• Unite and organise against terrorism!
  Call of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, August 27, 2003

• US trying to rope in troops of other countries into Iraq through the UN
  The illegal occupation of Iraq must not be legitimized by the UN!

• Behind the Mumbai Blasts

• 2004 Presidential election in the United States

• Supreme Court side steps question of affirming education as a human right

• Peasant organisations’ meet gives clarion call for struggle

• Gujarat peasants protest power tariff hike

• Country-wide protests against Supreme Court’s ruling declaring strikes illegal

• Mass protests in Britain demanding guilty be punished

Unite and organise against terrorism!
Call of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, August 27, 2003

With deep anger, the Communist Ghadar Party of India condemns the cold blooded killing of over 50 innocent people and destruction of property that has taken place in the aftermath of the twin blasts in Mumbai on August 25, 2003. The Communist Ghadar Party of India extends its heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved families, as well as the scores of people who are battling with grievous injuries. The Communist Ghadar Party of India applauds and regards as a model, the role the working class and people of Mumbai, who in these moments of terrible calamity, refused to fall into the trap of the bourgeoisie and imperialism. They have responded with admirable maturity. They have not allowed the rousing of passions. They must now analyse who and what factors lie behind these terrorist strikes. They must take immediate measures to prevent their recurrence. They have to organise themselves to defeat the criminal conspiracy behind these blasts.

Home Minister Advani as well as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra have been quick to name certain Islamic organisations as being instrumental for these and earlier bomb blasts in Mumbai. The alacrity with which US President George Bush extended "sympathy" to India and the pressure brought to bear on India to more actively participate in the "global war against terrorism" reveals the "forces of evil" who are behind these terrorist strikes. It has become customary for all these forces to raise the bogey of Islamic fundamentalism as a pretext to escalate state terrorism against the people of the Muslim faith. Simultaneously, these forces use the bogey of "threat to security" to step up repression against all those who are fighting for the rights and interests of the people. Such wanton acts of terror followed by shrill cries against "terror" have become the "signature" of all those who fascize and communalise society to advance their diabolical aims. In this case too, it seems like an attempt to arouse communal passions as a method to line up the working class and people behind the US led "war on terror".

People in India and world over are being subjected to increasing terrorist violence on a broad scale. It is extremely important that people analyse the background of the terrorist strikes, in order to identify the forces organising the attacks as well as their immediate motives. Today, all across South Asia, people are expressing their feelings clearly in favour of building lasting peace and friendship between India and Pakistan by keeping the imperialist meddlers out of the region. The people of India have refused, in one voice, to condone, let alone join, US imperialism’s war of occupation of Iraq. The people of our country are increasingly showing their utter disgust and opposition to state organised communal genocide, to the communalisation and fascisation of the polity, and to the efforts of the ruling class parties to divide the people on this basis. The working class, peasantry and middle strata are expressing their increasingly united opposition to the anti-national policy of the ruling bourgeoisie and imperialism of globalization through liberalisation and privatisation. All these are developments in favour of the toiling people and their struggle for security and prosperity. It is precisely the forces who are inimical to these positive developments that have organised the reign of terror in Mumbai.

The important question people need to address is how are they going to ensure their security from terrorist attacks. The Central and Maharashtra governments are calling upon people to strengthen the hands of the police forces. But precisely what is most glaring is that neither the Central government nor the state government can provide suraksha to the people from terrorism. The experience of the people clearly and unequivocally points to the fact that not a single case of terrorist violence has been solved, and the guilty have never been prosecuted or punished. Instead, it has been the practice of the "security forces" to round up innocent people, to stage manage "encounter killings" and so on. Just last month, when a film technician’s house, where explosives were stored for special effects, blew up in an accident killing him and his family, in Jogeshwari, the government immediately blamed him as a hard core terrorist only to retract later following protests from the entire film industry. The credibility of the "law enforcing" machinery is at its lowest. Either they are guilty of criminal complicity in terrorist killings, or they are guilty of criminal negligence, and in either case, they cannot be relied upon to provide suraksha against terrorism. This is the experience, not only from Maharashtra, but also from Punjab, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, and all over India.

The demand for imposition of President’s Rule in Maharashtra by both BJP and Shiv Sena, and the Congress’s feeble attempt to link the blasts to the Gujarat genocide reveals the utter cynicism of these parties. The BJP, Congress and Shiv Sena are bent upon gaining narrow political mileage out of the sufferings of the people and furthering their own criminal agenda. People cannot rely on these political parties to address the question of ending terrorism or protecting people from terrorist attacks.

The government is calling upon Mumbaikars to carry on "business as usual". This is a call to people to leave untouched the scourge of terrorism. It is a call to disarm the people. The people of Mumbai must not allow themselves to be disarmed. They cannot and must not leave the question of their suraksha in the hands of the state or the ruling class parties. People must build organisations of suraksha in their chawls and work places, and they must safeguard these precious organisations from becoming instruments of the ruling class parties to divide and disarm the people.

The threat to security and prosperity comes precisely from the rule of the big bourgeoisie and imperialism. Those in power in India have always used the slogan of "threat to national security" to justify strengthening the state apparatus and justify ferocious attacks on the toiling masses. They have used terrorism to make people helpless bystanders and give up the struggle for a better world. People must not allow this to happen. It is precisely by organising themselves that they will block the game plan of the ruling class.

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US trying to rope in troops of other countries into Iraq through the UN
The illegal occupation of Iraq must not be legitimized by the UN!

So far, countries such as India, Pakistan and Turkey have refused to agree to persistent US requests for deploying their armed forces in Iraq. At a joint news conference after their meeting, Jack Straw and Kofi Annan said discussions on a possible new mandate in Iraq would be the focus of upcoming, closed-door council sessions, discussions in capitals, and input from potential troop contributing countries. These dangerous and desperate moves come in the wake of the increasing resistance of the Iraqi people to the bestial occupation of their country, the increasing isolation of the Anglo American imperialists in the wake of revelations of utter deceit on their part before they went to war, and their inability to get troops for Iraq from India and other countries so far. The peoples of the world must thwart this move to legitimizes and enlarge the unjust occupation of Iraq by embroiling other countries and their armed forces in this occupation.

The Anglo–American invasion and occupation of Iraq was based on fraud. It had the intent of advancing the strategic geopolitical interests of US imperialism at the cost of the freedom and independence of the people of Iraq. The invasion and occupation was vigorously opposed by peoples all over the world.. Over the past couple of months, both the US and UK governments have been left with egg on their faces after it was revealed that both the "State of the Union" address by US President Bush in January 2003 and the dossier released by the Blair government in September 2002 were based on blatant falsehoods in dire attempts to justify the Anglo–American plans for aggression. Reflecting the uneasiness of being associated with the occupying powers, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that Turkish soldiers would go to help rebuild their neighbouring country and "definitely will not be occupiers.’’

Kofi Annan warned on August 23 that the US campaign to persuade more countries to send troops to Iraq will fail unless the US agrees to a UN-authorized force that shares decision-making with coalition forces. The question of "sharing decision making with coalition forces" as proposed by Mr. Annan glosses over the fact that the occupation is illegal and unauthorized in the first place. Only the people of Iraq have the right to give such authority—and they have made it amply clear that they do not wish to do so. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said the international community shouldn’t adjust or enlarge the US-run coalition force, but instead should "put in place a genuine international force under the mandate of the United Nations’’. But how can occupation of a sovereign country become "genuine" in any case? What needs to be recognised and enforced, is that it is the people of Iraq who should be able to decide their country’s future, and what kind of political system they want, and who their leaders are. This is not the business of anyone else. The central issue is the sovereignty of Iraq, which has been brutally trampled upon by the US and British imperialists.

The question that the member states of the United Nations and its Security Council must address is restoring the sovereignty of Iraq. This means that the United Nations must demand the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the occupation forces, a demand that has been expressed in their every day protests by the people of Iraq.

The US and Britain aggressed and occupied Iraq with the aim of capturing its huge oil reserves as well as advancing their goal of subjugating the Persian Gulf and West Asia. Their attempts to legitimize their occupation has thus far failed, firstly because of the resistance of the Iraqi people, but also because of the resistance of the worlds peoples and the sharp inter-imperialist contradictions over the region and its resources. The US is now trying, through offering a share of the loot of the wealth of the Iraqi nation, to entice other powers in its anti-Iraq plans. This it hopes to achieve using the means of a UN cover.

The stand that India takes towards these nefarious plans of the US and Britain assumes great significance. India and Pakistan are two of the countries whom the US and Britain want to embroil in Iraq. The Indian government must expose and oppose the nefarious intent of the US and Britain to use the United Nations Security Council to legitimize the occupation. India must demand an immediate end to the occupation and restoration of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. The Indian working class and people must demand and ensure that the government of India stick to the stand of demanding the end to the occupation, and refuse to be party to the occupation on any pretext. The Anglo – American war criminals must be brought to trial and punished for all the death and destruction they have wrought, and make reparations for rebuilding Iraq. That is the way the cause of peace and justice can be served!

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Behind the Mumbai Blasts

This letter is being written soon after the news of the bloody carnage in Bombay caused by twin car bombs on August 25, 2003. It is another chapter in the sordid conditions in which the country is finding itself due to the (mis-)rule of the bourgeoisie. No words can suffice to condemn these acts, and sufficient words of solace cannot be offered to the victims and their families.

In the recent past, the methods of rule have come under intense scrutiny with all organs of the state being completely exposed for their anti-worker and anti-people character. Standing indicted are the police, the state machinery and the political parties in Gujarat and most recently the biases of the Supreme Court and that of the Government of Tamil Nadu in the matter of striking Government employees. On the other side, there has been a striking unity across the spectrum of progressive forces in the country, in their naming of the criminals in Gujarat and also in their unified reaction against the draconian opinion of the Supreme Court. There has also been a great sense of satisfaction across the board in India at the ‘thawing’ of tensions with Pakistan, with the progressive forces hoping to unfurl the flag of friendship between the fraternal peoples of India and Pakistan.

In the past, as in 1993, the bourgeoisie has reacted with bringing apparently senseless violence against broad sections of the population, in order to terrorise and disorient the masses. With the news of the fresh Bombay bomb blasts spreading to all corners of the country, the opinion is likely to be polarized towards strengthening of the state apparatus in order to bring ‘terrorists’ to book. It is also likely that as the date of the general elections to elect the new Lok Sabha approaches, political parties will get into a dog fight, and in the new atmosphere of uncertainty and tension, the current Lok Sabha could be dissolved and early elections be announced. The probable beneficiary of this state of affairs is the BJP which will play the card of controlling terror, and also that of the only party being strong enough to rally behind a tough posture towards Pakistan. It might also seek to gain some mileage out of the report of the Archeological Survey of India that indicates that a temple may have stood at the site of the destroyed Babri Masjid.

Stated differently, the coming months are those of grave danger to the people of India, where the political parties will play a dangerous and bloody game in order to come to power at the Centre and to provide a ‘stable’ administration that will at once guarantee the conditions for the Indian bourgeoisie to maximise its own profits, and will to provide room to be a partner in the much touted international ‘war against terror’ that is being waged under the leadership of the United States of America. The people of India must be forewarned that all the bourgeois parties are united in these aims, while they carry out their dance of death on the bodies of the common people, workers and peasants.

Sincerely, A. Narayan, Bangalore

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2004 Presidential election in the United States

Indeed, another interesting drama is unfolding now in the most populous American state of California. This has to do with the possibility of a ‘recall vote’ of the recently elected Governor Gray Davis. It might be recalled that one is often reminded that California by itself would qualify to be the fifth largest economy in the world. It is a land of free wheeling capitalism, boasting of agriculture, industry and trade on a mammoth scale. It is the home of the largest computer related industry among other things. It can also boast of the most acute contrasts from the life styles of the rich and famous of Hollywood, down to that of impoverished fruit pickers, typically from the national minorities of Latinos and African-Americans. It is now said to be inflicted with financial problems of a type that cannot be solved in any easy manner, which is probably what was responsible for prompting the recall vote. Throwing the hat into the ring is the well-known plutocrat and actor, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger, known for his engaging roles in such films and ‘The Terminator’ series and ‘Conan the Barbarian’. His claim to the gubernatorial post comes not from a proven track record in public service or in politics, but essentially his claim that he has the power to bring in new ideas, and reform. The word ‘reform’ is normally a code word for fiscal austerity and the capacity to inflict a great deal of pain on the common people, without obstructing the free flow of big capital. The coming months will present an important opportunity for progressive forces to organize themselves and expose the bankrupt nature of the political system.

Suresh Grover, USA.

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Supreme Court side steps question of affirming education as a human right

For over two decades, the field of higher technical education has been increasingly characterised by its commercialisation. What began in Karnataka in the seventies with the setting up of engineering and medical colleges charging exorbitant sums of money for admission, has over the decades spread all over India, and has taken a particular rampant form in Maharashtra and the Southern states. A two tier system was established in the realm of higher technical education — state run institutions of generally high quality with low fee structure, and institutions set up solely for profit making, with uncertain quality of education. The notorious "capitation fee" system came into vogue, whereby a seat in a college could be bought, provided the students family paid what the management demanded under the table.

The Indian State has over the decades, legitimised this system and tried to give it credibility, by incorporating these private profit making institutions, into a common institutional framework with the state run system. This has been justified by the state and the courts, saying that in this manner the state will ensure that these profit making institutions are under some degree of state control and thus alleviate the extreme uncertainties faced by students. The existence of these profit making institutions have also been justified under the plea that the state has no funds for setting up institutions of higher education and the "demand for higher education is greater than supply". Measures such as Common Entrance Tests for all institutions of a particular type in a state, as well as fixing of fee structures have been taken over the decades to provide this legitimacy. However, the underlying problem has remained festering—that the private profiteering institutions want at all times to maximise their profits by playing with the desperation of students for admission. The problem has been compounded by the fact that many of these institutions are actually owned and managed by ruling class politicians in the different states.

The two-tier system of higher education which was smuggled through the backdoor has in turn been used by the state to make education in the state run institutions progressively more expensive. In the profiteering institutions, a system of "free seats" and "paid seats" has been put into place, the "free seats" costing on par with the state run institutions and the "paid seats" many times higher. This in turn is used to justify raising the cost of "free seats".

Progressively, the Indian state has been raising the cost of higher education in all fields, pointing to the high costs of profiteering institutions to justify raising the cost of education in the arts, sciences, medicine, engineering and management.

The higher technical education, as education itself, can certainly not be left in the hand of market forces. The result of leaving it to market is that this year, in Tamil Nadu, 80% of the seats in the private engineering institutions have been not filled, and these colleges will soon have to close down or market themselves in foreign lands! In the past two years, a number of colleges that had opened in Andhra Pradesh offering Computer Science courses have shut down, following the crash in the IT sector. The fate of students who have either graduated from such fly-by-night colleges or are pursuing education in them is indeed pitiable.

The state has, on the one hand, a responsibility of planning how many engineers, doctors, and other professionals society needs and ensuring that sufficient number of institutions of requisite quality are established. On the other hand, the state has the duty to ensure that sons and daughters of the workers and peasants are not deprived of the opportunity of higher technical education merely because they do not have the money to pay exorbitant fees. Furthermore, the state has responsibility that children from the socially disadvantaged sections of society, children from the oppressed castes, are given special opportunities to acquire higher technical education.

The Indian State has shown that it does not consider education a human right, but a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder. The latest Supreme Court judgement fails to address this issue. Instead of demanding that the Indian state do its duty, the Supreme Court ruling enables the private profiteers in education to continue profiteering, albeit "under government supervision". Following the Supreme Court verdict, the country has witnessed the sordid spectacle of the Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Kerala, and Maharashtra carrying on negotiations with the private profit making higher technical institutions on how many students will be admitted on the state quota and how many will be completely at the mercy of managements! The Supreme Court verdict, far from resolving the crisis, has contributed to deepening the legitimacy crisis of the education policy of the Indian State.

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Peasant organisations’ meet gives clarion call for struggle

The peasant meet expressed its grave concern at the fact that "the combined effects of the New Economic Policy, WTO regime and new export-import policy have created conditions under which the peasantry is getting impoverished and ruined, debt-ridden peasants are committing suicides . . . prices of agricultural commodities are crashing in the face of unequal competition, the victims of which are mainly cash crop cultivators . . . uncertainty about food grain procurement remains, Punjab, the granary of India, is thinking in terms of substituting its food crops (paddy and wheat) with other crops."

The Panchayat voiced its apprehension at reports about the US and European Union reaching an agreement on a common stand at the Cancun ministerial conference of the WTO, with a view to shifting the burden of their economic crisis on the developing nations.

Other problems highlighted by the Panchayat were the unprecedented drought situation of the past years, the miserably low plan allotment, budget provisions and public investment in agriculture, the growing indebtedness of the peasantry and grossly inadequate government loans for agriculture, leaving the peasants at the mercy of private financial institutions. The devastating consequences of India’s commitments to the WTO and other bilateral agreements signed by India with other countries and the removal of import restrictions on agricultural products and commodities were also raised.

The Panchayat demanded an effective minimum support price (MSP) system to ensure remunerative and stable prices to the peasants and mechanisms to assist peasants in processing and marketing their products. It called for a moratorium on all agricultural credits, including provisions to write off all agricultural loans upto Rs. 50,000 and all accumulated interest on agricultural loans. It demanded legislation by Parliament and State Assemblies for providing statutory crop insurance benefits to all major crops. Other demands included ensuring timely supply of quality seeds and saplings to the farmers, restoration of subsidies in agriculture, a Social Welfare Scheme for farmers, setting up of agricultural commissions at the centre and in all the states, including representatives of peasants organisations, a comprehensive water management plan and proper infrastructure facilities for agriculture, as well as soil conservation.

The Panchayat announced the formation of a coordination committee of various peasant organisations to finalise a charter of demands and follow up on the implementation of these demands.

The Panchayat demanded that all international treaties signed by India, affecting trade and agriculture, should be debated and ratified by Parliament. It demanded that the presentation of India’s case at the WTO summit should take into account the views of all the peasant organisations. To press for these demands, it proposed to launch nationwide protest demonstrations and rallies between September 10-14, when the final round on the agreement on agriculture will be held in Cancun in Mexico. It also called for a massive march to Parliament during the next session, to submit the charter of demands of the peasantry to the Prime Minister.

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Gujarat peasants protest power tariff hike

Thousands of peasants in several parts of south and central Gujarat came out in militant demonstrations on August 14, to protest against the state government’s decision to hike up power tariffs in the agricultural sector.

In Surat, Navsari, Vadodara and Anand, peasants militantly blocked the highway, as a mark of protest against this blatantly unjust move of the state government. More than 4,000 peasants demonstrated and clashed with the police in Damrod near Kosamba. In Dethan village of Karjan taluka in Vadodara, more than 10,000 peasants staged a sit-in on the highway since early morning. In several villages of Bharuch district peasants came out in their thousands to protest the power tariff hike, braving the heavy police repression. Hundreds of peasants and leaders and activists of peasant organisations were arrested and many others injured, as the police lobbed tear gas shells and even opened fire, to quell the demonstrations.

As in other parts of the country, here too the big bourgeoisie is increasingly pushing for cutting back on subsidies in inputs to the peasantry and asking the peasants to pay increased costs for electricity and other essential agricultural inputs. Peasants in Gujarat too, like peasants in other parts of India, are up in arms, resisting these attacks on their livelihood.

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Country-wide protests against Supreme Court’s ruling declaring strikes illegal

Workers across organisations have roundly denounced the Supreme Court judgement as an outright attack on one of the most basic rights that the working class has won through long years of struggle. Analysing this as a precursor to other vicious attacks by the big bourgeoisie on the rights and livelihood of the working class and people, all the organisations have reaffirmed their resolve to step up the struggle in defence of their rights.

All over the country, organisations of workers and working people have been protesting against the SC judgement. On August 9, 2003, anniversary of the "Quit India" call of 1942, tens of thousands of employees of various sectors across Tamil Nadu observed mass hunger strike, to demonstrate their anger and opposition to the judgement. On August 7, a joint statement demanding reversal of the SC judgement was issued by the Confederation of Central government employees and workers, National Federation of Postal Employees, Income Tax Employees Federation, All India Audit and Accounts Association, All India Civil Accounts Employees Association, and the All India Printing and Stationery Employees union. All the central trade union organisations that participated in the meeting of the Standing Labour Committee at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on July 25, 2003, raised their voice of protest against the SC judgement denying the right to strike. Public Sector employees organisations and University and College teachers’ associations in Delhi and other parts of the country have registered their protest. State Government Employees Federations in almost all states of India have issued statements of protest against the SC judgement and organised demonstrations and rallies to voice their protest.

All these developments are indicative of the mood of the working class and people, who are not willing to cow down before the attacks of the big bourgeoisie and their state, but are determined to resist these attacks on their livelihood and rights. They are also indicative of the growing unity of the working class movement, across trade union and party affiliations, in defence of the rights of the working class and people, against the attempts of the big bourgeoisie to intensify the exploitation of the working class and people.

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Mass protests in Britain demanding guilty be punished

South Asia Watch, South Asian Solidarity. Indian Workers Association (GB), Peoples Empowerment Alliance, Indian Muslims Federation, Council of Indian Muslims and many other organizations opposing the communal carnage participated in the protest demonstration.

The protesters held Narenrda Modi responsible for being instrumental in state organized communal violence resulting in slaughter of over 2500 Muslims and demanded that he should be convicted for the genocide. The protest reflected the deep seated anger against Narendra Modi, the BJP as well as other ruling class parties of India for fanning religious differences and instigating communal violence.

The spokesperson of the India Workers Association (GB) pointed out that Narendra Modi is an employee of the Indian State implementing the policy of State organised communal massacres to divide the Indian people and also divert them from collectively fighting for social change ensuring a life of security and prosperity for the toiling majority.

The past fifty six years of so-called independence have been years of shattering of hopes for a better life. There are now two India’s. The India of a wealthy minority and the India of the deprived majority. The Indian State came into being on the partition of the Indian subcontinent on religious basis resulting in deaths of millions of innocent people, and it has continued and further perfected the policy of organising communal massacres to defend itself from the wrath of the people.

Speakers pointed out that successive governments have failed to address the real need of the Indian people. Instead they have followed the methods used by the colonialists to divide people on religious basis, weaken their resistance and divert them from collectively fighting for a better life. The Congress Party unleashed communal massacre of Sikhs in Delhi, Kanpur and other places in 1984. The BJP has been involved in slaughter of Muslims in 1993-1994 and more recently in the Gujarat massacre. None of the perpetrators of state organized communal massacre have been punished by the Indian State and its institutions.

The Indian people must strengthen their unity, oppose communalism and collectively create a society free of communal violence, a society offering a security and prosperity for all. .

The spokesman from AWAAZ: South Asia Watch condemned the BJP for fanning communal conflict and communalising and fascising the state. He called for unity of all Indians in opposition to the growth of communalism.

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