Video: Nov 13 Meeting in Delhi University
A public meeting organised by Campaign Against War on People in Delhi University on November 13 2009 to protest against the Indian State’s war on tribals of Central India.
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Radical Notes
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Convention Against War on People, Dec 4 2009
INVITATION
Convention Against War On People
Venue: Speaker’s Hall, Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi
Date: 4 December 2009 (Friday) Time: 10 am—7 pm
Friends,
As you read this invite, Indian state’s ongoing war on people that began on the 1st of November, will already complete several weeks. The body-count of the adivasis –the prime victims of the Indian government’s ‘hunt’– also started to mount. As per the sporadic news from the Ground Zero trickles in through the media, the casualty is escalating by each passing day, as grow the number of burnt villages, persons displaced, injured or arrested. We hear of battalions of CRPF, COBRA, C-60, Grey Hounds, ITBP, Anti-Naxal Task Force and a whole assortment of armed paramilitary and police forces stepping up their operation in Dandakaranya and adjoining regions, backed by air force helicopters and US intelligence satellites, commanded by army top brass. As reports are pouring in already thousands of adivasis have been displaced from their homes as the ruthless state repressive machine has let loose a reign of terror in these areas. The renewed offensive by the joint forces in Lalgarh too has left hundreds of protesting adivasis homeless. There is every possibility that the number of dead and injured people, along with the displaced and destroyed villages will only mount in the coming weeks, if the Indian government does not call for an immediate halt to this all-encompassing military offensive. As has been the case with nationality movements in Kashmir and the North East, the Indian state’s endeavour to find a ‘military solution’ through war will only endanger the lives and livelihood of lakhs of citizens.
Indian government has been preparing for this massive military operation for months, lining up nearly one lakh troops and arming them with sophisticated weapons, mobilising the air force for aerial strikes and involving the Indian army not only for training and logistical purposes, but for operational command and even active combat if required. There are also reports of US intelligence and security officials ‘advising’ the Indian government in conducting this war. As reported by the media, the entire forested regions of central and eastern India have been divided into seven Operating Areas, which the government wants to ‘clear’ within the next five years of all resistance, including that of the Maoists and other Naxalite organisations. An outlay of Rs.7300 crores has already been earmarked for this war.
None is in illusion as to the objectives of this war against the people. This war is being fought by the Indian government at the behest of the corporates and for their benefit, targeting the life and livelihood of the adivasis. The worldwide imperialist economy presently faces its most severe crisis after 1929. The military-industrial complex, which includes multinational and Indian big business interests, is looking for wars that have the potential to artificially generate the much-needed demand for their products in a crisis-ridden market. Moreover, both domestic and foreign corporations desperately want to lay their hands on the minerals worth billions of dollars deposited in the vast forest regions of central and eastern India. Once accessed, this can guarantee the corporations super-profits for several decades. Hundreds of agreements and MoUs that allow free plunder of people’s resources have already been concluded by mining corporations with the central and state governments. The corporations easily cleared all the legal hurdles between themselves and the natural resources. The only barrier that now stands between them and their prize is people’s resistance, whether unarmed or armed. From Nandigram to Niyamgiri, Lalgarh to Dandakaranya, Koraput to Kalinganagar, Dadri to Narayanpatna, people have refused to be mere victims of state-sponsored policies of Liberalisation-Privatisation-Globalisation (LPG) in the name of ‘development’. After trying all forceful measures from police repression to Salwa Judum which have failed to deter the people’s movements, the Indian government is now waging war not only against the Naxalite and Maoist movements which have been termed as the ‘biggest internal security threat’, but against all people’s movements that challenge its policies. By doing so, it not only is trying to bulldoze all kinds of dissenting voices and democratic rights, but is also aiming to exterminate the aspirations of the exploited and oppressed people for a better society, a life with dignity.
Forum Against war on People invites you to this All-India Convention which is an effort to examine the ongoing war on people in all its dimensions. More importantly, it seeks to become a strong voice of resistance against this war. We urge you to participate in the Convention and make it an occasion to collectively demand that the Indian government must immediately and unconditionally stop this war, waged in our name against our own people.
Inaugural Address: Prof. Randhir Singh (Retd. Political Science, DU)
Speakers
Justice AS Bains
BD Sharma
Vara Vara Rao (Revolutionary Poet)
PA Sebastian (CPDR, Maharashtra)
Prof. Jagmohan (AFDR, Punjab)
Arundhati Roy (Writer)
Bullu Bahan, (Chhattisgarh)
Madhuri (MP)
Prof. Amit Bhattacharyya
Ajit Bhuyan (Editor, Asomiya Pratidin)
Prashant Bhushan
Shashi Bhushan Pathak (PUCL Jharkhand)
Bernard D’Mello (Deputy Editor, EPW)
Lachit Bordoloi (MASS, Assam)
Dr. N Venuh (NPMHR)
Sudhir Patnaik (Lok Pakhya, Orissa)
Prof N K Bhattacharya (Jan Hastakshep)
Malem Ningthouja (CPDM, Manipur)
Harish Dhawan (PUDR)
Shamsher Singh Bisht (Uttarakhand Lok Vahini)
Lateef Mohd. Khan (Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee)
Gautam Navlakha
Kavita Krishnan (CPI-ML [Liberation])
Sheomangal Siddhantkar (CPI-ML [New Proletarian])
SS Mahal (CPI-ML [New Democracy])
SAR Geelani (CRPP)
GN Saibaba
Prof. Jagmohan Singh (Voices for Freedom)
Santosh Mahapatra (Orissa)
Arjun Prasad Singh (PDFI)
Dr. Animesh Das (IFTU)
Raminder Singh (NBS)
Alok (KYS)
PUCL
JNU Forum Against War on People
DU Campaign Against War on People Correspondence, Campaign Against War on People, Committee Against Violence On Women (CAVOW), Naga Students Union Delhi (NSUD), Navjawan Bharat Sabha (NBS), KRALOS, Krantikari Yuva Sanghathan (KYS), Manipur Students Association Delhi (MSAD), PDSU, PUCL, MKP, Campaign for Peace & Democracy Manipur (CPDM), DSU, CRPP, DGMF, People’s Front (PF), Mazdoor Ekta Manch (MEM), Left Democratic Teacher’s Front (LDTF), RDF, PDFI, CPI (ML) (Liberation), CPI (ML) (New Proletarian), Kashipur Solidarity Forum, Nari Mukti Sangh (NMS), Mehnatkash Majdoor Morcha (MMM), B D Sharma, Arundhati Roy, Tripta Wahi, Vijay Singh, Neshat Quaiser, Laltu and others
Video: Dharna for Proper Implementation of Forest Rights Act
A dharna organised by Campaign for Survival and Dignity and Adivasi Vikas Manch at Jantar Mantar, Delhi on Nov 3 2009.
Want to know what the protests were about? Click here: Forests Under Siege.
Thousands joined protests across India against the Central and State governments to place Forests Under Siege. A dharna took place in Delhi on the 3rd and a rally on the 4th, with participants from MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Dharnas and rallies also took place in Bhopal, Udaipur, Raipur and Bhubaneshwar on the 3rd. More than 5,000 people participated.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister informed State governments at the Tribal Ministry’s “review meeting” that “systematic exploitation of tribals must end.” In that case, why is his government intensifying this exploitation? The mockery of democracy and the rule of law continues.
13th November Public Meeting
A public meeting was organised by Campaign Against War on People in The Faculty of Arts, North Campus, DU on the 13th November. In spite of BJP’s Delhi Bandh call, and DUSU’s call for a University Bandh, slight rain, and posters for the event having been mysteriously torn up, over a hundred and fifty people attended the meeting. Representatives from many organisations including PUDR, AISA, Disha, DSU, Jan Hastakshep, Correspondence, JNU Forum Against War on People and NSI addressed the gathering. The group also launched its signature campaign against the state’s offensive addressed to the Prime Minister, which will be circulated in the university during the next few weeks. The event also included musical performances. Videos of the event will be put up soon.
Public Meeting Against War on Citizens
Date: 13th November 2009
Venue: Vivekananda Statue, Arts Faculty, North Campus, Delhi University
Time: 12.00 pm onward
Tens of thousands soldiers of paramilitary and special police forces are directed towards central and eatern parts of India, including Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkand, areas of Maharastra and Western Bengal. Previously too, the state has deployed armed forces against civilians and within civilian areas with disastrous consequences. Kashmir and North-Eastern states have been facing this onslaught for decades now.
The Campaign against War on People is organizing a Public Meeting on Friday 13th November on this issue. The meeting will address the current state offensive against citizens in Eastern and Central India, and the larger issue of the use of armed forces in civilian areas.
We invite all organisations and individuals who are concerned about the use of armed forces in civilian areas to attend and participate in this Meeting.
Speakers:
Madan Kashyap, Journalist
Prashant Bhushan, Civil liberties lawyer
Saroj Giri, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi
Gautam Navlakha, Civil liberties activist
Harish Dhawan, PUDR
Poonam, Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan
Representative of Peoples organisations form North Eastern states
Representative of New Socialist Initiative,
Representative of Progressive Students’ Union,
Dr. N. Bhattacharya, Jan Hastakshep
Representative of JNU Forum Against War on People
Abhinav, Disha
Sandeep Singh, AISA
Banjyotsna, DSU
Campaign Against War on People
Contact: opposethehunters@gmail.com, stopwaroncitizens@gmail.com
Ph: 9899523722, 9910455993, 9718259201, 9818728298
Campaign against War on People
The Indian government intends to deploy 100,000 troops – ostensibly against Maoist insurgents – in 7 states in central and eastern India, including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, a vast area inhabited by tribal groups. Forces withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir (e.g. Rashtriya Rifles) and the Northeast are joining battalions of CRPF commandos, the ITBP, the CoBRA and the BSF, equipped with bomb trucks, bomb blankets, bomb baskets, and sophisticated new weaponry. Six IAF Mi-17 helicopters will provide air support to these ground forces, in which the IAF’s own special force, the Garuds, will participate. The actual strength of the intended targets of this massive action – the Maoist cadre – is believed to be no more than 20,000. Besides the dangers of any state offensive against any section of the people, the scale of the offensive suggests that the state is unable to distinguish the millions of tribals in this area from the Maoists, and has chosen the quick solution of war on the entire region. Several groups which are not Maoist – like the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram in Dantewada – have been clubbed with them and are being targeted. The basic question is, why is the state planning war against its most deprived, oppressed and impoverished populations?
Central India is rich in mineral wealth that is already being auctioned: Till September 2009, Rs 6,69,388 crore of investment had been pledged toward industry in the troubled areas—14 per cent of the total pledged investments in the country. All that stands between politicians/ big money bags and this wealth is the tribal people and their refusal to consent to their designs. Even constituent bodies of Indian state machinery acknowledge the gross failure of state in the tribal areas of the country in no uncertain terms. The Planning Commission Report on Social Discontent and Extremism, has clearly identified equity and justice issues relating to land, forced displacement and evictions, extreme poverty and social oppression, livelihood, malgovernance and police brutality as widespread in the region. The Approach Paper for the 11th Plan states:
Our practices regarding rehabilitation of those displaced from their land because of development projects are seriously deficient and are responsible for a growing perception of exclusion and marginalisation. The costs of displacement borne by our tribal population have been unduly high, and compensation has been tardy and inadequate, leading to serious unrest in many tribal regions. This discontent is likely to grow exponentially if the benefits from enforced land acquisition are seen accruing to private interests, or even to the state, at the cost of those displaced.
The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution grants tribals complete rights over their traditional land and forests and prohibits private companies from mining on their land. In spite of all this, in the name of fighting the Maoists the state – in blatant violation of Constitutional rights and against the recommendations of its own committees – is all set to evacuate the entire area of the tribals and ghettoise them by forcing them into ‘relief camps’, to allow free rein to big business. Instead of addressing the basic rights and needs of the tribals, the impatience of the state/big business in the face of the stiff resistance from them, is leading it to a full-scale war on people who are already fighting an everyday battle for livelihood and survival.
In the past as well the state has tried to crush all popular resistance, armed or not. It has repeatedly ignored and/or suppressed non-violent resistance, be it in Bhopal gas-victims or the ‘Narmada Bachao’ Andolan. Various human rights activists who have spoken out against its policies have also been targeted through draconian instruments like the Chhatisgarh Special Public Safety Act, 2005. It has also brutally assaulted protesters in Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh and Khammam and conducted military offensives in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh that have been seriously questioned. Now, along with an increasingly uncritical, elitist and complicit media, it is set on drumming up war hysteria to legitimise its own extra-Constitutional programs. The fact that it has either rejected or dismissed offers of talks and mediations – while hypocritically calling for them – indicates the extent to which it is invested in this war. The Central Government’s military offensive further dilutes the federal character of Indian democracy as it covertly shifts the maintenance of law and order off the state onto the centre list.
This war on the people also entails a further shrinking of already limited spaces for democratic dissent and articulation of pro people development paradigms. It opens the way for the state to act with force against any form of dissent or struggle. Any individual or organization protesting against the policies of the state can be labelled as a threat to ‘internal security’. To understand the politics and economics of the current state offensive, we urge people to look beyond the current hype being built by the government and pliable sections of the media. This indicates the emergence of a dangerous consensus towards a police state that will render the people and resources pliable to the demands of global capitalism and authoritarianism.
We call upon all progressive forces – students, teachers and workers – to resist the latest plan of the Indian government. Stop state violence against people.
Join our demand for a peaceful, egalitarian and secular society.
Contact:opposethehunters@gmail.com, stopwaroncitizens@gmail.com
Ph: 9899523722, 9910455993, 9718259201, 9818728298
