Police attack Occupy Philly 1

"One day a free India will appear in the world" Joint Statement of Proletarian Party of East Bengal (Maoist Unity Group/ Bangladesh and Communist Party Marxist Leninist Maoist (France)

November 28, 2011

Proletarian Party of East Bengal (Maoist Unity Group)/Bangladesh
Communist Party Marxist Leninist Maoist (France)

“One day a free India will appear in the world!”

It is with deep sadness that we learnt the brutal killing of Comrade Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji in the Jangalmahal region of West Bengal, in India.

This murder hurts us in our minds, in our flesh. Because we are communists, because India is a big country, where an important part of the world masses are living. Numerous are the contributions of the Indian culture to the history of the world, and this will continue.
India's importance can not be stressed enough; as Mao Zedong did it himself:

« One day a free India will appear in the world as a member of the great family of socialism and People's Democracies, just as free as China has.

That day shall end the epoch of imperialism and reaction in the history of humanity. » 

(Mao Zedong, Telegram to the Communist Party of India, november 19, 1949, to B.T. Ranadive, general secretary of the Communist Party of India, signed by Mao Zedong and dated).

America - Truth in a Tamil Song

No Massacre At Tiananmen Square: WikiLeaks

India's Red Tide

India’s people mourn Maoist leader Kishenji

Posted by redpines on November 28, 2011

Revolutionaries and oppressed peoples all over the world are mourning the assassination of CPI(Maoist) leader Kishenji. The loss is especially difficult for the people of India, even as they gather to celebrate his life and contributions to human liberation.

There is evidence Kishenji killed in what is called a “fake encounter.” This is an incident when police or paramilitaries capture a person, kill her/him in detention, and then manufacture evidence to make the killing look like it occurred in combat. It is nothing but cowardly, ruthless, cold-blooded murder. Indian state forces have often engaged in this practice to cover up their ruthless persecution of Maoist and Adivasi (tribal) people. 

This article appeared at the Hindustan Times.

Hundreds Pay Last Respects to Kishenji

November 27, 2011

Maoist sympathisers, revolutionary writers, singers, representatives of various people’s organisations, civil liberties activists and hundreds other on Sunday paid their last respects to slain Maoist leader Kishenji in his hometown Peddapalli in Andhra Pradesh. People in large numbers turned up at Kishenji’s house to pay their tribute and console his family members. With folded hands, the mourners were seen passing by the flower bedecked coffin amid huge police presence.

Maoist sympathisers say it was their last ‘red salute’ to their comrade who left his house 35 years ago to join the movement and fight for the cause of oppressed people.

The last rites of politburo member of Communist Party of India (Maoist) will be performed after 1 pm.

from Nepal: “Red Salute ! to our Beloved Comrade Kishanj

from Nepal: “Red Salute ! to our Beloved Comrade Kishanji”

Comrade Kishanji

It is a matter of deep sorrow that the reactionary Indian government has murdered Comrade Kishanji alias Malloujula Koteswara Rao, Politburo Member of CPI (Maoist), in a fake incounter in Burishol forest area, west Midnapore District, Jangalmahal, West Bengal on 24 November 2011. He was a leading figure and spokesperson for CPI (Maoist) . According CPI (Maoist) statement issued to the media, Kishanji was arrested and tortured and then brutally killed.

Varavara Rao holds Mamata Banerjee responsible for the torture and death of Kishanji

Picture Mamata Banerjee


Telugu Poet P Varavara Rao on Saturday said  slain leader Kishenji was killed in a 'staged encounter' and held West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee responsible for the death.

"I have seen him (Kishenji) several times since 1991. During the last 43 years I have seen a lot of dead bodies but none like this. 


They cut him, burnt him, then pumped bullets into him.

"There isn't a single part of his body without an injury.


They kept him in custody for 24 hours and tortured him," said Rao, who along with Kishenji's niece Deepa Rao has come here to identify and take back the rebel leader's body back to his native place in Andhra Pradesh.

Rao held Banerjee responsible for killing Kishenji.

"Mamata (Banerjee) has killed Kishenji who had asked her for peace," Rao told reporters.

Death of Comrade Kishanji - Peddapally plunged into mourning

• A pall of gloom has descended over Peddapally in Karimnagar district on hearing about the death of the senior CPI Maoist leader Mallojula Koteshwara Rao alias Kishenji as the people recalled the memories of his childhood and youth.

Kishanji's mother Madhuramma has been crying uncontrollably ever since she heard the news of the death of her son in an alleged encounter in West Bengal yesterday. The other family members including his younger brother Anjaneyalu, a cooperative bank employee, were the picture of mourning.

While many locals including some of Kishanji's childhood friends openly praised him as a ‘beacon of hope for the poor' and ‘a revolutionary who fought against injustice', Anjaneyalu demanded that his body be handed over to the family so they could perform the last rites in Peddapally.

An inspiration

A large number of people gathered at the residence of Kishenji's brother to express their condolences.


"They have killed him physically but his life will remain an inspiration for the people as long as there is injustice in the society,"  

said a middle-aged woman.

Meanwhile Kishenji's niece Deepa along with three activists left for Kolkatta this morning to retrieve the body. The group was led by revolutionary poet Vara Vara Rao and included Andhra Pradesh civil liberties committee secretary C Chandrashekhar, Padma Kumari, Secretary, Amarula Bandhu Mitrulu Sangham (Martyrs Relatives and Friends Association).

However Vara Vara Rao was taken into custody by the West Bengal Police as soon as he landed in Kolkatta. Before leaving Hyderabad he condemned Kishernji's killing as a ‘fake encounter' and demanded a judicial inquiry in to the incident.

"We will approach High Court for a fresh post-mortem in Kolkatta and bring the body to his home town Peddapally, Karimnagar district for last rites," said Vara Vara Rao.

At present the body is being kept in the Midnapore hospital mortuary.

"It will take some time to complete the formalities and get the body handed over to the family members", said another activist involved in the efforts.

"This is nothing but a fake encounter, an inhuman act. He was taken into custody by the police during the search operation a day earlier," said Vara Vara Rao.

Press Statement on the cold-blooded murder of Maoist Leader, Kishanji

25/11/2011

We strongly condemn the cold-blooded murder and planned assassination of Kishanji alias Mallojula Koteswara Rao, Politburo Member of CPI (Maoist) in Burishol forest area, Paschim Midnapore District, Jangalmahal, West Bengal on 24 November 2011. At the time of this murder Kishanji was dealing with the process of peace talks through the interlocutors appointed by the Chief Minister of West Bengal Ms. Mamata Banerjee. Such a heinous crime should be condemned by all justice loving people.

Kishenji: An Indian Patriot And Hero For All Times By Trevor Selvam

25 November, 2011

Countercurrents.org

Kishenji, the Maoist guerilla commander who was killed two days ago by the Joint Forces of the West Bengal Police Force and the Counter Insurgency Force deployed by Mamata Banerjee, organized the working poor of India’s tribal and Adivasi belt for thirty four years. He was there in the mountains, the villages, the forests of India, building mass organizations, organizing village defense forces, setting up a peoples’ militia and then the rudiments of a liberation army amongst the peasantry of that region. Kishenji, an engineering graduate and longtime communist activist, survived with the support of the local villagers and was able to build the Maoist organization by leaps and bounds, for the past decade. The world needs to know about this man.

Death of Comrade Kishanji - All men must die, but death can vary in its significance.

Picture: Mount Tai


All men must die, but death can vary in its significance. The ancient Chinese writer Szuma Chien said, 


"Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather." To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather. 


Comrade Kishanji died for the people, and his death is indeed weightier than Mount Tai .


Mao Zedong - Serve the People 
amended by Democracy and Class Struggle
based on September 8th 1944 article

Maoist sympathizer condemns Kishenji's death

Losing our brother Kishenji: The state murder of India’s Maoist leader

Posted by kasama on November 25, 2011

We received the terrible news that the leadingIndian Maoist Kishenji (AKA Mallojula Koteswara Rao) was murdered in by government forces in a “fake encounter.” Kishenji was a leading figure and spokesman for India’s Maoist (Naxalite) movement — and reportedly the military leader of their embryonic popular armed forces.

The following is one of the more recent accountsof outrage and exposure.

Our hearts are with the brave communist fighters of India and the hundreds of millions of oppressed people who dream of liberation.

Varvara Rao:

Maoist leader Kishenji was tortured before being killed

Telugu poet and Maoist sympathiser Varvara Rao Friday alleged that top Maoist leader Kishenji was tortured before being killed in a fake encounter and demanded a white paper from the West Bengal government.

“Kishenji was subjected to inhuman torture as his body bore marks of several injuries and he was killed in a fake encounter 24 hours after being nabbed. I demand a white paper on the killing,” Rao told reporters at the state secretariat.

Original Occupation: Native Blood & the Myth of Thanksgiving

http://kasamaproject.org/

Posted by Mike E on November 23, 2011

This piece is available as podcast. It is part of our larger Kasama offerings on peoples’ history.

The Puritan colonists of Massachusetts embraced a line from Psalms 2:8:

“Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.”

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

by Mike Ely

Intro to that first occupation

We are talking widely among ourselves about “occupying” Wall Street — taking the center of an empire back for the people of the world. We are talking about “Occupy Everything” — sharing our dreams of taking all society away from banks, police, and the heartless authority of money. We hope this moment marks a beginning of the end for them.

Corporate attacks on India’s peasants

http://southasiarev.wordpress.com/

Posted by redpines on November 22, 2011

As Lenin observed back in 1916, imperialist countries export financial capital to poorer countries, in order to exploit their resources and labor. Back then, most of these countries were formally colonized. With the assistance of less powerful capitalist regimes and firms, finance capital based in the imperialist countries is still able to plunder these formerly colonized nations. While banks like JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup have swindled US workers and forced many people out of their homes, they also help destroy communities on the other side of the globe. 

The following article from Samar discusses the transnational dimensions of capitalist exploitation and shows concrete links between US banks and the displacement of indigenous people and peasants in India. It also highlights the need for  international solidarity with oppressed peoples all over the world–the vast majority of the 99% are outside the US and Europe:

People in the west have joined the global south in putting corporate greed on trial. We can only hope that this unified voice will strengthen the ongoing resistance of those on the periphery to bring about some real victories to the people directly affected by the crimes of corporate capital.

What the article doesn’t mention however, is the Maoist organizing and resistance in Orissa and other areas of India that are targeted by Indian and international corporations. A diagnosis of these problems is one thing. Finding effective ways to resist–and form new societies–is another issue altogether, and one the Maoists of India have taken seriously.

The California Hunger Strike: Repression, Resistance, the US Prison System, and Political Imprisonment in India

http://sanhati.com/By Isaac Ontiveros.

The author works on the media committee of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition.

An Introduction by Partho Sarathi Ray

The demand for the release of political prisoners is a major demand of democratic movements in India now, and the condition of prisoners in jail a major cause for concern. The case of Binayak Sen had brought the issue of political prisoners into focus, but there are thousands like him languishing in jails, including people like Jiten Marandi who have been sentenced to death.

The situation has parallels to the USA, which has the largest prison population ratio to the total population in the world, and has political prisoners who have been in jail for more than thirty years, from the time when the Black population of the US stood up in struggle for their rights. In the following article, the author Isaac Ontiveros of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Condition writes about the recent historic hunger strike by prisoners in California prisons, which had focused attention on the US prison system and the condition of prisoners therein. This hunger strike, which at one point had 12000 participants throughout the California prison system, exposed the inherent repression, maltreatment and misery of the prisoners in the US prisons and became a symbol of resistance against these.

Orissa - Statement protesting against state repression on people’s movement in Narayanpatna

November 23, 2011

On 20 November 2011, we, the undersigned, were heading towards Podapadar village in Narayanpatna block of Koraput district where the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) was to organize a public meeting to pay tribute to the sacrifices made by two of their frontline leaders, Wadeka Singana and Nachika Andrew, who had fallen prey to state terror two years back on the same day. On 20 November 2009, hundreds of ‘unarmed’ adivasis had assembled at the Narayanpatna police station to register their protest democratically against untold excesses committed by police and paramilitary forces on them in the pretext of combing operations. But, the police – in the most undemocratic and barbaric manner – indiscriminately fired at the people in which Wadeka Singana and Nachika Andrew fell dead inside premises of the police station and several were wounded.

Situation in Nepal still exists in favour of revolutionaries: Dilip Maharjan "Bhishma"

UCPN-Maoist is in intense two line struggle. How can you explain it in people’s language for easy understanding?

Certainly, the issues of two line struggle are known to the people. It means two line struggle has reached to the people. The situation and the need demanded to carry the two line struggle among the people. Two-line struggle, in the past, was less concerned to the people because it was more in the level of opinion, ideology and the tactical line of the party. However, today, party leadership is advancing against the decisions of the party one after other. Recently, 4-point agreement, BIPPA agreement, 7-point agreement, dissolution of People’s Liberation Army, returning the land of the landless and homeless to the land lords, confiscation of the rights of the workers and make the local people deprived of their privileges are the activities committed by the party leadership which is against the people, nation and the right of freedom.

FAMINE, WAR, GENOCIDE and INDIA: Dr. Binayak Sen on Malnutrition- India's Biggest

Revolutionary balladeer Gadar on stage

Arundhati Roy: Occupy Wall Street is "So Important Because it is in the Heart of Empire"

Discussion of ‘Occupy Wall Street’ in Nepal

http://southasiarev.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/discussion-of-occupy-wall-street-in-nepal/

Posted by hetty7 on November 21, 2011

This article is from redstarnepal.com,  which has emerged as the English language voice of the revolutionary wing of Nepal’s Maoists.

‘Occupy Wall Street’: New Trend of Global Movement

Kathmandu, 23 October: In the specific name of ‘Occupy Wall Street’, millions of people gathered together in the common places over 1,500 cities globally. Hundreds of US cities were occupied and many of the Chowks and the cross roads were liberated that day.  The slogan was made broader under ‘occupy together’. This made participation of the people broader and more effective.

They were connecting their lives and hope as well as future with a peaceful occupy. The occupiers used to accept by saying that “We occupy Wall Street because it is our future, our generations’ future that is at stake. “

On the repressive situation in Jangalmahal - reports, statement

http://southasiarev.wordpress.com/

Posted by hetty7 on November 21, 2011

New York: Renowned Indian activist and novelist Arundhati Roy has decried the silence of the international community over the continued “brutal Indian occupation of Kashmir” and said Kashmiris should be given the right of self-determination.

This article is from www.dawn.com

“Kashmir is one of the most protracted and bloody occupations in the world – and one of the most ignored,” she told a large audience at the Asia Society during a discussion on “Kashmir – a Case for Freedom”.

Under the Indian military rule in Kashmir, Ms Roy said, freedom of speech was non-existent and human rights abuses were routine. Elections were rigged and the press controlled.

Occupy Everything: Make the ripples, Build for waves

http://kasamaproject.org

Posted by Mike E on November 21, 2011

“We should welcome ideas  go for the whole thing –that express we are not about merely pressuring on the monsters who rule this world.

“When words are spoken that (suddenly! finally!) invoke that idea of negating a whole system or structure (i.e. “Occupy Everywhere!” “All power to the General Assembly!” “Long live the Oakland Commune!”) — every nerve should go on alert. We should tune in intently to the reception.

“Who is speaking? Who is listening? Who is answering back?…

“We should take note as the stone hits the pond, and read the ripples. Because we are wanting to generate waves.”

This emerges from a discussion of “When do we discuss power? Long live the Oakland Commune?“

by Mike Ely

Any complex human task, (any!) that you speak the words quite a bit in advance of the actual moment, in order to be able to act when the actual alignment of stars is “just right.” And you often have to speak them with poetry that won’t hold up to lawyerly textualism (“We want the world and we want it now!” or one of my favorite Pantherisms “Blood to the horse’s brow, and woe to those who cannot swim.”)

If you think about it: Any revolutionary cause needs contagiousagitational slogans the preconfigure in the mind the visions and goals that will (eventually, hopefully) give rise to action slogans.

Plain Thoughts in the Time of a War (and on the Recent Shenanigans of the Netri)

http://sanhati.com/articles/4358/

November 21, 2011

by Krishanu Mandal

Fear has crept into them, Robeson…
The collective roar of the people has put fear into them,
The intensity of our solidarity has put fear into them,
The power of our defiance has put fear into them…

(This is an excerpt from a legendary song by Hemango Biswas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMqE6U7BhxM). The song is old but immortal. It inspires.)

Perhaps the most gruesome attack in their history is afoot on the people of Jangalmahal in Bengal. Fuehrer, that is the Netri, is leading this concerted attack. Benedictions and help are being showered on her from across the whole spectrum of ruling class political parties: from BJP to CPM.

These people in Jangalmahal have little to live on. At times they starve and die. More fortunate people steal even a part of the quota of rice thrown at them at times. Statistics and news are made of them. And when they attempt to assert their right to livelihood and dignity, when they attempt to create an egalitarian democratic order for themselves, Fuehrers plan to put them in place with sophisticated satellite-assisted guns.

Another Egyptian Revolution a threat ahead of crucial elections says Pepe Escobar

Drug Shortage and the State

Tahir Square- Egyptian soldiers and police set fire to tents in the middle of Cairo's Tahrir Square and fired tear gas and rubber bullets in a major assault on Sunday to drive out thousands of protesters after two days of clashes.

People's U: Arundhati Roy

OWS gather steam from nationwide protest cop crackdown

Maher Arar on Syrian Conflict

Tahrir Activist: West supplying army regime with means of oppression

Cairo clashes video: Egypt riot cops fire tear gas, rubber bullets

USA - Hypocrisy or Democracy ?

Jharkhand - NAPM, NFF, NFFPFW Statement condemning the murder of Sr. Valsa John by the mining mafia

November 18, 2011

Press Release by  National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) & National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW)

Sr. Valsa, an activist of the Rajmahal Pahad Bachao Andolan (RPBA) and an ordained nun with the Sisters of Charity of Jesus & Mary, who had been working among Santhal Adivasis in the coal rich region of Dhumka, Jharkhand was brutally murdered by a group of about 40 armed men on the night of 15th November 2011. On behalf of Indian peoples’ movements and resistance struggles, NAPM, NFF and NFFPFW condemn this heinous and cowardly act, evidently conceived by the powerful mining mafia, aimed at essentially hunting down individuals and movements to silence the voices of resistance by people.

Lessons from a Long History of Dissent: From the Early Twentieth Century to Occupy Wall Street

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/magdoff161111.html
by Fred Magdoff

World Peace Forum Teach-In, Vancouver, Canada, November 12, 2011 (Modified from Notes)

We are at what social theorists call a "historic moment," in which real change suddenly seems possible.  It is therefore all the more important to learn from past struggles.  One of the first lessens of a long history of dissent from the early twentieth century to the current Occupy Wall Street movement is that relatively small numbers -- that is, significantly less than a majority -- of people can cause big changes through either armed revolutions or non-violent actions.  Support by large sectors of society can be gained along the way.  Examples include Russia, China, Cuba, the union/left movement and reforms during the Great Depression, anti-colonial liberation movements, the U.S. civil rights struggles, etc.

Nepal: Revolutionary peasants refuse to return land

Posted by redpines on November 18, 2011

Peasants with the ANPF(Revolutionary) flag

One of the aims of the  People’s War (1996-2006), was to provide “land to tiller,” or free agricultural land for peasants to farm individually or collectively. To accomplish this, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) helped peasants confiscate lands from feudal lords or rich landowners. This was especially necessary in the heavily-populated Terai region in Southern Nepal, where arable land is scarce relative to the population.

However, according to the terms of the recent Seven-Point Agreement, peasants have been ordered to return much of this land. Peasants who are part of All Nepal Peasants Federation-Revolutionary are refusing to do so.

This development is especially interesting, as some leaders of the ANPF(Revolutionary) are aligned with Prachanda, who signed the seven-point agreement. What this means, if anything, is not clear. 

Peasant Against Returning Land

by RedStar

Kathmandu, 16 November:

All Nepal Peasants Federation-Revolutionary (ANPF (Revolutionary) has declared not to return the land; which was confiscated in the period of People’s War. It was declared in a press meet held in capital city Kathmandu yesterday. ANPF-Revolutionary is standing against the returning of the land where the poor and homeless people are farming for their livelihood making their small huts.

Vice Chairman of the organization Thakur Prasad Chapagain has said that returning land without alternative option, as it was already said that revolutionary land-reform would be its scientific option, is against the people and the nation. The 7-point agreement, itself is traitorous and anti-people.

He said that peasants will protest and fight against the the ruling parties and the ruling factions if they mobilize soldiers and armed police forces to seize land for returning the land laords.

Press Note: Joint Statement Calls for Rejecting 2011 Land Acquisition Bill

November 17, 2011

The 2011 Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill is a dangerous exercise in doublespeak that will worsen the injustice and devastation caused by the present law. Below is a joint statement on this legislation from a number of organisations and individuals, calling for the rejection of the new Bill and raising the basic issues that need to be addressed by any legal framework.
The statement points out that:

* Despite making gestures and pious statements, the Bill contains so many loopholes that all its provisions for public accountability and consultation will be meaningless in practice. Bureaucrats will remain extremely powerful. In particular, most projects (private or public) will be able to escape without either taking the consent of the affected people or responding to their objections.

Nepal’s Revolutionaries call for PLA to abandon army integration

Posted by redpines on November 17, 2011

Nepal’s Revolutionary Maoist forces are shaking things up.

As this statement points out, the revolutionaries are taking concrete steps to resist the terms of the Seven Point Agreementbetween Bhattarai, Prachanda and several bourgeois parties. Leaders Kiran and Badal are calling for PLA fighters to abandon the process of integrating with the Nepal Army.

The statements were originally published in the English-language version of The Red Star.

Revoluionary faction calls PLA Soldiers not to participate in fusion

by RedStar

16 November, 2011

Kathmandu, 16 November: Senior Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya “Kiran” and General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa “Badal” have called the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to be separated fronm the procvess of integration of the army.

In a joint press-statement released yesterday, they have appealed ‘PLA soldiers not to participate in the process of fusion because it is very disrespectable and anti-peace processes’. They have appealed the ‘self-respected PLA commanders and soldiers to be totally separarted from the process of surrendering.’

Therevolutionary faction is against the process of disarming and recruiting PLA commanders and soldiesr as the first recruiters in army.