People Before Profit blog

Blogging from India #9 People's Theater goes right to the workers of Delhi

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:02:00 +0000

Blogging from India #7 Meet the Communist governor of West Bengal

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:52:00 +0000

PWW Editor Teresa Albano is blogging from India, where she attended the conventions of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist). The parties hold seats in the national Parliament and lead the governments in three of India’s states.

COIMBATORE, India — West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and attended the party's 19th Congress here in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Bhattacharya took time from his busy schedule for a People's Weekly World interview.

West Bengal is home to some 80.2 million people and its capital, Kolkata (Calcutta), is one of India's largest cities.

It is also a state that has been led by a Communist/Left Front government for the past 30 years.

'I like to say we were voted to power, we didn't capture power,' said Bhattacharya. The state's former chief minister, Jyoti Basu, was a founder of the CPI(M).

Thirty years of reelecting left-led governments makes West Bengal a unique world experience of Communists in power within the framework of a capitalist/landlord system.

'I firmly believe in the inevitablity of socialism,' Bhattacharya said. 'Capitalism is not the last chapter of human history.'

But as elected officials Bhattacharya and his party and their partners in the Left Front also 'do not ignore but accept reality.' This means they have to deliver a better standard of living for their people within a national framework that is capitalist-oriented and dominated by large landowners.

Outlining the accomplishments of the left government over the last 30 years, one can understand why they were reelected seven times. The last time, in 2006, the Left Front increased its majority. It now holds 235 seats out of 294 in the state assembly, or three-fourths.

Out of the 235 seats, the CPI(M) holds 178.

'Radical land reform has been one of our major successes,' Bhattacharya said. 'The struggle for a just land distribution changed the coalition of forces in the state.' He was referring to the Communists and farmers who demonstrated and sometimes forcefully occupied the land and helped propel the left into political power so they could implement further reform.

'One of the government's first acts was to give deeds to all the poor farmers (peasants) to prove they owned their acreage,' he said. Deeds were given in both the husband’s and wife's names. 'We didn't impose gender discrimination in property ownership.'

There are no big landowners in the state, the chief minister said.

A chief minister is equivalent to a U.S. governor.

There is certainly state power for the left here, but it is limited by the overall balance of forces in India.

Another reform the left, farmers and workers created in Wes Bengal is the implementation of local governments, called panchayats, throughout the rural areas and the state. This local government means farmers and village people have a say themselves in the development of their areas. 'Thirty percent of the leadership of these panchayats are women, and they are vibrant especially in the rural areas,' Bhattacharya said.

As a result of land reform, production of rice, vegetables and fish has increased. West Bengal is self-sufficient in these areas and can export its products. The poverty rate is the lowest in the country. According to the official figures 38 percent of India's population falls below the national poverty line. In West Bengal it is 27 percent, down from 56 percent.

'Our main challenge now is how to improve the quality of life and purchasing power of farmers and workers and those who are still in poverty,' he said.

That means, for the government, that capital investment has to be pursued. But how it chooses to pursue investment is a political question. At the CPI(M) congress and in its political resolution, much attention was given to these and related issues. The CPI(M) leads governments in two other states as well: Tripura — in the northeast as is West Bengal — and Kerala in the southwest.

'We seek capital investment on a mutual basis. Companies are looking to make a profit and we are looking to provide jobs so people can improve their lives. Companies must follow the labor and environmental laws of the land,' Bhattacharya said.

'This is investment based on mutual interest. West Bengal is a huge market — 80 million people.'

The left government has also invested heavily in human resources, mostly in education and health care. West Bengal has one of the highest rates of English speakers in India, something the government points out to many U.S.-based and other corporations.

West Bengal was the first state in the country to provide primary school education (grades 1-5) completely free with teachers receiving a decent salary. 'We also provide free meals and books to the students. Children cannot learn if they are hungry,” Bhattacharya said. 'Our target is 100 percent participation in these schools. We estimate there are still 500,000 poor children not going to school but we are confident that in the next three to five years we will have all children in school.'

Universal and free health care is also a goal for the left government. There are five types of medical care in West Bengal, from clinics to hospitals in both urban and rural settings. The chief minister estimated that about 70 percent of the rural areas are covered with some form of care.

'We get funds from the World Bank to help cover this medical program. But we tell them 'no conditions.’ We'll pay back the loan in two or three years, but you can't tell us how to staff the hospitals or how many doctors should be hired. That's up to us,' Bhattacharya said.

West Bengal's infant mortality rate — a telling indicator of the quality of any country's health care system — is one of the lowest in the country: 7 in 1,000.

University and vocational training, especially in computers, is growing in the state. There are 612 colleges, many of them engineering schools, and 17 universities that teach medicine, other science and technology, managing animal resources, etc. The state is investing in modernizing its agriculture while at the same time embarking on building industry.

There are other challenges the West Bengal government faces. 'When you have your [national] government at the center following one policy of liberalizing capital investment, there are challenges for the states,” Bhattacharya said. “Foreign trade is in the hands of the central government.'

Most recently the West Bengal government has instituted a pension plan for unorganized workers, who make up about 90 percent of the state's (and country's) workforce. The state also gives a special grant when workers are laid off and a factory is closed.

West Bengal attracted the U.S. corporate media last year during an intense struggle in the small town of Nandigram. Bhattacharya and other CPI(M) leaders speak frequently about the events there. Bhattacharya explained to the delegates attending the party’s congress how things developed. A photo exhibit also provided detailed information.

Land in Nandigram was being looked at for a chemical industry hub. Before the state government could explain what it wanted to do, a loose coalition of opposition forces, including armed Maoists called Naxalites, and others began organizing and spreading rumors that the government was going to take the land away from the peasants. There was much violence directed against the CPI(M) members in the area, including assassinations.

Communists and sympathizers were forced to leave their homes. The government decided to take back the town and violence erupted, including some killings by police. This created a crisis for the left because of the use of force by the police. It created division among the left parties as well.

But now the situation is back to normal in Nandigram, Bhattacharya said. The government said if the people don't want the chemical hub it will look elsewhere.

'We learned that we have to explain right away to the people — take them into our confidence — what our plans are,' Bhattacharya said.

U.S. imperialism was not a neutral observer during this time. In its human rights report for 2007, the Bush administration listed Nandigram as an example of human rights abuse. This angered the chief minister.

'Gujarat was never mentioned in a State Department human rights report,' Bhattacharya said. He was refering to the anti-Muslim pogrom started by Hindu extremists and supported by the Gujarat state government led by the extremist right-wing political party, the BJP. Thousands of Muslims lost their lives and property during the many-day pogrom.

The left governments in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura face many challenges. But they have also accomplished much during their times in office. Thirty years of Communist-led government in West Bengal is a tremendous accomplishment celebrated around the globe by those who struggle for a better world.

Read Albano's other posts from India:

Blogging from India #6 Cotton mills of Tirupur

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:21:00 +0000

Blogging from India

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:03:00 +0000

PWW Editor Teresa Albano is blogging from India, where she is attending the conventions of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist). The parties hold seats in the national Parliament and lead the governments in three of India’s states.

Keep up with her blogs in our Online eXtra section. These are some excerpts.

Great advances, great challenges

HYDERABAD, India — As I arrived at the Begumpet airport here, part of a two-person delegation of the Communist Party USA, we were greeted by a delegation of bank workers and members of their union.

The Communists who are active in and lead the bank employees union took the responsibility to meet all the international delegates. They said this particular union, associated with the Communist Party of India, has about 600,000 members.

After arriving at the “holistic resort” just outside the city where the international guests are staying, we headed to the CPI’s offices. A six or seven story yellow stucco building with the hammer and sickle flag flying on the top, it was a scene of great activity. The CPI’s general secretary, A.B. Bardhan, had just arrived from Delhi and some press was there filming him. He warmly greeted all of the international guests in this impromptu meeting, joking with the Australian comrade about the Indian-Australian cricket rivalry. Cricket is a huge sport in both countries.

The CPI holds a few seats in the Andhra Pradesh state assembly. But their roots are much deeper than the number of seats reflects. The party is widely credited with a massive land reform fight in the state during the early years of independence and continues to enjoy much respect and support from the people.

We met many party staff workers — beautiful, modest working-class men and women who reminded me of the salt-of-the-earth comrades I know in the U.S.

We drove and walked a bit around the city. This is a weekend full of religious celebration. There are the Christian celebrations of Good Friday and Easter. Hyderabad’s twin city, Secunderabad, has a sizeable Christian population.

Then there is the Hindu celebration of Holi. Plus the Muslim celebration of Eid-e-Milad. Hyderabad has a significant Muslim population. You see many mosques around the city.

Holi is by far the biggest celebration. Pictures of children and adults covered in “colors” grace the front pages of every newspaper. Dyes or paints of yellows and pinks are poured over or smeared on faces and arms. We passed a group of young men with motorcycles parked, taking a break and play-fighting by smearing these festive colors on each other. Holi is a time to have fun with some abandon.

A visual cacophony of buildings, signs, people, cows, dogs and the mess of construction vies for your eyes’ attention. Everyone is in motion. At one construction site very dark-skinned women wearing shirts and saris in bright colors and patterns carry baskets of bricks from one spot to another on their heads. Barefoot construction workers.

Then you speed by stores and malls with recognizable brand names in the windows: “Lee” and “The Gap.” Then whiz — a small Hindu shrine has a figure in its center and the remains of a fire in front of that. Then whiz — a group of boys, covered in dust, are playing cricket. Then policemen and security guards outside some government offices, then cart after cart with sellers of lime and lemon juice, coconut water or watermelons. These thousands upon thousands of small stands and carts are how many people scrape together a living for themselves and their families.

This is part of India heaving itself into the new century. Great advances and great challenges, great wealth and great poverty, great technological education and advances while women still carry bricks on their heads.

Roommates

My roommate is from the Communist Party of Bangladesh. She told me to call her Lina.

Lina is interested in what’s going on in the U.S. I try to explain what our struggle is like. The new possibilities for change, especially during this election year. But Lina is worried. She hears from her friends who live in the U.S. that nothing is happening. That the only quest in the U.S. is to make money. That the younger generation is very satisfied with their lives. Everything is easy, she hears. A push of a button and you get what you need.

I try to explain that so many young people oppose the Iraq war, are against Bush and are getting very active in the 2008 elections.

But she’s not convinced. Lina is a leader of a peasant/farmer organization. She said her elder son is jobless but her other son is a teacher. “Life is very hard in Bangladesh,” she said.

With 17 sugar mills in Bangladesh — some slated to be closed this coming year — Bangladesh has to import its sugar. The Adamjee Jute Mill, the biggest jute mill in Asia, has been closed under the order of the World Bank’s so-called reform program.

The Communists and others are demanding that the government stop listening to the World Bank’s advice.

Pelosi’s visit to India

When newspapers here reported a visit to India by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), eyebrows were raised. Pelosi, the first woman to hold the position of House speaker, is known in the U.S. as a common-sense progressive on many important issues. For example, she has opposed the Iraq war from the start.

But one area toward which Pelosi takes a hawk position is China. Pelosi represents a district in San Francisco where a significant section of business favors Taiwan and takes an anti-Communist, hostile position towards China.

Many who follow U.S. and Indian politics wondered if Pelosi’s visit was intended to be used against China. The answer appeared in the Deccan Chronicle, the area’s largest English-language daily newspaper, with its headline, “Pelosi in India to tick off China.”

After Pelosi met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she met with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. In a speech in New Delhi afterwards, she urged the world to denounce China for its alleged repression in Tibet.

China was quick to reply that Tibet is an “internal affair.” China’s ambassador to India, Zhang Yan, told reporters, “We don’t allow any country to meddle in China’s internal affairs.”

India and China have had a long and mixed history, including an ongoing border dispute which at times has erupted in armed conflict. During the Cold War and after the Soviet-Chinese split, India was viewed as pro-Soviet. And China developed military and economic relations with Pakistan.

India and China, the world’s two most populous countries, each have growing economies and needs including energy. In competitive capitalist terms, there is a rivalry between the two, something the U.S. would like to use to pit one against the other. The Communists in India and China, however, emphasize peaceful cooperation and sharing mutual interests to bring their countries’ populations out of deep poverty.

Communist Party of India opens 5-day meet

The Communist Party of India began its five-day congress here March 23 in a pouring rain unusual for the season and this area, which mostly does not get enough. But the rain nourished the fighting spirit of Communists and their supporters.

Present at the opening day ceremonies were leaders of the four other left parties that are in coalition with the CPI. Each party vowed to work together to challenge the policies of the Congress Party-led government that negatively affect the working people, farmers, women and minorities in India, while at the same time not allowing the far-right BJP party to take advantage.

The main issues of concern for the left are in foreign policy and domestic economic issues. The Indo-U.S. nuclear deal is the main point of concern. Because of U.S. imperialism’s strategy for Asia — to isolate China and to dominate the region economically, politically and militarily — the Indian Communists and left are opposed to the deal unless certain safeguards for Indian sovereignty and an independent foreign policy are met.

Economically, India boasts “fast growth” especially in the private sector. This model of development, however, has left “the vast mass of our people high and dry,” CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan said.

Chicago students march against gun violence

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:25:00 +0000

News and analysis

Turning grief and shock to anger and action, hundreds of Chicago high school students, teachers, administrators, parents and elected officials rallied here April 1 against the crisis of gun violence plaguing the city. The rally was called in response to the shooting death of the 21st student this school year from the public school system.

“Stop the killing. Pass gun laws!” exhorted Father Michael Pfleger, pastor at St. Sabina Church, as he read the list of all the state senators and representatives who have refused to support state wide gun control laws.

Pfleger spoke in front of rows of empty chairs, each with the name of a student and an empty pair of sneakers for those who had been killed.

“We want futures, not funerals!” cried Pfleger, a leader in the campaign against gun violence who three weeks ago vowed to hold a rally in front of the Illinois State Building every time a student was killed. So far there have been three rallies.

“No child is safe while guns are accessible in the streets across the city. We need young people to stand up and say enough is enough. We need young people to take the lead. This is a national emergency. We need our voices to be heard over the special interests and the National Rifle Association,” said Pfleger.

Pfleger called for legislation including some introduced by State Representative Harry Osterman (Dem-14) that would require gun purchasers to have an ID card, limit purchasing to one gun per month, reinstate the assault weapons ban, require universal background check and make gun crime data public.

One of the rally speakers was Ronnie Mosley, a Simeon high school student. “We the youth are here today. We are fed up and we won’t take it any more. It makes no sense. We can’t go to school without protection.”

Mosley said the Simeon students and the Local School Council had called a public meeting to discuss solutions.

“What’s the reaction? Direct Action! What’s the solution? A youth revolution!” said Mosley.

Many students came to the rally from Simeon High School. Chavez Clark was killed in the school parking lot while attending Saturday classes this past weekend. Students also came from Jones College Prep, Ace Tech High and Crane High School, the site of another killing last week. The students, frustrated and fearful over the continuing violence, had many answers in response to a reporter’s question on how to end it.

“Take all the guns away,” said Simeon student Ebonee Robeson, age 14. “You need to have a legal age for buying guns,” said 14-year-old Tierra Morrin, also of Simeon.

Sarah Loed, 15 of Jones College Prep added, “We need to strengthen the laws of how to get guns.” “We’ve got to figure out where these guns are coming from. Then we can start to stop it, said Alicia Holmes, 18, of Ace Tech. “We need to do more to build communication and to talk to each other.' 'The anger and violence often comes from misunderstandings,' added Sherise Harper, 18, also of Ace Tech.

Also speaking was Ron Holt, father of Blair Holt, a student slain last spring. “Last year on May 10 we were at 20 students killed. Blair was number 20. These shoes remind me of Blair and the shoes he wore. My heart goes out to all the parents who have lost children. Holt and other parents of slain youth have formed a group called Purpose Over Pain.'

Also addressing the rally were Mayor Richard Daley, Governor Rod Blagojevich, CPS CEO Arne Duncan and Rev. Marshall Hatch. After the rally, students marched around the State Building.

While partial measures are being lobbied for passage, the long-term solutions lie in both restoring funding to schools, after school and community programs and jobs creation, and taking on the gun manufacturers.

The rally took place the same day it was reported that half of all students in big city high school don’t graduate. Some observers connect the gun violence in part to the collapsing public school system and related support systems including counseling and mental health services.

“We need to have more programs for children. In my time we had more activities. There were more jobs. Funding for programs and education has fallen,” said Carol Grant, a CPS coordinator. “You used to have truant officers that would reach out to children who had left school. They cut that out about ten years ago. Now if you are out, you’re out.”

1000 persons die each day globally as a result of gun violence, including 80 in the United States. There are 640 million guns in the world and 8 million new ones manufactured each year. Guns kill, wound or disable about 1 million people a year.

A big battle remains to place some curbs on the gun manufacturers, a multi-billion dollar industry. Sturm, Ruger, Smith and Wesson, Sigarms, Bryco, Remington, and Mossberg are among the largest US handgun manufacturers. They and their front group, the NRA, have adamantly resisted any form of gun control and wink and nod at the vast illegal and underground trade in weapons. Any other industry whose product caused so much death and destruction would have been regulated or shut down years ago.

In addition, the Bush administration and previous administrations, at the behest of the big gun manufacturers have consistently blocked all efforts to curb illegal trade in guns internationally.