International Relations:Pointers to a Possible Multipolar Future

February 2007 will be remembered for opening up the prospects of a multipolar future for the world. At the centre of these prospects lies a resurgent Russia, which having made a steady internal recovery from the huge aftershock of the collapse and disintegration of the erstwhile Soviet Union now seems determined to bounce back in international relations as a counterweight to the global hegemonic campaign of the United States. The countries of West Asia that have borne the brunt of the US offensive with the Anglo-American occupation and destruction of Iraq and the growing threats to Iran have strongly welcomed the emerging Russian stance while China and to some extent Japan and India also displayed a degree of readiness to cooperate with Russia in its declared quest for a multipolar world order.

On February 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his now famous Munich speech. Addressing the 43rd annual International Security Conference held in Munich, where his audience comprised ministers and policy-makers from some 40 Western countries including the new US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, and the hawkish Republican Presidential contender, Senator John McCain, Putin came out quite explicitly and strongly against US expansionism and advocated a multipolar world.

Putin began by saying that the structure of the conference allowed him “to avoid … the need to speak in roundabout, pleasant but empty diplomatic terms” and lambasted the US for having “overstepped its national borders in every way”. He made it clear that a unipolar order based on “an almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations” and “a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law” was both unacceptable and impossible.

“I am convinced that we have reached that decisive moment when we must seriously think about the architecture of global security,” Putin told his Western audience and then went on to point out that the combined GDP measured in purchasing power parity of countries such as India and China was already greater than that of the United States, while a similar calculation with the GDP of the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – surpassed the cumulative GDP of the EU. “There is no reason to doubt that the economic potential of the new centres of global economic growth will inevitably be converted into political influence and will strengthen multipolarity,” inferred Putin.

Putin also warned the NATO against its continuing eastward expansion drive. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, NATO had lost its cold war raison d’etre, yet over the years, NATO has been relentlessly expanded to intimidate Russia and encircle Asia. The expanding NATO first incorporated Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republicin the late 1990s, and then Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia all joined the alliance in 2002. Lately, there has been talk of Ukraine and Georgia also joining. Putin described it as another Berlin Wall, cutting through Europe and called for dismantling these new walls.

Putin followed up his Munich speech with a widely welcomed visit to the Middle East including Saudi Arab, Qatar and Jordan. King Abdullah of Saudi Arab hailed him as a “man of peace and fairness”. In an interview to the most popular Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, he described Saddam Hussein’s execution as barbaric, condemned US occupation of Iraq and American plans to increase its troop size in Iraq and asked Bush to immediately announce a timetable for troops withdrawal. It should be noted that Russia has a sizable Muslim population, enjoys observer status in the Organisation of Islamic countries and is looked to by the Arab world as a friendly power vis-à-vis the bullying US.

While Putin explored new equations in the Middle-East, China played a key role in brokering a significant six-nation deal involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US, to solve the North Korean nuclear impasse. Making a climb-down from its arrogant war threats, the US was compelled to agree to lift economic embargoes and allow North Korea to normalise its international relations in lieu of Pyongyang’s promise to gradually abandon its nuclear weapons programme. In spite of the October 9 nuclear test by North Korea, a beleaguered Bush administration has been stopped from using its familiar strong-arm tactics by the timely combined intervention of China and Russia.

Close on the heels of the February 13 North Korean deal, the foreign ministers of Russia, China and India met in New Delhi and adopted a set of resolutions to increase economic and energy cooperation among the three countries. The gathering marked the second time the foreign ministers of the three countries had met in the past two years. They last met in Vladivostok, Russia, in June 2005 while Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao held their first trilateral summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2006. The three-way relations were first mooted by Russia in 1996.

India’s pro-US foreign policy however poses a major impediment to any meaningful exploration of the multipolar prospects and to any significant improvement in India’s relations with either China or Russia. Pressure must therefore be increased on the UPA Government for cancellation of the Indo-US nuclear deal and reversal of India’s pro-US foreign policy.

Agrarian Workers and Peasants Protest in Front of the Bihar Assembly

All India Agricultural Labour Association and Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha held a massive demonstration in front of Bihar Assembly on Feb. 23 and opposed the policy of deliberate exclusion of poor from the BPL list, anomalies being practiced in the NREGA, the land acquisition policy and many other anti-people policies of the government. They also demanded to publish the report tabled by the Land Commission in Bihar.

Thousands of agrarian workers and peasants started a march towards the Assembly which was led by AIALA National President Rameshwar Prasad, General Secretary Dhirendra Jha, State President Pawan Sharma, BPKS Convener Rajaram Singh, along with Satyadev Ram, Vidyanand Vikal, Arun Singh, Sivsagar Sharma, Vishweshar Yadav, and Kripanarayan Singh. CPI(ML) CC members KD Yadav, Saroj Chaube, Mina Tiwary, AIPWA leader Shashi Yadav, RYA's Kamlesh Sharma, AISA's Abhyudaya and CPI(ML) MLA Nand Kumar Nanda were also present in the march. Marchers, displaying the red banners, flags and festoons, were shouting slogans "Card do, Kam do, BPL mein nam do!", "Rozgar Guarantee fail kyon, Nitish Kumar Jabab do", "Bhookh se lagataar maut kyon", "Stop privatising canals", "Provide homestead land for the poor", etc. The protesters were stopped at R-Block round-about by a huge posse of police and paramilitary forces, where the agitators demanded the Chief Minister to come to the spot to accept the memorandum of demands. When the CM offered to send the Dy. CM Sushil Kumar Modi to the spot, they refused to meet him. Later a memorandum was handed over to the Rural Development Minister Vaidyanath Mahto.

The protesters asked the Bihar Govt. why the job cards have not been issued to all poor applicants, why the illegal precondition of digging 110 cubic ft. soil has not been withdrawn despite the fact that the CM and RDM have agreed for the same, why the unemployment allowance is not being provided and why the panchayat and block level officials are not being punished for the non-implementation of the NREGA. They also demanded to immediately suspend the mukhiya and BDO in case of deaths due to starvation or malnutrition. The exclusion of influential rich from the BPL and inclusion of all deserving poor be done after taking the 20-points of BPL survey as the base-line, instead of 14-points. The demand to make public the report of the Land Commission was raised along with the demand to seize the thousands of acres of land of the Shikarpur Estate, to give rights to the tenants, and to give possession over the lands to the parcha-holders. The demand to cancel the Land Acquisition policy was also raised forcefully.

A resolution demanding the measures to address the problem of water logging and flooding of embankments, to guarantee the availability of fertilizers, electricity and seeds to the farmers, and to ensure the crop insurance for every peasant was also passed. The proposal for the privatisation of canals and other irrigation facilities was condemned vehemently.

It was also demanded to make the offence of misappropriation of the food-grains and kerosine under the PDS a cognisable offence and to withdraw all cases framed against the activists demanding proper implementation of BPL and NREGA. The opening of liquor shops in villages was opposed by the activists.

The other resolution included for the proper compensation and rehabilitation of the people affected by the land acquisition for the East-West Corridor; strong action against the ministers and MLAs involved with the nexus of crime attacking the dignity of dalits and women; and to curb the mafia looting the development funds and affecting the overall development and polity in the state.

The leaders called upon to intensify the movement and gherao of the concerned ministers and officials at all levels if the demands were not met by the government. CPI(ML) Polit Bureau member and AIALA's Founder President Ramnaresh Ram called upon for bigger mobilisations till the governments are forced to accede to the demands of the poor, in his concluding speech.

CPI(ML) has termed the Rail Budget 2007 an attempt to sell-out the Indian Railways in a typical Laloo-style to impose the policy of liberalisation and privatisation. Passengers' convenience is totally ignored and the issue of safety is not addressed. Amidst plenty of talks about 'garib' (poor), the 'common man' has not accorded any place in this budget. While employment avenues are completely closed, it also opens up the doors further for layouts and retrenchments by giving preference to private players for whom it is proposing the special corridors and special trains.

Issues like building and repairing of old railway bridges, and appointments of cabin-man at open crossings, etc. have not been addressed thus compromising the issue of safety. Moreover, basic requirements like good food and drinking water during the journey are left at the mercy of the private contractors while increasing the number of seats from 72 to 84 will add further to the woes of the passengers.

The All India Agricultural Labour Association has demanded the provision of concessional fare for the job cards holders under NREGA and the BPL families.

ACTIVITIES

Coal Workers Protest

Hundreds of organised and unorganised coal workers and rural poor under the banner of Coal Mines Workers' Union demonstrated at Koyla Bhavan, BCCL, in Dhanbad on 27 Feb. to press for their demand of punishment to those responsible for Nagda mines accident that had taken many lives of coal workers few months back. They also demanded for the proper safety measures in all mines and to put a ban of outsourcing in coal mines.

Industrial Workers Padyatra from Kanpur to Lucknow

Hundreds of industrial workers in Kanpur organised a march to Lucknow from Feb. 18 to 22. The march covered the industrial areas of Kanpur, Unnao and Lucknow districts and held mass meetings in front of many closed mills. The workers demanded reestablishing the industrial character of Kanpur, reopening of old mills, implementation of labour laws, minimum wages, safety and social security of the workers, and to withdraw the pro-imperialist economic policies. The march started from the Labour Commissioner Office in Kanpur and covered a distance of 100 kilometers before reaching to Patel Park near Rajbhavan in Lucknow. Many social activists and mass organisations welcomed the march on the way. This was led by AICCTU State President Hari Singh. Many trade unionists and CPI(ML) leaders addressed the march at various places. The administration in Lucknow arranged a meeting of the marchers with the Chief Labour Secretary who assured to take action to resolve the workers' problems and demands.

CPI(ML) Leader Refuses Government Felicitation

The CPI(ML) leader in Jharkhand Bahadur Oraon has criticized the Madhu Koda Govt. in Jharkhand for not taking proper care of the families of the martyrs of Guwa firing incident in spite of repeated demands for the same. Comrade Oraon refused to accept the felicitation to be given by the state government on the occasion of the Jharkhand Day on Nov. 15 for leading the struggle, along with two other leaders, against the Guwa incident that occurred on 8 December 1980. He said that the families of the martyrs are still languishing in poverty and my being felicitated will be against the dignity of the martyrs and their families.

Student-Youth Convention in Ranchi

A convention on 'Increasing attacks on tribal rights and dignity' was held as a part of Shahid-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Centenary celebrations on Feb. 25 in Ranchi which was attended by a large number of students and youth. This was organised jointly by AISA, RYA, AIKF, Palamu Students Union, Jharkhand Jan Sanskriti Manch, Hira- Barve Student Union, Chhotanagpur Munda Chhatra Sangh, and some other organisations. Javier Kujoor of Jan Sanskriti Manch introduced the subject matter and emphasized the need for developing students-youth movement in the new context. He said that imperialist onslaught is directly impacting the lives of common people as well as students and youth in Jharkhand and there are attempts to loot our natural resources and to damage the culture and traditions of the people. Journalist Satyaprakash appealed to develop a strong movement against the anti-people policies of NDA as well as UPA and, simultaneously, to sideline and expose the opportunist tribal leaders in Jharkhand. A number of students also spoke in the convention and pledged to intensify the movement and broaden the scope of struggles in the coming days.

The convention passed, in the end, several political resolutions including the condemnation of the heinous incident of gang-rape of tribal girls in Ballia district in UP, against the migration and for the employment opportunities at local level, to cancel all MOUs in Jharkhand, to hold students union elections in Ranchi University, to stop commercialisation and communalisation of education, for an effective policy to preserve the language and culture of tribal people, to stop all projects causing large scale displacements in the state, to hold panchayat elections in the state, and to guarantee the continuation of the Fifth Schedule as well as the CNT-SPT Acts.

Struggle against the Eviction of the Poor

The district administration in Sitapur had to accept the demands of the struggling rural poor of Rikhipurwa village in Hargaon block after a week-long dharna was held in front of the DM Office. The indefinite dharna concluded after an agreement was reached with the DM on Feb. 15. 28 families were rehabilitated on a seized 15-acre land plot, but the gram-pradhan conspired to evict the poor with the tacit support of local BSP, SP and BJP leaders. The protracted struggle ultimately led to the assurance of distributing lease-patta to the occupants.

AIALA Block Conference

The Third Elia block conference of AIALA was concluded on 18 Feb. in the village of martyred Comrade Rambaksh, Baseti. A Martyr's Column was inaugurated before the conference at the place where Comrade Rambaksh was killed by the landlords on 5 August '05. He was the AIALA Block Secretary at that time. It was also resolved to organise a mela on the day of his martyrdom every year. AIALA National Executive member Rakesh Singh inaugurated the conference while CPI(ML) leaders Gaya Prasad and Arjunlal addressed it as guests. The conference pledged to make the 23 March Inquilab rally to held in Delhi a great success.

Comrade Liyakat Ali, a member of Hargaon Area Committee in Sitapur, expired on 12 Feb. He was 52. He joined CPI(ML) in 2002 when the Party begun its work in the district. Earlier he was in CPI, but the limitations of opportunist politics led him to join our Party. He had been an elected member of the Zilla Panchayat earlier. His honesty, pro-poor commitment, militancy and struggles made him immensely popular among the rural poor of the area. A memorial meeting was organised on Feb. 20 in his village which was attended by hundreds of people and prominent persons. Party district in-charge Madan Singh, AIALA leader Rakesh singh, and many others spoke in the meeting.

Brightest sparks of revolutionary struggles - 1857, Bhagat Singh and Naxalbari
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