On March 11, 2008, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh was the scene of a militant anti-imperialist Convention organized by the All India Forward Bloc. The Convention was a step to strengthen the unity of the anti-imperialist movement in India and world wide, and to increase awareness among the Indian people about imperialist designs.

Delegations from the Communist Ghadar Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party, CPIML (Liberation), Janata Dal (Secular) and Samajwadi Party participated in the proceedings of the Convention..

Delegations from a number of parties and organizations from abroad also attended the Convention. They included the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Communist Party of Cuba, Workers Party of Korea, Communist Party of Nepal (UML), Janatha Vimukti Perumana (JVP - Peoples Liberation Front) from Sri Lanka, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Workers Party of Bangladesh and the National League of Democracy of Myanmar.

The proceedings of the Convention was conducted by Comrade G Devarajan, Secretary, CC of the All India Forward Bloc. The Convention was inaugurated by Com Debabrata Biswas, MP, and General Secretary of the All India Forward Bloc. Those who addressed the Convention included Nguyen Hoanh Son of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Prakash Rao of the CGPI, Kim Cheol Su of the Workers Party of Korea, Uday Pratap Singh, MP and leader of Samajwadi Party, Shahadat Hussain of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Arvind Shrivastava of the CPI, Indira Lopez Arguelles of the Communist Party of Cuba, Mohd Salim, CPI(M) MP and Deputy Leader of the CPIM in Parliament, Vijitha Herath, MP, and Member, Political Bureau and Secretary International Affairs, Janatha Vimukti Peramuna of Sri Lanka, Abani Roy, MP and General Secretary of the RSP, Chabilal Vishwakarma, Agricultural Minister of Nepal and leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), Rajaram, leader of the CPIML Liberation, Dr Tint Swe, MP of Burma and representative of National League for Democracy, Shri Surendra Mohan, veteran socialist leader, Iqbal Kabir Jahid of the Workers Party of Bangladesh and Dr Sunilam, MLA in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.

Com Biswas pointed out that 35 years ago, the world witnessed the glorious Vietnamese liberation struggle which defeated the most powerful imperialist force on earth, US imperialism. The Vietnamese people, led by Ho Chi Minh, never compromised with imperialism. The history of India shows that great damage has been done because of those who compromised with imperialism. Now the time has come to build powerful anti-imperialist unity of forces which will not compromise with imperialism. He pointed out that both Congress and BJP represented pro capitalist and pro imperialist forces. He called for all anti imperialist forces in India and abroad to unite and fight the imperialists and those who conciliated with the imperialists.

The speakers at the Convention addressed salient issues confronting the revolutionary and liberation struggles of the proletariat and peoples world wide. Speakers condemned the assault on the sovereignty of peoples and nations under the name of “war against terrorism”, and the imperialist inspired “regime change” and export of democracy. Spokesperson of CGPI Com Prakash Rao pointed out in his address that ever since the end of Cold War, imperialism headed by US imperialism has been striving to impose its economic order of “free market economy” and political order of “multi party democracy” on all countries and peoples. Those countries and peoples who refuse to kowtow to the imperialists and want to pursue their own economic and political system are branded as "rogue states”, “terrorist states”, etc. This is what they are trying to do with Korea, Cuba, Iran etc. Comrade Prakash Rao pointed out that the Islamic peoples are facing savage attack because they refuse to accept imperialist models and prescriptions.

Commenting on the desperation of the Indian ruling class to have a strategic alliance with the most hated imperialist power of the world, the US, Prakash Rao declared that the Indian people will never agree to the strategic alliance with the US. We want an anti-imperialist alliance of the anti- imperialist forces of the whole world. We the Indian people will certainly build this alliance, no matter how difficult the task. He expressed the determination of the Communist Ghadar Party of India to contribute its utmost towards the forging anti imperialist unity.

Speakers at the Convention addressed another important issue — the role of the Indian state in South Asia. Many speakers pointed out that the Indian state and the ruling class acted as a pro imperialist hegemonistic force that ranged itself against the peoples of the neighbouring countries. This came through in the presentations of the representatives of CPI, the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), the Janatha Vimukti Perumana of Sri Lanka, and the National League of Democracy of Burma.

The CPI leader decried Indian ruling class’ attitude to Nepal. The representative from Nepal pointed out that their country was going to have a historic election on April 10 to elect a Constituent Assembly that would be charged with drafting a new constitution. He announced that Nepal had already been declared a Republic by a vote in parliament. The Representative from Myanmar pointed out that the military junta in his country was trying to organize a referendum later in the year to push through a new constitution which would legitimise military rule and the violation of the rights of the people. He called upon the people and anti imperialist forces of South Asia to expose and oppose the military junta's game plan. The representative from Sri Lanka pointed out how historically India had played a negative role in fueling insurgency in his country. He pointed out that various imperialist powers were supporting the dismemberment of his country.

The Convention adopted a declaration called the Jabalpur Declaration. Under the call “Hold High the banner of anti –imperialism”, the declaration said, amongst other things — “In the name of creating a so called New World Order… imperialism is threatening world peace, democracy, freedom, sovereignty and the well being of the people.... By using military and economic might the imperialist forces are browbeating the developing and under developed countries. The imperialist forces in connivance with world capitalism are violating all democratic and human rights of the people of these countries. Countries which dare to challenge the imperialist hegemony are being strangulated by economic sanctions and political isolation. The imperialist arguments for its hegemonic attitude such as fighting against terrorism, dismantling the weapons of mass destruction, and democratizing the regimes have been proved to be a farce and baseless”.

The declaration concluded that “We do believe that the democratic and peace loving people of all over the world will hold high the banner of anti imperialism with the aim of defeating imperialism forever.