Internet Edition: August 1-15, 2004
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Conference on the burning questions facing the movement

The movement against capitalist reforms and the fascistic rule of an exploiting minority has advanced in recent years. Today, this movement has arrived at an important crossroads. There is an urgent need for frank discussion among all the fighting forces on which is the way forward.

There is need to discuss and settle the question as to whether we should continue and step up our united protests and street actions, or only rely on our comrades in the Parliament to pursue the interests of the oppressed majority.

There is need to deliberate on what really has changed, and what has not changed, through the replacement of the BJP-led NDA Government by the Congress-led UPA Government. What really is the aim of the so-called National Common Minimum Program? What should be the tactics that workers and peasants must adopt in the light of these developments? What should be our fighting program?

There is need to address the question of the strategic and immediate aims of our struggle. Should we not wage the struggle with the aim of replacing the rule of the bourgeoisie with the rule of the workers, peasants and all the oppressed? Should we not fight to establish, on an immediate basis, an anti-imperialist, anti-war and anti-fascist government that would punish those guilty of communal crimes, break ranks with US imperialism and Israel, halt market reforms and reverse the anti-people measures?

What the exploited and oppressed majority need most urgently is to unite on a political basis around a common aim and program. What should we do today towards fulfilling this need? What are the roadblocks and how can they be overcome? What are the concrete measures that can be taken towards overcoming the barriers to political unity?

In order to contribute to this discussion, the Communist Ghadar Party of India is organising a two-day conference on 7-8 August, 2004. All those who are interested in participating in this conference may please express their interest by writing to the postal address or by sending an email to the Communist Ghadar Party of India. Those who are unable to participate, but would like to be included in the mailing list and kept informed and engaged in the discussion, are also urged to communicate this request.

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Condemn State Terrorism against the people of Manipur!

Support the just struggle of the Manipuri people against state repression!

The Communist Ghadar Party of India condemns the brutal rape and murder of 32 year old Thangjam Ningol Manorama by personnel of the 17 Assam Rifles. The Communist Ghadar Party of India hails the militant struggle of Meira Paibi organisations as well as the broad masses of people of Manipur against the ongoing state repression. The Communist Ghadar Party of India condemns the state repression that has been unleashed in the form of curfew and firings on the protesting people in the state of Manipur.

The Communist Ghadar Party of India has consistently upheld the view that there is no justification for state terrorism. Manipur has been under the jackboots of the Indian armed forces continuously since 1980. The aspirations of the people have been routinely crushed by the armed forces, and legal justification has been provided for the violation of all rights by the infamous Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, which is itself a continuation of the colonial legacy, having been promulgated as an ordinance by the British in 1942.

The Communist Ghadar Party of India demands the immediate arrest and prosecution of the personnel of the 17 Armed Rifles responsible for the rape and murder of Thangjam Ningol Manorama, and the immediate withdrawal of the 17 Armed Rifles in particular, and the armed forces in general, from Manipur. The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls on the people to step up the struggle for the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, as well as the revocation of the Disturbed Area status for the whole of Manipur.

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Manipur situation demands vigilance from progressive forces

Dear Sir,

This is in response to your powerful statement on the current situation in Maquestion nipur and the demand for the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. I thank you also for your timely reminder that this is a continuation of an Ordinance of the same name promulgated by the British in 1942. Very few matters of state stand out with the same clarity as this, that the Indian state continues the colonial policies of the erstwhile British rulers. All progressive forces should rally around the call to repeal this as well as other draconian laws of this sort.

All progressive forces should also, in these times of intensification of crises in the bourgeois camp, be ever watchful of violence of any kind that the rulers will seek to unleash on the people at large, in the form of encounters, riots, and general civil strife. These activities will go under the name of defending the territorial integrity of India, of fighting foreign-backed terrorists, and a whole lot of other time tested tricks of the Indian rulers. In these times, the defence of the rights of all the peoples of India, irrespective of their regional, linguistic, religious backgrounds and creeds, will serve as the basis for unity of the people in their struggle to throw off the bonds of slavery at the hands of the present system which serves only the interests of the narrowest sections at the cost of the vast majority. It is only the state of the workers and peasants that will rid the people of India of draconian laws that seek to crush their rights.

Sincerely, G. Rajan,
Chennai

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False tears for the peasantrry

Dear Editor,

This is regarding the measures announced by the Central and Andhra Pradesh governments concerning the distressed peasantry. I want to point out that the contrast between the treatment given to rich industrialists and poor peasants is very telling indeed.

The big industrialists and capitalists in our country, who constitute only a small minority of the population, have the government of the day at their beck and call. The success of every major activity of the government is judged from their viewpoint alone, whether it is the national budget or the foreign policy that the government adopts. In fact, before the budget, highly publicized meetings are held with the "captains of industry", when their wish lists are ceremoniously dictated to the government. Even a casual perusal of the newspapers will tell one that it is their reaction which determines whether the government can pass the budget in the way it was proposed, or whether it will be obliged to make amendments in its proposals to accommodate them. "Sensex reacts negatively" is a headline the governments dread like the plague.

Our peasants not only constitute a major section of the population, they are in fact the ones who toil hard to grow food for all. Yet this is the section which has been left to face the furies of nature all on its own. This is the section for whom all inputs are being made more expensive every passing year. This is the section that is being left at the mercy of market forces with the result that, when good crops are produced, they have to sell their produce at throwaway prices. When the crops are not good, they lose their lands to the moneylenders and become paupers. Earlier, a good king was one who provided irrigation facilities to his subject. Today, governments couldn't care less about irrigation, and peasants are forced to sink at huge expense tubewells that inevitably become dry in due course. The poor peasant cannot tug at the Sensex and even his suicide is shrugged off as just another statistic!

It is another matter that the measures announced by the AP and Central governments after so many suicides have taken place will only provide temporary relief at best. The very fact that the rich minority can make the governments toe its line by a mere twitch of the stock markets, while the toiling masses have to commit suicides en masse even to make the governments notice their plight, is itself a condemnation of the system. What kind of political system is this, in which one of the most populous sections of society, and moreover one whose occupation is to provide food for all, has to resort to mass suicides just to make governments take notice of their plight? Why, it is none other than the so-called "democracy"!

Yours
Arvind Kalsekar
Wardha
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US imperialist "coalition of the willing" flounders

The Prime Minister of the puppet government of Iraq recently invited several Islamic countries to contribute troops to his country. However, Najib Razak, the defence minister of Malaysia, which currently heads the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, said on July 19 that Malaysia was likely to send only a medical team to Iraq and not troops.

Meanwhile, the number of countries pulling out of the "coalition of the willing" put together by the US imperialists to invade and occupy Iraq over a year ago keeps increasing. The Philippine government pulled out all its troops by July 21, a month ahead of schedule, following widespread protests and demonstrations across the Philippines demanding withdrawal of their troops. Although the Philippine military presence in Iraq has been small, the country has been a staunch ally in the Bush administration's "war on terrorism", and this is undoubtedly a setback for the US imperialists. Spain withdrew its 1,300 troops in April, following the defeat of the government that had sent its troops over the widespread opposition from its citizens. Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Norway and Kazakhstan have either withdrawn their forces, or are in the process of doing so.

It is clear that the invasion was only intended to further the selfish economic and strategic interests of the imperialist bloc led by the US. While some governments may have gone along with them last year, some are now reconsidering their support. The valiant struggle of the Iraqi people against the occupation has continued, as also widespread opposition to sending troops to Iraq in many countries. In addition, the increasing exposure and isolation of the Anglo-American imperialists has also led to the present situation of dwindling support to the "coalition of the willing" whose stated aim was to "liberate" Iraq and "make the world a safer place".

On 12 July there were about 140,000 foreign troops in Iraq, of whom about 118,000 are American. Any major engagement with insurgents is carried out by US forces, except in the south-east, where British forces take the lead. Total number of troops: US - 118,000 UK - 8,300 Italy - 2,800 Poland - 2,350 Ukraine - 1,550 Netherlands - 1,300 Australia - 850 Romania - 700 South Korea - 700 Japan – 500.

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Investigations into "intelligence failures" in USA, UK and Australia

Pathetic attempts to cover up falsehoods and protect the guilty

The US-led imperialist coalition propagated a lot of excuses in order to justify its occupation of Iraq last year. These have been proved to be false. Chief among these was the alleged existence of "weapons of mass destruction" which the former regime in Iraq could deploy at short notice, constituting a "threat to world peace". More than one year after the US-led imperialist coalition overran Iraq, no such weapons have been found, leading UK prime minister Blair to admit that they probably never existed at all! The governments in the US, UK and Australia all set up commissions of enquiry in the face of widespread disgust among their people at being deceived. All these commissions have come up with reports citing "failure of intelligence agencies" and absolving the top politicians involved.

In Britain, the Butler Report says "key intelligence used to justify war with Iraq has now been shown to be unreliable". However, the Butler report has cleared the ministers and top government officials of any wrong doing. It may be recalled that in January the Hutton inqquestion uiry into the death of Dr David Kelly similarly cleared the government of inserting material it "probably knew to be wrong" against the wishes of the intelligence community in its dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Former cabinet minister Robin Cook, who resigned over the war, said "the unavoidable conclusion of the content of the Butler report (is) that we committed British troops to action on the basis of false intelligence, overheated analysis and unreliable sources". Blair said he took "full responsibility" for any mistakes made, saying that they were in "good faith". He however was unrepentant on the question of going to war against Iraq saying that "Iraq, the region, the wider world is a better and safer place without Saddam."

On July 10, the US Senate Intelligence Committee reported that US intelligence agencies overstated the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, relied on dubious sources and ignored contrary evidence in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. While the harshly critical report has taken US spy agencies to task for numerous failures in reporting on alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, it found "no sign" that the White House had pressured analysts to reach pre-set conclusions. US Senator John Rockefeller of West Virginia, a Democrat on the committee, said the Senate would not have voted overwhelmingly in 2002 to approve the war if it had known how deeply flawed the intelligence was. "The administration at all levels, and to some extent us, used bad information to bolster its case for war," he said. "And we in Congress would not have authorized that war ... if we knew what we know now."

An "independent report" by Philip Flood, commissioned by the Australian government also said that Australia relied on "thin, ambiguous and incomplete" intelligence to go to war in Iraq. Yet again, the report clears Prime Minister John Howard of "politicising" intelligence. The Flood report, like its US and British equivalents, blames "intelligence failures" on spy agencies, sparing the rulers. Australia sent 2,000 troops to Iraq last year of which 900 are still in the area.

The pathetic attempts by the governments of Australia, UK and the USA to cover up their violation of Iraq's sovereignty come in the face of widespread disenchantment with the rulers among the broad masses of people in these countries. The fact is that the decision to invade and occupy Iraq was taken not in the "interests of world peace", but precisely to advance the imperialist interests of the US and its allies. The reports of the "commissions of enquiry" set up by the rulers of US, Britain and Australia, in absolving their respective ruling cliques, have further contributed to the discrediting of their political system in the eyes of the masses of people of these countries as well as the world over.

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International Court of Justice ruling against Israeli wall

US imperialism fully backs Israeli barbarism

srael has been building a wall, much of it deep within Palestinian territory, allegedly to protect its citizens from attacks. This wall of apartheid is the latest assault on the rights of the Palestinian people since the United Nations provided for a Jewish state to be carved out of Palestine 57 years ago. It seeks to deprive Palestinians of their sovereignty and has caused them untold hardship. On July 9, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) located at The Hague in the Netherlands delivered a scathing verdict against Israel. A few days earlier, Israel's own Supreme Court had declared that the present course of the wall "violates (Palestinian) rights according to international law."

Reading the ruling, ICJ President Shi Jiuyong of China said the court was not convinced that the barrier's construction was the only means to achieve Israel's stated aim of protecting its people from suicide attacks. The construction of the wall created a fait accompli which could become permanent, it added. "It would be tantamount to de facto annexation," Mr Shi said. "That construction, along with measures previously taken, thus severely impeded the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination."

The judgement of the court declared "Given the character and the importance of the rquestion ights and obligations involved, the Court is of the view that all States are under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem. They are also under an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction. It is also for all States, while respecting the United Nations Charter and international law, to see to it that any impediment, resulting from the construction of the wall, to the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination is brought to an end. In addition, all the States party to the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 are under an obligation, while respecting the United Nations Charter and international law, to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law as embodied in that Convention." Earlier, the US and UK had argued the court should stay out of the issue, warning that any opinion it gives could "interfere with the Middle East peace process."

It is clear that the path of the wall has been determined without the slightest consideration for the Palestinian people living there. Farmers are cut off from their fields, workers from their workplaces, pupils from their schools, sick people from their hospitals, and even the bereaved from the graves of their beloved ones. A few days before the ICJ ruling, on June 30, the Israeli Supreme Court, without questioning the legitimacy of the "wall of separation" constructed along the West Bank, ordered that its course be modified. By "separating the -- Palestinian -- inhabitants from their lands," the court declared, the Israeli army "violates their rights according to international humanitarian law." Meanwhile, the Israeli army has indicated that it is ready to make some changes to the path of the wall, but not to abandon the basic concept. The "improved" path still creates enclaves for the Palestinians and limits their freedom of movement, if less than the former path. It permits only a few of the farmers to be reconnected with their land.

The ICJ has declared that member nations of the UN should not assist in any way the construction of the apartheid wall. In fact all those governments who claim to respect international law are exhorted to ensure that Israel complies with the court order against the wall. On July 20 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution by a majority of 150 to 6 condemning the wall. However, the 191-nation General Assembly has no power to force countries to act on its recommendations. While the issue could be taken to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose economic sanctions, the Israeli government has asked the US imperialists to intervene to prevent any United Nations Security Council resolution. In October last year, the US vetoed a resolution that sought to bar the Israeli State from extending the West Bank barrier. Now Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has defied the ruling of the International Court of Justice and ordered the continuation of the construction of the apartheid wall.

The US imperialists ride roughshod over the "peace process" which they claim the ICJ would hinder by its ruling on the apartheid wall. According to the "roadmap" for Israeli-Palestinian peace drawn up primarily by the US, all expansion of the illegal settlements by Israel on Palestinian territory was to be frozen. However, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon had earlier announced withdrawal of the illegal Israeli settlements from the occupied Gaza Strip but incorporating those of the West Bank. This would leave the Palestinians with a series of non-contiguous and economically unviable cantons, each surrounded by Israeli territory, collectively constituting barely 10% of the territory which was historically part of Palestine. Completely disregarding this injustice, the US House of Representatives on June 30 endorsed the Israeli plan to annex virtually all the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This amounts to active encouragement of Israel’s move to expand its territory illegally by the use of force. It is thus clear that the US imperialists fully back the barbarism of the Israeli government and are deliberately hindering the interests of peace and justice in the region .

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Condemn the state for the horrifying death of children at Kumbakonam!

The horrifying death of 90 small children in a fire in a school in Kumbakonam was a tragedy that was just waiting to happen. Hundreds of children were crammed into a small space in a multi-storeyed building with a highly inflammable thatched roof and just one exit in a crowded part of the town. A spark from a cooking fire located dangerously close was enough to turn their place of study into an inferno that snuffed out their young lives. People's Voice expresses its deep anguish over this horrifying tragedy.

While we mourn the deaths of these innocent children, we cannot forget that there are hundreds of thousands of children in our country who are, even today, compelled to study in similar conditions and face the prospect of becoming victims to similar gruesome "accidents" such as the one that took place in Kumbakonam.

The Indian state is squarely responsible for this tragedy. Proper government schools with adequate facilities and good quality teaching are all too rare, and with the continuous shrinking of funds allocated for education, they are becoming even rarer. Despite all its talk about universalizing primary education, the state has completely failed in its responsibility of providing quality education to the people. The bourgeoisie and their state have been arguing that the first claim on revenues collected by the state should go to moneylenders and defence expenditures and not to social sectors such as education and health. Even the recent budget, while levying a cess for education, has not come out with a clear timetable and allocation of funds for making education a fundamental right. Over the years the state has encouraged the proliferation of private operators in education, abrogating its duty to provide quality education to all members of society whatever the cost.

That is why parents have been forced to turn to private schools.The state's callous approach has made education at all levels a highly profitable business for unscrupulous operators, who include a high proportion of politicians and other bigwigs.In fact, the school that burned down in Kumbakonam was owned by a politician.Using their connections with those in power, these operators corner state funds and enjoy special concessions, while fleecing the parents who are desperate to give their children an education, and providing them with barely any facilities. Such private schools, or "government-aided schools", have become part and parcel of the very system of education in India.

fter the recent tragedy, the state government of Tamilnadu has announced measures to identify and close down schools operating in conditions similar to those at Kumbakonam. This is all very well, but the question is didn't the authorities know earlier about the existence of such death traps in every locality? Of course they did! Then why did they wait for such a disaster to happen before doing anything about them? The reason is that the bourgeois state does not place any value on the life of its citizens. Private profit and greed dictate the priorities of the state in providing resources, not for ensuring the safety and security of all, but only for the safety and growth of a handful of exploiters.

For example, hundreds of crores of rupees are spent in providing security for a handful of VIPs, but little is done to ensure the safety of ordinary people. According to the admission of the official in charge of fire services who was interviewed on TV just after the disaster at Kumbakonam, the authorities do not regard schools as places of high priority when it comes to ensuring protection against fire! If the lives of young children are not precious, then whose lives are precious? This just shows the complete callousness of the existing system and the state towards the lives of the people.

The people of India cannot afford to wait for the authorities to do something, while such calamities are inflicted on them again and again precisely because of these same authorities. They must overturn this entire system, driven by the greed of a few, and install in its place an altogether new system dedicated to the well being of all working people.

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There is no guarantee of safety for working people in India or abroad - Shame on the Indian Government

Dear Editor,

The plight of the truck drivers reported to be kidnapped by an Iraqi resistance group has shocked the nation. Their fate is in suspense and their families, as well as many concerned Indians, hope that they will come out of their ordeal safely. But as we wait for that optimistic outcome, there is one question that keeps coming up "why did these truck drivers from India work for a Kuwaiti company in Iraq, at such great risk to their lives? What were the circumstances that led them to this? The invasion of Iraq by the US has made the country the victim of such unprecedented violence and destruction, that the people of Iraq and others working and living there are living on the edge.

However, it is not just three Indians who are working there. According to news reports, more than 5,000 Indians work in Iraq in various capacities, many of them as drivers, cooks, security guards and other blue collar occupations. It is no news to us that every year lakhs of Indians have to leave their families and the security of their loved ones to work under great hardship in some foreign land to earn a livelihood that they cannot obtain in their own country. They are so desperate for jobs that will enable them and their families to survive, that they get fooled by unscrupulous contractors and “middlemen” who promise to organise their contracts, visas, etc., for a fee that runs into tens of thousands and even lakhs of rupees. From Punjab to Kerala, it is the same story. And if they do get the job and visas, in many cases the workers do not even know their final employer or their final destination. In the case of a poor Kerala job seeker, he ended up, against his will, as a kitchen helper in a military base in Iraq for an employer based in the US, after passing through five different sub-contractors having been originally placed by a Mumbai-based employment agency!

The basis for such vulnerability of working people lies in the fact that the Indian State is unable to provide security of life and livelihood to its citizens in India. In the first place, it is a matter of great shame that so many working men and women lack the opportunity to work for a living in their own country. Further, the State does not guarantee their safety and prospects for a livelihood. It allows criminal subcontractors and job and visa agents to carry on making money at the cost of the job seekers. And the hypocrisy of the State is evident when such an event gets reported in the media – announcements are then made about rules regarding clearance of visas, as if it is only then that the officials came to know of Indian workers risking their lives at jobs in a war zone!

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Wealthy Reliance India Limited does not meet its tax obligation!

Dear Editor

I was shocked to read that that Reliance India Limited, one of the richest and biggest Indian companies is not paying up Rs.770 crore worth of sales tax to the Central government!

RIL is selling oil to the Public Sector Undertakings, which have stopped paying Central Sales Tax payable on products lifted from Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery. And since RIL is not able to recover the tax, it is asking for a waiver of the same and hoping the government will absorb the tax on petro-products.

The tax was earlier being paid from the erstwhile oil pool and after it was dismantled, the company was provided a tax waiver/deferral by the Gujarat government for 2002-03. However, the tax was to be absorbed by the company from 2003-04 onwards as per a decision taken by former finance minister Jaswant Singh in his interim budget this year. It is reliably learnt that the company has made out a fresh case urging the UPA government to revisit the issue of who will absorb the irrecoverable tax on petro-products, which it did not provide for in its 2003-04 balance sheet.

I work as an accountant in a private limited company that provides goods and services to the government and its various ministries and undertakings. The company has to recover sales or service taxes from its customers and pay the same to the government. In many cases however, clients, especially government departments, do not pay the taxes charged. But the company still has to pay the same to the government.

It is clear that the rules are different depending upon your size and wealth. The rich can get richer, both through exploitation of their workers, as well as by not paying up their share of statutory dues!

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Obfuscation of truth

Dear Editor,

One cannot help noticing the glee with which the western media has been gloating over the capture and the recent producing of Mr. Saddam Hussein in front of a court in Iraq, and its gloating over the murder of his two sons Uday and Qusay some months ago, which is reminiscent of the manner in which Bahadur Shah Zafar was humiliated by the British after the 1857 war of independence and the murder of his sons. The point is that in order to have a full military occupation of Iraq, it was necessary for the western media to demonize Mr. Hussein and his sons, and to pretend that what has been done and is being done is somehow a retribution for their dictatorial regime. Indeed if thquestion ese men were to be accountable for their past actions, it would have been up to the Iraqi people and not to occupying western powers. 

Nevertheless it is worth spending some time thinking about the necessary philosophical doctrine that underpins western imperialist behaviour. This is the need to convince their domestic population that what is being done in their name is some how justified. There are frequent references by the imperialist chieftains Bush and Blair to 'good' and 'evil' and other medieval notions, in order to obfuscate the true aims of their wars, which are imperialist conquest and control of the resources of the world to maintain the preeminence of the Anglo-American camp. This propaganda is also required to garner domestic support, and to deny the existence of a social consciousness. It is also important for the survival of imperialism to deny the existence of objective reality, which is that in today's world the dominant mode of rule is through the use of force, while talking in terms of "good" vs."evil". All progressive forces must unite to defeat the obfuscation of truth and the denial of objective reality in order to take society out of its current stagnation.

Sincerely, A. Narayan
Bangalore

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