The fourth World Social Forum opened here on Friday with a call to end the "American occupation of Iraq" and restore that country's control to its people.
Arundhati Roy set the tone for the evening, stressing that it was not enough to express solidarity with Iraqi people. Calling for direct action against the US, which had entered Iraq for its imperialist interests, she said: "Let's us decide here in Mumbai to identify at least two American corporations which have benefited from Iraq's destruction, and force them to shut down operations."
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Communist activities in Mumbai peaking
By: Binoo Nair
January 16, 2004
These are important days for the communist trackers of Mumbai police.
In a week of socialist protest that starts today at Goregaon, the World Social Forum (WSF), the Mumbai Resistance (MR) 2004 and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Flag, three parties who swear by red in different shades, will be conducting anti-globalisation seminars in the city.
Consequently, after a dormant 15 years following the assassination of trade union leader Datta Samant in 1997 and the death of textile mill unionism by the early 1990s, communist activities in the city are now peaking.
Police officers are once again poring over old files and manuscripts to track the communist elements. Helping the police are a group of ‘watchers’ — undercover cops who spy on communists and Naxalites, from places stretching from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh. Some of these watchers operate so secretly that they remain unidentified even to Mumbai police, say sources.
According to the investigations, many of the stalwarts of the WSF are from non-governmental organisations that were active during the textile mill unionism of the mid-1980s.
Those who have come under the police’s microscope are functionaries of the outlawed People’s War Group, the People’s War and certain fundamentalist groups masquerading as social organisations after the government crackdown on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
“We aren’t expecting violence but some elements spread across all three camps could be problematic. They’re a strange mix of religious social groups and hard core Naxalites, and tracking them has been an arduous task. A huge number of officers have been diverted to the task,” confirms a senior police official.
With heightened communist activities and many prominent leaders participating in the WSF, security has become problematic.
“If keeping an eye on VIPs is not enough, we have to keep our ears up for speeches that will be made at the World Youth Forum (a part of WSF),” says a senior police official.
The conferences at Goregaon will go on till January 21 and will conclude with a peaceful sit-in demonstration against imperialism and globalisation at Azad Maidan.
Police expect about 70,000 people to attend the WSF event while MR 2004 is expected to attract another 10,000.
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This communist war brought to you by Ford Foundation, Oxfam
AMITA SHAH
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2004 05:20:53 AM ]
NEW DELHI: With war against globalisation on their mind, top Indian left leaders are reaching Mumbai this week for the World Social Forum which ironically is associated with champions of globalisation such as the Ford Foundation and Oxfam.
CPI(M) and CPI leaders, including party chiefs Harkishen Singh Surjeet and A B Bardhan, as well as polit bureau members Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury and Marxist economist Prabhat Patnaik are attending the six-day meet which is to focus on “Another World is Possible”. Over 70 representatives of foreign communist parties, including those from China, Vietnam and Italy, have confirmed their participation.
Normally members of mainline communist parties have stayed away from such meets if they sensed that their organisers’ were in any way linked with ‘capitalist’ organisations for fear of being ‘co-opted’ by the canny enemy.
In this case, it appears their guard has slipped, inviting comments from several Left watchers here.
Asked to comment, Yechury said WSF was an open space for all to speak against globalisation and the money went only to certain organisations.
He said the left shared platform with these bodies only to argue against them by joining the ideological debate.
The CPI(M) had participated in a big way in the Asian Social Forum in Hyderabad last year.
Among those speaking on socialism and imperialism are Nguyen Thi Binh, veteran of the Vietnamese struggle against the US, Sourto Bertonitt, Italian leader of the Party of Communists Refoundation and Former Algerian President and leader of its revolution Ben Bella.
Around a dozen communists each from China and Cuba are expected to participate besides representatives of communist parties from the western world including United States, France, Canada, Spain, Portuguese and Brazil.
Left leaders from neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bangladesh are also attending the meet which expects a participation of around 75,000 people.
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The Fifth International? - "Noam Chomsky, attended this year's World Social Forum, and concluded that the conference holds "at least the seeds of the first "authentic" international, the dream of the left and labor movements since their modern origins." That is, the World Social Forum has the potential to replace the last two centuries' communist Internationals - the First, founded by Marx, the Second, founded by Engels, the Third by Lenin and the Fourth by Trotsky. The Fifth International! This dream of a Neo-Communist international left is a nightmare for America."
The INA, the Indian National Army, was a fifth column in India during WW2 sponsored by the Japanese and the Indian Communist Party to undermine the Raj. The British caught and hanged a number of them, but obviously not enough.
Also, this last little nugget from the Nobel Peace Prize winner, no doubt.. "Abadi alleged the US was not allowing the Iraqi and Afghan citizens to exercise their fundamental rights."
kinda gives ya shivers just reading that ..bbbrrrr
I'm still looking through news to find out if International cANSWER, Global Exchange, Code Pink(o), National Lawyers Guild, Muslim American Society, CAIR and other lefty groups have representatives there lobbying for overthrow of US government world peace...