SFI Pamphlet - 18th Aug, '07

18/08/07

Carry forward the legacy of principled struggles against the anti-student administration!
Expose the hypocrisy and treachery of the General Secretary of the JNUSU!

Friends,

We would like to congratulate the student community for forcing the administration to withdraw the unjust fines imposed on the JNUSU President and Joint Secretary without imposing any further conditionality. On the 1st day of the indefinite hunger strike itself the Chief proctor’s Office issued letters to the JNUSU President and Joint Secretary which says that on the basis of letters written by the JNUSU President on 10th August and 17th August, the fines imposed on the JNUSU President and Joint Secretary are being waived off. The administration was also forced to remove the humiliating text and tenor of the letter given to other students earlier which said that these punishments are being removed because of the “conduct” of these students and carried a warning of such actions in the future as well.

This is a big victory for the JNU student movement and after yesterday’s agreement, the JNU student community has foiled the nefarious designs of the JNU administration to suppress and browbeat the JNU student movement and the office of JNUSU on the pretext of the incident of 19th February after a prolonged struggle, which was started on June 23rd.

The student community under the leadership of the JNUSU President and Joint Secretary has forced the administration to accept the principled position taken by the UGBM held on 8th March that after the students have expressed regret for the unfortunate incident of 19th February all punishments should be withdrawn without imposing any further conditionality on the students.

While this victory has once again reaffirmed the stature of JNU student movement it is very unfortunate that certain organizations and their representatives in the JNUSU have made every possible attempt to betray and backstab the spirited struggle of the student community which was based on the UGBM’s principled position. The SFI strongly condemns this politics of treachery and betrayal by the ultra left (read the AISA and DSU) in our campus. Unable to provide an explanation for their abject surrender in front of the administration by paying fines to get registration (the inspiration for which came from the JNUSU Gen Secretary’s unilateral submission of regret to the administration in order to get his punishment revoked), these self proclaimed revolutionaries have now shamelessly resorted to the logic of right wing forces to attack the SFI and the JNUSU President. In its yesterday’s pamphlet the AISA has said that there is a nexus between the SFI and the JNU administration and that is why the fines on JNUSU President and Joint Secretary have been removed. Depicting absolute bankruptcy and degeneration they have repeated the right wing’s slander against the JNUSU that hunger strikes are mere electoral gimmicks and an eye wash for the new students. Such slander and mud slinging against the left, which often converges with the extremely right wing reactionary
attacks is another hallmark of infantile petty-bourgeois type of ultra left politics in communist movement since the very beginning.

The SFI would like to warn these coward and saboteur elements to desist from spreading such lies and inflict any further damage to the glorious legacy of JNU student movement which has been built after immense sacrifices and struggles by the students of this university over more than 3 decades. If they do not have the political ideological motivation and courage to fight against injustice and oppression then they should rather sit happily in their rooms and shed away all their revolutionary rhetoric aimed at misleading the student community. The Gen Secretary of the JNUSU along with the AISA and the DSU owe an explanation to the student community for their continuous betrayal and ever changing positions on the incident of 19th February. We would like to challenge the JNUSU Gen Secretary and these organizations to take up a position vis-à-vis these questions before trying to malign this historic victory of the JNU student movement over this authoritarian and anti-student administration.

1. The AISA and DSU both celebrated the gherao in their pamphlets after 19th February. The General Secretary and other representatives from AISA in the JNUSU council abstained on the resolution expressing regret on the incident of 19th February which was moved by SFI-AISF representatives. The DSU voted against the JNUSU Council’s resolution expressing regret on the incident of 19th February. Do the AISA and DSU sincerely believe that the incident of 19th
February was a regrettable one and was an aberration in the student movement in JNU?

2. Why did the DSU activists violate the resolution of the UGBM when they submitted letters to the administration expressing regret for inconvenience caused if any, which was a violation of the UGBM resolution?

3. Why did the JNUSU General Secretary unilaterally submit an appeal expressing regret to the administration when there was no consensus on this issue in the all organization meeting held before the agreement was reached?

4. Why did the other rusticated students submit their fines when it was decided in an all organization meeting that imposing fines was a breach of the agreement on the part of the administration?

5. On what basis have the AISA and DSU accused the JNUSU President and Joint Secretary of disassociating from the struggle, when it was only them who refused from submitting the fines and were hence denied registration till the 14th of August?

6. If the AISA and DSU thought that the JNUSU President has abdicated his responsibility of fighting for the students then why did not the Vice President and General Secretary start an agitation against the administration rather than convincing everybody to submit the fines? Were the JNUSU General Secretary and Vice President trying to act as good boys of the administration?

The SFI would like to challenge the AISA and DSU to provide answers to these specific questions, which they have shamelessly evaded so far. We would also advise them to refrain from spreading lies and misinformation in order to conceal their own ideological, political and moral bankruptcy. It takes more than empty rhetoric against the SFI and the Left movement in India to fight against injustice and an anti-student administration; it is clear that the AISA and DSU are bereft of even an iota of self-respect and resolve to fight for the rights of students. SFI appeals to the members and sympathizers of AISA and DSU to seriously introspect about the kind of opportunist and compromise-driven politics which is being justified by their leadership in order to settle scores with the SFI. The conscious student community of JNU would give these traitors a fitting rebuff in a not so distant future.

Sd/- Roshan Kishore, President SFI-JNU; Rajiv Kr Ranjan, Secretary, SFI-JNU.

Release against Attack on Shivaji Panikkar

Questions to AISA

Release against Sena Attack on Outlook Office

Indefinite Hunger Strike

Join JNUSU’s INDEFINITE HUNGER STRIKE

Day 1

1. Roshan, councillor, SSS
2. Sejuti, councillor, SSS
3. Amit.

Charter of demands:

• REVOKE FINES AND UNCONDITIONALLY PROVIDE REGISTRATION TO THE JNUSU PRESIDENT AND THE JOINT SECRETARY, WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.
• IMPLEMENT THE UGC SCHOLARSHIP OF RS. 3000 AND RS. 5000 FROM JULY 2005 IMMEDIATELY.
• IMPLEMENT INCREASED MCM SCHOLARSHIP WITH RAISED INCOME CAP IMMEDIATELY.
• MAKE XI PLAN PROPOSALS PUBLIC AND DISCUSS WITH ALL SECTIONS OF THE JNU COMMUNITY.
• EXPEDITE THE FUNCTIONING OF THE EQUIVALENCE COMMITTEE FOR ALEEMIYAT AND FAZEELAT CERTIFICATE’S RECOGNITION.
• OTHER DEMANDS.

SFI-AISF

1857 Exhibition and Public Meeting of JNUSU

an evening against imperialism!
reliving the spirit of the struggle for independence!

Exhibition on 150th anniversary of the
first war of independence:1857 by SAHMAT

&

Public Meeting

60 years of Independent India

SPEAKERS:

• Aijaz Ahmad
• Gopal Guru
• Prabhat Patnaik
  
  
  Chair:Anuradha Chenoy

19th august ‘07
Neelgiri dhaba
9 p.m.

Sd/- Dhananjay, President JNUSU; Jyotsna, Jt. Secy. JNUSU

JNUSU

SFI Pamphlet 14th Aug, '07

August 14, 2007

RISE IN DEFENCE OF THE JNUSU!
ISOLATE THE TREACHEROUS ULTRA-LEFT!!

Friends,

The JNU administration has so far refused to revoke the fines imposed upon the President and Joint Secretary of the JNUSU. The last date for registration being over, the fact that the administration has stuck to this patently unjust and outrageous position of imposing fines upon JNUSU office-bearers, proves that the real motive behind the punitive actions taken on the apparent basis of the 19th February incident, was to weaken and browbeat the JNU student movement and its spearhead, the JNUSU.

The JNUSU President and Joint Secretary have taken a principled position of not paying the fines, imposed upon them on the grounds that they were “unable to control the situation” on 19th February. It is highly unfortunate that the General Secretary of the JNUSU has got his fine waived by striking a deal with the administration and submitting an individual appeal expressing regret over the 19th February incident. The JNUSU Council and the UGBM having collectively expressed regret in the last semester, there was absolutely no basis for any of the JNUSU office-bearers submitting regret letters on an individual basis. Neither was this a part of the agreement between the JNUSU and the JNU administration. It is clear that by breaking ranks with the other office-bearers, the General Secretary of the JNUSU has become a party to the nefarious design of the JNU administration to politically victimize the JNUSU President and Joint Secretary. This is yet another instance of a sordid betrayal of the JNU student movement by the ultra-Left.

From glorifying the gherao of the Registrar after 19th February to the abject surrender before the administration by the General Secretary of the JNUSU and the activists of AISA and DSU, who paid their fines yesterday, the ultra-Left has traversed the entire cycle: from an act of sheer adventurism to an unprincipled and pathetic submission before the authorities. This does not surprise the SFI, since all this is typical of the ultra-Left. It fits so well Lenin’s description of the Left-deviation in the Communist movement: “The petty bourgeois ‘driven to frenzy’ by the horrors of capitalism [violation of minimum wages in JNU in the present case] is a social phenomenon which, like anarchism, is characteristic of all capitalist countries. The instability of such revolutionism [the gherao of 19th February], its barrenness [glorifying the gherao initially and denying it later], its liability to become swiftly transformed into submission [JNUSU General Secretary submitting an individual apology letter to the administration and AISA and DSU activists eventually paying fines], apathy, fantasy, and even a ‘frenzied’ infatuation with one or another bourgeois ‘fad’ [leveling false accusations against the SFI and the CPI (M) and blaming them for everything] — all this is a matter of common knowledge.” (Excerpt from Leftwing Communism, An Infantile Disorder).

The cynical attempts by the AISA and DSU to justify their crass surrender before the administration and payment of fines in their pamphlets yesterday also fits well Lenin’s description of “Leftwing Childishness”: “There could not be better confirmation, in political literature [AISA and DSU pamphlets issued yesterday], of the utter naïveté of the defence of petty-bourgeois sloppiness [paying the fines after calling them ‘unjust’] that is sometimes concealed by “Left” slogans [DSU pamphlet had the heading ‘Two Steps Forward, One Step Back’].” Writing on compromises, Lenin had written: “There are compromises and compromises. One must be able to analyze the situation and the concrete conditions of each compromise, or of each variety of compromise. One must learn to distinguish between a man who gave the bandits money and firearms in order to lessen the damage they can do [JNUSU and UGBM expressing regret on the 19th February incident] and facilitate their capture and execution, and a man who gives bandits money and firearms in order to share in the loot [JNUSU General Secretary submitting regret letter to the administration and AISA/DSU paying fines in order to fix the JNUSU President and Joint Secretary]…to reject compromises ‘on principle’ [like AISA and DSU], to reject the admissibility of compromises in general, no matter of what kind, is childishness, which it is difficult even to take seriously. A political leader who desires to be useful to the revolutionary proletariat must know how to single out concrete cases when such compromises are inadmissible, when they are an expression of opportunism and treachery, and direct all the force of criticism, the full edge of merciless exposure and relentless war, against those concrete compromises [the present surrender by the ultra-Left]…that is really tantamount to the worst kind of opportunism, treachery and betrayal.” (Excerpt from Leftwing Communism, An Infantile Disorder) In keeping with this understanding, the SFI hereby declares an ideological-political war against this opportunism, treachery and betrayal by the AISA and DSU.

AISA and DSU, through their actions have once again proved that ‘Left’ and rightwing deviations are two sides of the same coin. Writing in 1937 Comrade Mao Tse Tung had said: “We are opposed to die-hards in the revolutionary ranks whose thinking fails to advance with changing objective circumstances and has manifested itself historically as Right opportunism. These people fail to see that the struggle of opposites has already pushed the objective process forward while their knowledge has stopped at the old stage. [AISA and DSU have failed to realize that the valiant agitation fought under the JNUSU leadership has changed the objective situation] This is characteristic of the thinking of all die-hards. Their thinking is divorced from social practice and they cannot march ahead to guide the chariot of society, they simply trail behind, grumbling that it goes too fast and trying to drag it back or turn it in the opposite direction. [By submitting regret letters, paying fines and surrendering before the administration] We are also opposed to ‘Left’ phrase mongering. The thinking of ‘Leftists’ outstrips a given stage of development of the objective process; some regard their fantasies as truth, while others strain to realize in the present an ideal, which can only be realized in the future. They alienate themselves from the current practice of the majority of the people and from the realities of the day, and show themselves adventurist in their actions [the gherao of 19th February].” (Excerpts from On Practice)

The surrender and betrayal by the ultra-Left should not, however, be allowed to weaken the JNU student movement. SFI calls upon the JNUSU to launch an immediate agitation against the JNU administration demanding the revocation of fines imposed upon the JNUSU President and Joint Secretary and implementation of the agreement signed with the administration, involving enhancement of MCM scholarship, UGC fellowship and other demands. SFI calls upon the student community to rally behind the JNUSU to defend its prestige and sanctity and successful implementation of the agreement between the JNUSU and the JNU administration, which the latter is trying to violate.

Sd/- Roshan Kishore, President , SFI-JNU; Rajiv Kr Ranjan, Secretary, SFI-JNU.