BRAZIL: REBELLION BURNS STAGES

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Published on Wednesday, 26 June 2013 02:54

 

BRAZIL: REBELLION BURNS STAGES

 

 

 

The mobilizations in Brazil began on June 6, with two thousand demonstrators in the center of São Paulo against the rise of fares of transport in that city. The repression, ordered by the State Government (on right) and supported by the municipal government (PT), was too much violent. Two weeks later, demonstrators in all the capitals and major cities of the country, had exceeded two million, (one million in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday20). The rise of fare was retired and is now almost an anecdote. Several other capitals and cities which had announced increases in transport also withdrew them, without involving the explicit statement of a claim in this regard. The Paulista Government's announcement by removing the rise fare, which sought to empty streets, was celebrated in the streets as a great victory. Own MPL (Movimento Passe Livre), convener initial, withdrew the so-called mobilization. It was, however, as if nothing: Friday 21, more than two million were in Brazilian streets. Several capitals were literally paralyzed. The village and Brazilian workers have begun a historic mobilization.

 

 

 

The fight against the rise of fares became a mobilization against the entire political regime. Youth went to streets with demands on transportation, health, education, against repression, against the Government and against the corruption of the ruling party and the opposition. The President (Dilma Rousseff) was whistled so loud at the opening of the Confederations Cup, and then shut her mouth for two weeks. The political regime was in a catatonic state. The police (military, federal, states, civil, etc., all the impressive repressive apparatus mounted under the dictatorship), was ordered to observe and intervene only in the case of depredations. Just at Friday 21 Dilma opened her mouth, announcing that the pre-salt oil royalties (underwater oil that the PT Government privatized) will be devoted to education (without saying how, of course). She summoned a meeting of governors and some mayors, the majority representatives of the most rotten, repressive and corrupt right, to organize a response of the regime as a whole. A shot that it may backfire her.

 

 

 

The main union confederations (CUT-PT, Força Sindical, CGT), the pro-Government students federation (UNE), accompanied by the usual chorus of NGOs and "progres" entities of all colors, issued a statement just two weeks after demonstrations and street fighting. After the usual progressive talk, proposed "the urgency of the realization of a national meeting, which wraps to States Governments, the mayors of major cities, and the representatives of all social movements (...) that meeting, is the only way to find outlets to cope with the serious urban crisis". The MST (Movement of the Landless) also signed this coalition of all Brazilian political reaction order to contain popular rebellion.

 

 

 

In the middle of the demonstrations appeared, as expected, looters criminals (infiltrated by police provocateurs, the P2), fascist groups and some others identified as "no party". Some, allies to neo-Nazi skinheads, harassed left-wing parties (PSTU, PSOL, PCB). The weekend (22-23) held a meeting to discuss how to combat these groups. Young people from the poorest outskirts, black or mulatto most, already are organizing them to break the heads of these tiny racist skinheads groups. The "no party", which sing the national anthem and sport Brazilian flags, are another thing; they are a symptom of the collapse of the social and political organization of Brazil, after ten years of rule by popular front - the alliance of the PT and their trade union confederation (CUT) with the PMDB and the evangelical right.

 

 

 

The Brazilian rebellion is not still a mobilization of class; it is the first episode of what's coming. It naked the filthy prostration of the labor union centrals’ bureaucracy (the CUT in the first place). The CONLUTAS, small classist union central (directed by the PSTU), has called for demonstrations this Thursday (27). Some of their unions (ANDES - university teachers), for example, called since the beginning to move together with the young people of the MPL. The proposal of a national plenary of workers and young people struggling to organize the fight begins to break through. Teachers from federal universities conducted last year a huge general strike of several weeks.

 

 

 

The left from the regime quickly came out to denounce a coup plot: protesters would be "useful idiots". Own MPL yielded to those pressures. Several demonstrations were carried out (in Brasilia, for example) after their conveners suspend them. Brazilian "liberals" are now in the excellent company of Turkish premier Tayyip Erdogan, who also denounced an international conspiracy against his Government and that of Brazil. Imperialism would have plotted to overthrow their allies; it is what they will say in the United States when the mobilization against the abuses of Obama begins.

 

 

 

International mobilizations in solidarity with Brazil are impressive, by the number of cities that are carried out, and by the solidarity of the local population. Brazil it is not facing a dictatorship, nor to a right-wing government, but to the Government of the world-wide symbol of the "progressive" left and compensatory social programs, which the capital of the world presents with compliments terms. The political clarification which this fight produces has international reach.

 

 

 

The Brazilian bourgeoisie has begun to discuss the urgency of a political reform, and even the possibility of a constituent assembly; recognizes in this way that we are not facing a temporary revolt. The revolutionary left only can forge itself giving an overall response to all the political problems posed, not only accompanying the popular rebellion. In Brazil we are witnessing another onslaught of masses, in the historical context of the collapse of capitalism, to break the world imperialist chain links and inaugurate a final stage of the World Socialist Revolution.

 

 

 

Osvaldo Coggiola (in: Prensa Obrera, PO Argentine)

 

 

 

Oppose the Continual Harassment of Rohit Prajapati

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Published on Monday, 24 June 2013 14:57

Oppose the Continual Harassment of Rohit Prajapati

Defend the Environment, Oppose Attacks on Working Class Rights and Health and Safety

(Statement of Radical Socialist)

 

Comrade Rohit Prajapati, member of Radical Socialist, and veteran trade unionist and environmental activist, associated with Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (Environmentalist organisation), Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, Jyoti Karmachari Mandal and Vadodara Kamdar Union (independent trade unions), as well as connected intimately to the anti-fascist militants of Gujarat from before the 2002 pogroms, has been under various kinds of political harassment, both from the Narendra Modi government, and from the big business companies that have been making huge profits under Modi’s regime.

Comrade Rohit was marked out when he, identified by the police as a Hindu, stayed in the predominantly Muslim inhabited Tandalja area in 2002. He was further identified for his role during the pogroms, and for his subsequent role. Comrade Rohit also had been arrested for participating in the struggles over the Narmada dam.

In the last two decades and more, he and his comrades, in trade unions, in the environmentalist organisations, have been fighting to link environmental issues and the rights of workers, poor peasants, adivasis. This has led to militant battles, court cases, and other forms of struggles. The issues include the struggle against inadequate protection for workers and local communities when hexavalent chromium is used, the struggle to get minimum wages for chemical industry workers, the struggle to keep Vapi, Ankleswar, Vadodara and Vatva industrial areas and the residential areas of workers and other common people cleaned up.

As a result, the Modi government had installed a surveillance programme, and police personnel were constantly coming to his home and asking questions for a whole year, even though no case had been filed. At the same time, the exposures of environmental pollution and the impact on health of workers and community dwellers in Vapi, Ankleswar, Vadodara and Vatva etc also got industrialists angry. They are aware that because of the struggles by trade unionists and environmental activists, Hema Chemicals has been put under restraint by the Supreme Court of India. In order to try and forestall such actions against them, the Vapi industrialists have filed two cases against comrade Rohit. Both are over the reports, based on his arguments, that Vapi is the most polluted town in the country.  The first is a civil defamation suit for Rs. 25 Crores (approximately 4.2 million US dollars), while the latest is a Criminal Defamation  suit under clauses of the Indian Penal Code that can lead to two years imprisonment.

Radical Socialist expresses the view that this is nothing more or less than another tactical move in an ongoing class struggle, which however is of great importance. Gujarat is not only the place that had a massive pogrom. Gujarat is also the development model that the fascists of the RSS-BJP want to highlight as the model for the whole of India. The struggles of comrades formerly in the Inquilabi Communist Sangathan, and now in Radical Socialist, along with their allies in trade unions, civil rights organisations, and environmentalist organisations, show up constantly that this model has devastating consequences for the working class and all other toilers. The Narmada waters go, not to the dry areas of Gujarat, as rhetorically promised before the dam was built, but to beautify the Ahmedabad waterfront. The industrial growth of Gujarat is based on repeated attempts to flout Pollution Control Board norms. Not merely by low wages, but also by physically killing the workers through pollution are these industrialists making fast profits and thus is Modi showcasing to the world his model Gujarat.

We call upon all working class, environmentalist, and socialist organisations, and all organisations concerned in any way with the rights of humans, to support these struggles. In this context, we urge the formation of a broad defence committee, that will look not only at the cases against Comrade Rohit, but also seek to support the work being done by the JKM, the VKU and the PSS about industry, workers rights and pollution.

 

We attach with this statement the note circulated by Comrade Rohit and Comrade Trupti Shah

(for the note online see http://www.radicalsocialist.in/articles/statement-radical-socialist/news/558-one-more-case-against-environmental-activist-rohit-prajapati )

 

International Liaison committee, Radical Socialist, 24/06/2013

One more case against environmental activist Rohit Prajapati.

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Published on Monday, 24 June 2013 14:54

One more case against environmental activist Rohit Prajapati.

The first Civil Defamation Case (SPL C. S. NO .77 OF 2011) was filed against Rohit Prajapati by Vapi Industries Association and others for Rs. 25 Crores on 13 June 2011. And now a criminal defamation case (C.C. No. 1503 of 2013) follows the civil defamation case, earlier filed by Vapi Industrial Association and others against Rohit Prajapati and The Times of India in June 2013. Both the defamation cases pertain to news reported on dated 5th June 2010, in the Times of India. [Vapi: caught in a toxic chokehold,http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-06-05/pollution/28278983_1_cpcb-comprehensive-environmental-pollution-index-gpcb ]. Summons has been delivered to Rohit Prajapati on 22 June 2013.

The Vapi Industrial Association’s contention:

The VIA in its notice in this criminal defamation case (C.C. No. 1503 of 2013) states,

“It is also sated in the said article, “Recently, environmental minister Jairam Ramesh called Vapi the most polluted town in the country. Forbes and time magazines have listed it among the 10 most polluted towns in the world. Its three streams – Damanganga, Kolak and Balitha – no longer resemble a water body. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has in fact categorized both the Damanganga and Kolak rivers unfit to support life. The Pollution has affected 71,000 residents living in 12 villages.” It is submitted that Shri Jairam had in fact visited Vapi, Gujarat. He had not only praised Vapi but said that other industrial estates should learn from Vapi. He declared Vapi pollution free. The same was reported in Times of India dated 8thJuly; 2010. […] It is also stated in the said article, “The Vapi Industrial Association (VIA) and the CETP has failed to regulate its members. Critical value of chemical oxygen demand, biological oxygen demand, ammonical nitrogen, oil residues exceed GPCB Norms,” says environmental activist Rohit Prajapati.”  The statement is totally false. CPCB officials and many reporters visited Vapi and praised CETP of Vapi.  […] The statement made in the said defamatory article is not only baseless but also malicious and made with malafide intentions.  […] The statement made “VIA and CETP has failed to regulate its members", is false. Recently officers of CPCB had visited CETP Vapi and have found that there is remarkable improvement in the COD and BOD in CETP plant. […] It is therefore prayed as under: (a) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to take the cognizance of the facts which constitute an offence u/s 500, 501 and 502 of the Indian Penal Code against the Accused and convict the accused for the offence committed.”
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Section 500 in The Indian Penal Code, 1860
500. Punishment for defamation. - Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

501. Printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory.- Whoever prints or engraves any matter, knowing or having good reason to believe that such matter is defamatory of any person, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

502. Sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter. - Whoever sells or offers for sale any printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter, knowing that it contains such matter, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our contention:

The statements made in news papers are based on the information received from Central Pollution Control Board and Gujarat Pollution Control Board under Right to Information Act, 2005.

The ongoing hearing of the Civil Defamation case SPL C. S. No. 77 of 2011 against Rohit Prajapati is on 27 June 2013.

The first hearing of the Criminal Defamation case C. C. No. 1503 of 2013 against Rohit Prajapati is on 18 July 2013.

Probably this is one more “action” and many more such legal and “other action” may come in the coming days from others also.

We are determined to fight these legal and other battles that we may have to face in the coming days.

It is an open secret that most of the ‘Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) of Gujarat are not able to meet the  Gujarat State Pollution Control Board(GPCB) norms since long and all most all the news paper have reported about this not once but number of times in detail.

As many of you are aware, attempts to force industry to adhere to environmental norms, and attempts to create norms, have been viewed with deep hatred by industry and government alike.

There is sufficient reason to apprehend that individuals and interest groups affected by our efforts may resort to legal, extra-legal and other means against some of us. We want to alert you to that possibility and request quick action in case of any such eventuality. Rohit Prajapati have already been subjected to repeated questioning by police both in office and at his home, amounting to intimidation and harassment.

We would therefore appeal to friends and activists in trade unions, in human rights movements and in environment movements, as well as in other social movements, to take note of these developments and to extend solidarity with us.

Swati Desai & Rohit Prajapati
Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti
 
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
History of intimidation, questioning by the police officials and state’s coercive tactics against any dissent:

The first Civil Defamation Case was filed against me for Rs. 25 crores on 13 June 2011. Now the criminal defamation case follows the civil defamation case, which was filed by Vapi Industrial Association and others against Rohit Prajapati and The Times of India in June 2013. The incidents in recent past give us reason to allege that this intimidation is happening at the state government’s behest.

The Vadodara Police Commissioner has yet to reply to my letter (Kindly provide me the reasons for repeated questioning by police. I would like to know the nature of the investigation, the basis of allegations or charges if any that prompts the questioning. – Rohit Prajapati) dated 10 October 2011.

An overview of our engagement:

I am involved in three organisations – Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Radical Socialist, Independent Trade Union – Jyoti Karmachari Mandal, Vadodara Kamdar Union, and People’s Union for Civil Liberties.  As a Trotskyist, I have been an internationalist, and have collaborated with comrades in the Fourth International over trade union, environment and other issues. In 2002, during the pogrom like atmosphere created by Hindutva fanatics, I along with other friends played some role in fighting that. As a matter of principle, we decided to stay on in Tandalja, resisting the attempt to turn it into a purely Muslim ghetto. We campaigned for the restoration of peace. We brought out, through PUCL, a comprehensive report on the Gujarat Carnage. We campaigned over the Best Bakery case. We also collaborated in bringing out the first collected documentation in English about the Gujarat Carnage, The Genocidal Pogrom in Gujarat: Anatomy of Indian Fascism.
 
My work as a trade unionist and my work as an environmental activist have been intertwined. We believe in the need for environmentally aware trade unionism, as well as a class approach to the question of environment protection.  As a result, for a decade and a half, we have been developing environmental agenda connected to industrial pollution.

We have consistently been raising the issue of industrial pollution in Gujarat and exposed the industry-Gujarat Government nexus that touts ‘treatment facilities’ as a solution to the problems of hazardous solid waste, effluent, surface & groundwater contamination. Our position has been founded on the facts & figures obtained under the Right to Information Act, 2005. Gujarat Pollution Control Board officials admitted that a lot still has to be achieved in pollution control.

As treatment facilities were / are not able to meet the Gujarat Pollution Control Board‘s (GPCB) norms a moratorium on starting of new industries or expansion of existing industries was declared for the Ankleshwar area on 7-7-2007, and now Ministry of Environment and Forests has extended it till further order. Later on, on 13-1-2010 a moratorium was declared for other areas like Vatva, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Vapi, etc. The moratorium was subsequently lifted for the Vapi, Bhavnagar, Junagadh area. PSS objected to the lifting of moratorium for Vapi because treatment facilities of Vapi are still not able to meet the GPCB norms. Today the moratorium for Vatva, Ankleshwar is extended till further order. This has stalled the projected huge investment in these areas of Gujarat. However, we believe that as responsible citizens, we are not and cannot be concerned only with the quantum of investment, but with what is being invested, what the goal of the investment is, and how it affects the masses of working people.

On 4 January 2007, Government of Gujarat granted permission to incinerate the hazardous waste of Union Carbide, Bhopal at Ankleshwar. We opposed it and also filed an intervention application in the Jabalpur High Court. Ultimately, Government of Gujarat was forced to withdraw its permission by letter dated 4 October 2008 and now case is pending in the Supreme Court.

A direct outcome of our persistent efforts since 1994 has been GPCB / Government having to act against Hema Chemicals, which was responsible for illegal dumping of hazardous chromium waste. As per the direction of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, the company has been ordered to pay Rs. 17 crores as first instalment towards remediation in the site. GPCB was constrained to order the confiscation of passport of Hema Chemicals’ owner, and prohibiting him from disposing of his property etc. The owner’s name has been flashed across all international airports in India so that he does not leave the country.

We had also launched a complaint against residential & commercial complexes coming up in the vicinity of hazardous solid waste sites in Ahmedabad (Vatva & Naroda) in violation of GPCB notification on industrial hazardous solid waste and The Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1989.

We are given to understand that Forest & Environment Department and Urban Development and Urban Housing Department of Government of Gujarat have decided to modify the CPCB & GPCB guideline and norms – which require 500 meters distance from TSDFs & CETPs for the residential complexes – and reduce it to 100 meters to legalize illegal residential complexes. The original guideline was issued with the intention of preventing risk to the health and safety of the people. The revision obviously looks at the profit margin of unscrupulous promoters, not the innocent buyers who will suffer in future.

The decision to continue to enforce the 500 meters distance stipulation for future clearly shows that this norm is not wrong and that is why Government of Gujarat is now modifying it to 100 meters only for post-facto regularization of illegal residential complexes, which came up in violation of the CPCB & GPCB guideline and norms. This is going to be a disastrous action on the part of the concerned authorities as far as the health and safety of the people is concerned. It is clear that such a decision can only be due to immense pressure from the rich and powerful.

Any post facto relaxation in the present environmental guidelines and norms is nothing but manipulation of present environmental norms to legalize illegal construction activities in order to favour powerful rich people who can pressurize the Government to act against the interests of ordinary people. We opposed the proposed dilution of norms and letters were written to Government of Gujarat and also to Ministry of Environment and Forest to intervene in the matter to prevent such illegal modification in Ahmedabad’s case.

The Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA), it seems, doesn't think that chemical industries have potential to cause chemical disasters in the state. Despite the Bhopal gas tragedy that killed thousands of people 25 years ago, the Gujarat government doesn't seem to have learnt anything. Reply to our Right to Information Application about Chemical Emergency Plan of the Gujarat state the GSDMA stated in their replies that “A Chemical Emergency Plan is currently under consideration at the Disaster Management Authority.”[1] GSDMA further stated in their replies that “In reference to your above mentioned letter where information like numbers and names of the chemical industries, chemical used, final product, pollutant generated and its impact, also information about engineered landfill site - treatment storage and disposal facility, effluent treatment plants, common effluent treatment plants, etc. have been sought by you, we would like to inform you that the requested information is not available with this office.”2

Mr. Narendra Modi, the CM is the chairperson of the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority and the same authority has to implement ‘The Gujarat State Disaster Management Act, 2003. The Act clearly states ‘(2) (h) “ disaster”  means an  actual or imminent  event, whether natural or otherwise  occurring in any part of the State which causes, or threatens to cause  all or any of  the following: (i)  widespread loss or damage to property, both immovable and movable; or (ii)  widespread loss of human life or injury or illness to human beings; or (iii)  damage or degradation of  environment;’[3] but the web site of Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority states ‘The GSDMA has been constituted by the Government of Gujarat by the GAD’s Resolution dated 8th February 2001. The Authority has been created as a permanent arrangement to handle the natural calamities.’[4] What about environmental disasters? There is no ‘Comprehensive Chemical Emergency Plan’ with the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority. The Director, Health & Safety Department has an ‘Off Site Emergency Plan;’ but when I demanded a copy of it, I was told that it is secret.[5] A chemical emergency plan is not among the priorities in Gujarat, a chemical state with one of the country’s highest concentration of chemical industries. This is nothing but disastrous situation of Chemical State Gujarat.

On 22 June 2011, I wrote review of Mr. Narendra Modi’s book. ( http://www.radicalsocialist.in/articles/environment/378-narendra-modi-and-climate-change-a-response ) where I said “your bookCONVENIENT ACTION – Gujarat’s Response To Challenges of Climate Change selectively presents information and data which are convenient to defend the ‘development model’ being pursued by the state. Even the Gujarat Ecology Commission report acknowledges the abysmal status of the environment in Gujarat. Why did you base your book on cherry-picked evidence that ignores the level of irreversible environmental degradation in the state of Gujarat? You have included in your book on page 132-133 a photo of the 'Common Effluent Treatment Plant' of Vapi, a facility which has not been able to fulfil the environmental norms prescribed by Gujarat Pollution Control Board since many years. While the photo is very large, there is no discussion about the functioning of CETP of Vapi.”
 
Rohit Prajapati
Environmental and Trade Union Activist
Member of Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Radical Socialist, Jyoti Karmachari Mandal, Vadodara Kamdar Union & People’s Union for Civil Liberties


[1] Reply by GSDMA to Rohit Prajapati dated 10-8-2007
[2] Reply by GSDMA to Rohit Prajapati dated 23-8-2007
[3] http://www.gsdma.org/dmact.pdf
[4] http://www.gsdma.org/profile.htm
[5] Reply by Director, Health & Safety Department, Vadodara, to Rohit Prajapati, dated 9-9-2010


___________________________________________________________________
         Rohit P rajapati & T rupti S hah
        37, Patrakar Colony, Tandalja Road,
         Post-Akota, Vadodara - 390 020
        GUJARAT, INDIA
        Phone No. + 91 - 265 - 2320399
         Email No: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
____________________________________________________________________

Massive Sexual Violence on Women and the Collapse of Left Pretensions

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Published on Sunday, 16 June 2013 15:48

Massive Sexual Violence on Women and the Collapse of Left Pretensions

 

This essay was written in March 2003. At that time I had no access to any website, that would publish it. Nor was I able to get any print journal to accept it. As a result, though I have cited this in later essays authored or co-authored by myself, it has not been circulated too well. I believe it is important to publish it now, because we need to understand how deeply rape culture is ingrained in our society and polity, and how different political parties react when in and when out of power. Even now, CPI(M) supporters are writing as if brutal rapes and killings have started in West Bengal only after 20 May 2011. I am putting this up for a better understanding, and also because I hope, now that CPI(M) is forced to take to the streets on rape issues, some of their supporters at least will understand that one’s stand on rape cannot change with change in who is in government, if one is serious about fighting rape.

 

Soma Marik[*]

 

I.                   Events from January to March

 

The first quarter of 2003 proved to be a terrible one for women in West Bengal. While we will be coming later on to the by now utterly hackneyed and disbelieved refrain about how west Bengal is an oasis of law and order in India, and the ridiculous relative figures trotted out by every Home and Chief Minister and party boss of West Bengal CPI(M) for a quarter of a century, we will let the basic information speak for itself. Since this data is culled from only a few newspapers, if anything it is likely to understate the extent of rape and sexual violence on women in the province, together with the extent of involvement of cadres of political parties. Only after a presentation of this gross picture, at least as much is now visible, can we hope to analyse it’s meaning.

a)      On 1^st January, Gour Bauri of Bharatpur village in Burdwan was stabbed to death by hooligans sexually molesting his sister-in-law. – Kalantar, 25.1.03.

b)      Guskara College was shut down indefinitely after a mob ransacked the principal’s office following the thrashing of a man on 31^st January for making lewd gestures at girl students. He brought in about 200 supporters to attack the college. College administration suspended classes as they alleged not having received any help form the police despite repeated pleas. – Tel. 27.2.2003.

c)      On February 6^th, 2003, Dhantala in Nadia district witnessed the attack, and loot of two buses, and brutal gangrape of six young women travelling in these buses. Samir Ghosh, one of the bus drivers, was killed. It is widely claimd that this incident was the fall out of a conflict between Subol Bagchi and Sanat Dhali, two powerful local leaders of the CPI(M), who are connected to the Biman Bose and Anil Biswas factions of the CPI(M) respectively. According to the police, Bagchi and Dhali were at loggerheads over an MLAship, and the target had been a bus which was to carry Dhali’s family members. This bus, scheduled to return from a marriage ceremony, cancelled its trip at the last moment. The attackers mstook the two buses coming for the bus carrying Dhali’s family members, and so, ordinary women had to bear the brunt of a tussle between two ruling party bosses.—Aloke Banerjee, ‘Full Marx to faction politics’, Times of India, February 16, 2003, Ananda Bazar Patrika, February 16, 2003.

d)     In the Ghoksadanga Police Station area of Cooch Behar district in North Bengal, a woman alleged that she had been gangraped on the night of 22^nd- 23^rd February. A member of the Ganatantrik Mahila Samiti herself, she claimed that her rapists had been CPI(M) members and supporters. The police registered cases under Sec. 448/376(2) of the Indian Penal Code against a number of accused persons, including two members and four activists of the CPI(M). – Ananda Bazar Patrika, 13.03.2003.

e)      Residents of Bhagra under Manteswar PS in Burdwan have moved the Human Rights Commission against two senior police officials. In July, a police constable and his wife were found dead in their residence. Police treated this as suicide, while villagers say it was murder. Since then, relations between residents and the police have soured. Forced to reopen the investigation under pressure from the villagers, the police are now accused of harassing the locals, including using abusive language and molesting women. Suti Bibi, one such woman, has written to the Human Rights Commission that two policemen had ransacked her house and tortured her. She was forced to undress and then tortured. The complaints are directed chiefly against Samsher Ali, O-C Manteswar, and Sisir Roy, Circle Inspector. The District SP has rejected the charges. – Tel , 12.3.2003.

f)       A minor girl’s father has complained that his 12 year old daughter, who had been admitted to a health centre in Nabadwip, had been molested on 10^th March, allegedly by a staff member named Shankar Das. Das left on leave, by portraying to the block medical officer that he was being threatened for not curing a patient. – Tel., 13.3.03.

g)      Two men were sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl near the Baranagar rail line area. When the gag on her mouth slipped once she cried out. Hearing this, Raju Gupta, aged 20, a security personnel in a nearby airconditioned market, ran in with three friends. The two assailants, Nandakumar Sahani and Nandakumar Sau, attacked him with knives, his lungs was punctured, and he died in hospital. People of the locality say these two men, both in their forties, were frequenters of illicit liquor shops. Police have broken up 15 hooch shops and arrested 50 people. – ABP, 13.3.2003.

h)      The RSP has been agitating in Basanti, because the wife of an RSP member and member of the Amjhara panchayat. Local MLA and RSP South 24 pargana Secretary Subhas Naskar alleged that five men had entered the house, looted it, and gangraped the woman in Titkumar village under Basanti PS. The RSP has also accused the police of not taking an active role. Police has stated that the said RSP leader was arrested on 10^th March on a charge of being involved in a murder case. The attack on his house took place on the 11^th night.  Even before there was any medical examination, however, CPIM leader Sujan Chakraborty as well as high ranking police officers of South 24 Pargana district have virtually shrugged off the gang-rape allegation. While  the victim was produced in court (SDJM, Alipore) for a confidential recording of her testimony, and the court ordered medical examination of the woman, CPIM and Ganatantrik Mahila Samity leaders went to the village to gather information.  They acknowledged that some outsiders had entered the house, but played down the incident, and affirmed that no gang-rape had occurred. – ABP, 13.3.2003, 14.3.03.

i)        A tribal woman was raped in Patulia in Khardah, on 8^th March. She was given false information about her mother’s sickness, taken out of her home, and gangraped by two men. Local residents as well as the Trinamul Congress have accused that the two arrested persons are CPI(M) members. CPI(M) leader Amitava Nandy has rejected the charge. – ABP, 13.3.2003.

j)        Police arrested the son of a local CPI(M) Committee member in Nadia for allegedly molesting a 12 year old girl at Aranghata near Dhantola on 17^th March. Sujit Mondal was produced in Ranaghat court on the 19^th and remanded in judicial custody till 26^th March. – Tel., 20.3.2003.

k)      At Dangapara, four CPI(M) workers have so far been arrested for brutally assaulting Dipali Sarkar, a 38-year old mother of three on the night of 16^th March. Six people, including dipali’s sister-in-law, have been accused of tying her to a pole and stripping and thrashing her on a supposed charge of adultery. Dipali was ordered to attend a panchayati court, and tortured for refusing to do so. Old Malda CPIM Zonal Committee Secretary Probir Lahiri congratulated the police for quick action and said the accused had tarnished the party’s image. – Tel., 20.3.2003.

l)        Three young men named Chintu Sonkar, Ravi Sonkar and  Chandan Sonkar attacked a young woman and her male companion near the Governor’s house on the evening of  23^rd March,  when the duo were returning after a meal at a restaurant. As they were molesting the woman, her shouts attracted the attention of two constables, who ran in and rescued her. Police have filed a case of  molestation on the basis of the young woman’s formal complaint. –Ananda Bazar Patrika, 24.3.2003.

m)    That cases of rape involves not merely cadres of one party, but of several, has emerged in course of recent complaints. A 20 year old woman has levelled charges against Sheikh Jamir, said to be a CPIM worker, and has filed an FIR with the Nanoor Police Station stating the man had raped her on 22 March. On the other hand, another woman owing allegiance to the CPIM filed an FIR with the same Police Station, accusing Sheikh Sulaiman and Sheikh Munir of having raped her on March 20^th. The CPIM Nanoor zonal committee leadership have alleged that it is entirely a conspiracy of the Trinamul Congress working in tandem with the police. The view of women is that they are living in terror as the panchayat polls draw near. – Tel. 25.3.03.

 

II.                Reactions of parties, women’s groups etc

 

It is only by constantly keeping the entire picture presented above on mind that we can succeed in making our way through the fictitious land of peace and security presented, among others, by the advocate of an “improved left front”, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Of late, Bhattacharjee has been seeking to effect a Blairite transformation of the CPI(M). This has included a bid to make the Chief Minister and the elected representatives free of party control. Given that the CPI(M) is hardly a democratic revolutionary party, this is in fact a war between the die-hard Stalinists and those pushing for complete Social Democratisation. This became explicit over another context – when Radhika Ranjan Pramanik, the MP, publicly levelled charges of corruption against the ruling party, especially over the funds given to MPs and MLAs, and when the state party boss, Anil Biswas, responded  (in this context!!) that  it was the party, not the MP or the MLA, who mattered. So this puts the reactions of Bhattacharjee over the cases of rape in its due context. His responses have been stern and purely administrative. On 15^th February, speaking at a Combined Police Parade, he said that all those involved in the Dhantala episode must be severely punished. Concerning the Ghoksadanga rape, the Chief Minister virtually negated his party’s claims by stating in the West Bengal Assembly that the woman had indeed been gang-raped, at a time when the party leaders were desperately opposing this claim. He also showed himself at least more aware of the law than Anil Biswas. The latter had remarked that the raped woman was of a questionable moral character. Bhattacharjee, by contrast, stated that character could never be a precondition in a case of rape. On the same occasion, he also admitted in Assembly that six women had bee raped in Dhantala, and let it be known that 22 men had been arrested till that time. However, he sought to create an all-party character to the attack, loot and gang rape by saying that of the people arrested, seven were CPI(M) supporters, six Trinamul congress supporters and one a supporter of the Congress. He also took greater pains to defend the administration. When Saugata Roy (MLA, Trinamul Congress) cited the State Women’s Commission as having said in its report that some of the Dhantala accused had been seen moving around with the police, the CM rebutted the allegation, saying that this accusation was baseless. He also sought, once more, to put the events into “proper perspective’ by saying that such gang rapes are occurring all over India, and that it is difficult for the police to put a halt to such things for the psychology of the criminal functions at a deep level!! On 24^th March, the Chief Minister addressed a meeting of the Ganatantrik Mahila Samiti, the women’s wing of the party. He told the women assembled there that if a woman was molested, they should look after her interest and be vocal in their protests, instead of thinking about whether this would tarnish the image of the Left Front government. Interestingly, his argument was couched entirely in terms of what would ultimately help in the smooth functioning of the administration. He warned the women that so that the opposition could not raise a hue and cry, it was necessary that women activists of the Ganatantrik Mahila Samiti should protest if something serious had indeed happened. He also argued that criminal layers were being created by capitalism and consumerism. This is happening all over the country. The question, according to him, was whether such crimes were reduced and whether the guilty were punished. By both counts, he claimed, West Bengal was ahead of the rest of the provinces. This of course avoids a number of questions to which we will return in detail. For the moment, it will suffice to stress once again that Bhattacharjee is talking about rape as a law and order situation, and ignoring certain vital political dimensions, above all the fact that a supposedly Communist party harbours within its ranks so many people who use rape as a weapon for both party and personal aims, and harbours also the type of partynost (party mindedness) which leads its members to instantly react when such charges come up, by denying that their party members could do any wrong, by consistently casting aspersions about the rape/sexual assault victims and their “characters”, and by going all out to subvert the processes whereby the women could hope to get justice. The reformer’s face that he turns is therefore reform to put a mask on the hideous face of the major partner of the Left Front after a quarter century of uninterrupted rule.

 

Even this, however, compares favourably when one examines the responses of the CPI(M) and the Ganatantrik Mahila Samiti. We have already noted the response of Anil Biswas. As Maitreyee Chatterjee, a veteran women’s rights activist and the convenor of Nari Nirjatan Pratirodh Mancha, explained in a newspaper interview, between Bantala 1980 through Birati and on to the present, arguing that the victim was a woman of bad moral character has been standard technique for the CPI(M) – surprising though it may seem for a party that is all  for the destruction of bourgeois morality. Cutting away through reams of smokescreen, we discover that the reality is a bid to cover up all crimes by CPI(M) cadres, crimes of omission as well as crimes of commission. Since this seems like a harsh indictment, let us look at a few more recent reports. At an all India conference of young women, West Bengal State Secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, Rekha Goswami, flatly denied the responsibility of CPI(M) cadres for recent cases of rapes and sexual assaults. She asserted that the blame on the CPI(M) was an imputation of a section of the media, bent on discrediting the party. Another speaker, Indian sports personality Jyotirmaye Sikdar, also claimed that there was no lack of security for women in West Bengal. Specifically in the Ghoksadanga rape case, for the first week, the CPI(M) and the Ganatantrik Mahila Samiti had gone on rubbishing the report that the raped woman had had any CPI(M) connection, and had portrayed the entire case as a conspiracy against a loyal party activist. Then, as the pressure mounted, the stance shifted. Dinesh Dakua, a minister hailing from the district, swiftly asserted that Samiruddin, the principal accused, had been falsely implicated. Anil Biswas, apart from casting aspersions about the morality of the woman, announced that the party would conduct its own investigation. Interestingly, once the investigation was completed, the party did not publicise it, claiming that to do so would influence a judicial process. If true, this suggests the party controls the lower echelons of the state judiciary. In fact though, it really suggests that considerable egg has been smeared on the face of the party, and it is not daring to make the report public. A short while later, as the State commission for women, the police, all stuck to the position that there had indeed been gang rape, and as the SCW even alleged terrorisation in the area, the CPI(M) adopted a new tack. District Secretariat member Sudhir Pramanik spoke at a meeting held in Jayantirhat Rajendranath High School: “I am telling her, you come back to the party. You are young. You have made a mistake under the instigation of Trinamul-BJP. But once the panchayat elections are over they will not look after you. We will. So come back to the party so that we can together make it strong.” (Reported in Ananda Bazar Patrika, 18^th March, 2003). So now it was tacitly acknowledged that the victim too had been a party activist, as she had been claiming all along. It is not my contention that raping non-party members is better. But I want to emphasize that inner party differences being solved through rape, loot and murder seems to be well on the way to becoming a norm, even as CPI(M) leaders try to conceal this from the public gaze.

 

                  

One of the problem areas over the current spate of violence on women has been the role of the Women’s commissions. Writing in Mainstream, journalist Amitava Mukherjee expressed the view: “Equally deplorable has been the attitude of the State Women’s Commission. For a considerable period of time after the Dhantala incident it sat quietly and sent as three-member probe team to the site only after severe criticism from the media.” (Mainstream, March 8, 2003, p.30). However, Mukherjee’s suggestion, that the problem lies in selecting academics for the SCW membership, is not quite correct. However, the Dhantala case in West Bengal, even though to a lesser extent than the notorious role of the National Commission for Women over the genocide and mass raping in Gujarat last year, highlight the problem of autonomy for such officially constituted rights bodies. It is undeniable that the initial responses of the State Commission for Women were tardy, and that it caught a lot of flak. However, the subsequent position taken by the Commission should also be noted. The Commission indicted the administration and the police. Prof. Jasodhara Bagchi, Chairperson, stated that the Commission is convinced that at least two persons were raped, and stated that they had not been able to reach everybody. Even after twenty days, she said, the police had not recorded FIRs of rape. The report reiterated the public claim that some of the criminals were seen hobnobbing with the police. The Officer in Charge, Dhantala P.S., has been severely indicted for claiming that he had received no allegation whatsoever of assault or molestation of women. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women also sent a five-member team to investigate the complaints. Sudha Malaiya, one of the members, said that they had been told about a nexus between the police and political parties. This was an aspect missing from the SCW report. The NCW members also stated that victims had been warned by local CPI(M) leaders not to speak. At this juncture, we need to understand that political compulsions or motivations cannot be ruled out for the NCW either. Thus, the NCW report tends to highlight communal issues.

 

In the case of Ghoksadanga, the State Women’s Commission responded with alacrity. Rama Das, Vice-Chairperson of the Commission, not only affirmed that there had been indeed a case of gang rape, but went on to say that  supporters of Samiruddin  Mian were still trying to terrorise the local people. Interestingly, on the same day, newspapers carried a report that CPI(M) Politbureau member Prakash Karat had said about the Ghoksadanga rape case that prior to the panchayat elections, there would be many such attempts at mud-slinging.

 

Ultimately, all that has happened so far is due to resistance at the level of civil society. Seventeen days after the rape, the Dhantala victims were able to make their FIR, thanks to a local voluntary organisation of women. While the State Women’s commission also claimed credit for this, the SCW too acknowledged the role of this organisation. Srima Mahila Samity, the local self-help group which has been helping the Dhantala victims from the first day, not only managed to get their FIRs filed, but also organised a big demonstration of rural women. Nilanjan Dutta, reporting in the Times of India, wrote that it was in this protest demonstration that International Women’s Day found its meaning. All the assembled women, Dutta wrote, rejected the view (spread by certain women’s rights activists and interested political forces) that the case was one of members of one community assaulting members of another community. Maitreyi Chatterjee, in an article in The Statesman, asked an extremely important question. “Does the CPI-M consider sheltering party members more important than preserving the secular identity?” And if we want to understand why Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee displayed a willingness to challenge the party leadership’s versions, then too we must look at the reactions in civil society. Aparajita Goppi of Forward Bloc and Gita Sengupta of the RSP, both veteran women’s movement activists, had reacted sharply to Anil Biswas’s comments about the lifestyle of the rape victim at Ghoksadanga. Gita Sengupta asked how a communist could make such a comment. Biswas, unfazed, responded that if there are such questions, they are bound to be raised. Which of course shows that he neither knows nor cares about the law. The last bastion of nomenklatura is still hurling defiance at the rest of the world. Even Mr. Mukul Gopal Mukhopadhyay, West Bengal Human Rights Commission chairperson, joined the debate, saying that even a woman from the “red light area … has a right not to be raped”. Ms. Anuradha  Kapoor of Swayam expressed a widely held sentiment, that every time, a woman’s character is pulled up, revealing a total lack of understanding. Noted economist Nirmala Bandyopadhay, writing on behalf of Sachetana, likewise expressed grave concern, and opposed the imposition of political and communal colouring. She wrote that setting up slow moving, ponderous commissions that kill time would do injustice to the victims. This conscious and persistent pressure from civil society, including its latest manifestation, the day long programme by the women’s rights network Maitree on 24^th March, has been instrumental in keeping alive the brutality and injustice in the public mind and in compelling the government to take some action.     

 

 

III.             The Role of the State

 

                From the foregoing discussion, much of the role of the state has become clear. Contrary to the Chief Minister’s claims, the police in West Bengal have shown no special awareness of the trauma that rape/sexual assault victims face. A Sergeant Bapi Sen, who died in 2002 due to the violence of assaulters when he stepped in to help a woman being molested (by several other policemen) is an exception, rather than the norm. Whether in the case of Dhantala, or other, less “political” cases, the police seldom take prompt action. Reports from locals, the report of the State Commission for Women as well as the National Commission for Women, and others, all emphasize the inactivity of the police in Dhantala, Ghoksadanga, Guskara, etc. In the case of Ghoksadanga, Samiruddin, the main accused, was alleged to have unleashed a reign of terror in the locality for a considerable period. Totally belying Mr. Bhattacharjee’s claim, the police could not/did not even provide the minimum of protection, and people asserted that until the surrender of Samiruddin, they could not even go to the police to lodge a complaint against him. Two further developments in the Dhantala case further fuel suspicion about the role of the police. One of the accused, named Chimu Sardar, picked up by the police, escaped from police custody all by himself, supposedly by shoving the police officers interrogating him and running away. And Dr. Chandan Sen, the doctor at the Ranaghat hospital who had said in his medical report that women were raped in the Dhantala case, has been murdered, stated Indian Medical Association secretary R.D. Dubey.

 

The foregoing picture suggests a few simple conclusions, rather bleak:

First, the condition under which women live in West Bengal is terrible. Any woman, from a two year old child, (molested when this article was in the process of being written) to an old woman, can be raped or otherwise assaulted. The ruling party is very often involved in “political” violence and “political” rape, and the top leadership of the party dismissed these either as pre-election propaganda by its opponents, or, when this leadership is a little more intelligent, as in the case of the Chief Minister, it takes a purely law and order approach. What was most terrible about Mr. Bhattacharjee’s arguments (rapes caused by globalisation and consumerism, they happen everywhere, and West Bengal has a good record in bringing the guilty to book) is a total insensitivity to two dimensions. First, he is unaware that it is normally immensely traumatic for women, and getting a few rapists sentenced to a few years of jail (in fact, all over India, including West Bengal, the gap between rapes committed and rapes of which police take cognisance, and that between rapes for which FIRs are actually filed and rapists brought to book, is huge)

 Second, by saying that since the CPI(M) is such a big party, how could it control all its members, and so on, what the CPI(M) leaders are saying is that their party is no different from all the bourgeois parties. The pre-independence political ethos, when being the member of a nationalist party meant being a person possessing great personal integrity, was deemed to have survived only in the left parties. The CPI(M) leadership is categorically affirming that that is no longer the case. They are saying openly what they have been practising sub silentio for long – that clinging on to government, without attention to principles or scruples, is what matters to them, and that this brings about the compulsion to hire, and eventually to recruit, thugs and criminals, and that the struggle for power and pelf translates itself into murders, loots, rape, as it does to any other group.

                 

 

Maitree statement on arrests in Kolkata for protesting rapes and murders

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Published on Thursday, 13 June 2013 05:57

Condemn the Silence and Indifference of West Bengal government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over rising violence on women

Condemn the arrest of Maitree members protesting against violence on women

 

On 13 June, in the morning, Maitree members gathered near Kalighat, to try and meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and hand over to her a letter of protest. Maitree had felt compelled to adopt this course on the 12^th, as the news of the rape and murder of a school student in Nadia came hard on the heels of the whole Barasat episode – where a college student had been brutally gang raped and murdered, where some of the accused had TMC links, where the police had acted only after tremendous pressure from local people, and where the government, through a minister, had offered “compensation” to the family of the woman, while the Chief Minister had refused to meet civil society activists at Writers Buildings.

The totally peaceful gathering, modest in size, was told by the police to disperse. When they wanted to hand over a protest letter to the CM, they were told to hand over the letter to the police. On their rejection of this offer, on the ground that it was the CM who was the elected representative and the head of the government, thirteen of them were arrested and dragged into waiting vans which took them over to the Lal Bazar Central Lock-up.

It should be noted that from the rape of a speech and hearing impaired woman back in the 1990s to the rape and murder of Tapasi Malik during the Singur agitation, Mamata Banerjee’s rise to power has been connected to using cases of violence on women as major campaign issues. It is therefore particularly offensive, that once in power, she has chosen to act the way she does – sometimes accusing the victims of being liars and conspirators, sometimes silencing and suppressing civil society protests.

Maitree has demanded:

1.       Immediate action against those who carry out violence against women

2.       Ensuring that women have security and the right to work, study, get involved in all kinds of activities including leisure without any harassment and infringement on their mobility across West Bengal

3.       Ensure that Barasat, which has become a particular trouble spot, where women are regularly sexually attacked, raped, etc, is freed of the criminal elements

4.       Break up the illicit liquor dens in Barasat and end their connections with political parties

We urge everyone to also demand the immediate release of everyone arrested, and also to demand that the West Bengal government must accept the right of all, regardless of their political positions, to protest peacefully and democratically on issues they think are important.

Maitree

13 June 2013

Turkey in revolt!

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Published on Friday, 07 June 2013 03:49

Turkey in revolt!

 

Published June 6, 2013 | By Socialist Action June 2013

 

Turkey 2 By YASIN KAYA —

 

A first-hand report from ISTANBUL, special to Socialist Action. —

 

Since May 31, Turkey has been the scene of a popular uprising. As of June 5, numerous protests have spread across 77 of the 81 major provincial cities. More than a million people protested in the streets of Istanbul, and hundreds of thousands in Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Bursa, and Hatay.

The revolt grew rapidly after the Turkish police brutally attacked protesters in Taksim Gezi Park, an urban green space that the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul wants to demolish and replace with a shopping mall. The protests spread to the other cities in the following days, as they have become popular upheavals against the increasingly anti-democratic AKP government.

The masses won a partial victory when the police had to retreat from Istanbul’s central Taksim Square on June 1. Gezi Park has become a festive place where the protesters meet in solidarity and discuss the course of events. Clashes with police continue in other parts of Istanbul and in other cities. According to the Turkish Medical Association, 43 civilians were severely wounded and two protesters were killed as of June 4.

Is this the Turkish Spring? Is Taksim the Turkish Tahrir Square? Not until the workers’ organizations actively take the lead.

The left-wing labour union confederations, KESK and DISK, launched a solidarity strike. And leftist protesters call for a general strike. Important meetings are held to mobilize the progressive, as well as conservative, labour unions, which have issued timid statements, at best. There were numerous but fragmented strikes in several sectors and workplaces, like the Turkish Airlines strike, before the revolt. Uniting and politicizing these struggles with popular demands and helping the workers to initiate a strike wave remains a central task.

Not surprisingly, the leaderships of the biggest union confederations and of the largest unions are holding back. In Turkey, unions are organized on a national scale along occupational/sectoral lines. In most cases, there are two or three competing unions that are members of different confederations, and these did not actively support the protests, as they are controlled by Erdogan’s AKP (Justice and Development Party). The labour bureaucracy is an obstacle in the path towards organized labour joining in the revolt and fostering a Turkish Spring.

This is a popular uprising bringing together a wide range of people with different cultural backgrounds. The protesters are mostly young workers, mostly employed in the service sector, as well as students. Precarious workers and the unemployed are often visible in the front ranks. Since June 3, many high school students have joined the protests.

The energetic and creative character of the youth is visible in the way they use technology. Social media outlets have been very useful because all major TV stations first avoided covering the protest news, and then distorted it. For example, protesters communicate tips and tricks about how to reduce the effects of pepper spray and tear gas used by the police. They circulate lists of equipment needed.

This is not merely a protest of and by youths, though. People of all ages are in the streets, protesting. Clanging pots and pans protests are growing in the neighborhoods. Collective spirit is growing in solidarity. People are building barricades in Istanbul’s historic streets. These scenes have already entered the history books.

This revolt is already among the biggest popular political actions since the coup d’état in 1980 in Western Turkey. The nationally oppressed Kurdish people are familiar with huge protests. However, while many young Kurdish people are in the protests, the leadership of the Kurdish national movement does not actively support the revolt. That leadership could mobilize over a million people, just in Istanbul and could easily spread the movement to the cities of Eastern Turkey. But it is reluctant because it negotiated a so-called “peace process” (ending the armed struggle in exchange for a series of democratic reforms concerning Kurdish national identity. Thus it is an important task to link the Kurdish movement and its leadership to the revolt.

The broad movement lacks a political leadership. In other words, no political organization in Turkey is ready to lead such a massive movement with a wide social base.

The main opposition, CHP (Republican People’s Party), is a bourgeois party. It supports the movement against Erdogan’s AKP. More specifically, its decision to cancel its previously arranged mass demonstration set for Taksim was a significant factor in the police retreat from the square.

But the CHP is concerned about the protests’ posing a challenge to capitalist rule. This was the worry when the Istanbul stock market crashed on Monday, with the flight of short-term foreign capital. CHP softened its rhetoric and joined the chorus warning the masses against “marginal groups” and “provocations.” Nevertheless, CHP leadership does not fully control the militants in its rank and file. There is a huge possibility that its militants will to break away from the bourgeois CHP if the revolt advances.

The movement embodies a strong secular outlook. There has long been a tendency to equate secularism with Kemalist elitism and anti-democratic militarism. But now, the links between democracy, freedom, and secularism are being re-established. Although some segments of CHP and the ex-Maoist (now Eurasianist) Workers’ Party (Aydinlik) raise pro-military and Kemalist slogans to appeal to secular segments, secularists seem to be slipping from their grasp. That said, seeing many portraits of Mustafa Kemal, and hearing chants like “we are Mustafa Kemal’s soldiers” is no surprise.

The banners of ODP (Freedom and Solidarity Party), EMEP (Labour Party), TKP (Turkish Communist Party), and the other left organizations now decorate Taksim Square, displacing commercial signs. However, these parties are small and they are far from leading the movement. In numerical terms, the largest left party is the Turkish Communist Party. Like its sister party in Greece, the KKE, TKP followed a sectarian path until the revolt. For example, when thousands were fighting with the brutal police to try to gather in Taksim Square, the TKP held its own May Day rally in a different square. TKP militants are now with the masses. This illustrates an historical tendency for the rise of mass movements to marginalize sectarianism.

Socialist militants are more vocal then ever. They feel less isolated as millions join them in chanting their slogans against the AKP’s authoritarianism. For many, this is their first political action. They are receptive to new ideas, including the socialist ones. Nevertheless, Foti Benlisoy (activist and blogger) warns against sectarian agitation, stressing the importance of practically engaging in the concrete issues now facing the revolt.

The revolt in Hatay has a particular significance, and not only because the police killed a young militant there. Hatay is near the border with Syria, and its residents are increasingly affected by Erdogan’s war drive aimed at Syria. Only a couple weeks ago, many died in a terrorist attack, which is thought to be a consequence of Erdogan’s aggressive foreign policy.

Currently, Erdogan is on a tour of North Africa. In his absence, the AKP officials, and President Abdullah Gul, who used to be an AKP big shot, half-heartedly apologized for the police brutality. The bourgeois press shifted gear. It now tries to calm the masses, instead of simply ignoring them.

However, the business media increasingly point fingers at the so-called “marginal groups” and “provocateurs.” Videos of non-uniformed cops with clubs who are attacking people illustrates who the real provocateurs are. On June 5 scores of young people were arrested—for sending twitter messages. If the movement loses momentum, there is a risk of heightened repression. The police can target and arrest key militants, like their counterparts did in the aftermath of the Quebec student strike in 2012.

The revolt is far from over. Already it has enabled the masses to realize their political power. It is now at a crossroads. Its demands can be co-opted by the bourgeois rulers (which is the current trend), and remaining protesters can be marginalized; or the revolt can regain its momentum by challenging not only the rule of the AKP but the corporate agenda. Its success depends on engaging organized labour and the Kurdish national liberation movement.

This popular uprising underscores the urgent need for an independent mass labour party in Turkey. It demonstrates how obstructionist the corrupt labour bureaucracy can be. If the working class had its independent and organized political voice, this revolt could grow enormously and effectively to challenge the rule of capital.

This popular upheaval also demonstrates that social/political revolt is not a thing of the past. And when revolts begin, time accelerates! Turkey is already a different place then when my plane landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on May 30. But such upheavals require a revolutionary leadership equipped with the knowledge of history, and the experience of social movements, and a concrete programme and strategy, in order to claim political power and abolish capitalism.

As we say to our friends in Canada, and around the world, such a party should be built prior to the revolts, because during revolts there often isn’t sufficient time to build the necessary party that would be capable of uniting protesters around radical demands and leading them forward with correct tactics and a revolutionary strategy for power.

The revolt is in its essence a movement against the neo-liberal Islamist AKP, which has an anti-democratic character suited to ruling in the context of the present crisis of decaying global capitalism. Since capitalism is international, so should be the class struggle. Supporting the Turkish revolt is a part and parcel of building the international struggle against capitalism.

Workers and youths across North America should realize that this revolt is not merely about defending a public park. It has a great potential to become a mass movement aiming to take political power from the 1 per cent, by and for the 99 per cent. It can bring anti-labour Erdogan down if organized labour whole-heartedly supports the resistance. Workers in North America should demand that their organizations actively support the revolt. The progressive unions in Turkey need solidarity, and the conservative ones need to be pressured to act in the interest of the working class.

Turkish communities in major cities across North America organized solidarity demonstrations. Kurdish communities should be encouraged to participate with their just demands. Any form of Turkish nationalism will alienate the Kurdish people. Demonstrations should aim to put pressure on the Turkish state to halt the repression, release political prisoners, and meet the demands of the mass movement. In this framework, youths and workers, together with the Turkish and Kurdish communities in North America, should picket Turkish embassies and consulates.