ML Update: A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine Vol.-4; No.-46; 14-11-2001
DIVIDED, WE PERISH; UNITED, WE CAN RESIST As we go to press, two different pictures seem to be emerging from Washington and Doha. The two pictures point to two different possibilities, two different roads, two different destinations. One road leads to abject surrender and competitive destruction. The other leads to resistance and survival. Let us start with Doha. The capital of Qatar has been the chosen venue for the present five-day biennial ministerial conference of the WTO. Following the huge wave of anti-WTO anti-globalisation protests that began at Seattle during the last ministerial summit two years ago, the US and its G-8 or OECD partners probably felt compelled to choose Doha as the venue for the next summit, hoping desperately that such a venue would itself discourage and disable protesters. Doha, they hoped, would be the ideal place for launching and bulldozing the agenda of a new round of trade negotiations linking trade to a whole new range of economic and social spheres, which nearly got unsettled in Seattle. While the venue was of their choice, they could not also bargain for a more suitable time for holding the summit, what with the forging of the US-led global coalition against terrorism following the September 11 terrorist strikes in New York and Washington. Yet going by indications emanating from the first three days of the Doha meet, the US, G-8 and OECD countries are having to face a considerable amount of resistance from a whole lot of developing countries. While protests outside the summit venue in Doha have been more of a symbolic nature, the rest of the world has witnessed several impressive anti-war anti-WTO demonstrations (this issue carries extensive reports of powerful anti-war anti-WTO protest marches held on November 9 by our Party and fighting peasant organisations in New Delhi and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh). With tremendous pressure building up within the country against the WTO and against India's record of capitulation, the Indian delegation to Doha has been constrained to offer a degree of opposition. In this India has received great cooperation from a whole range of third world countries including Brazil, Malaysia and, most notably for us, Pakistan. After years of bitter bargaining, China has been admitted in this session as the 143rd member of the WTO followed by Taiwan the next day. China is a major trading power in the world today and while it may initially go some way with the developed countries in broadening and pursuing the trade agenda, its presence inside WTO is bound to intensify the trade war within major economies and third world countries inclined to resist the unequal terms of WTO could surely benefit from this intensified trade war. While Doha has thus highlighted the possibilities of third world cooperation, including Indo-Pak cooperation, in resisting the WTO agenda, the picture emerging from Washington points to the dangerous consequences of following the opposite path. For the umpteenth time Vajpayee reiterated his government's support for the American war efforts in Afghanistan. Even after more than a month of war and thousands of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, Vajpayee's support was not tempered with a single word of restraint or caution; on the contrary, he called for intensification of the war with ground operation and for its spread beyond the Afghan borders into Pakistan and Kashmir. Once again he offered complete Indian subservience to the US military might, camouflaging it as strategic partnership. The terms of this sinister 'partnership' are yet to be known and will probably only be felt when we are trampled by the US military jackboot and the long hand of the CIA starts tightening the noose around our neck. Close on the heels of Vajpayee's meeting with Bush, President Musharraf came calling in. Bush was prompt in doubling American doles for Pakistan's ailing economy and in promising India's return to the negotiating table with Pakistan. While the media in India and Pakistan are busy comparing the performance of Musharraf and Vajpayee as to who has staked bigger claim to Bush's heart, we can almost hear the American chuckles in White House. Time was when India used to oppose Pakistan's attempts to 'internationalise' the Kashmir issue. Today, Vajpayee takes the lead in soliciting American intervention in Kashmir. Musharraf has no problems with Vajpayee on this score, and Bush could not of course be happier to reserve this great ground where he could play all kinds of strategic games. As a reward for their 'good conduct' in America's Afghan war, both Pakistan and India have now been freed from the burden of US sanctions. American weapons will now flow freely into both India and Pakistan ensuring a double reverse flow of profits for the US. The flow of weapons will continue to increase no matter whether India and Pakistan consume them in war or accumulate them under 'peace'. And the US will continue to reap the ever bigger harvest of this hostility between the two neighbours. There is only one way to get out of this American trap: peace and friendship with Pakistan and resistance to the US. Unite-and-Resist can be the only answer to the imperialist ploy of Divide-and-Rule. CPI(ML) AND MASS ORGANISATIONS OPPOSE WAR AND WTO Ever since Bush declared war on Afghanistan, CPI(ML) has been consistently opposing the imperialist onslaught in the name of "global fight against terrorism". In various forms of protest a nationwide anti-war campaign has been launched in which rallies, dharnas, conventions and marches have been held all over the country. The Party has also held that America has been using WTO as a weapon of economic war on less developed and developing countries, and now it has started terrorising them with newer conditions planned to be imposed in the Doha ministerial meeting. The saffron establishment in India has not only tagged the country with American war of invasion, it has also buckled under pressure from developing countries to initiate a "new round". Therefore, movements against WTO and war have merged into a single anti-imperialist movement. Based on this understanding, the anti-war, anti-WTO rally organised by the Party and its kisan wing, All India Kisan Sangharsh Samiti on 9 November rally in Delhi was by far the largest anti-war mobilisation in the county. The same day a successful rally was held at Vijayawada despite incessant rains. A day earlier, a rally was held at Krishnanagar in West Bengal where evil designs of war on Afghanistan were exposed. The Party also took part in 6 November "WTO-virodhi" joint rally held in Delhi and AICCTU, its workers' wing, participated in the joint trade union protests held on 9 November all over the country. See detailed reports in the inner pages. MASSIVE 'ANTI-WAR, ANTI-WTO RALLY' HELD IN DELHI Tens of thousands of peasants and workers from Bihar, UP, MP, Chattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi swarmed onto the streets in Delhi to participate in the 'Anti-War, Anti-WTO Rally' on 9 November and strongly protested the American war of aggression on Afghanistan and the US intervention in Asia. The red sea of the rallyists vociferously opposed the anti-peasant policies of the Vajpayee Government and condemned it for surrendering to the diktats of WTO. They also severely indicted it for surrendering to the American war designs and adopting 'fascist measures to kill democracy' by promulgating black laws like POTO. All India Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (AIKSS), the kisan wing of the Party was the major organiser of the rally taking part under its independent banner. Addressing the mammoth rally on the long stretch of Parliament Street in New Delhi, Party General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya said, "America is waging an all-out war on the weak nations of the world. While in Afghanistan it is using bombs to kill and terrorise the people of this beleaguered country, at the Doha ministerial summit of WTO it is trying to use trade as a weapon of war and terror." He said while the world had expressed shock and condemnation over the terrorist strikes of September 11, Washington has misused and insulted the global sympathy against terror by killing and maiming hundreds of innocent Afghan people and systematically destroying their country. "And now it is desperately trying to use the current climate of war to impose a new charter of economic slavery in Doha", Com. Dipankar said. He said it is a matter of great national shame that under Vajpayee's leadership, the Government of India is supporting the American war in both Afghanistan and Doha. But if the Sangh parivar is prompted by its own tradition of imperialist worship, the peasants and workers of India have their own tradition of anti-imperialist resistance. He asserted that acute agrarian crisis has awakened the Indian peasantry to the danger of WTO and no POTO will be able to force them to accept the dictates of WTO and corporatised agriculture. A number of political resolutions, namely on war on Afghanistan, WTO, Doha ministerial meeting, POTO, communal frenzy instigated by Sangh parivar, starvation deaths and Govt.'s new agrarian policy were also adopted in the rally. Apart from Com. Dipankar, other CPI(ML) and AIKSS leaders who led this massive rally include Swadesh Bhattacharya, Akhilendra Pratap Singh, Pawan Sharma, PV Srinivas, BB Pandey, Swapan Mukherjee, Kumudini Pati, Raja Ram, Krishna Adhikari, Rajaram Singh, Rameshwar Prasad, Amarnath Yadav, Mahboob Alam, Ranjit Abhigyan, Rajendra Pratholi, Prem Singh, Phulchand Dhewa, Rajvinder Singh Rana and Ruldu Singh. Kaushalya Devi, mother of martyr Chandrashekhar also came to participate in the rally. This was the largest rally so far held in the country against the WTO and the American war on Afghanistan. With this assertion of the most downtrodden and struggling people, the rally has provided a new dimension to the ongoing anti-WTO movement in the country. With thousands of red flags and banners, the rally that looked like a rippling red sea, started from Ferozshah Kotla ground and reached Parliament Street where an anti-war, anti-WTO meeting was held. Rallyists were raising thundering slogans "Stop bombing in Afghanistan", "No to US intervention in Asia", "Stop starvation deaths, save agriculture, come out of WTO", "Stop selling out to WTO", etc. An effigy of George Bush was burnt at the end of the meeting. "WTO-VIRODHI RALLY" IN DELHI Under the banner of "WTO-virodhi Jan Abhiyan" a joint rally was held in New Delhi on 6 November near Pragati Maidan to protest against Indian government's attitude of bowing under the developed countries' pressure for starting a new round in the Doha WTO meet. Ex-PMs VP Singh and Deve Gowda, SP leader Mulayam Singh, CPI(M) and CPI general secretaries HKS Surjeet and AB Bardhan, RSP leader Abani Roy, Party PB member Com. Akhilendra Pratap Singh, Kishan Patnaik of Samajwadi Jan Parishad, Medha Patkar of NBA and Vandana Shiva were among the speakers at the rally conducted by SP Shukla, convenor, People's Campaign against Globalisation. RALLY AGAINST WAR AND WTO AT VIJAYAWADA About 4,000 people attended the rally against war and WTO at Vijayawada held on Novemebr 9. The rally was organised by CPI(ML) Liberation, AIKSS and AICCTU. The participants had come from all the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry and part of Orissa. The rally covered an 8-km route through the Vijayawada town. Despite heavy rains the turnout at the rally was satisfactory. At the end of the rally a public meeting was organised. The meeting was addressed by Comrades Uma Maheswara Rao, CPI(M) State Committee member and former deputy mayor of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, Kolli Nageswara Rao, CPI State Sectt. member, MCPI leader Omkar, YV Sambasiva Rao of New Democracy, Bharghava Shree of Unity Initiative and Ramesh Patnaik of SUCI. >From our Party Comrades B.Sivaraman, PB member, and CCMs N.Murthy, Balasundaram, Shankar, Kumaraswamy and Bangar Rao addressed the rally. Comrade Poonacha from AICCTU, Bangalore also spoke. The speakers condemned the US war of aggression in Afghanistan and the imperialist designs to force a new round of trade negotiations at Doha, and called for a united movement by the left and democratic forces against the war and WTO. Com. B.Sivaraman condemned the US imperialism for launching an expedition of expansionism in the name of war against terrorism and destabilising Central Asia and South Asia and brining war danger to our doorstep. He also denounced the Vajpayee government for indulging in war mongering against Pakistan and minority baiting in the country to cover up their own shameless surrender to imperialism. Condemning Shanta Kumar's announcement the previous day regarding the end to state procurement of foodgrains from the farmers, he demanded that Chandrababu Naidu should withdraw his support to the NDA government at the Centre. He urged the nine left parties in the state to launch a direct movement for the ouster of Chadrababu Naidu in case he didn't. SOCIAL TRANSORMATION RALLY HELD IN JHARKHAND A massive Samajik Parivartan (Social transformation Rally was held on 8 November at Rajdhanwar of Giridih district. Attended by around tens of thousands of people, the rally was full of red banners and red flags. Most of the participants came from Bagodar, Birni, Rajdhanwar, Tisri, Gawan and Jamua blocks of Giridih district. The rally was led by Comrades Subhendu Sen, Jharkhand State Committee Secy., Mahendra Singh, CC member, Rajkumar Yadav, Giridih District Committee Secy., several SC members and Giridih DC members and Com Bikas Singh from Bokaro. Addressing the rally Com. Suvendu declared that with the social transformation rally CPI(ML) has launched a state level movement on the issues of safety, dignity and employment. Com. Mahendra Singh said that if Laloo raj was "jungle raj", Marandi raj has become "jallad (hangman) raj". He called upon the people to participate in this movment for social transformation and said that it would fulfil people's dream by uprooting Marandi rule. On 9 November, a Parivartan Rath (Transformation chariot) started its yatra from Giridih to cover the whole state and reached Dhanbad as its first stop. This is part of a week long campaign based on the slogan "Ensure safety, dignity and employment, or else resign!" ANTI-WAR CONVENTION IN JHARKHAND On 7 November, anti-war conventions were held in district centres all over Jharkhand. In these conventions, America was asked to stop war on Afghanistan and Indian government's decision to supply fuel to American warship was also condemned. Speakers said that taking undue advantage of the war situation, the govt. was conspiring to impinge on freedom of media and democracy by promulgating POTO. The conventions were addressed by Com. Subhendu Sen, Bhuneshwar Bedia and Guni Oraon in Hazaribagh, Com. Mohan Dutta, Anant Prasad Gupta, Md. Israel and Jahangir Ali in Ranchi, Janardan Prasad and Ravinder Ram in Daltonganj, Jitendra Kumar and Kishor Kumar in Garhwa, JP Minz and Sarfaraz Alam in Latehar, and DS Diwakar, JN Singh and Meena in Bokaro. A 45-km long anti-war march was brought out from Mahuatanr to NayaMore, Bokaro, where a dharna was staged. 6th WEST BENGAL STATE PARTY CONFERENCE The 6th conference of West Bengal Party unit was held on 8-11 November in Krishnanagar, Nadia. An impressive rally held at Krishnanagar Govt. College Maidan on 8 Nov. marked the beginning of the Conference. Party General Secretary Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya was the main speaker. While thoroughly exposing the evil designs of US behind the Afghanisthan war, Com. Dipankar sternly criticised the role of Vajpayee Govt. in tagging the country to the imperialist war and the motives hidden behind the imposition of POTO. He also exposed the LF Govt's double standards in planning to bring a similar act in the forthcoming Assembly session. An effigy of George Bush was burnt amid sky-renting slogans against US imperialism. Com. Kartick Pal, State Secy. and other leaders also addressed the mass gathering. In all 258 delegates and 23 observers attended the conference. The agrarian situation and agrarian reforms pursued by the LF Govt., newly emerging class contradictions and the importance of organising agrarian labourers, building mass resistance against CPM's terror, particularly in the rural areas, were some of the main points of discussion. After Com. Kartick Pal's explanatory deliberation on these points, the draft, with some amendments, was adopted unanimously. The conference elected a 29-member State Committee which re-elected Com. Kartick Pal as its secretary. In his concluding speech, Com. Dipankar explained the emergence of social-democratic rule in the state, the underlying socio-economic factors of the LF Govt., and fervently appealed the delegates to redouble their vigour and initiative for building a revolutionary left alternative that the state is craving for. PB members Comrades DP Buxi and Nandkishore Prasad and the Central Observer Com. Malleswar Rao also addressed the delegates. The newly elected state committee decided to launch a week long campaign against POTO and POCO starting from 17 Nov. which will culminate on 26 Nov. through a day-long Dharna at Kolkata and in the district headquarters of the State. ANTI-WTO, ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT AROUND THE GLOBE In Atlanta of USA, about 200 people rallied against CNN's coverage of the war in Afghanistan, leading to three arrests. The US ML Organization called upon the American working class and people to step up the fight against the state terrorism and political persecution being unleashed by the US Govt. in the name of the "war on terrorism." They opposed secret detention of hundreds by federal officials on the basis of "suspicion of terrorism" and demanded their immediate release or a transparent trial. In Britain, anti-war protests are growing by the day. It is expected that 100,000 people will turn out on 18 Nov. demonstration in London called by New Communist Party of Britain. In Ireland, 3,000 people took to the streets on 9 Nov. in opposition to the bombing of Afghanistan. The sheer size of the demonstration forced the national media to cover it and allow the anti-war message to break through. In Italy, in Rome on Nov.10, at least 20,000 marched through the streets of the Italian capital picking up supporters on the way, protesting against the United States' bombing of Afghanistan. In Germany, in Berlin, thousands demonstrated on Nov.10 against the bombings of Afghanistan. Protestors also called on the German government not to offer military support for the so-called " war on terrorism". Participants held aloft signs reading, "Stop the war" and "fight poverty, not the poor". In Latvia, a 16-year-old girl slapped Prince Charles' face with a red carnation 8 Nov. as he stopped during a tour of downtown Riga to talk with a group of children. The girl, Alina, said: "I'm protesting against Latvia joining NATO and I'm against the war in Afghanistan. Britain is the enemy." In Nambia, the National Union of Namibian Workers called for a national stayaway from work on 9 Nov. to protest the US-led bombing campaign against Afghanistan and privatisation and mismanagement at state-owned enterprises. More than 100,000 people took part in the mass action (marches). In Pakistan, thousands of peace activists organised by the Alliance of Peace and Justice (LPP is a partner) protested at Rawalpindi on 6 November. They demanded an immediate end to American bombing of Afghanistan and demanded, "stop the war!". The rally was over a kilometer long with hundreds of banners. They came from all over Pakistan including far off places of Baluchistan and Sind, but the bulk of the participants were from the NWFP and Punjab. The Doha ministerial meeting of WTO has also evoked strong protests. Despite heavy security arrangements, some NGOs and activists have managed to slip into Doha. Decrying the "fundamentalism of free trade", they attacked the US for seeking to equate the fight against terrorism with the fight for more open world markets. Noting that the policies pushed by Washington and the WTO have been a recipe for poverty and global inequality, Walden Bello said, "trade liberalization of the unrestricted sort creates precisely those conditions...that are a breeding ground for terrorism." Greenpeace activists aboard their flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, arrived in Doha on 7 Nov. "We're here to voice the concerns of millions of people, so we're not going to stay quiet.The WTO wants trade law to supersede environmental law, and we want environmental laws to be on top of trade laws." In Turkey, 10,000 workers and students converged on Ankara's working Sihhiye district and called on the government to step down and accused its members of blindly following IMF measures to resurrect the economy. "Down with the IMF! Independent Turkey!" they shouted. Many also expressed their opposition to the war in Afghanistan. In Thailand, more than 1,000 people marched to the US embassy to press their demands on a range of issues, including farm products to drugs patents, that are due to be discussed at the WTO ministerial meeting in Qatar. In South Africa, around 500 people marched through central Johannesburg to protest the Doha meeting. In a separate protest, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) held a rally in the city, attended by 600 people, in which they voiced their opposition to the WTO and privatization. In Paris, some 8,000 demonstrators gathered in the streets of Paris chanting slogans like "the world is not a commercial product" or "WTO, the mad cow of capitalism". In Geneva, Switzerland (WTO Headquarters), some 5000 people met to oppose globalization of the world economy and the WTO. Farmers, trade union leaders and students addressed the rally, which was held in front of the headquarters of the Credit Suisse Bank. "'No' to Bush and his warriors and to NATO", they said. In Rome, protest against the WTO turned into a pacifist rally "against hunger, war and the logic imposed by the WTO". In Australia, in Melbourne, a march against war, jingoism, racism, privatization and corporate rule took place. Demonstrators carried out a "die in" in front of the immigration and defense departments, and about 100 took part in a mass "fare evasion train jump". A counter-congress has already been held in Beirut from November 6-8, in which unions, women's groups, environmentalists and youth activists took part under the banner "Our World is Not for Sale". Among other programmes, there were street circus in Rio, carnival in Canada, a festive funeral for the WTO in southern France, a parade in New York and a vigil in Washington. Labor unions took the first Global Unions Day of Action, spanning seminars, street protests, forums and fairs. Grassroots organisations, which gathered for the WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle in December 1999, said that rigid visa restrictions have prevented them from travelling to the Gulf state. "Governments have taken refuge in Doha because they are afraid of the people who elected them." Mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cpiml.org
