A Cartography of Genocide: Israel's Conduct in Gaza since October 2023 - first part

Report: A Spatial Analysis of the Israeli Military’s Conduct in Gaza since October 2023

Introduction

Since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, Forensic Architecture has been collecting data related to attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure by the Israeli military. Our analysis of this conduct reveals the near-total destruction of civilian life in Gaza. We have also collected and analysed evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military directing Palestinian civilians to areas of Gaza designated as ‘safe’. These orders have resulted in the repeated, large-scale displacement of the Palestinian population across Gaza, often to areas which subsequently came under attack.

The patterns we have observed concerning Israel’s military conduct in Gaza indicate a systematic and organised campaign to destroy life, conditions necessary for life, and life-sustaining infrastructure.

Forensic Architecture’s monitoring and research consists of:

• An interactive cartographic platform: ‘A Cartography of Genocide’
• An 827-page text report: ‘A spatial analysis of the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza since October 2023’

The platform and report present a comprehensive mapping of military conduct in Gaza since 7 October 2023. They deploy spatial and pattern analysis to observe the ways in which Israel’s military operations entailed widespread civilian harm.

To identify patterns in Israel’s conduct, the platform turns thousands of datapoints into a navigable ‘map’ of Gaza, within which it is possible to define regions, periods in time, and categories of events. This filtering can reveal trends within datasets and relationships between different datasets (for instance, between the military ground invasion and the destruction of medical infrastructure).

In our analysis, we understand patterns to mean the repetition of same, similar or related incidents, at different times and places. Such patterns may indicate that these attacks are designed, formally or informally, rather than occurring at random.

Our report analyses Israeli military conduct between 7 October 2023 and 16 September 2024. It interrogates the scale and nature of attacks, the extent of damage and the number of victims, as well as the organised nature of the acts of violence and the improbability of their random occurrence.

Areas of Analysis

We collected and analysed data across six areas:

1. Spatial Control – the physical shaping of Gaza according by a strategic design;
2. Displacement – the repeated, forced displacement of civilians and an assessment of Israel’s ‘humanitarian measures’;
3. Destruction of Agriculture and Water Resources – the destruction of fields, orchards, greenhouses, agricultural and water infrastructure;
4. Destruction of Medical Infrastructure – the systematic targeting of hospitals and healthcare workers;
5. Destruction of Civilian Infrastructure – the targeting of public utilities, roads, schools including those acting as shelters, religious buildings, and government buildings;
6. Targeting of Aid – the systematic targeting of infrastructure and personnel necessary for the transport and distribution of humanitarian aid and the preparation of food.

Each area of analysis consists of (1) quantitative findings and (2) pattern findings.

Because military actions are multifaceted, patterns can exist across actions. The effect of military actions on Gaza’s civilian population may not be fully captured by studying the repetition of a single type of action in isolation. The simultaneous, or proximate, application of different types of action in the same territory may generate a cumulative and compounded effect, each action aggravating the effect of another.
By ‘layering’ multiple cartographic datasets over one another, we could:

• analyse the compounded effects of different types of acts;
• determine whether relations between different types of acts repeat across time and space;
• determine whether these relations are random or display an organised design;
• and determine the relation between military acts and the natural characteristics of Gaza by layering the mapping of these acts over meteorological and soil-type maps.

We explore these interrelations in Chapter 8: Cross-Sectional Analysis in our report.

Note:
We use the term ‘genocide’ within the meaning developed by Raphael Lemkin, whose thinking behind this term was instrumental for the definition formulated in Article II of the Genocide Convention. Genocide, according to Lemkin, signifies a coordinated plan of actions aimed at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. [See Raphael Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe Laws of Occupation; Analysis of Government; Proposals for Redress (Washington Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, Division Of International Law 1944) 79].

> Read our summary of findings
> Read our methodology overview

Spatial Control: Summary of Findings

Israel has built a new system of spatial control in Gaza, re-shaping the territory by destroying agricultural lands and buildings to create infrastructure for a permanent military presence.

The total area destroyed and cleared for establishment of the buffer zone, raid routes, Netzarim corridor and Philadelphi corridor is 131.7 sq km, which constitutes 36% of the area of Gaza. The series of smaller dashed lines marks the 300m buffer zone in effect before 7 October 2023. The second, larger series of dashed lines marks 1km from the perimeter.

Quantitative findings

We have documented the following elements of Israel’s system of spatial control:

• Buffer zone: A 1km-wide zone along Gaza’s eastern perimeter, within which most buildings and all agricultural infrastructure have been destroyed.
• Netzarim corridor: A 6.5 km road with 2-3.5 km of cleared margins on its south side, and 1.7-3.5 km on its north side, bisecting Gaza north of Wadi Gaza, within which most buildings and agriculture have been destroyed
• Checkpoints: Two permanent checkpoints at the intersections of the Netzarim corridor with the main north-south arteries (Salah al-Din and al-Rashid Roads), plus four temporary checkpoints across Gaza.
• Raid routes: Thirteen routes from Israeli military bases into Gaza. The construction of these roads often involved the destruction of most buildings and agricultural lands in their path.
• Philadelphi corridor: A widened strip running east to west along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

We have documented the destruction and clearing of land for the establishment of the above elements:

• Total cleared land: 131.7 sq km (36% of Gaza). The buffer zone, the ‘corridors’, and the raid routes partially overlap.
• Buffer zone: 55 sq km (15% of Gaza).
• Netzarim corridor: 35 sq km (9.6% of Gaza).
• Raid routes: 62 sq km.
• Philadelphi corridor: 10.8 sq km.

Pattern Findings

• Israel’s military campaign involved the reshaping of cultivated and built environment through acts of destruction and construction. Our analysis found that these acts of destruction and construction were not haphazard, but followed consistent and clear spatial logic:
• Agricultural destruction: All farmland within these areas was destroyed. The construction of new infrastructural elements has likely contaminated the soil and inhibiting future use.
• Creating ‘zones’: The Netzarim corridor divides Gaza into two zones: a civilian-evacuated ‘north’ and a ‘south’ which includes designated ‘destination areas.’
• The Netzarim corridor and the checkpoints facilitate displacement:
• Movement between the zones is restricted and controlled by checkpoints
• Checkpoints exclusively allow southward civilian movement.
• Thirteen raid routes lead from the perimeter to the interior of Gaza.
• These routes facilitated repeated military incursions.
• The extent of work invested in their construction suggests they may have long-term presence.

Displacement: Summary of Findings

Israel weaponised ‘protective measures’ by using evacuation orders to repeatedly displace civilians to areas which were then attacked.

Displacement into the ‘humanitarian zone’ on 16 August 2024, and further exclusion of areas within the ‘humanitarian zone’ (areas civilians had been directed to just eight days earlier).

Quantitative Findings

• Destination areas (areas to which the Israeli military has ordered civilians to move, including the Israeli designated ‘humanitarian zone’) decreased significantly from October 2023 to August 2024, contracting from 228.2 sq km (62.5% of Gaza) to 47.4 sq km (13% of Gaza).
• On 13 October 2023, this area included all of Gaza south of Wadi Gaza and covered 228.2 sq km (62.5%) of the total territory of Gaza.
• On 7 January 2024, it included Rafah, Deir al-Balah and the al-Mawasi ‘humanitarian zone’, covering 80.7 sq km (22.1%) of Gaza.
• On 6 May 2024, it shrank to include only the newly established ‘expanded humanitarian zone’, covering 60.9 sq km (16.6%) of Gaza.
• On 16 August 2024, the ‘humanitarian zone’ contracted. The area covers 37.9 sq km (10.4%) of Gaza.
• On 30 August 2024, three blocks have been reintegrated to the ‘expanded humanitarian zone’, expanding its extent to covering 47.4 sq km (13%) of Gaza.
• The boundaries of the ‘humanitarian zone’ established from 18 October 2023 changed 9 times by 30 August 2024.

Israël: Agression brutale de Marwan Barghouti en prison

 

Israël: Agression brutale de Marwan Barghouti en prison

Le leader palestinien de premier plan Marwan Barghouti, qui purge une peine de réclusion à perpétuité depuis son arrestation en 2002 pour des charges de « direction de groupes armés ayant tué et blessé des Israéliens » pendant la deuxième intifada palestinienne, a été blessé lors d’une « agression brutale » à la prison de Megiddo. Le prisonnier souffre de blessures après l’attaque survenue dans sa cellule d’isolement le 9 septembre. Selon son avocat, Les autorités pénitentiaires israéliennes isolent des dizaines de détenus de haut rang dans des conditions difficiles et tragiques, elles les soumettent à des agressions brutales répétées à l’intérieur de leurs cellules.

brochure on the nationality question in India (2021) published in Greek - info

 

Dear comrades,

we are very glad to announce that we have translated and published in Greek the

CPI (Maoist) brochure on the nationality question in India (2021).

 

Lal Salam

Petros Al Achmar

Athens, Greece

Κυκλοφόρησε από τις εκδόσεις προλέτΚουλτ το «Εθνικό Ζήτημα στην Ινδία»

Σε συνέχεια της προσπάθειάς μας για γνωριμία του ελληνικού κοινού με τα λαϊκά κινήματα και τον Λαϊκό Πόλεμο στην Ινδία, του οποίου ηγείται το Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ινδίας (Μαοϊκό), τον Μάρτη του 2022, είχαμε εκδώσει το κείμενο της Κεντρικής Επιτροπής του ΚΚΙ (Μαοϊκού) «Το ζήτημα των καστών στην Ινδία».

Η συζήτηση για την Ινδία, με αφορμή εκείνη την έκδοση αλλά και γενικότερα, αναδεικνύει κάποιες εσφαλμένες εντυπώσεις για τον χαρακτήρα της μεγάλης αυτής χώρας. Εσχάτως, μάλιστα, η πολυπληθέστερη χώρα του κόσμου παρουσιάζεται περίπου ως πρωταγωνίστρια στη δημιουργία ενός «πολυπολικού κόσμου», κατά άλλους, δε, ακόμα και ως ιμπεριαλιστική χώρα. Εντούτοις, η Ινδία, αν μπορεί να θεωρηθεί γίγαντας (λόγω πληθυσμιακού και γεωγραφικού μόνο μεγέθους, γιατί οι πραγματικοί ιμπεριαλιστές –ΗΠΑ, Ρωσία κ.ά.– δεν την αντιμετωπίζουν ως ανταγωνίστρια, ούτε καν δυνάμει, αλλά ως πιόνι έναντι της ιμπεριαλιστικής Κίνας), τότε, σίγουρα, έχει «πήλινα πόδια». Και αν το ζήτημα των καστών είναι το ένα της πόδι, το εθνικό ζήτημα είναι το άλλο. Γιατί η κατ’ ευφημισμόν (και αντικομμουνισμόν) «μεγαλύτερη δημοκρατία στον κόσμο» δεν αποτελεί παρά τη μεγαλύτερη φυλακή εθνών και εθνοτήτων στον κόσμο.

Πεποίθησή μας είναι ότι το εθνικό ζήτημα δεν είναι αταξικό ή διαταξικό, δεν έχει σχέση με εθνικισμό και ιδέες περιορισμένες στη σφαίρα της φαντασίας, αλλά αποτελεί ένα όπλο, μια εφεδρεία, που είτε θα την αξιοποιήσουν απαραίτητα και στο έπακρο η εργατική τάξη και οι εργαζόμενοι για να προωθήσουν την επανάστασή τους, είτε θα την αφήσουν έρμαιο της αστικής τάξης και της αντεπανάστασης, ώστε να τους αποπροσανατολίζουν και να τους κρατούν υπόδουλους οικονομικά, κοινωνικά, πολιτικά αλλά και εθνικά. Το κείμενο του ΚΚΙ (Μαοϊκού), που πραγματεύεται ενδελεχώς το τόσο σύνθετο στην Ινδία εθνικό ζήτημα, αναδεικνύοντας όχι απλώς τη σύνδεση, αλλά την εξάρτησή του από τις υλικές συνθήκες διαβίωσης των εκεί εθνών και εθνοτήτων, εκτιμούμε πως επαληθεύει αυτόν τον ισχυρισμό.

Η συζήτηση για το εθνικό ζήτημα δεν διεξάγεται από το κόμμα θεωρητικά, σε συνθήκες αποστειρωμένου εργαστηρίου. Τη στιγμή που γράφονται αυτές οι γραμμές, το ΚΚΙ (Μαοϊκό) δέχεται τη μεγαλύτερη στρατιωτικού τύπου επίθεση από το ινδικό κράτος, με εκατοντάδες χιλιάδες μέλη στρατιωτικών, παραστρατιωτικών και αστυνομικών δυνάμεων να έχουν περικυκλώσει και διεισδύσει στον πυρήνα της περιοχής-βάσης του κινήματος, στα πλαίσια της επιχείρησης Kagaar. Βέβαιοι-ες ότι το μεγαλύτερο παγκοσμίως κομμουνιστικό κίνημα θα ξεπεράσει επιτυχώς και αυτή τη δοκιμασία, εκδίδουμε αυτό το βιβλίο ως μια μορφή έμπρακτης αλληλεγγύης προς το ΚΚΙ (Μαοϊκό), επ’ ευκαιρία και της 20ής επετείου από την ίδρυση του κόμματος που κρατά αναμμένη τη φωτιά της ένοπλης επανάστασης.

Bangladesh - class struggle and state repression -statement by the Revolutionary Student-Youth Movement

Featured image: garment workers protests in the Ashulia area, blocking the Dhaka-Aricha highway. Source: The Business Standard Bangladesh

From October 20 to October 22 there were several protests against the company Generation Next Fashions. The workers were not receiving their salaries for several months so they blocked the highways Nabinagar-Chandra and Abdullahpur-Baipail, in the Ashulia area. On Wednesday, 23^rd of October, the workers of Generation Next Fashions carried out a demonstration demanding the payments they have not received. The police started to use water cannons, hurled sound grenades, rubber bullets and they used tear gasses, leaving four proletarians injured. According to the police they received bricks from the protesting workers, as well as they stated that they did not used live ammunition. However the local hospitals affirmed the injured workers had bullet wounds. As a result first there were reports on 4 female workers injured. But the workers of the Generation Next Fashion factory affirmed that around 40-50 workers were injured. On Sunday, October 27, one female worker died as a consequence of bullet wounds.

Police using water cannons on the protesting workers on Wednesday 23 October, 2024. Source: Dhaka Tribune

As a consequence of that, democratic and revolutionary organizations have issued statements. We hereby share unofficial translations of some of them. First an unofficial translation of a statement by the Revolutionary Student-Youth Movement regarding these developments:

There is strong condemnation and anger over the death of Champa Khatun, a garment worker who was shot.

The Democratic Students Alliance demands an end to the continued assault and harassment of garment workers and payment of their arrears of salary and bonuses.

Garment worker Champa Khatun died while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital at 7:30 am today on October 27.

On October 23, the workers of Generation Next Fashions Company in Narsinghpur area of Ashulia were protesting. The factory announced its closure a month and a half ago, leaving the workers with four months salary-bonus arrears. Hundreds of thousands of workers are in uproar. When the workers protested for their just demands, the police opened fire. Some workers including Champa Khatun and Mursheda Begum were injured in the firing. Among them, Champa Khatun died this morning.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the Democratic Student Alliance said: “The continued repression of garment workers shows the brutality of the state-government. On the afternoon of October 26, the workers of Apex Textile Printing Mills Limited in Kaliakoi area of Gazipur were protesting to demand the implementation of the increased attendance bonus announced in the tripartite 18 points. The army and industrial police attacked, dispersed and created an atmosphere of fear. Earlier on October 25, the workers of TNZ Apparels factory in Gazipur took to the streets demanding payment of 3 months salary arrears.”

The leaders also said “Garment workers of Gazipur, Ashulia have been demanding payment of outstanding salaries for a long time. The authorities are not paying the dues to the workers despite repeated assurances. The workers have blocked the road and protested several times. Many factories have been shut down due to worker dissatisfaction and non-action by the owners to pay dues. In this context, an agreement was signed between the government, the owners and the labor leaders. In which it was mentioned, all the factories will pay the dues of the workers by at latest 30 September. Many factories have violated it. Hence, the workers started protesting in the streets. Their peaceful democratic movement has been repeatedly threatened and attacked by the army, industrial police and joint forces. We even saw workers being shot and killed. Hundreds of working people shed their blood in the student uprising for a non-oppressive, non-discriminatory, democratic state system. However, instead of paying the workers’ arrears, threats, obstructions, attacks and killings of workers are going on under the leadership of the state forces, which is completely contrary to the aspirations of the mass uprising.”

The leaders demanded that the arrears of the garment workers should be paid immediately. Those involved in the killings and torture must be prosecuted. At the same time, those owners who continue to exploit and oppress in various ways including arrears of wages should be immediately brought under the law.

The joint statement was signed by Salman Siddiqui, coordinator of the Democratic Student Union and president of the Socialist Student Front, Ragib Naeem, president of Bangladesh Student Union, Dilip Roy, president of Biplabli Chhatra Maitri, Chayedul Haque Nishan, president of Democratic Student Council, Drakhan Chakma, president of Greater Chittagong Hill Tracts Student Council, Bangladesh Students. Federation President Mitu Sarkar, Revolutionary Student Youth Movement President Taufika Priya

Spokeperson: Jabir Ahmed Jubel

General Secretary, Biplabli Chhatra Maitri

Contact: 01705-080460

INDIA: 5rd Anniversary of Manjakandi Martyrdom Day

 

INDIA: 5rd Anniversary of Manjakandi Martyrdom Day

 

On October 28 2020, 4 Maoists were brutally murdered by Pinarayi Vijayan's government's thunderbolt commandos.

Long Live Comrade Manivasagam, Ajitha, Karthi and Aravindan!

Long Live Martyrs!

Long Live Marxism Leninism Maoism!

GALIZA:Honra e glória ao camarada GN Saibaba.

 

GALIZA:Honra e glória ao camarada GN Saibaba.

Honra e glória ao camarada GN Saibaba.

 

Durante muitos anos o camarada GN Saibaba foi um referente revolucionário, que foi amplamente conhecido graças às campanhas internacionais de apoio a guerra popular na Índia. Os diferentes comitês nacionais e o Comitê Internacional de Apoio a Guerra Popular na Índia (ICSPWI) tem levado avante campanhas por GN Saibaba e os demais presos e presas políticas da Índia. Em estás campanhas de apoio do povo indiano a figura do camarada Saibaba representava o futuro da humanidade, o socialismo; frente a um passado feudal e racista da burguesia, o clero e a aristocracia da Índia. A denúncia, as mobilizaçons populares denunciando os crimes cometidos contra os indígenas da Índia (Adibasi), ou as mobilizaçons contra umhas políticas que fazem da Índia umha mescla do feudalismo das castas, do racismo aberto, unido um capitalismo próprio dos países dumha periferia emergente onde as disputas entre os diferentes setores da burgues, sempre se podem solucionar mediante a roubo das terras dos camponeses, ou mediante o assassinato das comunidades indígenas. De maneira que quando as dificuldades da concorrência entre capitais dificultam os negócios, sempre se pode recorrer a saquear as terras indígenas para ser mais "competitivos", ou melhor dito, o saqueio indígena serve na Índia e outros países para que certos capitais se poidam apropriar de mais riqueza social.

 

O camarada GN Saibaba foi preso, foi brutalmente torturado; sem que a sua falta de mobilidade do 90% fosse considerada. A falta de medicinas e cuidados médicos deteriorou tanto a sua saúde que,l sete meses depois de sair da cárcere já está morto. Por isto podemos estar seguros que este foi um crime de estado. Porque se a umha pessoa com graves problemas de saúde o deixas meses sem medicação, se faz que tarde meses em receber umha visita médica, o que pretendiam era deteriorar tanto a sua saúde que uns meses depois da sua liberaçom já está morto. Tendo em conta isto devemos considerar a GN Saibaba como um camarada caído devido a um crime de estado. Igual que o camarada Mazundar, o camarada Gonzalo, o camarada Kaypakkaya, etc, etc. Outro crime contra o povo, contra o proletariado. Outro crime que busca desesperadamente parar a história. Som esse tipo de crimes da burguesia e dos seus aliados mediante os que aspira a impedir que o legado de Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin e Mao iluminem o caminho da aboliçom das classes sociais e da emancipaçom da humanidade.

 

A morte do camarada Saibaba nom nos deve fazer cair no pessimismo. A morte do camarada Saibaba certamente tem mais peso que o "monte de Tai ". Mas, se temos que sacar umha conclusom do exemplo do camarada Saibaba é que a força da Revoluçom Proletária Mundial pode alimentar e transformar as pessoas até o ponto em que umha pessoa com um 90 % de falta de mobilidade pode ser tam forte que nem sequer depois de morto, pode ser derrotado.

Honra e glória ao camarada GN Saibaba!

 

Comitê Galego de Apoio a Guerra Popular na Índia.

                                                  

                                                  

                                                   

Policia asesina en Brasil - info

 

5 asesinados al día en acciones policiales durante octubre en Salvador y Región Metropolitana, Brasil

El mes de octubre ha supuesto una nueva escalada en la violencia policial en Salvador y Región Metropolitana. Estas zonas ya sufrían una alta tasa de violencia policial, pero ahora ésta aumenta. Cuatro fueron las ejecuciones más resonadas en los medios locales, que fueron acompañados de protestas de los vecinos y familiares de las víctimas que querían señalar de forma justa a la policía militar y civil como la culpable.

Los asesinados son jóvenes de barrio obrero de entre 17 a 19 años. Todos estos asesinatos ocurrían mientras los jóvenes se encontraban en su barrio, sin suponer amenaza alguna. Por ejemplo Kauê, de 17 años, fue asesinado a tiros cuando la policía se acercó a él de madrugada mientras volvía a casa. Lucas Alves da Silva, de 19, murió durante un operativo de la Policía Civil. Con Kleber Timóteo da Paixão Nascimento y Alex Silton, de 18,, se dijo cobardemente que habían sido en un “enfrentamiento con la policía militar” y un “enfrentamiento entre policías y hombres armados”, respectivamente. Pero las familias lo desmintieron rápidamente, por ejemplo Silton se encontraba en la calle donde vivía antes de disparar los tres tiros en la cabeza.

Tras los asesinatos, las familias y lo vecinos de las zonas protestaron contra la violencia policial que se ejerce sistemáticamente en el barrio. Se hicieron denuncias a los medios de prensa, se levantaron barricadas y incendiaron autobuses. También tras el último caso denunciado fue el de Rodrigo Santos, camionero de la zona, los vecinos y familiares bloquearon la avenida principal en protesta a la acción policial que resultó en su asesinato.

Los vecinos denuncian que los agentes de la 37ª Compañía Independiente de la Policía Militar (CIPM) roba en establecimientos comerciales, invade casas sin orden judicial y amenaza a los vecinos. Claramente, la brutalidad policial en la zona va en aumento, con 14 personas asesinadas por armas de fuego cada 24 horas en Salvador y Región Metropolitana los 16 primeros días de octubre. De ellas, 5 morirán en acciones policiales, lo que supone un 31,57% más que el año pasado.

InSaf India - for Saibaba

InSAF India: This is undoubtedly a state murder!

.

When crime, justice, and punishment become weaponized by a state founded on oppression and violence, those who become the voice of the oppressed are either imprisoned or killed. These murders occur under the guise of constitutionality, legality, and judicial process. Meanwhile, people without a conscience silently approve of these atrocities.

What crime did Prof. Saibaba commit? Why was he kept in solitary confinement for ten years? Ten years of relentless torture. After which the state eventually admitted that he had committed no crime.

Before his imprisonment, Saibaba had no health issues. It was the inhumane conditions of prison that completely destroyed his health. This is exactly what the state wanted: to push him to an irreversible state or to kill him. This is what was done to Pandu Narote and Father Stan Swamy. The state has pushed many political prisoners, illegally detained in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case, to the brink of death.

After being released, Saibaba gave interviews to numerous national and international media outlets and human rights organisations. In all these conversations, he never expressed self-pity, never asked, “Why did this happen to me?” To those who showed sympathy for his disability and the harsh conditions he faced in prison, he boldly said, “I don’t need sympathy, I need solidarity.” A true fighter, he never glorified himself, never showed any signs of fear or despair. He believed everything he did was part of his revolutionary practice for the greater good of society.

In a Telugu interview, Saibaba was asked, “You were imprisoned for ten years just for speaking about Adivasi rights. Why are you still talking about them now?” His response still echoes in my ears: “If someone who considers themselves civilized doesn’t speak for the oppressed Adivasis, then that civilization itself is meaningless.”

As Saibaba departs, he leaves us with a question to reflect on: our intellectual pride, self-praise, illusions of development, and fears. As a civilized and humane person, where do you stand in the ultimate war that the Sanatan corporate state is waging against the Adivasis? What will be the fate of Dalits, Bahujans, religious minorities, and women in the ‘New India’ (which in essence is a Sanatan India) that this regime dreams of? Perhaps Saibaba came (as he said, from a small prison to a larger one) and left us with this challenge.

Despite his many health issues, he spoke with hundreds of people, made numerous plans, and had much more to write. He was eager to return to the classroom and teach again. Though those plans may come to a halt, the path he chose and the courage he showed will never cease.

Shame on you, state! You killed a humanitarian. You may have physically eliminated Prof. Saibaba, but do you have the power to kill his spirit? From Socrates to Antonio Gramsci to Saibaba, you have killed countless public intellectuals and activists. But you have never been able to nor will ever be able to erase their paths. Do you not know what history tells us? In the ultimate struggle, the people will emerge victorious!

Salutes to Prof. G. N. Saibaba, the immortal humanist who fought for the oppressed of this land! As long as there are people who care for their fellow humans and for nature, you will live on.

Long live Prof. Saibaba!

We may not be able to walk in your procession, but we and others will continue to walk the path you have traversed!

One of Your Comrades

 

InSAF India: Dear Doctors,

Dear Doctors,

When you remove Saibaba’s eyes,

Please add a touch of gentleness,

For in them lie traces of the world he dreamt of,

That might unfold within someone else.

Please extract his heart with utmost skill,

For in that tenacious heart that denied death

In the fascist Manuvadi regime’s prison,

You may find the roots of tender compassion

For the Adivasis and the oppressed masses.

In constant captivity, grappling with illness,

He stood firm for his beliefs.

Please check, perhaps, those polio-stricken legs

Could leave a mark on the faces

Of the chameleon activists who preach a new ideology every day.

One more, final request …

Please preserve that brain even more carefully for the future generations,

For though ninety percent disabled,

His “thinking mind” made this exploitative system tremble with fear.

Someday, it may help someone identify the system’s weak link.

Janjerla Ramesh Babu

President, Telangana Forum Against Displacement

(With a heart burdened by sorrow for the sudden martyrdom of Comrade G.N. Saibaba…)

 

Asia Featured

InSAF India: Prof GN Saibaba, We Salute You Comrade

F.W.

October 17, 2024

We hereby share a statement published by the International Solidarity for Academic Freedom (InSAF) in India.

The Ocean is His Voice — GN Saibaba

His poetry smells of the soil

In it, the oceans churn:

The whirling cyclonic

Eastern winds roar;

The thunderous Western monsoon clouds

Carry torrents of rains

The collective voice speaks

Through his nimble words.

His lullabies hum children

Into dreams of Future’s visual frames

Artwork: Lokesh Khodke

G.N. Saibaba – professor of English, poet, and comrade – is no longer with us. Acquitted and released from prison after a decade of an unjust and brutal incarceration, he died within seven months of his release. He was convicted in 2017 in a hasty trial in which twenty-two of the twenty-three witnesses were policemen and the remaining one a citizen who knew nothing about the case but was coerced into signing a statement by the police. The state proved that the “life sentence” it handed to him was effectively a death sentence.

In the intervening years, GN Saibaba’s health deteriorated. He was struck by Covid twice, began losing function in both arms, suffered from declining cardiovascular health, and endured excruciating pain. When the jail authorities installed a CCTV camera in his toilet and refused to give him a plastic water bottle, he went on a hunger strike and won. They took in a man afflicted with polio, but otherwise fully functional, vital, and healthy – and “freed” someone who needed immediate and urgent care and did not survive a year of that “freedom.”

Why, G.N. Saibaba asked, “do they fear my way so much?” He knew that the state held him as an example to strike fear to such an extent that people would silence themselves. He was arrested in 2014 for his opposition to Operation Green Hunt, the name of the extractive campaign launched under the Manmohan Singh government to steal the mineral rich lands of the indigenous people in Central India and hand them over to corporate control – a war by the state on its own people. This war, including aerial bombing of Adivasi villages, continued during the decade Saibaba was in prison.

G.N. Saibaba was jailed by a state that hoped his ideas too would die behind bars. Justice M.R. Shah, who was part of the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court that stayed G.N.S.’s first acquittal in 2022, said, “The brain is the most dangerous thing. For terrorists or Maoists, the brain is everything. Direct involvement is not necessary.” We must not forget this.

InSAF India was formed in response to the arrests of academics, scholars, journalists, artists and activists. Since then, we have grieved for the deaths of Father Stan Swamy, Pandu Narote, and now G.N. Saibaba. To honour their lives, we must carry on living their commitment to justice. We must defeat the strategy of fear deployed by the state to silence truth-telling. Academic freedom is necessary for a just and egalitarian society, but it is seeded, nurtured and sustained by people’s struggles.

We have lost a people’s poet and a public intellectual today, but we have his words, his teachings and his deeds to take with us into the future – a future worthy of being sung in children’s lullabies.

We salute you, comrade!

PRWC and ILPS for the Death of Indian Comrade GN Saibaba

PRWC: Modi regime responsible for death of Indian academic and human rights defender

 published by Philippine Revolution Web Central (PRWC).

GN Saibaba, a 57-year-old renowned academic and human rights defender in India, died of a heart attack on October 12. He passed away while being treated at the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital.

Various sectors in India blame the reactionary government for Saibaba’s death. They say this is a stain on the government of ultra-nationalist leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi. International activist Vijay Prashad called Saibaba’s death an “institutional murder–killed by a state that falsely accused him, despite acquittals by one court after the other.”

Saibaba was released from prison seven months prior to his death, after a decade of imprisonment on fabricated charges. In prison, Saibaba, who had a disability due to polio, was deliberately denied proper medical attention. He was repeatedly denied bail, and when he was once released from prison, he was rearrested after a few months.

Saibaba was first arrested in May 2014, along with five others, on charges of violating the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. He was granted bail after a year, but was rearrested on suspicion of his alleged links to the Communist Party of India-Maoist.

The International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS extended its highest tribute to Saibaba upon his passing.

“Saibaba, deeply influenced by Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology since his student days, was a lifelong advocate for a society free from exploitation and oppression,” according to the ILPS. “He stood resolutely against imperialism, exploitative neo-liberal developmentalism, repressive laws, and the State state-sponsored terrorism that perpetuated all these.”

Saibaba was one of the prominent intellectuals who criticized the Indian state’s Operation Green Hunt which was purportedly launched against the CPI-Maoist, but widely attacked the Adivasi people. Saibaba, and many others in India, knew that Operation Green Hunt was just a pretext to evict the Adivasi people from their communities and welcome foreign companies to plunder their ancestral lands’ natural resources.

Aside from his firm stance in support of the oppressed people in India, Saibaba was also known to many progressive international organizations. He was involved in the ILPS’ founding in 2001 and served on its International Coordinating Committee. He actively served in the league for a decade before being illegally arrested and placed in solitary confinement.

At the time of his arrest, Saibaba was teaching at Ram Lal Anand College, Delhi University. He had a PhD in English.

In October, he was convicted of “terrorism” charges, but the conviction was later overturned by a higher court. In March, the cases against Saibaba and his co-accused were finally dismissed.

ILPS

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle, deeply shocked by the news of comrade Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba’s untimely passing on October 12, 2024, extends its heartfelt revolutionary salute in his honour.

Born in 1967 in Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh, Saibaba, who was 90% disabled due to polio, passed away while receiving treatment at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad. After being freed from jail in 2024, his health had severely deteriorated due to prolonged torture, degrading treatment, and lack of proper medical care during his incarceration in Nagpur jail. He was held in the notorious Anda Cell under unsanitary conditions, which further contributed to his complicated health issues.

A Ph.D. holder in English, he served as an Assistant Professor at Ram Lal Anand College, Delhi University, for several years before being dismissed in 2021 on charges of involvement with outlawed activities. Arrested in May 2014 for alleged connections to banned Maoist organizations and terrorist conspiracies, he was released on bail in June 2015 due to medical reasons, but returned to jail in December of the same year. After being bailed out again in April 2016, he was subsequently re-incarcerated. In March 2017, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, but in March 2024, he was acquitted once more.

Saibaba, deeply influenced by Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology since his student days, was a lifelong advocate for a society free from exploitation and oppression. To advance these ideals, he actively worked with students, teachers, tribal communities, various nationalities, academics, and mass organizations. He stood resolutely against imperialism, exploitative neo-liberal developmentalism, repressive laws, and the State state-sponsored terrorism that perpetuated all these. His unwavering stance made him a target of persecution, leading to his imprisonment, where he endured severe torture, inhumane treatment, and degradation.

Saibaba, known for his commitment to internationalism, was connected with numerous progressive global organizations. He was involved in the founding of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle in 2001, served on its International Coordinating Committee, and remained actively engaged with the organization for nearly a decade. He was forced into solitary confinement in the Anda Cell to prevent him from communicating with and influencing other inmates, receiving physical support for his disabled body, and continuing his engagement in progressive writings. May the memory of life and work live long and inspire many.

Saibaba wrote:

When I refused to die

my chains were loosened

I came out

Into the vast meadows

Smiling at the leaves of grass

My smile caused intolerance in them

I was shackled again

Again, when I refused to die

tired of my life

my captors released me

I walked out into the lush green valleys

under the rising sun

smiling at the tossing blades of grass

Infuriated by my undying smile

They captured me again

I still stubbornly refuse to die

The sad thing is that

They don’t know how to make me die

Because I love so much

The sounds of growing grass

November 2017.

(Remembering October 1917)

Signed,

Len Cooper, ILPS Chairperson

Brasil - peasants's struggle and militar repression - info-solidarity

 red herald

Wave of attacks against peasant encampments in Brazil

F.W.

October 25, 2024

Different cases of repression against peasants by goons who have the help of the Military Police (MP) have been reported by the revolutionary newspaper A Nova Democracia. In all cases, the paramilitary forces in service of the latifundium, as goons, have the freedom to shoot the peasants and destroy their homes and lands, protected with total impsunity given by the MP, who have this purpose. We summarize some of the news about it:

Revolutionary Area Renato Nathan

In 2009, the peasants of the Messias region in Alagoas joined the League of Poor Peasants (LCP) in the struggle to conquer the land and destroy the latifundium. As A Nova Democracia reports, through People’s Assemblies it was decided to establish a People’s Court in 2012, in addition to people’s schools or the electrification of the area.

But after years of living and working on the land, even for the benefit of the nearest municipalities, participating in the fairs for the people, the latifundium has launched a new attack, promoting the destruction of the Revolutionary Area Renato Nathan. “My houses, my farms, my crops are all destroyed. All for the decision of a corrupt judge, a thief, who expelled us without the right to do anything”, a peasant stated to the revolutionary newspaper. The cousin of the Defense Minister José Múcio, Eduardo Queiroz Monteiro, is the one who claims the lands where the peasants have lived and worked for 15 years. In total more than 720 families living in the Revolutionary Area organized by the LCP have been affected by this attack.

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Apparently, it is not the first time that this judge, José Afrânio Os Santos Oliveira, is clearly positioned in favor of the latifundium, even not considering the laws. “Afrânio has a huge list of accusations of sale of sentences and is recognized as one of the most corrupt of the judicial power of Alagoas”, the peasants say. He was the one who gave the permits so that, protected with armed men, they demolished the houses of the peasants with backhoes, and producers were prohibited from collecting their goods and animals. All this is even more bleeding since it had been promised to the peasants to expropriate the lands to their benefit for October 25.

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The LCP states that it will not accept the destruction of homes and of the production of the peasants, and that the mobilization has already begun against the judge’s decision: “In spite of everything, they could not destroy the entire area, they only caused more hate in the heart of the peasants, who will surely know how to answer this cowardly attack (…) they will pay for this cruelty, injustice and breach. Each enemy of the aforementioned people will receive, in due time and to their own extent, the payment that corresponds to it. We will return stronger and more prepared.”

Eviction attempt in Ceará

A war operation was carried out by the Government of Ceará on October 23 using police, backhoes and goons to expel families from a large property in the municipality of Morrinhos. The land, which belongs to the Secretary of Cities of the Government, Zé Albuquerque, was claimed by peasants after years of abandonment.

On September 23, the land re-taking of Poet Colibri, a name given by the peasants, which is located in the Sítio Alegre district, was conducted. The dozens of families are facing the government, the police and the paramilitary forces since then.

Again, as in the Revolutionary Area Renato Nathan, police and goons act together and without a court order against the peasants. Sometimes, the combination of forces is for the MP to escort the goons, with the guarantee that they will act without punishment. In other cases, the MP participates directly in repression.

MP helps latifundium to destroy indigenous plantations

In Guaíra, Paraná, the latifundium has sent its henchmen to poison the plantations of indigenous peasants, everything, again, under the protection of the MP. The events occurred on October 23. This attack breaks with what the judge stipulated: respect the boundaries of the peasants and the landowner is only allowed to approach in the presence of the National Force.

There is an escalation of violence in last weeks. On October 17, a truck and four backhoes tried to invade the community for the benefit of a big landlord who claims to be the owner of the land. Subsequently, rests of desiccant silica gel, toxic when ingested, got into contact with the skin or been inhaled, was found.

The leader of the indigenous peasants, who remains in anonymity, spoke through a newspaper, and affirms that the indigenous people also promise to resist the offensive of the latifundium. “We will die, but we will not go back”, he said.

 

Featured The Americas

On the struggle for land in Barro Branco, Brazil

A.R.

October 24, 2024

For the past months A Nova Democracia (AND) has been extensively reporting on the sharpening of the struggle for land in Brazil. One of the peaks of this struggle was without doubts the Fierce Battle of Barro Branco, Jaqueira, State of Pernambuco, which took place on September 28. The poor peasantry, lead by the League of the Poor Peasants (LCP) as well as supported by people’s students resisted and rejected the attacks by the goons of the latifundium organized in the movement known as “Invasão Zero”¹. The latifundium has unleashed a war on the poor peasantry which is increasingly organizing the resistance. In a recent statement, the LCP linked this struggle with the history of the struggle for land in Brazil making very clear that this is not an isolated event or clash but much more: “The fierce resistance of the squatters of Engenho Barro Branco is the continuation of the heroic struggle of the peasants of Santa Elina, Eldorado dos Carajás, of the Guarani, Kaiowas, Tupinambás, Caigangues, Mundurucus, Pataxós and many others, of the Manoel Ribeiro camp and the bloody battles of the peasants of Tiago dos Santos, to cite a few examples from our recent history.”

A student who was injured by a gunshot, Ana Cecília, was interviewed by AND:

The old Brazilian State along with the goons of latifundium have continued their attacks on the peasantry. After this battle, the Military Police (MP) has continued its harassment of the peasants, what has been denounced by the Support Committee to Barro Branco:

Source: Instagram of the Support Committee to Barro Branco

Among other criminal acts, the MP illegally arrested a resident of Barro Branco on October 22. Among the troops who was carrying out this operation, one of the MP’s who was supporting the attack by goons at the Battle of Barro Branco was present. The MP invented an excuse to detain the peasant, to whom also the right to have a lawyer from the ABRAPO was denied. Few hours later the peasant was released since there was a big pressure by the other peasants, the Support Committee and the students.

But this is not preventing the peasants led by the LCP and the students to continue their struggle. After the Battle of Barro Branco a great solidarity was unleashed with the peasants and more than 200 signatures were gathered in a document to support and express solidarity with the peasants. We share the link to the signature for the document:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSev1W1312CSU-vwygPyWrYLKUI9uewZ0KUN7TABsM79xJAWFQ/viewform

The students and many organizations made a big event of solidarity at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) with more than 150 attendants. A demonstration was carried out and a representative of the peasants of Barro Branco made a speech, in which the following statement stood out: “They tried to do what they wanted with the peasants of Barro Branco and we gave the appropriate response. We defend in the Barro Branco Association the principles of the Agrarian Revolution highlighted by the League of Poor Peasants, which has been clearly saying since 2023 that we are experiencing a reactionary Civil War in the countryside and the peasantry has to organize their self-defense groups to struggle!”.

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The repression and the attacks by latifundium have proved to be useless to prevent the peasants to continue their activity in the area. After the battle and some operations against them, the peasantry has continued working the land and repairing damages caused by the attacks of the goons. They have spread their struggle among other peasants, distributing leaflets among other residents of the area. They noticed as well that they were filmed by the goons.

Source: AND

Barro Branco shows how is developing the context of war in the Brazilian countryside, with increasing mobilization of the peasantry, attacks by the latifundium and resistance against it, as well as increasing politicization and mobilization of the peasantry and the solidarity from other sectors with the struggle for land, such as from the student movement. As an example, in the same area, Pernambuco, other attacks by the latifundium and the old Brazilian State took place on the last weeks: for example on October 9, around 500 peasant families were evicted from Santa Maria da Boa Vista, and MST members were violently repressed by the Brazilian police. But just few days after the peasantry retook the lands there. Also in the bordering area of Zona da Mata paraibana, between Pernambuco and Paraíba, AND made an extensive reportage on the threats and attacks faced by the peasantry, who faced harassment by the goons who are destroying houses, making gunshots against the peasant encampment organized by the MST, as well as they faced a military base erected by mercenaries. Those mercenaries are preventing the peasants to work the land.

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The LCP highlighted how is developing the situation nowadays: “Under these conditions, there is only one path for peasants, indigenous peoples and Quilombolas: the path of the Agrarian Revolution, as an inseparable part of the New Democratic Revolution. Only by revolutionizing the countryside, destroying the latifundium and its old State, will the masses be able to win the sacred right to land for those who live and work on it. The Agrarian Revolution is the destruction, in practice, of these semi-feudal relations of production that have been in force in the countryside since the origin of the Brazilian nation (five centuries); today, the Agrarian Revolution, moreover, is the defeat in practice of the extreme right. As the great Peruvian revolutionary Mariátegui established, the struggle for land is always violent and therefore touches on the political question of Power from the beginning. Under the leadership of the revolutionary working class, the insurgent Brazilian peasantry advances with each struggle towards the construction of a New Power.” After that, made a call to the peasantry of the state of Pernambuco: “The National Commission of the Poor Peasants’ Leagues and the LCP Northeast call on all land struggle organizations in the state of Pernambuco, from the Sertão to the Coast, and peasants, indigenous peoples and Quilombolas from all over the country, to mobilize to confront and defeat the Bolsonaro paramilitary hordes of the far-right “Invasão Zero”, in every situation that arises and to support the struggle of the squatters of Barro Branco.”

1We recommend our readers to read this article by AND explaining what is the movement “Invasão Zero”: https://anovademocracia.com.br/pe-quem-e-o-movimento-invasao-zero-em-pernambuco/

Turkey: an event commemorate GN Saibaba

 

 translation of a report published by Yeni Demokrasi.

“Lal Salam Saibaba!”

On October 17, a memorial event organized by Partizan for the Indian Maoist GN Saibaba took place in Istanbul.

After 10 years in prison, Saibaba was released, but suffered health problems due to the severe tortures he faced in prison and died after an operation. At the event, Saibaba was honored as a symbol of the immortal people’s fighters in India.

The commemoration began with a minute of silence for Saibaba, the CPI (Maoist)’s martyrs and all revolutionary martyrs. The speeches highlighted the attacks by the reactionary Indian State aimed at destroying the Maoists and indigenous peoples and made a call for Maoist unity.

Partizan’s speech emphasized: “Saibaba has been internationally recognized as a human rights defender since the 2000s. He stood up for the defense of democratic rights, the just struggle of the people and against the oppression of political prisoners. In 2005, he joined the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) to defend democratic rights.” The speech continued by describing the torture Saibaba suffered during his detention.

The prison stay was summed up with the words: “During his imprisonment, Saibaba was subjected to numerous tortures. Despite his 90 percent disability, his wheelchair was taken away from him. The living conditions for Saibaba were extremely poor. Saibaba and other political prisoners then began a hunger strike. The hunger strike was successful and Saibaba got his wheelchair back. Saibaba never gave up his resistance and his fight. In prison he continued his revolutionary work.”

LET US DEFEND THE INDIAN REVOLUTION

“Today, despite heavy losses, the Indian revolution continues with a tough fight. This year the reactionary Indian State has carried out all kinds of attacks, but the Maoists are organizing and continuing the revolutionary struggle. Saibaba was part of this struggle and revolution. Preserving his memory and honoring him means standing up for a classless, borderless and exploitation-free world. Saibaba, who has always stood by the oppressed peoples and their just interests, is immortal.” With these words the speech ended.

The memorial event ended with applause.

(Istanbul)

INDIA: Meeting by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners- WB

We hereby share a call published by the CRPP-WB.

The Republic has once again murdered its own child in cold blood. Rise up and condemn the state’s institutional execution of the people’s intellectual, GN Saibaba. Join the fight—attend the meeting and make your voice heard!

https://redherald.org/https://redherald.org/

FILIPINAS: El NPA sigue ganando fuerza mediante ofensivas tácticas

 

22 de octubre de 2024revolucionfilipina

Ana Rosario, 7 de octubre de 2024

Contrariamente al regodeo de los oficiales militares y funcionarios del gobierno reaccionario de que las fuerzas revolucionarias armadas del pueblo filipino están gravemente debilitadas, los combatientes rojos del Nuevo Ejército del Pueblo (NPA) siguen ganando fuerza mediante ofensivas tácticas y asestando duros golpes a las tropas fascistas de las Fuerzas Armadas de Filipinas (AFP).

En los últimos tres meses, los guerrilleros populares han lanzado exitosas operaciones militares contra las fuerzas enemigas en distintas provincias del país, desde ataques ofensivos hasta francotiradores, pasando por el acoso y la aplicación de castigos justos contra criminales incorregibles y espías.

Frustrar ataques enemigos

El 15 de septiembre en Sitio Calanay, Barangay Banco, Palanas en Masbate, los combatientes rojos del NPA-Masbate (Comando José Rapsing) frustraron un ataque del 2º Batallón de Infantería de las AFP, y luego lanzaron una contraofensiva que mató a 10 tropas enemigas. Los guerrilleros populares utilizaron un explosivo detonado por el mando contra las tropas enemigas y luego maniobraron para ponerse a salvo, contrariamente a las mentiras difundidas por el 2º BI de que el NPA sufrió muchas bajas.

Según Ka Luz del Mar, portavoz del NPA-Masbate, el enemigo recuperó rápidamente los cuerpos de sus soldados caídos para ocultar sus bajas, pero muchos fueron testigos de la recuperación de los muertos de las AFP. Debido a su humillación por la derrota ante los combatientes rojos y al fracaso a la hora de obtener información de las masas, el ejército filipino y la PNP enviaron 200 soldados y personal a los barangays de Banco, San Carlos y Bigaa en la ciudad de Palanas.