• LRS conference in Mumbai:
  Important step in strategizing against privatization

• Condemn the Israeli military aggression on Palestine!
  The just struggle of the heroic Palestinian people will certainly triumph!

• Job cuts by both government and industry

• The original inhabitants of "Amchi Mumbai" ("Our Mumbai")

• Credibility crisis deepens with the passing of POTA!

• What is the Duty of the Finance Minister of India?

• Occupation the Most Comprehensive and Pervasive Cause of
  All Violations and Injustices

• Nations Enforce Their Leaders
  - Wafa, Editorial, March 30, 2002 (Excerpt) -

LRS conference in Mumbai:

Important step in strategizing against privatization

It is with this in mind that Lok Raj Sangathan organized an important conference; "How to block privatization and end the anti-labour offensive". The audacity, optimism and the timeliness of the topic attracted over a hundred trade union leaders, journalists, judges, political activists, environmental activists and other working people.

Organised in the well known Peter Demello Bhavan, home to the All India Port and Dock Workers Union near Masjid Bunder at Mumbai on April 7, 2002, the conference was divided into three important sessions.

The inaugural session was presided over by Justice S M Daud, well known jurist and vice president of Lok Raj Sangathan. The key note addresses were delivered by Prakash Rao, national convenor of LRS and Radhika from Communist Ghadar Party. Prakash explained the importance of all sections uniting in this movement and pointed out that LRS had recognized it very early and besides supporting the trade unions in their struggle had independently filed a Public Interest Litigation against privatization of Modern Foods. He also noted that according to Mr. Arun Shourie, Union Minister of Disinvestment, LRS is the only organization, other than the trade unions of the privatized PSUs, to challenge privatization in the courts. However the courts are inconsistent and are not upholding what is written in the directive principles of constitution and some are instead calling privatization a purely an executive decision. So all the more there is need to come together beyond party and union lines to oppose this attack he concluded.

Radhika in her detailed exposition took up several important issues. Among other things she pointed out that struggle against privatization does not mean upholding the old public sector as socialistic. These were public assets built to assist the big capitalists and at their behest as in the Bombay Plan. But that does not mean that they should be privatized by the government. After all they are public assets built with people’s money and the sweat of workers in these enterprises. The issue is who controls the state sector. Today the big capitalists control it and hence the PSUs serve them but if the people seize control of the state then these assets can be deployed to serve an economy of which people are the center and not profits of individual capitalists. In fact this large state sector was a global phenomenon of capitalism after World War I. In the last 15-20 years globally a capitalism in crisis is demanding that the state hand these assets over to them at throw away prices. This was behind Reagan and Thatcher’s programme in the eighties and this is also the driving force behind the Indian government’s drive to privatize in the nineties. That is the reason successive governments be they of Congress, BJP or the Third Front have all followed the same policies. Clearly, we should not fall into the trap that only BJP is the cause of privatization and hence we should all unite to bring Congress back to power as some leaders are advocating. The current communal violence, fascisation like POTA and privatization, liberalization and globalization are all part of one indivisible strategy of the bourgeoisie to come out of the current crisis at the cost of the mass of working people and the times call upon us to build a truly solid political unity of the working class and all the people of India against the big bourgeoisie by putting forward our own independent programme to solve the political and economic crisis", she said (see elsewhere in this issue for the full text of CGPI speech in the conference.)

The first session comprised of presentations by Com. Nachne of LIC Employees Federation, Shankar Salvi, Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat, Pravin Nadkar, AIFTU and Shivanand Kanavi, a senior journalist. Justice Daud, chaired the session.

The second session was marked by presentations by Dada Samant of Kamgar Aghadi, Y G Joshi, Govind Yadav of Modern Foods, National Railway Mazdoor Union, Dhote Patil of Port and Dock Workers Federation, Arvind Vaidya of Teachers Union, George Gomes, Gaikwad, Anil Tyagi of SUCI, Shekhar Kapre of Ladhaku Garment Mazdoor Sanghatana and Girish Raut of Valvan Bunder Virodhi Samiti.

The presentations were marked by seriousness towards the issue and earnestness to take the movement forward. The speakers brought their rich experience from different sectors and their political experience to throw light on different aspects of privatization and anti-labour offensive.

The conference concluded by passing resolutions against communal violence in Gujarat, against privatization and for increasing political unity against this bourgeois offensive.

People’s Voice welcomes this initiative of Lok Raj Sangathan that has immediately raised the level of the discussion against privatization and is aimed towards formulating an aggressive action programme of political unity.

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Condemn the Israeli military aggression on Palestine!

The just struggle of the heroic Palestinian people will certainly triumph!

The Palestinian people are a martyred people, who through no fault of theirs have been deprived of their homeland. They have faced many attacks and challenges in the past fifty five years, ever since the state of Israel was established through the machinations of the Anglo-American imperialists. But they have never given up their struggle for their homeland. Each fresh savagery of the Israeli Zionists and their US backers has only steeled the resolve of Palestinian resistance. Now too, the same has happened. All over the Arab world, the people have risen up in solidarity with their Palestinian brothers and sisters, and are demanding that their governments take concrete action to force the Israeli occupiers out.

Sharon’smilitary campaign has been bolstered by the support he has received from the US imperialists, who have been and remain the main backers of Israel, politically, economically and militarily. He has declared arrogantly that the campaign to exterminate the Palestinians is part of the US led "global war against terrorism", launched after the September 11 events. This is a challenge to the entire world’s peoples. It is a challenge to the governments of all the Arab countries—whether they will stand up to the US imperialists and Zionists, or meekly watch as the bloodbath continues. It is a challenge to the European Union, Russia, China and all other powers—are they going to once again acquiesce to the US-Zionist aggression, as they did in the case of Afghanistan, or are they going to take a stand against the Zionists and their imperialist backers. It is a challenge to the government of India as well. All those who capitulate in the face of the threat and blandishments of the US imperialists and Zionists will go down in history as cowards and traitors.

People’s Voice is reprinting extracts from an appeal to Arab peoples and governments from WAFA, the Palestinian News Agency in this issue.

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Job cuts by both government and industry

What the fate of people will be once labour laws are made more capitalist friendly can be imagined if we look at what has happened during the last three years.

The reduction includes 3.4 lakh government employees that were taken off the government rolls when the Department of Telecom was made into a company. So, between 2000 & 2001 the government reduced 1.69 lakh employees and another 3.4 lakh employees lost the status of government employment.

Three departments of the government employ bulk of the people; the change in their number of employees has been as below: While employees are being reduced in all the ministries of government, their number is growing in the Ministry of Home, i.e., the number of personnel in CRPF and other security forces is growing.

The situation of jobs in factories seems to be worse. The number of jobs reduced by more than 700,000 between 1998 and 2000, as per the recently released data of the Central Statistical Organization of the Government of India. The number of employees dipped by nearly 5 per cent during 1999-2000, on the top of a fall of 3 per cent in the previous year.

The number of employees in the factory sector in 1999-2000 is at about 82 lakhs only.

The data also shows that nearly two-thirds of factory sector employment is in the corporate sector while individually controlled factory sector accounts for nearly 28 per cent of the factory sector employment.

The employment fall has been seen in both the corporate and individually controlled sectors between 1998 & 2000, but the extent of fall has been smaller in case of individually controlled sector (5.7 per cent), compared to the corporate sector (8.2 per cent).

During 1999-2000, in fact, the corporate sector employment declined by over 8 per cent while on the other hand the individually controlled sector increased the number of employees by nearly 5 per cent.

However, the wages are vastly different between corporate and individually controlled factories. For instance, in 1999-2000, an average employee in the corporate sector factory earned over Rs.72,000 annually while the earnings of an average employee in an individually controlled factory was less than Rs.26,000.

Thus, the job cuts have been taking place even before the reforms introduced at the behest of the capitalists. Moreover, the jobs are shifting to the unorganized sector, where the wages are lower. It also implies that large industries are resorting to more contract manufacturing in the unorganized sector, to take advantage of lower wages.

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The original inhabitants of "Amchi Mumbai" ("Our Mumbai")

"Samudra amchya kolyancha, naahi kunachya bapacha!" (The sea belongs to us kolis, not to anyone’s dad!" "Bharav Hatav, Mahim Khadi bachav!" ("Away with the land-fill, save Mahim creek!") On Sunday, the 10th March ’02 the noon breeze carried this militant message to the coast of Mahim, as hundreds of fishermen and their families, in 50 – 60 boats took out a morcha with a difference. Since the authorities prohibited them from marching in the streets, citing the "tense situation" in the country, the kolis did what they know best. They took to the sea. Not to fish, however, but to raise their voices in an impressive show of strength. The Maharashtra Machchimar Kruti Samiti had organized this action and Thomas Kocherry their leader from Thiruvananthapuram was the Chief Guest. The flotilla anchored in front of the land-fill and then held a meeting in the sea, where a number of their leaders addressed them.

Important questions were raised in the meeting. Only 5 per cent vehicles, mainly private cars, will use the proposed bridge. But due to it, lakhs of fisher folk will be devastated. Development for whom? Who decides? Why should the fruits of development be reaped by some and the costs paid by others? People have learnt the hard way that parties talk differently when they are out of power and in. They also know that the victims of the hundreds of development projects in the country have never been resettled satisfactorily. The government says that the land-fill is temporary, but the fishermen do not believe it. They know all too well that housing and other projects will come up, the government and officers will make a killing and stow their booty in Swiss banks.

Thomas Kocherry pointed out that the Environment Protection Act and the Constitution were both being openly violated. "When we went to the court, the government gave an assurance that there will be no violation, no reclamation and that the bridge would not affect either the people or the environment. The judge knew that the government’s affidavit was false, and yet he allowed it. We should appeal to the Supreme Court. We should also file a contempt of court against the government and the construction company for telling lies in court and insulting its authority. We are not going to the court because we have faith in it. However some judge may be good, and this is a form of struggle. We should also file a case demanding full information about the project.

"They managed to construct a barrage at Tamirmukhi in Kerala with police support. Its bad effects have now become evident. Similarly the Farakka barrage has created havoc in the entire area. We should create so much nuisance for the construction company that it will run away. I wish you all success."

The determination to fight militantly for their just rights was clearly evident among large number of people who took part in this action.

"Gharcha tumcha; panyat gela ki devacha." (As long as he is at home, he is yours; when he goes to the sea, he belongs to god." This is the sort of uncertainty they and their families live with - these brave, intrepid fishermen, the original inhabitants of Mumbai, whose small kuchcha dwellings dot the beaches of the city from one end to the other. One such colony is on Mahim Causeway that links Mahim in the south to Bandra in the north. MEL correspondent spoke to Sridhar Tandel about the life of fishermen in Mumbai.

This colony was founded in 1960. Tandel started to go sea fishing those days when he was in school. Fish was plentiful then, and so many varieties – kolambi, shimplya, shivlya, etc. One day’s fishing would yield enough fish for two days. The income of Rs.6–7 per day was so good, there was no need to look for a job.

The industrialization that occurred in the last forty years was driven by the profit motive. There was no regard for the environment. Pollution increased and the water near the coast started becoming acidic. The fish decreased in quality as well as quantity. Today they have to go farther and farther away to catch fish.

People like Tandel who own their own boats or trawlers employ 7–8 people for smaller boats and 10–11 for larger ones. These men are paid between Rs.10,000–Rs.15,000 for eight months. Their food and clothing is taken care of by the owners, and so are the medical expenses of they fall ill. They leave their families in their villages–in Palghar, Umbergaon, and Dahanu. In the eight months during which they work, they have no holiday, and no fixed timetable.

Once they set out to sea, they stay away for 8-9 days at a stretch. During that time there is no communication with their families. They have to stock up diesel (300 litres is typical), food, drinking water and ice. They return home when any of these things are about to be exhausted or when the cold room is full with the catch.

Apart from the pollution, the hi-tech trawlers are proving to be a bane for fishermen like these. With their fine nets they literally denude the sea of everything, even of baby fish and "seeds". They fish without a thought for the future.

The other thing that is causing intense worry and agitation is the building of the Worli-Bandra sea link. Initially the Chief Minister had stated that the whole bridge is going to be suspended from one pillar. It turns out that it is not true. Many pillars will be needed. Silt will be deposited near each of them and cause hazards. As the space for the incoming tides reduces, the water hits the coast with greater fury and endangers the homes of the fishermen. They also fear that what was stated to be temporary landfills are going to be permanent.

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Credibility crisis deepens with the passing of POTA!

Rarely before has a government passed an act which has been so discredited in the eyes of such a diverse cross section of people—political parties in both the ruling front and the opposition, human rights activists, working class, peasant, women, student and youth organisations as well as journalists. It is not without significance that the Chairperson of the central government appointed National Human Rights Commission, has repeatedly stressed that POTA is uncalled for, and moreover, that such a body as the National Human Rights Commission was not even consulted in the formulation of the content of the Bill or the decision to push it through parliament.

The Prevention of Terrorism Ordnance (POTO) was first tabled in Parliament in October of 2001. This legislation was proposed in the name of supporting the "global war against terrorism" launched by the Bush administration following September 11 events. Arun Jaitley, Vajpayee’s law minister has argued umpteen times that if what he considers the most greatest democracies, the US and Britain, can enact fascist ‘anti-terrorist" laws, why not India? As the Communist Ghadar Party of India has repeatedly highlighted, the reactionaries in India and world-wide, faced with growing mass opposition to their anti-social offensive, were unleashing the "global war against terrorism" to crush the peoples resistance.

India stood up against POTO even before it was tabled in Parliament in October last. From Thiruvananthapuram to Amritsar, Mumbai to Imphal, all over India, and amongst Indians abroad, there was a groundswell of public opinion against enacting a law with dubious intent, ignoring the Indian experience, to serve the narrow interests of the US imperialists and their Indian allies. The government became increasingly isolated on the question and its justifications for such a draconian law were simply unacceptable to the masses of people. The government tried to use various pretexts like the terrorist attacks on Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and the Parliament, to justify the legislation. Nothing worked. Finally, the government used the option of brute majority in the joint session, having failed to mobilise public opinion in its favour.

The fact that POTA has been passed at a time when Gujarat is aflame with a state organised communal holocaust, wherein the Chief Minister who openly sanctions genocide is given a clean chit by the ruling NDA, has added to the discredit of the government and the act it has passed. The ruling class and ruling government are faced with a massive crisis of credibility. This is apart from the economic and political crisis, and in addition to them. Nobody believes any longer that this government is concerned about ensuring security and prosperity for the people.

Passage of POTA, by hook or crook, clearly shows that the NDA government has acted in contempt of Indian public opinion. It reveals, just as the decision to defend the Narendra Modi Government of Gujarat reveals, the desperation of leading sections of the Vajpayee government to resort to brute force to crush dissent. The force can be the dubious victory in terms of numbers the force can be the use of state organised gangs backed by the armed forces of the state. In either case they have no public sanction. Laws like POTA have no sanctity in the eyes of the people. The Communist Ghadar party of India urges the people to resolutely continue their struggle to oppose this law while further intensifying their struggle against the anti-social offensive of the bourgeoisie.

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What is the Duty of the Finance Minister of India?

What is the definition of the duty of a Finance Minister? According to Sri Yashwant Sinha, it seems that his duty is such that he has to hurt the vast majority of people in economic terms. What is this strange definition of duty?

The Finance Minister is responsible for presenting the annual Budget of the Central Government and overseeing its implementation, including tax and other means of gathering resources and their deployment for different purposes, to fulfil different claims in society. The workers, peasants, urban shopkeepers, professionals and others are angry about the latest Budget because their claims have not only been ignored but they have been saddled with further cuts in their standard of living. Only the claims of big business are being attended to.

First of all, Finance Minister Sinha’s declaration is an admission of guilt. He is admitting that his Budget is against the interests of the majority and hence unpopular. It is a Budget to serve the interests of the richest minority in society. At the same time, by claiming that this is a matter of definition, he wants to convey the impression that it cannot be otherwise. There is allegedly no alternative except to attack the majority!

Why is it necessary for the Finance Minister to attack the interests of the majority? It is necessary in order to promote and accelerate what is being called "economic reforms" — the privatisation and liberalisation program. Sinhaji is saying that his commitment to this process of "reforms" is absolute. Hence he has no choice but to be unpopular.

Such a definition of the duty of the Finance Minister is in complete violation and disrespect of the wisdom developed in India since ancient times on this question. Kautilya’s Arthashastra says, for instance:

In the happiness of the people is the happiness of the raja, their welfare his welfare;

Not what is dear to himself is his welfare but what is dear to the people is his welfare.

The Treasury and all other organs and institutions of the state are to be used to ensure the wellbeing of the people. This is a running theme of Indian political theory, from the time of the Vedas to the time of Arthashastra and later.

The BJP claims to have inherited the ancient wisdom and values of the Indian people. But the Finance Minister of the Vajpayee Government says, "The welfare of big business is my welfare". This is completely against everything Indians have held dear for centuries.

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Occupation the Most Comprehensive and Pervasive Cause of
All Violations and Injustices

Mr. Chairperson, I address you today with a heavy heart, bearing with me the pain of a nation in captivity — a people deprived of the most basic rights and fundamental freedoms and bereft of the protection of international law both individually and collectively.

Languishing under the last remaining military occupation in history, the Palestinian people are besieged, bombed, shelled, assassinated and terrorised in every possible way. Our lands, our homes, our crops, our trees, our infrastructure, our economy, the very fabric of our lives - all have become targets of persistent Israeli military assaults. This unbridled violence, deliberately unleashed on an already captive and besieged nation, exceeds all forms of collective punitive measures to enter the realm of a premeditated infliction of pain as a brutal expression of a cruel and immoral policy and as an active instrument of coercion.

In essence, ladies and gentlemen, we have been systematically violated in the very core of our being - our lives and dignity as human beings, our homes as shelter, our livelihood as survival, our health and educational services as basic rights, our freedom of movement as a fundamental life requisite, and our national identity as an expression of our right to self determination.

Reduced to the level of abstract statistics, Palestinians have been systematically dehumanised and their lives devalued. The 1,246 murdered victims (of whom 435 are children) since September 28, 2000, are all individuals with identities, loved ones, hopes, and dreams. Each one is unique and irreplaceable. The 18,488 wounded (around half of whom are children) are the ones who have to bear the scars and disabilities for the rest of their lives.

Our narrative as well has been denied, and eyewitnesses have been silenced. During the latest incursions into Palestinian towns, villages and camps, the Israeli occupation army targeted members of the press corps (murdering one Italian journalist and wounding several others) while censoring even their own coverage in Israel. Over 50 international and Palestinian journalists have been wounded and four killed in the past 18 months. Wilful ignorance and imposed blackouts are the enemies of truth and justice, and ultimately they serve to perpetuate the conflict while undermining the prospects of genuine peace.

Nor are we a "demographic problem", as the prevalent racist ideology among some circles in Israel is trying to depict us, threatening the Jewish majority or purity of the state of Israel. We are the people of the land of Palestine, with a historical, cultural and human continuity that forms the sum total of our collective memory as well as future aspirations. Ours has always been an inclusive and pluralistic society with a powerful tradition of tolerance and hospitality. The state that we are intent on building will not only maintain these principles, but will also enhance them within new global values and realities to generate a comprehensive, human-based development plan, firmly grounded in the practice of an active democracy and the rule of law as the essential requirements of good governance. Such an independent, sovereign, viable and democratic state of Palestine is not only a right and a redemption of the inequities of the past, it is a pledge for, and an investment in, the future. Arab Jerusalem, as its capital, is at the centre of a revitalised human reality wherein all values, cultures, religions, and hopes will converge.

It is now imperative that the historical compromise of the two-state solution be recognised - a solution that would establish the State of Palestine on 22 per cent of our historical homeland (the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip or the territories occupied by Israel as a result of the June 5th, 1967 war). The state of Israel would then have defined boundaries on 78 per cent of historical Palestine or the 1967 lines that would constitute the "secure and recognised boundaries" repeatedly called for by the international community and in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions, the latest and most compelling being SC Resolution 1397.

Dispossessed, expelled, and dispersed the Palestinian refugees remain the most compelling human embodiment of the grave historical injustice committed against the Palestinian people. It is thus imperative that any peace agreement should include a just and legal solution to the refugee question based on UN resolution 194 and consistent with other precedents pertaining to the forced displacement of populations in times of war and armed conflict.

The same applies to the issue of the land itself, particularly if we are to uphold a global rule of law and the applicability of international humanitarian law and the 4th Geneva Convention to the occupied Palestinian territory. All forms of land confiscation, annexation and settlement activity, for whatever pretext, must cease.

Furthermore, and since the convening of the Madrid Peace Conference, the PLO and the Palestinian National Authority have welcomed all initiatives and interventions that have attempted to bring about a peaceful and just solution to the conflict, including the latest Saudi initiative currently under discussion in the summit meeting of the Arab League. We have repeatedly called for international monitors and co-operated with all third-party constructive participation.

Unfortunately, Mr. Chairperson, the fatal and tragic dynamic of the occupation has been allowed to prevail, threatening to spiral out of control and to engulf the whole region in yet another period of instability and violence.

Despite the pain and loss, we have never accepted or "normalised" the murder of the innocent. And even though our innocent civilians have been killed with impunity, we have repeatedly deplored all attempts that targeted Israeli civilians.

It is time to speak out courageously on the issue of terrorism, Mr. Chairperson, whereby state and non-state actors must be held accountable for their actions pertaining to the exercise of all forms of violence and violations against innocent civilians for the purpose of achieving political gains. No individual, group or nation must be held hostage to the violent agenda of others. By the same token, defining terrorism and identifying terrorists can never be the monopoly of the strong nor the unilateral exercise of power by the dominant force.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairperson, we may be held captive by a brutal physical siege, but the human spirit and will can never be besieged or degraded. We grieve equally for all loss of life and rights, and we seek the liberation of both oppressor and oppressed from this fatal and abnormal proximity of the occupation. While we call upon you to intervene, to dispatch your observers, to prepare and disseminate accurate facts and assessments, to enforce all relevant laws and conventions, and to adopt your own pro-active resolutions, we appeal to you not to lose sight of the occupation itself as the most comprehensive and pervasive cause of all violations and injustices. Ultimately, only a just peace will provide the comprehensive solution, and only such a peace can become the genuine expression of the ultimate right of humanity as a whole - the right to a qualitative life nurtured by human security, dignity and freedom.

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Nations Enforce Their Leaders

- Wafa, Editorial, March 30, 2002 (Excerpt) -

What should the Arab leaders do? They should allow their nations to express their anger, to let them demonstrate against the USA, showing their rage for its double standard policy. The nations nourish their leaders with the desired power. If the nations feel that their leaders are with them reflecting the public’s desires and if the leaders are honest and intend well for their nations, the nations would enforce the leaders and proceed with them until their last drop of blood. The public is not frightening; the public is needed. We see that some nations are depressed and have deprived their peoples of the right to demonstrate. The times have changed. Things are not as they used to be. When nations get fed up with their leaders, they will find a way to remove them. Even the USA takes the street reactions in the region into consideration, so why do we not all stand up together to express our refusal at a time the USA could care less about us? Since every Arab country was humiliated and its leaders were bent, what are we waiting for? These moments are historical. History is very selective. Those who fail to grab the wave will be lost, but the Palestinians have decided that they will pursue their national goals to the very end of the line. And at the end of that line, victory awaits us.

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