Dear Comrades, Had sent you a mail earlier regarding a* consultation to work out strategies to check communalization of workers*. I had proposed consultation to be organized on 6th Oct. However, today read the news elections for Maharashtra Assembly which will be held on October 18. Some of our comrades may be busy in election campaign. Therefore I propose that we postpone the date of the consultation to Wednesday *18th October*. Kindly give your feed back on the suggestions. Irfan Engineer. Pasting below, the mail with changed date. Place *Bhupesh Gupta Bhavan-Prabhadevi, 9.30 am to 6 PM)*
Dear Comrades, > > Com. Sukumar Damle, Com. Pravin Nadkar, Com. Vijay Kulkarni and myself met > on 7th September to discuss strategy to check communalization of workers. > after discussion we came up with three suggestions: We must propagate > broadly pro-workers ideologies and counter Hindutva ideology and ideology > of other fundamentalist forces, we must have cultural interventions and > draft a concept note to approach more people and organize a consultation > for about 30-40 TU activists and leaders. > > > Please find below draft concept note proposed to organize a consultation > to check communalization of workers. Please only treat it as a draft to be > approved by you all and give suggestions. We propose that the consultation > be organized on Wednesday, 17th October 2014 for one day (this is just by > way of proposition and most convenient date could be arrived at). We > further propose that we request Ram Puniyani to give a keynote address in > the beginning outlining the character of communal politics. Thereafter we > could all share our experiences of our strategies in the past to resist > communal mobilization of our rank and file and best practices adopted. In > the third session we could work collectively evolve the framework our > strategy to counter communalization and sharpen class consciousness instead > and finally in the last session we could come up with concrete action plan. > > > > > Defeat the divisive communal politics to promote Worker’s movement and > working class interests! > > A Call for consultation to check communalization of workers! > > India is witnessing a reinforcement of the BJP’s Hindutva agenda with > ascendence of Narendra Modi to national politics and his subsequent > election as the PM. Hindutva politics is polarizing people along religious > fault lines and deepening religious identities. In a frantic attempt to > strengthen their political hold they are promoting jingoistic brand of > Hindutva ideology and pushing socio-cultural issues in the political sphere > with the objective of mobilizing varied and diverse sects of Hindu > community under their political patronage. > > Hinduism has no mandatory set of rules, guidelines, holy book, > institutions, authority or ideology. It has in its fold various such > authorities, ideologies, sets of rules etc. Hindus follow diverse belief > systems under Hinduism. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar historically pointed out for > the first time that whatever different philosophical schools or holy books > that Hindus may follow but the single distinguishing characteristic of > Hinduism is its hierarchical caste system. The protagonists of the Hindu > fundamentalists have no agenda to do away with this discriminatory and > oppressive caste system. The saffron brigade in India is trying to project > Hinduism as if its a single homogenous entity with uniform belief system > having common gods and sets of rules as per the requirement of their > saffron agenda in the Indian politics. > > Hindutva brigade attempts to intervene in the anti imperialist space by > flaunting a nationalist pose. They manipulate cultural identities and > stress on the communal interests in the name of patriotism. They are using > civic organizations to gain endorsement from the working class and middle > class for their economically liberal and culturally conservative ideas. > Right leaning think tanks of Hindutva brigade are exploiting the > frustrations of the people resulting from the corruption and ineffective > performance of the previous Government. The BJP led Central Government is > the new vehicle of neoliberal policies, attempting to radically undermine > the social welfare based model of governance and adopt neoliberal models > and policies. > > The Government being keen on implementation of the neoliberal policies is > pushing for dismantling of the public sector, cuts in the social > expenditure, cuts in support prices for the agricultural produce, reduction > in allocation for public health etc. This has created a situation of > despair and panic among the citizens. The right wing Hindutva brigade is > giving communal colour to all issues in order to divert the anger of the > people from neoliberal policies, which push the overwhelming sections of > people to margins, and falsely blame religious minorities in order to > contain the discontent. The Hindutva brigade is ideologically legitimizing > the loot by elite of national resources through the mantra of privatization > and unleashing unregulated market forces facilitated by neoliberal policies > with the concept of jingoistic and expansionist Hindu Rashtra. Thereby they > are actually intending to replace the welfare based model by the corporate > friendly state model in the name of Hindu Rashtra. > > Furthering corporate interests in India requires further departure from > the people oriented directives in our Constitution. It is resulting in > generally reducing the democratic social space for the defense of the civil > and democratic rights of the weaker sections of our society. Neoliberal > interests in economic production require removing trade union privileges by > legitimizing contract labour, amending labour laws to favor the industrial > and corporate sections. It has created a sense of insecurity about the > present and fear about the future. Continuous degradation of the living > conditions and attacks on the trade union rights has resulted in the > brutalization of the working class. This situation is exploited by the > communalist to mobilize the working class to perpetuate mindless violence > against the minorities as witnessed in some recent communal riots. Modi > today is supposed to reflect 'peoples will' and acts as if he has got > sanction for running an authoritarian regime. > > The communalization of politics is not restricted to any one religion. > Religious revivalism, obscurantism, other forms of regressive and divisive > practices promoting communal feelings among Indians are seen among other > communities as well, including minorities. > > While the communal forces are promoting divisive identity based agenda and > continuously mobilizing rank and file workers for polarizing communities > and even indulge in violence, will the workers movement be able to resist > neoliberal politics and further marginalization and deunionization of the > workers? Will they be able to fight changes in labour laws pushed to > promote interests of the neoliberal capitalist development? Communal and > divisive politics is eroding the strength of workers movement and movements > for social justice. We have avoided educating our rank and file on dangers > of identity based divisive politics and the real objective of such > political mobilization. We need to review and examine role of workers > organization and strategies to counter communal politics that accompanied > mobilization for the demolition of Babri Masjid and the riots that followed > and even communal riots prior to that. > > > > One way to successfully fight against the right wing fundamentalist forces > is to wage united struggles against the neoliberal policies. It involves > joint working class struggles. Working class will also have to forge a > united front with various social movements aimed at defeating the > neoliberal regime. There is a need today to defend the rights accruing from > the welfare model of the state and also defend benefits of the public > services. > > Progressive Trade unions will now have to strengthen their resolve to > preserve and encourage the Hindu-Muslim unity. We should now organize a > mass campaign and ideological struggle against communalism.Trade unions > should take initiative to educate the rank and file as well as the mass of > workers ideologically about the progressive cultural practices and values. > Leading the economic struggles has not automatically resulted in > preservation of the fraternal relations at the level of different sections > of communities. In order to prevent the workers from falling prey to the > communal passions we need to challenge and actively oppose the communal > ideologies. We must highlight the democratic and humanistic aspects of our > traditional culture. We should uphold the modern scientific culture and > oppose jingoistic and casteist Hindutva ideology. We must expose the nexus > between the vested interests involved in the implementation of the > neo-liberal policies and the communalists. > > *We therefore propose a consultation where we review role of workers’ > organizations in the past and work out a strategy and a plan to help > workers understand the real character of communal politics.* > > -- > > > > -- > *Adv. Irfan Engineer* > > Director, > Centre for Study of Society and Secularism > 603, New Silver Star, Near Railway Bridge, Prabhat Colony Road,, Santacruz > (E), Mumbai, India. PIN: 400055. > Call: +91-22-26149668 | M: +91-9869462833, +919820553173 | Fax: > +91-22-6100712 > e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] > skype: irfanen | Website <http://csss-isla.com/> | Blog > <http://ipscr.wordpress.com/> > > > > > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. 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