People Before Profit blog

Cinco de Mayo its not just history

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 06:46:00 +0000

Opinion

The celebration of Cinco de Mayo, commemorating the May 5, 1862, victory of the Mexican people’s army over French intervention in the battle of Puebla, has much significance for the U.S. people this election year.

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo this year can deepen our appreciation of how weaker peoples can sustain resistance to predatory occupation until the alignment of forces is favorable to their liberation. The May 5 victory encouraged the Mexican people to sustain their struggle for five more years until the democratic government of the Liberal Party led by Benito Juarez was restored in 1867.

A review of the history surrounding Cinco de Mayo also can remind us of the importance of the separation of church and state, the contradictions between representative democracy and militarism, the role of racism and national oppression as an underpinning of other reactionary policies, and the roles of international finance and the international working class in foreign policy.

The Liberals became part of the Mexican government in 1855 and its dominant force in 1857 when a constitution was established that eliminated the privileged position of the church and military, established elections and introduced other reforms. They ended the political monopoly of the Creoles (Europeans born in Mexico). Juarez himself was a full-blooded Zapotec.

But the reactionaries, using funds from usurious European loans, plunged the country into civil war that lasted until 1861. When the Liberals won control, President Juarez repudiated some of the debt. Then international plots thickened.

Karl Marx exposed many of these plots in U.S. and European newspapers from November 1861 to July 1862. He focused on the role of England, where he resided and was politically active. He showed how France, England and Spain were developing the strategy and tactics of intervening in Mexico using pretenses like collecting debts, protecting the lives and property of their own nationals, restoring stable government for the Mexican people – to cover for outright greed, and even as a lever to benefit from the Civil War in the U.S.

“The contemplated intervention in Mexico … is one of the most monstrous enterprises ever chronicled in the annals of international history,” Marx wrote in the New York Daily News in November 1861.

Marx helped build opposition to English intervention among democratic forces, including an increasingly active working class, which also opposed British government support for the U.S. Confederacy. This helped Juarez secure a separate agreement with England who then pulled out of the intervention.

Marx then opposed the continued French intervention. In an article in the Austrian paper Die Presse written a week before the May 5 battle, he brought to light how, after the reactionary party lost control of the capital, Mexico City, they tripled Mexico’s debt, with relatives and financial backers of French Emperor Napoleon III holding the paper. Juarez would not pay these debts, so the French marched inland to install Austrian noble Maximilian as their puppet Emperor of Mexico.

Marx’s study of these intrigues, and the ability of English workers to influence British foreign policy toward Mexico and the U.S. Civil War, helped form the basis of the approach to international affairs he developed in 1864 in the Inaugural Address of The Workingmen’s International Association, where he noted:

“The working classes have the duty to master … international politics…” to “vindicate the simple laws of morals and justice, which ought to characterize the relations of private individuals, as the rules paramount of the intercourse of nations. The fight for such a foreign policy forms part of the general struggle for the emancipation of the working classes.”

The actions of working people as part of the worldwide democratic forces opposing intervention in Mexico helped inspire the vision of liberal democrat Benito Juarez. He noted, after driving out the occupiers in 1867, “Among individuals as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.”

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo should remind us of just how reactionary are the Bush policies of preemptive intervention, mixing church and state, militarism, and contempt for democracy – they are as reactionary as Napoleon III and Maximilian.

This Cinco de Mayo we should keep in mind the U.S. intervention in Haiti and its meaning for Cuba, Brazil and Venezuela in particular and Latin America in general. Not only that, Bush’s policies threaten the whole planet.

Que viva el Cinco de Mayo! Afuera con Bush!

Rosalio Muñoz is organizer for the Southern California district of the Communist Party USA. He can be reached at rosalio_munoz@sbcglobal.net.

Proud, happy Israeli whistleblower released

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 04:22:00 +0000

An unrepentant Mordechai Vanunu – the Israeli whistleblower who confirmed the existence of the country’s nuclear weapons program – left Ashkelon’s Shikma Prison April 21 after serving an 18-year sentence, 11 years of it in solitary confinement.

He was greeted by an international gathering of supporters who ceremonially released 18 doves, one for each year of his sentence.

Just before leaving the prison, Vanunu held a brief, dramatic press conference in which he declared, “To all those calling me a traitor, I’m proud and happy to do what I did.” He said Israel did not “need the nuclear arms, when all the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons,” adding, “My message today to all the world is open [the] Dimona reactor for inspection.”

As he passed through the prison gates, the response shifted from flowers and doves to the angry threats of a hostile crowd outside.

Peace activists who welcomed him at a ceremony at St. George’s Anglican Catholic Cathedral in Jerusalem described Vanunu as looking fit and eagerly greeting supporters he had previously known only by name.

The former nuclear technician is planning to live in a Tel Aviv apartment complex, but supporters are expressing grave concerns for his safety, especially since Israeli authorities refuse to grant him any security protection.

Contending that Vanunu still has secrets to reveal, Israeli authorities have restricted his freedom, requiring him to register his residence and get permission before traveling to another city. He must remain in Israel at least one year, and is barred from discussing his work at Dimona with journalists. Vanunu himself has emphasized that he revealed all he knew 18 years ago.

In 1986 Vanunu made public the photos he had taken and information he gathered while a worker at the Dimona nuclear center, confirming the widespread assumption that Israel was a significant nuclear weapons power. Kidnapped by intelligence agents just before his interview with the Sunday Times of London appeared, he was convicted of espionage and treason.

In an April 24 article on Gush Shalom’s website, Israeli peace leader Uri Avnery probed the reasons for the seemingly absurd restrictions. “What can a technician know after 18 years in jail?” he wrote. “But gradually it becomes clear ...Vanunu is in a position to expose the close partnership with the United States in the development of Israel’s nuclear arms. ... The world must be prevented by all available means from hearing from the lips of a credible witness that the Americans are full partners in Israel’s nuclear arms program, while pretending to be the world’s sheriff for the prevention of nuclear proliferation.”

In an April 21 statement, the International Federation of Journalists protested the gag order against Vanunu, saying the protection of such whistleblowers is vital to free expression, and calling on Israel to recognize its responsibility to democracy by letting Vanunu return to society without further restrictions.

The author can be reached at mbechtel@pww.org.

INDIA Right-wing govt facing setbacks

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 04:18:00 +0000

NEW DELHI – Exit polls following India’s third round of voting on April 26 suggest that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vaypayee’s ruling right-wing party, the BJP, may lose its majority in Parliament.

An exit poll by New Delhi Television, a private news channel, predicted that Vajpayee’s governing alliance would win no more than 255 seats, short of the 272 it needs to rule outright. The BJP, founded around 1980 on a hard-line Hindu nationalist or “Hindutva” platform, currently controls the Parliament with 303 seats. The poll predicted that the Congress Party and its allies would win up to 210 seats, with independents getting the rest.

Another private television channel, Aaj Tak, predicted that the BJP would fall six seats short of a majority in Parliament, 36 less than it got in 1999. It showed the Congress Party of Sonia Gandhi posting gains. Such private polls need to be viewed with skepticism, observers warn.

“A lot of people who were bemused, confused, or apathetic have been galvanized by the Congress (Party) on issues such as unemployment and the growing disparities between rich and poor,” commentator Prem Shankar Jha told Reuters. “They have come out and voted.”

The five-phase voting process started on April 20 with elections to three state assemblies, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa. A local election official told the World that about 175 million people voted, or 50-55 percent of the registered voters. Women voters reportedly turned out in greater numbers than usual. There were complaints in Andhra Pradesh that right-wing forces tried to block voters, including members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), from entering some polling stations, and left parties have lodged complaints to the election commission about such incidents.

Violence from right-wing elements and some ultra-left forces has taken place in several regions. As of April 27, at least 33 people had been killed in election-related incidents.

The final two rounds in the elections are May 5 and May 10, and the election results will be announced on May 13.

PWW freelance correspondent M.K.N. Moorthy contributed to this story.

International notes

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 03:22:00 +0000

Guam: Indigenous people protest military build-up

The Colonized Chamorro Coalition of eight organizations upholding indigenous people’s rights on Guam is protesting the Pentagon’s plans to boost the U.S. military presence on the island. The coalition warns that this would limit the Chamorro people’s self-determination and would make the island a target of terrorist attacks. The military is already the island’s major industry, besides tourism.

Government and business leaders are encouraging the build-up, which Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reportedly favors as part of creating “lily pads” for rapid deployment of forces. Work is already under way to deepen the harbor, build new facilities for B-1 bombers, and greatly build up the military’s infrastructure. A third nuclear powered attack submarine is due to arrive at the island later this year.

South Africa: Vote shows growing unity

South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki said last week that the 70 percent majority won by the African National Congress in the April 14 elections provides “a critical foundation for the building of a people’s contract to better the lives of all South Africans.”

Mbeki said current trends show that in addition to the ANC’s traditional strength among Black, working-class and poorer South Africans, the governing party is winning significant sectors of the middle strata including in white, Colored and Indian communities, “reflecting increasing unity of purpose among South Africans.”

In seven of the country’s nine provinces the ANC won an overwhelming majority, while in two its plurality increased significantly, making the ANC the leading political force among rural African voters in Kwazulu-Natal, and among Colored and Indian voters there and in the Western Cape.

In congratulating the ANC, the South African Communist Party pointed out that the landslide was based on “the energies, aspirations, commitment and organization of millions of workers and poor,” who are the “bedrock” of support for the ANC and its alliance.

“We strongly endorse President Mbeki’s observation that in the coming months and years, special attention must be given to local level governance, to local economic development, to building sustainable communities,” the SACP said.

Haiti: Death squads tighten their grip

Despite statements by U.S. officials and the interim Haitian government about the urgency of disarmament, international human rights groups say armed gangs linked to the FRAPH death squads that terrorized the country before the U.S. forcibly removed President Aristide are strengthening their hold.

“Due to the state of impunity the number of criminal activities ... committed by armed gangs is increasing. Aristide’s supporters feel threatened,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said April 8.

“Amnesty International is particularly concerned for the safety of judges, prosecutors, criminal investigators, victims, witnesses and human rights defenders involved in prosecutions relating to past human rights abuses,” AI said after its delegation returned from a 15-day mission earlier this month.

Calling the current disarmament campaign “extremely limited,“ the British-based Haiti Support Group said it has not touched the armed irregular forces, but has “focused on pro-Aristide shantytowns in the capital.”

Nepal: Protests for democracy continue

Since the beginning of April, the Nepalese people’s protests against the autocratic rule of King Gyanendra have escalated to become daily demonstrations by hundreds of thousands around the country. Last October the king dismissed the elected prime minister and took executive power. A wide variety of organizations, including those representing youth, students and disabled people, are participating in the protests, initiated by the country’s major political parties including the Communist Party of Nepal (UML).

The government has responded with vicious attacks that have injured hundreds of demonstrators, and with mass arrests that have swept up organization leaders, former government ministers and parliamentarians. On April 11, government forces even detained 150 disabled demonstrators. Some detainees, including political leaders and former parliamentarians, have gone on a hunger strike to demand their release and the dismissal of the unconstitutional government.

Venezuela: Threats grow on border

Colombian opposition leaders are warning that the extreme right Uribe regime in Colombia plans to step up attacks on neighboring Venezuela. In a declaration sent to the ANNCOL news agency last week, leaders of four opposition organizations said the warm reception the Colombian government gave Cuban-born far-right U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart is part of a campaign to provoke a war between the two countries.

Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican close to the Bush administration, favors a military intervention to overthrow the populist government of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. Venezuela is a major supplier of oil to the U.S.

Last year paramilitaries supported by the Colombian army crossed into Venezuelan territory several times, assassinating peasant leaders and supporters of Chavez’ government, and even confronting the Venezuelan army.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (mbechtel@pww.org).

Cuba guarantees paid leave for parents

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 03:12:00 +0000

HAVANA – Cuban law now protects mothers and fathers who want to share child-rearing after the breast-feeding period, without having to worry about irate bosses.

Experience shows it is preferable that babies be cared for at home in the first year of life, and later at childcare centers, until they are ready for kindergarten.

For that reason there is a “postnatal license” in Cuba by which a mother – and a father – can either opt to return to work or remain at home at 60 percent of salary until the baby is 1-year-old.

More than overturning taboos and machismo barriers, this new law reflects the present socioeconomic reality in Cuba, where women are 44 percent of the work force in the state-civil sector and more than 66 percent of the technical and professional work force.

Although somewhat controversial, the recent State Council Law No. 234 is the legal instrument of the Family Code marriage contract: “to attend, care for, protect, educate, help, give profound affection to, and prepare for life” the fruit of their love. This responsibility is a right and a duty, recognized equally for adoptive parents.

Law No. 234 also covers up to a six-month absence from work, without reprisal, for either parent should one of their children under 16 years of age become ill. The revolutionary part of the law is that the father can take over the major caretaking role once the mother’s presence is no longer indispensable.

Should a mother die within the 12-week postnatal period, that full-pay right reverts to the working father, or to whichever working maternal or paternal relative he delegates to feed and care for the child during the first year of life. The extension of this to other relatives is recognition of the fundamental role of the family in society and facilitates better integration of its members in helping working parents.

Without a doubt these changes will have positive repercussions in an aging society showing increased longevity and diminution of infant mortality rates.

It is very rare today in Cuba to see families with several children. Many couples have only one child, or none, or delay childbearing until the future in order to dedicate themselves completely to the baby.

This is especially true of women of childbearing age who begin working as soon as they finish their studies: athletes, teachers, doctors, scientists, all who feel they have a limited time to demonstrate their ability before becoming mothers.

In 1960, soon after the victory of the Cuban revolution, diverse women’s organizations fused into a unique organization – the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) – to develop policies and programs to achieve the full exercise of woman’s equality in all social milieus. It was an enormous task.

Cuban women arrived at the revolutionary victory in 1959 as 55 percent of the illiterates of the country and with poor (17 percent) incorporation in the work force, with much of their hardworking number in domestic service or as bar waitresses. These women could only hope to live 63.8 years. Sixty of each thousand of their children died before reaching one year of age.

Since then, the advancements of Cuban women under socialism are unquestionable. Today, in addition to their higher participation in the labor force, women constitute 36 percent of the members of parliament, 62 percent of university graduates, and more than 33 percent of managers.

Women in Cuba enjoy recognized sexual and reproductive rights, universal and free health care and education systems, special programs for maternity and child protection, programs to promote their quality of life, as well as cultural and social support. Their life expectancy is 76.8 years and infant mortality is six per thousand live births.

The FMC has 3.8 million affiliated women organized into 76,000 grassroots organizations all over the country. The only requirements for membership are being female and older than 14 years of age.

– Prensa Latina

South Africa celebrates decade of democracy

Fri, 16 Apr 2004 06:29:00 +0000

On the eve of South Africa’s April 14 elections and the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid on April 27, the African National Congress (ANC) government and its allies are evaluating the past decade and preparing for the challenges ahead.

In introducing the ANC’s election manifesto, South African President Thabo Mbeki cited achievements including the enshrining of democracy and equality in the constitution; provision of water, electricity, housing, health care and education to millions; and a more productive economy.

Over 95 percent of children are enrolled in primary schools, the manifesto said, while social grants have been greatly increased. Six million families now live in subsidized new housing, over 70 percent of households have electricity and 80 percent have clean running water. The health system provides primary care and special programs to fight TB, HIV and AIDS, malaria and other chronic diseases.

Despite constitutional guarantees, however, the ANC said discrimination and abuses continue, and many families still do not have a sustainable livelihood. Though 2 million new jobs have been created since 1995, the number of job seekers has soared while many workers have been hurt by outsourcing and “casualization.” The quality of services and infrastructure must be improved, while many women and youth face special problems of poverty and unemployment.

The ANC’s partners in the Tripartite Alliance that defeated apartheid – the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) – have both campaigned vigorously for an ANC sweep in the elections, emphasizing that strengthening the public sector is essential for creating jobs, fighting poverty, and improving education, health care, water, sanitation, housing and social grants.

The SACP pointed to the ANC’s plan to spend 1 billion rand ($160 million) on infrastructure and to create 1 million new jobs through public works, with emphasis on labor-intensive projects that mean good jobs.

The SACP also emphasized the government’s pledge to redistribute one-third of agricultural land in the next 10 years. It noted that farming is dominated by a few thousand capitalist companies while millions of poor South Africans urgently need land for basic family farming.

“Since COSATU was founded almost 20 years ago, we have understood that our struggles to improve our wages and conditions of employment are intertwined with the political struggles to end apartheid and ensure transformation benefits the poor more than just the rich,” the labor federation said. “That is why COSATU has always worked with organizations that are biased towards the workers and the poor. Our research shows that ... only the ANC has the capacity and the principles to support this approach.”

Meanwhile, in “South Africa: Special Report on a Decade of Democracy,” the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks called the country “a major economic and political actor on the African continent.” The report noted South Africa’s role, together with Brazil and India, in establishing the G-20 group that upheld the interests of the developing countries at the World Trade Organization summit in Cancun last fall.

The author can be reached at mbechtel@pww.org.

Quebec mulls proportional vote system

Fri, 09 Apr 2004 06:15:00 +0000

VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Quebec government will be the first provincial jurisdiction in Canada to advance legislation that would create a new mixed electoral system that includes proportional representation (PR).

The Liberal government led by Premier Jean Charest will introduce in late spring a bill that will propose that 75 to 85 members in the 125-seat National Assembly be selected in electoral districts to be redistributed under a revamped electoral map using the current “first past the post” system. The remaining members would be elected under rules based, in part, on the popular vote received by each party.

Lucie Tetreault, aide to Jacques Dupes, minister responsible for electoral reform, who will hold province-wide public consultations next fall, said the change would not be ready in time for the next election, expected in 2007.

“It will take time to consult the population, which will likely lead to changes to the bill” Tetrault said. “The bill may not be adopted until 2005, and then it will take at least another two or three years to adopt the kind of major changes to the electoral map that will be needed to put proportional representation in place ... We will have to allow the process to take its course and give the political parties time to adapt.”

Six of the country’s 10 provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Sasketchewan and British Columbia – are looking at adopting mixed voting systems. In recent years, voter participation across the country has been falling dramatically and it is hoped that the adoption of PR will halt and reverse this trend. For instance, in the most recent Ontario elections, only about half of registered voters bothered to cast ballots.

In a change of heart, the federal government is also considering electoral reform that includes PR. After voting against a motion proposed by the New Democratic Party last year that called for the implementation of PR, Prime Minster Paul Martin has asked a parliamentary committee to look at changes to the Election Act, which includes an examination of PR. This coincides with a recent report submitted by the Canadian Law Commission (CLC) that calls for the creation of a Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMPR) voting system.

The CLC’s report, which has been tabled for discussion, proposes that two-thirds of Parliament be elected by means of the traditional system. Voters would then select a political party from a second list that they want to see form the national government. The remaining members of Parliament would be elected based on the popular vote received by each party. MMPR is used in such places as Germany, New Zealand and Scotland.

“While there is no single magic bullet that will instantaneously stimulate Canadians’ involvement in the political system ... ,” the report concluded, “electoral system reform is a good starting point for energizing and strengthening Canadian democracy.”

The author can be reached at tpelzer@sprint.ca.

International notes

Fri, 09 Apr 2004 03:19:00 +0000

Haiti: Executions continue

Supporters of forcibly deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide continue to be executed, death-squad style, despite the presence of U.S. and French occupation troops. Human rights activists say most killings are by the heavily armed former soldiers who rampaged through the country in February. Several of their leaders had been convicted of assassinations and other crimes during earlier military dictatorships.

On March 24, five Haitian police agents were arrested on suspicion of executing five Aristide backers, whose bodies were found on the streets of Port-au-Prince. An AP photographer later took pictures of three of the bodies in a private morgue, showing their hands were tied behind their backs and their heads covered with bags.

Nongovernmental organizations have reportedly told the United Nations about public executions by the armed band controlling the city of Les Cayes, while French occupation forces and local fishermen around Cap-Haitien report many corpses floating in the sea.

The Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) calls for a speedy end to the occupation. The Haitian Press Agency AHP quoted POHDH General Secretary Eliphete St. Pierre as saying, “The foreign troops have already committed several murders since their arrival in the country.”

Colombia: Coke hunger strike ends

Members of the National Union of Food Industry Workers (SINALTRAINAL) ended their 12-day hunger strike March 27 after winning an agreement with Coca-Cola to start national talks on relocating workers left jobless when the company closed 11 bottling plants. Coca-Cola agreed to refrain from reprisals against the hunger strikers, to revoke existing sanctions, to pay for their medical treatment and to provide two weeks of paid recovery leave.

Though the 30 strikers garnered substantial international solidarity, they faced repression at home, including company efforts to deny them health care and to evict them from their tents outside the plants. There were also firings and increased threats from right-wing paramilitaries.

Europe: Massive protests vs. ‘welfare reform’

A wave of protests swept across Europe the first weekend of April, as hundreds of thousands poured into the streets to oppose cuts in pensions and other social benefits and to demand more jobs and social justice.

Besides Berlin, Cologne and Stuttgart, in Italy pensioners came on buses, special trains and even boats from the island of Sardinia to protest the rising cost of living. They were joined in the streets of Rome by workers protesting government demands that they work longer before retirement. “There’s an impoverishment, a situation that every day becomes more untenable for the elderly,” said CGIL union federation head Guglielmo Epifani.

Parisian demonstrators marched behind a banner proclaiming, “Together in Paris and Europe for jobs, social rights, the welfare state and public services.”

Mexico: U.S. must review death row cases

Responding to a Mexican government suit, the International Court of Justice last week ordered the U.S. to review the death penalty cases of 51 Mexican nationals, one of whom is slated to die May 18. The court said the principle should apply to all foreigners accused of serious crimes. On death row are 121 foreign nationals, including 55 Mexicans.

The International Court said “meaningful review of the conviction and sentence” could be carried out under the normal U.S. appeals process, except for three cases where appeals have been exhausted.

Mexican Ambassador Juan Gomez Robledo said the decision vindicated the rule of international law. The Mexican government warned, however, that if the U.S. fails to follow the ruling, Mexico will take further steps. But even if the U.S. accepts the decision, legal observers said it was not certain the federal government has the power to compel individual states to comply.

Nigeria: Sue Chevron Texaco for rights abuses

Five Nigerians who say Chevron Texaco Corp. violated demonstrators’ rights in the late ’90s can sue the corporate giant, a U.S. federal court ruled last week. Judge Susan Illston ruled that although the parent company cannot be held directly liable, it can be held indirectly responsible for the conduct of Chevron Nigeria Ltd., a joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.

The five plaintiffs contend that Chevron Nigeria recruited Nigerian military and police to fire on protesters at a Chevron offshore oil platform at Warri, Delta State. They also say Chevron Nigeria’s management was involved in the detention and torture of protest leader Bola Oyinbo, and in a helicopter attack on two villages that killed several people.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (mbechtel@pww.org).

Indians resisting the politics of hate

Fri, 09 Apr 2004 03:00:00 +0000

NEW DELHI – General elections to India’s lower house, the Lok Sabha, will be held in four phases in April and May. The main task facing the left and democratic parties is to dislodge the right-wing, communalist forces – headed by the Baratiya Janata Party – from power. The BJP, led by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, currently has a majority in parliament.

In the last election in 1999, the National Democratic Alliance, headed by the BJP and including elements of the fascist-like Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) movement, succeeded in capturing nationwide power with the help of regional allies.

For the past 15 years the country has witnessed an extreme right-wing shift in the political landscape. The RSS-led “Hindutva” forces have exploited Hindu religious sentiments to foster hatred and to divide India’s communities.

Now, on the eve of the elections and in a bid to change their communalist image, the BJP is trying to woo the support of non-Hindu minorities. However, after the 2002 Gujarat massacre, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed by rioting Hindus with the alleged complicity of the BJP-dominated state government, minorities have felt more and more insecure. There was no justice for the victims. The state police are still biased, and minorities live in fear.

In the run-up to the elections the BJP-led government has spent millions of rupees for its “India Shining” campaign, a propaganda campaign filled with false claims.

The BJP trumpets major achievements during the party’s five years of rule, including the securing of a nuclear weapons capacity. The BJP holds up Vajpayee as an “icon of modern India,” and claims that foreign exchange reserves have overflowed and that grain reserves are full.

What is the reality? Is India really “shining”?

The country’s economy is in shambles due to wrong economic policies, policies that were initiated by the Congress Party government in 1991. The basic principles of these policies are those of the “free market” economy, guided by the dictates of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization.

The IMF-inspired corporate restructuring of the economy has led to heavy job losses and worsening employment conditions for most Indians, alongside the enrichment of a privileged few.

BJP leaders speak of food surpluses in government warehouses. While it is true that food production has increased during the last few years, it is not because of the “good governance” of the BJP or NDA, but because heavy rains fell in parts of the country.

Claims about an abundant food supply are belied by reports of starvation deaths in Orissa, Rajasthan and other parts of the country. Farmers are committing suicide because they are so deep in debt – a consequence of WTO export-import policies and the elimination of agricultural price supports and subsidies for farmers.

The BJP-led government came to power with the promise that it would create ten millions of new jobs every year. It has utterly failed to keep this promise. Under the BJP, the pace of job creation has declined. The rate of new-job growth fell from 2.7 per year between 1983-84 and 1993-94 to 1.1 percent during 1994-2000.

The unemployment situation is becoming more and more explosive. According to official figures, 40.2 million educated youth were unemployed in 2003. The actual figure is above 150 million. While a few thousand jobs have been created in the fields of information technology and various outsourcing enterprises over the past few years, unemployment has risen.

The dismantling and privatization of public sector enterprises continues. Plant closings, privatization, retrenchment, and downsizing have thrown out millions of workers into the streets and created widespread hardship.

The last years of BJP rule have been “shining” with corruption and scams, characterized by bribes, irregularities in state purchases, inequitable allotments of fuel, and the looting of the public sector.

The elections are an opportunity for the left and democratic forces to save secular values by defeating the forces of fanaticism and fascism. Even though there is no formal, all-India alliance or front in the elections, the Congress Party has also said its main objective is to defeat the BJP and its allies.

This is the first time electronic voting machines will be used through out the country. The election results will be announced on May 13.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org.

International notes

Fri, 02 Apr 2004 04:40:00 +0000

Haiti: Lavalas describes repression

In a March 25 press conference, spokespersons for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s party, Fanmi Lavalas (FL), cited the killing or kidnapping of many FL supporters, the Haitian press agency AHP reported. They said many others fled the country or hid in the forest to escape the violent armed supporters of the former opposition.

“Since President Aristide was overthrown, there have been planned persecutions against the population and Fanmi Lavalas supporters,” said FL member Wilfrid Lavaud.

The party also sharply criticized interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue for suspending Haiti’s relations with CARICOM, the Caribbean community of nations, and supporting criminals like the armed gangs that took over Gonaives.

While urging people to cooperate in the disarmament process, FL said it hoped the process would not serve as an excuse for repression.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International last week expressed deep concern about confirmed criminals and former leaders of military and paramilitary organizations now operating freely, including in positions of power.

Honduras: Company security kills activist

On March 13, Cesar Virgilio Pinot of the activist cooperative Martires de Guaymas was killed by security forces of Agro Oriental, a palm oil producer. A fellow activist was wounded and captured.

The Campaign for Labor Rights said Agro Oriental’s security forces have been menacing community leaders in the region since palm growers organized their own marketing association, depriving Agro Oriental of some of its profits. Community leaders have been accused of “illegal association” under a probably unconstitutional “anti-gang law,” and activists have been jailed.

Messages demanding a complete investigation of Virgilio’s assassination, the trial of those responsible, and an end to repression against the communities can be sent to Honduran Ambassador Mario M. Canahuati at fax (202) 966-9751 or embassy@hondurasembassy.org, and Chiquita Brands International, telephone (513) 784-8000.

South Africa: Campaign for ANC victory

The South African Communist Party (SACP) held a “Red Thursday” March 25 to urge workers across the country to vote for the African National Congress (ANC) in elections on April 14. SACP members distributed a million leaflets and 100,000 posters in 40 major centers in all provinces. They carried the message: We want a strong public sector, worker rights, land reform, power to the poor. The SACP said the ANC election program called for building sustainable livelihoods, households and communities; creating a million public works jobs; credit for coops and small businesses; aid to youth and the self-employed; and expanding social grants.

Concerning opposition parties’ plans for “trickle-down” benefits to the poor as the rich increase their wealth, the SACP said, “That’s robbing us, and then giving back small change!”

Turkey: Gov’t scuttles tire workers’ strike

The national tire workers union Lastik-IS was slated to hold a nationwide strike last month to protest deteriorating pay and conditions at world famous tire manufacturers, including Pirelli. But on March 21 Prime Minister Recep Erdogan signed a decree “postponing” the strike for 60 days, thus essentially banning the planned protest.

The pretext Erdogan used – a claim that the action would “endanger public health or national security” – was used earlier against the Kristal-IS trade union, which represents 5,000 workers in the glass industry. (The glass workers’ steadfast struggle was ultimately rewarded by a big retroactive pay hike and another increase for 2004.)

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions sent a sharp protest to Erdogan, demanding that the Turkish government immediately revise its policy which restrains legitimate strike action.

Italy: General strike paralyzes country

Workers belonging to the country’s three major labor federations virtually shut the country down for four hours March 26 in a general strike to protest the far-right Berlusconi government’s economic policies, including plans to restrict pensions, reform education and cut public spending.

Most workers struck for four hours, but in the Rome area and in Sicily they struck for eight hours, while schools, banks and post offices were shut down all day. It was the fourth general strike in two years over government economic plans.

The government seeks to replace the current option of full retirement benefits at age 57 with 35 years of service, by requiring 40 years of service for a full pension.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (mbec@mindspring.com).