VOICE OF PARTY

• Victory over Hitlerite Fascism is a defining achievement of the 20th Century

• May Day Celebrations in Delhi

• Massive Rally of Unorganised Workers in Delhi Demands Security of Livelihood and Right to Work

• Demolition of Slums Continues Unabated in Delhi

• The Amendment to the Indian Patent Act is an Attack on People's Right to Health

WORLD

• Why Repeated Armed Clashes on the India-Bangladesh Border?

• UK Elections: Increased Rejection of the Fraudulent Choice between the Big Bourgeois Parties

• Meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission: US imperialist intrigues to turn truth on its head

Victory over Hitlerite Fascism is a defining achievement of the 20th Century

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Victory Over Fascism: Parade in Moscow

The biggest lie that the Anglo-American propaganda machine has been churning out for many years now is that Hitler and Stalin, or Germany and the Soviet Union, were equally to be blamed for aggression and military occupation of many European nations during and immediately following the Second World War. It is essential to recapitulate some of the most salient facts about the Second World War and the role of the socialist Soviet Union at that time, in order to cut through the fog of confusion spread by the imperialist media and to prevent the real lessons from being lost.

Germany's Hitler, Japan's Tojo, and Italy's Mussolini formed the fascist Axis which included other lesser powers of Eastern Europe. For the whole period from the early 1930's till the final capitulation of Japan in 1945, they carried out savage wars of conquest in Europe, Africa and Asia, decimated tens of millions of people and carried out the barbaric exploitation of peoples on behalf of the most reactionary sections of finance capital. The US, Britain and France, the other major imperialist powers of the time, overtly and covertly encouraged and egged the Axis forces in their aim. They worked to ensure that the Axis forces attacked and destroyed the Soviet Union, the first socialist state, and bring it back into the fold of the imperialist system. They refused the proposals of the Soviet Union for an anti-fascist alliance to block the rampaging Axis forces.

The defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 saved humankind from the worst form of capitalist-imperialist oppression of the time and opened the space for social and national liberation struggles to be victorious. The main force, the main factor, in this defeat was the role of the Soviet Union. Under the brilliant leadership of JV Stalin and the Bolshevik Party, the peoples of the Soviet Union and their Red Army relentlessly worked for the defeat of the fascist camp even while they made huge sacrifices. More than 2.5 million people of the Soviet Union gave up their lives in this Second World War, but the people never flinched. The anti-fascist forces of the occupied countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa were no way behind in their heroism. Ethiopia, Spain, Korea, China, Albania, France, Poland, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaya, Burma and all the countries and peoples under fascist occupation contributed their all to the anti-fascist cause. Everywhere, they worked to forge the United Front of the peoples against fascism, inspired by the clarion call of the Communist International.

In the years immediately after the end of Second World War, nearly half of the people of the world were living outside the sphere of the capitalist system and the space for communism and socialism was poised for further expansion. National liberation movements were raging in all the colonial countries. The prestige of the socialist system, the Great October Revolution, the Communist Party and of the great leaders like JV Stalin and Georgi Dimitrov reached new heights. The United Front emerged as the vehicle for people's power. Building the unity of the people in common struggle came to be recognized as the task for winning the battle for peace, independence and progress. An anti-imperialist, anti fascist camp came into being.

World imperialism did not keep quiet. Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the unleashing of the Cold War against the Soviet Union, the imperialist organised military interventions in Greece, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, and other countries and developments since then have been part of a chain of undoing the victories of the anti-fascist forces. Those who came to power in the Soviet Union after the death of JV Stalin became parties to the undermining of the successes achieved in the struggle. They used the prestige of the Soviet Union to advance the imperialist aims of the Soviet Union in contention with the US. The collapse of the Soviet Union has led to an expansion of the space for finance capital. The appetite of the most reactionary sections of finance capital world wide has been whetted. The danger of a third world war to re-divide the world looms large. An increasing number of states and governments are embracing fascist forms, fascizing the state apparatus and all aspects of life to frustrate the struggle of the peoples against capitalist exploitation and oppression. The US is demonizing different States and targeting them militarily one after the other. Today, the US is setting the pace of fascization and war preparations on the world scale and major countries of the world who want to be party to the war for the redivision of the world, including India, are enthusiastically following the same course. Within this situation, the danger of war in South Asia is being fuelled by the drive of US imperialism for world domination, and by the imperialist ambitions of the Indian bourgeoisie towards the other peoples of this region.

The Indian big bourgeoisie, in order to achieve its aims of being one of the big imperialist players is fascising all aspects of life and preparing for imperialist war, is engaging itself with all the big powers - US, China, Britain, France, China, Japan, Germany, Canada, Italy as well as with the lesser powers. Internally, the rule of the most reactionary sections of finance capital is being established by the increasing role of the armed forces, and fascist laws legitimizing the suppression of people's rights, including the right to conscience. AFSPA, UAPA, POTA, TADA, and numerous laws have been placed on the statute books to attack the people. The sentiment of the people against communalism and communal violence is being used to push through fascist laws to attack the people in the name of "defending the secular fabric of India". The sentiment of the peoples for unity against the foreign threat, and against terrorism, is being used to attack the peoples fighting for national and social liberation as terrorists, extremists and enemies of the "national unity and territorial integrity".

India's rulers are arming the Indian State at an alarming pace with weapons purchased from any and every arms merchant in the world. They are on a mission to build the military infrastructure of the country through expansion of military production and huge outlay in transport and communication sector. War preparation has become the single most lucrative segment of the Indian economy and a civilian-military caste has emerged to profit most from the business of war. Claims of finance capital and big capital are being systematically expanded and the individual and collective rights of the people are being constantly restricted. Attack on the rights of all is organized by selectively attacking minorities, workers, pensioners, peasants, national struggles etc.

The Hitlerites rose to power at the behest of the biggest monopoly houses of Germany and under the patronage of the biggest imperial powers in Europe, Asia and the Americas; history reminds us of what may come if the current trend of fascization and war preparation by the US, India and other countries is allowed the proceed.

The role of social democracy in the rise of fascism to power must never be forgotten. Social democracts in Germany and many other countries refused to build the anti-fascist united front in collaboration with revolutionary communists. They refuse to target the imperialist bourgeoisie of their own countries as the main base of fascism. Instead, fearing revolution more than fascism, they paved the way for rise of fascism to power. Today too, conciliators with social democracy in India and other countries are refusing to target the imperialist bourgeoisie of their own countries. They are silent on war preparations, on militarisation, on the increasing attack on the rights of the peoples. Instead of working to build the united front against attacks on the people, they collaborate with one section of the bourgeoisie under the pretext that it is less dangerous than the other.

Today, worldwide, a powerful anti-fascist and anti-imperialist war movement has risen in opposition to the drive of the US and other imperialist countries including India to redivide the world and intensify the exploitation and oppression of the peoples. The task before us is to stay the hands of the imperialist war mongers, resist the fascist drive, and prepare for the victory of the toilers and tillers in each country and on the world scale. On this occasion of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of fascism, it is extremely important for the people to draw the warranted conclusions of the anti-fascist war of liberation of the peoples of that time. We must draw the appropriate conclusions from the continued struggle against imperialism and war since then. The essence of fascism is reaction all along the line and imperialist war in the service of finance capital.

As the struggles of the people escalate against the brutal economic reforms, war preparations, state repression, etc., the liberal-democratic facade of the Indian state is bound to crumble and open fascist attacks on the peoples are bound to increase. In these new conditions, people must confront the danger of rising fascism by building their United Front in defense of their rights. Most importantly, they must hoist the banner of transferring the political power from the hands of the big capitalist houses and monopolies into their hands. That was the defining achievement of the Anti-Fascist United Front in 1945 and this is the call of the current situation.

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May Day Celebrations in Delhi

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May Day was vigorously celebrated in various parts of the country, with workers militantly denouncing the anti-social offensive of the bourgeoisie, through privatisation, anti-worker amendments to labour laws, amendment to the patents act, price rise and growing insecurity of life and livelihood of the working class and people. People's Voice reports here about some of the actions in which comrades and activists of the Communist Ghadar Party of India participated. May Day Meeting in Okhla

May Day program at Modern Food Industries Limited Bread Unit-I

Modern Food Industries Employees Union organised a militant protest action at the gate of the largest Modern Food Industries Limited plant, Bread Unit-I situated on Lawrence Road, Delhi. May 1, 2005 also coincided with the 1101th day of the continuous dharna by the employees of the union at the factory gate, in protest against the sale of Modern Food Industries to the multinational Hindustan Lever and the subsequent asset-stripping, retrenchment of workers and attempts to close down the factory.

Boldly defying the attempts of the HLL management, in collusion with the local police, to prevent the employees from holding their protest action in front of the gate, the employees gathered right in front of the gate, since early morning. Hoisting huge banners and placards, bearing slogans in support of their demands and denouncing the government and the HLL authorities, the employees staged a militant dharna outside the gate. Waving red flags and with fists held high, they raised slogans against the sale of Modern Food Industries Limited, the injustice done to the workers by the HLL management and demanded that the privatisation of Modern Food Industries Limited be reversed.

Following this, at a rally held outside the gate, youth of the Rangabhoomi Natya Manch staged a street play, through which they eloquently exposed the fraud that is being perpetrated on the working class and toiling masses in the name of the "employment guarantee scheme" of the UPA government. The play attracted the attention of scores of passers-by, who stopped to watch it, nodding their heads in agreement with the message that was being conveyed. The rally was then addressed by the Secretary of the Modern Food Industries Employees Union, Govind Yadav, a forefront fighter in the struggle of the Modern Food Industries Limited employees, who has braved false charges by the HLL management, suspension and dismissal, never giving up for a moment. Govind Yadav pointed out how, at each stage, the union had exposed the nefarious activities and the real aims of the HLL management, but successive governments at the centre have turned a deaf ear to their claims. In spite of this, the valiant struggle of the Modern Food employees is now widely known and respected in many sections of the working class and has served to inspire other workers in the struggle against privatisation. He called on the workers who have till now resisted taking VRS, to carry on the struggle, pointing out that the immediate temptation is illusory and that once they accept VRS, they will lose both their jobs as well as their dignity as fighters for the principled cause of the working class.

The General Secretary of the union, Prakash Rao called upon the employees to keep up their unity and carry forward the struggle. He pointed out that the Modern Food Industry workers had waged their struggle over the years in a planned and militant way, with the aim of halting and reversing the privatisation program of the bourgeoisie. Time and again, they had forced the government of the day as well as the HLL management on the defensive. The struggle has been waged, not with any narrow aims of this or that benefit, but for the lofty aims of the working class. The heroic struggle of the Modern Food employees has exposed the anti-social character of the privatisation program of the bourgeoisie. At this time, the UPA government is trying to drown the struggle of the Modern Food Industries Limited workers and of workers of other privatised PSU's through a conspiracy of silence, as well as through the sophistry of "selective privatisation". All those in the communist and workers movement who are refusing to take the struggle of the Modern Food Industries Limited workers as their own, under one pretext or another, are actually guilty of collaborating with the privatisation program of the bourgeoisie. There can be no compromise with the privatisation program under any pretext! The privatisation of Modern Food Industries Limited must be reversed! The working class will intensify the struggle against the privatisation program in the days to come, he declared.

An activist of the youth organisation, Hind Naujavan Ekta Sabha, drew important lessons from the struggle of the Modern Food employees and wished them success in keeping up their fighting spirit. The program ended on a militant note, with the Modern Food employees determined to preserve their unity and take their struggle forward, despite all odds.

For the past 6 years, ever since the sale of Modern Food Industries Limited to HLL, the workers of Modern Food, under the leadership of the Modern Food Industries Employees Union, have been waging a relentless struggle to bring out before the working class and the general public, the truth behind this disinvestment.

Today, the claims so persistently made the Modern Food Industries Limited workers stand vindicated. The HLL management is going all out to close down the factory, sell off its land and get rid of all the workers by tempting them with an enhanced VRS scheme. However, the main leaders and many activists of the union are refusing to bow down before these nefarious tactics of the HLL management. They are valiantly continuing the struggle, exposing the real intentions of the HLL management, and are demanding that the UPA government immediately take steps to reverse the privatisation of Modern Food Industries Limited and the intolerable injustice done to its workers. It was in this situation that the May Day program at Modern Food Industries Limited was carried out.

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Massive Rally of Unorganised Workers in Delhi Demands Security of Livelihood and Right to Work

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Rally of the Unorganised Workers

About 93% of the working force in India is in the unorganised sector, where there is super exploitation, extreme insecurity of livelihood, lack of even minimum benefits such as gratuity, provident fund and accident insurance. These workers have been fighting for years together for a comprehensive legislation that will ensure them these benefits.

As a significant step in their struggle, fifteen thousand workers belonging to the unorganised sector from every nook and corner of India converged in Delhi on May 5, and marched to the Parliament to submit a petition demanding that the government should implement a Bill for unorganised sector workers, which will guarantee safety and security of livelihood.

Workers belonging to Delhi, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and many other states gathered in thousands at the Ramlila grounds in Delhi. From there they marched towards Parliament to submit a petition to the Petitions Committee demanding the enactment of a comprehensive Bill. The rally was organised by the National Campaign Committee for unorganised sector workers (NCC-USW) formed by worker unions of fishermen, construction workers, headload workers, beedi workers, garment and handloom workers, hotel and eateries workers, small plantation workers, weavers, rickshaw pullers, domestic workers, sanitation workers, and others.

Several unions of unorganised workers and other activist organisations participated in the rally. Among them were Lok Raj Sangathan, the Unorganised Sector Workers Federation of Tamil Nadu representing unions of construction workers, sanitation, domestic, diamond cutting, plantation, and other workers, Nirman Mazdoor Panchayat Sangam, the Asurakshit Kashtkari Sangharsh Samiti, Maharashtra, NAPM, Bandhua Mukti Morcha, MKSS, CMM, SEWA, National centre for Labour, and others. Among the speakers who addressed the rally of workers in front of Parliament were V.P.Singh, former Prime Minister, Madhu Dandavate, former Central Minister, Baba Adhav, Surendra Mohan, Ramdas Athavale, MP, Ramjilal Suman, MP, T.S.Sankaran, Geeta Ramakrishnan, Subhash Bhatnagar, Swami Agnivesh, Sunilam, MLA, Medha Patkar, Subhash Lomte of the Asurakshit Kashtkari Sangharsh Samiti, Maharashtra, Nikhil De, N.P. Sami, Thomas Kocheri, and others.

People's Voice hail this historic rally of workers and calls them to step up their struggles until their just demands are met. It is the capitalist system which has condemned the workers in this sector to inhuman conditions of work without any assurance of livelihood. It is the duty of the Indian state to ensure safety and security of livelihood for these workers through a constitutional guarantee. It is the duty of the state to ensure right to livelihood for all. The state should also ensure that these workers enjoy a decent livelihood and have access to all benefits under law such as gratuity, old age pension, accident compensation, and so on. While a constitutional guarantee is the immediate demand of these workers, their super exploitation can be put an end to only by the complete overhaul of the system, and building a socialist system in its place, where the exploitation of man by man will be eliminated and right to work will truly be an inviolable right.

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Demolition of slums continues unabated in Delhi

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This article is based on the report entitled 'Suno nadi kya kahti hai' (listen to the river's voice). The report was prepared by the volunteers of Visthapan Virodhi Abhiyan (campaign opposing displacement) on the demolition of the slums of Yamuna Pushta area in Delhi.

MCD Demolishing the Slums

A 'house' - made up of broken tyres, left over wooden pieces from discarded furniture, few bricks, few pieces of plyboard, and over and above all these, old plastic sheets to protect it from water. This is the 'house' where a family lives and several new lives come into existence and ready themselves to construct tall buildings, lay shining wide roads - all according to the needs of our 'lords'. and this is the house which is called 'Jhuggi' by our lords.

'Jhuggis' have a very important role to play in Delhi's politics and one can't think of all the tall good-looking buildings and wide well laid roads of Delhi without 'Jhuggis'. All this started with small industrialists and contractors bringing in toiling poor masses fighting for a mere existence from the poor states to work as labourers to fulfil Delhi's requirements for industrialisation. These labourers were given meagre wages, barely enough for a decent existence. Slowly Delhi started to attract people looking for livelihood. By 1999 the slum population of Delhi had grown six fold. Thirty percent of Delhi's population lives in slums covering an area of 10 sq kms. which is a very small portion of Delhi's total area. The inhabitants of these slums are the people who work very hard - as daily wage labourers in factories; as rickshaw pullers, cleaners, hawkers, vendors, drivers, scavengers, ragpickers, domestic servants - to keep Delhi alive.

Our government wants to convert Delhi to Singapore and the river Yamuna to Thames! Whenever the Delhi government or the central government is in need of land, the slum dwellers are promptly issued notices to vacate their houses. Such measures of the governments enjoy full support of the judiciary. For e.g., the court in its decision given in March 2003 had directed the removal of all unauthorised buildings, Jhuggies, abattoirs, etc. situated in the Yamuna Pushta area and the banks of Yamuna.

The slums demolished in Yamuna Pushta last year (2004) have been in the records since 1944. Twenty-two such slums were housing more than 100,000 people in this area. There is nothing new about these demolition drives. Between 1990 and 1999 almost 25,000 Jhuggies were demolished. 2000-01 saw the demolition of yet another 15,000 Jhuggies rendering more than 75, 000 homeless. By the beginning of 2003, 50,000 Jhuggies had been demolished.

During this period of demolitions of slums in various parts of Delhi many slum dwellers including ones from the pushta appealed to the Chief Minister, local MLAs, officers of DDA, MCD, Governor, and political parties such as Congress and BJP about their uncertain future. The slum dwellers also fought militantly with many of them ending up in jails. Many committed suicide out of desperation. The Rickshaw Union filed a petition demanding livelihood rights in the court during this period, which was promptly dismissed by the court. In the prevailing system of the Indian State hoping for any kind of protection for the poor from the courts is absolutely meaningless.

Demolition of slums directly affects the livelihood and lives of the people. Not only are they deprived of the basic human right to livelihood but they are also left high and dry to start their lives afresh. This game has been constantly played by the state in this country's capital.

Slums have a major role to play in deciding the fate of Delhi's rulers. But, those who promise them water, electricity, hand pump, toilet facility, etc., become their leaders but rarely are the promises kept. The more deprived these slum dwellers are the more enslaved they become to capitalist parties like Congress and BJP. While every slum dweller is well aware of the empty promises of these parties for getting votes, they end up becoming the vote banks of these parties due to lack of practical solutions to their problems. Maximum number of slums were demolished during the long rule of Congress and then with the consent of both BJP and Congress. Both parties blame each other and try to paint themselves as the saviours of this most deprived lot.

Capitalism is the root of all the exploitation workers are subjected to. The state and leading political parties ensure protection for the capitalists and their profits by keeping workers away from participating in decision-making processes affecting the society. A new system where workers have a right to make decisions in the interest of the society has to replace this man-eating capitalist system.

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The Amendment to the Indian Patent Act is an Attack on People's Right to Health

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On March 22 and 23, 2005 both the houses of parliament passed the new patent bill that would make it illegal for domestic companies to make generic copies of patented drugs.

This bill was passed in the face of vigorous opposition from thousands of people, expressed in various demonstrations organised by trade unions, federations and organisations of peasants, agricultural workers, workers, women, youth and science forums. People have opposed the Third Amendment to the Indian Patents Act on the basis that this amendment will benefit the giant multinational companies and foreign and Indian capital at the cost of health security for the mass of the population. It was also in contradiction of the UPA's Common Minimum Programme, which promises that the government will "take all steps to ensure availability of life saving drugs at affordable prices"!

At the same time, the global drug industry had lobbied hard for the amendment, as did some Indian firms. Their claim is that the stronger patent rules will help India become a global centre for pharmaceutical research. Their argument is based on the premise that drug companies spend a lot of their own money on research and development activities and they should be able to realise maximum profits from the outcome of such efforts; to reap maximum profits, they have to enjoy monopoly conditions which is why they want that they alone should have the exclusive right to manufacture that drug and should be able to charge a hefty royalty if anyone else wants to manufacture the same.

This argument raises many questions. The primary question is - is it in the interest of society that drug companies should be able to make maximum profits on a product that is necessary for the survival and health of the population? Secondly, is it true that drug companies spend so much of their money on research and development, and that it is only their effort and their skill or genius that has led to the discovery of a drug? Thirdly, is it going to benefit the people that India becomes a global centre for pharma research? Are drugs going to be available easily and at reasonable prices for the people? Is it right to assume that investments coming in will necessarily benefit the people? And not the least, is the Indian government's stand, that it has no choice but to comply with WTO agreement on TRIPS, defensible?

Clearly, experience tells us that what is good for corporations and their financiers is not good for workers and consumers. Drug monopolies make super profits at the expense of labour and the consumer. Monopoly control over products and their markets allows them to sell medicines at exorbitant prices that are many times their cost of production.

With any body of knowledge, the final discovery that results in a product that can be manufactured and sold cannot be claimed solely by the person who makes that discovery, as all research outcomes is a realisation or consummation of the efforts of a whole lot of individuals and collectives who have contributed to bringing research to that stage. There is no discovery that is not based on work previously done on the same process or product or related areas/products. While the discoverer can be credited with and honoured for the path-breaking step, we must oppose in principle any argument that calls for exclusive appropriation or use of the discovery, especially at the expense of public good.

In fact, the claim of pharma companies that they spend huge amounts on research and development (R&D) is questionable. A study in 1999 revealed that marketing and administration expenditure of pharma companies is many times more than what they spend on R&D. Glaxo-Wellcome, one of the largest pharma companies, spent 14.6% of sales on R&D but its marketing expenditure was 35.2% of sales. Similarly, Pfizer, probably the largest pharma company of the world, spent 17.1% of sales on R&D while its marketing expenditure was 39.2% of sales turnover.

Everywhere in the world where product patents have been permitted, prices of medicines have shot up. As compared with its price in India, a commonly used antacid, Zantac costs nearly 18 times more in Pakistan, nearly 20 times more in Indonesia, 48 times more in England and 103 times more in USA, where product patents are permitted. Pakistan follows a product patent regime and the cost of all medicines there, including the most commonly used as well as the life-saving ones, is several times that in India. The Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers has been forced to admit that prices of cancer drugs are going to rise as a consequence of this law.

In our country, a majority of the population, including the poorest sections of society, spends a large portion of the family's earnings on medicines. Such a patent regime is going to be responsible for the early death of many among them.

A product patent regime will also have the effect of killing all local manufacturers of drugs. The examples of other countries in the world that have adopted this are very illustrative. Italy, following its 1984 institution of drug patents went from being a major drug producer and exporter to a net importer of medicines. This is not only going to affect us, here in India, but it is going to have serious consequences for the working people in countries of Africa, where Indian drugs were available and more affordable than drugs manufactured in the West.

Government claims that the new patent bill will not affect 97% of the medicines. Experts, however, believe that once about 9000 patent applications filed after 1 Jan 1995, get processed, nearly 60% of the medicines will get covered by the new patent bill. This will give a few giant corporations a monopoly in the Indian market. In most parts of the world, the pharma industry is dominated by about six multi-nationals. The provisions of the 1970 Act and similar legal regimes in other developing countries have been the source of significant complaints by the private sector pharmaceuticals industry in developed countries. The US pharmaceuticals lobby estimates that it currently loses more $1.7 billion annually because of India's insufficient intellectual property protection.

Among the various sectors of industry, the pharma industry is one of the most profitable. Product patents are used to protect the monopoly and profits of the industry. A recent development in this country illustrates the ruthlessness of pharma industry. Based on exclusive marketing rights (EMR) granted to the drug MNC, Novartis, under the last amendments to Patent Act in 2000, it brought a stay on the generic manufacturers in India that were producing equivalent of Gleevec, the most effective drug for a type of leukemia and selling for

Rs. 8,000-10,000 for a course of one month. Novartis now charges Rs.1,20,000 per month for Gleevec, which has made it beyond the reach of most of the leukemia patients in India. So today many leukemia patients in the country are dying as they can no more afford the medicine.

Turning medical research, life saving knowledge and technology into the private property of monopoly corporations is in violation of the people's rights and is alien to Indian cultural and intellectual heritage. The argument that there is no alternative because India has signed the WTO is untenable and not acceptable; the Government of India must be responsible first and foremost to safeguard the rights of the people of India, not to guarantee super profits for the multinational and Indian monopoly drug companies.

Successive governments have used this argument since 1995 to impose anti-social legislation on the people. This is a totally false argument because no "sovereign republic" should be signing international conventions or agreement that obliges to pass legislation against the interests of the people it is supposedly representing! This is the same argument used by successive governments to prioritise repayment of loans or interest payment on loans to global finance institutions at the expense of expenditure on fundamental services for the people. These same governments, when it suits the interests of the bourgeoisie, have contradicted or violated international agreements that they have signed.

The Indian bourgeoisie is a part of the imperialist system and therefore is party to such agreements that provide it the chance to grow big and carve out a space for itself in the world economy. The Indian bourgeoisie will sign covenants and agreements, which suit its interests, even if it has to sell the interests of the majority of people.

It is very clear that the new patent bill is an outright attack on the people's access to cheap medicines; it is a law that serves the interests of big monopoly corporations with patents, at the expense of small producers and the people's right to health. People must oppose it tooth and nail and advance the struggle to halt its implementation.

Violation of Rights Rights indicated by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (India is a signatory to this Covenant) The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, pointed out in its Statement to the Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (Seattle, 30 November to 3 December 1999), that international economic policies and practices are increasingly affecting the ability of States to fulfill their treaty obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Committee, in its resolution 1999/30 of 26 August 1999, called for steps to be taken "to ensure that human rights principles and obligations are fully integrated in future negotiations in the World Trade Organization", and for proper study to be undertaken of the "human rights and social impacts of economic liberalization programmes, policies and laws". What this implies is that not only should states refrain from taking any steps that limit access to drugs but also they should actively pursue better access over time. In this sense, it is clear that this amendment to the Patents Act of 1970 cannot stand scrutiny under human rights treaties. One key issue at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGASS) in June 2001 was the right of people to essential medicines at affordable prices, and how this right is being undermined by patents and the intellectual property rights regime established by the WTO's TRIPS Agreement. It was declared that access to medication in the context of pandemics such as HIV/ AIDS is one of the fundamental elements to achieve progressively the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

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Why Repeated Armed Clashes on the India-Bangladesh Border?

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UK Elections:
Increased Rejection of the Fraudulent Choice between the Big Bourgeois Parties

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In the course of the May 2005 general elections in the UK, the bourgeoisie was forced to admit that there were several things wrong with its system and its major parties. The May 5 general election starkly exposed the crisis of credibility of the Westminster system; its outcome further complicated the political crisis for the bourgeoisie and its major political parties.

The situation in Britain over the past few years has been very hard for the common working people. The celebrated "boom" and "growth" in Britain have been booms only for the rich. The Blair government has transferred billions of pounds' worth of public services into private hands under the private finance initiative. "Growth" has meant the rapid growth in the gap between rich and poor. In 2002-2003, 12.4 million people, or 22 per cent of the population, were living in poverty. Almost 8.8 million workers are only able to get a couple of day's work per week. The answer of the big bourgeoisie to the crisis is fascism and war. In pursuit of its strategic ambitions the government dragged the country into the unjust aggression against Iraq as an ally of the US imperialists.

In order to confuse the people and to justify the despicable acts of aggression and occupation, the government wove an entire web of lies, which were all unmasked in course of time. For example, the canards that the erstwhile regime of Saddam Hussein possessed deadly weapons that were a threat to the peace of the world, and that they could even attack the UK within 45 minutes! However, despite the widespread and vocal opposition by the vast masses of the people, chieftains of both the Labour and Conservative parties have gone on record that they would have gone to war and removed Saddam Hussein from power even if they knew well that no such weapons existed! Thus both the main parties of the bourgeoisie have made it amply clear that they intend implementing the will of the ruling elite, in utter disregard of the will of the majority! Even the fig leaf of 'democracy' - i.e. carrying out the will of the majority, was thus blown away during the UK elections.

Of the 44.2 million voters, just over 27 million, or 61.3 % of the voters cast valid votes in the May 2005 election. Without postal ballots, this figure would have been even lower than the 2001 election, which itself reached an 80-year low in terms of voter turnout, only 59.2%. Of the valid votes cast in 2005, just over 9.5 million or a mere 21.6% were cast for the Labour Party which won 356 seats, 47 fewer than it did in 2001. Even in terms of the number of votes cast, Labour's share was 35.2%, representing the lowest percentage of the votes cast to have brought a party to power in the history of the UK Parliament. The percentage of registered voters who did not vote for the three big parties - Labour Conservative and Liberal Democrat-amounts to 44.9%. Also, more independents and representatives of smaller parties have now been elected than in any elections since 1945. Thus, the overriding feature of the election was that people are turning away from the discredited party-dominated system of representative democracy.

The war in Iraq and the continued illegall occupation of that country became an important electoral issue and there were several anti-war candidates. The celebrated Westminster system, touted as the archetype of parliamentary democracy, offered the people were offered no choice to the status quo instead people were coaxed to vote Labour as the "lesser evil". In the face of ferocious and concerted attacks by the major parties of the bourgeoisie, A large number of candidates stood on anti-war platforms, and some even won the elections. Independent Reg Keys, who lost a son in Iraq, polled 10% of the vote in Tony Blair's own Sedgefield constituency on an anti-war ticket. The bourgeoisie might have pulled off yet another election, but had to acknowledge that its "nose had been bloodied" by the people's opposition to the war and occupation of Iraq.

In spite of third successive Labour party victory being touted as "historic" by the big bourgeois media, the party is facing a credibility crisis with rising internal demands for Blair to quit. These demands seek to give the impression that Blair's quitting would bring about real change in favour of the people. However, Parliamentary democracy is very much about "changing the horses of the chariot", while continuing steadfastly on the course set by the bourgeoisie. The May 5 election was held by the big bourgeoisie precisely to strengthen the program of fascism and war. It was meant to consolidate the arrangements in the polity and in the government to facilitate the unbridled dictate of the monopolies and the ordering of society to this end.

The widespread rejection of the fraudulent choice between the big parties, the fact that so many made themselves heard, however presents a great opportunity for the progressive forces to organise against the bourgeoisie's agenda of fascism and war. The times are crying out for the democratic forces, for the people to take the initiative in their own hands, to work for an alternative in which it is their will, and not that of the rich minority, will reign.

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Meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission:
US imperialist intrigues to turn truth on its head

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The US imperialists, who are the most ferocious abusers of human rights mankind has witnessed to date, maneuvered to use the 61st meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission in April 2005 to mount attacks on Cuba, N Korea and other countries which have refused to kow tow to US dictate. Both Cuba and N Korea have condemned these moves and pointed out that defence of human rights requires precisely chastisement of the US imperialists themselves.

Every year, the US imperialists persuade some country to move a resolution condemning Cuba for its alleged abuses of human rights, but this year they were unable to find a third country willing to present their annual anti-Cuba resolution and were thus forced to move it themselves. After the US presented its anti-Cuba resolution, Cuba's representative at the commission, Juan Antonio Fernandez received an ovation when he pointed out that the United States was unable to convince any other country to play its game by presenting the anti-Cuba resolution as its own precisely because it lacks credibility in the international community. Before the vote, representatives from countries such as China, Zimbabwe, and Sudan underscored the island's achievements in human rights and expressed their disapprobation of the anti-Cuba resolution. They harshly criticized Washington for its long history of aggression against Cuba, including of more than four-decades economic blockade.

When the resolution was put to vote, 21 countries went along with Washington, while 17 opposed the resolution with 15 abstaining. Thus, despite weeks of maneuvers and pressures from Washington, a full 60 percent of the forum's member nations refused to go along with the resolution proposed by the US imperialists. The Cuban government declared that Cuba does not accept this resolution and will not cooperate with its spurious mandate of appointing an UN envoy to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Cuba. The Cuban government also presented an emergency resolution calling for an independent investigation into the conditions at the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp located on US - occupied Cuban territory.

Similarly, a resolution viciously vilifying the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea was adopted at the meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights. The government of the DPRK said that defence of human rights precisely requires defence of national sovereignty, and that the DPRK will take all measures to do so. It also stated that if the UN Commission on Human Rights is to properly discharge its mission, it is imperative to focus the debate on the US government itself, in the first place. It declared that the US is chiefly to blame for human rights abuses and crimes against humanity today, beset as it is with poor human rights performances at home and massacres of civilians and maltreatment of POWs abroad in illegal wars of aggression such as that in Iraq. Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, pointed out that precisely those countries which stand up to US dictate are accused of human rights violations. This is being done to cover up the US imperialists' own ambitions for world domination and to effect "regime change" in those countries.

In the light of such resolutions that turn truth on its head, it is no wonder that the credibility of the UN Human Rights Commission itself is at an all-time low. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has himself accused the UN Human Rights Commission of failing to uphold human rights and even said the Commission was undermining the credibility of the entire UN. Indeed, how can the Commission have credibility in the eyes of the world's peoples and nations, when the US imperialists have not been admonished so far for waging a war in Iraq based on the false pretences that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction? Till date, they have also not even been condemned for torturing hundreds of prisoners of war in prisons in Iraq and Guantanamo. Defence of human rights requires that such atrocities not only be condemned, but should be halted immediately with the full force of authority of the worlds peoples.

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