Delhi: Scanner on pro - Maoist Academics

Posted by indianvanguard on October 18, 2009

ANANYA SENGUPTA

New Delhi, Oct. 17: The government is drawing up a list of academics from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Jawaharlal Nehru University who it believes are Maoist sympathisers.

The CBI had put these senior doctors and professors under its scanner soon after the arrest of alleged CPI (Maoist) politburo member Khobad Ghandy last month. Agency sources say many students from across Delhi too are using their rented accommodation to shelter Maoists.

CBI sleuths claim these doctors and university teachers had helped Ghandy set up base in Delhi and recruit students from the capital.

They add that the agency has tracked two meetings in Delhi organised by the city’s Maoist sympathisers to discuss Ghandy’s arrest.

The sources claim the CBI has documents to show that at least three AIIMS doctors, and many more Delhi academics and students, had visited Russia, China and Kazakhstan for ideological discussions. It’s not clear, however, if arrests will follow.

When Delhi police applied in a city court on October 8 for an extension of Ghandy’s remand, they had said they were looking for three alleged Ghandy associates — two businessmen and a PhD student, Arvind Joshi.

The police application said Joshi, 27, who is from Haldwani in Uttarakhand, was believed to have hidden Ghandy at his rented quarters in the Badarpur area of south Delhi.

The police found nothing in Joshi’s rooms but claimed the student had removed a set of Maoist literature, documents, CDs, a laptop and the hard disk of another laptop as well as Rs 5 lakh from his quarters.

Officers said these claims were based on information that Ghandy allegedly provided during interrogation.

The police say they are on Joshi’s trail and would arrest him. The claims about Delhi-based sympathisers providing logistical support to the rebels come days after Union home minister P. Chidambaram asked civil society to stop “romanticising Naxals” and start judging them in the context of the “mountain of (Maoist) violence”.

On Thursday, an agricultural scientist who had briefly studied for a doctorate at Delhi’s Pusa Institute years ago was arrested for allegedly heading Maoist operations in Bihar and Jharkhand. His wife too was arrested. TT

Let us demand an end to this hunt

Posted by indianvanguard on October 17, 2009

Remembering K Balagopal ( K. Balagopal, Originally published in Telugu in Andhra Jyothy, September 23, 2009
http://www.andhrajyothy.com/editshow.asp?qry=/2009/sep/23edit3 )

Green Hunt has started. The program of elimination of Maoists that Home Minister Chidambaram said would start in September, and then postponed to November, has started in September as originally planned. Given the low reliability of reports emanating from Chhattisgarh, the numbers published by the press as to how many Cobra Soldiers have entered Dantewada district, how many battalions of paramilitary units have been sent by the Center, what kind of fatalities have been caused by the shootings on both sides, etc. might not be completely true.

With a little effort it might not be impossible to ascertain the number of soldiers involved in Green Hunt, but the same cannot be said of the number of deaths in this operation. The presence of a dead body proves death. But the authorities in Chhattisgarh take possession of the dead bodies of only their men, perform Panchnama and postmortem and hand over the bodies to the families of the dead. The bodies of Maoists and their sympathizers are often left in the forests as fodder for wild animals. This was standard practice until about a year ago; only recently and on certain occasions, it appears that some of these bodies are also being brought and Panchnama performed.

If those that have died are not armed naxalites but are in fact rural villagers, then leaving their bodies behind in the forest is the smart thing to do from the governments point of view. Even if the bodies are those of armed naxalites, the opinion in Chhattisgarhs ruling officialdom seems to be that the corpses of traitors deserve neither the usual dignities accorded to the dead, nor their labor for the performance of such dignities. In the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka, when evidence was uncovered through the Panchnamas performed on the bodies of dead Tamils that they had been killed by torture, the government of that country ordered that bodies of Tamils could henceforth be buried without the performance of Panchnamas.

While the constitution might impede the passing of similar orders by our own governments, the Chhattisgarh government is implementing the same through unwritten orders. Newspapers are reporting that that the government of Chhattisgarh has passed orders banning media personnel from even approaching the areas of operation. Raman Singhs government seems to believe that such a restriction is necessary to obscure whether it is armed naxalites or their Adivasi followers that are hunted through Green hunt. If the media has the courage to defy this restriction, they can win.

This is because the Supreme court has declared, in the very early days of the drafting of the constitution, that freedom of the press is part of an individuals freedom of expression. This right can only be regulated within the bounds allowed by the constitution, and that too through specific enactments, but the government does not have the right to ban the media by Government Orders, without showing any reasons for the same. Not that it is possible to emerge alive after arguing about the Constitution with armed Cobras that are blocking the way, but at the very least we must know that it is illegal to place such restrictions on the media. If not, and if governments, one after the other, start placing restrictions and ban the media, then its a great loss for Democracy.

What was begun by the Left government in Lalgarh is being continued by the government in Chhattisgarh. It appears that Sri Lanka has provided inspiration in this matter as well. In the last three months of the battle against the LTTE, the Sri Lankan govt. did not let the media enter the northern part of the country. The intentions of the Sri Lankan rulers become clear when we see in the internal correspondence of United Nations officials that about 20 thousand Tamil civilians were killed during the period of this ban on the media. Sri Lanka has now been mentioned twice, but the story cant be complete without a third mention of it.

The rulers of India have gained a new courage after the fall of LTTEs army. Our rulers have also begun to believe that Peace Talks and Political Solutions are not necessary in militant political struggles, and that with firm resolve, such groups can be physically eliminated. The resolve to eliminate the Maoists, who have already been declared to be the pre-eminent threat against the countrys internal security, has thus been strengthened. Ordinary people might indeed wonder if the immorality of the ruling parties, their unfair governance, and economic systems that are perversely feeding the growth of inequalities, are in fact not greater dangers to the internal security of the country.

But what the current home minister Chidambaram, who is also the ex-finance minister and one of the architects of the countrys development policy, knows is that leaving aside the issue of internal security, Maoist presence can inhibit the attempts to extract the enormous mineral resources in the forests of Central India, and use them for development. While Maoists have not necessarily obstructed on all occasions the presence and expansion of capitalists in the areas under their dominance, the anxiety is that the fear that the Maoists might do so will inhibit capitalists from coming forward to invest in the area.

These, all together have led to the process of Maoists elimination. Chidambarams challenge (delivered without ruffling his toothpaste smile in the least), that Paramilitary units and Cobras trained in guerilla warfare will be launched in a massive fashion to physically annihilate the Maoists, is now being implemented. News trickling in about the recent Dantewada shootings reveals that the decimation of Adivasis might be the meaning behind this elimination. And the Maoists are speaking the same language as well; they are issuing a counter-challenge to the government about their own prowess.

Only the second day after Chidambarams proclamation that paramilitary units would be launched in Aabujmadh, they have killed police in large numbers in Rajnandgaon. Those that have chosen the path of armed struggle can hardly avoid fighting when warfare arrives at their door, but they must not do anything to invite a battle whilst living amidst the people. They should do whatever they can in order to prevent it. What must in fact be done can be debated extensively, but the real question is about ones attitude on the matter. Maoist leaders do not like such questions. Whose side are you on? they ask.

If you were to recognize not just political partisanship but also a partisanship of values, we could reply that we are on the side of Justice. Justice mostly lies on the side of those that are fighting for the people, but when they start prioritizing their political objectives over the welfare of the people, one cannot but call it injustice. And then there are also those that ask How long can the government remain a silent spectator? It is one thing to fight militantly for the sake of peoples needs, and it is another to launch an armed challenge to the sovereignty of the state.

Even those rulers that can tolerate the first cannot tolerate the second. They ask whether even the Maoists can be expected to behave differently should they come to power tomorrow. This is a fair question, but the only answer that can be given by advocates of democracy is that any challenge must be faced in a democratic fashion.

When the 11th planning commission, seeking a solution to this, appointed a committee of experts, they concluded that the only way to face the Maoists democratically is for the state itself to create through the use of state sovereignty whatever rights, freedoms and opportunities that people had gained through the Maoists.

There is no evidence that either Manmohan Singh or Chidambaram have read those submissions. Finally, as always, the conflicts of Dantewada district have begun to echo in Bhadrachalam district. From Chintoor to Vajod, the police are forcing the Adivasis to come to police stations, and are imprisoning them illegally, and are torturing them severely in order to commit them to the legal process.

It was only when Komuram Narasimha Rao, a resident of R.Kothagudem colony, committed suicide on the 7th of this month, out of fear of what else the police would subject him to, that the world came to know that the Police of Charla had hung him on a hook and beat him to a pulp, after they had tied up his hands and feet. One can imagine what the situation is like in Dantewada when it is like this in Kothagudem. That is why it is important that we raise our voices to demand that the government stop this hunt, just as it is necessary to ask that the Maoists behave in a manner that would put pressure on such a direction.

(Translation: Anu Mandavilli)

India: Interview with CPI(M)’s General-Secretary, Comrade Ganapathi

This interview is originally published on India’s weekly Open Magazine

Thanks to WPRM Britain for bring this interview to our attention

At first sight, Mupalla Laxman Rao, who is about to turn 60, looks like a school teacher. In fact, he was one in the early 1970s in Andhra Pradesh’s Karimnagar district. In 2009, however, the bespectacled, soft-spoken figure is India’s Most Wanted Man. He runs one of the world’s largest Left insurgencies—a man known in Home Ministry dossiers as Ganapathi; a man whose writ runs large through 15 states. The supreme commander of CPI (Maoist) is a science graduate and holds a B Ed degree as well. He still conducts classes, but now they are on guerrilla warfare for other senior Maoists. He replaced the founder of the People’s War Group, Kondapalli Seetharaamiah, as the party’s general-secretary in 1991. Ganapathi is known to change his location frequently, and intelligence reports say he has been spotted in cities like Hyderabad, Kolkata and Kochi. After months of attempts, Ganapathi agreed to give his first-ever interview. Somewhere in the impregnable jungles of Dandakaranya, he spoke to RAHUL PANDITA on issues ranging from the Government’s proposed anti-Naxal offensive to Islamist Jihadist movements.

Q: Lalgarh has been described as the New Naxalbari by the CPI (Maoist). How has it become so significant for you?

A: The Lalgarh mass uprising has, no doubt, raised new hopes among the oppressed people and the entire revolutionary camp in West Bengal. It has great positive impact not only on the people of West Bengal but also on the people all over the country. It has emerged as a new model of mass movement in the country. We had seen similar types of movements earlier in Manipur, directed against Army atrocities and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in Kashmir, in Dandakaranya and to some extent in Orissa, after the Kalinganagar massacre perpetrated by the Naveen Patnaik government.

Then there have been mass movements in Singur and Nandigram but there the role of a section of the ruling classes is also significant. These movements were utilised by the ruling class parties for their own electoral interests. But Lalgarh is a more widespread and more sustained mass political movement that has spurned the leadership of all the parliamentary political parties, thereby rendering them completely irrelevant. The people of Lalgarh had even boycotted the recent Lok Sabha polls, thereby unequivocally demonstrating their anger and frustration with all the reactionary ruling class parties. Lalgarh also has some distinctive features such as a high degree of participation of women, a genuinely democratic character and a wider mobilisation of Adivasis. No wonder, it has become a rallying point for the revolutionary-democratic forces in West Bengal.

Q: If it is a people’s movement, how did Maoists get involved in Lalgarh?

A: As far as our party’s role is concerned, we have been working in Paschim Midnapur, Bankura and Purulia, in what is popularly known as Jangalmahal since the 1980s. We fought against the local feudal forces, against the exploitation and oppression by the forest officials, contractors, unscrupulous usurers and the goondaism of both the CPM and Trinamool Congress. The ruling CPM, in particular, has become the chief exploiter and oppressor of the Adivasis of the region, and it has unleashed its notorious vigilanté gangs called Harmad Vahini on whoever questions its authority. With the State authority in its hands, and with the aid of the police, it is playing a role worse than that of the cruel landlords in other regions of the country.

Given this background, anyone who dares to fight against oppression and exploitation by the CPM can win the respect and confidence of the people. Since our party has been fighting uncompromisingly against the atrocities of the CPM goons, it naturally gained the confidence and respect of the people of the region.

The police atrocities in the wake of the landmine blast on 2 November [in 2008, from which West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had a narrow escape] acted as the trigger that brought the pent-up anger of the masses into the open. This assumed the form of a long-drawn mass movement, and our party played the role of a catalyst.

Q: But not so long ago, the CPM was your friend. You even took arms and ammunition from it to fight the Trinamool Congress. This has been confirmed by a Politburo member of CPI (Maoist) in certain interviews. And now you are fighting the CPM with the help of the Trinamool. How did a friend turn into a foe and vice-versa?

A: This is only partially true. We came to know earlier that some ammunition was taken by our local cadre from the CPM unit in the area. There was, however, no understanding with the leadership of the CPM in this regard. Our approach was to unite all sections of the oppressed masses at the lower levels against the goondaism and oppression of Trinamool goons in the area at that time. And since a section of the oppressed masses were in the fold of the CPM at that time, we fought together with them against Trinamool. Still, taking into consideration the overall situation in West Bengal, it was not a wise step to take arms and ammunition from the CPM even at the local level when the contradiction was basically between two sections of the reactionary ruling classes.

Our central committee discussed this, criticised the comrade responsible for taking such a decision, and directed the concerned comrades to stop this immediately. As regards taking ammunition from the Trinamool Congress, I remember that we had actually purchased it not directly from the Trinamool but from someone who had links with the Trinamool. There will never be any conditions or agreements with those selling us arms. That has been our understanding all along. As regards the said interview by our Politburo member, we will verify what he had actually said.

Q: What are your tactics now in Lalgarh after the massive offensive by the Central and state forces?

A: First of all, I wish to make it crystal clear that our party will spearhead and stand firmly by the side of the people of Lalgarh and entire Jangalmahal, and draw up tactics in accordance with the people’s interests and mandate. We shall spread the struggle against the State everywhere and strive to win over the broad masses to the side of the people’s cause. We shall fight the State offensive by mobilising the masses more militantly against the police, Harmad Vahini and CPM goons. The course of the development of the movement, of course, will depend on the level of consciousness and preparedness of the people of the region. The party will take this into consideration while formulating its tactics. The initiative of the masses will be released fully.

Q: The Government has termed Lalgarh a ‘laboratory’ for anti-Naxal operations. Has your party also learnt any lessons from Lalgarh?

A: Yes, our party too has a lot to learn from the masses of Lalgarh. Their upsurge was beyond our expectations. In fact, it was the common people, with the assistance of advanced elements influenced by revolutionary politics, who played a crucial role in the formulation of tactics. They formed their own organisation, put forth their charter of demands, worked out various novel forms of struggle, and stood steadfast in the struggle despite the brutal attacks by the police and the social-fascist Harmad gangs. The Lalgarh movement has the support of revolutionary and democratic forces not only in West Bengal but in the entire country. We are appealing to all revolutionary and democratic forces in the country to unite to fight back the fascist offensive by the Buddhadeb government in West Bengal and the UPA Government at the Centre. By building the broadest fighting front, and by adopting appropriate tactics of combining the militant mass political movement with armed resistance of the people and our PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerilla Army), we will defeat the massive offensive by the Central-state forces. I cannot say more than this at the present juncture.

Q: The Centre has declared an all-out war against Maoists by branding the CPI (Maoist) a terrorist organisation and imposing an all-India ban on the party. How has it affected your party?

A : Our party has already been banned in several states of India. By imposing the ban throughout the country, the Government now wants to curb all our open activities in West Bengal and a few other states where legal opportunities exist to some extent. The Government wants to use this draconian UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act] to harass whoever dares to raise a voice against fake encounters, rapes and other police atrocities on the people residing in Maoist-dominated regions. Anyone questioning the State’s brutalities will now be branded a terrorist.

The real terrorists and biggest threats to the country’s security are none other than Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram, Buddhadeb, other ruling class leaders and feudal forces who terrorise the people on a daily basis.

The UPA Government had declared, as soon as it assumed power for the second time, that it would crush the Maoist ‘menace’ and began pouring in huge funds to the states for this purpose. The immediate reason behind this move is the pressure exerted by the comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie and the imperialists, particularly US imperialists, who want to plunder the resources of our country without any hindrance. These sharks aspire to swallow the rich abundant mineral and forest wealth in the vast contiguous region stretching from Jangalmahal to north Andhra. This region is the wealthiest as well as the most underdeveloped part of our country. These sharks want to loot the wealth and drive the Adivasi people of the region to further impoverishment.

Another major reason for the current offensive by the ruling classes is the fear of the rapid growth of the Maoist movement and its increasing influence over a significant proportion of the Indian population. The Janatana Sarkars in Dandakaranya and the revolutionary people’s committees in Jharkhand, Orissa and parts of some other states have become new models of genuine people’s democracy and development. The rulers want to crush these new models of development and genuine democracy, as these are emerging as the real alternative before the people of the country at large.

Q: The Home Ministry has made preparations for launching a long-term battle against Maoists. A huge force will be soon trying to wrest away areas from your control. How do you plan to confront this offensive?
A: Successive governments in various states and the Centre have been hatching schemes over the years. But they could not achieve any significant success through their cruel offensive in spite of murdering hundreds of our leaders and cadres. Our party and our movement continued to consolidate and expand to new regions. From two or three states, the movement has now spread to over 15 states, giving jitters to the ruling classes. Particularly after the merger of the erstwhile MCCI and People’s War in September 2004 [the merger between these groups led to the formation of the CPI (Maoist)], the UPA Government has unleashed the most cruel all-round offensive against the Maoist movement. Yet our party continued to grow despite suffering some severe losses. In the past three years, in particular, our PLGA has achieved several significant victories.

We have been confronting the continuous offensive of the enemy with the support and active involvement of the masses. We shall confront the new offensive of the enemy by stepping up such heroic resistance and preparing the entire party, PLGA, the various revolutionary parties and organisations and the entire people. Although the enemy may achieve a few successes in the initial phase, we shall certainly overcome and defeat the Government offensive with the active mobilisation of the vast masses and the support of all the revolutionary and democratic forces in the country. No fascist regime or military dictator in history could succeed in suppressing forever the just and democratic struggles of the people through brute force, but were, on the contrary, swept away by the high tide of people’s resistance. People, who are the makers of history, will rise up like a tornado under our party’s leadership to wipe out the reactionary blood-sucking vampires ruling our country.

Q : Why do you think the CPI (Maoist) suffered a serious setback in Andhra Pradesh?

A : It was due to several mistakes on our part that we suffered a serious setback in most of Andhra Pradesh by 2006. At the same time, we should also look at the setback from another angle. In any protracted people’s war, there will be advances and retreats. If we look at the situation in Andhra Pradesh from this perspective, you will understand that what we did there is a kind of retreat. Confronted with a superior force, we chose to temporarily retreat our forces from some regions of Andhra Pradesh, extend and develop our bases in the surrounding regions and then hit back at the enemy.

Now even though we received a setback, it should be borne in mind that this setback is a temporary one. The objective conditions in which our revolution began in Andhra Pradesh have not undergone any basic change. This very fact continues to serve as the basis for the growth and intensification of our movement. Moreover, we now have a more consolidated mass base, a relatively better-trained people’s guerrilla army and an all-India party with deep roots among the basic classes who comprise the backbone of our revolution. This is the reason why the reactionary rulers are unable to suppress our revolutionary war, which is now raging in several states in the country.

We had taken appropriate lessons from the setback suffered by our party in Andhra Pradesh and, based on these lessons, drew up tactics in other states. Hence we are able to fight back the cruel all-round offensive of the enemy effectively, inflict significant losses on the enemy, preserve our subjective forces, consolidate our party, develop a people’s liberation guerrilla army, establish embryonic forms of new democratic people’s governments in some pockets, and take the people’s war to a higher stage. Hence we have an advantageous situation, overall, for reviving the movement in Andhra Pradesh. Our revolution advances wave-like and periods of ebb yield place to periods of high tide.

Q: What are the reasons for the setback suffered by the LTTE in Sri Lanka?

A: There is no doubt that the movement for a separate sovereign Tamil Eelam has suffered a severe setback with the defeat and considerable decimation of the LTTE. The Tamil people and the national liberation forces are now leaderless. However, the Tamil people at large continue to cherish nationalist aspirations for a separate Tamil homeland. The conditions that gave rise to the movement for Tamil Eelam, in the first place, prevail to this day. The Sinhala-chauvinist Sri Lankan ruling classes can never change their policy of discrimination against the Tamil nation, its culture, language, etcetera. The jingoistic rallies and celebrations organised by the government and Sinhala chauvinist parties all over Sri Lanka in the wake of Prabhakaran’s death and the defeat of the LTTE show the national hatred for Tamils nurtured by Sinhala organisations and the extent to which the minds of ordinary Sinhalese are poisoned with such chauvinist frenzy.

The conspiracy of the Sinhala ruling classes in occupying Tamil territories is similar to that of the Zionist rulers of Israel. The land-starved Sinhala people will now be settled in Tamil areas. The entire demography of the region is going to change. The ground remains fertile for the resurgence of the Tamil liberation struggle.

Even if it takes time, the war for a separate Tamil Eelam is certain to revive, taking lessons from the defeat of the LTTE. By adopting a proletarian outlook and ideology, adopting new tactics and building the broadest united front of all nationalist and democratic forces, it is possible to achieve the liberation of the oppressed Tamil nation [in Sri Lanka]. Maoist forces have to grow strong enough to provide leadership and give a correct direction and anti-imperialist orientation to this struggle to achieve a sovereign People’s Democratic Republic of Tamil Eelam. This alone can achieve the genuine liberation of the Tamil nation in Sri Lanka.

Q: Is it true that you received military training from the LTTE initially?

A: No. It is not a fact. We had clarified this several times in the past.

Q: But, one of your senior commanders has told me that some senior cadre of the erstwhile PWG did receive arms training and other support from the LTTE.

A: Let me reiterate, there is no relation at all between our party and the LTTE. We tried several times to establish relations with the LTTE but its leadership was reluctant to have a relationship with Maoists in India. Hence, there is no question of the LTTE giving training to us. In spite of it, we continued our support to the struggle for Tamil Eelam. However, a few persons who had separated from the LTTE came into our contact and we took their help in receiving initial training in the last quarter of the 1980s.

Q: Does your party have links with Lashkar-e-Toiba or other Islamic militant groups having links with Pakistan?

A: No. Not at all. This is only mischievous, calculated propaganda by the police officials, bureaucrats and leaders of the reactionary political parties to defame us and thereby justify their cruel offensive against the Maoist movement. By propagating the lie that our party has links with groups linked to Pakistan’s ISI, the reactionary rulers of our country want to prove that we too are terrorists and gain legitimacy for their brutal terror campaign against Maoists and the people in the areas of armed agrarian struggle. Trying to prove the involvement of a foreign hand in every just and democratic struggle, branding those fighting for the liberation of the oppressed as traitors to the country, is part of the psychological-war of the reactionary rulers.

Q: What is your party’s stand regarding Islamist jihadist movements?

A: Islamic jihadist movements of today are a product of imperialist—particularly US imperialist—aggression, intervention, bullying, exploitation and suppression of the oil-rich Islamic and Arab countries of West Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, etcetera, and the persecution of the entire Muslim religious community. As part of their designs for global hegemony, the imperialists, particularly US imperialists, have encouraged and endorsed every war of brazen aggression and brutal attacks by their surrogate state of Israel.

Our party unequivocally opposes every attack on Arab and Muslim countries and the Muslim community at large in the name of ‘war on global terror’. In fact, Muslim religious fundamentalism is encouraged and fostered by imperialists as long as it serves their interests—such as in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, and Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan.

Q: But what about attacks perpetrated by the so-called ‘Jihadis’ on innocent people like it happened on 26/11?

A: See, Islamic jihadist movements have two aspects: one is their anti-imperialist aspect, and the other their reactionary aspect in social and cultural matters. Our party supports the struggle of Muslim countries and people against imperialism, while criticising and struggling against the reactionary ideology and social outlook of Muslim fundamentalism. It is only Maoist leadership that can provide correct anti-imperialist orientation and achieve class unity among Muslims as well as people of other religious persuasions. The influence of Muslim fundamentalist ideology and leadership will diminish as communist revolutionaries and other democratic-secular forces increase their ideological influence over the Muslim masses. As communist revolutionaries, we always strive to reduce the influence of the obscurantist reactionary ideology and outlook of the mullahs and maulvis on the Muslim masses, while uniting with all those fighting against the common enemy of the world people—that is, imperialism and particularly American imperialism.

Q : How do you look at the changes in US policy after Barack Obama took over from George Bush?

A: Firstly, one would be living in a fool’s paradise if one imagines that there is going to be any qualitative change in American policy—whether internal or external—after Barack Obama took over from George Bush. In fact, the policies on national security and foreign affairs pursued by Obama over the past eight months have shown the essential continuity with those of his predecessor. The ideological and political justification for these regressive policies at home and aggressive policies abroad is the same trash put forth by the Bush administration—the so-called ‘global war on terror’, based on outright lies and slander. Worse still, the policies have become even more aggressive under Obama with his planned expansion of the US-led war of aggression in Afghanistan into the territory of Pakistan. The hands of this new killer-in-chief of the pack of imperialist wolves are already stained with the blood of hundreds of women and children who are cruelly murdered in relentless missile attacks from Predator drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And, within the US itself, bail-outs for the tiny corporate elite and attacks on democratic and human rights of US citizens continue without any change.

The oppressed people and nations of the world are now confronting an even more formidable and dangerous enemy in the form of an African-American president of the most powerful military machine and world gendarme. The world people should unite to wage a more relentless, more militant and more consistent struggle against the American marauders led by Barack Obama and pledge to defeat them to usher in a world of peace, stability and genuine democracy.

Q: How do you look at the current developments in Nepal?

A: As soon as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [CPN(M)] came to power in alliance with the comprador-feudal parties through the parliamentary route in Nepal, we had pointed out the grave danger of imperialist and Indian expansionist intervention in Nepal and how they would leave no stone unturned to overthrow the government led by CPN(M). As long as Prachanda did not defy the directives of the Indian Government, it was allowed to continue, but when it began to go against Indian hegemony, it was immediately pulled down. CPN-UML withdrew support to the Prachanda-led government upon the advice of American imperialists and Indian expansionists. We disagreed with the line of peaceful transition pursued by the UCPN(M) in the name of tactics. We decided to send an open letter to the UCPN(M). It was released in July 2009.

We made our party’s stand clear in the letter. We pointed out that the UCPN(M) chose to reform the existing State through an elected constituent assembly and a bourgeois democratic republic instead of adhering to the Marxist-Leninist understanding on the imperative to smash the old State and establish a proletarian State. This would have been the first step towards the goal of achieving socialism through the radical transformation of society and all oppressive class relations. It is indeed a great tragedy that the UCPN(M) has chosen to abandon the path of protracted people’s war and pursue a parliamentary path in spite of having de facto power in most of the countryside.

It is heartening to hear that a section of the leadership of the UCPN(M) has begun to struggle against the revisionist positions taken by Comrade Prachanda and others. Given the great revolutionary traditions of the UCPN(M), we hope that the inner-party struggle will repudiate the right opportunist line pursued by its leadership, give up revisionist stands and practices, and apply minds creatively to the concrete conditions of Nepal.

Q: Of late, the party has suffered serious losses of party leadership at the central and state level. Besides, it is widely believed that some of the senior-most Maoist leaders, including you, have become quite old and suffer from serious illnesses, which is also cited as one of the reasons for the surrenders. What is the effect of the losses and surrenders on the movement? How are you dealing with problems arising out of old age and illnesses?

A: (Smiles…) This type of propaganda is being carried out continuously, particularly by the Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) of Andhra Pradesh. It is a part of the psychological war waged by intelligence officials and top police brass aimed at confusing and demoralising supporters of the Maoist movement. It is a fact that some of the party leaders at the central and state level could be described as senior citizens according to criteria used by the government, that is, those who have crossed the threshold of 60 years. You can start calling me too a senior citizen in a few months (smiles). But old age and ill-health have never been a serious problem in our party until now. You can see the ‘senior citizens’ in our party working for 16-18 hours a day and covering long distances on foot. As for surrenders, it is a big lie to say that old age and ill-health have been a reason for some of the surrenders.

When Lanka Papi Reddy, a former member of our central committee, surrendered in the beginning of last year, the media propagated that more surrenders of our party leaders will follow due to ill-health. The fact is that Papi Reddy surrendered due to his loss of political conviction and his petty-bourgeois false prestige and ego. Hence he was not prepared to face the party after he was demoted by the central committee for his anarchic behaviour with a woman comrade.

Some senior leaders of our party, like comrades Sushil Roy and Narayan Sanyal, had become a nightmare for the ruling classes even when they were in their mid 60s. Hence they were arrested, tortured and imprisoned despite their old age and ill-health. The Government is doing everything possible to prevent them from getting bail. Even if someone in our party is old, he/she continues to serve the revolution by doing whatever work possible. For instance, Comrade Niranjan Bose, who died recently at the age of 92, had been carrying out revolutionary propaganda until his martyrdom. The social fascist rulers were so scared of this nonagenarian Maoist revolutionary that they had even arrested him four years back. Such is the spirit of Maoist revolutionaries—and power of the ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism which they hold high. When there are serious illnesses, or physical and mental limitations to perform normal work, such comrades are given suitable work.

Q: But what about the arrests and elimination of some of your senior leadership? How do you intend to fill up such losses?

A: Well, it is a fact that we lost some senior leaders at the state and central level in the past four or five years. Some leaders were secretly arrested and murdered in the most cowardly manner. Many other and state leaders were arrested and placed behind bars in the recent past in Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Haryana and other states. The loss of leadership will have a grave impact on the party and Indian revolution as a whole. We are reviewing the reasons for the losses regularly and devising ways and means to prevent further losses. By adopting strictly secret methods of functioning and foolproof underground mechanisms, by enhancing our mass base, vigilance and local intelligence, smashing enemy intelligence networks and studying their plans and tactics, we hope to check further losses. At the same time, we are training and developing new revolutionary leadership at all levels to fill up the losses.

Q: How do you sum up the present stage of war between your forces and those of the Indian State?

A: Our war is in the stage of strategic defence. In some regions, we have an upper hand, while in others the enemy has the upper hand. Overall, our forces have been quite successful in carrying out a series of tactical counter-offensive operations against the enemy in our guerrilla zones in the past few years.

It is true that our party has suffered some serious leadership losses, but we are able to inflict serious losses on the enemy too. In fact, in the past three years, the enemy forces suffered more casualties than we did. The enemy has been trying all means at their disposal to weaken, disrupt and crush our party and movement. They have tried covert agents and informers, poured in huge amounts of money to buy off weak elements in the revolutionary camp, and announced a series of rehabilitation packages and other material incentives to lure away people from the revolutionary camp. Thousands of crores (1 crore = 10millions)of rupees have been sanctioned for police modernisation, training and for raising additional commando forces; for increasing Central forces; for training Central and state forces in counter-insurgency warfare; and for building roads, communication networks and other infrastructure for the rapid movement of their troops in our guerrilla zones. The Indian State has set up armed vigilante groups and provided total support to the indescribable atrocities committed by these armed gangs on the people. Psychological warfare against Maoists was taken to unheard of levels.

Nevertheless, we continued to make greater advances, consolidated the party and the revolutionary people’s committees at various levels, strengthened the PLGA qualitatively and quantitatively, smashed the enemy’s intelligence network in several areas, effectively countered the dirty psychological-war waged by the enemy, and foiled the enemy’s all-out attempts to disrupt and smash our movement. The successes we had achieved in several tactical counter-offensive operations carried out across the country in recent days, the militant mass movements in several states, particularly against displacement and other burning issues of the people, initiatives taken by our revolutionary people’s governments in various spheres—all these have had a great impact on the people, while demoralising enemy forces. There are reports of desertions and disobedience of orders by the jawans posted in Maoist-dominated areas. Quite a few have refused to undertake training in jungle warfare or take postings in our areas, and had to face suspension. This trend will grow with the further advance of our people’s war. Overall, our party’s influence has grown stronger and it has now come to be recognised as the only genuine alternative before the people.

Q: How long will this stage of strategic defence last, with the Centre ready to go for the jugular?

A: The present stage of strategic defence will last for some more time. It is difficult to predict how long it will take to pass this stage and go to the stage of strategic equilibrium or strategic stalemate. It depends on the transformation of our guerrilla zones into base areas, creation of more guerrilla zones and red resistance areas across the country, the development of our PLGA. With the ever-intensifying crisis in all spheres due to the anti-people policies of pro-imperialist, pro-feudal governments, the growing frustration and anger of the masses resulting from the most rapacious policies of loot and plunder pursued by the reactionary ruling classes, we are confident that the vast masses of the country will join the ranks of revolutionaries and take the Indian revolution to the next stage.

gaon chodab nahi

The song describes the present day exploitation of tribal land and forests in the name of development.

Appeal to Prevent Military Offensive Against Maoists

Posted by indianvanguard2010 on October 16, 2009

Hyderabad | Oct 16, 2009
Eminent personalities, including noted author Arundhati Roy and senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, have asked the Centre not to launch a military offensive against naxals citing the damages it may cause to tribals living in the Maoist-affected regions across the country.

“Military operations against Maoists have the potential for triggering a civil war which will inflict widespread misery on the poorest and most vulnerable section of the Indian population (adivasis) and clear the way for plundering of their resources by multi-national companies”, they said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Signatories to the letter include author and activist Arundhati Roy, Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, Associate Editor of Economic and Political Weekly Bernard D Mello, CPI (ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattachararya and film maker Anand Patwardhan.

“We are deeply concerned by the Indian government’s plans for launching an unprecedented military offensive by army and paramilitary forces in the adivasi (indigeneous people)-populated regions of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal states”, they said.

Such a military campaign will endanger the lives and livelihoods of millions of the poorest people living in those areas, resulting in massive displacement, destitution and human rights violations, they said, adding that it will deliver a crippling blow to Indian democracy if the government tries to subjugate its own people militarily without addressing their grievances

India criticised on World Food Day by United Nations

The report criticises economically liberal India where, it says, 30 million people have been added to the ranks of the hungry since the mid-1990s and 46% of children are underweight.

It says hunger exists in India not because there is insufficient food, but because people cannot access it, and that the exploitation of natural resources has led to "horrific displacements" of people, pushing many into poverty.

"When people are already on the brink of starvation this is simply unacceptable," it says.

The report said some progress had been made, with a scheme to protect rural employment in the case of drought, but it needed to be implemented more effectively

Indian Maoism on Democracy and Class Struggle Television

visit Democracy and Class Struggle TV
http://www.livestream.com/democracyandclassstruggle

Maoist leaders arrested in Patna

Posted by indianvanguard2010 on October 14, 2009

HAZARIBAG: A senior police officer has confirmed that Ravi Sharma, member of the CPI(Maoist) central committee, was arrested from a jungle close to the Hazaribag National Park under Ichak police station on Saturday. He was first arrested by the Andhra police from Patna on a tip-off by some Maoists arrested there.

On the basis of that information, a high-level police team from Andhra Pradesh went to Patna and arrested Sharma and his colleague, whose name is yet to be disclosed. After the arrest, police left Patna for AP with the dreaded Maoist leader by an SUV on October 10.

When the vehicle reached Ichak More on their way to Andhra via Hazaribag, it was not allowed to proceed further as JVM activists had blocked NH-33. Taking advantage of that, Sharma and his colleague raised an alarm, shouting: "Bachao, bachao."

Soon a mob forcibly opened the door of the vehicle. The Ichak police also reached there and freed the two Maoists, who manged to escape taking advantage of the chaos all around. But the Andhra police team, who were travelling with them, soon launched an operation along with the local police to locate Sharma. He was then nabbed from a nearby forest and whisked away to some unknown destination.

Later, a police team was sent to Patna from where they nabbed Aradhana, chief of the Maoist women’s wing, Nari Mukti Sangh (NMS), and brought her back to Hazaribag. After that, both Sharma and Anuradha were taken by the Hazaribag police to an unknown destination for interrogation.

Sharma, incidentally, was working as a top agriculture scientist in Pusa Agriculture University in Bihar and Aradhana, who also did her PhD, played a vital role in organizing the NMS.

According to sources, state director-general of police V D Ram has congratulated the Hazaribag police on their success.

Immediate freedom for comrades imprisoned in Pistoia !

Party of the Committees to Support Resistance – for Communism (CARC) - Italy

Via Tanaro, 7 - 20128 Milano - Tel/Fax 02.26306454

e-mail: resistenza@carc.it – website: www.carc.it


National Direction - International Relations Department

Tel. +39 0226306454 - e-mail: carc.ri@libero.it


Proletarian Solidarity Association (ASP)
PO Box 380, 80133 Napoli - Italy

E-mail: info@solidarietaproletaria.org

Site: www.solidarietaproletaria.org



Immediate freedom for comrades imprisoned in Pistoia !



Provocations, intimidations, complaints and jail for those who promote popular anti-fascism!

Tolerance, covers, protection for fascists and racists squads!



The struggle of the masses against dismissal, misery, degradation, racism and fascism is always legitimate, although for the bourgeoisie, its politicians, its courts and its police officers is illegal!

Why Alessandro Della Malva, Elisabetta Cipolli and Alessandro Orfano are in jail?



On 11 October in Pistoia , the police raided the 1st May club, identified all comrades who were at a meeting for discussing the mobilization against the fascist patrols, held them in the police headquarters for the whole night and arrested three of them accused of devastation, looting, injuries and violence and abetting. Shortly, they were accused to have directly or not participated in the attack to a fascist centre near there.


Let’s denounce this provocative, threatening and persecutory police operation!

Free the imprisoned comrades!

Long live the popular anti-fascism and the self-organization of the masses!

Let’s promote 10, 100, 1000 popular anti-fascist and anti-racist patrols!

Closing fascists’ dens is just and legitimate!

Preventing fascists from political acting is a duty of every communist, democratic, fascist, and progressive people!

Let’s send letters to the comrades arrested:



Alessandro della Malva c/o Carcere di Pistoia Via dei Macelli 13

Tel. 0573 975111 fax 0573 22718 - e-mail: cc.pistoia @giustizia.it



Elisabetta Cipolli

Alessandro Orfano

c/o Carcere di Sollicciano Via Minervini, 2/r - 50018 - Scandicci (Firenze)



Subscriptions for legal costs: Postepay No 4023600470226814 – registered in the name of M. Maj.



Bourgeois politicians’ reactions to the news of the attack against the fascists’ centre show the link between Berlusconi’s gang and fascist and racist organizations. They show the tolerance to fascist squads by the new right wing, the Democratic Party: solidarity with fascists came from politicians (including Claudio Martin i, President of Tuscany Region and Augustine Fragai, regional councillor), trade unionists of the regime (the CGIL of Pistoia), institutions and "intellectuals" (Minister Meloni, Giampaolo Pansa). They talk about “society barbarization”; they say that they are seriously worried, that “it has gone too far."

These "champions of democracy" rally around the fascists and take about “values of Constitution” and "defence of legality". None of them, anyway, even timidly spoke when, three days earlier, the Court of Genoa sentenced to a century in prison 15 comrades who opposed the G8 in Genoa in 2001 (because they "put the city on fire") and discharged the instigators and perpetrators of the slaughter at the police headquarters during these days. They do not intervene as well when the immigrants are tortured in the Centres where they are shut up, when the immigrant women are raped, when the barges are rejected or sunk in the Mediterranean . Masters, politicians and bourgeois intellectuals not invoke the intervention of magistracy and police to arrest those responsible for 5 deaths a day at work, for the deaths because of medical malpractice, for the deaths because of predicted disasters (L'Aquila, Messina ... and every time it rains there are 4 or 5 victims).

So where are the same mentors and admirers of the bourgeois order when immigrants are killed by fascist squads, when comrades are killed, when homosexuals are attacked, when social and popular centres and the centres of the National Association of Partisans are attacked and devastated? Where are they when a master of a factory closes it and leaves hundreds of workers on the rocks?



Double standards: impunity for the fascists and repression, complaints and prison for Communists.



We are talking of what we see. We are talking talk about what happens when, more trusting in our ability to organize and mobilize the masses, we promote, as bodies of the "caravan" of (n) PCI, self-organization, popular anti-fascism and the construction of a government of People's Bloc to face the effects of the crisis:

•the political police shooted against our comrades in Reggio Emilia (guilty of having made a graffiti against a fascist centre);
•in Naples the police charged the unemployed and arrest three of them, one of CARC Party and two of Struggling Workers Union ( SLL );
•in Naples , our comrades are under investigation for anti-fascism;
•the prosecutor of Bologna investigates 3 comrades of the caravan of (n) PCI for the website Cop Hunt!;
•at Massa we can no longer count the people on trial for anti-fascism, four of them only for the popular patrol on July 25;
•the particular fury of the magistracy against comrade Alessandro started in last July, when he was held and denounced before the participation in the demonstration against the G8 at L’Aquila; then came the arrest and the still ongoing trial in Massa for he participated in the anti-fascist and popular patrol on 25 July; now with this new strunt and provocation (in 3 months the partner was held and arrested 3 times). Which is the reason of this fury against the Communists and this obsequious and "democratic" respect for the fascists?

The bourgeoisie and its institutions cannot give any response to the effects of the crisis, the precariousness, unemployment, cuts to public services, school and public health dismantling, environmental devastation and speculation other. Their only response is the general worsening of living and working conditions (more insecurity, blackmail, misery). That is why they try hard to divide and oppose the masses, to promote this war among poor people! Persecution of immigrants and racism, as if the economic crisis was due to immigrants, the same people who are blackmailed and exploited by entrepreneurs and vultures of every kind. Religious persecution, as if the order of things was upset by Muslims, rather than by individualism and cutthroat competition promoted by capitalists. Persecution of homosexuals, as if the moral degradation was due to them rather than to perversion and prostitution that the capitalist society feeds, teaches and uses.

Masters, bankers, exploiters have a common interest in promoting the birth and development of organizations that foment division and contrast of the masses according to their nationality, religion, sexual orientation. Divide et impera: this is the only way the masters can prevent the revolutionary mobilization of the masses, a trend already existing, towards class unity and towards the struggle against masters, exploiters, speculators, politicians. It is a trend aimed to get rid of them, of their power and their society, building another one corresponding to collective well-being, aspirations, and the best feelings of the popular masses.

There is the antifascism of masters, the apparent one, according to which "we must respect all opinions". We reply to it that Fascism is not an opinion, and we oppose to it the popular anti-fascism. The fight against fascism is inseparable from the struggle against racism and for civil rights to gays and lesbians, with the struggle against dismissals and for the defence of jobs, against the devastation of the environment, against the destruction of schools and public health, against the massacres at work, against war, against Vatican obscurantism. We support in every front any initiative that struggles against fascist and racist organizations and that feeds and supports the revolutionary mobilization of the masses.

The bourgeois legality is that of beatings and arrests of struggling, of workers defending their jobs, of the most militant trade unionists, anti-fascists, and anti-racist. We oppose to it the legitimacy of the struggle, the legitimacy of not be willing to pay for the crisis of the masters, not be willing to be trooped in imperialist wars, in gangs wars, in wars of religion and racist, the legitimacy of having a job, a house, a decent life for workers and their families.

Who can oppose fascism, racism and reactionary mobilization and does not do it, is an accomplice of the gang Berlusconi (even if he say the contrary!). Political parties, trade unions of the regime, the major popular organizations which today are behind the Democratic Party, have the means and the action needed to promote the general and mass disobedience to the infamous laws of Berlusconi’s gang. They have the power to mobilize the masses against the protection and impunity that Berlusconi’s gang bandwidth guarantees to Fascists and their squads. If they do not do it, they hide it with apparent opposition the complicity and collaboration with Berlusconi government.



Solidarity comrades arrested in Pistoia ! Let’s rally for their immediate release!



We appeal to write and promote solidarity with the comrades arrested, to send messages of protest against the directions of jails where they are confined and to the magistrates who are investigating them, to take and make take a stand by the political antifascist, progressive and democratic forces, to raise money for legal costs, to support the families of imprisoned comrades.



Solidarity with all anti-fascists, communists, workers, immigrants and all sincere democrats hit by the repression of reactionary government of Berlusconi!

Let’s struggle for the defence and extension of democratic rights!

Let’s struggle to oust the gang of fascists, racists, corrupted people and mafia men gathered around Berlusconi!

Let’s struggle to build a government of People's Bloc!

It will be an emergency government set up and supported by workers and people’s organizations with the task of implementing simple and concrete measures to deal with the crisis:

1. to give to each company productive tasks according to a national level: no company should be closed!

2. to eliminate all those activities and products useless and harmful to men and the environment, giving to companies other tasks: no more poisoners, speculators and sharks!

3. to give each one a socially useful work and guarantee him in exchange the necessary conditions for a dignified life and for participation in the management of the company: no worker must be fired or marginalized!

4. to distribute products to companies, families, individuals and collectives utilizations according to clear, popular and democratically determined plans and criteria: to each adult an useful work and a decent life, to each company what it needs for working!

5. to establish relations of cooperation and exchanges with other countries willing to establish with us,

6. to begin to reorganize other relationships and social activities in accordance with the new production base.

Only a government of this kind may block the path to reactionary mobilization, to racism, fascism, war among the poor.



Let’s build a People's Bloc Government for advancing towards socialism!

ILPS Solidarity Message to Comrades Alessandro and Samuele who are being persecuted by the Berlusconi Government

On October 9, Comrades Alessandro and Samuele are standing trial for organizing an anti-racist patrol in Massa to defend migrants against attacks by fascist gangs that have been unleashed by the reactionary ruling classes in Italy .

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) is united with all progressive and freedom-loving people of Italy and from other countries of the world in expressing its militant solidarity with the two comrades who are being persecuted for exercising their democratic right.

The ILPS condemns the Berlusconi government for its policy of persecuting progressive and democratic organizations like the CARC and ASP who fight side by side with the struggling workers and migrants who refuse to be treated like slaves.

The ILPS congratulates the CARC and ASP and the people of Massa for forcing the Prefect in July 2009 to ban the racist and anti-migrant patrols being conducted by fascist gangs in the whole province of Massa . This is a significant victory and shows what militant action by the people can achieve.

The resort to fascist methods by the reactionary ruling classes is not a sign of strength but a sign of weakness. It shows their desperation in trying to save a system that is deep in crisis. The profound crisis afflicting the capitalist system has been sharply exposed by the recent global crisis that has seen the economies of the most powerful capitalist countries tumbling down.

To shield the capitalist criminals who are the real causes of the crisis, the reactionaries use the migrants among others as scapegoats. They instigate racism against migrants among the Italian workers to divide the ranks of the working people so that they can impose their dominance over the whole working class. The reactionaries are deathly afraid of the unity of the people. That is why they resort to such divide-and-rule tactics.

The ongoing crisis of the world capitalist system is a great opportunity for revolutionaries and progressives to arouse, organize and mobilize the workers and other toiling masses to fight for immediate demands and accumulate strength for the long-term struggle of fighting for a new and better society free from capitalist oppression and exploitation.


Long live the unity of the working-class!

Long live international solidarity!