CNN-IBN: Arundhati Roy on Binayak’s release

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‘Little pinholes of light have come out in this judgement’ says author and activist Arundhati Roy on the Binayak Sen bail order by the Supreme Court. In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN’s Rupashree Nanda, she also says ‘democracy is on a very slippery slope in Chhattisgarh’; that it is important to remember several others who are jailed under similar charges under ‘undemocratic laws’.

Rupashree Nanda: I remember you’d said that the judgement of the Raipur session court was intended to be a message, as a warning to others. What is the message of the Supreme Court bail order?

Arundhati Roy: I think that the Supreme Court granting him bail and the comments that were made in court do suggest that somewhere the Supreme Court is of the mind that it was a vindictive judgment and that he does deserve the benefit of the doubt. And so they gave him bail. What happens is that it underlines the fact that he was being made an example of; and the terror that reigns in Chhattisgarh remains so. Because, how many people have those lawyers? And have the ability to come to the Supreme Court? How many people are there poor, unnamed and named, under the very same laws for even less reasons? But they cannot come up and get bail. In some ways, it is a very necessary thing that has happened today. And in other ways it is worrying because we have so many people who don’t have access to the Supreme Court.

Rupashree Nanda: The battle for acquittal is still on. What if he is convicted again and sentenced again?

Arundhati Roy: My answer is the same. The fact is that here was a very well known person. He had a campaign behind him, he had so many people, so many lawyers and so he was allowed to approach an institution where some kind of reason prevailed. But most people don’t have that approach. So, here you are once again in a situation where there is hope for democracy, reason for those who can afford it, who can reach there. But most people cannot. Really what we need to do is look at these laws again. And again, even if the laws were OK you have this vindictive set of people who are doing something, it does not matter what the law is. They are busy trying to intimidate a whole population of very poor people now who are living on the resources that the multinationals want.

Rupashree Nanda: Was it easy for people to come out and support Dr Binayak Sen because there were many people against him?

Arundhati Roy: It is not a question of easy or difficult. Fortunately, in this country we do have a huge number of fearless people who believe in doing the right thing or at least believe in doing what they believe in. I am not going to complain about how difficult it was for us. Of course, I think, all those who protested knew that they were up against it. I know about Kopa Kunjam who took me round Bastar who is in jail. Who is campaigning for him? Who are his lawyers? What is going to happen to him? There are hundreds of people in jail in Orissa, in Chhattisgarh, in Bengal who do not have names suffering under the same laws. We really need to do something about them. I am saying this at a time when I don’t want to minimize how reassuring it is that the Supreme Court came out with this order that it did today. Because, had it not done that, all the windows would have been shut. Again, justice for those who can afford it, democracy for those who can afford it but what about everybody else?

Rupashree Nanda: What is the message for the government? Is it listening to the courts, is it listening to the people?

Arundhati Roy: There is something rotten in the institutions of Chhattisgarh. All the institutions there are behind that rot and behind what is now NOT being called Operation Green Hunt, but IS Operation Green hunt. We have a situation where the army is likely to be deployed, we have requests for the AFSPA [Armed Forces Special Powers Act]. We know what that has done in other states in India. Really democracy is on a very slippery slope there in Chhattisgarh. Now, some little pin holes of light have come out in this judgment. – but the point is that we are in a situation where we are creating a state where we call ourselves a democracy but increasingly there are laws that are undemocratic. In fact, under the UAPA [Unlawful Activities Prevention Act], the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act – you don’t have to prove anything to put people in jail. Just thinking an anti – government thought is a criminal offense. So look at those laws. It is not that they are being misinterpreted. They are being used precisely for the purpose they were made. So the fact is again and again I am saying we have a majority of our population that does not have access to the institution of justice.

Rupashree Nanda: What does Binayak Sen represent?

Arundhati Roy: Different things to different people. To me he symbolizes somebody who stood up and blew the whistle on the Salwa Judum. And that is why there was this vindictive action against him as a warning. And even though he has been let out on bail, let’s not forget that he has suffered. He’s been in jail. His hospital has been closed down. He cannot work in that area. He has been driven out of the state. So, in many ways, what they wanted, they have achieved already. To others he symbolizes righteousness. It can cut both ways. You can also now use Binayak Sen to say, look, India is a democracy – he was released. You can use him to say – look he is a middle-class person who had a campaign behind him. He was released, but there are many others. So it is different things to different people depending on how you look at it.

Rupashree Nanda: No one talks about Piyush Guha today?

Arundhati Roy: You talk about one person and then you keep everybody else in the dark. It’s like during Thanksgiving the American president pardons one turkey and then they slaughter millions. Behind the place where you choose to shine the light you have so much darkness. Piyush Guha has a name. Kopa Kunjam has a name, but there are hundreds of others who don’t have names, who are in prison. I remember going to Orissa meeting one adivasi woman shaking like a leaf in jail. What are the charges? Sedition. Waging war against the state. Trying to erect a parallel government. So we are living in an era where these people are ferociously attacked. So we have to look at the whole picture not just where people wish us to look because they have shone the light there.

Communist Party of India (Maoist) Central Committee Statement, 13th April 2011: Intensify Mass Struggles To Put An End To Institutionalized Corruption!

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

13 April, 2011

Intensify Mass Struggles To Put An End To Institutionalized Corruption!

　

In recent times, corruption has once again come to the forefront as a main issue with the exposure of massive scams like 2G spectrum, Commonwealth games, Adarsh housing society, Karnataka land scams, S-Band spectrum scam. Workers, peasants, adivasis, dalits, women, and urban middle class – all classes and sections of the society are expressing their deep discontent and anguish. Recently we saw great support to the hunger strike of Anna Hazare, which is the direct consequence of the widespread discontent in the people against corruption, corrupt political parties and their leaders. Though the demand for hunger strike is Jan Lokpal Bill, the aspiration of the people is to completely wipe out corruption.

It would be innocence, if anyone feels that by setting up a committee to frame Lokpal bill and by selecting half of the committee members from civil society would itself finds a solution. In fact, lack of rules and laws is not the cause for endless and deep-ridden corruption. Way back from jeep scam, Lockheed’s airplane deal to late Rajiv Gandhi’s Bofors deals, our country has seen many a scams starting from a few million rupees to trillions of rupees. Not only main parliamentary parties like Congress and BJP, leaders and ministers of all other national and regional parliamentary parties like RJD, BSP, SP, DMK, AIADMK, TDP and hand in glove bureaucrats have a long history of corrupt practices. By proper implementation of the existing laws in the country and by the proper functioning of anti-corruption wings, scams like these can be prevented to a grate extent and those responsible for these can be severely punished. In the last 64 years history of ‘independent’ India, we don’t find a single incidence, where corrupt politicians, ministers, heads of corporate houses and bureaucrats have been punished. Due to pressure from people or opposition parties, even if arrested in some rare cases, by prolonging investigation and diluting of the charges, they get scot-free without any stringent punishment or with nominal punishment. This is because; the judiciary of this country is also an inseparable part of this exploitative state machinery. None can be under the illusion to end corruption through these laws and court rooms.

We have to first realize that corruption is not an issue confined to a handful of bad or greedy individuals. The root cause of all these corruptions and scams lies in the capitalist system whose sole motto is cut-throat profiteering. In spite of preaching liberty, freedom and democratic values, in pracitce it’s based on intense labor exploitation, bribery, commissions, kickbacks etc. Hence ending of corruptions and scams is an issue which is linked with the revolutionary transformation of present system. It would be illusionary to expect a complete solution to this by bringing in few fine laws while keeping this semi-feudal and semi-colonial system in our country intact.

In fact, the scams that have not surfaced are many times more compared to the ones that have surfaced. For example late chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Rajasekhar Reddy, present chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, chief ministers of Jharkhand Madhu Koda, Shibu Soren and Arjun Mundas, Karnataka chief minister Yediyurappa and likes, by signing agreements with mining mafia and big companies have amassed huge commissions amounting to tens of billions of rupees is being exposed even in the media. LPG policies being pursued by the governments have opened the floodgates for rampant corruption, huge scams and massive plunder of natural wealth of our country. Hence, without unequivocally opposing imperialist-dictated anti-people government policies and without focusing mass struggles against these, just speaking and hoping to wipe out corruption is to mislead people.

Anna Hazare ended his fast with the government’s decision to form a committee to frame Lokpal bill. But justice is not meted out to the people who are aspiring to put an end to corruption. In fact, government accepted this demand not in fear of Anna Hazare’s fast, but to pacify people’s anguish that came forth in support to his fast. It is noteworthy that ruling classes accepted to this demand only because any numbers of laws like these in no way affect the present system.

The Central Committee of the CPI (Maoist) welcomes countrywide response of the people against corruption. Our Party believes that only through the united, well-organized and militant mass struggles, corruption can be put to an end. Our Party calls upon the people of our country not to get satisfied by the namesake laws and forming new committees to frame such laws by the government and not to end these struggles, but to continue with firm conviction. We call upon workers, peasants, students, intellectuals, employees, pro-people Gandhians and all other patriotic forces to come forward and to form a broad alliance to fight against corruption which has affected our country. Our Party appeals to raise voice against all these thieves and dacoits who are involved in endless corruption, scams and plunder and who have stashed trillions of rupees of black money in Swiss banks, have no right to be in power even for a moment.

(Abhay)

Spokesperson,

Central Committee,

CPI (Maoist)

Maoist Communist Party of Italy second document : Marxist-Leninist-Maoist communists support the revolts of Arab masses

Marxist-Leninist-Maoist communists
support the revolts of Arab masses

In the revolt of the Arab masses, is especially seen the role as the protagonist of youth masses. The horizon of the ongoing uprisings is the overthrow of the regime in power, democratic freedoms, the improvement of living conditions. Workers are involved and share the objectives of these uprisings, they support them with strikes for their own demands, but they still neither express an autonomous overall position nor play a leading role. This means that the uprising  are currently led by two lines: one of the bourgeois-democratic forces, often pro-Western, one of opposition Islamist forces.
The partial victories they won with the fall of the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia and the weakening of other regimes in the Arab world, the Middle East and Persian Gulf, have been achieved thanks to the strength and the magnitude of the peoples movement and, on the other hand, thanks to the rift it has caused within the army and parts of regimes themselves. Yet, we see a change in the form of the ruling regimes, not of substance, or, in some cases, a temporary setback to prepare a restorer counter-offensive. The conservation and restoration of such regimes is the aim of Islamic fundamentalism as well as the intervention of imperialism of U.S., Europe and, within this, of Italy, which want to contibute, with the political action and the military intervention, to drive the transition in the furrow of imperialist interests in the region.
In this situation, the current uprisings will be not able to achieve their goals until they get rid of such hegemony and any illusion on those forces, internal to regimes, which passed on their side, i.e. the forces of Islamic fundamentalism, the forces that just want more Western-style democracy, and the U.S., French, Italian imperialists etc.
This is the real task of the communists and the labour movement, in order to transform the current democratic uprisings into New Democratic Revolutions in all the Arab world, North Africa and Persian Gulf. The new democratic revolutions in led by the communists and proletariat are the real alternative, the real enemy of all reactionary and imperialist forces. The uprisings brought a favourable condition for this development, starting from the workers struggles, that are growing in strength, finding a even more favourable ground.
There are similarities and differences between the regimes in the different countries, concerning the development of the rebellion and the participation of workers, as well as the way regimes are responding. These are issues that the Communists and progressive forces have to take into account, in their strategy, but also in their tactics. In particular, we have to look at the situation in Egypt and Libyan.
In Egypt we see a still solid regime, despite the important downfall of Mubarak. The power is in the hands of the army, that grants a continuity of rulers interests, security of imperialistic interests, the alliance with Israel, etc.. The democracy and social fairness promised by the military hierarchies in power will be never realized. On the contrary, the new rulers are preparing to prevent the revolt from resuming and developing. An underground war already goes on for this purpose, first against the forces of rebel youth and workers struggles. The new prop of the regime, “the party of conciliators”, is basically represented by Islamic fundamentalists, who have played a minor role in the uprising, but now, in the new space that the regime gives them, aims to play a stabilizing role. These forces are not and cannot be part of a united front aimed to realize the democratic and social demands put forward by the uprising.
In Libya, the regime relies on a full militarization of ideological and charismatic type. From being a positive factor, in the early colonial phase, long time ago it turned into a fascist dictatorship, subjected to and integrant part of the imperialist domination. Libya is a particular country: richest, with a centralized economy and massive use of immigrant labour. It is quite clear, therefore, that in this country, and the characteristics of the uprising, and the degree of participation of workers, and the solidity and the reaction of the regime, have taken different shapes and developments. Gaddafi responded to the uprising by turning it into a civil war. The Libyan masses should unite to defeat and topple the regime, but part of them relied on imperialists. First by interfering, then with the military intervention, imperialists play a direct role in resolving the ongoing civil war. Needed, now more than ever, a anti-imperialist patriotic united front.

Proletari comunisti supports the uprisings of people and youth and supports the struggling efforts of the working class, the reorganization in autonomous forms, trade union and political. We support the communists who in these countries, in the fire of class struggle and close link with the masses, will carry forward the New Democratic anti-imperialist revolution, by fighting imperialism, social-chauvinism and opportunism, false communist and false anti-imperialist positions in our country. Our task now is to give voice and information of the uprising, the youth, the workers, the communists and progressive people, and in particular of those are engaged for a new democratic revolution. We must oppose any “humanitarian”, military intervention of Italian, European, U.S. imperialism, because, anyway it looks like, it serves oil multinationals, the merchants of war, the geo-strategic control of the region and aims to suppress the rebellion and keep in power regimes against people.

The Imperialist Intrigues Against Libya – Revolutionary Initiative (Canada) Statement from the General Secretary

The Imperialist Intrigues Against Libya
Expose and oppose all designs against the Libyan People

http://revintcan.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/the-imperialist-intrigues-against-libya/

Revolutionary Initiative (Canada)
Statement from the General Secretary
March 13, 2011

The Imperialist Intrigues Against Libya
Expose and oppose all designs against the Libyan People

Gaddafi’s relationship to imperialism

In stark contrast to the manner in which the Western imperialists have
responded to developments across North Africa and the Middle East over
the last two months, for the armed opposition in Libya they have been
only too ready to support the anti-Gaddafi movement. For all their
clamoring about the necessity for “peaceful transitions” where the
masses threatened their clients in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere, the
imperialists have abandoned their pacifist demagogy when it has come
to Libya. NATO is pushing for a military assault against Libya that
could range in devastation anywhere from NATO’s operation against
Kosovo in 1999 to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

To be sure, the Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya is neither
anti-imperialist nor or a defender of the interests of the Libyan
masses. Despite Gaddafi’s support to national liberation movements
throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, from the late 1990s onwards the Gaddafi
regime took the road of capitulation and collaboration, negotiating
its détente with imperialism and sharing in the spoils of a
structurally adjusted Libya. UN sanctions were lifted in 1999 and by
2006 the US lifted its own sanctions and normalized relations as it
looked to get in on the massive investments opportunities that
European corporations were availing themselves of.

In the 2000s, the Gaddafi regime consolidated its status as a strong
ally of imperialism, becoming a partner in the ‘War on Terror’ and
rigorously implementing neoliberal structural adjustment programs in
Libya. The amount of foreign direct investments from the Western
imperialists – especially France, U.K., Germany, Britain, Italy, and
Canada – have sky-rocketed in the past decade. According to an April
2010 report from the Libyan government, over the past ten years 110
state-owned companies have been privatized and the same report
promised to privatize 100% of the Libyan economy over time.

The Canadian imperialists, for their part, have made substantial
investments in Libya in the past few years and want to ensure the
protection of those investments. Among the top companies working out
of Libya include Canada’s largest oil company, Suncor and the
Quebec-based engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin. Amongst
SNC-Lavalin’s contracts include the construction of the Benghazi
airport, a prison in Tripoli, and the massive Great Man-Made River
Project.

For his opening up to the forces of imperialist globalization in the
2000s the Gaddafi regime became tolerable, even celebrated – or at
least so long as his rule was secure. But in the second half of
February 2011, Gaddafi has lost all support from the imperialists.

The emergence of opposition forces in Libya has provided the
imperialists with the opportunity to reclaim the initiative in the
region’s ongoing developments; restore their image as apparent
defenders of justice, democracy and progress; and re-legitimize the
logic of imperialist meddling in the region. There’s no doubt that
they view Libya as strategically significant and recognize that there
is a greater share of spoils to be seized.

As the popular rebellions of the Middle East and North Africa unfolded
throughout January and February 2011, the Western imperialists
desperately struggled to save face in the midst of popular movements
that revealed just how hated imperialism’s comprador front men really
were. The toppling of Mubarak served as a huge embarrassment for U.S.
policy in the region. Mubarak’s Egypt was second only to Israel as the
staunchest defender of American imperialist interests in the Middle
East.

At first, the imperialists cautioned the masses to exercise restraint
and ensure that their resistance would remain peaceful. As the
people’s movements in various countries advanced and threatened to
topple imperialism’s clients, especially in Egypt, the imperialists
saved face by feigning neutrality. When the strength of the people’s
struggles melted away the support for Ben Ali and Mubarak regimes,
some of the imperialists even celebrated these developments
“Revolutions” (with the subtle implication that it was time to go home
and let the “transition to democracy” work its magic).

The Libyan Exception

Yet, the chorus sung by the imperialists when it came to Libya
contrasts sharply with their positions in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and
all the other popular struggles. The imperialists have made no effort
to temper the opposition forces brandishing RPGs and Kalashnikovs
against Gaddafi, capturing city by city by force of arms. Certainly,
the people have a right to struggle by any means necessary. But had
any of the recent mass movements in the region (except for in Iran,
perhaps) taken up this level of armed resistance, the West would have
immediately labeled them as “terrorist” and provided direct assistance
in a merciless military assault.

The opposite has been the case with Libya. The imperialists are
supporting wholeheartedly the anti-Gaddafi forces. Every diplomatic
maneuver taken by the imperialists has been aimed at isolating Gaddafi
and supporting the opposition forces.

The development of an opposition movement against Gaddafi in the
broader context of the protest movements sweeping the region has
allowed the imperialists to conflate what’s happening in Libya with
everything else. The Western press has given top priority to the cause
of the anti-Gaddafi forces, eclipsing all other developments across
the Middle East and North Africa, many of which still pose a threat to
imperialism’s interests in the region. The diplomatic moves and
military maneuvers of the Western imperialists against Libya in the
past two weeks signal that they are actively working to steer the
popular anti-dictator sentiments in the region and around the world to
pursue their own imperialist interests in Libya.

Imperialism’s Intrigues Against Libya

The maneuvers of the Western imperialists must be exposed and opposed.
Any type of meddling or interference by the imperialists will prove
disastrous to the interests of the Libyan masses. Whether the
imperialists resolve upon stricter economic sanctions, NATO aerial
strikes, or outright military occupation, each and every move being
contemplated by the imperialists will only intensify the misery felt
by the masses under Gaddafi. All we have to do is look to the examples
of the Iraq sanctions regime throughout the 1990s, NATO’s aerial war
against the former Yugoslavia in 1999, or the occupations of
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Haiti in the 2000s to see what bloody
catastrophes imperialism has caused in the past decade. The combined
effect of these U.S. or NATO-led campaigns has left millions upon
millions dead, and tens of millions languishing.

On February 26, the U.N Security Council voted unanimously in favour
of limited sanctions against Gaddafi and his close associates. The
following day, Stephen Harper announced that Canada would take the
sanctions one step further by blocking all transactions with the
government of Libya, its institutions and agencies, including the
Libyan central bank.

On March 1, the General Assembly suspended Libya from the UN Human
Rights Council. The International Criminal Court has announced that it
will investigate Gaddafi for “crimes against humanity” for the
regime’s actions from February 15, 2011 onwards. Such charges are
never hurled at the clients of the Western imperialists fighting
counter-insurgency campaigns far more ferocious than what’s being seen
in Libya. Colombia’s decades-long war on its people and the armed
revolutionary forces, claiming tens of thousands of lives; Sri Lanka’s
genocidal assault against tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in
2009; the Philippine state’s notorious disappearance campaign against
thousands of mass activists amidst its own anti-Maoist
counter-insurgency campaign; India’s anti-Maoist ‘Operation Green
Hunt’, the largest military exercise against the Indian people in that
country’s history; and Israel’s invasions and sieges against Lebanon
in 2006 and Gaza in 2009 – none of these anti-people offensives led to
charges of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”. These cases do
not diminish Gaddafi’s crimes against the Libyan people; they only
reveal the great terror that will befall the Libyan people if the
imperialist’s intervene.

All diplomatic moves taken against Libya have been aimed at
delegitimizing Gaddafi while strengthening the hand of the
anti-Gaddafi forces. However, with the position of the opposition
forces being beat back and incapable of immediate success – a piece of
military intelligence that the U.S. imperialists began to admit openly
by March 10 – the only option left to the imperialists is to secure
the support they need from the “international community” to impose a
no-fly zone (which would be followed by air strikes). According to the
“international law” of the imperialists, the only legal way to do this
is through approval from the United Nations Security Council. However,
two of its veto-wielding members, the imperialists to the east, Russia
and China, have expressed their opposition to and will likely block
any attempt to legally sanction an intervention in Libya. Hence, the
imperialists are side-stepping China and Russia by taking their
campaign outside UN framework, encouraging the Arab League and the
African Union to sanction imperialist intervention.

On Saturday, March 12, the Arab League, which has suspended Libya,
called on the Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya,
while paying lip service to being opposed to foreign occupation: “The
Arab League has officially requested the UN Security Council to impose
a no-fly zone against any military action against the Libyan people”,
said the Secretary-General of the League, Amr Moussa.

The African Union has thus far rejected military intervention in
Libya, not wanting a strike against Gaddafi to set a precedent that
would threaten other African heads of state. The AU has insisted that
Libya is in a state of civil war and should be treated as such.
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe said: “We took exception to interference by Western
powers … and we absolutely reject their intervention.”

Preparing themselves for this possibility, NATO forces have been
accumulating in the Mediterranean since early March, amassing aircraft
carriers and rapid strike forces. The challenge confronting the
western imperialists, however, is that while they do not want to see
the opposition get thoroughly crushed and are military positioned for
intervention, they fear making any hasty moves that will turn the
Libyan masses and the masses of the whole region and the world against
them.

U.S. imperialism is already incredibly overstretched and there may not
be another set of powers willing to lead up any major operations. But
these restraints do not necessarily limit the dangers that remain for
the Libyan people.

Hence, the imperialist press is working furiously to foster public
opinion against Gaddafi in favour of some sort of military
intervention.

The Libyan masses do not need to replace one set of reactionaries with
another set. Any forces in Libya calling on NATO to bomb Libya are
opportunists at best, if not reactionaries. The Libyan revolution does
not need a NATO campaign of aerial bombing. The overthrow of Gaddafi
remains the right of the Libyan people alone and can only come through
the fruits of their own struggle. An imperialist intervention will
only stem the tide of the revolution and foreclose the possibility of
an expansion of people’s power.

There are a number of forces claiming to have played a role in
initiating the anti-Gaddafi uprisings, including the National
Transitional Council, which declared itself the “sole representative
of all Libya” on March 5, 2011; and there is the National Conference
for the Libya Opposition (NCLO), which is claiming to have played a
role as well. Amongst these forces are military men, judges, lawyers,
academics – and in the case of the NCLO, the royalist Libyan
Constitutional Union led by the pretender to the Libyan throne,
Muhammad as-Senussi.

That certain imperialists have been quick to extend diplomatic
recognition to “the opposition” in Libya does not suggest that what we
have observed unfolding is simply a plan hatched in Washington. The
Libyan masses have sufficient reason to seek Gaddafi’s removal. In a
country with 30% unemployment and 50% youth unemployment, Gaddafi and
the bureaucrat capitalists and compradors have become richer and
richer through the period of neoliberal reforms, while the masses have
suffered immensely. The meddling of the imperialists is merely their
attempt to exploit the class contradictions that characterize the
opposition to arrive at an outcome even more preferable to
imperialism.

Revolutionaries in the imperialist countries have the duty to expose
and oppose the role of their own imperialist bourgeoisies in Libya,
and the people in the Middle East and North Africa have already
demonstrated that the assistance of imperialism is not required to do
away with reactionaries like Mubarak and Ben Ali. As Mao Zedong once
said, “All reactionaries are paper tigers”. Mao’s certainty in the
triumph of the people stemmed from his recognition that all
reactionaries are divorced or divorceable from the interests of the
people.

The growing waves of protests, strikes, and uprisings by workers and
the broad masses all across the world, conditioned by the general
crisis of the imperialist world system, reveal that the position of
imperialism is in strategic decline, while that of the proletariat is
strategically improving. Today’s People’s Wars in India and the
Philippines demonstrate that, when led by a genuine communist Party,
the will of the people for liberation is inexhaustible. In the coming
years, new People’s Wars will emerge all across the world. Out of the
uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, new and revolutionary
communist Parties can and must emerge. The imperialists and all their
clients can and must be crushed.

Support the people of Libya in smashing Gaddafi and all deals with imperialism!

No to imperialist meddling! No to NATO intervention!

Support the struggles of the masses in the Middle East and North
Africa for New Democracy and Socialism!

Revolutionary Initiative
March 13, 2011.

The many lives of Gudsa Usendi

Aman Sethi, The hindu

Phantom spokesman is emblematic of Chhattisgarh’s secretive yet media-savvy Maoists

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‘Today I am Gudsa Usendi, tomorrow it could be someone else’

Maoists keenly aware of connection between surveillance and communication

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— Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

A file photo of a Maoist training camp in the forest of Dantewada district

Raipur: In the autumn of 2007, a suave, middle-aged man with a military bearing walked into Naresh Bazaar cloth store near the Bilaspur bus stand and bought a thousand metres of olive green tericot fabric for Rs. 101 a metre. According to a shop assistant, the man looked like an ex-serviceman, spoke in English, introduced himself as Sunil Choudhury, a private security contractor with contracts to secure factories across Chhattisgarh, and said he needed uniforms for his guards.

Later that year, Choudhury appeared at Dayaram Sahu’s workshop in Raipur’s Purani Basti and asked the struggling tailor to stitch him trousers of waist sizes 28, 30 and 36 inches with corresponding shirts. “He said he employed more than 50 security guards and each watchman needed three sets of uniform,” said Sahu. “He asked for 35 uniforms, and promised another 100 sets if he liked my work.”

It appears that Choudhury liked Sahu’s work; when the Raipur police raided the workshop in early 2008, they claim to have found 634 metres of military green cloth, 200 trousers and 107 full-sleeved shirts.

Sunil Choudhury, the police said, was not a security contactor but was Katta Ramchandra Reddy alias Vijay alias Gudsa Usendi, a high ranking member and spokesperson of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal (DKZ) Committee of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). The uniforms were meant for Maoist guerrillas rather than private security guards.

According to police charge sheets and court documents, Gudsa Usendi is the shadowy figure who sent compact discs of Maoist propaganda to Raipur politicians in 2006 and was the source of a consignment of 91 country-made shotguns recovered from a busy intersection in Raipur in 2008. The police claim he was in frequent contact with jailed human rights activist and award-winning paediatrician Binayak Sen and independent filmmaker Ajay T.G., an association denied by both Dr. Sen and Ajay. Gudsa’s supposed wife, K.S. Malti, is currently in Raipur Central Jail; another alleged associate of his was arrested in Durg as recently as September last year. But who is Gudsa Usendi? “Gudsa Usendi is just a name,” said a smooth voice over the telephone in August last year, “Today I am Gudsa Usendi, tomorrow it could be someone else. Gudsa Usendi is the title taken over by the spokesperson for the DKZ.”

Maoist spokespersons have long had a fascination for aliases. Before he was slain in a police encounter last year, Maoist central committee spokesperson Cherukuri Rajkumar was known to the outside world as Azad (translated as Free), but within the party he went by several names including Madhu, Gangadhar, Uday and Dinesh. His successor goes by the name of Abhay (translated as Fearless); the spokesperson who handled the abduction of Malkangiri District Collector R.V. Krishna in February went by the name of ‘Prasad,’ but Dandakaranya’s Gudsa Usendi is different, because Gudsa Usendi was once a ‘real’ person.

“It was at about three in the morning in Potenar village in Abujmarh. It was June 25 2000, it was raining heavily. There were six comrades in a hut when they were surrounded by the police,” said a young Maoist fighter who called herself Rehmati. “Five comrades were killed, one of them was Gudsa Usendi. He was 17.”

When he joined the Maoists, Gudsa Usendi dropped his given name and took on the moniker of ‘Ramesh.’ He was of the Maria tribe from Chhattisgarh’s Abujmarh region, according to the Maoists. A year after his death, the Maoist spokesperson of Dandakaranya (broadly corresponding with South Chhattisgarh) took on his name to keep his memory alive and the practice has continued ever since.

The Maoists are wary of sharing organisational details with reporters, but anecdotal evidence suggests that Gudsa Usendi functions at the centre of a cloud of cell phones, laptops and individuals. A message from Gudsa Usendi could appear as a note under your door, a letter postmarked by a small town on the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh border, an email from an IP address that traces back to a neighbouring State, or a micro-SD card stuck to a sheet of paper.

In a recent meeting, a member of their communications team explained that every Maoist division (equivalent to a zilla in the panchayati sytem) has access to a laptop, memory cards, a portable inkjet printer and a cell phone. The netbook examined by this correspondent ran an open source Linux-based operating system with open source text, image and video editing software. Gudsa Usendi usually prepares a press note and hands it over to one of his assistants. Major press releases (like the announcement for Martyrs Week) are designed using crack versions of software like Adobe Pagemaker and converted into PDF format, before being sent to printing presses installed in secret locations.

“We prefer PDF format, because it removes the problem of fonts when issuing press releases in English and Hindi,” explained an assistant, referring to a document format created by Adobe. The files are emailed from the top of a tall tree on a mountaintop where a GPRS enabled phone can log onto a stray network

All the devices are charged by truck batteries connected to solar panels. “Batteries provide direct current (DC); laptops and phones need alternating current (AC),” explained the assistant patiently, “So we add a DCAC inverter to the circuit and use solar power to charge our devices.”

The Maoists are keenly aware of the connection between surveillance and communication. In the forests, only certain senior cadres are allowed to carry cell phones and use their devices sparingly. “We have to secure an area and post sentries before making a phone call,” said a Maoist commander who carries a Nokia phone. However, the poor density of cellular towers in Maoist territories makes it hard to pinpoint the location of a particular phone.

On a windy day in Konta in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district for instance, it is possible to pick up reception from a tower in Andhra Pradesh’s Khammam district; by moving 50 km northwards from the same spot in Konta, a user can start ranging towers in Orissa’s Malkangiri district, moving further towards Chintrakonda in Malkangiri, the Andhra network comes back into range. Somewhere in that broad stretch of land, a man climbs up a tree, pulls out a cell phone from the folds of his clothes and makes a phone call. “Hello? I have a statement from Gudsa Usendi,” he says.

My Journey of Chhattisgarh to release 5 policemen held by Maoists

by Swami Agnivesh, sanhati

February 17, 2011

For the first time, to my knowledge, the dreaded and hated Maoists have released five hostages. These hostages were from the Chhattisgarh armed forces. They had been held captive for nearly 18 days. They were released without any precondition on 11 January.

Two surprises awaited me when I went to receive these jawans, into the thick forests of Ambujh Marh in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district. One was the serenity of the jungle. Could this really be a place of war? The second surprise was the Maoist resolve to stick to their word. We had gotten delayed by two to three hours on account of not knowing the routes too well. But they had waited.

I was accompanied by Gautam Navlakha and Harish Dhawan of PUDR, Kavita Srivastava and V Suresh of PUCL and Manu Singh of Sarva Dharma Sansad. After having walked for nearly 10 kilometres to a village (I don’t want to name this village so that their inhabitants are not harassed) we were greeted by songs of welcome in their traditional Gondi, and by uniformed cadres with rifles slung over their shoulders. We were seated under a make-shift canopy. Around us sat nearly two thousand tribal men and women. A loudspeaker set up near us was run on battery, as there was no electricity.

Then the five jawans who were held hostage walked in. What followed was very moving. The relatives of hostages, who had accompanied us, hugged their close ones, each crying on the other’s shoulder. While setting out on this journey, we would never have believed that things would come to this pass – so peacefully.

The stillness of the jungle was broken finally – by shouts of Lal Salaam. We joined in. What struck me was that almost each member of the Maoist cadre – man and woman – seemed to be in their early twenties. They looked lean and thin, emaciated – and yet so determined. But what has left a lasting impression on me from this day is the hostages themselves. Not one had a scratch on them. Each one of them testified on the loudspeaker that the Maoists had treated them “like family members”.

Unfortunately, the national media has not taken an interest in highlighting this peaceful release. If a few of these jawans had been beheaded the media would have rejoiced in flashing sensational bloodcurdling images 24/7. Here, stringers from the national media had walked with us in good numbers. But with a few exceptions this story – which was well covered locally for Chhattisgarh – was not broadcast to national audiences.

Now it is the turn of the government of Chhattisgarh and the Government of India to reciprocate this unconditional release of the jawans. I made this demand when I addressed a joint press conference with the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister the very next day on 12 January.

This brings me to the darker side of what transpired at Ambujh Marh. The poor tribals gathered there told heart rending stories of torture and brutality they have to suffer day-in and day-out, at the hands of the state. Women complained about husbands, brothers and sons being thrown into prison – either on flimsy charges, or without any charge at all. More than 300 such poor tribals are today languishing in different jails of the region.

I have seen exploitation written large across the faces of these original inhabitants of the land during this brief visit. Traveling here gives you the feeling of a genocide that is going on secretly – through sixty three long years of independence. Sixty three years which have seen a willful and systematic abdication of the constitutional mandate for these people. Travel here and you will not ask questions like “Why have young men and women been forced to take up arms?” Not many of the people here understand what Maoism is – but they do believe that armed resistance is the only way to end the exploitation they are subjected to.

Another aspect of the darker side was the prevalence of several well equipped CRPF Camps at Chhattisgarh. These camps have been the faces of Operation Greenhunt so far – the state’s response to the Naxal problem. Now the state has a new face – the military training centre.

One of India’s biggest Military training centres is coming up at Chhattisgarh. Would it not be logical to suspect that this military training centre will be a cover for the launching of military operations on the lines of what has happened in the North East and in Kashmir, facilitated by the AFSPA?

On the one side the Chief Minister Raman Singh has gone on record saying the Salwa Judum and its new incarnation SPO have been huge blunders and highly counterproductive. How I wish this realization had dawned on the powers that be much before the Supreme Court had to take them to task (on the Salwa Judum). But it didn’t.

Is it not high time, even now, for the Ministry of Defence to consider the counterproductive nature of this military training centre – and the devastating collateral damage it could wreak?

So here we have the centre and the state playing on two different planks. The same Chief Minister who would earlier stridently demand strong action against the Maoists is now supporting the need for a sustained dialogue – as the only way to resolve things. If this is a genuine need, then why is it not being felt by the central government.

The government of India through the home minister’s letter dated 11 May, 2010, has suggested 5 steps that my lead to peace in the region. The most important step is the cessation of violence from the Maoist side for 72 hours, to be reciprocated by the paramilitary forces. This should be followed by a long term ceasefire and formal invitation to the Maoist leaders for dialogue. Dialogue, which should center around crucial points like the release of prisoners arrested under flimsy grounds – under the UAPA or Chhattisgarh Public Safety Act.

Going back to when the hostages had not been released, I had spoken to the Home Secretary G K Pillai and he had promised that there would be no paramilitary intervention till the release took place.

This 42 hours of suspension of operations – by both the government and the Maoists – proved crucial in paving the way for us civilians walking into dense forests and securing the hostages’ safety. This could be the model ahead – extended to 72 hours.

During my brief conversation with the Maoist leaders present there I had urged them to fix me a time and date for meeting their senior most leaders, such as Ganapathy – during such a 72 hour ceasefire period.

The success of this release operation was pegged on trust on the part of both sides – and both sides honored this trust.

If the same could be carried forward then not only the interim period of ceasefire, but even as long term cease fire can be the light around the corner.

I urge the Government of India, particularly the home minister and the prime minister, to seize this opportunity to renew their offer of peace talks.

A word of warning here. The first peace initiative taken up by me immediately after getting a letter from Mr P C Chidambaram, had gotten a very positive response when the CPI(Maoist) leader Azad had in a letter dated May 31 2010 expressed the Maoist keenness to join the peace process – and in fact demanded a longer term of ceasefire.

The prospects of this interim ceasefire – the three day ceasefire, starting on the 10th or 15th of July, 2010, receded completely, and the peace process got completely derailed due to the (alleged) brutal and cold blooded murder of Azad.

Now, in spite of assurances from the Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi that a judicial enquiry will be conducted, nothing happened for six months – so the whole thing will be decided by the Supreme Court which has served notice on the Government of India, and the matter is coming up for hearing on 14 March.

But let there be a new beginning with confidence building measures from both sides. The first step has already been taken by the Maoists by the unconditional release of the hostages. It is the turn of the government to respond and build on this.

My services as a peace activist are available as always.

Orissa collector kidnap case: Maoist prisoner Srimalu gets bail

source – toi

NEW DELHI: Maoist prisoner Srivinas Srimalu was released from Malkangiri jail on Tuesday. Maoists were demanding Srimalu’s release in exchange for Orissa district collector R V Krishna.

Srimalu had filed a bail application in the district fast track court on February 19. Srimalu was among the seven prisoners the Maoists want released in return for the district collector and junior engineer Pabitra Majhi.

Additional District Judge of the Fast Track Court P K Karna granted bail to Srinivasulu in a case involving criminal conspiracy and sedition charges on a bond of Rs 25,000 and surety of equal amount.

Sriramulu had been lodged in Malkangiri jail since 2007. In the last four years, he had been tried in six cases. All the cases resulted in his acquittal.

“After six successive acquittals, in September 2009, he was implicated in a case dating back to July 2007. The FIR of the incident did not name him. It simply said unnamed Maoists. Our contention is that he has been falsely implicated in this case, and so we are seeking bail,” said Ram Patnaik, Sriramulu’s lawyer.

Meanwhile, Maoist-chosen mediators held discussions with hardcore Naxal leader Ganti Prasadam on the release of the abducted Malkangiri district collector and an engineer and said they were hopeful of resolution of the six-day crisis “very soon, may be today”.

District collector R V Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Manjhi were taken hostage by Maoists while they were inspecting development schemes in Jantapai village last week.

The bail plea of Maoist leader Ganti Prasadam, facing charges in about 100 cases in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, Padma, wife of a senior Maoist leader, and three others would be taken up in the Orissa high court tomorrow.

Orissa may facilitate release of Maoist leaders

source – sify
Bhubaneshwar: The Orissa government may give in to the Maoists demand of release of their jailed leaders in exchange for abducted Malkangiri collector and an engineer, sources said Sunday.
Sources said the government has also begun process of evaluating charges against some of the rebels lodged in various jails. To facilitate the negotiation process, the government may ask its lawyers not to object bail petitions moved by their lawyers.
R. Vineel Krishna, the district collector of Malkangiri, was abducted along with junior engineer Pabitra Mohan Majhi by Maoists Wednesday evening.
The state government Friday requested two human rights activists and academics G. Haragopal and R. Someswar Rao to mediate after Maoists suggested their names.
Although officials declined to make any comments, sources said efforts are also on for the release of Maoist ideologue Ganti Prasadam after one of the mediators said his release will speed up the process of dialogue.
‘I appeal to the government of Orissa to release Ganti Prasadam,’ Hargopal said in an interview from Delhi to a local television channel Saturday.
‘Most of the cases against him are in Andhra Pradesh and the high court has already granted him bail,’ he said.
‘Once he is out, perhaps I and R.S. Rao (the other mediator) will try to intervene in the situation. Prasadam can speak on behalf of the party (Communist Party of India-Maoist). Perhaps we can find some solution,’ he said.
According to sources, the state police secured a prison transfer warrant from a court and already have brought Prasadam from a jail in Andhra Pradesh Saturday night.
‘He is now in Koraput jail,’ senior state police official told IANS confirming the development.
Prasadam’s lawyer moved a petition in a local court Saturday seeking grant of bail which was rejected. His lawyer may move the bail petition again Monday, he said.
The rebels have also sought release of their colleagues languishing in different jails in the state. At least seven of them are hard core Maoists, he said.

My son may not get bail due to conspiracy: Binayak’s mother Read more: My son may not get bail due to conspiracy: Binayak’s mother – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/My-son-may-not-get-bail-due-to-conspiracy-Binayaks-mother/articleshow/7341873.cms#ixzz1BlfDrxft

Source TOI
KALYANI (WB): The mother of physician Binayak Sen, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Chhattisgarh for sedition, alleged there is a conspiracy by a section of powerful people to foil any possibility of her son getting bail.

“I fear my son will not be granted bail by the Chhattisgarh High Court on January 24 as some powerful people are a hatching conspiracy to influence the judiciary,” 84-year-old ailing Anashua Sen said here.

“I’ll, however, fight for his release till the last drop of my blood and up to my last breath. If nothing positive comes out, I’ll move the Supreme Court and write to the President and the prime minister,” she said.

“I’ll also try to mobilise people for a strong campaign against the injustice done to Binayak,” she said.

She alleged that his son has been kept in solitary confinement to create mental pressure on him. Barring his wife and daughter, none is allowed to meet him in jail, she said.

On December 24 last year, Additional Sessions Judge B P Verma in Raipur convicted 61-year-old Sen, vice-president of People’s Union of Civil Liberties, for sedition and sentenced to life imprisonment along with Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha for colluding with Maoists.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) CENTRAL COMMITTEE – Serving people is not conspiracy! Supporting people’s struggles can never be sedition!!

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

December 24, 2010

Serving people is not conspiracy!
Supporting people’s struggles can never be sedition!!

The Scamsters who amass billions of rupees are the real conspirators!

The Gangsters who sell-out our country to imperialists are the real traitors!!

Observe Protest Week from January 2^nd to 8^th, 2011 against the fascist Chhattisgarh government’s court judgments that sentenced Civil Rights activist Doctor Binayak Sen,
Maoist leader Narayana Sanyal, trader Piyush Guha under sedition for life imprisonment and magazine editor Asit Sengupta for eight years imprisonment!

On December 24, the Raipur district additional sessions court sentenced for life civil rights activist Dr. Binayak Sen, our party Politburo member Comrade Narayan Sanyal, trader Piyush Guha under IPC, Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and UAPA implicating them in false cases. The life sentences were pronounced by B.P. Verma under IPC section 124 (sedition), 120 B (conspiracy) and many other kinds of sentences were pronounced under various sections of CSPCA and UAPA. The eight year sentence for Asit Sengupta was pronounced on the same day by O.P. Gupta. Both these judgments are the latest additions to the huge cache of anti-people, fascist repressive measures of the Indian ruling classes.

Sentencing for life our party Politburo member Comrade Narayan Sanyal, Binayak Sen, a doctor who had dedicated his life as a doctor serving the poor people selflessly, a prominent civil rights activist and the vice-president of PUCL and Piyush Guha, a trader belonging to Kolkata is the most shameless thing for the rulers to do even while boasting that this is the biggest democracy in the whole world. Opposing the repressive policies of the government, the fascist Salwa Judum, raising his voice for the repeal of the black law CSPSA and standing in support of the just peoples movements are the `crimes’ committed by Dr. Binayak Sen for which he has been punished with life sentence. When he was arrested in May 2007 and kept in jail for two years, immense protests were held and severe condemnations were issued by democratic sections, medical community, Nobel laureates and many others in India and abroad. Pronouncing this sentence ignoring all this can only mean that the fascist rulers are without any scruples or embarrassment issuing a threat to all the democratic, progressive and patriotic sections of our country. If responding positively towards people’s issues in a legal, democratic manner, serving the people sincerely and criticizing the anti-people policies of the government is `sedition’, then one can imagine what kind of `democracy’ is being practiced in this country and how dangerous it is for the people. The eight year sentence for Asit Sengupta (editor of the Hindi version of ‘A World To Win’ which is published in various languages all over the world) who is languishing in jail since three years with the false accusation that he was participating in Maoist activities is nothing but stifling the Freedom of Press. Recently, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, DGP Viswaranjan, Bastar IG Longkumer and Dantewada SP Kalluri gang had published pamphlets under the name `Maa Danteswari Adivasi Swabhimani Manch’ and had openly declared that they would kill journalists SRK Pillai, Anil Sharma and Yaswant Rai along with democrats Himanshu Kumar and Arundhati Roy and had the audacity to declare that it is indeed their own doing! So much for the `rule of law’ harped upon by our rulers day in and day out!

Comrade Narayan Sanyal, a 73-year old veteran communist who began his revolutionary life in 1968 and has dedicated more than four decades of his life for the liberation of the oppressed people, is ailing with various health problems and has been languishing in the dark dungeons of the fascist Chhattisgarh government since five years. The Sonia-Manmohan-Chidambaram-Raman Singh terrorist gang is killing Maoist leaders in fake encounters and sentencing many of them to harsh punishments under black laws. They are subjected to physical and mental tortures in the inhuman conditions prevailing in jails.

On July 29, 2010, our party activist Comrade Malati @ Santi Priya and a worker Surendra Kosaria were sentenced to ten years imprisonment using false witnesses under the case that Maoist propaganda CDs were sent to the MLAs. Amitabh Bagchi, a Politburo member of our party and Comrade Kartik, a state committee member of West Bengal, incarcerated in Ranchi jail, were also sentenced to life imprisonment through fast track court in Jharkhand. On October 29, the AP government sentenced Comrade Panduranga Reddy and three others to four years imprisonment in the Alipiri case (attack on ex-CM Chandrababu) using false witnesses. Many more revolutionary activists and ordinary people are being sentenced to very harsh punishments including capital punishment by the reactionary courts serving the exploiting ruling classes. Comrades Sushil Roy and Kobad Gandhi who are senior leaders and ailing with various health problems and old age; comrades Shobha, Patitpavan Haldar, Pramod Mishra, Vijay, Asutosh, Balraj, Chintan, Biman, Bidhan, Chandi Sarkar, Balganesh, Jharkhand Abhen’s Jeetan Marandi and thousands of other comrades are denied bail, being implicated in false cases one after another and made to languish in jails for years together. In West Bengal, Comrade Swapan Das arrested under UAPA was denied health care in Jail and became the first martyr of this draconian law.

The UPA government bent on selling our natural and human resources to imperialist MNCs like Vedanta and to comprador bourgeoisie like Tata, Essar, Jindal, Mittal etc has declared CPI (Maoist) as the biggest internal security threat as it is standing in their way offering stiff resistance to this unlimited loot. As part of this, the government is carrying on vicious foul propaganda using its propaganda machine. Since August 2009, in the name of Operation Green Hunt the central and state governments are resorting to brutal attacks on the revolutionary movement and particularly adivasis are being massacred by deploying millions of police and paramilitary forces in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and other states. This offensive is carried on under the guidance and full support of imperialists, particularly the US imperialists. The exploiting rulers are using every means at their disposal to portray our party which is fighting with the lofty aim of establishing people’s government of democratic classes basing on the unity of worker-peasants by overthrowing the imperialists, bureaucratic comprador bourgeoisie and the feudal classes, as `terrorist’ and `traitor’.  Why are the ministers, political leaders, big bourgeoisie and their brokers, the real traitors who are amassing billions of rupees in scams and stacking them in Swiss Banks shamelessly roaming in the corridors of power not booked under SEDITION? Why are all those criminals who perpetrated and facilitated the Bhopal Gas Tragedy not called CONSPIRATORS? How could striving for the liberation of the toiling masses become SEDITION? How could democrats who raised their voices and pens in support of people’s movements be called CONSPIRATORS?

These sentences are nothing but a part of the bigger conspiracy of the ruling classes to eliminate all kinds of hurdles to their anti-people, unpatriotic and immoral neo-liberal economic policies. This is an alarm signal that fascist repression would intensify further in the near future. These judgments are an eye opener for those who believe and get deceived innocently that there is still some semblance of democracy in this country. Though the overt statements of the ruling gang declare that Maoist movement is their prime target, what is happening in reality is a fascist onslaught on progressive and democratic forces who wish for the welfare of the people and aspire to protect the interests of our country vis-à-vis the imperialists. Our party is appealing to the people to stand united against this offensive and defeat it through a determined fight.

The comprador governments are resorting to suppression of people’s movements and nationality liberation struggles using black laws like UAPA, CSPCA, MCOCA and AFSPA following in the footsteps of the US government which promulgated black laws like the Homeland Security Act. The reactionary legal system which had never bothered to book or sentence the saffron terrorists who had killed many innocent people in the Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and Ajmer Sharif bomb blasts or the scamsters and political gangsters involved in scams like 2G Spectrum (worth 1,76,000 crores of rupees), Commonwealth games, Adarsh housing society, Karnataka lands and dozens and dozens of other scams are eagerly sentencing revolutionaries, people’s leaders, democrats and activists of national liberation movements in Kashmir and North-East.

The CPI (Maoist) Central Committee is appealing to all democratic, patriotic forces, national liberation activists and to all civil rights activists, organizations, students, intellectuals, teachers, writers, artistes, doctors, lawyers, media friends, workers and peasants to come out on the streets condemning and opposing these judgments delivered through the reactionary legal system by the collusion of the UPA government at the centre and the BJP government in Chhattisgarh. We appeal to all of you to build united and militant agitations demanding the immediate repeal of UAPA, CSPCA, MCOCA and AFSPA. We appeal to all the progressive, democratic and revolutionary organizations, communities and individuals of various countries to condemn in severe terms this criminal act of the Indian ruling classes and express their vigorous protest in various democratic struggle forms. In the past the international community stood in strong solidarity with the Indian people’s movements and had condemned the arrest of Binayak Sen and demanded his immediate release. Now the time has come for it to play this role more solidly.

Our party calls upon the people to observe protest week all over the country from January 2 to 8 against these judgments by creatively taking up various protest activities including press conferences, statements, dharnas, rasta rokos, meetings, protest rallies, processions, signature campaigns, wearing black badges, waving black flags, burning of effigies etc., and to take up legal battles condemning severely the anti-people, traitorous and fascist policies of the ruling classes.

Our party is calling upon all our ranks, PLGA forces and revolutionary mass organizations to take up various protest forms on this occasion by mobilizing vast masses.

Our Central Committee is making it very clear that no call for bandh is being given as part of this protest week and is requesting the people and media not to believe the deliberate propaganda of the police to portray this as a bandh call.

(Abhay)

Spokesperson,

Central Committee,

CPI (Maoist)