• Conference on Indian State and Revolution
  Communists call for a clean break with the path of tailing behind the bourgeoisie

• Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religions Ordinance, 2002
  A fascist ordinance that justifies barbaric caste oppression

• Starvation deaths in Rajasthan
  An indictment of the capitalist system

• Hail the Great October Socialist Revolution!

• Resolutions adopted at the conference on Indian state and the revolution
  Resolution hailing the initiative of Lok Awaz Publishers and Distributors

• State terrorism must be condemned

• State terror in Bangalore

• Closure of the mining operations of the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited

• First India-ASEAN summit held

• Opposition to US-led "war against terrorism" building up in Asia

• Indian rulers’ shameless collaboration with US

• Indo US joint military exercises in Alaska

• Brazil’s Lula wins huge mandate in presidential elections

• Massive protests in the US and Europe against war on Iraq

Conference on Indian State and Revolution

Communists call for a clean break with the path of tailing behind the bourgeoisie

Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, Comrade Lal Singh pointed to the urgent need for Indian communists to come forward to provide leadership to the working class at this time. He called on the Indian communist movement to break with certain features of its past. "What is that past with which the Indian communist movement must make a clean break? It is the path of tailing behind the bourgeoisie and the Congress Party. It is the theory and practice of looking for ‘progressive’ sections within the Indian bourgeoisie and converting the working class movement into a tail of this or that section of the bourgeoisie. It is the path of wanting to reform capitalism instead of digging its grave. It is the path of compromising with national oppression by the Indian State in the name of defending ‘national unity and territorial integrity’. It is the line of seeking to ‘perfect’ and ‘purify’ the Indian State, instead of working for its destruction and replacement by a new state of the workers and peasants. It is the tendency of tailing behind European bourgeois theories and neglecting the task of developing the Indian theory of revolution."
The keynote speech pointed to the deepening crisis of the capitalist-imperialist system and the dangerous offensive being launched by imperialism and the bourgeoisie to come out of the crisis at the expense of the livelihood and rights of the peoples. The real face of "free market reform" and "multi-party democracy" is being revealed as nothing but militarisation, fascisation and imperialist wars of conquest. The acute crisis of capitalism and the fascist and imperialist drive of the Indian bourgeoisie and its state are creating widespread insecurity among the broad masses of people. The working class must use this opportunity to forge a broad political front against the anti-social offensive of the bourgeoisie. The working class must forge an alliance with the peasantry, with the oppressed nationalities, tribal peoples, oppressed castes, minorities, the women and the youth.
The keynote speech exposed the attempts of the bourgeoisie and its conciliators within the communist movement to divert the working class from its own independent aims on the basis of calling for the "defence of the secular foundations of the Indian State". It argued that by waging the struggle against communalism as a separate struggle, unconnected with the struggle for liberation from exploitation and oppression, the advocates of secularism are acting as an impediment to the proletarian class struggle. They are serving the interests of the bourgeoisie, to subordinate the mass opposition to communalism and communal violence to the agenda of replacing the BJP by the Congress Party in power, so as to continue with the same system and program.

Criticising the line of those communists who are tailing behind the secularism of the Indian State, the keynote speech said, "The followers of the philosophy of secularism are deviating from the outlook of dialectical materialism. They are promoting the idealist belief that science and reason are adequate to eliminate religion from the lives of men and women. However, the science of Marxism has proved that a social revolution is necessary to eliminate religion. Only the proletarian revolution can put an end to the social conditions of oppression that perpetuate belief in religion and the ‘other world’. Thus, the followers of present day secularism are completely departing from Marxism and denying the necessity for the revolution."

The keynote speech forcefully argued against those who advocate choosing the lesser evil between the BJP and the Congress Party. It pointed out that there is no reason at all that the workers and peasants of India should confine their aim to choosing between different evils. Why should we, the Indian working class, not organise to put an end to the rule of this evil class, the bourgeoisie? Why should we not organise to establish our own rule, the rule of the workers and peasants through the revolution? The keynote called for building the revolutionary front without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie.

In conclusion, the keynote emphasised that the task of Indian communists today is to forge the fighting unity of the working class against the program of the bourgeoisie and around its own alternative program, so that the class can emerge as an independent force in Indian politics. The aim of the immediate program of the working class is to halt the capitalist offensive and reorient the economy to ensure prosperity and protection for all. It is to renew and reconstitute the polity to vest sovereignty in the hands of the masses of people. It is to re-establish India’s international relations on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and uncompromising opposition to imperialism.

The keynote speech was followed by several discussion papers which were presented in the plenary sessions and debated in the group sessions. The covered questions such as the place of the Indian State in the imperialist system, on militarisation and fascisation, on parliamentary democracy and on the experience of 25 years of the Left-Front Government in West Bengal. These discussions in the groups were then summed up in the plenary sessions.

The conference concluded on a militant note, resolving to continue and deepen the discussion of theoretical and ideological questions within the communist movement, while uniting firmly to deal with the immediate problem of the political unity of the working class and the roadblocks created by the class conciliators in the movement.

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Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religions Ordinance, 2002

A fascist ordinance that justifies barbaric caste oppression

According to Section 3 of the Ordinance: "No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religion to another by the use of force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means.’’ Contravention can attract a jail term up to three years and a fine of Rs. 50,000. If the convert is "a minor, a woman or a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe,’’ the jail term can be for five years and the fine Rs.1 lakh.

Promulgated just three weeks before the start of the Assembly session, this new law, contravenes the fundamental right of all citizens "to freely profess, practise and propagate religion,’’ as outlined by Article 25(1) of the Constitution. Progressive and democratic public opinion throughout the country has condemned the law.

The stated objective of the Ordinance — to put an end to force, allurement or fraud in conversion — is a vile attack on the people who have converted to a different faith, in protest against the oppressive Brahmanical caste system. The Ordinance completely distorts the truth that these people were forced to convert, not by individuals, not due to some greed or "allurement", but because of the capitalist economic system and its political and ideological superstructure. This system has preserved all that is rotten and backward from India’s past, in order to prolong its life. With the new Tamilnadu ordinance, dalits and others who want to express their revolt against the oppressive Brahmanical system will be the target of state repression. Any person of the Sikh, Buddhist, Muslim or Christian faiths who preaches against the Brahmanical caste system will be liable to prosecution under the charge of soliciting conversions.

The Indian ruling class and its state promote the spurious British colonial thesis that India is divided into a Hindu "majority" and other religious "minorities". Through its various parties and organisations, the ruling class systematically promotes the notion that the Indian people are themselves to blame for communalism and communal violence as well as the Brahmanical caste oppression, while the Indian state is allegedly trying to do away with communalism and caste oppression. The Indian state claims to be a "secular" state that "balances" the interests of different communities. In fact, at the present time, Jayalalitha justifies the ordinance as an effort to maintain "communal harmony", and defend the interests of dalits and religious minorities by appeasing the "worries" of the "majority community" so that allegedly communal tensions will reduce! She claims that it is a "secular" act of a "secular state" to "moderate" the conflict between the people on a religious basis! Whereas the reality is that it is the communal act of a communal state to further inflame communal passions, further terrorise the people, further fascise society!

The experience of the last 55 years shows that it is the Indian state that organises and practises communal violence, defends caste based oppression and violence, justifies it in the name of "balancing interests", and then preaches tolerance and harmony, to cover up its diabolical role. This is how the Indian state carries out its main activity of defending the capitalist system and the imperialist domination, the brahmanical caste oppression and the oppression of nations, nationalities and tribal peoples, from the wrath of the working class and peoples.

For decades, the BJP and its allied organisations have been spewing filth against people of the Muslim and Christian faiths, and creating paranoia against religious conversions. According to these parties of the ruling class, the "majority community" will become a "minority" if religious conversions continue. Hence, they claim, this must be stopped by any and every means. Such means have included the burning alive of dalits in Tamilnadu by the big landlords, organised killings and pogroms against people of the Christian faith, etc. Inflammatory speeches by prominent leaders of these parties and organisations have declared religious conversions as "foreign inspired" and "anti-national".

Most of the conversions that have taken place in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere have revealed that it is the barabaric nature of the capitalist system that has prompted people to convert. In the 1981 mass conversion episode in Kanyakumari district’s Meenakshipuram village, where nearly 200 Dalit families opted for conversion, they cited social reasons such as harassment, ill-treatment and humiliation they had to face from ‘caste Hindus’. Socially oppressed and humiliated, the Dalits led a dismal life, worse than "animals". Even today, in various places, dalits are barred from entering temples; discriminated against in eating places by the two-tumbler system; not allowed to wear shirts and footwear; denied access to common wells and even streets, which people of "upper-castes" use; humiliated at work places and the women exploited.

The DMK and the AIADMK, the two main ruling parties in Tamilnadu, both owe their origins to the great mass movements of the people of that state against the hated brahmanical system of caste oppression. Capitalising on the mass sentiment against caste oppression and discrimination, both these parties tried to gain credibility as "progressive parties", by claiming to lead this movement against caste oppression. However, subsequent developments as well as the recent ordinance clearly show that the Indian bourgeoisie is thoroughly reactionary, that it cannot be relied upon for any progressive change in society, but in fact, it collaborates with everything backward, in order to intensify the exploitation of the toiling masses and safeguard its rule. What it shows clearly is that the struggle against oppression on the basis of caste, religion, etc. cannot be divorced from the struggle against the capitalist system, the struggle for emancipation from all forms of exploitation.

The Tamilnadu Ordinance has been promulgated at a time when India’s workers, peasants, women, youth, tribal peoples and dalits, people across all communities, are coming onto the streets, against the anti-social offensive of the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie is isolated, its system is in crisis, and it is resorting to communal and fascist terror to smash the unity of the toiling people. It is trying to derail the struggle of the working class and people, by dividing the polity between "secularists" and "communalists". It is desperately trying to shore up the rapidly eroding faith of the toiling people in the existing system and its defender, the Indian state. In these conditions, it is extremely important that the working class wages the struggle against state organised communal and fascist violence and fascist laws like the Tamilnadu Ordinance, as an integral part of the struggle against the anti-social offensive, for the thoroughgoing democratic renewal of Indian society.

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Starvation deaths in Rajasthan

An indictment of the capitalist system

Now, as reports of acute and all pervasive malnutrition trickle in into the national media from the districts and villages of Rajasthan, accompanied by increasing number of starvation deaths, the Central and State governments have become extremely busy doing a cover-up job to hide the source of the problem as well as its magnitude from the working class and people. The Indian state has pulled out the definition of "starvation deaths" as propounded by the colonialist rulers to prove that the deaths in Rajasthan are not due to starvation and malnutrition, but due to "bad eating habits" of the people! According to the colonialist state’s definition of death due to starvation, anyone found with any food particles in their stomach was declared not to be a victim of starvation death. Thus, only those who kept fast unto death in the dungeons of the reactionary state could be declared as dead due to starvation! According to this definition, since the peoples who are dying in Rajasthan have consumed all kind of poisonous weeds as a substitute for foodgrains, they do not come under the category of starvation deaths! Such is the callousness of this Indian state and its officials and ministers! All this is going on in conditions where the government is refusing to procure foodgrains from farmers in other states citing that the granaries are overfull!

Throughout Rajasthan, communists, workers and peasants organisations, students and youth organisations have been valliantly fighting for the rights of the victims of the drought. They have been highlighting the callousness of the state and central governments, the fraud that has been perpetrated on the people over the years in the name of foodgrains and work to the needy. They have been exposing the callous and anti-people role of the different agencies of the state who are charged with providing food security for the needy as well as the role of the World Bank and other international funding agencies which are allegedly involved in poverty programs in Rajasthan. The people of Rajasthan have rightly demanded food security and security of livelihood as their right and they have indicted the Central and State governments, run by the BJP and the Congress respectively, of failing in their duty of ensuring security and prosperity to the people.

Science and technology have advanced thus far that if the problem were only of turning Rajasthan’s parched lands green, that could be accomplished as has been accomplished in other countries. The problem is deeper. The drought in Rajasthan, as also the drought in Orissa and other states of India, are revealing the rottenness of the economic, political and social system of our country. The economic system does not provide for the people, instead it is only geared for ensuring maximum profits for the bourgeoisie, Indian as well as foreign. The political system does not ensure security and prosperity to the people, instead it protects the rule of the bourgeoisie and deprives the workers and peasants of power. The situation that is posed in front of workers and peasants of India is this— either continue to accept this economic and political system as given, as immutable and unchangeable, and confine themselves to pleading for immediate relief, a dead end offering no future for the people — or refuse to accept an economic and political system that is incapable of providing for the people and to fight for a new political power, power in the hands of workers and peasants . While fighting in the front ranks of the people demanding that the government does its duty and provide food security as well as security of livelihood, communists must highlight the need for the throughgoing democratic renewal of the present system so that ensuring food security and security of livelihood becomes central to the economy and workers and peasants have political power in their hands to ensure the same.

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Hail the Great October Socialist Revolution!

The October Revolution was the deed of the working class led by its vanguard party, the Bolshevik Party of Lenin and Stalin. The October Revolution was a triumph of Lenin’s theory and tactics for the victory of the proletarian revolution. Lenin made a Marxist analysis of the development of capitalism to its highest stage, imperialism, the nature of the contradictions tearing the imperialist system, and pointed out that the revolution would break out where the chain of imperialism was at its weakest. The task of the communists was to prepare for the proletarian revolution in all countries. Under the leadership of the Bolshevik party, the working class of Russia utilised the conditions of the first imperialist war, the weakening of all the imperialist combatants in general and of Tsarism in particular, the anger and hatred of the workers and peasants at their sufferings due to the War, to fight for the overthrow of tsarism and the victory of proletarian revolution. When Tsarism was overthrown in February 1917, Lenin, Stalin and the Bolshevik Party exposed the illusion mongering of the Mensheviks about bourgeois democracy and led the working class and toiling peasantry into the next stage of the revolution, with the victorious October revolution.

The first act of the Russian working class in the October revolution was the destruction of the old state machinery and its replacement by Soviet power, a new state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. With state power in their hands, and with their Communist party at the head, the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union defeated the combined might of the imperialist interventionist powers that sought to strangle the revolution. They carried out the collectivisation of agriculture and built the foundations of a socialist society free from exploiting classes. When Hitlerite fascism invaded the Soviet Union during the Second World War, the workers, collective farmers and youth of the Soviet Union fought heroically and in epic battles, with enormous human sacrifices, and broke the back of nazi Germany and contributed to their own liberation as well as the liberation of all the peoples of Europe from the yoke of Nazi-fascism.

It is over a decade since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia and all the former Soviet republics are now suffering from all the evils of the capitalist-imperialist system. The overthrow of socialism and restoration of capitalism was not the deed of a day. On the contrary, the socialist system had long since been undermined from within, from ever since the death of JV Stalin in the economic base as well as in the superstructure. Gorbachev and Yeltsin merely did the final act of demolishing the shell of socialism, the Soviet form of power, and replacing it with the shell most suitable for capitalism—parliamentary democracy.

Today, great storms are once again brewing on the horizon. Militarisation, fascisation and war is on the agenda of all the imperialist and reactionary powers. The working class and people are fighting the onslaught against them. The tide of revolution may turn soon from ebb to flow. Revolution will break out in one or more countries, wherever the imperialist chain is weakest.

The working class and communists of our country can draw great and invaluable lessons from the October Revolution which remains the defining event of the twentieth century. As we engage in fierce battles with the reactionaries, let us arm and rearm ourselves with the Leninist theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Let us build and strengthen the Communist Ghadar Party of India. Let us build and strengthen the revolutionary united front of workers, peasants, women and youth. Let us thus prepare for the coming storms.

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Resolutions adopted at the conference on Indian state and the revolution

Resolution hailing the initiative of Lok Awaz Publishers and Distributors

The discussions have fully exposed certain harmful trends that are acting as a roadblock to the advance of the revolutionary movement, such as the spreading of illusions about the "secular foundations" of the Indian state, the trend of conciliating with the bourgeois system and of looking for the "lesser evil" within the bourgeoisie and of calling upon the working class and toiling people to line up behind this section. It is essential to eliminate these trends from the revolutionary movement of the working class, in order to take the movement forward. Only revolution can solve the problems of Indian society.

A unified communist party is necessary to lead the working class in the revolution. Enriched and inspired by the discussions of the last two days, we resolve to take this initiative forward by organising similar conferences in different areas.

This conference of Indian communists and readers, writers and disseminators of People’s Voice/Mazdoor Ekta Lehar raised the important issue of the restoration of communist unity. Without the leadership of a unified communist party, the revolutionary movement cannot advance. Conferences such as this help to remove the barriers to unity of communists by providing a forum to discuss and resolve the burning problems facing the revolutionary movement at this time and thus contribute to the restoration of communist unity.

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State terrorism must be condemned

However, the police story has been challenged subsequently by eye-witnesses as well as by a petition by Shri Kuldip Nayyar, MP and Praful Bidwai before the National Human Rights Commission. According to news reports, a leading doctor, who was an eye witness to the incidents, has stated that the two young men emerged from the car either drugged or sleepless and were unarmed. From the news reports, it would appear that the Delhi police had staged an elaborate set up and killed the young men in a fake encounter. It is not beyond the realm of impossibility that the Delhi police, after torturing the two young men, took them to the Plaza complex to be eliminated to advance the political aims of the Indian state at this time. It is well known that fake encounters and state terrorism are a part of state policy of the Indian state to achieve nefarious aims. On this occasion, however, the effort of the Indian State has seemingly boomeranged, at least in the capital. People in all walks of life are condemning the Delhi police for the killing of the youth in a stage-managed encounter.

Addressing a recent meeting of Police Officers as well as Human Rights Activists, the Home Minister Advani is reported to have remarked that police and intelligence agencies must not be questioned too closely on Human Rights issues as this would hamper their work and morale. Now, as if on cue, the BJP leader Arun Jaitly has come to the defence of the police personnel involved. Is this because of the police theory of a large scale conspiracy of Pakistan based terrorists to kill innocent people all over the country? It would seem that the intelligence agencies of India and the US have first advanced this red herring and then trying to whip up an atmosphere of fear and terror all over the country to justify state terrorism and fascisation of life. If this is the case, as I fear to be likely, the two young men who died in Ansal Plaza in a fake encounter are merely the first victims. There will more such "terrorists" killed across the country, and there will be many innocent people killed in state organised terrorist strikes as well as. Through orchestrated campaign of terror, the state is trying to terrorise the people and justify further fascisation. This needs to be opposed and condemned unitedly by the people.
Suresh Mehta, Delhi

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State terror in Bangalore

The incident brings to fore the question of the powers of the police under the prevailing conditions in the country. It has been believed that some of the metropolises are ‘peaceful’ and there has been much shock expressed in the mainstream media about the presence of ‘terrorists’ in an otherwise ‘civil society.’ From any kind of a juridical point of view, it is not possible to justify the physical liquidation of individuals or groups under the pretext that they are ‘terrorists.’ Today many men and women of the Muslim faith in India, are generally being portrayed as ‘terrorists’ who are a threat to the fabric of society. Indeed, if those that were eliminated in the incident that is being discussed were ‘terrorists’ they should have been captured and tried for specific crimes for which they have been arrested. Some of them were accused in the past of masterminding or participating in the Coimbatore bomb blast cases and had been detained in this regard. It is said that they had escaped from custody and were living in Bangalore planning further terrorist strikes. It is a moot point that the police and the judicial machinery had enough time and resource to convict them of specific crimes, but failed to do so.

It may be pointed out that in various parts of the country, the security forces routinely eliminate this or that individual, due to this or that ideological persuation, e.g., for being Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh or Chattisgarh, or being a militant in Kashmir, or a supporter of the NSCN in Nagaland. It is now the turn of ‘Islamic militants.’ It must be pointed out under the prevailing conditions of discontent with the performance of the Indian state over the last 55 years, much dissent is going to be arising. Rather than voicing shock that there are ‘terrorists’ in our midst, informed opinion must be generated about the conditions that are leading to the rise of dissent. It must also be pointed out that continued use of brute power by the Indian state will only lead to the criminalization of dissent which will set society back in an unimaginable manner. One must condemn the use of brute power in this specific incident in which these young men and women were liquidated under the pretext that they were ‘terrorists.’
A. Narayan, Bangalore

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Closure of the mining operations of the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited

Several issues come to mind, when one follows the history of the companies such as the KIOCL. During the early post-independence years, the model of Nehruvian socialism, whose content was state capitalism, helped in expanding the vital sectors of the economy in the service of the bourgeoisie. The growth of the productive forces of the country was phenomenal and unparalleled in the history of the country. Thousands of crores of public money was collected in the form of taxes and invested in plant and equipment for the public sector enterprises set up all over the country. There was a growth of human potential through the expansion of educational opportunities, while at the other pole one had the immiseration of vast sections of the population, the pauperisation of the disadvantaged and the destruction of traditional modes of production and life. The rich became richer and the poor poorer. In this period, the bourgeoisie advanced its interests by building a huge infrastructure using the public funds.

Since the early nineties the Indian bourgeoisie changed tack and began on the course of globalisation through privatisation and liberalisation. At this time, the hitherto public sector enterprises are being deliberately devalued and handed over to Indian and foreign capitalists for a song. Any and every pretext is being used to achieve this aim. KIOCL is being closed down citing environmental considerations.

It is true that during the course of the1950’s and 1960’s large projects planned and executed all over the country displaced millions and not unnaturally taxed the environment. However, this price has already been paid and one cannot merely look at such issues in isolation. One case in point is the closure of "polluting industries" in the Delhi area, which has resulted in mass joblessness. More damning is this recent judgement of the Supreme Court in the case filed by the Narmada Bachao Andolan. The judgement went against the rights of the displaced! Contrast this with the KIOCL judgement where the rights of bio-diversity have been placed above that of livelihood of the working people of the company.

It is important to ask whether the Supreme Court as the highest judicial body of the Indian state is capable of delivering justice in the current era. It is imperative that all decisions of the rulers, whether they emanate from the executive, (e.g., the Ministry of Disinvestment) or from the judiciary as in the case of Narmada or the KIOCL, must be reviewed in the framework of the modern definition of rights. A responsible discussion must be organised amongst the working masses. As the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the working class sharpens, the right to livelihood and employment has become the centrepiece of the struggle of today.
Gundappa Shetty, Mangalore.

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First India-ASEAN summit held

Since the 1990s, the Indian State has been seeking closer economic ties with ASEAN, which represents a region of high capitalist economic growth, but it is the ties of ASEAN with China, Japan and Korea that have grown at a much faster rate. However, it appears that India has now found a particular road to come closer to ASEAN, and that is through developing ties with its less developed members – Kampuchea, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam – which have only recently been allowed to join the grouping. When Jaswant Singh was the Foreign Minister, India signed the Mekong Ganga Cooperation agreement with these four countries and Thailand, and also finalised plans to build a road link with Thailand through Myanmar. Various aid and cooperation agreements have been signed with Vietnam, and while it was in Kampuchea this month, the Indian delegation signed three agreements on trade, technical education and assistance in restoring a 1000 year old Kampuchean temple, as well as extended a $10 million line of credit to that country.

In looking at India’s growing ties with South East Asia at this time, certain factors need to be kept in mind. Firstly, it is no secret that South East Asia is an area of growing rivalry between India and China for influence, and hence the thrust by both powers in this region simultaneously can be a cause of increased tension between India and China. Secondly, India is reaching out to South East Asia at a time when it is turning its back on multilateral cooperation with the countries in its own neighbourhood, that is, the countries of South Asia. Apart from Pakistan, many others have noted that India, which could do the most to develop SAARC as a vehicle of cooperation and development of this region, is showing less and less interest in this. Finally, at the present time, South East Asia is under intense and growing pressure as a region where the US is trying to increase its political and military presence and interference under the guise of fighting its "war against terrorism". India has recently offered its Navy to play the role of "escort" for American ships in the Straits of Malacca, the maritime gateway to South East Asia. In strengthening its ties with the South East Asian countries, it would be dangerous for both India and those countries, if it acts as a collaborator with US interests in that region.

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Opposition to US-led "war against terrorism" building up in Asia

In the recently held elections in Pakistan, a six-party alliance which campaigned openly on the basis of opposition to America’s "war against terrorism" and its use of Pakistan as a base, swept to power in the two strategic provinces bordering Afghanistan, and also has significant representation in the National Assembly. A spokesman for the alliance said that "America should realise that the people here have given their decision in a strong manner against whatever steps it has taken in this region." Panicky elements in the official establishments of the US and some European countries have been quick to label this alliance as hard-core religious fundamentalist and terrorist in a bid to discredit them. However, the spokesman for the alliance made it clear that "neither shall we support terrorism nor will we allow anybody to use our soil for terrorism in any other country. But we shall ourselves do this work. We need no help or the presence of foreign troops to accomplish this task." He also said that they "wanted friendly contact and ties with the outside world keeping our independence and sovereignty secure."

In Indonesia, the US government was quick to label the horrific bomb blast that killed 180 foreign tourists on the island of Bali as the work of the Al-Qaeda, even though Indonesian authorities investigating the incident have not established that in any conclusive way. By labelling it as the work of the Al-Qaeda, the US is pitching for its right to take over the job of hunting down the perpetrators. This has greatly alarmed the Indonesian authorities. A senior minister in the Megawati Sukarnoputri government openly expressed on TV their opposition to the US or any other power using this incident to try and impose their dictate on Indonesia.

These developments show the cracks developing in the much-touted "alliance" of the US with what it calls "moderate Muslim countries" in pursuit of its hegemonistic aims under the signboard of "war against terrorism". These cracks are a product of mass resentment and anger in those countries against the US attempts to undermine their sovereignty and to use them for its own ends. The people are understanding that the presence of US troops, "advisors", spies, technical personnel, etc., in the name of helping these countries to counter the threat of terrorism, is in fact a noose around their necks. The need of the hour is that this mass consciousness of present-day US strategy in this region be extended and deepened, and every obstacle put in its way.

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Indian rulers’ shameless collaboration with US

This demand of the Indian government is very similar to the manner in which the US imperialists have been putting pressure on Iraq in recent times, with the aim of justifying a full fledged military offensive against that country. Even while the US imperialists are finding it difficult to mobilise the support and cooperation of other countries in their aggressive plans against Iraq, it has been announced by Union Minister Jaswant Singh that American aircraft carriers on their way to the Gulf, to prepare for strike against Iraq, would be allowed to pass through Indian waters on the west coast. This is being justified by government sources as part of India’s concern to eliminate "global terrorism".

This is but the latest in the shameless collaboration of the Indian rulers with the US imperialists. The aim of the US imperialists is clear for all to see, to strengthen their foothold in Asia, as a part of their overall plans for world hegemony. The Indian rulers hope, by collaborating with the US imperialists, to become the gendarme of the US imperialists in this region and fulfil their own imperialist ambitions towards our neighbouring countries in the bargain. This shameless collaboration with the biggest terrorist and reactionary power in the world, that poses grave threats to our nation’s sovereignty and to peace and security in this region must be vigorously opposed.

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Indo US joint military exercises in Alaska

The joint military exercises are part of the growing sinister collaboration between the most bloodthirsty imperialist superpower, US and the Indian state which has its own imperialist ambitions. This collaboration is directed against the just struggles of all the Indian peoples, against all the neighbours of India, and is a growing menace to peace and security in South Asia.

Earlier, joint military exercises involving the navies of India and the US had been organised. The collaboration between the intelligence and espionage agencies of the US imperialist and the Indian state has also been growing. The Indian ambassador to the US, who also attended the exercises was quoted as saying that the aim of the exercises was to "learn from each other’s experience and procedures towards achieving interoperability" (joint action).

The US imperialists are today having difficulty in garnering support form their traditional allies in West Europe, especially on the question of unleashing war on Iraq. In this context, the Indian states eagerness to jump in where others have "feared to tread" shows the zeal they have to be accepted as a reliable, if junior partner of the hated US imperialists. In pursuit of its narrow, imperialist aims, the Indian state is allying itself with this most hated power. The US imperialists on their part are eager to acquire support and cannon fodder to help fight their wars of imperialist redivision of the world, which began last year with the attack on Afghanistan.

The military collaboration between the US imperialists and the Indian state must be condemned by all the freedom loving people of India and the world.

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Brazil’s Lula wins huge mandate in presidential elections

Luis Inácio Lula da Silva was elected President of the Republic of Brazil achieving almost 60 million votes. He is the only Brazilian to achieve a ballot of such magnitude in a presidential election. Broadening the plebiscitary character of the first round of the election, the more than 60% valid votes confirm a strong desire for change against the current administrative policy. This oppositional sense was the predominant character of the elections in 2002.

The triumph of the candidacy of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva expresses the victory of the political and social forces – the popular and middle strata who were never represented in the central administration of Brazil – allied to sections of the dominant classes interested in another direction for Brazil. The movement of workers, the popular organisations and the democratic and patriotic entities constituted the main supporting base of the victorious candidacy. This is an historic event which will reverberate all over the world. It will be placed among other remarkable moments of our political history, given the particularities of each period, that have opened the way to a new stage of social progress such as the abolition of slavery, the proclamation of the republic and the revolution of 1930.

The election of Lula for president has a sense of continuity with respect to the development of the democratic, popular and patriotic struggles of the Brazilians for a national model of development. The success achieved on this October 27 gives life to the refrained hope for a new era, opening the way for building a sovereign and influential country in the international context, a democratic country that follows the path of social progress.

Brazil is passing through the end of a cycle. Especially during the last twenty years, the great historical impasses were aggravated as never before – dependence, social inequality – worsening a condition of recurring crises. The many sectors of the dominant elites that have taken their turn during the last two decades, especially during the 90s, have perverted the possibility of a national project and clearly failed to carry through a project of development based on foreign capital, intensifying financial crises, stagnating the economy and taking the country’s foreign vulnerability to extreme levels. The social reality has deteriorated, resulting in an unprecedented situation of increasing violence and in the expansion of organised crime in urban centres.

The struggle of the workers and lower strata to resist the dominant neo-liberal policy gained in breadth and culminated in such levels as in 1998, during the March to Brasília. The growing unemployment, the expansion of underemployment, the continuous decrease of the income of salaried workers, the increase of inequalities and poverty and the historical predominance of large territorial properties in the fields have all led to successive manifestation of broad social sectors in opposition to the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The awareness that change was imperative in the course imposed by this government was manifested all over the country.

The Workers Party, as the greatest winner of this electoral battle, spearheaded by the great popular leadership of Lula, and the other opposing parties became the focus of the desire for change expressed by the vast majority of the Brazilian population. The Communist Party of Brazil took part and also helped outline the course and the development of the trajectory that resulted in the current victory. With the journey that started in the election in 1989, passing through the elections in 1994 and 1998, and now in 2002, PT and PCdoB compose a constant nucleus that is committed to searching for a new solution with a democratic, popular and progressive meaning to Brazil.

Under these circumstances, PCdoB has played a relevant role concentrating the aspiration for change of the workers, the progressive youth, women who fight for their emancipation and other oppressed sectors. The Party achieved 9 million votes for its candidates to the Senate, the House of Representatives, state assemblies and for the Party itself. Communists will persistently make efforts during this moment to further develop the political sphere in order to consolidate the forces most interested in defending Brazil, retaking national development, with broader political freedom and social justice.

Brazil is entering a decisive and unique moment. The victory won by the democratic, popular, patriotic and progressive forces under the leadership of Lula places before them a great challenge: constituting the new administration with the character of a front supported by the political majority; maintaining the endorsement of the popular and advanced movement; and beginning the transition towards the fulfilment of the project of change. The result of the electoral campaign has shown that, under the current conditions, Lula concentrates the political means necessary to unite the majority of the Brazilians with a view to fulfilling the new project of nation building.

The new government inherits impasses of a structural nature and constant crises that are mainly the result of eight years of the administration of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The extreme foreign vulnerability of Brazil, the constant risk of an exchange collapse amidst a world situation of war threats are factors tending towards recession, which exacerbate the domestic economic instability and leave the country hostage to international financial circles and the imperialist system of power. Such a situation will demand from the new leading forces clearness and firmness of purpose. Under the current conditions of Brazil and the world, the fulfilment of the new project demands dialogue and, at the same time, the mobilisation of the numerous segments representing society in order to overcome the resistances and obstacles that will be found.

We are aware of the scale of the project of change desired by the majority of the nation. Building it will not be an easy or a simple task and there will be no room for self-centred impulses. But we cannot stop at the beginning or halfway. Trust in the power of our people, the understanding and the command of Brazil’s huge potential, are the driving forces necessary to reach that most desired stage of sovereignty, democracy and social justice. A new era is beginning. This is our conviction.

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Massive protests in the US and Europe against war on Iraq

Earlier, on October 26, 2002, lakhs of people participated in protests all across North America and Europe against the US imperialist plans to unleash a war against Iraq. Apart from the massive protests in the US capital of Washington DC and in San Francisco, protests took place in several other towns and cities across the US. People from over 75 cities and towns participated in the Washington demonstration. The demonstration assembled in the forenoon of Saturday, October 26 at Constitution Gardens, adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. After an opening rally, demonstrators marched to the White House.

There were also nearly 40 organizing centres for the San Francisco march from California to Hawaii, Oregon, Nevada and Washington State. Several tens of thousands of protestors marched from the city’s historic Ferry building to San Francisco’s city centre.

Demonstrators of all ages took part in the protests, and carried placards reading "No War, No Way!" "No Pre-emptive Impeachment", "Bush Sucks" and so on. Many prominent personalities including authors, film personalities, lawyers, professors and other intellectuals participated in the protests.

On October 26, 2002, lakhs of people participated in a massive demonstration in Berlin. Demons- trations were also organised in over
70 cities and towns of Germany. Braving heavy rain, several thousand people staged a protest in Amsterdam, Holland. Demonstrations were also organised on that day in several cities across the globe, including Britain, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Spain, Japan, Puerto Rico, and South Korea.

The massive opposition shown by people in the US capital and other cities of the US itself shows how isolated the US imperialists are in their own land. The US imperialists may have succeeded in manipulating and threatening the governments of various countries to pass a resolution in the Security Council of the United Nations against Iraq and threatening that country with war if it does not bow to the imperialist dictate, but they are totally opposed and detested by the peoples of the world.

People’s Voice hails the protests against the US imperialist led war on Iraq and calls upon the people to step up their opposition and defeat the plans of the imperialists.

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