SFI Pamphlet on 6th Aug '07

Shame On AISA’S Continuing Defense Of Violence In The Campus!!

Date: 06/08/07

Friends,

Acting in the most shameless and politically bankrupt manner the AISA is continuing with its defense of the incident of 3rd August where Rajan Pandey, a Joint Secy of their JNU unit indulged in a serious act of violence against a YFE activist at the Ad Block. Devoid of any logical defense (which is not possible for such a condemnable act of violence) they have vented out their frustration by attacking the SFI in their yesterday’s pamphlet. The SFI’s description of the incident of that day is an eyewitness account of what happened there and we would appeal to the AISA to stop spreading their lies and doctored stories in trying to defend Rajan. Also it fails our understanding as to how the SFI is responsible for the different versions of that incident by different organizations. In a ridiculous manner the AISA has alleged that the SFI has hidden the fact that Sumit had been discharged from AIIMS day before yesterday. We would like to make it clear to the AISA that the SFI was not reporting the whereabouts of Sumit in its pamphlet. What needs to reckoned with is the fact that Rajan’s attack on Sumit caused him serious injuries and he had to be hospitalized. We strongly believe that such incidents of violence have no place in our campus and are an attack on the progressive democratic culture of this university which has been built after a long and arduous struggle by the students of this campus. We would still appeal to the AISA to show some political integrity and courage to honestly accept that Rajan’s act of violence that day is a condemnable thing and can not be justified on any grounds. We would like to question the AISA that if they are so confident about Rajan’s innocence then why has he disappeared from the campus instead of facing the student community?

Accusing the SFI of Mahajot with the YFE : yet another example of AISA’s political bankruptcy:

The AISA has accused the SFI of entering into a grand mahajot with the YFE and other right wing political organizations because it has taken a position against Rajan’s act of violence. Such an accusation only reflects the degeneration of AISA’s so called radical and alternative model of the student movement in JNU. We would like to make it clear to the AISA that taking a position on violence against an individual does not mean that one supports his/her politics. The SFI has no illusions about the castist and reactionary politics of the Youth for (In) equality in this campus. The progressive student movement of this campus has always shown these organizations their due place in the political spectrum of JNU. We would also like to remind the AISA that it was only because of SFI’s valiant struggle against the divisive and caste based politics of the YFE that the students of this campus decided to give the leadership of the JNUSU in terms of the President’s post to the SFI in last year’s JNUSU elections. But we have always held that the only way to defeat and isolate these forces is waging a political struggle against them and mobilizing students against them on a political and ideological basis. The SFI has always fought tooth and nail against any oppression or act of violence by the right wing lumpens in this campus. We would like to remind the AISA that it was only because of the spirited struggle by the SFI and its JNUSU representatives that punishment was given to the JPF lumpens in the incident of caste abuse and violence against a dalit student in Lohit and Chandrabagha hostels last year. The SFI does not believe that going around and indulging in violence against right wing political activists would strengthen the Left movement in this campus. We would also like to warn the AISA against making such accusations and taking the consciousness of student community for granted in this manner. If lumpenism and violence have become the weapons for fighting organizations like the YFE for AISA’s brand of left politics in this campus, then the progressive student community would give a fitting rebuff to such political ideological bankruptcy.

Who has been acting as an agent of the administration!:

Continuing with their doublespeak and shameless behaviour the AISA has accused the SFI of taking a pro administration stand. We would only like to remind them about the recent agitation where the students have clearly seen the commitment and hard work of SFI AISF activists against the unjust punishments given to 11 students in the 19th February case. In fact we would like to question the AISA about why they have not been able to answer any of the questions raised by us on the submission of appeal by the General Secretary of the JNUSU, who is from their organization. His meek surrender before the administration which has still not revoked the rustications and fines on the students even after more than 3 weeks of a written agreement is nothing else but a complete betrayal of the student movement. We would advise the AISA to indulge in some self introspection before parroting their ultra revolutionary zeal in front of the student community of JNU.

The SFI appeals to the student community to isolate this kind of degenerate and unprincipled politics which would only weaken the left democratic student movement of our campus. We also appeal to the supporters of AISA to think about the kind of activities, which their organizational leadership is doing and justifying in the name of left politics in this campus.

Sd/- Roshan Kishore, President, SFI-JNU.

Sd/- Rajiv Kumar Ranjan, Secretary, SFI-JNU.

SFI Release on Hiroshima Day

Never Again Hiroshima

Fifty-eight years ago, on August 6 and August 9, 1945, U.S. imperialism dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This horrendous crime remains the only time nuclear weapons have been used against humanity. The bombs were the dirtiest nuclear weapons imaginable. They killed over 220,000 people instantly and left entire generations condemned to slowly die from long-term illnesses. It is an atrocity the U.S. rulers not only never apologized for, but defend to this day.

Hiroshima-Nagasaki: An Imperialist Gameplan:

For decades U.S. government officials and other apologists for imperialism have justified Washington's decision to drop the bombs as necessary to save American lives and end the war. Of course this is always the justification of an empire, and will continue to be the banner under which the U.S. rulers inflict brutalities on humanity. But this rationalization covers up the real truth. Washington made the cold-blooded decision to incinerate the civilian populations in these two Japanese cities to send a message to its imperialist rivals and working people around the world. Their message was loud and clear: we not only have the bomb but are more than willing to use it to advance our imperial prerogatives. The point was succinctly made by famous historian Thomas McCormick, who argued, “A prearranged demonstration of the atomic bomb on a non-inhabited target, as some scientists had recommended, would not do. That could demonstrate the power of the bomb, but it could not demonstrate the American will to use the awful power. One reason, therefore, for American unwillingness to pursue Japanese peace feelers in mid-summer 1945 was that the United States did not want the war to end before it had had a chance to use the atomic bomb”.

US’ Nuclear First Strike Policy and Nuclear Proliferation:

Nuclear proliferation problems go back to US’ first uses of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the Second World War, it played a charade with the Soviet Union over control of the nuclear genie. A number of American officials called for first strikes against the Soviet Union when it had a nuclear monopoly. Several American presidents have made nuclear threats to the Soviet Union, China, North Vietnam and North Korea. A nuclear first-strike against the Soviet Union was always on the table and discussed openly by General Curtis LeMay and other military leaders during the Cold War. It was such common knowledge that several movies were made about the subject. In a recent article senator Mike Gravel says, “it may have been entirely rational for the Soviet Union and China to view their nuclear capability as deterrence to a possible first-strike by the U.S.”

Nuclear Threat Still Looms Large:

However a threat of nuclear first strike from the US did not end with the Cold War. In George W Bush's America, nuclear weapons are here to stay and are viewed as weapons for fighting wars. The US "Nuclear Posture Review 2002" recommended continued reliance for the indefinite future on nuclear weapons "to achieve strategic and political objectives". It mandated new facilities for the manufacture of nuclear bombs, research into new kinds of nuclear weapons, new delivery-systems, and much more. It laid out a new strategy, in which nuclear weapons were to be used to "dissuade adversaries from undertaking military programs or operations that could threaten U.S. interests or those of allies." It named as possible targets Russia, China, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya, and opened the door to the use of nuclear weapons to respond to "sudden and unpredicted security challenges." The Pentagon’s Global Strike Plans, including CONPLAN 8022, refers to first-strike possibilities against Iran and North Korea. Just recently, military and CIA officers leaked plans to use nukes to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities before they could build a bomb.

Fight Imperialism! Fight Nuclear Proliferation!:

The fight against weaponisation is intertwined with the fight against imperialism. Nuclear proliferation cannot stop till world lives under the threat of arrogant US that has the nuclear capacity and intent to destroy countries that do not fall in line with its economic and strategic goals. Let us all resolve on the Hiroshima day to fight US’ global domination and remove the curse of nuclear weapons from our planet. Let us fight for a world free of hunger, exploitation and weapons.

An SFI Release

Poster on Nandigram Film Show

Two Films on Nandigram

Nandigram: In Search of Answers

Directed by Anindita Sarbadhicari
2007 / 1 HOUR 19 MINS / BENGALI / VOICEOVER AND SUBTITLES IN ENGLISH

Nandigram: Aasmaan Ke Talaash Mein
Directed by Prakash Kumar Ray
2007 / 34 MINS / BENGALI, HINDI / VOICEOVER AND SUBTITLES IN HINDI

These two documentary films are based on the tragedy in Nandigram. The police firing in Nandigram on 14th March 2007 has disturbed peace-loving democratic minded people across the country. The Left Front Government in West Bengal has come under intense political attack on the issue from the entire spectrum of political opposition, from the ultra-Right to the ultra-Left. The truth of course was lost in the din of shrill anti-Left propaganda. By revisiting the police firing on 14th March 2007, the sequence of events which led to it as well as its aftermath, the documentaries portray the tragedy as it unfolded.

At KC Open Air Theatre, JNU
Sunday, 12th August 2007
9.00 p.m. onwards

The Directors of the two documentaries will be present to
interact with the audience. All are invited.

SFI

SFI Pamphlet on Lumpenism by Rajan Pandey

STUDENTS’ FEDERATION OF INDIA
Down with AISA’s Lumpenism!! Unite to maintain JNU’s Democratic Ethos!!

Friends, Date: 04/08/07

Unite against Violence on campus! :

SFI strongly condemns the physical assault on Sumeet Kishore a YFE activist by Rajan Pandey a Joint Secretary of AISA JNU Unit. This incident took place near the admission assistance booth at Ad Block yesterday. Both Rajan and Sumeet were standing at the bus stop to assist new students in their admission process. The incident started with an argument over assisting a new student when Sumeet was pushed by Rajan while trying to take her to the YFE’s admission assistance booth. There was a heated exchange of words and some pushing around between them which was pacified by the other students present at the bus stop. The SAA councilor Ameet Parmeswaran along with some other students tried to take Rajan away from Sumeet to ensure that nothing untoward happens. However after 5-10 minutes when it seemed that things had been resolved Rajan took a stone and hit Sumeet on his head without any kind of provocation.

Rajan has been suspended from the university by the Proctor’s Office and a Proctorial enquiry has been ordered into the incident. We believe that such violent acts are completely antithetical to the democratic culture of JNU. It is all the more shameful because the whole incident took place in front of new students and their parents. JNU is known for its progressive values and the entire exercise of admission assistance is also done in the same spirit where new students are helped in their admission process. The new students who come from different places all across the country get their first exposure to the political culture of JNU in the admission assistance process. However the degeneration which has led to a situation where new students are pounced upon with people fighting with each other and has culminated in this unfortunate incident has lowered the prestige of JNU in front of new students.

Down With AISA’s Political Bankruptcy:

In a most shameless manner the AISA has tried to defend Rajan’s behaviour by making cock and bull stories about the incident. If Sumeet was indulging in any kind of caste abuse then a complaint should have been lodged against him and the entire student community would have ensured that justice was delivered like last year’s case of caste violence in Lohit and Chanrabagha hostel. Indulging in violence for settling political differences has never been a culture of this campus. The student community in this university has always defeated the right wing and casteist elements politically and hitting people with stones has never been a part of left politics in this campus. This exposes the ideologically bankrupt politics of AISA and their complete disrespect for the values this university stands for. JNU is known for its culture of debate and discussions and this is what makes it a politically vibrant campus. However over the last few years AISA activists have been continuously intimidating and provoking students from rival political organizations. This trend has continued in the admission assistance process this year as well. In the 1st phase of admissions another Secretariat member of AISA Ravi had physically and verbally abused Bijay an SFI activist at the Ad Block Bus stop in front of a lot of students. The AISA has not even bothered to reply over that incident. And now they are defending this violent and criminal act by Rajan!

In yesterday’s pamphlet the AISA has also attacked the JNUSU President and Jt Secy for taking a position against this criminal act by Rajan. We strongly condemn this sectarian and unprincipled attack on the JNUSU Office Bearers who have rightly taken a strong position against a serious act of violence. The SFI would like to warn the AISA that the students of this campus would not allow them to take the democratic political culture of this campus on ransom for indulging in such acts repeatedly in the name of left politics. If the radicalism of AISA means threatening and attacking fellow students then we would like to tell them that JNU is not the suitable place for them to carry forward their politics.

Unite in defense of our campus culture! Punish Rajan for his act of violence:

However the SFI would also like to warn the ABVP and other right wing organizations who have tried to attack the entire student movement of this campus on the pretext of yesterday’s incident. The student movement of JNU does not need any lessons from the goons of ABVP on what is the culture of this campus. We would like to make it clear that acts like yesterday’s incident have never been a part of the left student movement in this campus and strict action should be taken against it to ensure that they are not repeated in the future. But this campus has not forgotten the criminal lumpenism of ABVP goons and other reactionary sections, which they have unleashed here. From the case of brutal caste atrocity against a fellow student in Lohit and Chandrabagha hostels last year to repeated cases of sexual harassment and violence by the JPF goons in the Paschimabad area of the campus in the last few years, there is a long history of violence by the ABVP. ABVP has the dubious distinction of indulging in worst form of mob violence in our university which was unleashed during Ashok Singhal’s visit. The students of this campus have always fought against such lumpen and reactionary elements and defeated them politically. We would advise the ABVP to desist from indulging in such attacks against the JNU student movement or else they will get a fitting rebuff from the student community.

The SFI demands that the Proctorial enquiry in this incident be completed as soon as possible and strict action should be taken against Rajan for what he has done. We also appeal to the student community to isolate the unethical and bankrupt political stand of the AISA on this incident to save the skin of their own activist. We would like to make it clear to the AISA that the democratic and progressive culture of this university which has been built and nurtured by generations of students after a long and arduous struggle will not be allowed it to die down or become degenerate because of such criminal mindset of individuals who claim to be the biggest supporters of the left movement in our campus.

Sd/- Roshan Kishore, President SFI-JNU.

Sd/- Rajiv Kr Ranjan, Secretary, SFI-JNU.

SFI-AISF pamphlet on AP Public Meeting

STUDENTS’ FEDERATION OF INDIA-ALL INDIA STUDENTS’ FEDERATION

03.08.07

Friends,
The barbarity of the police firing on peaceful protestors in Mudigonda village in the Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh is, indeed, unprecedented in recent memory. The people of the state were stunned to see the live media coverage of this outrageous police action where peaceful Left Parties’ protestors led by the CPI(M) were gunned down at point blank range. Six died on the spot. Another succumbed to injuries later. 16 people were grievously injured. One person was killed as he was making a call from an STD booth. A truck driver was killed when he stopped his truck from moving ahead seeing the commotion. Clearly, the police forces came with a premeditated plan of firing to kill. In fact, not even one of them such as tear gassing, water cannons etc., were used. The police fired 80 rounds and left only when their ammunition was exhausted. Far from showing any repentance or remorse, the state administration, led by the chief minister, has embarked on an offensive not merely defending but justifying the action. In order to understand as to why the Andhra Pradesh state government has resorted to such brutal repression and continues to justify, it is necessary to briefly recapitulate the origins and character of this land struggle launched by the Left parties.

In response to the CPI(M)’s demand to have a proper assessment of the overall availability and distribution of land, the state government had constituted a land committee under the chairmanship of Shri Koneru Rangarao, a cabinet minister, in December 2004. This committee gave its report in 2006. In Andhra Pradesh, around 42 lakh acres of assigned land was being illegally occupied by the land mafias and vested interests. In an embarrassing moment for the Congress party, the chief minister himself had to return assigned lands illegally held by his family without offering any explanation as to how such lands came under his possession to begin with. In order to legalise such illegal occupation of assigned lands (the list of people in possession of such lands is a virtual who’s who of the ruling class political parties leaders and big influential businessmen), the state government issued a government order under the amended act bringing assigned lands under 54 mandals surrounding Hyderabad under its control. Rs. One lakh crore of property legitimately belonging to the poor was now being legally taken over by the vested interests. Simultaneously, large irregularities were found in the implementation of the Indiramma housing scheme. The fact remains that without the compliance of the same government departments, irregularities could not have taken place in the first place.

Seeing the intransigence of the state government, the CPI(M) launched an agitation on the protection of the assigned lands on May 2, 2007 in Warangal. The spontaneous response of the people was so overwhelming that this struggle spread throughout the state within a week. 195 mass organisations including various societies, movements etc., came under a single umbrella to carry forward this struggle to protect the assigned lands. Throughout the months of May and June, hundreds of thousands of people, braving the heat wave, came out on to the streets. These were met with brutal suppression. Over 24,000 cases have been booked (over 5,000 on women) and 3,080 had been jailed before this police firing. All prominent CPI(M) leaders have cases of land grabbing foisted on them. Given the state government’s intransigence on July 15, twenty five leaders of the struggle committee, went on a week-long hunger strike. When the state government’s intransigence continued by refusing to enter into any discussions with the leaders of the movement, the state secretaries of the CPI(M) and the CPI, went on an indefinite hunger strike outside the state assembly on July 22. Similar hunger strikes began in all the taluk headquarters all across the state. The state assembly was in session. The government, however, was not prepared to either discuss in the assembly or with the leaders on hunger strike. Instead, at midnight after the assembly adjourned on July 27, the leaders on hunger strike were arrested. This led to the eruption of mass anger and call for a successful statewide bandh on July 28 when this brutal firing took place in Mudigonda. Despite lakhs of people all across the state spontaneously coming out in this movement (in Hyderabad city alone, over 1.5 lakh people applied for house sites), the state government’s brazenness can only be understood by its deep links with the vested interests who want to misappropriate public resources on a massive scale. It is for this reason that they continue not only to justify the police action but spread malicious disinformation about CPI(M) and its leadership. It is the CPI(M) cadre’s vandalisation and attack on the police which led to the police firing is one such disinformation.

The brutal repression by the Andhra Pradesh government once again exposed the dominance of landed interests in the Congress party and bourgeois-landlord class character of the government. The struggle for land will continue as long as our demand regarding the land to the poor is not met and it will intensify in the days to come.

DOWN WITH THE UNDEMOCRATIC YSR REDDY GOVERNMENT!!
OUR STRUGGLE FOR LAND TO THE POOR LONG LIVE!!

PUBLIC MEETING:

LAND STRUGGLE IN ANDHRA PRADESH: BRUTAL REPRESSION OF THE CONGRESS GOVERNMENT

Speakers:

• Com. P Madhu ( CPI(M) MP, Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh and one of the leaders who led the hunger strike).
• Com. Suneet Chopra (Central Committee Member, CPI(M), Joint Secy. AIAWU).
• Com. Sudhakar Reddy ( MP, Lok Sabha from Andhra Pradesh and Member of the National Council, CPI).

Venue: Kaveri Mess 9:15pm 3rd August, 2007 (tonight)

Sd/- Rajiv Kumar Ranjan, Secretary, SFI-JNU.

Sd/- Fauzan, Jt.Secy, AISF-JNU.

PD Article on Andhra Pradesh Land Struggle

Comrades,

This is an article by Comrade Sitaram in the recent edition of People's Democracy which was put up by SFI as a release in the campus on 3rd August, 2007 (Friday).

On Verdict on Mumbai Blasts

Justice Must Not Be Discriminatory

01.08.07

As we go to press, three more people have been delivered the death sentence by the special TADA court hearing the 1993 Mumbai serial blast case. The total number of those sentenced so far has, thus, gone up to 91 out of the 100 convicted. Of these, eleven have been handed capital punishment while 17 others have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The Mumbai serial blasts, readers will recall, killed over 250 people and injured over 700.

While it is welcome that finally some justice is being delivered in this case of mindless killing of innocent people, it must be remembered that it has taken more than fourteen years for these sentences to be pronounced. Fourteen years is the normal period of time that constitutes life imprisonment. Even now, the convicted can appeal to the Supreme Court against these sentences. Given the track record of the system of delivery of justice in India, one need not be surprised if this process continues to drag on for a long time. Such apprehensions are substantiated by the fact that it has taken nearly two decades for known and identified culprits to be sentenced in the ghastly communal riots in Bhagalpur. The perpetrators of the Maliana (Meerut) communal massacre of 1987 have so far only been legally charge-sheeted! Again, after two decades, the Nanavati Commission had submitted a report on the post-Indira Gandhi assassination killings of Sikhs in 1984, without nailing the culpability of any. The perpetrators of the post-Godhra Gujarat genocide continue to roam free while mountains of circumstantial evidence have not led to the necessary convictions.

Then, there is this glaring case of the findings of the Justice Srikrishna Commission on the post-Babri Masjid demolition, 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai. In fact, the 1993 blasts were widely propagated as being the response of minority terrorism to the majority terrorism unleashed in the communal riots. Far from taking any action against anybody indicted in the Srikrishna Report, the Shiv Sena-BJP government initially tried to reject this report officially when in government nine years ago. Later they settled for rejecting the report in practice. The subsequent Congress-NCP governments have also failed in ensuring delivery of justice. Yet again, the justice delivery system in our country has failed to convict and punish the perpetrators of communal violence and crimes. These are not the only instances in independent India when justice has simply failed to be delivered to the victims of communal riots. There have been at least five important judicial commissions of enquiry that have submitted their voluminous reports, and yet justice has simply been elusive. These are the Justice P Jaganmohan Reddy Commission of Inquiry into the Ahmedabad Riots of 1969; the Justice D P Madan Commission on the Bhiwandi riots of 1970; the Justice Vithayathil Commission on the Tellicherry riots of 1971; the Justice Jitendra Narain Commission on the Jamshedpur riots of 1979; and the Justice P Venugopal Commission on the Kanyakumari riots of 1982. The Kanyakumari riots were the result of a conflict between Hindus and Christians while the rest have been Hindu-Muslim riots. The RSS was indicted in all of these.

Clearly, the conflicts between different religious communities that inhabit India have all universally denied justice to the victims. For how long can the modern secular Indian republic afford to not improve its justice delivery system in such instances? The question of punishing the perpetrators of communal strife is necessary not only from the viewpoint of humanism and compassion. It is absolutely imperative that justice be delivered in order to strengthen the secular democratic foundations of the modern Indian republic.

There is a universal adage that justice delayed is justice denied. Not only must justice be delivered promptly, but it can never afford to be seen as being partial. While justice in the Mumbai blasts is, to repeat, welcome, the refusal or the reluctance to deliver justice in the various instances mentioned above, only gives the impression that the justice delivery system is not only a system of inbuilt delays but also a system with inbuilt discrimination. At the expense of repeating what we had stated in these columns two weeks ago in relation to some Indians being detained in connection with the Glasgow terrorist attacks, it needs to be underlined that terrorism cannot be associated with any one religion. Terrorism is a crime against humanity that needs to be erased. But this cannot be done by targeting any one specific community as this can only be counterproductive by creating the atmosphere that breeds terrorism’s recruits. We had also noted that even mainstream Hindi cinema (such as Fiza, meaning environment) has chronicled such instances.

In India’s case, the victims of terrorist attacks have been of such a diverse range that the terrorists cannot be straight-jacketed into any single religious group. We have experienced the agonies of attacks on Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, tribals, Hindus, lost two erstwhile prime ministers through terrorist assassinations, Mahatma Gandhi himself a victim of terrorist bullets, in the sixty years since our independence. What is required is to deal effectively with the environment that continues to breed and perpetuate terrorism as the prime minister himself recently stated. A system of delivery of justice that is seen to be discriminatory only vitiates such an environment further. While the other elements crucial to improving such an atmosphere have been detailed by us earlier and the need to be urgently addressed, this aspect of improving the system of delivery of justice needs immediate attention. In the final analysis, the strength of the Republic is measured in its capacity to treat all its citizens equally without any discrimination. The Indian Constitution promises to do so in its very preamble. The incapacity to deliver this promise can only undermine the foundations of the Republic. India cannot simply afford this. The secular democratic foundations of the Indian Republic must be strengthened by strengthening the equality of all before law.

SAY NO TO DISCRIMINATORY JUSTICE SYSTEM

ENSURE JUSTICE TO THE COMMUNAL RIOT VICTIMS

an SFI release

[People’s democracy, july 29, 2007]