INJUSTICE IS ROOT CAUSE OF EVERY TERRORISM.
On 4/8/10, sarbajitr <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Dear "Victor" > > While you were away, certain new posting rules have been enforced very > strictly at this group. For instance "cross posting" to and/or from this > group is banned and will result in your suspension / expulsion. > Posted content is to be strictly focussed on RTI and associated matters. > You are also required to "trim" your posts to this group. > > In passing, the string of messages you have circulated below (not trimmed) > demonstrate a marked lack of understanding of the so-called Maoist problem > or its "solution". > > Sarbajit > > --- In [email protected] <rti_india%40yahoogroups.com>, Victor > Cooper <victor99coo...@...> wrote: > > > > What to speak of the illeterate, hungry and roofless hundreds of millions > it is near impossible even for the educated and well-off sections to bear > the brunt of corrupt and heartless governance we have in the country today. >  Under the circumstances, this Naxal and separatist stuff is not at all a > surprise.  > > It is unfortunate that we have heard little and got even lesser action > from the government on the underlying issues facing the nation:  mal and > malafide governance, corruption, corrupted and delayed judicial system, > absence of functional-effecient-effective redressal sysytems, etc. > > But I doubt if we will ever wake up from our arrogant slumber, simply > because we havent woken evn 62 years after "independence".  The outcome > will be a disaster of gargantuan proportions a few years down the line, not > just for us but for the entire world. > > Victor. > > > > --- On Wed, 4/7/10, Sukla Sen <sukla....@...> wrote: > > > > From: Sukla Sen <sukla....@...> > > Subject: [humanrightsactivist] In the Wake of Dantewada Massacre: Three > (Divergent) Responses > > To: national-forum-of-in...@..., "chhattisgarh-net" < > [email protected] <Chhattisgarh-net%40yahoogroups.com>>, > "greenyouth" <[email protected] <greenyouth%40googlegroups.com>>, > "IHRO" <[email protected] <ihro%40yahoogroups.com>>, "issueonline" < > [email protected]<issuesonline_worldwide%40yahoogroups.com>>, > "indiathinkersnet" > <[email protected]<indiathinkersnet%40yahoogroups.com>>, > "bahujan" <[email protected] <Bahujan%40yahoogroups.com>>, > [email protected] <invitesplus%40yahoogroups.com>, > [email protected] <arkitectindia%40yahoogroups.com>, > "common-concern" > <[email protected]<common-concern%40googlegroups.com>>, > "humanrightsactivist" > <[email protected]<humanrightsactivist%40yahoogroups.com>>, > "international-peace-festival" < > [email protected]<international-peace-festival%40googlegroups.com> > > > > Date: Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 8:29 PM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >  > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [The IE editorial today despite its shrill tone quite interestingly draws > pointed attention to the considerable divergences within the larger ruling > bloc. That's significant. > > In fact, no less than the Prime Minister of India has almost > instinctively dismissed the Home Minister's suggestion that air power be > used against the deadly Maoist insurgents by claiming that we're too close > to the event to do a "review" of current policies. > > > > But then a review is badly needed if not from the standpoint of Mr. > Chidambaram. ] . > > I/III.http://www.indianex press.com/ news/stayresolut e/601715/ > > > > > > Stay resolute [Editorial] > > > > The Indian Express Posted online: Thursday , Apr 08, 2010 at 0218 hrs > > > > The rhetorical ground on the Maoist insurgency had already been covered > and the debate settled in the light of facts. That is why, after Tuesday’s > well-planned Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh’ s Dantewada district that left > 76 security personnel dead in the worst single Naxal attack to date, the > notes of discord being struck in certain political quarters are > counterproductive. These seek to take the argument back to a point long left > behind, one to which the Indian state cannot afford to return. Should the > operations be scaled down? No. Because that would immediately cede territory > recently recovered from Naxals back to them, precluding all chances of > ending the insurgency. Should “provocative language†against Maoists be > dropped? Here’s a counter-question: whence the idea that those who > massacre 76 men after trapping them, those who for years have kidnapped and > butchered civilians and policemen, blown up stations, roads, bridges, > schools, burnt > > peasants’ crops, who have reiterated countless times their > unwillingness to compromise till the state is destroyed â€" whence the idea > that these people care about the softness or harshness of words? > > > > The nation’s main opposition party, the BJP, has displayed realism and > good faith in promising to support the government through this crisis. But > its alliance partner, the JD(U), and the Samajwadi Party have not. It’s a > leap of logic to blame Tuesday’s massacre on “provocation†of the > Maoists. Does it occur to these critics that to mollify the Naxals or > de-intensify Green Hunt, especially now, is to legitimise the rebels? If it > does, they are opportunists in the garb of agnostics. If it does not, they > join those activists who defy logic, in blaming “state violence†and the > anti-Naxal offensive for the ambush. In countering such woolly-headed > argumentation this is what had been established: Maoists are terrorists who > hardly deserve the consideration the state accords to those it dares not > “provoke†. The imperative is to boost paramilitary and police morale and > training, not to feed the hesitation of states still unable to summon their > > full political will. > > > > The Congress too must put its house in order: the time is past to > question the “hardline†policy, the “aggressive†statements, which > some Congressmen believe may be “counterproductive†. Hopefully, as the > government has said, the goal remains restoring civil administration in > Naxal-affected areas and rooting out Maoist influence. There will have to be > changes to strategy and tactics, not in regressing to the Shivraj Patil > years, but in taking the war against Naxals to its only humane conclusion: > the victory of the state and of the people. > > > > II.http://chhattisgarh .ozg.in/2010/ 04/naxal- butchers- 73-crpf-in- > dantewada. html > > > > Naxal Warfare in Central India > > > > > > Arnab Sen > > > > > > > > > > Maoist guerrilla attack kills 75 security personnel in Dantewada, in the > indigenous homelands of Central India. Are security personnel cannon fodder > in the 'Maoist infested' heartland of India? Should the state send in the > Air Force? But what about collateral damage? These are some of the loud > speculations in the the never-fail-to- miss-the- point mainstream media, the > idiot news on idiot box. Till now, there's deathly silence in the more > intelligent social media - at least parts of it I checked. > > > > > > > > Why am I not surprised? Well, why should I be? The past couple of days my > mediascape has been fairly flooded with stories of state oppression in > Kalinganagar in Orissa and of hoodlums hired by the Tata group who have > blocked access to food and healthcare for those who dared to oppose their > corridor highway or whatever the hell that piece of road I'd love to see > landmined is called. All the while Bombay House hides behind its halo of > greenwashing - the Tatas, urban India would ask, surely not the Tatas? > People I know and talk to have forgotten what the government and the Tatas > had done in Kalinganagar in 2006 - the blood that was spilt and which is now > being spilt in revenge several times over across Central India. > > > > > > > > Some public intellectuals have woken up to the guises of Vedanta and its > dubious owner and there's some backlash on their trying to acquire land to > set up a university. The problem is a Vedanta or even a POSCO is a lot > easier to nail down than, say a Tata. > > > > > > > > While our intelligence tells us that mining and petroleum extraction in > homelands of indigenous peoples has pretty much the same outcomes, the media > lets its inherent biases work in reporting. And public consciousness is > unmoved - the people have been hoodwinked so long that they just don't care. > > > > > > > > They call this a democracy - but I guess by now we've come to recognize > that scam for what it is. It's time the state stopped fooling itself for now > blood is being shed and we're fast heading toward endemic guerrilla warfare > in major parts of our geography. The dubious mining deals and a state that > has all but lost its credibility is not going to sustain for long - these > same investors will turn their back on an unstable economy. > > > > > > > > The solution? Bring things out in the public domain. Engage with > academia, civil society, business, the social media. Engage with the people. > Dare to own up that big dams was a big blunder - a state scam. Europe did > that ages back, They're over and done with it. Dare to protect cultural and > religious symbols. Respecting the past is wisdom. Declare geographies out of > bounds for extraction of minerals, petroleum, whatever. Our home minister > had the gall to say that a sacred mountain would not feed or clothe the > Dongria Kondh people. Do these spokespeople of development policy have the > faintest clue about the biological diversity in Niyamgiri and Gandhamardhan? > Do they know about the wellness the forest affords people who live close to > it? People whose food diversity and low morbidity give them a quality of > life superior to that of others who score better on poverty indices? And > would this minister and others of his thought say this with as much impunity > > had the bauxite been under Lutyen's Delhi, had it been Raisina Hill? > Would they be just as callous had it been politically sacred and not an old > religious and cultural symbol, some local obscurity, some folk Ramayana > tale? I double up in laughter at the prospect of uranium under Lutyen's > Delhi and leasing out Rashtrapati Bhavan to a mining company. > > > > > > > > I think indigenous peoples have finally risen up. Quell them with > airstrikes. Burn down forests. I suspect that is what this minister > seriously wants to do, as in another of his insane diatribes he has wanted > to see 90% of India urbanized. But the spirit will not be smothered. > > > > > > > > The state needs to backtrack immediately. It needs to engage and do some > serious course correction before there's more bloodshed it can gloss over, > before someone calls the state's and media's bluff, before someone unmasks > holier than thou CSR. Conscientious investment by the Church of England has > pulled the carpet from under Vedanta's act. We are perhaps just a few years > away from large scale conscientious consumption. > > > > > > > > The message to the old world order is loud and clear, change or perish. > > III.http://online. wsj.com/article/ SB10001424052702 3037206045751696 > 14063173730. html > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > OPINION INDIA > > > > APRIL 7, 2010, 11:13 P.M. ET > > > > > > Mao vs. Gandhi in Chhattisgarh > > > > A naïve admiration for the Maoists is emblematic of the tendency in some > among the Indian intellectual class toward left-wing utopianism. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > By SALIL TRIPATHI > > > > > > > > Maoist insurgents ambushed Indian security forces in the dense forest > region of Chhattisgarh state in central India on Tuesday, killing over 70 > troops of the Central Reserve Police Force. Analysts are calling it the > worst single-day loss in fighting domestic insurgencies. > > > > > > > > But despite such massacres, not everyone in India regards the Maoists > with horror. One such apologist is the talented and articulate novelist > Arundhati Roy who has, since her Booker Prize-winning 1997 novel "The God of > Small Things," focused on bigger things, such as attacking Indian economic > reforms, foreign investment, free markets, the United States and Israel. > > > > > > > > In a rambling 19,500-word essay published a week ago in Outlook magazine > in India and the Guardian newspaper, Ms. Roy writes of recent experiences > following the Maoists in the Dandakaranya forest, near where the security > forces were ambushed this week. The piece was headlined "Gandhi, but with > guns." > > > > > > > > The comparison is obscene. Not only does it suggest an amoral nihilism, > it also represents a rewriting of history. A Gandhian with a gun is as > absurd as a Maoist pacifist. India's founding father Mohandas Gandhi may not > have been as perfect as some would make him out, but he did believe that > only the right means could be used to reach an end, however noble. In 1922 > he suspended a nationwide civil disobedience movement, when some Congress > followers burned a police station in Chauri Chaura, killing over a dozen > policemen and officers. Maoist ideology is precisely the opposite: The ends > justify the means. > > > > > > > > Ms. Roy herself notes that when she mentioned Mohandas Gandhi's > non-violent struggle to the Maoists, they laughed hysterically. Despite her > best efforts to portray a bucolic image of Maoists and tribals living > harmoniously, their tranquility disturbed by forest officers, loggers, > mining companies, and security forces, the truth still comes through. The > Maoists show off an impressive arsenal of weapons, and their teenage > recruits watch hours of reruns of violent ambush videos. The kids tell her > they want to implement Mao's vision in India. > > > > > > > > Ms. Roy's naïve admiration for the Maoists is emblematic of the tendency > in some among the Indian intellectual class toward left-wing utopianism. In > "Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers," Tom Wolfe lampooned the Park > Avenue elite sucking up to the Black Panther terrorists who were killing > cops in 1960s America. Is history repeating itself in India? > > > > > > > > Nevertheless, just as in America three decades ago, the tide may be > turning as ordinary voters become fed up with the violence. Maoists have > been fighting the Indian state for over four decades under various names, > including Naxalites, the name the movement got because of its origins in the > town Naxalbari in West Bengal, where peasants revolted against landlords in > the 1960s. > > > > > > > > Like Maoists elsewhere, they are brutal. They conduct show-trials, > sometimes executing the people they find guilty; they use improvised > explosive devices and land mines; and they appear to use child soldiers. > Since 2006, their attacks have become audacious, targeting police stations, > power lines, schools and trains. They have not spared civilians and other > "class enemies" who in their view collaborate with the state. > > > > > > > > Even India's Communist Parties have distanced themselves from Maoists, > and condemned their practices. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party > strongly supports the government in its battle. For his part, Prime Minister > Manmohan Singh has called the Maoists' threat the gravest national security > crisis the country faces. > > > > > > > > To be sure, Indians living in forests have legitimate grievances. Their > rights are routinely violated. Successive governments have failed them. > Large companies, Indian and foreign, want the mineral wealth in those > forests. The state hasn't built schools, nor equipped the few that are > built. There are few primary health care centers, and the administration > neglects remote areas. The rapidly modernizing and prospering parts of urban > India ignores the region, its poverty, and its problems. > > > > > > > > But the Maoists offer no solution. Their collectivist authoritarianism is > culturally alien in an India where spiritual acceptance of fate prevails, > and where, despite feudal structures, inequities and rigidities, there is > social and economic mobility. With all its flaws, it is a real democracy. > Maoists know they would never win power through the ballot box. > > > > > > > > They can only win through force, by shocking the state, by spreading > terror, and by scaring away the administration so that they can reach their > end. Which is power, not the removal of poverty. > > > > Maoists want an articulate messenger, and Ms Roy fulfils that role. Her > poetic eloquence clothes their naked ambition of power, offering it > respectability. Her fame helps make their struggle known to audiences > abroad, where people with limited knowledge of India accept the romanticized > image of warriors in the jungle fighting for justice that she writes about. > In early April, while the Maoists were preparing to ambush the troops in the > forest, Ms Roy was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a public forum with Noam > Chomsky. > > > > > > > > Ms Roy has explained Maoist violence as a response to the repressive > state, suggesting that the tribal groups are rising against the state, > getting evenâ€"an eye for an eye. But as Gandhi said, an eye for an eye > leaves the world blind. > > > > > > > > Mr. Tripathi, a writer based in London, is the author of "Offense: The > Hindu Case" (Seagull, 2009). > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Peace Is Doable > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Peace Is Doable > > > > >
