents of the individual, Dr. Singh said: “Is there such a dearth of experts in the country that the Centre had to take the advice of a person accused of sedition? The people of Chhattisgarh do not approve of this,” he added.

May 12: Starvation line or poverty line?

May 12, 2011
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-11/india/29531941_1_bpl-population-social-security-poverty
NEW DELHI: An urban Indian spending a penny more than Rs 578 a month – roughly Rs 20 a day – on all his basic needs cannot be termed poor and would not receive social benefits and subsidies given by the Centre to BPL citizens, the Planning Commission has said.
The commission told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that a city dweller cannot be termed poor if his average monthly spends exceed Rs 31 on rent and conveyance, Rs 18 on education, Rs 25 on medicines or Rs 36.5 on vegetables. It said these were the average monthly expenditure levels per capita across the country it was using to decide the official ‘poverty line’.
Critics have called it the starvation line – a spending level below which people would be rendered destitute.
The government’s eligibility criteria for the rural poor is even more stringent. If a villager spends more than Rs 15 a day he is not poor, according to the Plan panel’s statisticians.
Based on these consumption levels, the commission has declared that only 41.8% of the rural population is poor and a mere 25.7% of the urban Indians need food, shelter and social benefits from the government.
The commission’s figures are based on 2004-05 prices. But even at current price levels, these cutoffs are pretty low – around Rs 35 a day for urban dwellers and Rs 20 for rural Indians – experts said on the basis of back-of-envelope calculations.
These experts pointed out that when the government pushes for the Food Security Bill and other social schemes, it would be using these cutoffs to keep people out of the social security net. Anyone spending more than this will be denied subsidized food, accommodation, pensions and medical treatment targeted at the BPL population.
The Union government argued in Supreme Court that these are merely the Centre’s cutoffs. The states can shell out money from their own pockets for others they find ‘poor’. The government, however, admitted that states have been crying foul over this for long. But the Centre blamed the states for incorrectly identifying the beneficiaries of BPL programmes.
These cutoffs will help the Centre claim that poverty in the country is low and getting lower. In material terms, this will reduce the government’s subsidy ‘burden’ in the future.
This is not the first time that the government has touted such low figures for identifying poverty. The latest figures are, in fact, an improvement from earlier estimates. Experts said the government has in the past used lower population levels (through old estimates and census data) to keep the number of the ‘officially poor’ low.

From http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2011/04/900-papers-supporting-climate-scepticism-exxon-links

Analysing the ‘900 papers supporting climate scepticism’: 9 out of top 10 authors linked to ExxonMobil

15 Apr 2011, 14:24
Christian

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'900+ Peer-Reviewed Papers Supporting Skepticism Of "Man-Made" Global Warming (AGW) Alarm' announces the headline on the Global Warming Policy Foundation's website.
The article references a blog linking to more than 900 papers which, according to the GWPF, refute "concern relating to a negative environmental or socio-economic effect of AGW, usually exaggerated as catastrophic."
However, a preliminary data analysis by the Carbon Brief has revealed that nine of the ten most prolific authors cited have links to organisations funded by ExxonMobil, and the tenth has co-authored several papers with Exxon-funded contributors.
The top ten contributors are alone responsible for 186 of the papers cited by the Global Warming Policy Foundation. The data also shows that there are many other familiar climate sceptic names among the major contributors to the list.

Against Counter Revolution: Kiran - New Political document

(This proposal was presented by senior vice-chairman Comrade Mohan Baidhya Kiran in the party’s central committee held in April 2011. Kiran presented the document to register his dissenting views in the party after chairman ‘Prachanda’ proposed a new proposal with focus on ‘peace and constitution’ deviating from the political line of ‘popular insurrection’ adopted by party’s sixth extended meeting or plenum held in November 2010 in Palungtar of Gorkha district. We have already posted it’s Nepalese version. Now we have English version. Thanks to Comrade Lamsal, who made it available.)

1. Two main problems at present

The country is now in a grave political crisis. We have now two main problems: They are: problems related to class struggle or national struggle and problem related to two-line struggle in the party. The problem concerning national struggle is related to the problem in correctly identifying the class enemy and the problem in effectively advancing the struggle against it. Now the reactionaries, on the one hand, are conspiring to convert our party- Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)- into a reformist and status-quoist party by pushing it to the grand parliamentary quagmire and should this plan fail, they are plotting to resort to suppression against our party, one the other. We must understand this truth properly. In the same way, the two-line struggle in the party is getting complicated and this is also the expression of class struggle. We also must be serious on the issue of properly understanding the two-line struggle and advancing it in a comradely manner. Now families of martyrs, families of disappeared warriors, and injured and disabled warriors are expecting from our parties to realize their aspirations and dreams of liberation. The entire Nepali people including workers, peasants, women, dalits ( oppressed), janajaties (nationalities) Muslims and all backward people and classes as well as the international proletarian class, too, are watching at our party as a centre of hope for their bright future. We must pay our attention to all these factors.

A true communist party and its leaders must seek scientific solution to these problems. Otherwise, the validity and justification of such leadership would automatically come to an end. We must be very serious on this issue.

Friday, 13 May 2011

Noam Chomsky Speech The U.S. Its Allies Will Do Anything to Prevent Democracy in the Arab World

From Iran to our Revolutionary Comrades in the Middle East and North Africa

From Iran to our Revolutionary Comrades in the Middle East and North Africa

Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist)-May 2011

http://www.sarbedaran.org/language/khatabEn.htm

People of Tunisia , Egypt , Syria , Palestine, … also, are our people! The reactionaries and imperialists have divided us by borders but common oppression and exploitation have grafted our hearts together.

When the wretched of the earth – slaves, peasants, workers, women and other oppressed – straighten their backs and move their gaze from ground to horizons of emancipation, a new chapter in history begins – one in which these are no longer voiceless and faceless victims but the key players.

At a time that world capitalist-imperialist system and its setups ruling in different countries seem everlasting and possibility of a different world is not readily in sight, the struggles of the people of Tunisia and Egypt opened a new chapter in history and brought smiles to faces of the oppressed and exploited of the world. Uprisings of these people gave a big blow to dark atmosphere of hopelessness and apparently "eternal" existence of the oppressive and suffocating status quo of these countries. When yesterday's verbal protests turned into angry rebellions and the corrupt ruling bands fell disgracefully on the ground, an exciting stage in the process of Middle East developments began. When these people powerfully moved to take their destiny into their own hands, they gave a sense of power and hope to all oppressed of the world because they created moments that made achievement of seemingly impossible dreams more real.