• Manmohan Singh visits Manipur and Assam:
  The imperialist strivings of the Indian big bourgeoisie are coming into sharp conflict with the aspirations of the peoples of the region

• Rajasthan peasants resolve to continue agitation indefinitely

• Punjab peasants fight for their demands

• "India and Myanmar

• World Bank President promises higher level of lending:
  Signaling the importance of India in the calculations of world imperialism

• Manmohan Singh enunciates UPA’s Kashmir Policy:
  Continuation of the old colonial imperialist Kashmir policy of the Indian big bourgeoisie

• US elections
  US political system and process proves incapable of sorting out profound contradictions in US society

• Continue to Be Political! Unite All Against U.S. Path of War & Repression!
  Statement of USMLO following the US elections

• Reports of mass actions denouncing the fraud of elections in the US

• Horrendous flattening of Fallujah to pave way for "free and fair" elections
  Iraqi patriots fight on!

• More and more are unwilling to be part of the "coalition of the willing" occupying Iraq

• Vigorous protests greet Bush during APEC meet in Chile

Manmohan Singh visits Manipur and Assam:

The imperialist strivings of the Indian big bourgeoisie are coming into sharp conflict with the aspirations of the peoples of the region

The Prime Minister made a pretence of being concerned about the issues raised by the peoples of Manipur and other states of the North East. In Manipur, he handed over the keys of the historic Kangla fort, which has been under army occupation ever since the British colonialists conquered Manipur in the nineteenth century, to the government of Manipur. He announced the setting up of a commission to review the functioning of the AFSPA. However, regarding the principal demand of the people of Manipur, and the Apunba Lup which is spearheading the ongoing agitation, that the government repeal the fascist AFSPA, Manmohan Singh chose to prevaricate. He repeatedly raised the issue of "national security" and counterposed it to the demand of the people to repeal the AFSPA.

According to press reports, the Apunba Lup has set December 10, 2004, the International Human Rights Day, as the deadline for the government to repeal the AFSPA. It has declared its intention to intensify the agitation if the government does not concede this just demand which has the support of all democratic minded people of India. It has also announced a mass rally on December 10, 2004 in Imphal to highlight the violation of human rights in Manipur and press for the repeal of AFSPA.

Meanwhile, the government has continued with the state terror of the armed forces in Manipur. A day before the PM’s visit, a 75 year old retired school teacher was shot dead and his wife grievously injured in "anti-terrorist operations" in Manipur. It is reported that the Army has brought helicopter gunships to Manipur in order to assist in strafing and bombing villages. Five divisions of the armed forces are occupying the small state of Manipur. It is clear that the UPA government is making a show of listening to the people of Manipur only to confuse public opinion in the rest of the country, while it is fully continuing on the anti-Manipur course pursued by successive governments in Delhi in the past 56 years. Its strategy is to tire out the people’s resistance, engineer splits and divisions in the movement for the repeal of the AFSPA, and prepare to drown the people’s struggle for justice, human rights and dignity in rivers of blood.

According to the UPA government and its apologists like CPM, the problem in Manipur and the North East is lack of economic development and "insurgency" and that "insurgency" poses a threat to "national security", and hence the government has no choice but to unleash repression on the people through the armed forces. This is the thoroughly false as well as self-serving logic of the Indian big bourgeoisie whose interests the UPA government defends as have all the past governments in Delhi. What is denied is that Manipur and other peoples of the North East were annexed first by the colonialists and later, after August 1947, by the Indian big bourgeoisie. The people of Manipur fought shoulder to shoulder with the peoples all over India for freedom from British colonial rule. When the British withdrew, the Manipuri people, like the Nagas, declared their independence, established a constituent assembly and gave themselves a constitution. But their assertion of their sovereignty was brutally suppressed by the Indian state headed by Nehru. The Indian state followed the colonial and imperialist policy towards the people and their homelands, raping, looting and plundering at will. In the course of time, the armed forces in this region have also become an active factor and participant in this loot and plunder and have developed a vested interest in continuing the occupation of the region. The entire region is actually under army rule, with the lowest ranking soldier of the Indian army acting as the lord and master of all he surveys in the region. Civilian governments in these states have virtually no powers, and are a tattered figleaf for army rule. There is powerful resistance from the armed forces to the curtailment of their privileges to rape and plunder and kill at will the peoples of the region. Hence, the demand of the Manipuri people and the other peoples of the North East for the withdrawal of army to the barracks and the repeal of the AFSPA.

The fundamental problem in Manipur and other states of the North East thus has its roots in the annexation of the region, and the denial of the national aspirations of the people. The national aspirations of a fighting people cannot be made an object of bargaining, by setting up this or that industry, or providing jobs to "insurgents" or other handouts, as the CPM and the UPA government are promoting. The ruling bourgeoisie sets up industries in this or that region not from some altruistic motive of helping "development", but for maximum profits. Similarly, providing army and police jobs to "insurgents" is aimed at corrupting and dividing the fighting forces, not at addressing the problems of the people. The activities of the notorious Surrendered ULFA (SULFA) in Assam, and similar elements operating under the auspices of Indian Army in Jammu & Kashmir, reveal clearly that the aim of the state is to increase the terror on the ordinary people.

While in Assam, the Prime Minister outlined the vision of the Indian big bourgeoisie for the North East. It is going to be a transit route for trade with South East Asia, a staging post for the look-east policy of the Indian big bourgeoisie. The Indian big bourgeoisie has a vision of emerging as a first rate imperialist power in the coming decade. It is building rail and road links with the countries of South East Asia and these links pass through Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and other states of the North East. It also wants to establish pipelines for gas from Myanmar and Bangladesh through the North East to the Indian heartland.

What this means for the peoples of Manipur, Assam, Nagaland and the rest of the North East is this. The bourgeoisie will on the one hand throw crumbs to this or that group to divide and blunt the unity of the fighting forces. At the same time, it will use outright repression to clear the road for its "look east" policy. The yearning of the peoples of the region for sovereignty and for human rights, will be trampled underfoot.

The Communist Ghadar Party of India is working to organise the workers and peasants and women and youth of the different nations, nationalities and tribal peoples that constitute present day India to enable them to be the masters of a new reconstituted India which shall be a voluntary union of consenting peoples, with the right to self determination including and upto secession enshrined in the new fundamental law. The working class of India has begun to contest the imperialist vision of the Indian big bourgeoisie with its own vision. The struggle of the peoples of Manipur, Assam and other states of the North East in defence of human and national rights is an integral part of this struggle.

Back to Table of Contents

Rajasthan peasants resolve to continue agitation indefinitely

The Rajasthan government has been forced to come to the negotiating table by the relentless struggle of the peasants. On November 21, talks held in Ghadsana, between the Group of Ministers of the Rajasthan government and the joint action committee of the peasants failed, with the agitating peasants rejecting the government’s stand. The agitating peasants insisted that the government give a written assurance on their demand for continued supply of water for the rabi crop, which the government has refused to do. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has even refused to make an announcement to this effect, which has greatly enraged the agitating peasants. Fearful of the wrath of the peasants, the government has promised to treble the quantity of water released from the canal for irrigation, but the peasants are unwilling to accept only verbal assurances. Following the failure of the talks, the Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti, spearheading the movement, has announced the peasants’ resolve to continue their agitation indefinitely, until their demands are met.

As a part of the continuing agitation, on November 9, the peasants turned up in large numbers, braving the heavy police deployment to picket the Collectorate in Sriganganagar town. In Hanumangarh, a massive protest rally was organised, which was addressed by the leaders of the peasants’ agitation. On the same day, protest marches and demonstrations and mass rallies were held in various parts of Rajasthan including Sikar, Jhunjhunnu, Nagaur and Jaipur, where peasant leaders called upon all the working people to come out in support of the struggle. They submitted a charter of demands to the Collectors in the districts. Peasants in other parts of Rajasthan have come out in protest actions, in solidarity with those in Sriganganagar who have been agitating for their share of water for irrigation.

The state police have been cracking down fiercely on the agitating peasants. As reported in PV/MEL earlier, on October 27 the police fired on the agitation involving thousands of peasants, as a result of which five peasants lost their lives and many were seriously injured. The police have been resorting to preventive arrests in an attempt to quell the fighting spirit of the peasants. Many peasants in Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts have been arrested. Curfew has been clamped almost indefinitely in Rawala, Anupgarh, Srivajaynagar and Gadsana, while the army has been called in to assist the police in Sriganganagar district.

On November 16, the peasants resumed their agitation for water after a week-long festival break, blocking the roads in Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts and crippling normal life. Hundreds of peasants, under the joint banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti came out on the roads at about two dozen vantage points to bring vehicular traffic to a standstill.

The peasants are also demanding prosecution of the police officials responsible for the firing on the peasants and killing of the 5 peasants. In response to this, the state government has transferred a few police officers and state government officials, but the peasants are clearly not satisfied with this.

The struggle of the peasants of Sriganganagar, Rajasthan for adequate irrigation water for their crops is an entirely just struggle that deserves the full support of all the working people. These peasants constantly face drought conditions and are in danger of losing their crops and their livelihood. The distribution of adequate water for irrigation is the responsibility of the state, but this is also precisely the issue on which various parties of the ruling class always try to divide the people by unfair sharing of water of the rivers and river projects. This nefarious politics of the rulers has to be smashed in the course of advancing the united struggle of the peasants, together with all other working people.

Back to Table of Contents

Punjab peasants fight for their demands

Over 2000 farmers courted arrest in the districts of Bathinda, Mansa, Moga, Sangrur and Amritsar. The BKU general secretary is reported to have told the press that despite the peaceful nature of the protest actions, police were deployed in large numbers, to intimidate the peasants and in many cases to forcibly prevent the peasants from coming out of their villages or even out of their houses, to participate in the protests. According to press reports, 250 peasants courted arrest in Nagala, 175 in Tolawal, 300 in Jakhpal villages falling in Sangrur district and around 700 in Amritsar district. Over 500 peasants in around 100 villages in Moga, Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur and Tarn Taran were prevented by the police from coming out of their houses to participate in the agitation.

Back to Table of Contents

India and Myanmar

Earlier, at the end of 2003, the Vice-President of India had visited Myanmar, and this was followed a month later by a meeting in Delhi of the foreign ministers of India, Myanmar and Thailand. That meeting reviewed the progress in the implementation of the so-called Trilateral Highway, a road link connecting Moreh in Manipur with Mae Sot in Thailand via Bagan in Myanmar. Recently, India has also become linked with Myanmar in the multilateral grouping of Bay of Bengal countries known as BIMSTEC.

The efforts to forge closer ties at this time reflect, on the one hand, the "Look East" policy adopted by the Indian state from the 1990s, and on the other hand, the efforts of the government in Myanmar to break out of the isolation and pressure imposed on it primarily by the US and the European Union.

The two countries share a border 1,670 Kms long. For several decades under British colonial rule, Myanmar was administered as part of British India. There were close ties between the peoples fighting against colonialism for national liberation in India and Myanmar. This is reflected amongst others in the personality of Irabot Singh, a communist who was the leader of the movement for liberation fo Manipur, India and Burma, a member of the Communist Party of Burma as well as the Communist party of India, and a fighter for the liberation of all the peoples. It is also a fact that after 1947, the relations between India and Myanmar have been turbulent.

India, under colonial rule, was used as a base by the British from which they progressively annexed the whole of Myanmar, also known as Burma, in the second half of the 19th century. Thousands of Indian soldiers were used in the British campaigns in Myanmar. In the wake of the British conquest of Myanmar followed thousands of Indians to man the public services there. Indian traders, moneylenders, and laborers followed in their wake. At the time of Myanmar’s independence in January 1948, Indians numbered more than 1 million in Myanmar, and constituted as much as 53% of the population of the capital, Yangon (or Rangoon). Indian moneylenders in particular accumulated considerable assets, and were among the biggest landowners in Myanmar.

Neither in India nor in Myanmar did the people win decisive victory in the anti- colonial struggle. The workers and peasants of the two countries, despite their sacrifices, did not establish their own political power. The compromising bourgeoisie gained power in India. It is natural that there was both unity and discord between India and Myanmar following the end of colonial rule. Nehru’s government gave military assistance to the government of U Nu of Myanmar to suppress insurgent movements in Myanmar in the early years. Both governments signed a Treaty of Friendship in July 1951. They were also both founder-members of the non-aligned movement, and participated in various Asian solidarity conferences in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Indian state, however, did not like it when Myanmar tried to build good relations independently with China.

China is a neighbouring country of Myanmar. It was natural that Myanmar would strive to maintain good relations with both its giant neighbours. Myanmar and China reached an agreement on demarcating their border as early as January 1960. India however, followed its own ambitions as well as the agenda of the Anglo American imperialists towards China. It raised issues about Tibet and became a center for organising rebellion in Tibet against China. It raised the border issue with China in a confrontationist stance, culminating in the border war of September 1962.

Myanmar’s stand of neutrality in this conflict was interpreted as a hostile stand by India, which let relations rapidly deteriorate. In 1964, the government of Ne Win in Myanmar nationalized the retail trade in that country. This severely affected the interests of a large number of Indian shopkeepers and small traders, setting off a major exodus of Indians from that country, and this was used by India to arouse sentiments against Myanmar.

Although relations between the two countries were never broken off, they remained at a low level through much of the 1970s and 1980s. The attempts of the Indian state to pull the non-aligned movement closer to the Soviet bloc, as part of the politics of the Cold War, was openly opposed by Myanmar, which walked out of the movement at the Havana Summit in 1979.

In 1988, there broke out a major uprising against the military government in Myanmar. The Indian state openly supported it, with its embassy in Yangon giving direct assistance to the opponents of the regime. India joined the countries of the West in demanding "restoration of democracy and human rights" in Myanmar. However, the change in the world situation occasioned by the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the end of the strategic alliance between India and the Soviet Union, compelled the Indian state to recast its foreign policy.

As a result, from the time of the Narasimha Rao government in the early 1990s, it has tried to reopen a line of communication with the government in Myanmar, even while not abandoning its stance of support for "democracy" there. At the present time, three main factors are driving the Indian state’s efforts to improve its relations with Myanmar: containment of China, rapprochement with the ASEAN group of South East Asian countries, and suppression of insurgent movements in the North East.

The Indian state is deeply suspicious of China’s involvement in infrastructure and military-related projects in Myanmar. China has built an all-weather road linking Kunming, the capital of its southwestern province of Yunnan, with Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city. It is also involved in building a road from Yangon to the port of Sittwe on the Myanmar coast. The Indian state suspects that in this way China is hoping to gain quick and easy access to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. On its part, it is trying, through the Trilateral Highway and the "Ganga-Mekong Initiative", to build a road from India all the way to Vietnam, thereby possibly cutting off a north-south Chinese drive with its own east-west maneuvre. Myanmar, because of its strategic position at the junction of South Asia, China and South East Asia, is a key link in its plans.

Building closer ties with the prosperous ASEAN grouping is also a key plank of present-day Indian foreign policy. Myanmar is not only a physical bridge between India and South East Asia, but it has also become a full member of ASEAN, and hence it is expected that it can play an important role in associating India more closely with ASEAN.

The Indian state is also keen to establish greater coordination with the military forces in Myanmar to crush insurgent movements in the North East, particularly those of the Nagas and Manipuris, as well as Bodo and other militants. Historically, the peoples of the North East have had close ties with those on the other side of the border with Myanmar, and in fact, the same peoples are there on both sides of the border. The Indian state knows that its efforts to suppress these movements will be very difficult without the support of the Myanmar government. On the Myanmar side, peoples like the Karen, the Kachin and the Chin have also been asserting their sovereignty against the rulers in Yangon, and hence the Myanmar government too is keen on military assistance from India. Already, there is tacit understanding between the two governments to permit limited incursions into the other’s territory in "hot pursuit" of insurgents. What is now being sought is more formal collaboration and mutual assistance.

For Myanmar too, good relations with India are desirable to break out of the pressure and encirclement it has been undergoing for decades. For much of the Cold War period, it was alienated from both the Western and Eastern blocs, and its only major ally was China. In the post-Cold War era, the US imperialists and their European allies have increased the pressure on Myanmar in the name of "democracy" and "human rights". Declaring that Myanmar poses a "continuing unusual and extraordinary threat" to US security, the US enacted in July 2003 the so-called "Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act" which imposes sanctions on Myanmar. However, Myanmar won a major diplomatic victory when it was recently admitted as a full member into the ASEAN, which did not toe the US line. It already has good relations with China, and now it is keen to improve its relations, particularly economic relations, with its western neighbour India.

The legacy of colonialism and big power politics during the Cold War era and afterwards has placed severe strains on the relationship between India and Myanmar, two neighbouring countries with ancient ties. The working class and people of India must view moves of rapprochement between the two countries from the angle of peace and prosperity for all peoples. Plans to increase economic relations, including border trade, between India and Myanmar, can be beneficial to the people on both sides. However, the people should oppose any attempts to use the improvement in relations with Myanmar to increase the repression on the peoples in the North East. The imperialist plans of the Indian big bourgeoisie in the region must be resolutely and consistently opposed.

Back to Table of Contents

World Bank President promises higher level of lending:

Signaling the importance of India in the calculations of world imperialism

The visit of World Bank President Wolfensohn to India during 16-18 November assumed added significance on account of its timing. It is the first such visit after the Congress Party led United Progressive Alliance took charge in New Delhi. It is also the last such visit before Mr. Wolfensohn’s current term comes to an end in June 2005, when the Bush administration is expected to nominate his successor (Wolfensohn was appointed in 1997 by the Clinton administration). In a climate of speculation about the future orientation of the World Bank in the context of the re-election of Bush, this visit served to reassure the ruling class of our country that India will remain in focus and become increasingly important in the eyes of global finance capital, irrespective of any other changes.

The World Bank President met with the senior most representatives of the Government of India, including President Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Chidambaram and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. He assured all of them that World Bank loans and credits to India would be stepped up to a new and higher level over the next three years – about US$9 billion (Rs. 40,000 crore) as compared to about two-thirds that amount in the past three years. He signaled that the World Bank would focus especially on infrastructure, including water, power and transport, while continuing to lend for education, health and AIDS control. Delivering a speech at the Nehru Memorial Museum on ‘India: Opportunity and Challenge in a Globalizing World’, Wolfensohn declared that India’s development was "not just an issue for Indians but for the entire planet".

The ruling class representatives are proud to be at the centre of attraction of global capital. This is because the loans and credits that flow from the big powers through the World Bank are meant precisely to strengthen the hands of the bourgeoisie in the recipient country and expand the space for monopoly capitalist plunder. The Indian bourgeoisie is interested in rapid and massive investments in infrastructure, so as to pursue its aim of becoming one of the major imperialist powers of the world. The bourgeoisie of the United States and the G-7 countries that dominate the World Bank see the Indian market as offering them enormous scope for the export of their capital and for capturing new space to reap the maximum rate of profit.

The World Bank President praised the UPA Government’s leaders and their Common Minimum Programme to the skies, calling it "an absolutely first class blueprint". Admitting that the reforms championed by the Bank’s favourite Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh, had left the rural masses behind, Wolfensohn claimed that the CMP was the improved version of the reform program. He said to reporters, "The document is perfect. The way I look at development, there is nothing left out".

Mr. Wolfensohn highlighted the fact, which has been reported widely in the media, that the World Bank group has lent over $59 billion to India in 462 projects over the past five decades. What he did not disclose, and was not mentioned in the mainstream media either, was the cost of this debt to the Indian people, in the form of debt service payments that have reached about $2 billion every year at this time.

The working class, peasantry and other small producers in the country do not welcome increased lending and interference by the World Bank. To begin with, the very rationale for new loans and credits from external agencies is questionable, given the large foreign exchange reserves in the hands of the Government of India. When there is $120 billion in the bank, where is the sense in borrowing $9 billion more over the next three years from the World Bank, plus several billion more from the Asian Development Bank and other agencies of imperialist finance capital?

It is important to understand the mission of the World Bank, which is driven by the interests of global finance capital. When the Bank lends money, it is not only imposing a burden on the present and future generations, but it traps the economy in further debt and borrowings. It draws the economy further into the vortex of global finance capital. The "soft loans" and "programme support" come with conditionalities regarding economic and fiscal policy that are definitely anti-poor. Increasing role of the World Bank in infrastructure investments means to strengthen the hands of those who want to privatise water, electric power, bus transport and other essential goods and services consumed by the toiling masses. It means broadening the base of support for the path of imperialist globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation. And all this is done under cover of "poverty reduction" and "universalizing education", etc. Another dangerous game played by the Bank is to blunt the struggles of the people for their rights through cooption and the offer of "generous" grants and remuneration to people who are working among the oppressed.

For all these reasons, the working class, peasants, patriotic intelligentsia, women and youth of India must contest the position of the ruling class that raising the level of World Bank lending is good for India and the wellbeing of the poor. The alternative must be posed and made a subject of active debate – namely, to call an immediate halt to all further borrowing from, and debt service payments to, the World Bank, until further notice. Such a measure would not only free up resources for investing in the wellbeing of the masses, but also reduce India’s dependence on imperialist financial institutions.

Back to Table of Contents

Manmohan Singh enunciates UPA’s Kashmir Policy:
Continuation of the old colonial imperialist Kashmir policy of the Indian big bourgeoisie

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had no words of apology or shame for the barbaric crimes of the Indian security forces in Kashmir, which have resulted in the killing of over a lakh of people, the brutal violation of human rights, the rape, plunder and humiliation of an entire people. Just as in past visits of Prime Ministers to the Kashmir Valley, his visit was preceded as well as accompanied by highly publicised encounter killings of "militants". This is a clear signal to the people of Kashmir and the world that the policy of subjugation of the Kashmiri people through the jackboots of the armed forces will remain in place.

Kashmir was forcibly partitioned and annexed against the will of her people by India and Pakistan with the support of British imperialism in 1948. The people of Jammu & Kashmir have waged a heroic struggle for unification as well as for their national rights ever since. They have had to face savage repression by the Indian occupation forces. Currently, nearly five lakh soldiers are stationed in Kashmir. Assassination of their leaders in terrorist attacks, rape and murder of activists and ordinary people, incarceration in the torture chambers of the army—this has been the lot of the Kashmiri people.

The fundamental question in Kashmir has been and remains the restoration of sovereignty to the people of this martyred, divided, and annexed state. India and Pakistan have their own imperialist ambitions towards Kashmir, which they clothe in their different "solutions". The US and British imperialists are also important players in Kashmir. They too are deadly opponents of restoration of sovereignty to the Kashmiri people. The Indian state has been pushing for the acceptance of the "line of control (LOC)"—the partition of Kashmir between India and Pakistan—as final. US imperialism, after the end of the Cold War, is also pushing to establish the "line of control" as the border between India and Pakistan. The difference between India, Pakistan and the US at this time seem to be mainly over where and on what basis the line of partition should be drawn in Kashmir. There is strong opposition within Kashmir to making the partition permanent in any way, and support for any moves that will facilitate reuniting the people and divided families on both sides of the LOC. Kashmir is regarded as an important strategic region whose control the US, India as well as Pakistan look upon as important in the overall struggle going on for the redivision of Asia. The Kashmiri people are caught in the vicious power game of India, Pakistan and other imperialist powers.

With great fanfare, Manmohan Singh announced a troop reduction while he was in Kashmir. Reports in the media have established that this troop reduction is highly deceptive, and that there has in fact been no reduction in the overall troop strength. This reveals the lack of sincerity in the Indian government’s pronouncements. The working class and all democratic-minded people in India must demand, as the basic right of the Kashmiri people, the complete withdrawal of troops in Kashmir to their barracks, the cessation of all atrocities against the people inside and outside of the jails, and the release of all political prisoners.

The problem faced by Kashmir is a legacy of the partition of India and the fact that the states that came into being in the subcontinent in the wake of the British rule are colonialist and imperialist in their outlook and refuse to recognise the existence of different nations and nationalities, as well as their right to self determination including separation. This has been and remains the fundamental problem in Kashmir. Whether India and Pakistan talk "peace" or wage war, and whether the government of India talks to this or that group in Kashmir, no solution will come to the burning problem facing the Kashmiris as long as this fundamental issue is not addressed. The working class and peasantry of India consider the struggle waged by the Kashmiri people against the partition of their homeland, against the savage repression by the Indian state, and for the restoration of their rights, as an integral part of their overall struggle to reorganise the Indian Union as a voluntary union of consenting nations and nationalities and tribal peoples, to reject the imperialist course and bring about lasting peace in South Asia and the world.

Back to Table of Contents

US elections
US political system and process proves incapable of sorting out profound contradictions in US society

Bush claims that his re-election is a mandate to continue on the path of increasing fascism at home and imperialist wars of aggression for the conquest of the world. The US elections were held in the wake of massive opposition amongst the American people to precisely this course. The bitter election campaign, the widespread accusations of election malpractices, the increased questioning from all sections of the society of an electoral system that is extremely undemocratic and depriving the people of any real choice and the refusal of the American people to accept the electoral verdict are signs of the crisis of the system in the US. Internationally too, the deep divisions which have ridden the imperialist camp continue as before.

The people of the United States, just like thousands of millions of people of other countries around the world, have made it abundantly clear through massive protest marches and other actions that they are against the war in Iraq, into which their rulers have embroiled their country. "Not in our name!" is the slogan which tens of thousands of banners, placards, flyers and millions of throats all over the US proclaimed time and again. The mass actions of August, when half a million people demonstrated in New York City, showed that the masses of workers and working people in the United States stood firmly against war and vigorously opposed the many attacks on rights. They were opposed to the fascization of their country, through measures such as the notorious "Patriot Act", racial profiling, and attacks on immigrants and more. They have demanded equality, health care and education for all.

However, the multi-party political system, proclaimed by the imperialists as the very touchstone of civilization, did not even care to offer them the choice of ending the war! The Republican party expectedly put up a strong defense of its actions and vowed to continue the "War against terrorism" till final victory, i.e. ensuring that all nations and peoples of the world unswervingly follow the dictate of US imperialism. The Democratic Party and its presidential nominee declared that they would achieve the same imperialist ambitions in a "smarter" manner, if elected to power! They said it would be better to fight this war with more support from potential "allies", i.e. in a less abrasive though equally aggressive and adamant manner! They had no real alternative to offer the people as far their demands for health care, education, jobs, an end to the racist and fascist attacks, etc. were concerned. Kerry thus offered no choice whatsoever to the voters of the US in opposition to the strident program of war and fascisation proclaimed by Bush.

The US elections epitomized the clear lack of democratic rights for the toiling people of the US. The candidates were openly chosen by the power of the biggest corporates, by big money. The US electoral system has shown itself to be utterly incapable of sorting out the profound contradictions that are wracking the deeply divided country. Both Republicans and Democrats, and the whole set-up have shown themselves to be illegitimate and not representative of the vast majority of people.

Some powers that had earlier opposed Bush internationally are trying to reconcile themselves to a second Bush term. But his re-election has left the world as divided as it was in the aftermath of the planned invasion of Iraq, when the imperialist camp could not come to a common understanding within the UN Security Council. The "coalition of the willing" forged by the US imperialists in the wake of this situation then had to go it alone. This coalition continues to be racked by desertions, and Bush’s re-election has not made it any easier for these deep divisions in the imperialist ranks to be repaired.

The victory of Bush means that US imperialism will try to continue even more aggressively on its path of riding roughshod over the rights of peoples and nations. It means that for the present, US imperialism will continue its drive for increased fascisation of the polity at home, and increased danger of war abroad. The manner in which the US military has attacked and devastated the town of Fallujah shortly after the elections is intended as a preview of what they have in store for those peoples and governments who won’t accept their bidding so easily.

But the US imperialists would be living in a fool’s paradise if they think that the road ahead is strewn with roses. Right after the devastation of Fallujah, the Iraqi patriots have counterattacked in many cities and towns across Iraq, making the US military sink deeper into the quagmire. Their resolve to get rid of the hated aggressors and their collaborators has not been shaken. Similarly, instead of being disheartened with the results of the elections, thousands of people marched, rallied and protested in nationwide actions against the fraud of the US electoral system (see box). These protests reflected the growing consciousness that it is the movement of the people to empower themselves needs to be broadened and strengthened as the surest way out of this situation. The peoples of the world, united in action against the dangers of fascism and war can surely stem the tide.

Back to Table of Contents

Continue to Be Political! Unite All Against U.S. Path of War & Repression!
Statement of USMLO following the US elections

As these two directions contend, discussion is unfolding over the results of the elections. For the people, one of the more significant results is the now broad recognition of the necessity to build resistance and do so by relying on the people themselves. And significantly, the many actions after the elections, south and west, north and east, are showing that people are not waiting four more years for yet another fraud. Their own experience is calling on them, be political, fight for rights! Only we the people can win change!

Far more broadly than in the past, people are also drawing the conclusion that their fight to have a say and determine the direction of the country is directly blocked by the existing electoral set-up. There are no candidates representing the people to vote for, votes do not count in determining the outcome, and whether votes are even counted and people permitted to vote is decided by Democrats and Republicans, who control the election machinery.

Many tens of thousands of people were organized into the voter registration drives, civil rights cases, meetings and activities of all kinds before the elections. They too are now conscious of the election fraud and the inability of the existing set-up to bring change. They too are a political force to be reckoned with. What is now emerging is the common aim of all to win change that favors the people and to stand united against the onslaught of Bush’s war and reaction all down the line.

The ruling circles are desperate to eliminate this consciousness and to split and divide the movement for change. They are relying on the disinformation that only the election has credibility as representing the will of the people, and only the candidates of the rich have credibility as candidates.

In this set-up there are no representatives of the workers, women and youth to elect. Yet the vote is supposed to be taken as representing the people. How can it, when their program and their representatives are excluded?

Both Republicans and Democrats, and the whole set-up have shown themselves to be illegitimate and not representative of the vast majority of people. This majority has repeatedly stood against war and opposed the many attacks on rights. The half million who demonstrated in New York City in August, vigorously opposing war and affirming their rights to protest, to have a say in governance, demanding equality, healthcare, education and more, represented many millions across the country. Even if one were to go by statistics, the 500,000 present each represented at least 100 more who could not attend and 500 more who supported their demands. But this representation, organized, funded and expressed by the people themselves, is to have no meaning. Nor are the many actions now taking place across the country rejecting war and the fraud of the election. Instead, supposedly Americans are following Bush!

People’s own experience stands against this lie and must be fully made use of. Now is the time to step up resistance by broadly uniting against all U.S. aggression and attacks on rights and organizing to build an electoral system that guarantees not only the right to vote, but the right to govern and decide.

Back to Table of Contents

Reports of mass actions denouncing the fraud of elections in the US

Greatly angered by the elections, thousands of people marched, rallied and protested in nationwide actions against the fraud of the U.S. electoral system. While Bush was declared the winner, chants resounded in cities and towns large and small, "Not my President! Not my war!" Youth were in the fore of the many actions that commonly challenged the whole direction of the country. Protesters reflected the growing consciousness that it is the people themselves who must secure their future and the future of society. Brief reports on some of the actions are given below.

Ohio: On November 3rd, 2004, hundreds of angry Ohio residents marched through the streets of Columbus, Ohio’s capital, and stormed the Ohio State House, defying orders and arrest threats from Ohio State troopers. "O-H-I-O, Suppressed democracy has got to go," they chanted. After troopers pushed and scuffled with people, nearly a hundred people took over the steps and entrance to the State’s capitol building and refused repeated orders to disperse or be arrested.

Pennsylvania: For four days in November, Pittsburgh had a taste of popular revolt, with activists holding back-to-back demonstrations in an unprecedented week of action for peace and justice. Throughout, hundreds demanded health care, public transit, and opposed the crimes being committed by the U.S. in Fallujah. Rallies drew attention to the mass-disenfranchisement and unrepresentative nature of the political system in the United States.

Massachusetts: More than 100 protesters joined together on November 3 in Boston for the "Rally and Vigil for Democracy." The rally began at 5 p.m. and drew a broad range of people. It was part of a larger effort by the No Stolen Elections! campaign, which has organized people from over 30 cities nationwide to protest the election results in the upcoming weeks.

Texas: On November 3, hundreds of people gathered in Austin to protest the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq, a second term for George W. Bush and the whole fraud of the election process. The protest took over an entire side of the street of one of Austin’s busiest roads from about 5-7 in the evening. At one major intersection the protesters stopped moving and blocked the intersection. Several protesters laid down and anti-war chants got louder. Finally the march moved on with chants of "End the Occupation!" and "No More War!" During the march there were lots of voices of support, honks of approval and people showing the peace sign."

Colorado: 150 mostly young people convened a militant march throughout downtown Denver on the evening of November 3, 2004, loudly protesting the election sham and the war in Iraq. They marched, sang and chanted: "Not my president. Not my war." Protesters marched to KCNC-Channel 4, where several people went into the lobby and demanded that their stands be represented. In Boulder, Colorado, 85 students opposed to the war and disturbed by the general direction of American life occupied Boulder High School November 4, 2004. The students told reporters they were disgusted with the Bush administration’s policies, in particular, the war in Iraq, the national debt and the environment, military recruitment in the schools and the possible return of the draft.

Washington & Oregon: The presidential election sparked protests in Bellingham and Portland, drawing hundreds of demonstrators and response from police in riot gear. In Bellingham, more than 300 people participated in the protests, which started on the grounds of Western Washington University’s Performing Arts Center, then moved through downtown, escorted by police. The crowd staged a sit-in at one intersection and stopped at another, holding up afternoon traffic. In Portland, hundreds of protesters wearing gas masks and hoisting cardboard peace signs took to the streets, chanting, "Not Our President, Not Our War."

California: On Wednesday, November 3, 2004, some 2,000 protesters in San Francisco decried the fraud of another Bush term and the continuing U.S. crimes in Iraq. Many marched throughout the evening, going from the Civic center and through the Tenderloin, with chants such as "We’re going to beat back the Bush attack, get the troops out of Iraq" ringing out. Other rallies held during the day defended the rights to health care and a livelihood. On Saturday, November 6, about 1,500 people in Los Angeles met at Hollywood and Highland and marched to the military recruiting station at Sunset and LaBrea to protest the occupation of Iraq and the fraud of the election.

Back to Table of Contents

Horrendous flattening of Fallujah to pave way for "free and fair" elections
Iraqi patriots fight on!

In a city of 300,000 people, only 30,000 are reported to have remained when the US military began their murderous assault in the first half of November 2004. Between 10,000 and 15,000 U.S. troops with warplanes and artillery attacked Fallujah. To "soften up" the rebels, US forces dropped five 500-pound bombs on "insurgent targets." They destroyed the Nazzal Emergency Hospital in the center of town. They stormed and occupied the Fallujah General Hospital, handcuffing doctors and patients, in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

On November 15, 2004, it was reported that a convoy of aid from Iraq's Red Crescent withdrew from a hospital on the edge of Fallujah after the US military denied permission to deliver supplies to residents inside the battered city. Though it was clear that civilians were dying of starvation and a lack of medical equipment inside Fallujah, the US military did not even permit international aid agencies to attempt to provide some relief. Red Crescent staff with the convoy had spent two days trying to persuade the US commanders to give them the green light to move freely through the city. Escaping residents described incidents in which non-combatants, including women and children, were killed by shrapnel or hit by bombs. There are many cases of children, elderly people and others being hit by bombs or bullets and dying for want of medical aid, food and water. News reports on November 15 said that following the seven-day assault, Fallujah was a shattered landscape of flattened and gutted buildings, crushed cars and charred, mutilated and bloated bodies.

The US forces blatantly committed heinous war crimes during this murderous assault that were unprecedented in brutality even in the 18 month long occupation of Iraq. For instance, AFP reported that on November 7, 2004, US Marine Corps Colonel Shupp told his troops to shoot any Iraqi civilian who approached them with raised hands because he or she might be a "suicide bomber." Video footage showed a US soldier killing a wounded patriot in cold blood, something even the imperialist controlled media found too graphic to air. Other footage has shown troops shooting wounded fighters lying in open ground as well as attacks on Iraqis, some clearly civilians, by US aircraft and helicopters. This was the price Fallujah had to pay for being a stronghold of the patriotic forces.

Nevertheless, for all their claims that they had broken the backs of the "insurgency" as they call the patriotic resistance, US forces and their Iraqi puppets are facing a regrouping of the patriotic forces and counter-attacks in many other towns. In Mosul, patriots attacked and temporarily seized control of nine police stations, looting arms and stores. In exasperation, the puppet government dismissed the police chief of Mosul. On November 18, 2004, the provincial governor's office in Mosul was attacked, killing one of the governor's bodyguards and wounding four. It was not just Mosul, however. In Baquba, resistance fighters first attacked police headquarters with gunfire on November 16, 2004, then with mortars on November 17th. A series of well orchestrated and simultaneous attacks in Baiji, Baqubah, Ramadi, Haditha, Tikrit, and other towns showed not only the resolve, but also the capability, of the patriots to fight on. The Iraqi puppet government was also forced to admit that the overwhelming majority of those it terms "insurgents" are Iraqis, not "foreign fighters". In Fallujah of the 1,200 killed, only 24 were non-Iraqis. Of the 1,052 prisoners captured in the battle, not even 24 of them were "foreign fighters".

Despite the obvious illegitimacy of the proposed elections, efforts were on during an international conference on Iraq, held in Egypt on November 23, 2004 to obtain support for the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government. But for all their efforts to use the proposed elections of January 2005 as a means of legitimizing their rule, the puppet regime and their US masters have had to face the ignominy of boycott threats from more and more sections of the polity. Forty-seven Iraqi political and religious parties have decided to boycott the general elections due in January to protest the extended use of force throughout the country, a joint statement issued on November 17th 2004 stated. The reason for the move was "the (U.S.-Iraqi) assaults in cities like Najaf, Karbala, Samarra, Sadr City, Adhmiya, and especially the genocide crimes in Fallujah". The Iraqi National Foundation Congress also declared that it would boycott these elections, since "they will not express the will of our people and its just demands for independence and sovereignty...this and the attacks on Iraqi cities, especially the savage massacres in Fallujah, categorically preclude sound participation in the political process under occupation and denial of sovereignty."

Fallujah has been declared "liberated" by the US imperialists and their Iraqi puppets! The entire city has been practically razed to the ground, all conventions of war have been violated by the US imperialists, thousands have been killed in cold blood, This is the true face of this "liberation". Fallujah stands as yet another testimony to the fact that US imperialism is the most brutal, aggressive and arrogant empire the world has ever known, with previous conquests in Vietnam, Latin America, the Middle East and Afghanistan. Despite the flattening of Fallujah, the valiant people of Iraq have shown their resolve to fight on till the hated aggressor is thrown out, along with his puppets and hangers-on.

Back to Table of Contents

More and more are unwilling to be part of the "coalition of the willing" occupying Iraq

More than 2,000 U.S. reservists have refused to join the US Army to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan, thus hampering Pentagon attempts to make up for casualties, The New York Times revealed on November 16, 2004. In the last few months the Army issued mobilization orders for about 4,000 members of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), but about half of them asked to be granted exemption, and more than 700 out of 2,500 IRR members who were supposed to enlist refused to do so. Mobilization of IRR staff is "another sign that the army is deployed in excess and under great tension", according to defense analysts. The ever-increasing Iraqi resistance and US troops’ rotation forced US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld recently to extend the mission of about 20,000 servicemen deployed there.

Back to Table of Contents

Vigorous protests greet Bush during APEC meet in Chile

The APEC was set up in 1989 mainly to promote trade among the Pacific Rim countries and has 21 members, including China, Russia and Japan. However, this year, under pressure of the US imperialists once again, the discussions at the meet focused on "trade liberalisation" and "counter-terrorism". Bush also used the forum to deliver threats to North Korea, which has refused to be cowed down into abandoning nuclear and other programs intended to provide for its energy and defence needs.

On 17th November 2004, police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse students and other protestors gathering for a demonstration a few kilometers away from the APEC meet venue. The students valiantly built barricades and blocked traffic, set up barricades down side streets with rubbish bins and threw paint bombs at the police. They denounced Bush as the "icon of international terrorism."

In a massive protest march on 19th November, over fifty thousand people marched through the streets of Santiago denouncing the US imperialist chieftain Bush and the aggression against, occupation of and heinous crimes continuing to be committed in Iraq. They also voiced their disgust with the capitalist system that is unable to solve any of the problems of the people in any part of the world.

Thousands of police were deployed throughout Santiago to break up protests, and almost 700 people were arrested in all. At least 50 people have been reported to be seriously injured by the police.

Back to Table of Contents