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Edition: November 1-15, 2004 |
| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
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| 20 years after the November 84 massacre of people of the Sikh faith The
struggle to punish the guilty must be continued without let-up! November 1, 2004 marks 20 years after the barbaric state-organised communal massacre of Sikhs in Delhi, Kanpur and other places. With voters’ lists in their hands, and the full support of the police forces, mobs led by Congress Party leaders went about setting fire to the homes of people of Sikh faith in slums and resettlement colonies, Gurudwaras, commercial centres as well as in middle class areas. They set people on fire, humiliated them, raped the women and carried out the most bestial crimes with the full support and participation of the state machinery. Innocent people of Sikh faith travelling in trains in different parts of country, particularly in Northern India, were pulled out and burnt alive. Rumours were spread that "Sikhs had distributed laddus on hearing the news of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination". Rumours were spread that "Sikhs had poisoned the water in the wells". As people of Sikh faith, including Generals, journalists and others demanded police action and protection, they were insulted and humiliated and told in no uncertain terms that the state was organising the pogroms. After the cold blooded state organised massacre sponsored by those in power, a delegation of prominent Sikhs headed by the late Charanjit Chanana actually had to plead with the newly anointed Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi that Sikhs were loyal to the Indian state and desired its "protection"! Rajiv Gandhi publicly justified the communal pogrom saying, "when a big tree falls, the earth will shake". With the call of "Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan", he led the Congress party's biggest sweep in the ensuing elections in early 1985, held in an atmosphere of violence and terror. Curfew was clamped, telephone lines were cut, news was suppressed and the army was deployed in the Punjab soon after the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi on October 31, to prevent the people of Punjab from expressing their opinion on what was going on. Following the practice established in colonial times, the army was deployed to prevent people from organising to oppose the gangster politicians and the police, who had orders to ensure that the victims were disarmed. In the name of restoring order, the
army was deployed in Delhi after three full days of mayhem and horrific
acts committed against Sikhs. It
was deployed to prevent the communists and other democratic citizens
from reaching out to the people and helping them organise their own
self defence. Slogan of defence of "national unity and territorial integrity"— platform for justifying the genocide of Sikhs The defence of "national unity and territorial integrity" is the justification that the Indira Gandhi regime provided for suppressing the legitimate struggles of the peoples of Punjab, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and other places. The army was sent in to destroy the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June, 1984; and army rule was established in Punjab. Rajiv Gandhi justified the massacre of Sikhs saying that this was in defence of "national unity and territorial integrity" of India. Defence of “national unity and territorial integrity" has been the reason cited by the Indian bourgeoisie for the unbridled escalation of state terror in the last two decades. This slogan has been repeatedly used to organise and justify genocide against different nations, nationalities and tribes, as also against religious minorities. They have been used to justify attacking the human rights of Indian citizens. These past 20 years have witnessed an escalation of state-organised communal massacres in the name of "fighting terrorism” and opposing "religious fundamentalism". Starting with the brutal massacre of people of the Sikh faith in November 1984, the brutal massacre of Muslims in 1992-93 following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, and the genocide unleashed against Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 – all reveal a consistent pattern. They reveal the unmistakable hand of the ruling class and its state in the organisation of the communal pogroms. Countless youth all over Punjab have simply disappeared in "encounters" or in police custody, their dead bodies unceremoniously dumped into rivers or burnt, while the state security forces claimed "success" in eliminating yet another "dreaded Sikh terrorist". Shoot-outs and "encounter" killings of Muslims, branded as "terrorists" have become routine in many parts of the country. Tens of thousands of people have been and are being slaughtered in Kashmir and thousands more in Manipur, Assam and other states of India by the Indian Army. To justify the unbridled use of state terror, governments at the centre and in the states, have portrayed those resisting state terror as "terrorists". They have turned the truth on its head, portraying the victims as the danger and the state as the saviour. It is precisely this logic that has been used to justify the retention and use of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, National Security Act, TADA, POTA and other such draconian laws that negate even the most basic rights and freedoms of the people, including the amended UAPA (law introduced by the UPA government in place of POTA, which retains all the fascist features of POTA). If facts are analysed dispassionately, it will reveal that the India big bourgeoisie and its political representatives who do not even recognise the existence of nations and nationalities within India. They have used the slogan of defending "national unity and territorial integrity" only to suppress any organised dissent to their unrestricted plunder of the land, labour and resources of the peoples of the various nations, nationalities and tribes within India. It is for this reason that in Punjab and Kashmir, Manipur and Nagaland, Assam — everywhere the national aspirations of the peoples have been met with fire and sword of the central armed forces. Armed might has been accompanied by the divisive politics of those in power, setting people against one another on the basis of religion and nationality, and then intervening in the name of restoring harmony. The slogan of the ‘defence of national unity and territorial integrity’ is a slogan to justify the negation and oppression of the different nations, nationalities and tribal peoples of India who constitute the present day Indian Union. Its aim is to deny them their sovereignty and their national rights. It is a slogan that is used to justify brutally trampling underfoot all efforts of the peoples of India to reconstitute the Indian Union as a voluntary union of consenting nations, nationalities and tribal peoples with the right to self determination, including secession. The nation building exercise of the Indian bourgeoisie is in the colonial imperialist style of the Anglo-American imperialists. It is based on the crushing of all nations, nationalities and tribes within India and denying them their identity and right to self-determination. This ‘national unity and territorial integrity’ is imposed through the power of the guns of the central state. It is through the crushing of the aspirations of the workers and peasants, women and youth of this multi-national state of continental proportions that the Indian bourgeoisie has preserved its rule and extended its domination.. It is on the corpses of countless people of the Sikh faith that the "modernisation program" of the Indian bourgeoisie was launched by Rajiv Gandhi.. Every stage in the unveiling of the ‘reform’ program of the Indian big bourgeoisie has been accompanied by bloody massacres, one worse than the other. The liberalisation and privatisation program unleashed by the Narasimha Rao regime in 1991 was followed closely by the destruction of the Babri masjid and the pogroms against muslims, while the ‘second generation reforms’ unleashed by the Vajpayee regime was accompanied by the dance macabre that has become Gujarat. In both periods, the economic offensive has also been accompanied by wars and threats of wars with Pakistan. The developments over the past 20 years reveal that the slogan of "defending national unity and territorial integrity”, and the slogan of "fighting terrorism and fundamentalism" go hand in hand with the drive of the Indian big bourgeoisie towards globalisation, through liberalisation and privatisation, in pursuit of its goal of becoming a big imperialist power. What the past 20 years have clearly shown is that organising communal genocide is part of the preferred method of governance in India, institutionalised into the state apparatus. It is part of the arsenal of the Indian bourgeoisie in its anti-social offensive. Regardless of which party is in power – whether it is an alliance led by the Congress Party or an alliance led by the BJP, state terrorism and communal violence remain the reality, justified in the name of fighting terrorism and of defending the unity and integrity of India. For every Narendra Modi there will be a corresponding Jagdish Tytler on the other side. The guilty will never be punished as long as the political process remains criminalised and dominated by such self-serving bourgeois parties that stop at nothing to grab and retain power in their hands. Justification for the state terror and communal violence In spite of all that has been revealed in this short span of twenty years, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) continue to be the most ardent defenders of the ‘unity and integrity’ platform of the Indian ruling bourgeoisie. Whether it is Kashmir or Manipur, Assam or Nagaland, both the CPI and CPI(M) think and act in unison with the chauvinist outlook and colonial policy of the big bourgeoisie. They repeat the chauvinist slogan of the bourgeoisie to justify suppressing the rights and struggles of the nations and nationalities within India, denying peoples their right to sovereignty. It cannot be forgotten that in the 1980s the CPI and CPI(M) assisted the Indian bourgeoisie and its political representatives, led by Indira Gandhi and then Rajiv Gandhi, to confuse the working class and people about the true situation in Punjab and the issues underlying the conflict and turmoil there. Instead of organising the workers and peasants to wage a united struggle against the bourgeoisie, they acted in the opposite direction, contributing to line up the workers and peasants of India behind the bourgeoisie. They repeated from the rooftops the slogan of defending national unity and territorial integrity and blamed the Sikhs and "fundamentalism" as the source of the problem. Army rule in Punjab, the destruction of the Golden Temple, the subsequent reign of terror in Punjab and other parts of the country—all this had the support of the CPI(M) and the CPI. They justified the violation of human rights most blatantly and called upon the working class to defend the very state that was raining death and destruction on them. All facts of the November 1984 massacre as well as subsequent massacres of people in different parts of India reveals the hand of the ruling class, its state machinery and the major parties contending for power. They also reveal that these are not communal massacres in the sense of the people of one community getting together to kill people of another community, but state-organised targeted massacres of definite peoples. Even before the reality had unfolded itself to the broad masses of people, the Communist Ghadar Party of India declared, right in those bloody and riotous days of November 1984, that it was not any ‘Hindus’ who were killing Sikhs but those in power who were using the state to organise the massacre and humiliation of people of the Sikh faith. We boldly opposed and criticised the outlook and approach of the CPI and CPI (M), who were calling on the people to defend and rely on the ‘secular foundations’ of the Indian State and its Constitution. We criticised this line for spreading harmful illusions about the communal state, which is a colonial legacy. We criticised the leaders of these parties for conciliating with the colonial and bourgeois lie that the Indian people, and some extremists among them, are to be blamed for the communal killings.. According to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the threat of communal violence comes from the BJP and its allies; and if these parties are kept out of power, then the danger of communal violence will not be there. This is the biggest lie, as the history of pre and post independence India reveals that communal massacres have been repeatedly organised when the ‘secular’ British were in power as well as when the ‘secular’ Congress Party has been in power. The aim of this lie is to prettify the Indian state and prevent the workers and peasants from seeking out and uprooting the root of communal violence, which is the rule of the bourgeoisie and the entire colonial legacy, including the capitalist system of plunder and its democracy that is designed to exclude the majority from power. Colonial legacy The Indian people must never forget
that this country was born out of a bloody partition in 1947, in which
millions of people of all faiths were slaughtered, mainly in the then
Punjab, Bengal and Assam, but also in other places. Rape, loot and murder
were the order of the day. Over ten million people had to leave their
homes and belongings and go to another land. The British colonialists deliberately divided the Indian people according to religion, and concocted the thesis that India consisted of warring communities of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. They encouraged the newly emerging Indian bourgeoisie to organise itself on communal lines and played one section against the other in order to keep colonial rule intact. They concentrated their fire on the revolutionaries who were fighting to free India from colonial rule. Whenever their rule was under threat, they set their toadies in various communities and in motion, to inflame communal passions, and then went about systematically organising communal massacres while preaching tolerance and harmony. The communal massacres that were organised in August 1947 by the British colonialists and their Indian agents were aimed at partitioning the country and ensuring that independence was not accompanied with a social revolution. The states that were set up in India and Pakistan, and later on in Bangladesh, did not make a break with the colonial legacy. Instead, they were created in the image of the colonial state. The Indian state is organised along communal lines. The 1950 Constitution was written by a communally elected Constituent Assembly; and it explicitly divides Indians along communal lines. The army, the police and the bureaucracy are also organised along communal lines. The parliamentary parties organise their vote banks along communal lines. Communal massacres are regularly organised to divide, disorient and paralyse the masses of workers, peasants and other middle strata of society; and to advance the program of the bourgeoisie. The Constitution
adopted on January 26, 1950, denies the existence of nations, nationalities
and tribal peoples within India, and their respective rights. It does not recognise the human rights of people, including their
right to conscience, and their national rights. What the past 20 years have clearly shown is that since communal genocide happens to be a preferred method of rule that is institutionalised as part of the Indian state, the guilty are never punished, regardless of which party is in power. The existing state power and political arrangements in India, far from providing protection to all citizens, are themselves the biggest danger to the security of the people and their right to conscience. The struggle against communalism and communal violence must therefore be directed to transform this state power, to end the colonial legacy of a state that divides the polity on communal lines. It must be directed at transforming the existing political process, which enables parties in power to organise communal genocide for their narrow political ends and get away with it. Workers and peasants, women and youth, organised in their collectives to actively fight the forces of communalism and defend the unity of the people, are the only reliable force that can counter state-organised communal violence in India today. Committees for defending the lives and dignity of the people and for affirming their rights can and must be built and strengthened as organs of struggle today, and as potential mechanisms for the people to exercise power in the future. The peoples of different nations, nationalities and tribes, the people who are targets of state organised communal and fascist terror, need to unite around a modern vision of India and dare to transform this vision into reality. We must fight to reorganise the Indian Union as a voluntary union of consenting nations, nationalities and tribal peoples, with each enjoying the right to self-determination including secession, guaranteed in the fundamental law. We need to reconstitute India so that human rights of all are guaranteed, including the right to conscience. All members of society must be free to exercise their right to conscience, to follow the religious or non-religious beliefs of one’s choice, without being discriminated against. The present system marginalises people from political power and vests political power with the bourgeoisie and their political parties. We need to renew the political system and process so that political power vests with workers and peasants, women and youth of the different nations, nationalities and tribal peoples of India. One of the key aspects of this worker-peasant program for the democratic renewal of India consists of reforms in the political process to restrict and end the monopoly of the so-called recognised national parties. If workers and peasants have to actually become the rulers and decision makers, then the supreme power to make decisions cannot be handed over to a political party at the end of every election, as is the case today. Nor can the right to select the candidates be left in the hands of criminal parties and their ‘high command’ or politburo. We must demand changes such as, for instance, taking the right to select candidates out of the hands of political parties and placing it in the hands of local sabhas and elected committees established among the electorate. We must set our target as the establishment of a system and political process where people do not vote for this or that party to rule, but parties enable the people to exercise power and rule themselves. The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls upon the workers, peasants, women and youth, to step up the struggle for the building of a new India – based on making a clean break with the legacy of colonialism. This will be the lasting contribution to the victims of the genocide of 1984. This is the way to ensure that the demand of the people that the guilty be punished is actually fulfilled, and for the desire of our long suffering peoples for an India free from communal violence to become a reality. |
| Million
Worker March, October 17, Washington, D.C. Thousands of workers, representing many tens of thousands, rallied in the nation’s capitol to say that they are a political force, they can and must represent themselves and that their agenda is defending rights. Longshore workers from California and South Carolina were in the forefront of organizing and participating. Their banners stood out and gave expression to the common stands of all: Down with the Patriot Act! Defend Immigrant Workers Rights! Stop Police Terror! Defend the Right to Protest the War! Money for Schools, Jobs, Healthcare and Housing! No War for Oil and Empire! A wide variety of speakers addressed the serious concerns of the workers about the problems facing the nation and the world, repeatedly emphasizing the decisive role the workers must play in winning change. They challenged the stand taken by top AFL-CIO officials calling on workers to abandon their own independent political agenda. Speaking from their own experience, in the workplace, communities and in participation in the electoral process, one person after the other called on all present to participate in politics on the basis of their own agenda. Another important feature of the rally was its success in bringing together many union locals and rank and file members alongside a variety of organizations and activists, including those defending the rights to healthcare and pensions, youth opposing militarization of their schools, women fighting for their rights and those standing against U.S. war and aggression worldwide. Speakers also included those from Brazil, Haiti, South Africa, Britain and Spain, as well as greetings from Bangladesh, India, Korea, Japan and the Philippines. Canadian steelworkers were also represented and their banner All for One and One for All was widely appreciated. Standing together as one, all represented the broad unity the rally succeeded in developing. Many union locals were well-represented at the day-long action, including those among public sector workers and teachers, teamsters, transit, health, postal, communications and electrical workers. Southern states sent large delegations, including the Carolinas, Florida and Texas. California and Washington state also brought a sizeable force. New York state had perhaps the largest state delegation, with busloads and car caravans coming in from upstate and Western New York as well as New York City. Pennsylvania and Virginia also sent buses in. Dozens of buses were diverted by police over the course of the day, preventing
many participants from arriving at the rally. Even so, their support and
sprit was received as information came in that a struggle was being waged
to get the busloads to the rally site at the Lincoln Memorial. Taken as a whole the rally succeeded in strengthening the unity of the workers and in bringing to the fore the necessity for workers to represent themselves by advancing their own agenda. |
| SALUTE
TO MILLION WORKER MARCH — Statement of the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization, October 17, 2004 — As workers from across the country rally in Washington, D.C. today, their independent voice is being heard loud and clear: No to War and Occupation in Iraq! Repeal the USA Patriot Act! Amnesty for Immigrants! Eliminate NAFTA and FTAA! Defend the Rights to Organize, to Jobs, Education, Healthcare and Pensions! The increasing warmongering of President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry is being rejected as demonstrators stand as one with workers worldwide to oppose the “pursuit of imperial war against the poor everywhere” and demand an end to “pitting workers against each other across national boundaries.” As the elections draw closer, what stands out sharply is that these just demands in defense of the rights of all are nowhere represented by the Democrats and Republicans and their candidates. The reality of an electoral system designed to silence the voice of the workers and split their ranks stands out in sharp contrast to the united action of this Million Worker March. It is this march that represents the politics of the workers. The significance of this rally is found in its contribution to the fight now being waged under the banner, “Let’s Represent Ourselves, In Our Own Voice.” It is this stand which defies the demands of the rich to submit to their dictate with their electoral system designed to keep working people from power. The U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization salutes all the organizers, supporters and participants and all those unable to come who assisted in mobilizing and organizing. Together we are representing many millions here and worldwide standing as one for rights. This action is a powerful expression of workers here and everywhere to advance their solution to the problems being faced by one and all—to represent themselves in government and have all decisions made by working people themselves. The struggle to step up the fight for rights, including the right of the people to govern and decide, points the way forward today and tomorrow. The 2004 elections are also revealing the fierce contention within the ruling circles over how best to keep themselves in power and keep the people out. The fierce contention is reflected in the readiness of both Bush and Kerry to challenge the election results and the many predictions of yet more widespread vote-rigging, disputes or even cancellation of elections in one or more of the battleground states. Add to this the continued government predictions of terrorist attacks during the elections or in the period before inauguration (January 20) and it can be seen that the elections may not decide the champion for the ruling class. More than this, they could well be used to put in place different arrangements for governance that could eliminate elections or render elected bodies powerless to a ruling executive, civilian or military. One thing is certain. The government’s wars against Afghanistan
and Iraq, its genocide against Palestine, its broad attacks on human and
civil rights in the U.S. and worldwide have made clear that U.S.-style
democracy represents war and fascism. The ruling circles and their media
are using the elections, most recently the debates, to embroil Americans
in a conflict over which candidate will make the best war president. Everything
is being done to overwhelm the people into giving up their struggle for
peace and security based on guaranteeing the rights of all. |
Million
Worker March This Sunday, October 17, the Million Worker March (MWM) will be held in Washington, D.C. to bring focus and attention to the demands of working people and their allies in the United States. Speakers will include Dick Gregory, Danny Glover, Martin Luther King III, and a number of trade union activists. But with the presidential election only three weeks away, some, including the leadership of the AFL-CIO, feel that this is not the time to be marching. Clarence Thomas, from ILWU (International Longshore Workers Union) Local 10, (Bay Area, California) disagrees, arguing that it’s essential that the demands of the working class and the poor be heard both during this election campaign and beyond. Thomas is a long-time labor activist who has also consistently worked on a number of international issues. Last year, he traveled to Iraq with a delegation from U.S. Labor Against the War. He recently spoke with Seven Oaks about the October 17 mobilization and the impact the organizers hope it will have on U.S. labor and social justice movements. Seven Oaks: What were the initial motivations for calling next Sunday’s
mobilization? S.O.: What are some of the key demands of the MWM? Thomas: Universal health care, stopping the dismantling of public education, bringing the troops home now, the reinforcement of all civil rights – these particular demands are at the center of our t-shirt. But I think that, when we talk about the demands, one is most certainly a national living wage that lifts people out of poverty. Another demand is protection and enhancement of social security, immune to privatization; and ensuring that pensions are guaranteed, so that corporations can’t get out of paying pensions for people who want them. We want to cut the military budget. It’s bloated, and it has become a means by which there’s like a revolving door of money, with elected officials getting campaign donations from defense contractors. S.O.: The leadership of the AFL-CIO has been critical of the MWM. How has this played out, in terms of getting support from union locals and amongst rank-and-file members? Thomas: Let me put it to you this way: The march has grown into a movement. And I think what the AFL-CIO was able to do with their position of non-endorsement of the march is that it stifled presidents of international unions from contributing money. They have been very effective at that. It has in no way stopped the rank-and-file, because the rank-and-file are the people that are feeling the pain. It’s the rank-and-file that have gotten tired of the concessionary bargaining that’s going on, and in some instances you have business unionism types that are heading certain international unions. It’s important to understand this. Despite the fact of the letter that was issued that basically went out as a memo dated June 23, they have not been able to stop the rank-and-file organizing this thing. The rank-and-file want it. One of the paragraphs of the letter indicated, ‘while we may agree with many of the aims and issues of the march.’ Well, anyone who calls themselves a trade unionist could not be against these demands. But they have been able to put the kibosh on us receiving funding from major labor organizations, because of the fact that they have made a decision to give all of the money to John Kerry. And John Kerry is giving labor nothing in return. S.O.: That was my next question, about the presidential election. Obviously
U.S. labor is doing a lot for John Kerry’s campaign. Is a Kerry
victory going to do anything for U.S. labor? The ILWU, internationally, has endorsed John Kerry, we need to say that for the record. But we have autonomy in the ILWU. The ILWU has a history of autonomy, and it’s also important to understand that ILWU Local 10, that passed this resolution, is the home of the legendary labor leader Harry Bridges. This is Harry’s local. This is the local that has been in the forefront of taking positions concerning U.S. foreign policy. We are the local that boycotted the first ships from South Africa in the early 1980s, led by legendary rank-and-file ILWU member Leo Robinson, who played such a critical role in galvanizing U.S. labor support for South Africa. This is the local that shutdown the port in opposition to the WTO (World Trade Organization), that led that struggle. We passed resolutions that were adopted up and down the coast. We have a history of being not only militant and supporting trade union issues, but of being in the forefront on issues involving economic and social justice. S.O.: In terms of foreign policy issues, the MWM made a call-out to the movement against war and occupation. How has the response been from anti-war activists and coalitions in the United States? Thomas: United for Peace and Justice has endorsed the march, International ANSWER has endorsed the march, the International Action Center has endorsed the march – we think the response has been great. U.S. Labor Against the War did not endorse the march. However, its co-convenor, Gene Bruskin, has endorsed the march and that took place after they had decided against it. S.O.: What kind of numbers are you expecting on Sunday? Thomas: As far as numbers are concerned, let me share this with you: I was at the Million Man March in October 1995, I was at the Million Woman March in 1997. At the Million Man March, there was well over a million people there, but the media said 500 thousand. At the Million Woman March, the numbers were close to a million, maybe between 800 and 900 thousand. But it doesn’t matter what the numbers are. I can tell you this: there will be millions of workers represented, in terms of organizations and so forth, at that march. Whether or not there will be a million people, I would not say that there would be. We don’t have to have a million people out there. It’s going to be historic and it’s needed, because this is going to be our 21st century civil rights movement, based around class issues. Because the issues that Dr. King spoke of at the 1963 March on Washington were addressed to a particular plight of Black folks. Now, these same issues that were affecting Black folks in disproportionate numbers, are affecting people of all races as we move into this 21st century. S.O.: What can people who won’t be able to get to Washington, D.C., maybe like some of us on the West coast, do in terms of supporting the march? Thomas: One of the things they can do is to visit our website at www.millionworkermarch.org and click on the PayPal button to make a donation, because we have to pay for everything with regard to this. They can order our t-shirts. This is a rank-and-file grassroots democracy effort – we’ve had to pay for all of these things out of our pocket. We have received some funding from ILWU Local 10, and ILWU locals up and down. We have also received donations from various other unions, but it has been from locals. It has not been the kind of sizable donations that typically you would find in an organized labor movement event. So that’s one of the key things people can do. But they can also watch the event. I think it is going to be covered by C-SPAN. And they can follow what we’re going to be doing after the march, this is just phase 1. S.O.: Anything else you’d like to say about the march, or the election? Thomas: I think that whatever one’s expectations are of the elections, one thing is sure: All elected officials need to be held accountable. And no matter who is elected president, the working class has work to do, because it’s not going to make any difference with regards to the policy in Iraq, with regards to cutting that military budget, with regards to these demands that we’re putting forward. It’s not going to matter who’s in the White House. These demands are going to have to be fought for. |
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Police Firing on Farmers in Shri Ganganagar District of Rajasthan On 27 October 2004, police opened fire on farmers in Ghadsana and Raval Village in the border district of Shri Ganganagar in Rajasthan. The farmers were staging a demonstration demanding water for irrigating their land. While four of those demonstrating died on the spot, more than two dozen were injured, some of them seriously. These farmers have been waging ceasless struggle under the banner of Kisan, Mazdoor, Vyapaari Sanghrash Samiti (Peasants, Workers, Traders Action Committee) demanding water for irrigating their wheat and mustard fields, which are drying up in the absence of adequate water. The government has been ignoring this just demand of the peasants. To pacify the struggling peasants the Irrigation Minister of Rajasthan promised that adequate water will be provided from the Indira Gandhi canal, however the ground reality has not changed. While the Punjab government stopped the flow of water to Rajasthan and Haryana, the Rajasthan government did little to provide water to the drought striken regions of Rajasthan. Angered by this attitude of the government thousands of peasants staked their live and joined the struggle. On 26 October hundreds of peasants set the police station on fire and detained 175 police personnel for two days. Police lathi-charged the agitators, which further angered them. About 2000 villagers blocked the Kupli Road placing tree trunks on road. When the police lathi-charged the demonstrators villagers gave them a fitting reply by pelting stones at the police, who were forced to run away. Further to that 4000 farmers attacked the police setting police stations and offices on fire. Carrying lathis, gandase (sickles) and other handy weapons, they challenged the police attack and gave tit-for-tat. Despite the curfew and prohibitory orders, the farmers fought pitched battles with the police for three days. In order to crush the agitation, following the firing on the farmers on 28 October, curfew was declared in Ghadsana, Rawal and Anupgarh village of Shri Ganganagar District and army and paramilitary forces of Rajasthan Armed Forces were called out. The same government that paid no heed to the demands of the agitating farmers, is now talking of judicial commission to enquire into the firing and paying compensation of Rs. 5 Lakh and Rs. One lakh to the families of the deceased and injured respectively. But the farmers refused to be fooled by the false promises and are struggling for fulfillment of their demand. On 28 October the farmers called for a Bandh in Sri Ganganager District. The bandh was very successful. The bandh called against the police firing continued successfully in Hanumangarh, Sangaria, Karalpur, Vijaynagar, Suratgarh, Raisinghnagar, and Padampur villages. To break the unity of the agitating farmers, threatning them into submission and blacking out the news, the administration is using all the arms in its arsenal – which are tried and tested. They have put a ban on Cable TV transmission. More than 150 farmers have been arrested, and arms licences have been suspend till further orders. In the face of repression and attacks the farmers are determined to continue their struggle. Farmers feed the empty bellies of this country. But the Central and the State government are following a course that deprives them of their livelihood and pushes them to their death. Providing water for irrigation, seeds, fertilizers and other agriculture inputs to the farmers at an affordable rates is the duty of the state. And making this demand is the right of the farmers. The agitation of the farmers of Shri Ganganagar is absolutely just and has the support of farmers across the country. |
| Hunger Strike in Delhi against AFSPA Intensifying their struggle against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) Manipuri Student Association of Delhi (MSAD) held a 15 day relay hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi from 1-15 October. The rally concluded on 15th October with a mass demonstration to the Parliament where the effigies of former Prime Minister Jawarharlal Nehru, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi were burnt. They also submitted a memorandum to the President and the Prime Minister. Lok Raj Sangathan, Delhi Student Union, All India Student Association, AIPRF, Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Hind Naujawan Ekta sabha, North-East Network, Indian Civil Society and other organisations participated in the hunger strike and demonstration. Manipur has been burning with rage since the rape and murder of Manorama Devi by the personnel of Assam Rifles and the anger has spread amongst all sections od people throughout the entire country. AFSPA is one of the most draconian laws in the statute books of India that gives unfettered powers to the armed forces to torture, rape and kill people with impunity. The people of Manipur – workers, peasants, women, youth, and students have been waging a relentless struggle against the Act. In display of unity and solidarity of all the Indian people with the people of Manipur demonstrations, conferences, conventions and meetings have been organised all across the country in towns, cities, residential areas and college campuses. Addressing the demonstration on behalf of Lok Raj Sangathan, Bijju Nayak said that this is struggle of all the people of India and not just Manipuri people. We will always be with the people of Manipur and pointed that this is part and parcel of the struggle that the common people are raising all across India. Kavita Krishnan of All India Student Association narrated her experiences during her recent visit to Manipur of how the armed forces are using their might and power to silence the voice of the people and said that educational institutions have been converted to army camps. Prof. Vijay Singh pointed out the real nature of the Indian State as undemocratic. President of MSAD mentioned the various meeting held in Maharashtra against the AFSPA. He also pointed that just like the people of Manipur, people of rest of India are facing draconian laws like TADA and POTA. Dr. Mrigank of NBS expressed his solidarity with the movement against AFSPA. Gurmeet pointed that POTA is being brought back from the backdoor in the form of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Vijayan from North-East Network also expressed his solidarity. |
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