Seminar on: UNDERSTANDING THE ROOTS OF TERRORISM

Lokayat statement:

UNITE TO UPROOT TERRORISM!

26 November, 2008. At 9.30 pm, young men armed with AK47 guns and hand grenades got down from boats at Mumbai coast. They broke up into groups, hired taxis and went to Shivaji Chatrapati Terminus, The Taj, Oberoi Trident Hotel, Nariman House. Entering the thickly crowded railway station and the five star hotels, they began firing indiscriminately, unleashing a dance of death. For nearly three days, the terrorists held several hundred people hostage in the luxury hotels. Finally, after a 60 hour operation involving a force of 477 National Security Guard personnel, one unit of marine commandos, six columns of the army and 400 members of the Mumbai police, 9 terrorists were killed and one captured alive. The bloody drama, which involved attacks in as many as 11 places in the city, left 183 people dead, and 239 wounded.

It appears that the Lashkar-e-taiba is responsible for the present attack. The objectives could be many: increasing India-Pakistan tensions thereby forcing the Pakistani army to shift its units to the India border, so as to reduce the pressure being mounted on the Taliban by the Pakistan army on the Afghanistan border; killing American and Israeli tourists and threatening India for building close political and military relations with these two terrorist states; spreading anarchy and terror.

The scale of the terror attacks left Mumbai reeling. But within two days, it recovered. No riots took place either in Mumbai or anywhere else in the country. Mumbaikars faced the tragedy with stoic and calm. They even organized a huge demonstration for peace and unity condemning terrorism.

In contrast, India’s rulers ran to America for help. They have allowed US and Israeli intelligence agencies entry into the country. The western countries led by the USA have used the opportunity to highlight the threat of global terrorism and justify the genocide unleashed by them on Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of “war on terrorism”. Now, using the same excuse, Israel has unleashed yet another genocidal war on the Palestinian people to crush their fighting spirit. India has not uttered a word condemnation of this dastardly terrorist attack.

Indeed, for India’s rulers, the 26/11 terror attacks have been a godsend. It has helped cement their growing reactionary alliance with the USA and Israel, the biggest terrorist states in the world. Taking advantage of its shock effect, they have quickly passed a black law similar to the notorious POTA to further terrorise the Indian people. By dubbing it as “India’s 9/11”, influential sections of the Indian establishment aided by the media (which profits from gory news) are whipping up war hysteria. Its drumbeats are helping drown the terrible atrocities being committed by the ruling classes on the people in every state in the country:

·         Recently, in Orissa, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad brutally attacked Christians. The orgy of lootings, burnings, murder continued for nearly two and a half months, which left more than 40 dead. Forty thousand people have been driven from their homes, half of who now live in refugee camps.

·         Hindu extremist organizations have carried out bombings in Parbhani in 2003, in Jalna in 2004… in Malegaon in 2008.

·         On October 30, 2008, 86 died and 826 were wounded in serial bomb explosions in Guwahati and elsewhere in Lower Assam.

·         The Salwa Judum army created by the Chattisgarh state has conducted a virtual campaign of killings, rape, abduction and arson on the adivasis, forcing more than two lakh people to flee their homes, so that their mineral rich lands can be handed over to giant corporations for mining.

·         It is estimated that a shocking 18 lakh people are subjected to police torture every year. More than 60% of them belong to religious minorities or are Dalits. Even human rights defenders are under attack, as the case of Dr. Vinayak Sen, in jail for the last 19 months on blatantly false charges, demonstrates.

·         The Central and State governments are forcibly dispossessing the peasants, adivasis and slum dwellers of their lands and homes and transferring them to foreign and Indian big corporations for setting up SEZs, mining and infrastructural projects, shopping malls, elite residential colonies, etc.; when people resist, police resort to lathicharge, firing…

·         The MNS has carried out brutal attacks on North Indian workers in Maharashtra, forcing thousands to flee.

In all these and innumerable other cases where a reign of terror has been unleashed on the ordinary people, no voices are raised; no campaign is waged by politicians, intellectuals, media to bring the perpetrators to justice. But when Mumbai’s incredibly luxurious hotels are targeted, 23 foreigners are killed, it is made into a major issue! Nevertheless, it is important take a look at the forces responsible for this terror attack.

Who are the real terrorists?

Everyone condemns the terrorism of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and other such organizations, as indeed should be done. But what most people forget is that its roots lie in American economics and politics. Also never mentioned is America’s global terrorism, which is incomparably more brutal, and has led to the deaths of lakhs of innocent people.

In Afghanistan, in order to overthrow a leftist government, the US created Osama Bin Laden and the fundamentalist Taliban. US Gave them enormous amounts of funds and arms. And when the demon refused to go back into the bottle, it became the excuse to attack Afghanistan after the September 11 bombing. The attack began on 7 October, 2001. Lakhs of old men, women and children died in the invasion.

Pakistan actively collaborated with US machinations in Afghanistan. The Taliban were taught religious fundamentalism and given military training in terrorist training camps in Pakistan. As a byproduct, it led to the growth of fundamentalism and terrorist organizations in Pakistan too. These have unleashed a wave of terrorist violence in Pakistan. So much so that Benazir Bhutto herself became a victim of this violence that she had helped create.

On 20 March 2003, US invaded and occupied Iraq in order to take control of its immense oil wealth. In Iraq Lakhs died. The Iraqi people who are fighting the US occupation of their country are called terrorists by the US, and the media all over the world dutifully repeats it. Then, America has backed Israel militarily and politically in its occupation of Arab lands in Palestine. The Palestinian people, who have been transformed into refugees in their own homeland, are fighting a heroic liberation struggle despite severe Israeli repression. Yet, the media in India, instead of condemning the terrorism of US-Israel, dubs the Palestinian people as terrorists!

America has used its immense military and economic power to establish control over the wealth, natural resources and markets of numerous third world countries. It has led to massive increase in unemployment and poverty in these countries. To keep the people divided, the local rulers together with the US imperialists have promoted racism and fundamentalism. Frustration born out of unemployment and poverty, and fundamentalism has driven many youth to terrorism. Thus it is American rulers and the multinational corporations seeking to plunder entire planet earth who are primarily responsible for the growth of terrorism in the world.

Why is India a target?

In 1991, India abandoned its previous economic and foreign policies and began tailing America. It made friends with Israel and voted against Iran. And so India’s image has become that of a collaborator of the US-Israel ‘Axis of Evil’. On top of it, on December 6, 1992, without any reason, Hindu fundamentalist forces destroyed the Babri Masjid. After that there were riots in Mumbai. It was in reaction to these incidents that there occurred 12 bomb blasts in Mumbai on 12 March, 1993, in which over 300 people died. The next major wave of terrorist attacks has begun from 2002 onwards, after the BJP carried out the genocide in Gujarat in March 2002: 2 December 2002 – Ghatkopar, 6 December – Mumbai Central, 27 January 2003 – Vile Parle… the July 11, 2006 serial bomb blasts in local trains. These are all in revenge for Gujarat.

A second factor providing the breeding ground for growth of terrorism is the policy of globalization being promoted by the Indian government, which is sharpening the polarization in the country. On the one hand, the life styles of the rich are becoming more and more opulent, with their huge shopping malls, luxury cars and designer clothes. And on the other hand, a very large section of the population is being driven into deeper and deeper poverty.

Pakistan’s politics

The machinations of Pakistan’s ruling classes and US intervention have made Pakistan a very fragile state. There are multiple centre of power. The fragile democratic government, which came to power because of the powerful people’s movement, is struggling to assert its influence vis-a-vis the assertive military forces. Pakistan’s economy is in deep crisis – it is facing foreign exchange bankruptcy, inflation is running at a whopping 25%. There is rising ethnic strife, and a growing collapse of government control over many parts of Pakistan. The Pakistan government is not able to check the growth of fundamentalist organizations too; the Marriott hotel bomb blasts nearly killed the Prime Minister recently. In such circumstances, warmongering only creates conditions for the army to seize power once again, further strengthen all these divisive forces, worsen extremism, and as a reaction, aggravate the Hindutva menace in India. Actually, war can never be a solution; and in the case of India Pakistan, it is also going to be self-destructive, because of nuclear weaponisation of both countries. and

While the scale of our crises may be different, both India and Pakistan face similar problems. Therefore, instead of reduced cooperation between our democratically elected governments, we need more. Instead of cutting people-to-people contacts and other interaction between our countries, we must increase it. India must chart out an independent course. Putting our eggs in the US basket, or relying on it to mediate our relations with Pakistan, will be disastrous. The US always is guided by its short term and narrow interests. Pakistan closely allied with the US. It has pushed Pakistan to the brink of disaster. Now, India’s rulers are taking the same road, which will lead us to similar consequences… We, the people, must unite to fight and prevent this.

To defeat terrorism…

It is necessary to understand the roots of terrorism, from its global causes to local causes. At the global level, its roots lie in American imperialism’s rapaciousness. At the national level, Indo-Pak relations are responsible. While at the local level it is the growth of religious fundamentalism in society as a whole which is dividing people and creating hatred amongst them. We will have to work at all these levels if we want to seriously fight terrorism.

At the local level, people will have to unite, rising above regionalism and communalism. They must form peace committees at Mohalla level, village level, city level; be vigilant against rumour mongering; engage in cultural interactions and build close social ties across communities.

At the national level, it is in the interests of the people of India to oppose America’s global dictatorship, military invasions, murder of millions of people, global plunder by its giant corporations, its creation of breeding grounds for religious fundamentalism, its destruction of the cultural diversity of the world and the promotion of a single culture of consumerism which is making people slaves of money. Even if we are not being killed by bombs like the US is doing in Iraq, nevertheless under the sweet sounding name of globalization, our country’s rulers have allowed the US to economically and culturally invade our country. It has pushed tens of thousands of farmers into committing suicides. Lakhs of workers have lost their jobs. Millions of youth are facing the curse of unemployment. It is to divert the attention of people from these problems, divide them, that the ruling classes promote fundamentalism and terrorism. The people of India must unite, breaking the religious divide, to oppose American imperialism and globalization. We must unite to force the implementation of a people centered development model whose aim would be the well-being of the majority of the population and not the profits of a few large corporations. That is in the interests of the overwhelming majority of people of all communities.

We must also unite and fight for the implementation of a foreign policy which will not be subservient to US interests, but which will seek to build relations with our neighbors and other third world countries on a mutually beneficial basis. While taking steps to build unity amongst ourselves, we must also take steps to reach out to people in our neighboring countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh, and build cultural, educational and trade relations with them. We must begin somewhere… let us begin with little initiatives to build unity amongst ourselves, across communities… Some of us in Pune are taking the initiative to organize the following programs. Do join us.

Program 1:

Seminar on: UNDERSTANDING THE ROOTS OF TERRORISM

Main speakers: Praful Bidwai (Delhi), Prashant Bhushan (Delhi), Prof. Imtiaz Ahmad (Delhi)

Date:    January 25, 2009 (Sunday)

Time:   10.30 am - 5.30 pm

Venue: Lokayat Hall, opp. Syndicate Bank, Law College Road, Near Nal Stop, Pune.

Program 2:

HUMAN CHAIN to condemn all forms of terrorism

Date: Republic Day, January 26, 2009

Time: 10 to 11 am

Venue: Shaniwarwada, Pune