Ganpathi reply to Independent Citizen Initiative on Dantewada

To

The members,
Independent Citizens’ Initiative

Dear Friends,

I received the letter sent by six prominent personalities of the Independent Citizens Initiative who had visited Dantewara district of Chattisgarh on a fact finding mission in last May. I could not ascertain when the letter was actually sent as it did not bear any date and I could get hold of it only recently. On behalf of our Party I thank you all for your letter and the responsible attitude and genuine desire shown by you to put an end to the armed conflict in Dantewara between the oppressed adivasis on the one hand and the state-sponsored salwa judum, state police and central para-military forces on the other. I convey my apologies to you for the long delay in sending a reply, whatever are the reasons on our side.

Our Party appreciates the serious efforts made by you in your genuine quest for finding a resolution to the tragic conflict that had suddenly flared up in Dantewara since June 2005 and has taken over 400 lives until now. It is indeed heartening to all of us waging a just war for the liberation of the most oppressed sections of the Indian society to see democratic intellectuals like you seeking to explore the truth and place it before the world. There are some good articles written by some of you such as the one in The Hindu by Sri EAS Sharma, which made attempts to present the truth in a more objective manner.

He had correctly analysed the origin and nature of salwa judum in sharp contrast to the barrage of false propaganda that it is a spontaneous movement and an uprising against the Maoists: “It is certainly not a “peoples’ movement” as it has been made out to be. It is a State-sponsored campaign in which unsuspecting Adivasis are used as ammunition in a war that will serve the private interests of a few.” He had also traced the exploitation of the adivasis by the non-tribal trader-contractor nexus: “For decades, unethical land-grabbers, wily traders, and exploitative contractors, all non-tribals, have dominated the lives of the Adivasis in this area, undeterred.” …………………….

Articles and Reports on AFSPA

Today is declared anti AFSPA day by Amnesty International and some other organisations.we are posting a series of articles and reports on Armed Forces Special Powers Act.which legalises rapes and murders by army-men in North East.This is how the so called ‘Largest Democracy’ enforces its sovereignty on Manipur.

• Review of AFSPA 1958 Report of the Jeevan Reddy Committee

• Armed Forces Special Powers Act:A study in National Security tyranny –South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre, New Delhi

• India: Briefing on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 — Amnesty International

• AFSPA : Licence to Kill Publication of INSAF

• The AFSPA: Lawless Law Enforcement According to the Law? A representation to the Committee to Review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958, 21 January 2005 Asian centre for Human rights

• India: Time to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act Amenesty International Public Spatement 10 July 2006

• Repeal Armed Forces Special Power act By Pushkar Raj and Mahipal Singh, PUCL-Delhi, 13 August 2004

• Review of AFSPA: Too Little, Too Late ACHR, 3 November 2004

• An analysis of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 PUCL Bulletin, March 2005

• Saheli & PUDR factsheet on AFSPA

• INTERVIEW with Irom Sharmila In Tehelka Tehelka

• Indiatogether Reports from Manipur indiatogether
  

• Combatlaw’s cover story on Irom Sharmila

a song on ‘education’

What Did You Learn In School Today?

Song by Tom Paxton

What did you learn in school today
dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today
dear little boy of mine?

I learned that Washington never told a lie
I learned that soldiers seldom die
I learned that everybody’s free
That’s what the teacher said to me
And that’s what I learned in school today
That’s what I learned in school.

What did you learn in school today…

I learned that policemen are my friends
I learned that justice never ends
I learned that murderers die for their crimes
even if we make a mistake sometimes
And that’s what I learned in school today
That’s what I learned in school…

I learned our government must be strong
It’s always right and never wrong
Our leaders are the finest men
and we elect them again and again
And that’s what I learned in school today
That’s what I learned in school…

I learned that wars are not so bad
I learned about the great ones that we have had
We fought in Germany and in France
And someday I might get my chance
And that’s what I learned in school today
That’s what I learned in school…

Post-modernism - a marxist comment

By Prof. RANDHIR SINGH

The Soviet collapse has caused, however temporarily, a retreat from Marxism. Another consequence has been a resurgence of old and new alternative theories. All sorts of essentially Rightwing ideologies have come to flourish. Old orthodoxies have been resurrected and ancient prejudices and superstitions argued for in modern and supposedly scientific way. ‘Culture’ and ‘civilisation’ and their so-called ‘clashes’, are invoked to explain history rather than be explained by it and in an exercise of racial pseudo-science, not only is the reality of imperialism obscured but its crimes are justified as the product of cultural ‘incompatibility’. ‘Identity politics’ and ‘communitarianism’ are the new catchwords and obscuring the reality of iniquitous class structures within and around the identities or communities and the ‘mud of the times’ invariably carried by them-for example, ‘the coercions and inequities’, in Amartya Sen’s words, ‘that many traditional communities standardly impose on less privileged members (such as women, or female children, or those belonging to the lower tiers of the collectivity)’- they are so theorised as to persuade the victims of capitalism and imperialism to accept and stay happy with their ‘difference’ in place of equality and liberation that Marxist theory and practice seek. And so on. Of these supposed alternatives, there is one that I would like to take a quick notice of-the rather ‘infashion’ post-modernism which is particularly influential in the Left intellectual circles in the west and has acquired adherents worldwide. Loud in proclaiming the ‘end’ or ‘obsolescence’ of Marxism, it has even claimed to be a replacement of and advance over Marxism, (or ‘traditional Marxism’ as its ex-Marxist adherents would have it), and thus, to be the most advanced radical social theory of these, our post-modernist times. Critics from the other end have seen post-modernism as, in some ways, the most dangerous of the forces currently threatening the survival of the socialist project inasmuch as it threatens the project from within, given its origins, the nature of its criticism, and the significant ex-Marxist presence in it. Post-modernism’s rhetoric of rupture and discontinuity renders wrong everything you thought you ever knew and the accompanying fragmentation of time, space and historical experience is supposed to liberate us from the mistaken modernist notions of reason, knowledge, history, morals or progress, and above all, the dead hand of ‘meta-narratives’. The best or rather the worst, typical, representative of this mistaken ‘modernity’, they say, is Marxism and its socialist project. As it is traditionally trained, conditioned or persuaded, to under-reach themselves, in class-divided societies, people always had a had time seeing beyond their most immediately visible oppressors; post-modernist thinking, with its distrust of so-called ‘grand narratives’, simply reinforces such myopia. That is how, for post-modernism, capitalism is and socialism can never be…….

Full Text of SPA-Maoists Agreement

Full text of the agreement reached between the seven parties’ alliance and Maoists.

Respecting the mandate expressed in favour of democracy, peace and forward movement through the historical struggles and revolutions staged frequently by Nepali people since pre-1950 era till the present, Reconfirming full commitment to the 12-point understanding between the seven political parties and the CPN (Maoist), the 8-point agreement and the 25-point ceasefire codes of conduct as well as all the understandings, agreements and codes of conducts between the Nepal Government and the CPN (Maoist), including the letter of consensus sent to the United Nations, Pledging to do a forward looking restructuring of the state by resolving class, ethnic, regional and gender related problems existing in the country, Reiterating full commitments to competitive multiparty democratic system, civil liberty, individual rights, human rights, full press freedom and the concept of rule of law as well as democratic norms and values, Guaranteeing the fundamental rights of the people to participate in the elections to the constituent assembly in an atmosphere free of fear and intimidation, Keeping democracy, peace, prosperity, forward looking socio-economic transformation as well as independence, integrity, sovereignty and dignity of the country at centre, the meeting of the top leaders of the seven political parties and the CPN (Maoist) held on 8th of November 2006 took the following decisions in order to implement the commitments of both the sides to holding the elections to the constituent assembly by mid-June 2007 in a free and fair manner.

I. On implementation of past agreements

1. To fully, honestly and strictly implement all the past understandings, agreements and codes of conducts.

2. To constitute a high level committee to probe and make public the whereabouts all the citizens reported to be disappeared by both the state and the Maoist.

3. To speed up the process of returning seized property. To ensure an atmosphere for the displaced to return home. To formulate district level committees involving both sides for this. To complete all these tasks within a month.

4. To publicly declare withdrawal of all charges and accusations against political leaders and workers by the state and the CPN (Maoist) and to immediately release political prisoners of both sides.

II. On armies and weapons
To work as per the sentiments of the 12-point understanding, 8-point agreement, 25-point codes of conduct and the five-point letter sent to the United Nations in order to hold the elections to the constituent assembly in a peaceful, fair and fearless atmosphere as well as to restructure and democratise the army.

On Maoist army
1. As per the commitment expressed in the letters sent to the United Naitons by Nepal Government and the CPN (Maoist) on 9 August 2006, the Maoist combatants shall be confined in cantonments in the following areas. The United Nations will verify and monitor them.

The main cantonments shall be in the following areas: ……………..

Is the Death of Art Upon Us?

By Sudhanva Deshpande

In 1937, at the height of the Spanish Civil War, General Franco’s planes bombed Guernica, the holy city of the Basques, for three days. The city was flattened, and about 1600 people were killed, a large number children. The event shocked the world. How could anyone bomb children?

‘Guernica’ by Pablo Picasso

It could be argued, of course, that ‘the world’ which was shocked was, essentially, the white world, since, for the first time in the history of aerial bombardment, white children were bombed. European powers had been bombing relentlessly, including children, in the non-white lands of Africa and Asia for decades. Far from being shocked, the white world didn’t even notice.

Be that as it may. The point is that the bombing of Guernica shocked the world. Out of this shock and horror emerged Pablo Picasso’s painting. It could be argued, quite persuasively, that Picasso’s Guernica has become the most well-known painting of the twentieth century, a kind of modern-day Mona Lisa, instantly recognizable across the world. ……….

KULDEEP:the battle of oaxaca

By Kuldeep Prakash

The saga of resistance and rebellion continues in oaxaca, a southern state of Mexico.It was started with teacher’s strike in may.But now it is the peoples (using the term in its broadest meaning) revolt against neoliberal state of Mexico.they created a soviet like institution APPO containing 350 mass organisations which have representation of every class, community and section of the people.Government reacted, as it can be guessed, violently on protesters and sent the Federal Police Force(PFP) in oaxaca city. Peoples retaliated by barricading the city.In the last week of October police came out hugely and killed near about 40

protesters with many ‘disappeared’.A great battle is going on from previous 3-4 days in the streets of oaxaca.Police is shooting the peoples indiscriminately but people are still ‘nonviolent’ in their resistance. federal police surrounded the university of oaxaca on November 1.police fired killed and raped extensively but protesters forced it to retreat. the students of oaxaca had no weapons but rocks
and stones in retaliation. now police is mounting more and more repression day by day.yesterday APPO called for a magmas in the city for the demand to withdraw the federal police out of city.meanwhile the radio universidad (radio station of APPO) appealed peoples to remain non violent mentioning Mhatma Gandhi. Upto this time federal and state governments are refusing to call of the PFP. Zaptista rebels, active in nearby state of Chiapas declared their full support to movement.

As for as the political implications and the possible future of the movement is concerned.it is a very important revolt of the Latin America but with some political weaknesses.APPO is still confined to partial issues.it is not clear on the question of the state power.the question of violence.the proletarian leadership is also lacking. the future of the revolt will depend on the answers of certain questions as how they succeed to forge alliance with Zaptista revolutionaries and other anti imperialist forces and masses all over the country.if they succeed only then they will capable to make a nationwide armed rebellion to complete National Democratic Revolution.

the author can be reached at prakashpathik@gmail.com

Maoist response on EPW articles

(some months before we had posted some articles on indian maoism taken from EPW.But among those there was not any from the maoist side .finally Azad spokesperson of cpi(maoist) responded on them in october 13 issue of EPW.we are reproducing Azad’s article here.please follow the link given below. - Editor)

     azad’s responce on EPW atricles

repression and resistance in oaxaca

By LAURA CARLSEN

November 1 was the Day of the Dead. It’s the day that Mexicans flock to the cemeteries to visit family members who have passed on. Or, if you believe the traditions, to welcome the dead who come back to visit them.

This year among the dead are 17 people killed in Oaxaca. They are dead because they dared to challenge a political and economic system that bound them to poverty and powerlessness. Most were assassinated by forces affiliated with the state governor, Ulises Ruiz. Some, whose blood has still not dried, were murdered by federal police sent in “to restore order” on Oct. 28.

The movement in Oaxaca began on May 15, national Teachers’ Day, when state members of the education workers’ union mobilized to protest against the latest imposition of a contract negotiated between corporatist leaders of their national union and the government. They asked for a pay raise and initiated a sit-in in Oaxaca City’s central plaza.

There was nothing unusual in their action. Section 22, the teachers’ union in Oaxaca, has historically been a bastion of the decades-old democratic movement to free the national union from the control of leaders whose interests are tied to the country’s most powerful political figures and not the workers’ well-being.

But their protest sparked a wildfire when Governor Ruiz sent in armed security forces to evict them on June 14. The deaths as a result of the repression enraged a society already angry at what many viewed a stolen gubernatorial election. Ulises Ruiz is an old-style politician from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that ruled Mexico single-handedly for 71 years and still exercises control over parts of the Oaxacan countryside through violent party bosses.

Suddenly there was no middle ground in Oaxaca. Some 350 organizations grouped to form the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). Indigenous communities mobilized by their own grievances, students, professionals sick of the pretence of democracy, vendors, and workers, joined ranks with the teachers to demand the ouster of the governor. ……..

PM Statement on december 13

(we are posting an excerpt from statement of the PM on December 13 attack.the statement reveals that Advani and Vajpai had prior information of the attack.this adds new doubts on official story of the case. - Editor)

Mr. Chairman, this is not an occasion to apportion blame or find fault with our system, whether it is of intelligence or of security arrangements. Yet, it is a fact that an attack on Parliament was quite anticipated. As early as on the 5^th of this month, the hon. Home Minister, speaking at a meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, had alluded to this threat to our Parliament.

In fact, one day before this attack took place, i.e. on 12^th December, while speaking at Mumbai, the hon. Prime Minister himself had referred to the existence of this threat, such a threat to our Parliament. Subsequently, we have also learnt that the Maharashtra police, while interrogating a suspect Al-Qaeda member, Afroz in Mumbai informed the Central Government of the plans of this outfit to attack the Parliament. I have been told that the Maharashtra Government had informed the Central Government about what Afroz had told them. I have also been told that a member of the IB was also associated with the interrogation of Afroz.

Sir, that despite their advance warnings this daring and dastardly attack took place should make all of us sit back and reflect on the adequacy of our security and intelligence arrangements. The hon. Home Minister, some days ago, had publicly stated that there was no security breach. Yet, it is a fact that a car with terrorists armed to the teeth was allowed to roam about in the high security zone and pass through the outer gate and enter the compound of our Parliament.