Videos from the Philippines: Inside the NPA

Thanks to CPSA for sending these our way.

India: A detailed report from Lalgarh

Many thanks to Ka Frank for bringing this to our attention.

Lalgarh Update

Amit Bhattacharyya

22-23 June 2009

Let us pick up the threads from the last report (published by Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan as a book entitled Singur to Lalgarh via Nandigram, April 2009) which ended with the meeting between People’s Committee leaders and some members of the civil society with the chief electoral officer on 12 April. Ultimately it was decided by the election commission that polling booths would be shifted from areas that come under police boycott.  Lok Sabha elections throughout the country ended on 13 May and results were declared on 16 May. The phase of struggle that started from then on was something that was totally unprecedented in the history of our country—in depth, magnitude and significance.  The subsequent history can be divided into Phase III and Phase IV. Phase III is related to people’s movement, while Phase IV with the deployment of para-military forces, brutality perpetrated by them and resistance by the people and the Maoists.

Phase III

•    The attitude of the West Bengal ‘left-front’ government became clear when it refused to give permission to hold a demonstration in Kolkata to be organized jointly by CAVOW (Committee Against Violence on Women) and the women’s wing of the People’s Committee with traditional weapons on 5 June, as it would be political in nature.  The Kolkata police even threatened the local convenor of CAVOW with arrest if they did not listen. Such a decision is discriminatory. Processions with traditional weapons have always been allowed by the state government to the Muslims at the time of Muharram or to the Sikhs during their religious ceremonies. If the government allows these processions to take place as these were religious in nature, then how would they explain the holding of a procession in November 2007 by the CPI(M) after the recapture of Nandigram with adivasis wielding the same traditional weapons like bows, axes, etc.  The organisers were thus forced to shift the venue to West Medinipur. Traditional weapons are a part of tribal culture and the West Bengal government, acting in this way, actually rejected that very right of the tribal people. Superimposed upon it was the fact that when a cultural team went to Chakulia in Jharkhand on the Bengal-Jharkhand border to make propaganda among the adivasis there so that they could join the rally on 5 June, many of them were arrested by the Jharkhand police and a number of women were molested and one raped in Chakulia police station. When the Committee went to enter Jharkhand on their way to the Chakulia police station, a huge force was mobilised on the Jharkhand side and they were greeted with tear-gas shells.  Chhatradhar Mahato declared that the road from West Bengal to Jharkhand would be blocked to cut off supply lines if the arrested were not released. That resulted in the spread of the movement to new areas also. The administration retaliated with the promulgation of Section 144 of the Cr.PC within 2 kms of the Lalgarh police station.  

Singur to Lalgarh via Nandigram: Rising Flames of People’s Anger against Displacement, Destitution and State Terror

This article is available at No 2 Displacement.

Singur to Lalgarh via Nandigram: Rising Flames of People’s Anger against Displacement, Destitution and State Terror

Amit Bhattacharyya

After the historic Nandigram struggle, it is now the turn of Lalgarh. If Singur faced the initial experience of defeat, Nandigram could legitimately take pride in her experience of victory in course of her long and bloody struggle against the oppressive anti-people West Bengal government, the ruling CPI (M)-sponsored hermads (goons) and police brutality. From the historical point of view, Nandigram elevated the struggle against displacement and the State-sponsored land-grab designs to a qualitatively higher level. It showed a path that, although rooted in the anti-colonial struggle of the 1940s, was new and had elements from which the struggling people of other regions could learn. And Nandigram had already found a rightful leading place in the history of just struggles in our country. The Lalgarh struggle started in a somewhat different context and so has many new features attached to it. It is the culmination of a long-standing discontent and sense of humiliation and persecution at the hands of the powers-that-be and their agencies that the downtrodden adivasis nurtured in their minds. The Lalgarh revolt is a revolt against the existing order of things, against humiliation, police brutality and for justice. Some of the methods the people of Lalgarh have adopted showed that they had already learnt from the experience of Nandigram.

Background

The place called Lalgarh is situated near Jhargram on the north-western side of the West Medinipur district of West Bengal. It is not very far from Salboni area located in the same district. Around 5000 acres of land have been acquired for the Salboni project, of which 4,500 acres have been handed over by the government and 500 acres have been purchased directly by Jindal from the landowners. According to newspaper reports, a large portion of this land was vested with the government for distribution among landless tribal people as part of the much-publicised land reform programme and also included forests tracts. Moreover, although the land was originally acquired for a “usual” steel plant, in September 2007, Jindal got SEZ status for the project, with active backing from the state government, which, as always, dispensed with the requirements for following most regulations for building and running the plant, including such crucial requirements as doing an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). A government that has in reality sold itself out to big capital—both domestic and foreign—is not at all bothered about the setting up of an SEZ having a polluting steel plant in the middle of a forested area, brutally displacing tribals from their land and endangering their means of survival. It is, thus, quite understandable that there could be major grievances among the tribals against this, although the mainstream media, as one of the spokespersons of the State policy, had constantly portrayed a very rosy picture of the entire project.

Support the Heroic Struggle of Adivasis in Lalgarh, India

This statement was released by the International League of People’s Struggles. Thanks to Ka Frank for pointing it out.

Support the Heroic Struggle of Adivasis in Lalgarh, India

Over the past week, thousands of Indian police and paramilitary forces have descended on Lalgarh, West Bengal to crush the just struggle of the adivasis (tribal people). Progressive people around the world must raise our voices to help break the reign of military terror that has been unleashed upon the people.

In November 2008, the adivasis of Lalgarh rose up against decades of abuse by the police and the “new landlords,” the local kingpins of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), commonly known as “CPM.” This is the same “communist” party that tried to take away peasants’ land in Nandigram and Singur, only to be beaten back and exposed by determined struggle.

In recent years, hundreds of adivasis in the Lalgarh area have been imprisoned on false charges of having ties with the Maoist insurgency.  They formed the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), which has extended its influence to hundreds of villages in the Lalgarh area.  In recent months, Maoist activists who have been working in the area for years initiated development projects for drinking water, irrigation, roads and health centers that have involved over 200,000 people.

Nepal: Further debate on the question of armies

This article was published on the Times of India.
Another army-Maoist row in Nepal

28 Jun 2009, 2049 hrs IST, Sudeshna Sarkar, TNN

Even as the Maoists sent their top two leaders of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to Germany to learn how the two armies of West and East Germany were fused to form one national army so that the knowledge could be put to use during the merger of the PLA with the Nepal army, a fresh row has erupted in the republic over the contentious fusion.

After army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal opposed the en masse entry of PLA fighters in his troops and set in motion a bitter battle with the Prachanda government that finally led to its fall last month, now the new dispute has the former guerrillas training their sights on Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Last week, a section of the media reported that Nepal had said during an interview to British news agency Reuters that only 5,000 Maoist combatants would be admitted into the army. There are currently about 19,000 fighters, whose fate remains mired in uncertainty and controversy.

CPI (Maoist) Internationalist statement on the recent turmoil in Nepal

This article was published in the Maoist Information Bulletin #8 and has been made available on Banned Thought.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release: May 5, 2009 – (Became available June 29, 2009)

The political crisis in Nepal is the result of Indo-US conspiracy!

Oppose the attempts by Indian expansionists to meddle in the internal affairs of Nepal!

People’s democracy can be established in Nepal only by smashing the old state!!

Withdrawal of support by CPN(UML), MJF and other allies to the government headed by comrade Prachanda does not come as a surprise to any keen observer of the unfolding situation in Nepal in the context of the growing realignment of forces in South Asia and the world at large. South Asia has become a top-priority zone for American imperialism in the context of its growing rivalry with China which is seen as the greatest threat to American imperialism in the world arena in the coming decades. Besides, its importance has grown against the backdrop of a series of defeats suffered by the occupation forces of NATO and US in Afghanistan at the hands of Taliban and the latter’s fast-expanding hold and influence in Pakistan. The strategy of US imperialism in the region is to contain the growing influence of China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), forge a powerful pro-American axis of powers to turn the tide in its favour in Afghanistan where its forces are on the run in the renewed Taliban offensive, and establish its hegemony in the region as part of its global strategic designs. To achieve this goal American imperialism has been trying to forge an alliance with Pakistan and India, preaching to Pakistan that it should do away with its obsession with threat from India and, instead, concentrate on war in its western frontier to crush Taliban.

India: 12 policemen wiped out in daring Maoist ambush in Dhamtari (Dandakaranya)

This article was published in the Maoist Information Bulletin of the CPI (Maoist) which has been made available on Banned Thought.

12 policemen wiped out in daring Maoist ambush in Dhamtari (Dandakaranya)

On May 10 Maoist guerrillas carried out a daring tactical counteroffensive against a CRPF contingent in Dhamtari district near border with Kanker district in Chattisgarh. At least 12 CRPF personnel were wiped out in the operation while another ten were injured. Some were said to have been missing after the ambush.

The CRPF personnel numbering 41 were going to Kanker in four vehicles after carrying out combing operations for Maoists. Maoists lay in ambush over a hiilock and lured the policemen into their trap. One of the vehicles was blown to pieces while others were fired upon. The entire enemy force was encircled and half the force was either annihilated or inured. Several arms were also seized by the guerrillas from the policemen.

Maoist-led government within few weeks – Prachanda

This article was published on eKantipur.com.

Maoist-led govt within few weeks, claims Prachanda

Kantipur Report

KATHMANDU, June 29 – Unified CPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Monday claimed that a national consensus government under the leadership of his party would be formed within the next few weeks.

The Maoist Chairman said so while speaking at the closing ceremony of the Maoist politburo meeting that had kicked off in the capital on June 16 to discuss Dahal’s political document.

He said that a national government would be formed soon under the leadership of the Maoists and claimed that the government would take the peace process to a logical end and draft the new constitution.

U.S. CounterInsurgency: Get Out of India!

This article was published in the Maoist Information Bulletin #8 of the CPI (Maoist) and has been made available on Banned Thought.

American delegation visits Chattisgarh to advise on countering Maoist movement

The visit to Chattisgarh by a delegation sent by the American imperialists in the first week of May 2009 shows the hideous plans of the imperialists and their compradors in India guided by their twin aim of suppressing the revolutionary movement and looting the natural wealth of our country.

It has become clear to the imperialists that the Maoists in India are growing rapidly and are emerging as an alternative to the rotten parliamentary mainstream and that a growing proportion of the population is gradually drawing towards the revolution.

India: Demonstrators arrested for condemning repression of Adivasis

Thanks to Ka Frank for sending this our way.

Press Release

Joint Demonstration in Delhi Opposing Military Action and repression on Adivasis of Lalgarh was disturbed by Delhi Police

Condemn the Arrest of Peaceful Demonstrators

A protest demonstration was held today June 30th 2009 at A K Gopalan Bhawan against repression on adivasis at Lalgarh by security forces. Several intellectuals, students, youth and workers participated in the programme, organized by, Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS) and several mass organizations.

Delhi police swooped on the protest demonstration in front of CPI-M office in Delhi against Paramilitary – police action on Lalgarh and arrested 21 activists and dispersed hundreds by using heavy force. The arrested have been detained in Mandir Marg police station. Four activists were injured. Some media persons were beaten up and manhandled.

Earlier in the morning a huge police force was deployed to prevent the protestors to gather at Bhai Veer Singh Marg where the All-India office of CPI(M)  was located in Delhi. The road leading to this office was barricaded and closed so that the demonstrators could not reach. Some protestors sneaked in through by-lanes and shopping complex entries. Then the police closed these lanes also. About 150 protestors reached the CPI (M) office gate and raised slogans against the police atrocities on Lalgarh people. A huge number of intellectuals, youth, students and workers not allowed to gather by the police by imposing prohibitory orders.

Reports on Debates Within the UCPN

This article was published on Review Nepal.

Ideological differences heightened in Nepali Maoist

June 28th 2009. – Kathmandu, Nepal – ideological differences has been heightened in the united communist party of Nepal Maoist as party’s hardliner faction has strongly presented with demand to incorporate the portion of possible people’s revolt on the paper presented by party chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. Due to the differences the ongoing the politburo meeting has been put off on Sunday for a day with intent to minimize the differences and make the paper unopposed.

The hardliner faction led by party leader Mohan Baiddha has been demanding that the presented paper should be corrected by adding the possibility of people’s revolt as the party’s strategy. We are the Maoist ideologically believe on revolution to capture the state power, so we should not leave totally from the party line where as it would be needed on future said a leader preferring anonymity.

In the presented paper by the chair Prachanda the possibility of people’s revolt is not mentioned. According to the party source the next meeting to be held on Monday party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is to answer the queries and criticism on his political report.

Indian Maoists Speak: On Intern’l Controversies Among Communists

The following document is a major comment by the leading Politbureau of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on controversies within the international Maoist movement. It was sent to the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on May 20, 2009, and has now been made public.

As the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has maneuvered on the doorstep of seizing state power, there have emerged a series of open letters from other communist parties — engaging the approach taken by the Nepali Maoists, and struggling over major controversies facing communist revolution internationally.

Previously Kasama published an exchange of letters between the RCP,USA and the UCPN(M). Now we are sharing this document by the Indian Maoists.

For now, we are also making this letter available in pdf format. We will be posting a more readable PDF version, in pamphlet format, Monday evening.

* * * * * * *

“…in the name of struggle against dogmatism, there have been serious deviations in the International Communist Movement (ICM), often going into an even greater, or at least equally dangerous, abyss of right deviation and revisionism. In the name of creative application of Marxism, communist parties have fallen into the trap of right opportunism, bourgeois pluralist Euro-Communism, rabid anti-Stalinism, anarchist post-modernism and outright revisionism…

“‘Fight against dogmatism‘ has become a fashionable phrase among many Maoist revolutionaries. They talk of discarding ‘outdated’ principles of Lenin and Mao and to develop MLM in the ‘new conditions‘ that are said to have emerged in the world of the 21^st century. Some of them describe their endeavour to ‘enrich and develop‘ MLM as a new path or thought, and though this is initially described as something confined to revolution in their concerned country, it inexorably assumes a ‘universal character’ or ‘universal significance‘ in no time. And in this exercise individual leaders are glorified and even deified to the extent that they appear infallible. Such glorification does not help in collective functioning of Party committees and the Party as a whole and questions on line are hardly ever raised as they stem from an infallible individual leader. In such a situation it is extremely difficult on the part of the CC, not to speak of the cadres, to fight against a serious deviation in the ideological-political line, or in the basic strategy and tactics even when it is quite clear that it goes against the interests of revolution. The ‘cult of the individual’ promoted in the name of path and thought provides a certain degree of immunity to the deviation in line if it emanates from that individual leader.”

The full document is here >

Maoist Leader Gajurel: No Compromise on Nepal’s Soverignty

This article was published on Telegraph Nepal.

No compromise on Nepal’s nationalism: Gajurel

TGW

One of the senior member of the Maoist party Secretariat, Mr. C. P. Gajurel aka GAURAV, has stressed that there was the urgent need for waging a fierce struggle in order to preserve Nepal’s sovereignty, national independence and against what he called “increasing foreign interference”.

Mr. Gajurel made this fervent appeal while addressing a program organized by one HR organization in Kathmandu, June 24, 2009, on the topic, “Nepal’s Border Security and the Citizens’ Rights” in Kathmandu.

“It is now time that the common citizen be militarily trained who in turn could safeguard the national independence”, opined Gajurel.

Gajurel saw the need, as he puts it, “the unity among the entire nationalist forces scattered in different political paraphernalia has now become urgent”.

Lalgarh villagers vow to resist security forces

This article was published in the Times of India. Thanks to Ka Frank for pointing it out.

Lalgarh villagers vow to resist security forces
24 Jun 2009, 1848 hrs IST, IANS

LALGARH: Amid allegations that security forces were ransacking homes and even throwing away food, villagers in this trouble zone where operations to flush out Maoists have been on for a week said on Wednesday they would continue to put up resistance.

“Lot of people have fled the villages. But some have decided to stay back in their houses. And they feel they will suffer at the hands of the forces whether they remain in the villages or not, so they have chosen to die resisting the forces,” Sidhu Soren of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) said.

Another PCAPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato indicated that the agitators would lie low for some time and resume their movement once the central forces comprising the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF) leave.

“We know we can’t resist such a massive force. But the central forces will not stay for ever. Once they leave, we will resume our agitation in the scale we did last November,” Mahato told reporters.

Ben Peterson: On the Nepal Debate

This article was written by Ben Peterson and published on his blog Lal Salam.

“In no way should the Peoples State in Nepal be dismissed, it was a highly significant part of the peoples war, and was able to make significant gains for women, people of low caste, ethnic nationalities and local governance, however, this state simply was not strong enough to be able to stand on its own against the central Kathmandu government. In time, it may have been able to develop into such a state, however this would have been a long and bloody process, and events transpired which fast tracked the revolution and brought urban areas and across the country. This was the conquest of one state over the other, but it was politically, and not physically or militarily.”

“As Marxists, we understand that the state has a class basis, however no one is born with that knowledge. The Maoists time in government showed in practice that no matter what people vote for, a revolution can not be simply elected. More then any speeches the experience of a people’s government in a bourgeois state has shown the masses of people that radical change is necessary, when previously many had illusions in the prospects of a peaceful gradual change. It has become apparent that imperialism is central to the state to the people of Nepal, not because the Maoists said so, but because of the role of the India and American governments in overthrowing the elected government. With only propaganda, revolutionaries would have struggled to convince a majority of people, but, by making principled decisions, more and more people have been pushed into the revolutionary camp, and have become open to revolutionary ideas.”

“Within Nepal revolutionaries have already used this tactic within their parallel state structures during the peoples war. Elections were held, and what forces for the opposition parties were left in these areas were allowed to participate. It opened a way for the revolutionaries to get feedback from the grassroots. In some areas these opposition groups did quite well in these elections, and this showed the Maoist party in which areas they were not fulfilling their tasks well, in which areas there had developed a bureaucracy or an automatic way of doing things, and in which areas they needed to improve. In this way they were able to build more responsive party, with closer links to the masses.”

On the Nepal Debate