It is the duty of the Party and the revolutionary movement to expose the reactionary elections as a bogus democratic device that forms part of the mechanisms that maintain the exploitative and oppressive system. Reactionary elections in the Philippines are political carnivals held every three years. Their main features are politician-clowns who pose as promoters of the people’s interests.
They divert the people’s attention from their gravest socio-economic problems and offer them false promises of reform under the ruling system. We must thwart the US-Aquino regime’s objective of using the reactionary elections to consolidate its political rule. In the face of Aquino’s rapidly dwindling “popularity,” he wishes to utilize the coming elections to create the impression that he still enjoys the people’s broad support. Aquino intends to use the elections as a platform to propagate the illusions of a “robust economy,” the “righteous path” and “good governance.”
The Filipino people must show that the US-Aquino regime is no different from previous regimes. Aquino has merely replaced the corruption of the Arroyo clique with the corruption of his relatives and cronies. His regime is relentlessly repressive and brutal despite its “peace and development” rhetoric. The people must oppose the continuing oil price hikes and the impending power and water rate increases. They must advance their mass struggles to fight for genuine land reform, demand wage hikes, resist demolitions, the privatization of health services and the commercialization of education and other public services. They must hold the Aquino regime accountable for its servility to IMF-WB dictates, its implementation of the policies of liberalization, privatization, deregulation and denationalization and for taking measures that favor foreign big capitalists and banks and cede the national patrimony.
We must take advantage of the period of reactionary elections to expand the united front in order to isolate the ruling Aquino clique. There is currently no major reactionary opposition party. The two main rival parties, Team PNoy (a coalition of the Liberal Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition and Nacionalista Party) and the United Nationalist Alliance (a coalition of PDP-Laban, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino) are in close collusion in implementing the programs of the US-Aquino regime. But underneath this collaboration are deep-seated rivalries for positions in government. These rivalries will become more marked and intense during the elections because of the contending factions’ desire to place their closest allies in various government posts.
The coming May elections are likewise crucial in the preparations being made by the leading political camps for the presidential elections in 2016. As the May elections near, the rivalries will become more pronounced not only on the national level, but even more so on the local level. This opens so many opportunities for the revolutionary forces to touch base and expand and strengthen the united front for the purpose of isolating the ruling Aquino clique and advance the programs of the revolutionary movement. Progressive and patriotic forces are intensely involved in the coming 2013 elections. For more than a decade now, progressive parties have successfully participated in reactionary elections despite the lack of resources and the all-out fascist attacks of the military and anti-communist groups.
A significant number of representatives have taken their seats in the reactionary Congress, advocating the people’s national and democratic aspirations. They have been able to use their positions in Congress to resist and prevent the enactment of anti-democratic and antipeople laws. It is favorable to the people to have representatives within the reactionary Congress who supplement their mass struggles outside of Congress. The Party encourages progressive and patriotic forces to participate in reactionary elections even if these are bogus and dominated by the power and resources of the major reactionary parties. The participation of progressive and patriotic parties in the coming elections will definitely be thoroughly opposed by agents of the US and the latter’s men in the military and bureaucracy.
As before, they face intimidation, violence and fraud. Working for the victory of progressive and patriotic forces in the upcoming elections has particular significance in the face of the brewing consensus among the ruling classes to amend the reactionary 1987 constitution in order to cast aside the national patrimony and pave the way for the further liberalization of foreign investments and trade. The placement of patriotic forces within the reactionary government can also be of use in the all-out battle against the continuing entry of American soldiers in the Philippines and US military intervention. Positions within Congress can also be used to push for the abrogation of the oil deregulation law and other policies that are onerous to the people.
The patriotic and progressive forces must also take advantage of the election period to give equal attention to expanding their ranks and launching mass education to expose the rotten reactionary system. Simultaneously, the Party encourages the progressive and patriotic forces to thoroughly expose the bogusness of the reactionary elections and how bereft it is of genuine democracy. In the Philippines, genuine democracy is enjoyed the the Filipino people only within the territories of the People’s Democratic Government where organs of political power are established on the basis of their democratic organizations.
In areas under the jurisdiction of the People’s Democratic Government, a new political system coexists with the old rotten system of the ruling classes. In these areas, the revolutionary forces may allow reactionary elections and campaigns by candidates. The people’s government must use its armed strength and political authority to oblige those participating in the reactionary elections to abide by the policies on the conduct of campaigns in order to ensure that the people’s rights will not be trampled on and the masses’ interests will be protected.
As candidates approach revolutionary authorities to seek permission, let us take this opportunity to strengthen our unities with them on other policies and programs of the people’s government. Even as we address the reactionary elections, the Party must continue holding fast to its tasks in the people’s war. We must expand and strengthen the Party, the New People’s Army and the revolutionary mass organizations. The NPA must continue to seize the initiative and intensify the armed struggle.
Ang Bayan February 23, 2013
2 more BSF battalions to be deployed in Maoists’ base
Two more battalions of Border Security Force (BSF) will be deployed to augment the anti-Naxal operations in Odisha which has lost more than 400 civilians and security personnel in Maoist violence since 2001. The Unified Command, which takes a call on the anti-Maoist strategies to be adopted by the State, met here on Saturday and discussed the latest challenges and action plan.
Currently, six battalions of BSF, eight battalions of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and one Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) are deployed in the State. The Centre, which responded to the State’s demand for two more battalions, has chosen to send in BSF which will be positioned in Southern Odisha where the Maoists hold sway. The Command, chaired by Chief Secretary B K Patnaik, also discussed re-deployment of the existing Central para military forces in the State. More CPMF units will be mobilised in Western Odisha where new pockets of Maoist stronghold have emerged in recent times.
As more parts of Bargarh, Balangir and Nuapada have thrown up Maoist incidences, both civil and armed police will be strengthened, it was decided at the meeting. It was attended by Development Commission J K Mohapatra, DGP Prakash Mishra and Director (Intelligence) Abhay among others. In fact, Nuapada, which adjoins Chhattisgarh, is now among the worst affected districts. In the last two years, 17 incidences of Naxal violence have already claimed as many lives in Nuapada. The district is now behind Malkangiri and Koraput in terms of this dubious distinction.
According to available statistics, between 2001 and 2012, as many as 402 lives have been lost in Maoist violence in the State. Of it, 199 are civilians, 174 are jawans and 29 are securitymen in the officer rank. Southern-most district Malkangiri continues to be the heartland where 139 persons, including 74 jawans, have lost their lives in Maoist violence. It includes 48 civilians and 17 security personnel in the officer rank. Koraput follows closely with loss of 93 lives in the 12-year period. Rayagada, Gajapati, Nuapada, Kandhamal and Sundargarh saw frequent Maoist operations.
In the last two years, there was no dip in violence in Malkangiri despite heavy presence of security personnel. As many as 56 incidences of Naxal violence were reported from the district in 2011 and 2012. During the same period, Koraput reported 43 Maoist incidents.
http://newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/article1476797.ece
Four Naxals arrested in Chhattisgarh
Raipur: Four alleged hardcore Naxals were arrested in two separate incidents in Kondagaon district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Sunday. “Three hardcore ultras of small action group (SAG) of Maoists were nabbed yesterday by a contingent of district force and Chhattisgarh Armed Force near Madanar village under Bayanar police station area of the district,” Additional Superintendent of Police Surjeet Atri said. “Huge cache of explosives, two pistols, 5 kg tiffin bomb, one hand grenade, one detonator, live cartridges, knives and wire were recovered from their possession,” he said.
The accused were identified as 22-year-old Jugaram, Deputy Commander of Aadnar Jan Militia, Gandhi (40) of peoples’ government (Jantana Sarkar) and Sukhram Sori (21), a member of Aadnar jan militia. On getting a tip-off about presence of some suspected Naxals near Madanar village, security personnel moving around in the area held the trio and during interrogation they admitted to being involved in Maoist movement, he stated.
The police party was sent for conducting search operations and providing security for ‘Madai Mela’ (yearly fairs) held in Bayanar, Mungwal, Badko Kejang and Madanar villages of the region. In an another incident, Naxal commander Chamru Ram (45) was arrested by district force from Mardapal police station area yesterday, the ASP said. Those arrested were being further interrogated, he said adding that they all were involved in crimes like arson, explosion, murder and loot in the region. PTI
http://zeenews.india.com/news/chhattisgarh/four-naxals-arrested-in-chhattisgarh_831303.html
Maoist leader arrested
RANCHI: District police on Saturday arrested CPI (Maoist) leader Shivnath Munda, who is wanted in at least six cases of arson, loot and extortion. Munda, a resident of Rahe in Khunti block, was active in the organization for last five-six years. Additional SP (operations) Sambhu Kumar said that the rebel leader was active in parts of Ranchi and Khunti districts. “The rebel leader has accepted his involvement in at least six cases under different police stations. We have also recovered a powerful land mine on basis of information provided by the rebel,” said the additional SP.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Maoist-leader-arrested/articleshow/18651549.cms
Eight Arrests in Vizag
Visakhapatnam: Two militia members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) were allegedly arrested by the GK Veedhi police on Saturday in connection with the killing of three tribals of Bhagata community at outskirts of Lakkavaram village under GK Veedhi police station limits in Vizag Agency. The police also arrested six more militia members in connection with the damage of coffee godowns and distribution of coffee plants to others.
Deputy Superintendent of Police, Paderu, Ch Adinara-yana said on Saturday that the state government has announced cash rewards ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh to encourage Maoists leaders in Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) to surrender. Releasing the poster of cash rewards to Maoists, Mr Adinarayana said in the recent GO, each central committee and AOB leader or politburo member, who surrenders before police would be eligible for a onetime package of Rs 25 lakh, against Rs 12 lakh earlier, this is the highest amount.
Maoist leaders in East division, Ramachandra Reddy is eligible for Rs 25 lakh cash reward while Bakuri Vekataramana alias Ganesh eligible for cash reward of Rs 20 lakh, he said. Mr Adinarayana said that divisional committee members would get Rs 5 lakh, while the commander rank leaders would get `4 lakh to surrender, their deputies Rs 2 lakh. A dalam member would get Rs 1 lakh. Commandant of CRPF Battalion, P.K. Sahu said that it’s a part of the government’s strategy to encourage top Maoist leaders to surrender and to shun violence. They hope some top guns would surrender in the coming days.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130224/news-current-affairs/article/shun-violence-maoists-told
The Committee had invited the Parties and Organizations that had participated the in the International Conference in Hamburg, or were interested in the activity of support, to send their representatives. Some of them attended the meeting, other sent messages and communications. Particularly, we welcomed with joy the attendance of the comrades of Gran Marcha Hacia el Comunismo from Spain and the Revolutionary Front to defend the people’s rights from Brazil. We wish they will take part also in the future meetings and activities of the Committee.
The Committee is not yet structured in final form, it fulfils the tasks pointed out in its founding Call and realizing campaigns and actions. Report The purpose of this meeting is at the same time important and limited. We have to draw a summary assessment of the Conference, organize the publishing of the booklet of speeches and fix the tasks to be accomplished with operational decisions. We have to be a dynamic organization capable of mobilizing energies and at the same time to tune its activity with the current state of People’s War in India. All the speeches the International Conference stressed the importance of People’s War in India, and the Committee considers all the forces participating in the conference as forces of real support to the People’s War.
The point is not to impose a general line to which such forces have to conform, but to promote in a unified form all this activity. Our work is twofold: first, to go on with the line and the method of work that led to the International Conference in Hamburg, second, to share this line and working method with even more large and articulated forces. The decisive concept is that the Committee is not an ideological supporter to the CPIM. It is clear that all those are here are Maoist organizations, but the Committee is not the RIM, it can not be an organization of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoists only. That is why the relationship and work with the German comrades of the BGIA, and the other anti-imperialist and revolutionary forces taking part at the Conference, were important and positive. The result of the International Conference showed the correctness of this approach.
The first point of the Committee’s assessment is that this task has been fulfilled. We could have not organize the International Conference if we had forged not this unity and made the decision to hold it in Hamburg, where we relied on the mass support of an anti-imperialist forces really in solidarity with the People’s War in India. Along with the comrades of the BGIA, we put forward an effective joint Call that has correctly placed the solidarity in the context of the action of imperialism against peoples. That Call would be shared and supported, with the participation, by all the forces we was inviting to participate in the International Conference.
Once this decision was made, we passed to realize the plan to organize the International Conference, successfully. Both the forces promoting of the Conference made the necessary efforts, in their respective fields, for the success of the Conference. The BGIA appealed a part of the forces, we brought our forces, the Parties and organizations that already had supported the work of the Committee and those MLM parties and organizations that had shared the support to the People’s War even if were not part of the Committee.
This way we had a large Italian delegation, with representatives of workers, women, youth, significant delegations from France and Galicia, representatives of many communist MLM parties and organizations in the world, some of which undertook a long journey to attend. This made possible the success of the International Conference, that before appeared impossible.
The Conference has been a hard blow to imperialism and the reactionary and genocidal State of India, to revisionism and opportunists groups, in solidarity in words and sectarian in facts, that finally boycotted the Conference. The International Conference was held with a militant and enthusiastic style. The German comrades organized the Conference in details, even how to arrange the hall, etc., in accordance with the Committee.
Everything has been planned and almost entirely carried out. The success of the International Conference is important not only for the solidarity but also for the work in each country to broaden this activity. It was Important that at the International Conference many comrades pointed out that the best support is to prepare the People’s War in their countries. And everybody welcomed this message, that allows to link the support to the People’s War in India with the class struggle and the class war in each country.
If we have a correct line and we apply it flexibly, it has influence on the struggle and the transformation of the entire movement. In some countries, for example in Norway and Sweden, the process of the Conference resulted in a line struggle against revisionism and opportunism, and has been an element of clearness. We need to look into and analyze all the speeches to the International Conference, because each of them gives a contribution to develop the work.
Now the committee can not stop to contemplate the result, the Conference is a step. We need to start from the tasks that the Conference put forward, look at the new problems involved and address them. First, we need to see how the Conference has expanded our real strength. We should organize an international day of actions simultaneously in different countries, on the example of the previous international weeks, that allowed us to expand the knowledge of the People’s War in India. We need to raise the level of the initiatives, to make step forward in each country.
For this we must carefully consider the proposals contained in the speeches. We should generalize the advanced experiences and give them a general reference with the proposal of an International Day. India is a crucial country for the strength balance between imperialism and people, a leaven of of the rebellions that touch the masses in the world.
So the military cooperation between India and imperialist countries is also important. The Committee should mobilize its forces to bring the support to People’s War in India in occasion of the International Women’s Day and the May 1st, and particularly the support to the great and massive struggles of women and proletarians in develop in that country. In each country we should also carry out debates like the International Conference, utilizing in each country the booklet and the method of the Conference, so that the different forces not directly participating in the International Confeence can be involved.
Finally, we should organize an International Delegation that travels to India to bring even there directly the message of support to the people of India against the Indian government and imperialism. There are no the conditions to realize something similar to the international delegations to Palestine (Freedom Flotilla etc), because the level of the People’s war and the kind of war on people waged by the Indian state do not allow this kind of delegations.
Rather we should carry out something like the previous example of the international delegations in support of chairman Gonzalo. The impact will be nationally and internationally very strong. After this report, the debate among the comrades has started on the many aspects of the International Conference and the work to do. We publish here a summary of the discussion.
Debate
Brazil- A special greeting from the comrades of the Revolutionary Front to Defend the People’s Rights, who participated in the Conference in Hamburg. We consider that Conference an important initiative. For us the internationalist solidarity to People’s War in India is an important work, because it is not just a work of humanitarian solidarity but a crucial task for the revolutionaries today, the Maoist communist in the world.
In Brazil, we was able to develop actions, particularly a demonstration in front of the Indian Embassy, that marked the closeness with the struggles of the Peasants League, whose leaders met there. It had a big impact in Brazil, where the embassy officials got surprised, and also in India, to read the local press. It was particularly important for Brazil because, I repeat, it showed the current harmony and political closeness of the PW with the struggle of peasants.
There was an important meeting of peasants leaders from all over Brazil on a revolutionary line against the devastation brought by landlords. The State attacked this movement. The demo had a big impact on peasants, bringing a deeper understanding of what should be the path of revolutionary struggle in Brazil. It was important and surprising, because it gave strength to movement of peasants, it strengthened the struggle in Brazil. The proposals of campaign made by International Committee are important,
I agree to have a common plan and maintain a political link. Particularly important is the proposal of mobilization for the International Women’s Day, due to the international attention on the struggle of women against mass rapes in India and also because the Indian regime has claimed that the demonstrations in all India had been organized by the Maoists. So that date is a good opportunity to denounce imperialism. The comrades of the Movimiento Feminino Popular in Brazil asked me to point out this to the meeting of the Committee.
I think that an international intiative provides the opportunity to speak clearly, and the International Conference can be used to appeal and give unifying strength to other organizations that are currently organized separately. This is an important task because in this moment of crisis of imperialism, we have to discuss what are the main tasks for us to defend the rights of the people and a bright future for the people. On the other hand, this work gives good opportunities for the knowledge and recognizing of our work, to deepen the ideological and political issues. We applaud this initiative and we are ready to carry out this work in Brazil and the countries of Latin America.
Spain - We participated in the International Conference and now consider important this meeting. Our assessment is very positive. An organization from Ecuador sent us a press release with which it supports this work. Positive was the extent of participation of Parties and organizations. The realization of the Conference allowed a leap. Within it, in the speeches to the conference we find a markedly ideological and political content . This debate will expand our work in the future.
As a result of the Conference we continued our activities in Spain. First we made a leaflet with the final communique and our speech. Later we began to translate the speeches and messages. The sheet was sent to about 60 Parties, groups, unions and progressive people in Spain . The impact of this activity has been positive, others are relaunching these texts in the web.
Rhere were attacks against our activities. We are preparing another leaflet with the introducing report of the International Committee, and another on the People’s Wars in India, Turkey, Philippines.we should set up a web page to provide information. As regards the upcoming International Day of actions, we will contribute according to our strength and capabilities. We will try to coordinate with the comrades of Galicia.
France - We are very pleased with the International Conference, because we were able to involve in the work for and attain the participation of other organizations that are not Maoist. Other comrades, who are now organizing a meeting in Clermont-Ferrand, where workers of Michelin will attend. Other initiatives can be held in other cities. When we go to some factories in France, we try to link the PW to the struggles of the working class in France and its perspective.
We held a meeting in the city of the Michelin factory, and from there the workers of Michelin sent a statement to the workers of a tire factory in India, where the French bosses of Michelin try to delocalize. The International has brought also a two-lines-struggle in our country. Someone spoke about it as a meeting manipulated by the Maoists, while other young Marxist-Leninists had the opportunity to see and share the preparation of Conference.
Some of them came to Hamburg as individual because of the prohibition of their organization. We started new relations with new comrades, not only the workers, as we already said, and even with revolutionary rappers, well-known in France. As every year, we will participate in the anti-colonialist weeks, where we will inform about the situation in India and especially on the issues of the rapes, the condition of the peasants and the content of the debate in Hamburg.
RPFM, Italy - We see the close connection between our speech at the International Conference and the current mobilization of women in India. It shows the role of women in People’s War and revolution. It shows the need that the Committee takes up this battle in the continuation of the work, with a struggle inside and outside. The rapes, the killings of women in India are the same as in Italy, Spain, France. It is in the revolutionary struggle, in the People’s War that the real emancipation of women is achieved.
The participation of women makes the revolution richer. To understand this we need an internal ideological struggle. We agree the proposal to bring the struggle of women and the PW in India into the International Women’s Day. Italy, Palermo – During the preparation of the campaign we held initiatives in the cities where we operate, towards workers, youth and students. For us too, the assessment is mainly positive.
Within the communist movement, that in Italy is varied, the novelty is that everyone now knows what the PW in India. Compared to other countries, there are not positions against, but only in an opportunistic defection from the discussion. Also internationally, the assessment is positive, just look at the participation and the outcome of the Conference, as result of both the quantitative and qualitative composition, especially for the strong presence of young people. Internationally, all forces must take this into account. Let’s start from this positive assessment to develop the work.
We think that we should emphasize the the offensive aspect of the support to PW. At two levels. First, the propaganda and information about the actions of the PW, and secondly to make more offensive the character of the campaign and action in support to the PW. In Italy, we propose to organize militant events, targeting the Indian Embassy and consulates, taking into account the actual level of our forces. International Committee – The comrades of BGIA who manage the blog have guaranteed the translations from and into German.
From 1st of February onward we have to release the book of speeches in as many languages as possible. We should also set up to a website of the Committee with selected information to show the strength of the PW. We have to handle this problem in an systematic form. We need to continue the relationship with the BGIA and emphasize the contribution coming from each speech and message to the Conference.
International Committee to Support the People’s War in India 19.1.2013
Security personnel, cops chalk out anti-Maoist strategy
Bhubaneswar, Feb 23 (PTI) Top security officers of CRPF, BSF and Odisha Police today attended the Unified Command meeting for chalking out anti-Maoist operation strategy in the state. “We discussed the law and order situation concerning the security of the civilians,” Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told reporters here after presiding over the meeting. Patnaik refused to divulge more details about the talks.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/3412025_Security-personnel–cops-chalk-out-anti-Maoist-strategy
Police nab Maoist leader in Odisha’s Koraput district
Acting on a tip off, the local police here on Saturday arrested a Maoist leader said to be involved in multiple murder cases and also a land mine blast case in Koraput district Odisha. Giving details of the arrest, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Devadatta Singh said that the arrest of the Maoist named Kastu Tadingi would strengthen the programme launched against the rebels.
“Kastu Tadingi has been arrested from Narayanpatna area of Koraput district, which is a known extremist-affected area. There are at least in 12 cases he has been found involved and out of that 4 cases are of murder including one land mine blast. We hope that with this arrest the ongoing process that is ‘operation combined civic action’ will definitely be strengthened,” said Singh.
Police in Maoist-affected parts of the state have launched a ‘civic action programme’, which aimed at combating left wing extremism and to bridge the gap between villagers and security personnel.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_police-nab-maoist-leader-in-odisha-s-koraput-district_1803598
Six cops among 8 killed in Gaya
Maoist landmine In a broad daylight operation, Maoists killed eight people, including six policemen, by triggering a landmine blast at Majhaulia village under Roshanganj police station area of Gaya district in Bihar on Friday. Superintendent of Police of Gaya Akhtar Hussain said that Maoists used Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) to blow the vehicle of the police personnel on which they were travelling.
The deceased included a Special Police Officer (SPO) and two villagers. Other victims were an Assistant Sub Inspector of Police (ASI), a police havildar and four jawans of Bihar Military Police (BMP). The incident took place when security forces were returning to their base after completing their patrolling duty, assigned by local authorities to avert any disturbance during selection of Anganwadis at Balasot village under Roshanganj police station area of the district. The local Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) had reportedly sought the help of the police for hassle free selection of anganwadis.
The vehicle of the deceased converted into a rubble due to the impact of the explosion. The site of the incident was nearly 700-800 metres away from Roshanganj police station in the bordering areas of Bihar and Jharkhand. The deceased cops had been identified as Praduman Rai (ASI), Sheomani Rai (Police Havildar) and BMP jawans — Dharmendra Kumar, Amit Kumar, Subhash Yadav and Rakesh Kumar. The immediate provocation for the attack is believed to be the decision of the district authorities to engage an NGO to conduct mass awareness campaign against Maoists whose influence in this part of the State is still strong.
Meanwhile, sources claimed that ultras also looted four sophisticated firearms from the victim BMP police personnel and the service revolver of the deceased ASI. Sources said that 12 Maoists riding on six motorcycles (two each on one motorcycle) reached the spot following the explosion and looted firearms and made their escape good by opening fire in the air. Deputy Inspector General of Police (Magadh Range) NH Khan, however, claimed that firearms were destroyed in the blast and denied the loot. Imamganj locality of Gaya district is considered as a stronghold of extremists and the Roshanganj attack was the fourth one during the last three years.
Sources said that all occupants of the vehicle died on the spot and their bodies were charred very badly. The difficult terrain in the locality makes it easier for Maoists to establish their dominance in the forest areas and places surrounding hillocks. Security forces had been their soft targets during their several attacks in the past too.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/360-todays-newspaper/129058-six-cops-among-8-killed-in-gaya-maoist-landmine.html
Maoists holed up in deep forests: Jharkhand DGP
Faced with intense combing operation, Maoists in Jharkhand are holed up in dense forest areas in selected pockets, posing a dilemma to police on which part of the jungles they should target them, a top police officer said in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, on Saturday. “Although their strength has come down, whatever numbers left (in the Maoist ranks) is confined to the deep forests,” Director General of Police GS Rath told reporters here.
And that is the problematic point for the security forces as they were not aware which side of the forests the rebels are hiding, he said, adding that police personnel have to move cautiously in their anti-Naxal operations. He identified Maoist pockets in Saranda forest of West Singhbhum district, Giridih’s Parasnath, Bokaro’s Jhumra Pahar and the forests in Palamau. Claiming that Maoist activities have been contained in Jharkhand through intensive combing operations, the DGP said the remaining leaders in their ranks are still “powerful and capable of giving the police, a challenge”. The forces were using modern weapons in their fight against Naxalism but the rebels too possessed sophisticated weapons, the police chief said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_maoists-holed-up-in-deep-forests-jharkhand-dgp_1803557
Arrests & encounter keep police on toes
RANCHI: Friday was a mixed day for Jharkhand police with some losses and an important arrest. Police held Maoist leader Bishu Bodra, who masterminded the Baliva (Saranda) attack on police in 2004, in which the then DIG of Jharkhand police and the SP of West Singhbhum had narrowly escaped death. In Lohardaga, 13 suspected rebels were arrested from Sehna block with arms and ammunition and two hand grenades.
However, in Latehar, CPI (Maoist) activists blew up a newly constructed health sub-centre building in Serendag village under Herhanj police station around 2.30 am on Friday. Police later recovered four unexploded IEDs from the spot. Subdivisional police officer (SDPO) Alok Kumar said an encounter took place in Chuku, also in the Herhanj police station area, on Thursday afternoon.
“Police or CRPF personnel have never used it (the sub-centre building) for shelter or during any anti-Maoist operation as we have standing orders not to use concrete buildings during operations to avoid wrath of Maoists,” he said. The gunbattle had continued till 4 pm on Thursday and resumed after 7 pm which continued late into the night. The distance between the encounter site and the health sub-centre is around 20 km.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Arrests-encounter-keep-police-on-toes/articleshow/18635466.cms
‘Stop repression or face more attacks’
RANCHI: Within hours of attacking a police patrolling vehicle in Gaya killing eight persons, the CPI (Maoists) owned up the responsibility for the strike and threatened more attacks in case the alleged repressive action of the security forces against villagers at Dumaria, Banke Bazar and Barachatti blocks is not contained immediately. Spokesperson for the Bihar regional committee of the Maoists Manas told TOI that they had specific information about the movement of police patrolling party which was attacked.
“We had information that a drama team of the ‘reactionary forces’ was preparing to stage anti-Maoist and pro-government plays in the villages under Roshangunj police station area of the district,” he said. The spokes- man denied that they had targeted the troupe but added that the artists were not the common people but young policemen “who played the roles of Maoists, men and women and policemen to mislead the innocent villagers”.
Apart from killing the police, the rebels have also snatched away the arms and ammunition from the security forces. The Maoists have described it as a part of the “Break Operation Green hunt.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Stop-repression-or-face-more-attacks/articleshow/18635363.cms
10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for 4 Red cadres
BOKARO: District and sessions judge-II SatyaprakashSinha on Friday awarded 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment to four Naxalites who were arrested five-and-a-half years ago with cartridges of SLR, AK47 at Nayamoad bus stand here. The court held Jitender Singh, Pradeep alias Pappu Jain, Kundan Singh and Daso Manjhi guilty of being involved in Naxalite activities.
The court has awarded rigorous imprisonment separately under different sections of IPC, Arms Act and the Explosives Act. Meanwhile, the court has also held them guilty under the Criminal Law Amendment Act (CLA) and sentenced six months’ rigorous imprisonment that apart from two years imprisonment under the Unlawful Activity Prevention Act, said R K Rai, additional public prosecutor. He also said the court also imposed fine in majority of sections apart from the imprisonments. The imprisonment awarded to the guilty under various sections will run concurrently.
The four were residents of Madhuban in Giridih district. They were arrested by a special police team, who conducted raid on August 12, 2007 at Nayamoad. Police also recovered 50 cartridges of SLR each from Pradeep and Jitender while from Kundan police got 25 cartridges of 30.06 bore and 61 cartridges of AK 47 and one grenade from Manjhi. Police nabbed them on a tip off provided by three naxals who were arrested then by Bokaro police, said Rai.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/10-years-rigorous-imprisonment-for-4-Red-cadres/articleshow/18635487.cms
NE States to jointly check Maoists
GUWAHATI, Feb 21 – The police forces of the States of the North East region have decided to launch coordinated efforts to check the Maoist rebels from establishing strong roots in the region. The forces are also of the view that the peace talks with the militant groups, which have already signed cease- fire agreements, should be expedited.
A meeting of the heads of the police forces of the North East States, convened by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which concluded in Gangtok last evening, discussed in detail the efforts by the Maoist rebels to establish roots in the North East region and observed that there is need for formulating strategies to check the growth of the Maoists and all the States decided to launch coordinated efforts in this regard.
The meeting observed that though the militant groups have weakened in 2011 and 2012, in recent times, the level of violence has gone up, which is a matter of serious concern. Highly placed sources in the MHA told The Assam Tribune that the increasing of the level of violence is a matter of concern, while, the ethnic clashes in Kokrajhar last year and the poll violence in the Rabha Hasong areas resulted in the number of deaths.
There is need for dealing with such situation to bring down the level of violence, the meeting observed. The meeting felt that the members of the militant groups under cease-fire agreements, are getting restive because of the slow progress of the peace talks. There have been instances of members of such groups indulging in unlawful activities including extortion and there is need to expedite the peace talks to find permanent solution to the problems. The meeting also decided that the Central Government should be requested to take effective measures to expedite peace talks with the militant groups.
As the members of the militant groups cross over from one state to another whenever operations are launched against them in one state, the meeting decided to launch joint operations whenever necessary, particularly in the inter-state border areas.
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=feb2213/at092
Two suspected Maoists arrested
A joint party of district police and CRPF on Thursday arrested two suspected Maoists from Modakpal Police Station area of the Naxal infested Bijapur district. According to police sources, the accused were arrested during the search operation from Guddipal village about 12 km from the police station, on Thursday. The arrested accused were identified as Rajaiah, 25 and Pulse Gaura, 25, residents of Gudipal village. Police claimed that both the arrested were involved in serious criminal offences like murder and abduction.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/raipur/129218-two-suspected-maoists-arrested-.html
Experts urge Arab nations to train forces in ‘crowd control’
Defence experts who say many lives could have been saved during Arab uprisings if states used proper crowd control measures sought to tap into a growing market at an Abu Dhabi arms fair. Anti-riot vehicles with sophisticated acoustic repellents have boldly taken their place alongside the likes of Eurofighter’s Typhoon warplane and the bristling firepower of rocket launchers at the arms industry’s biennial quest for petrodollars in the Gulf emirate.
“If a given state lacks the means, the doctrines, and the training for homeland defence and internal security missions, that government is more likely to use lethal means that are disproportionate,” said Steven Adragna of US defence consultancy Arcanum. Riot-control specialists such as South Africa’s Paramount and Turkey’s Otokar are bidding to change an apparent regional mindset by exhibiting their wares at the IDEX arms fair. Paramount’s Ivor Ichikowitz said governments need to be better equipped for crowd control to avoid resorting to use of disproportionate force.
“The riot catastrophe in Egypt, for example, was greatly exacerbated because police were using inappropriate equipment,” said Ichikowitz. “Appropriate and better-quality anti-riot vehicles and equipment increases police safety, thus reducing the pressure they feel in conflict situations.” From inside one such mobile fortress, police can repel rioters using acoustic repellents that emit ear-shattering frequencies over a 30-metre (yard) radius. Adragna said anti-riot gear, which in addition to batons and shields includes shotguns, rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades, can maintain order.
“If an individual policeman is trained on how to use those devices, I think they are perfectly legitimate,” he said. Thousands have been killed in demonstrations that have swept across several Arab countries since December 2010 as security forces used overwhelming force against peaceful protesters demanding political change. Street protests in Syria that began in March 2011 escalated into an armed conflict that the United Nations says has now killed more than 70,000 people. Security forces in Bahrain, where an uprising was crushed in 2011, continue to use tear gas to quell regular Shiite protests and also use shotguns.
In Egypt, security forces under the Islamist government of President Mohamed Morsi appear to have reverted to the same heavy-handed practices used under toppled former strongman Hosni Mubarak. Mauro Della Costanza of Italian shotgun maker Benelli says “Egypt is a big customer. “Egyptian police have several thousand of these,” he said, showing off the company’s M3 shotgun marketed to law enforcement authorities.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/65416/World/Region/Experts-urge-Arab-nations-to-train-forces-in-crowd.aspx
Inmate accused of hitting slain guard during riot
JACKSON, Miss. – An inmate charged with participating in a prison riot in Mississippi has been identified as the first person to attack a guard who was beaten to death, federal court records said. Correction officer Catlin Carithers was killed and 20 people were injured in the May 20 riot at the privately run Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez, which holds illegal immigrants charged with crimes in the United States. Marco Perez-Serrano, also known as Jesus Fernando Ochoa, was indicted Wednesday. He had been charged in an FBI affidavit on Jan. 31, but the case was sealed until Thursday.
The FBI affidavit said inmates stacked food service carts from the kitchen and climbed on to a roof where Carithers was stationed with another guard. The affidavit said Perez-Serrano was the first person seen attacking Carithers when he hit him with a food tray. After other inmates joined in the attack on Carithers, Perez-Serrano was seen hitting another guard with the tray. Perez-Serrano is charged with rioting. Court records did not list an attorney.
The inmates used the keys they took from the guards to get into secured areas of the prison where more correction officers were attacked, the affidavit said. Perez-Serrano was also seen destroying prison property, including a surveillance camera, and fought with members of the special response teams that responded to the riot. Court records said the prisoners were angry about their treatment the day the riot erupted.
http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20130222/APN/1302220815?Title=Inmate-accused-of-hitting-slain-guard-during-riot
Production resumes at Faragalla factories, striking workers arrested
Production resumes at Faragalla factories, striking workers arrested Work resumed at Faraglla processed food factories in Alexandria on Saturday after management let workers enter the production site, said Magdy Abdel-Salam, head of the independent workers’ syndicate at Faragalla Group. Mohamed Farag Amer, chairperson of Faragalla Group, announced on Thursday the continued closure of all the group’s factories in Alexandria amid labour unrest. He claimed he was being blackmailed by striking workers and thus could not “resume production in such conditions.”
Abdel-Salam and 27 other workers have been arrested and put under investigation after managers accused them of inciting violence and destroying private property. The 28 workers are restricted from entering the factory’s premises, said the Egyptian Centre for Trade Union and Workers Services.
The group’s management said the workers’ syndicate had suspended its strike and negotiations were ongoing between management and workers on several issues, including higher wages, temporary employment and working hours. Faragalla Group is a private-sector company established in 1973 by Mohamed Farag Amer. The group has three separate food processing companies, encompassing 22 production lines, according to the group’s website.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/65401/Business/Economy/Production-resumes-at-Faragalla-factories,-strikin.aspx
Preparations for Sharmila’s Patiala Court appearance all set
IMPHAL, February 22: All necessary measures and arrangements for the physical appearance of Irom Chanu Sharmila before the Patiala Court in New Delhi are in place according to a source. A reliable source told IFP said that Irom Chanu Sharmila is set to appear physically before the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate No. 6 in Room No. 4 of Main Building at Patiala House Court Complex , New Delhi at 10 a.m. on 4 March.
The direction/order by Patiala House court of New Delhi for her physical appearance before the court of Patiala is with regard to a case registered by the Delhi Police against her protest to repeal AFSPA, 1958 from Manipur staged at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 5 October, 2006. The Delhi Court had earlier conveyed to the Manipur Central Jail Authority in writing for the physical appearance of the crusader who has been on a fast calling for the Armed Forces Special Power to be repealed at 10 a.m. on 17 October 2012.
Irom Sharmila has not been able to be produced before the court earlier as the security arrangement were not made and the required sum of money for the arrangements of travel to Delhi was not sanctioned from the side of the Home Department of the Manipur Government. Subsequently, the court directed that Irom Chanu Sharmila be made to appear physically during the first week of January. This time as per the Delhi court’s direction, all the arrangements/measures for her physical appearance on 4 March have been ready from the side of the Manipur government.
The source further said that all the required expenditure for her physical appearance before Delhi Court has been sanctioned by the Home Department. A team of officials of three departments will take her from Imphal to Delhi on 3rd March for enabling her to appear physically before Patiala house Court at 10 a.m. on 4 March, 2013. The three officials includes a specialist of the Directorate of Health Services , two officials from Police Department for escorting her and two officials of the Manipur Central Jail. An Assistant Jailor will lead the team comprising of eight persons including Irom Chanu Sharmila.
The eight-member team will leave Tulihal airport, Imphal for New Delhi in an Air India Flight on March 3. It is said that the team will leave New delhi for Imphal in the same Air India Flight on 5 March, 2013 after Irom Sharmila’s appearance before the court on 4 March for which, flight tickets of the team of eight persons have been booked. Permission required for her Imphal-Delhi-Imphal flight from the side of the government has been sought from Civil Aviation Ministry and granted.
Since Irom Chanu Sharmila is an under-trial prisoner (UTP), permission from the Civil Aviation Ministry is integral for taking her in the flight from civil Aviation Ministry is indispensable. It may be mentioned that Irom Sharmila had been taken into judicial custody 1958 under FIR No. 95 (3) 2012 U/S 309 registered against her after Porompat police station, Imphal East District arrested her following the launch of her fast-unto-death agitation over the demand to repeal AFSPA.
http://kanglaonline.com/2013/02/preparations-for-sharmilas-patiala-court-appearance-all-set/
Kevin “Rashid” Johnson is a New African Communist prison organizer and intellectual in the United States and one of the founders of the NABPP-PC (New African Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter). He has spent most of his adult life in the prison system and continually been subjected to political repression and violence in retaliation for his organizing efforts. He is currently held at Snake River Correctional Inst in Oregon.
This just in regarding Rashid:
“new x-rays have confirmed that there are no razor-blades in his system and there is apparently no longer blood in his urine. Rashid demand that he be allowed to receive his mail (which he says has been accumulating for more than a week in a box within sight of his cell).”
From a legal rep:
“I talked with Kevin Rashid Johnson today for over 90 minutes. He seemed to be clear headed and to have a good perspective on his situation. He said that he would appreciate support in regaining access to his personal property and mail. Officials have placed him on a security designation that precludes access to these things. So he is unable to contact anyone or publish anything. He thinks that is retaliation for articles he published that are critical of the Oregon Department of Corrections. The pretext that the officials are using to put him on this status is an incident on January 28, 2012. He was recently cleared of any misconduct in that incident after a disciplinary hearing. Furthermore, deprivation of property and mail is not reasonably related to the alleged incident. He thinks the best people to contact would be Doug Yancey, the security threat manager for the Dept. of Corrections, and C. Schultz, the security threat manager at Snake River. They are the ones who made this decision. I don’t have direct contact information for these people. A starting point for Mr. Yancey would be the Office of the Inspector General in Salem at 503-945-9043. A starting point for reaching Mr. Schultz would be the main line at Snake River, 503-945-9090. [...]
“He was very glad to hear that so many people are looking out for him.”
Security Threat Manager for the Dept. of Corrections Oregon – Doug Yancey – 503-945-9043
Security Threat Manager, Snake River – C. Schultz – 503-945-9090
Rashid’s inmate number is #19370490
Snake River is open 8-5 PST/MST. Further details on the situation and support actions will be posted here as they become available.
Observe All India Workers’ Strike on 20 and 21 Feb. 2013!
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) extends its solidarity with the workers who are going on a two-day All India general strike on 20 and 21 February. While all the major trade union centres affiliated to various ruling class parties of the country have come together for giving a call for this strike due to the pressure from the working masses, the revolutionary and militant trade unions and workers’ organisations too have separately given a strike call for these two days.
This strike is an opportunity for the workers across different sectors of the economy and regions to come together to highlight the burning problems of their common concern, which require urgent redressal. All the progressive, democratic and pro-people organisations and individuals of the country as well as the peasantry, the students, teachers, intellectuals, government and private employees, need to stand in solidarity with the striking workers in the struggle for achieving their just and genuine demands. The strike call comes at a time when the imperialist world economy is going through its worst crisis after the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The inherent contradiction of the capitalist economy between socialised production and privatised profit came into full force, leading to large-scale overproduction, unprecedented destruction of productive forces, high levels of unemployment, runaway inflation and mass impoverishment. The collapse of the imperialist economy was averted when monopoly finance capital resorted to Fascism in Europe and through massive militarisation and spending in the World War II, which was the direct result of the crisis in capitalism.
During this period, achievements which the international working-class movement had won in the form of labour rights through decades of life and death struggles were virtually wiped out. In the post-war period, a resurgence of struggles by the working masses and the spectre of communism and national liberation movements forced the governments in imperialist, bourgeois and semi-colonial countries to recognise the rights of the workers under the garb of ‘welfare economics’.
The so-called Nehruvian Socialism adopted by the feudal and comprador ruling classes of India was nothing but an attempt to conceal their continued subservience to imperialism with a new mask. After transfer of power and declaration of sham independence in 1947, the Indian state merely carried forward the approach of the British colonial rulers towards to the workers – to nominally recognise some of their rights in response to militant working class movements – but in reality facilitating the unbridled exploitation of the labourers by domestic and foreign big capitalists. The comprador bourgeoisie and foreign capitalists preserve the prevailing semi-feudal and semi-colonial social relations for exploitation of cheap labour and plunder of natural resources of the country.
They maintain wages at a below-subsistence level, depriving the working masses of even the basic necessities, keeping them dependent on agriculture and other land-related activities for survival, tying them in feudal bondage and perpetual debt trap, subjecting them to extra-economic coercion, and so on. Since the implementation of labour laws cut into their profits, the employers flout these laws with impunity in connivance with the state machinery. It is not surprising, therefore, that the dignity, social respect, political and legal rights, social security and political power – i.e., overall status and condition the workers experienced as individuals or as a class in the erstwhile socialist countries such as the USSR and China – are in sharp contrast to that of the workers of India.
In the absence of even a bourgeois democratic transformation due to the colonial stranglehold followed by the persistence of a semi-feudal semi-colonial economy, the condition of the industrial workers in the country remains far worse than their counterparts of the capitalist countries as well. Whether in urban or in rural areas, the predominance of pre-capitalist production relations has resulted in a vast mass of unorganised workers. Their occupation continues to be determined more by caste, religion or region, etc., and less by free choice.
These fissures are cleverly used and manipulated by the employers to undermine working class consciousness or action even by the politically advanced 5 crore industrial workers – in itself a staggering number. In spite of such adverse factors, the industrial working class of India have fought heroic struggles including historic strikes for the betterment of their lives and for the country’s independence from colonial rule. But since the leadership of the working class movement in India has traditionally remained with the ruling classes (that includes the revisionist ‘Left’ parties such as CPI and CPM), the working people have often failed to protect their class interests against the relentless assault of the employers and the government.
Nor could they play the role of the revolutionary vanguard in the class struggle by countering the Congress and the capitulationist line of the undivided Communist Party before and after the transfer of power. It was only in the Naxalbari Uprising and the subsequent formation of the CPI (ML) in the 1960s, that the workers of India finally found its correct ideological-political orientation and organizational form. However, even before the message of Naxalbari could reach the vast masses of workers in the whole country and they could reorganise themselves on the ideological foundation of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the movement was brutally crushed.
Nevertheless, it was primarily the workers along with the poor peasants who have carried forward the revolutionary movement in India from then on, protecting it for the last four decades from the twin dangers of the ruling classes and the revisionists. A backward and regressive mode of production have ensured that the industrial sector in India remain marginal in the overall economy. In terms of its share in employment and GDP, the industrial sector has lagged behind agriculture and even the ‘service’ sector.
Similar to the imperialist-dictated schemes like the Green Revolution in agriculture, efforts by the Indian state to boost up industrial production through PSUs have mostly ended in failure. In the global context of collapse of Soviet social imperialism and the ascendance of the US as the strongest imperialist power, the Indian ruling classes in the 1990s threw away even the fig-leaf of the ‘welfare’ state and opened the floodgates of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization.
World Bank employees, IMF consultants and other comprador agents are being installed by the imperialist powers in key government posts like the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Planning Commission members, Chief Economic Advisor etc. to implement their policies. Contractualisation of work, outsourcing, sweatshops, SEZs, sale of PSUs, ‘Disinvestment’, unrestrained inflow and outflow of Foreign Institutional Investment (FII) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in nearly all sectors of the economy, deregulation of the currency and fuel prices, withdrawal of subsidies and social security measures, etc. have followed in its wake.
With the Indian economy swaying with the ebbs and tides of the worldwide economic upheavals, the rulers of the country seem totally incapable of controlling the spiralling inflation, skyrocketing price rice, or the growing unemployment and destitution of the people. Indeed, the Indian ruling classes have become the much-despised instruments of imperialist forces in extracting the labour and resources of the toiling masses of the country. The close integration of the Indian economy with the imperialist global economy has darkened the menacing shadow of moribund finance capital, contributing not only to a brewing agrarian crisis but also a stagnant industrial sector, with serious implications for the country’s workers and peasants as well as the small and middle bourgeoisie.
The global economic crisis which has paralysed the major imperialist countries has started to have a telling impact on the overall Indian economy – irrespective of the contrary claims made by the rulers – and the ‘10% growth story’ has already started to turn sour. Manufacturing has been badly hit by falling demands, and compared to the 6.9% growth shown by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in April-June 2011, the IIP for the same period in 2012 decelerated to -0.1% and is still hovering around the 1% mark.
Hit by such a severe crisis, industries have lost much of their capacities to generate employment, and are resorting to drastic cost-cutting measures like retrenchment, hire-and-fire labour policy, artificial depression of real wages, denial of legally stipulated social security benefits like ESI-PF, bonus, pension, healthcare, prolonging of working hours, and so on. Worsening working conditions and adverse terms of work have led to a series of militant workers’ struggles all across the country in the recent times.
In the Auto industry alone, there have been a number of struggles – Maruti Suzuki, Manesar (2011), Allied Nippon, Sahibabad (2010), Mahindra, Nasik (2009), Hyndai, Chennai (2011-12), Pricol, Coimbatore (2009), Bosch Chasis, Pune (2009), Honda Motorcycles, Gurgaon (2009), Volvo, Hoskote (2010), MRF Tyres, Chennai (2010, 2011) General Motors, Halol (2011), Graziano, Noida (2008), and so on. In many instances, workers destroyed machinery, burnt down plants and even killed managers in expression of their discontentment and rage. Such militant protests are often preceded by denial of longstanding demands of the workers, their intimidation, humiliation, ill treatment and violent repression by the management, inaction of the authorities and collusion with the management, etc.
Predictably, the state comes down heavily on the workers to crush their ‘indiscipline’ and ‘unrest’. The role of the trade unions affiliated to the ruling class parties and the renegade ‘communist’ parties like CPI and CPM is often of the middleman who tries to placate the management and the state by reigning in worker’s militant movements. It is not surprising that in most of the cases, militant protest actions have been led by independent workers’ unions which have refused to comply with the diktats of the central trade unions. The anti-people and anti-worker policies pursued by the Indian state in the last two decades have led to an overall decline in the standard of living, forcing the toiling masses of the country into a situation of acute impoverishment, malnutrition and destitution which is worse than sub-Saharan countries. Economic disparity has touched new heights, with 77% of the population surviving on less than 20 rupees a day.
The propertied classes and the government in the country are increasingly resorting to fascist methods to tackle this explosive situation. Not only the basic political and democratic rights, but the statutory legal rights of the working masses too have been denied or subverted. The right to strike as a legitimate weapon of struggle has itself come under unprecedented attack. For instance, the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee brought out circulars in 2012 banning state government employees from calling or participating in strikes.
The strike of the workers at Blue Star Company at Wada in Thane district which began on 7 February 2013 for higher wages has been declared illegal. The Karnataka government even threatened striking doctors and health workers last month of booking under the National Security Act after terming their strike as illegal. In the more than 1000 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) approved by the government – which are being touted as ‘engines of rapid industrial growth’ – the right of the workers to organise themselves in trade unions or to call strikes are completely done away with.
Other forms of collective struggle by the workers too are being undermined. It is this worsening condition of the working people of the country – particularly the industrial workers – and their demand for a fight back against the anti-worker policies of the government that have forced the central trade unions to come together and give a call for a two-day all India strike on 20 and 21 February 2013. Let’s identify our enemies and friends. All the demands cited by the trade unions for calling the two day strike are genuinely connected to the problems faced by the workers in the country today. However, it is ironic that these very trade unions are directly related to the ruling class political parties in power – be it the Congress, BJP, CPM, and so on. These parties are directly responsible for implementing a series of anti-worker policies in the last two decades. The strike for them is mere tokenism and a calculated move to befool the workers in the name of struggle.
As it is necessary to fight the ruling classes and their policies, it is equally pertinent to expose and smash the machinations of the reactionary and revisionist trade unions. A strike is a weapon in the hands of the working people. The trade unions affiliated to the ruling powers should not be allowed to misuse or blunt this weapon. As the world economic crisis deepens and the imperialist powers push us once again to the brink of war and fascism, the ruling classes in India are going to step up their assault on the workers, peasants, religious and national minorities, Dalits, Adivasis and the other oppressed peoples of the country.
Only a high-tide of revolutionary and democratic struggles by the popular masses will be able to counter this impending onslaught. RDF appeals to the workers and their militant unions to seize the initiative, intensify the struggle for immediate economic demands and compliment with the political struggle for a revolutionary social transformation by smashing the two shackles binding the people of India – feudalism and imperialism.
A successful two-day strike on 20 and 21 February 2013 with the aim of raising the wages as per the basic needs of the workers, full implementation of labour laws, against contractualisation and other related demands will be a step in this direction. RDF further calls upon the workers and all other fighting forces to intensify this democratic struggle by not confining to an annual strike but to expand it to the pitched battles in the field to successfully force the ruling oligarchies of Indian subcontinent to accept their demands and also turn this struggle into a major political struggle for systemic change.
In solidarity,
Varavara Rao President, RDF 09676541715
Rajkishore General Secretary, RDF 09717583539
########
JOINT CALL TO THE WORKING CLASS MAKE THE 20-21 FEBRUARY 2013 STRIKE A SUCCESS FIGHT THE PRO-IMPERIALIST ECONOMIC POLICIES OF THE UPA GOVERNMENT
1. The UPA II government at the Centre is pursuing policies essentially in favour of the big corporate houses in the country and imperialist capital. This has once more prised open the retail sector to foreign direct investment, despite opposition to it. The Prime Minister‘s statement that the reforms process will go on indicates the resolve to enforce policies that benefit foreign capital.
Equally true is the fact that the UPA I and NDA governments had followed the same pro-imperialist policies earlier as well.
2. The experience in the last twenty-one years has amply demonstrated the ill and adverse effects of the pro-imperialist economic policies of the ruling classes of the country. These policies have led to a crisis situation in the agrarian sector with the result that many farmers have ended their lives.
In the industrial and service sectors of the economy the structure of employment has undergone drastic changes with increasing contractualisation and casualisation of the labour force. So-called temporary labour outnumbers the regular labour in both the public and private sectors. In addition an overwhelming majority of working people in the unorganised sector have either no legal rights or cannot access such rights. Faced with brutality of social oppression and state coercion, these working people remain super-exploited and face faster erosion of their real wages and inhuman and unsafe working conditions.
It should be noted that such an employment structure enables the owners to depress wages and is a strategy to dis-organise workers. Outsourcing is another feature that has emerged as a key strategy under the new economic policies for securing reduction in costs of labour. Wage-cuts, DA-freeze, retrenchments, closures and lay-offs have increased during this period. The social security structure is being subtly dismantled and the right to unionise and collective bargaining has been under severe attack as in the case of Maruti Suzuki and many other units.
3. Liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation were hailed by the rulers as paths to the economic development of the country and growth rates were the index of this development. Needless to say, this growth was fueled primarily by inflows of foreign capital and that too speculative capital, resulting in the creation of bubbles in the share markets.
This illusion collapsed with the onset of global economic crisis of 2008 which opened up the structural contradiction of imperialist capitalism along with massive debt burden resulting from the financialisation of the global economy. The global crisis is not showing signs of receding and has lead to intensified class struggle pitting capitalist offensive against people organising resistance in various ways – direct action, occupation, democratic assertion.
The Indian economy is so closely linked to imperialism, particularly US imperialism, that when the bubble in the US burst the Indian economy was also affected, it faced a downturn and massive job losses, particularly in the export-led industries.
4. Imperialist countries have been trying to salvage their economies from the devastating crisis that has enveloped them. A part of their strategy of recovery is to gain access to natural resources and minerals in developing countries such as ours. This has been facilitated by the reform policies enforced by our governments which have done all they can to ensure corporate and multinational control over commons, natural resources and minerals even at the cost of large-scale displacement of the peasants and adivasis from their historical lands.
5. In the face of ever growing job-losses, wage cuts, reduction of other benefits and attacks on trade union rights – workers have not taken these attacks lying down. They have put up stiff resistance such as in the case of Honda, Graziano,Yanam and Maruti Suzuki. The adivasis and peasants have also fought for the protection of their land and in fact their militant struggles assume immense importance in the struggle against the pro-imperialist economic policies of the rulers.
6. In this situation it is imperative that all workers unite to strike on 20-21 February 2013.All sections of workers must rise up unitedly to resist the continuing onslaught of the ruling classes. The necessity of such unity is felt even by trade union centres associated with ruling parties as is evident from the joint calls issued by them. To defeat the Government policies, a sustained struggle will have to be built against the neo-liberal policies of imperialist globalisation. Many Central Trade Unions are still associated with parties that are implementing these policies. The trade union movement will have to fight not only for immediate economic demands but also against these policies.
We, therefore, give the call to all unions struggling against imperialist globalisation to come together to build a militant and united movement to take the working people’s struggle ahead. The emergence of unity at the national level – under immense working class pressure and rising discontent – gives space for building such unity on the ground level for united and militant struggle.
This mood has to be forged into unity for struggle and resistance at the local level. We have to initiate joint actions to unite wider sections of the working class, deepen the understanding of class struggle under imperialist globalisation, demonstrate militancy in joint programs and sustain the momentum of this general strike.
WE DEMAND:
1. CONCRETE MEASURES TO CONTAIN PRICE RISE, ENSURE UNIVERSAL FOOD SECURITY WITH 50KG CEREALS PER FAMILY, ALONG WITH PULSES AND COOKING OIL.
2. CONCRETE MEASURES FOR EMPLOYMENT GENERATION.
3. STRICT ENFORCEMENT OF LABOUR LAWS AND IMMEDIATE ACTION AGAINST NON-COMPLIANT MANAGEMENTS.
4. UNIVERSAL SOCIAL SECURITY FOR ALL WORKERS.
5. STOP PRIVATISATION AND DISINVESTMENTS IN PSUs.
6. STOP EMPLOYMENT OF CONTRACT LABOUR IN ALL JOBS OF A PERMANENT NATURE. ENSURE PAYMENT OF WAGES TO CONTRACT WORKERS AT PAR WITH REGULAR WORKERS
7. ENSURE A MINIMUM WAGE NOT LESS THAN THAT COMPUTED ON THE BASIS OF THE FORMULA PUT FORWARD AT THE 15th SESSION OF THE INDIAN LABOUR CONFERENCE IN 1957 AND REVISED BY THE SUPREME COURT IN THE REPTAKOS JUDGEMENT.
8. REMOVE CEILINGS ON PAYMENT AND ELIGIBILITY OF BONUS AND RETAIN RATE OF INTEREST ON PROVIDENT FUND AT LEAST AT 12%.
9. ASSURE PENSION FOR ALL AT A RATE NOT LESS THAN THE MINIMUM WAGE.
10. COMPULSORY REGISTRATION OF TRADE UNIONS WITHIN 45 DAYS OF SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION.
11. ENSURE EQUAL WAGE FOR SIMILAR WORK FOR ALL WORKERS INCLUDING WOMEN WORKERS.
12. ENSURE SECURITY AND PROTECTION OF WOMEN WORKERS ESPECIALLY THOSE REQUIRED TO WORK LATE.
13. STOP ENCROACHMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF PEASANTRY, ADIVASIS AND DALITS AND WANTON DESTRUCTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT.
14. ESTABLISH SUBSTANTIAL EQUALITY – STOP ALL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ADIVASIS, DALITS, WOMEN AND MINORITIES.
UNITE TO STRIKE ON 20-21 FEBRUARY 2013 FORGE THE UNITY OF THE WORKING CLASS BUILD RESISTANCE AGAINST IMPERIALIST GLOBALISATION
B Pradeep, General Secretary, Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU)
Sanjay Singhvi, General Secretary, Trade Union Centre of India Ashim Roy, General Secretary,New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI)
Vithal Raj, General Secretary, All India Federation of Trade Unions (AIFTU)
Arvind Sinha,General Secretary, All India Federation Of Trade unions(New)
Venkat Reddy, General Secretary, All India Centre of Trde Unions (AICTU)
Raju, General Secretary,
Pragatisheel Karmika Samakhy Bacha Singh, General Secretary, Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti
Thousands of Greeks rally in anti-austerity strike
(Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday as part of a nationwide strike against austerity that confined ferries to ports, shut schools and left hospitals with only emergency staff. Beating drums, blowing whistles and chanting “Robbers, robbers!” more than 60,000 people angry at wage cuts and tax rises marched to parliament in the biggest protest for months over austerity policies required by international lenders. In the capital, riot police fired tear gas at hooded youths hurling rocks and bottles during a demonstration, mostly of students and pensioners, which ended peacefully.
The two biggest labor unions brought much of crisis-hit Greece to a standstill with a 24-hour protest strike against policies which they say deepen the hardship of people struggling through the country’s worst peacetime downturn. Representing 2.5 million workers, the unions have gone on strike repeatedly since a debt crisis erupted in late 2009, testing the government’s will to impose the painful conditions of an international bailout in the face of growing public anger.
“Today’s strike is a new effort to get rid of the bailout deal and those who take advantage of the people and bring only misery,” said Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the ADEDY public sector union, which organized the walkout along with private sector union GSEE. “A social explosion is very near,” he told Reuters from a rally in a central Athens square as police helicopters clattered overhead. The eight-month-old coalition of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been eager to show it will implement reforms promised to the European Union and International Monetary Fund, which have bailed Athens out twice with over 200 billion euros.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-greece-strike-idUSBRE91I1D520130220
Trade union strike adds to India’s economic woes
NEW DELHI — Factories were attacked, vehicles were burned and a man was crushed to death by a bus in India on Wednesday at the start of a two-day trade union strike to protest price increases, low wages, unemployment and the government’s economic reform measures.
The man killed by the bus was a trade union leader in the northern city of Ambala. Authorities said he squatted on the ground in the path of a bus in an attempt to keep the buses from moving, then was hit and fatally injured. Across many parts of India, millions of workers from banks, factories and the transportation industry did not report to their jobs because of the strike, which is likely to cause an economic loss up to $4 billion over two days, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.
The strike — called by 11 national trade unions, including one affiliated with the ruling Congress party — is the latest in a series of anti-government protests that have dogged the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the past two years. Protesters have attacked Singh’s coalition government for high inflation, corruption scandals and a lack of safety for women. Analysts say the political unrest may trigger a national election earlier than the scheduled date of May 2014.
“The national economy, battling slowdown, can ill-afford this situation,” said Rajkumar Dhoot, the president of the industries association. “In fact, the strike would aggravate the price situation because of disruption in the supply line of essential commodities.” Earlier this month, the government released data to show that India’s economy grew 5 percent over the past year, the lowest in the past decade.
The trade unions are also demanding effective enforcement of labor protection laws and an end to privatization of state-owned companies. In the past six months, the government has allowed foreign investors such as Wal-Mart to set up supermarket retail stores in India and announced policies to expand private investment in government-owned banks and insurance companies. Outside New Delhi, protesters smashed the windows of factories, vandalized warehouses and burned vehicles to enforce the work shutdown.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/trade-union-strike-adds-to-indias-economic-woes/2013/02/20/875404d0-7b4f-11e2-9c27-fdd594ea6286_story.html
Fears for health of 30 jailed Oman hunger strikers
A member of Oman’s consultative council voiced concern Wednesday for the health of 30 jailed activists who have been on hunger strike for the past 12 days, as activists said some of them were in hospital. “We are concerned, as are their families, about the deterioration of the health conditions of the detainees after 12 days on hunger strike,” said Malek al-Abri, a member of Oman’s elected Majlis al-Shura (consultative council).
The council “is in contact, at all levels” with the government to allow a delegation to visit Samayl central prison, 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Muscat, to “inquire about the situation of the hunger strikers,” Abri told AFP. The hunger strike was first launched by 17 cyber activists in protest at delays in their appeals after they were jailed for between six to 18 months for “unlawful assembly and violating the Cyber Law.”
They were later joined by 13 other prisoners protesting their conditions of detentions, according to activists. Their appeals will be considered by the Supreme Court on February 25 and a final decision will be made on March 4, according to Abri. An activist, who requested anonymity, said that “some of the hunger strikers were hospitalised after they lost consciousness”. Two of them Saeed al-Hashmi and Abdullah al-Arimi — were still in hospital, the activist said. Several groups of activists are on trial on charges of defaming or using Internet social media networks to insult Sultan Qaboos, who has ruled the Gulf sultanate for 42 years. The appeals court has upheld the jail terms of many already sentenced.
http://www.thenewage.co.za/83869-1020-53-Fears_for_health_of_30_jailed_Oman_hunger_strikers
Greek Gold Mine Arson Fuels Political Feud
Greece’s government and major opposition party Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) are battling over blame after an arson attack on a gold mine in northern Greece that officials said could trigger fear by foreign companies to invest in the country. A 54-year-old man has been charged in the aftermath of the fire on equipment at the Skouries mine in Halkidi, a project being developed by the Canadian company Eldorado Gold. Residents are divided between those who want the jobs it will bring and environmentalists who fear it will harm the environment and ruin tourism.
The man arrested was said to be the “moral instigator” and a local resident, while authorities said as many as 50 people may have been involved in the raid, which destroyed a number of vehicles. Two guards were also tied up and doused with a flammable liquid, police said. Four security guards were injured and a number of containers, vehicles and earth-moving machinery were destroyed. The assailants are also alleged to have been carrying guns, which they fired into the air.
A total of 33 people were detained, prompting residents of the nearby village of Ierissos to hold a public rally to protest what they saw as being random detentions by the police said. Lazaros Toskas, a member of main leftist opposition SYRIZA’s prefectural committee in Halkidiki, was detained by police after he commented on his blog that he opposes the Halkidiki project and his alleged participation in protests opposing the mine. A prosecutor returned his file to police, describing it as “incomplete,” according to sources, the newspaper Kathimerini said.
Toskas and three of the security staff injured legal suits against each other – the staff against Toskas for allegedly being one of their attackers and Toskas against the guards for slander. SYRIZA, which has backed opposition by local residents to the Halkidiki mining project, condemned the arson attack as “unacceptable” but expressed anger at the arrest of Toskas, referring to a “general attempt to stigmatize social struggles.” The government has accused SYRIZA of fostering political violence.
Sources told the newspaper Kathimerini that police collected evidence attack and are expecting the results of forensic tests. Officers have apparently gathered droplets of blood, a ski mask, cigarette butts, a torch and a surgical mask. Hellenic Gold, which is 95-percent owned by Canadian Eldorado Gold, insists that the mine is legal and has all the necessary environmental permits. Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias stressed that authorities would do everything possible to protect crucial investments. “Greece is a European state of law and order,” he said. “We have a duty to safeguard the foreign investments taking place in the country. Investments are the only way we can confront the huge problem of unemployment.”
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/02/20/greek-gold-mine-arson-fuels-political-feud/
China reportedly helping Zambia with eavesdropping technology
China is facing allegations that it is helping the Zambian government with deep packet inspection technology to eavesdrop, mine data, censor and intercept communications.
The allegations come less than two years after the Chinese government was accused of helping the Ethiopian government block news websites in Ethiopia and jam Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) and other broadcasters including the Voice of America and Germany’s Deutsche Welle Amharic service. Deep packet inspection technology (DPI) allows monitoring of traffic from a specific IP address and enables the ability to spy on email even as it is being typed out by the user.
The Zambian government reportedly intends to introduce the monitoring mechanism to vet Internet services coming in and out of the country. Zambian and Chinese security officials have reportedly been traveling between the two countries for the project, expected to cost the Zambian government over $5 million. Officials from the country’s three mobile operators — MTN, Airtel and Zamtel — and some ISPs have confirmed on condition of anonymity that in the past week, members of the Office of the President (OP) have been visiting them in an attempt to facilitate monitoring of e-mail and voice communications.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/internet/3427058/china-reportedly-helping-zambia-with-eavesdropping-technology/
Strike closes Malawi airport, pressure builds on govt
(Reuters) – Striking state workers in Malawi on Wednesday closed the main international airport in the capital Lilongwe over demands for better pay, piling pressure on President Joyce Banda who took office last year pledging painful economic reforms.
Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines cancelled flights to Lilongwe. More than 100,000 public sector workers went on strike last week demanding a 65 percent wage increase – about double the inflation rate – to counter a rising cost of living triggered by a devaluation of the kwacha currency. The strike has closed schools and paralysed major hospitals, which are already short of health workers and medicine.
Finance Minister Ken Lipenga said on Tuesday that the government could not afford to increase wages and was negotiating with the striking workers. Banda has instituted painful economic reforms backed by the International Monetary Fund and donors since winning office last year. Aid traditionally accounts for about 40 percent of the budget.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/uk-malawi-strike-idUSLNE91J01020130220
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declare hunger strike
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declared a one-day fast on Tuesday in solidarity with four inmates whose hunger strike has fueled anti-Israel protests in the occupied West Bank. Samer al-Issawi, one of the four Palestinians who have been on hunger strike, has been refusing food, intermittently, for more than 200 days. His family says his health has deteriorated sharply.
The prisoners’ campaign for better conditions and against detention without trial has touched off violent protests over the past several weeks outside an Israeli military prison and in West Bank towns. In the Gaza Strip, the Islamic Jihad group said a truce with Israel that ended eight days of fighting in November could unravel if any hunger striker died. The Palestinian Prisoners Club, which looks after the welfare of inmates and their families, said 800 prisoners were taking part in the day-long fast.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hundreds-of-palestinian-prisoners-in-israeli-jails-declare-hunger-strike.premium-1.504546
No comments:
Post a Comment