The World Shall Never Comply with Washington's Wishes

A week after the first anniversary of 9/11, it is natural to wonder how much and in which way the world has really 'changed'. With all its superpower surveillance system, Washington was caught completely unawares by the lethal terrorist strikes a year ago. The colossal human dimension of the tragedy of terror with nearly 3,000 people drawn from different countries perishing within minutes overwhelmed the whole world. But the human dimension least bothered Bush and his men. They were haunted by the pathetic loss of America's superpower aura of invincibility, the sudden collapse of the global myth of Fortress America.

The response that followed therefore was an arrogant attempt to reclaim that lost aura. For the first time in modern history a country declared war not against another country but against an elusive individual and his secret network. An endless global war, not limited by constraints of history or geography, time or space, was launched to hunt down Osama bin Laden, dead or alive. One year down the line, the target remains as elusive as ever. Washington has directed the focus back on Iraq. A regime change in Iraq is the latest battle cry.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan has borne the heaviest brunt of the war in its first year. The Talibans have been ousted and a puppet government installed. But the writ of the new government obviously does not run beyond Kabul and Mr. Karzai can only be described as a glorified Mayor of a besieged capital whose survival depends solely on his Western backing. The warlords are all claiming their respective pounds of flesh and American security forces stationed in Afghanistan now have to face increased guerrilla attacks and terrorist threats.

Under these circumstances, many coalition partners of Washington who had extended unqualified support in the initial phase of the war are obviously having second thoughts. The American plan to 'celebrate' the first anniversary of September 11 by bombing Iraq back to the Stone Age has had to be temporarily deferred. The Anglo-American air attack on Iraq has evoked strong words of reservation and criticism, if not outright opposition. The late August Shanghai communique released by China and Russia once again invoked the doctrine of collective security and rejected the US course of unilateral action. Germany and France have openly insisted on UN-backed collective action. In fact, the present German chancellor's strongly articulated opposition to US unilateralism, a pleasant contrast to his initial offer of unconditional support to the US in the wake of September 11, is likely to prove the strongest factor in his favour when he faces the electorate on 22 September.

Is this the 'changed' world Washington had cherished in the aftermath of September 11? The more the US treats the world as a unipolar one and seeks to assert its unilateral hegemony, the more the world refuses to comply with Washington's wishful dictates. The Johannesburg global summit on sustainable development and the UN General Assembly, the two global gatherings that more or less coincided with the first anniversary of September 11 have amply reflected the world's refusal to accept President Bush's angry and arrogant outbursts as the last word.

CPI(ML) Shocked over Tragic Rajdhani Accident, Demands Resignation of Nitish Kumar

CPI(ML) expressed deep sorrow over the tragic loss of lives in Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani Express accident near Rafiganj on 9 September. "At a time when the Railway Ministry is busy in pompous celebration of the 150th anniversary of Indian Railways and populist politics in the name of zonal restructuring, this tragedy has come as a shocking reminder of the shoddy state of affairs in railways", the party said.

The Party said, "the government of the day is preoccupied with the disastrous gameplan of disinvestment and downsizing . It is least bothered about the quality and maintenance of essential services in the country. The criminal negligence of the safety and security of the age old tracks and bridges makes Indian Railways the most unsafe in the world". The Party said that Railway Minister Nitish Kumar must own the responsibility of this major accident and resign from the post.

Closure of Three Fertilizer Units Opposed

The CPI(ML) has strongly opposed the latest decision of the central government to close down three fertilizer plants - at Barauni (Bihar), Durgapur (West Bengal) and Sindri (Jharkhand) - on the plea that they are sick industries. Describing the government's decision as "anti-peasant and anti-worker", the Party has said that at a time when the government is importing chemical fertilizers every year by spending a huge amount of foreign exchange, these plants are being shut down without any efforts to modernise them". The party called upon the people of affected states to resist this move.

CPI(ML)'s First Conference in Gwalior

The first district conference of Gwalior was concluded on Sep. 16 with a resolve to strengthen the left movement in the region by countering the growing threat of communal fascism and by defeating the stale feudal remnants prevailing in social and political spheres over the region. The Conference was inaugurated by Polit Bureau Member of the Party Swadesh Bhattacharya. Com. Swadesh said in his speech that democracy and sovereignty of the country is being successively threatened by the BJP led government in the center. He termed Modi's Gaurav Yatra as 'Kalank Yatra' and said that the government in Gujarat must be dismissed immediately in the interest of the people of the state and the nation. He also called upon the delegates to intensify the people's movement against the anti-people policies issued by the Digvijay Singh Govt.

The Conference was attended by delegates from various cross-sections of the people, men and women, including construction workers, urban poor, unemployed youth, minorities, dalits and people from different professions and was addressed also by the CC member and incharge of Madhya Pradesh com. Rajaram besides Devendra Singh Chauhan and Gurudutt Sharma. A thirteen member committee was elected with Vinod Rawat as its Secretary. The Conference was peceded by a colourful rally.

Flood Victims Form Human Chain in Patna

Thousands of flood victims from the districts of Darbhanga, Samastipur, Madhubani and Sitamarhi formed a 'human chain' in Patna on September 13 and protested against the criminal negligence being betrayed by the governments in Delhi and Patna. They said that if the central and state government don't come forth with a comprehensive plan of action for permanent solution of flood, they would launch a militant mass movement in whole of north-Bihar. A memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister as well as the Chief Minister was also sent in this regard. A Large numbers of women also participated in this programme. Protesters announced that if their demands were not fulfilled they would be free to ban the entry of Ministers, MPs and MLAs in Mithilanchal.

This protest programme was led by CPI(ML) Mithilanchal incharge Dhirendra Jha.

Agitation in Gaya District

The CPI(ML) has launched a series of protests in Belaganj block in Gaya district of Bihar on the issue of embezzlement of funds meant for old age pension and for the people below poverty line by the B.D.O. in connivance with the mukhiya of Belaganj Panchayat. The agitation is continuing since September 2 braving police and administration's repressive measures against the protesters. The Party has brought this issue to the notice of Home Secretary of Bihar, through a memorandum, and asked him to instruct the Gaya police and administration to stop targeting the protesting people and instead take action against the corrupt BDO and Mukhiya of the Panchayat.

A relay dharna was organised in Belaganj from Sep. 2 to 7 and a protest demonstration was held at Commissioner's office in Gaya on Sep. 11. Meanwhile, Chandu Ram, a member of the Party district committee and secretary of the block unit of Khet Mazdoor Sabha, began his fast-unto-death from Sep. 8. He was picked up and forcibly sent to hospital on Sep. 11 on the instructions from the BDO and threatened of his life if he doesn't call off the agitation. The BDO and his goons also picked up Party district secretary com. Brajesh and office secretary com. Mohan Kumar from the party office and took them to the police station to lodge a fake case, but police somehow refused to file a false FIR and arrest them. In the meantime com. Chandu Ram successfully managed to escape from the hospital. The party unit in Gaya has now further intensified the struggle. The fast-unto-death was resumed in front of DM office the next day with 10 more comrades accompanying com. Chandu Ram. The 14 September was observed as 'protest day' in Gaya against this incident and on 15 Sep. Party called a 'Belaganj Bandh' which was a good success.

Workers Protest Anti-Labour Policies of WB Government

A large number of workers in Kolkata were arrested while protesting against the recommendations of the Ravindra Varma Commission on Labour reforms, non-implementation of minimum wages Act in the state, to take back the black agreement on Jute mills, and for a judicial inquiry into the killings of workers in three incidents of police firing on peacefully protesting workers which occured in Darjeeling, Murshidabad and Hooghly. Nearly 500 workers and AICCTU activists were arrested when an impressive protest demonstration of more than a thousand workers reached Esplanade from Subodh Mullick Square. This protest was called upon by the AICCTU state committee of West Bengal and led by the State Secretary of AICCTU Basudev Bose.

AISA-RYA Protest in Patna

Activists of the AISA and the RYA held a protest demonstration in Patna on September 9 against US-British air attacks on Iraq. They burnt the effigies of the US president Bush and the British prime minister Blair. The agitation was led among others by RYA state president Kamlesh Sharma, its secretary Paramhans Kumar and AISA leaders Abhyuday, Navin, Dharmendra and Vikrant. Protesters also demanded so called 'Gaurav Yatra' to stop. They demanded dismissal of Narendra Modi govt. and imposition of President's rule with a non-RSS new governor in the state.

CPI(ML) Protests Against Closure of Fertilizer Units

On September 13 the CPI(ML)'s Dhanbad unit held a demonstration, participated by hundreds of people, to protest the proposed closure of Sindri Fertilizer Company. Several Party leaders and activists including Upendra Singh, DS Diwakar, Tarun Sarkar, and Manoranjan were arrested along with around 140 supporters by the police.

The protesters also demanded proper rehabilitation measures for more than five thousand people living in Jharia colliery area who are now being displaced by the government.

Also in Nirsa, 48 people led by Party's area committee secretary Harendra Singh were arrested while protesting on the same issues.

District Convention of Kamgar Union

On 15 September East Delhi district convention of All India General Kamgar Union was held at Krishna Nagar. Around fifty delegates from elected bodies of seven units of AKGKU in East Delhi participated in it. The convention elected a 20-member district committee with Ram Abhilash as its president and BKS Gautam as its secretary. In the light of the recent formation of Construction Workers' Welfare Board by the Delhi Govt., the convention discussed ways and means to utilise it in the favour of workers. It also resolved to launch movement to pressurise the government to firmly implement the labour laws punishing the guilty of violating them. It was also decided to hold a demonstration on 16 October at the labour office and submit a memorandum on these demands.

Sankalp Rally in Bettiah, Bihar

Even after 55 years of independence, West Champaran district of Bihar virtually remains under the rule of half a dozen feudal estates each possessing thousands of acres, and around a hundred feudal lords illegally occupying hundreds of acres of land. On the other hand there are landless and poor peasants and agrarian labourers facing brutal attacks by feudal goons and police in case they demand ceiling surplus land or minimum wages. By now struggle has been launched against many of them under Party's leadership on the question of land in Mainatanr, Sikta, Majhaulia, Chanpatia, and Bagaha blocks. Also, landless agrarian labourers have risen in strike movement demanding minimum wages, and their impact was so widespread that even the elephant-trainers, servants looking after livestock and housemaids serving big feudal lords had struck work. Naturally these movements have faced ruthless attacks of mercenary gangs of criminals in most of the places. However, in the face of organised strength and militant temper of the poor often they had to beat a retreat and at many places they were even chased away. Successes in land and wage movements have made big landlords quite desperate and the nexus of landlord-mafia goons-politician-police-administration has started launching vehement attacks on the tolas of landless and poor peasants that have been centers of struggle. Even the force of several police stations was mobilised under the command of a DSP to launch raid on a tola inhabited by just 70 landless households in the name of nabbing four accused culprits of petty theft! Police have resorted to firing in many cases, poor peasants have been victim of custodial deaths and even the agitators have been killed in cold blood.

The latest example of police brutality particularly targeting our Party activists was witnessed at Bettiah when on 9 August, while observing 'Champaran Bandh' Comrade Ramji Patel was shot dead at point blank range by the police within the Bettiah railway station premises. Against this, protest was launched all over the state. The district committee has resolved that there will be no let up in the protest until the SP of the district is punished. In course of this protest campaign, the Party held a massive 'Sankalp Rally' in the memory of Comrade Ramji Patel at Mainatanr on 13 September. Addressing the rally Party General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya said that this is the third time in the history of this district that toiling people are waging a major battle against the feudal order of this district. First, during the British period, it was Gandhi who took over the leadership and the movement earned popular peasant support for the Congress for the first time in its history, but soon the Congress started openly siding with the Zamindars and conveniently forgot the question of land reform. Then, during the 1940s and onwards, the Communist Party took up the question mobilizing the broad masses of peasantry, but due to the compromising attitude of its leadership, which later abandoned the course of agrarian revolution, the task remained unfinished. This time the poor peasants, agrarian labourers and toiling people have rallied under the banner of the CPI(ML) in a determined struggle against the feudal order for the second independence. To the social forces that are still vacillating, he appealed to firmly stand by the cause of the poor and oppressed against the repressive landlords in the region. He also appealed to the women to take part in large numbers in the struggle against feudal-politician-criminal nexus for their rights and dignity.

I>This time it is the final battle being fought by the most downtrodden of the countryside for a radical change. So the rural poor have decided that however fierce be the repression, all the necessary sacrifices will be made, and there will be no rest till the landlord-mafia regime is overthrown. And CPI(ML) is determined to lead this struggle through to an end.

The meeting was also addressed by Rameshwar Prasad, General Secretary of Bihar Pradesh Khet Mazdoor Sabha, Virendra Prasad Gupta, Party incharge of West Champaran district, BPKMS leader Vidyanand Vikal, district Party leaders Nandji Ram, Sunil Rao, Rustam Ali, Dayanand Dubey and others./I>

CPI(ML) to Hold Convention in Gujarat on September 28

Although saffron forces' plans to misutilise constitutional provisions in order to subvert its basic democratic premise received a jolt when the Election Commission in its order refused to hold the Legislative Assembly elections in the state immediately to constitute an assembly before October 6, and the Supreme Court too in its observation ruled out any intervention in Election Commission's fixture of holding elections, the Sangh Parivar has not slackened its campaign of subverting the democratic norms. Led by killer Modi they have unleashed an unrelenting venomous propaganda campaign against the minority which is clearly violative of the secular spirit of our constitution. To protest this saffron campaign the CPI(ML) alongwith several anti-BJP non-Congress left and democratic organisations will hold a convention on "Strengthen Democratic Resistance against Communal Fascist Designs of Saffron Forces" on 28 September in Ahmedabad. Activists and concerned citizens from neighbouring states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan and also from Delhi and some other parts of the country will join workers and activists from Ahmedabad and elsewhere in Gujarat to attend this convention and take out a joint anti-fascist march for justice and democracy.

Meanwhile, reiterating the demand for the dismissal of Narendra Modi govt. and immediate promulgation of Presidesnt's rule in Gujarat as well as appointment of a credible and non-RSS Governor, the CPI(ML) has demanded an immediate stop to the so-called 'Gaurav Yatra' being held by the RSS-BJP-VHP-Bajrang Dal in Gujarat. In a statement issued recently the Party said, "for political confidence to be restored among the genocide victims in the state, the Modis, the Singhals, and the Togadias have to be arrested and punished." The Party strongly condemned the anti-Muslim abusive statements made recently by Narendra Modi who said that relief camps were closed because those were being used for substantially increasing Muslim population in the state.

The Party ridiculed the claim of the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in the United Nations General Assembly that the Gujarat genocide was an aberration. The Party said, "Whatever happened in Gujarat was a planned systematic state-monitored genocide and it has shaken the foundation of Indian democracy. Gujarat covets the din and bustle of a living and civilised society where the common man and women can pick up the threads of communal harmony, rebuild their lives and resume their struggle for justice and democracy in a climate of mutual respect and trust". The Venue of the Convention is Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hall, situated behind Ahmedabad Railway Station.

State Conference of Paschimbanga Gana Sanskritik Parishad

The state conference of the cultural organization Paschim Banga Gana Sanskritik Parishad was held at Ashok Nagar, North 24 Paraganas in West Bengal on 7-8 September. It was inaugurated by senior leftist intellectual Jyotiprakash Chattopadhyay. Many renowned cultural personalities were present in the inaugural session. The programme was conducted by Arijit Mitra, editor of 'Nabanna'. The inaugural session was rendered attractive by the songs by Ajit Pandey, Brati Mazumdar and Suvendu Maiti. In his inaugural speech Jyotiprakash Chattopadhyay recalled the experience of the cultural movement of the yesteryears and highlighted the pioneering role of Romain Rolland. He concentrated on the responsibility of cultural activists against national terror.

On 8 September the cultural report of Gana Sanskritik Parishad was tabled by Nitish Roy and more than 20 delegates participated in the lively discussion on cultural movement.

In all 130 people participated in the two-day programme. The conference passed a ten-point resolution, opposing state terrorism and demanding release of political prisoners. The conference voiced its opposition to the Sangh Parivar's Gaurav Yatra in Gujarat and its concern on increasing saffron infiltration in the Northeastern states. It decided to proliferate the organization and popularize 'Nabanna', the mouthpiece of Gana Sanskritik Parishad. It also resolved to hold workshops on songs, drama, mime and painting and forge a team of singers and street drama activists who would go to villages to carry the cultural message of the Parishad. And lastly, it decided to launch a movement to oppose the horrific deaths of children in the state.

The conference reelected Nitish Roy as secretary, Dr Debasis Mukherjee, Sitanshu Chakravarty and Arijit Mitra as joint secretaries. The programme successfully ended with the song 'Hum honge kamyaab'.