From: "Magnus Bernhardsen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> BISWAJIT ROY TIMES NEWS NETWORK OLKATA: Revolution is no longer a fad, particularly for GeneratioNext. But outside the virtual reality of net-webbed global village, there are thousands of real and impoverished villages where the dream of revolution still thrives. In remote jungles and hilly hinterlands of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Orissa and Telengana, a �people�s war� is being waged by the Naxalite group of the same name. As every war needs armies, a �People�s Guerrilla Army� has also been organised by the group a few months back. A young documentary filmmaker, Soumitra Dastidar, made an arduous journey to Bastar, the vast tribal district of the newly formed Chhattisgarh state, to film the activities of the armed Maoists. The CPI(ML) People�s War virtually runs a parallel administration in this zone. The government officials, contractors, poachers and politicians are aware of the group�s penetration among the tribals and many of them pay a �levy� or �tax� to the Maoists. What impressed Soumitra and his crew most during his month-long stay with the guerrillas was the presence of a large number of young women among them. �At least 40 per cent of them were girls. Some of them are also commanders of `dalams� or squads. As the squads are always on the move trekking though the dense forests, hills and rivers, these girls never lagged behind,� recalled Dastidar. The film shows the girls taking part in military practice as well as teaching in mobile schools and working in mobile clinics. The metamorphosis of Moina from a sociology student of Osmania University into a squad commander reveals how the sensitive young minds take up weapons. During a �field study� in Bastar, Moina witnessed a girl�s body being fished out of river. �The newly married girl had committed suicide after she being branded a witch following the death of a few children. But the real reason behind her traumatic death was different,� Moina narrated in the film. �The girl was told to be topless after her marriage by some local higher caste people as it was the prevalent custom imposed on tribal girls. She refused to oblige them. This infuriated the babus and they incited people for the witch-hunting. I was so shocked that I decided to stay here and fight,� said Moina. Her comrade Narmada, a former journalist of a national English daily, joined the �army� after making a few trips for reporting atrocities on tribals. But 14-year-old Vina is no �urban adventurist� � the Gond tribal girl witnessed her father�s killing by police in a false encounter. Now both she and her mother are squad members. Soumitra has planned to make a four-part documentary on the basis of his interactions with the ultra-Lefts as well as their critics and adversaries. As his earlier films on the rural conflicts in Bihar and the Gadaba tribals were well appreciated, he has launched a website to hunt for sponsors for his latest venture. Well, a Chinese archive has responded positively. "A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past." Fidel Castro "The Marxist-Leninist doctrine on class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat affirms the role of violence in revolution, makes a distinction between unjust, counter-revolutionary violence and just, revolutionary violence, between the violence of the exploiting classes, and that of the masses." General Vo Nguyen Giap "Without a Peoples Army the people have nothing" Mao Tse-Tung _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ ----------
