source
PIRAKATA: The message from Writers' Buildings to show a human face while dealing with the warring populace in Lalgarh apparently hasn't reached the
force. Why else would a section of the state armed police (SAP) — terrified of IED explosions - catch hold of local youths and force them to poke around for hidden mines and explosives?
Acts like this will trigger more calls for vengeance and lead people to doubt the sincerity of the government's attempts to pacify the tribal villagers. It also exposes the lack of preparedness of the administration. There are just two CID bomb disposal experts stationed at Lalgarh. A second team is kept in reserve in Midnapore town to be deployed in case of 'VIP movement'.
A third is cooling its heels in Kolkata. There is not a single explosives expert with police forces anywhere else in the war zone. Ever since Friday evening's blast at Kuldiha, in which the Domkal SDPO's vehicle was hit and three policemen were injured, police have been wary of such attacks. T
he moment they come across any culvert, many policemen are scared to cross, fearing that Maoists might have planted an IED. Four blasts and half a dozen gunbattles have been reported ever since forces started their march to Lalgarh. Though no policeman has died, the guerrillas have scored a psychological victory — they have sown the seeds of fear and anxiety. It's this fear that has led some policemen, who are themselves not trained to detect explosives, to force local youth to do the dangerous job for them.
Eighteen-year-old Shambhu Ghosh, Madan Mahato (20) and Shakti Ghosh (23) from Dhangori village were among the unlucky locals. They have been on the run since last Thursday when security forces entered the village searching for Maoists.
On Sunday morning, they were having breakfast at a roadside eatery, close to the Pirakata camp, when a team of policemen surrounded them. One of them asked if they were from Dhangori village. "When we said yes, they asked us where we had been hiding for the last three days? We didn't give any answer. One of the policeman grabbed us by our collars and threatened to arrest us of we didn't work for them," Shambhu said.
The two were taken to Pirakata camp and given three-foot-long S-shaped rods (possibly taken from a construction site). They're then told to scan for any suspicious object — say, an abandoned bag or a box — lying on the roadside and use the rod to poke around and see if it triggers an explosion.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Maoists attack court premises, free 'commander'
source-times
LAKHISARAI (BIHAR): A senior government official and two security personnel were injured when armed Maoists attacked the civil court premises and
freed their 'commander' Babulal Besra here during their two-day bandh called to protest police action in Lalgarh. Over 50 ultras, armed with sophisticated weapons, raided the court premises, broke open the lock-up and freed Besra, who hails from Giridih in Jharkhand, district magistrate P K Jha said. They later attacked a police posse that tried to block their way and looted a carbine and two rifles from the policemen, who were outnumbered by the Maoist guerrillas, before escaping, he said. Deputy development commissioner (Lakhisarai) Rajiv Ranjan sustained minor injuries when chunks of wood flying from the smashed window of his room hit him, the DM said. Two constables, who suffered splinter injuries, were rushed to the government hospital here for treatment, Jha said. Meanwhile, the Maoists also blasted a tower of a private telephone service provider in Gaya and a community centre in Aurangabad.
LAKHISARAI (BIHAR): A senior government official and two security personnel were injured when armed Maoists attacked the civil court premises and
freed their 'commander' Babulal Besra here during their two-day bandh called to protest police action in Lalgarh. Over 50 ultras, armed with sophisticated weapons, raided the court premises, broke open the lock-up and freed Besra, who hails from Giridih in Jharkhand, district magistrate P K Jha said. They later attacked a police posse that tried to block their way and looted a carbine and two rifles from the policemen, who were outnumbered by the Maoist guerrillas, before escaping, he said. Deputy development commissioner (Lakhisarai) Rajiv Ranjan sustained minor injuries when chunks of wood flying from the smashed window of his room hit him, the DM said. Two constables, who suffered splinter injuries, were rushed to the government hospital here for treatment, Jha said. Meanwhile, the Maoists also blasted a tower of a private telephone service provider in Gaya and a community centre in Aurangabad.
We will spread this fire, says the Maoist from Lalgarh
21 Jun 2009, 0848 hrs IST, Sukumar Mahato, TNN
http://timesofindia .indiatimes. com/We-will- spread-this- fire-says- the-Maoist- from-Lalgarh/ articleshow/ 4681986.cms
My name is Manoj. It's not the name my parents gave me, but all my comrades call me 'Manoj'. My father's name is Dhiren Murmu. I am his second son
Inspired by Mao Zedong, Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal of the CPI (Marxist) develop a "revolutionary opposition" to the party.
More Pictures
and I am 25. I was born at Bamundanga village in Salboni. I've lived most of my life in this hopeless village. Our village falls under the Kansijora gram panchayat. The Left Front has been in power here for 30 years. Salboni has always been a CPM stronghold. But, in 30 years, neither the state government, nor the panchayat and Zilla Parishad took any interest at all in developing this area. We might have been living in the Stone Age.
When it rains here, the dirt tracks turn muddy and we are forced to drag ourselves and our cattle through the muck. We are not able to ride our bicycles or use carts. We don't have clean drinking water. People are forced to drink filthy, yellow water. After sunset, we live in the dark as there is no electricity here. No jobs either. During the paddy season, we work in the fields and then sit idle for the rest of the year. Because we are tribals, no one has bothered to do anything for us. In 2002, we got tired of being treated like rodents. So, the villagers got together and demanded development in our area. This infuriated the local CPM bosses. The police and Marxists slapped false cases on us, accusing us of working for the People's War Group (PWG). They branded us Maoists. So we began to think we might as well join the Maoists. Things turned nasty quickly. The former police superintendent of West Midnapore, K C Meena, lodged an FIR against the entire village. Nearly 90% of the men and teenage boys were charged with being Naxalite. We knew what was coming. We had to do something to save ourselves. I was just 18 at the time. I was in class XII at the local school. But, I too joined in protests against the police. Within days, the police filed a case against me, my father and brother. They accused all of us of working for the PWG. We had nothing to do with the PWG. Our family has always supported the Congress party. In 1998, when Mamata Banerjee formed the Trinamool Congress (TMC), we switched loyalty to her. One day, police jeeps rolled into our village, picked up people from their houses, bundled everyone into their vehicles and dumped all of us into the Midnapore jail. That was where I first met Maoist leader Sushil Roy. I found the Maoist ideology very appealing. Roy asked me to join the Maoists so that I could help the poor. I liked his ideas. Then I met two PWG leaders in prison. And I realized that neither Congress nor the TMC can stop the CPM's terror. I also realized that under CPM rule, we had lost the right to speak up. It was time to take a stand and speak up. I joined the Maoists. They gave me a new name, a new identity and a new life. Now, I work for the Lalgarh movement. I joined this great surge of people last year. On November 5, the police arrived here looking for people who had blasted landmines at chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya' s convoy at Salboni. In Lalgarh, the police rounded up innocent tribal women and began to molest and torture them. One woman lost an eye. Others were badly injured. After this incident, we decided to join the Lalgarh movement. It was our party's decision. The Maoists always stand with the deprived. We joined them at Nandigram and Singur. Now, we have joined them in Lalgarh. It's been easy for us to win the people's support. Most of them have been victims of torture by police. The people listened to us and joined the Peoples' Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA). Opposition party workers have also supported us. Everybody is rebelling against the CPM cadre and police. We know the government forces want to crush us. But, we plan to expand our area of influence. As soon as we are able to turn Lalgarh and Junglemahal (a forested area spanning three districts - Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore) into a Maoist-dominated area, we will apply our ideology here. We will undertake development work for the poor. We will raise money through public donations. And nobody will pay tax to the government anymore. After victory at Lalgarh, we will expand our fight to the tribal communities of Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chattisgarh. Our war has just begun.
http://timesofindia .indiatimes. com/We-will- spread-this- fire-says- the-Maoist- from-Lalgarh/ articleshow/ 4681986.cms
My name is Manoj. It's not the name my parents gave me, but all my comrades call me 'Manoj'. My father's name is Dhiren Murmu. I am his second son
Inspired by Mao Zedong, Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal of the CPI (Marxist) develop a "revolutionary opposition" to the party.
More Pictures
and I am 25. I was born at Bamundanga village in Salboni. I've lived most of my life in this hopeless village. Our village falls under the Kansijora gram panchayat. The Left Front has been in power here for 30 years. Salboni has always been a CPM stronghold. But, in 30 years, neither the state government, nor the panchayat and Zilla Parishad took any interest at all in developing this area. We might have been living in the Stone Age.
When it rains here, the dirt tracks turn muddy and we are forced to drag ourselves and our cattle through the muck. We are not able to ride our bicycles or use carts. We don't have clean drinking water. People are forced to drink filthy, yellow water. After sunset, we live in the dark as there is no electricity here. No jobs either. During the paddy season, we work in the fields and then sit idle for the rest of the year. Because we are tribals, no one has bothered to do anything for us. In 2002, we got tired of being treated like rodents. So, the villagers got together and demanded development in our area. This infuriated the local CPM bosses. The police and Marxists slapped false cases on us, accusing us of working for the People's War Group (PWG). They branded us Maoists. So we began to think we might as well join the Maoists. Things turned nasty quickly. The former police superintendent of West Midnapore, K C Meena, lodged an FIR against the entire village. Nearly 90% of the men and teenage boys were charged with being Naxalite. We knew what was coming. We had to do something to save ourselves. I was just 18 at the time. I was in class XII at the local school. But, I too joined in protests against the police. Within days, the police filed a case against me, my father and brother. They accused all of us of working for the PWG. We had nothing to do with the PWG. Our family has always supported the Congress party. In 1998, when Mamata Banerjee formed the Trinamool Congress (TMC), we switched loyalty to her. One day, police jeeps rolled into our village, picked up people from their houses, bundled everyone into their vehicles and dumped all of us into the Midnapore jail. That was where I first met Maoist leader Sushil Roy. I found the Maoist ideology very appealing. Roy asked me to join the Maoists so that I could help the poor. I liked his ideas. Then I met two PWG leaders in prison. And I realized that neither Congress nor the TMC can stop the CPM's terror. I also realized that under CPM rule, we had lost the right to speak up. It was time to take a stand and speak up. I joined the Maoists. They gave me a new name, a new identity and a new life. Now, I work for the Lalgarh movement. I joined this great surge of people last year. On November 5, the police arrived here looking for people who had blasted landmines at chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya' s convoy at Salboni. In Lalgarh, the police rounded up innocent tribal women and began to molest and torture them. One woman lost an eye. Others were badly injured. After this incident, we decided to join the Lalgarh movement. It was our party's decision. The Maoists always stand with the deprived. We joined them at Nandigram and Singur. Now, we have joined them in Lalgarh. It's been easy for us to win the people's support. Most of them have been victims of torture by police. The people listened to us and joined the Peoples' Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA). Opposition party workers have also supported us. Everybody is rebelling against the CPM cadre and police. We know the government forces want to crush us. But, we plan to expand our area of influence. As soon as we are able to turn Lalgarh and Junglemahal (a forested area spanning three districts - Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore) into a Maoist-dominated area, we will apply our ideology here. We will undertake development work for the poor. We will raise money through public donations. And nobody will pay tax to the government anymore. After victory at Lalgarh, we will expand our fight to the tribal communities of Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chattisgarh. Our war has just begun.
Ban will not affect us: Maoists
source-rediff
The Centre on Monday banned the Communist Party of India-Maoist as a terror organisation to avoid any ambiguity after the merger of the Communist Party of India-(Marxist Leninist) Liberation and Maoist Communist Centre in 2004.
However, West Bengal's Left Front government feels the Centre's move would make the outfit more aggressive.
A large section of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) feels banning the Maoists will hardly make any difference on the ground and it is better to counter them politically.
On Monday, Gour Chakraborty, the CPI (Maoist) spokesman, told rediff.com over the telephone that the Centre's stand would have no effect whatsoever on his party.
This is what he had to say:
The Centre's stand is not a new move. It had made a similar announcement in 2004. This time it just repeated itself in the context of the Lalgarh crisis.
We, the Maoists, believe in class struggle. We make no mistake in identifying our class enemies. The government that we have at the Centre now is a capitalist government run on the maxim: The poor should get poorer and rich the richer.
It is quite, natural, therefore, that the government won't like the existence of a people-friendly outfit like ours in an area like Jangalmahal, rich in foreset reserve, minerals and other natural resources.
Ever since we started our operations, we posed obstructions to the government's ambition of minting money by exploiting the resources of this area. Also, it saw in us a barricade that prevented them from taking undue advantage of the residents of Jangalmahal.
The government knows that unlike the Jangalmahal people, we are armed and that we know how to deal with violence, hence a ban seems to be the best option to put a check on our activities.
However, let me tell you, the central government is thoroughly mistaken. Since inception, the CPI (Maoist) has been an underground party. It has always carried out its operations clandestinely.
Therefore, a prohibition is not going to have any influence on our party's activities. In fact, it will only infuse into us a new sense of grit to counter the government opposition.
Interestingly, the central ban on us has put the Left Front government of West Bengal in a spot. One of the main constituents of the front happens to be the CPI-M .It is common knowledge that one Communist party can never ban another Communist party.
Therefore, the CPI-M as also a few other members of the Front, are against the ban as they have been in the past.
However, the ruling government of West Bengal, I am sure, will continue to arrest our men on the pretext of 'fighting violence', bring fictitious charges against them and will carry on their anti-Maoist activities across the state.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee too would not oppose the Left Front's anti-Maoist moves as she wants most of us to be either arrested or killed prior to the 2011 assembly election.
As the spokesperson of the CPI (Maoist), all I want to say is that these ever-changing political equations amuse us greatly; crafty politicians and their shifting loyalties entertain us.
As we stand united to put up a brave fight against our class enemies, we express our deepest hatred for the 'rotten' political system of our country.
As told to Indrani Roy Mitra
The Centre on Monday banned the Communist Party of India-Maoist as a terror organisation to avoid any ambiguity after the merger of the Communist Party of India-(Marxist Leninist) Liberation and Maoist Communist Centre in 2004.
However, West Bengal's Left Front government feels the Centre's move would make the outfit more aggressive.
A large section of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) feels banning the Maoists will hardly make any difference on the ground and it is better to counter them politically.
On Monday, Gour Chakraborty, the CPI (Maoist) spokesman, told rediff.com over the telephone that the Centre's stand would have no effect whatsoever on his party.
This is what he had to say:
The Centre's stand is not a new move. It had made a similar announcement in 2004. This time it just repeated itself in the context of the Lalgarh crisis.
We, the Maoists, believe in class struggle. We make no mistake in identifying our class enemies. The government that we have at the Centre now is a capitalist government run on the maxim: The poor should get poorer and rich the richer.
It is quite, natural, therefore, that the government won't like the existence of a people-friendly outfit like ours in an area like Jangalmahal, rich in foreset reserve, minerals and other natural resources.
Ever since we started our operations, we posed obstructions to the government's ambition of minting money by exploiting the resources of this area. Also, it saw in us a barricade that prevented them from taking undue advantage of the residents of Jangalmahal.
The government knows that unlike the Jangalmahal people, we are armed and that we know how to deal with violence, hence a ban seems to be the best option to put a check on our activities.
However, let me tell you, the central government is thoroughly mistaken. Since inception, the CPI (Maoist) has been an underground party. It has always carried out its operations clandestinely.
Therefore, a prohibition is not going to have any influence on our party's activities. In fact, it will only infuse into us a new sense of grit to counter the government opposition.
Interestingly, the central ban on us has put the Left Front government of West Bengal in a spot. One of the main constituents of the front happens to be the CPI-M .It is common knowledge that one Communist party can never ban another Communist party.
Therefore, the CPI-M as also a few other members of the Front, are against the ban as they have been in the past.
However, the ruling government of West Bengal, I am sure, will continue to arrest our men on the pretext of 'fighting violence', bring fictitious charges against them and will carry on their anti-Maoist activities across the state.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee too would not oppose the Left Front's anti-Maoist moves as she wants most of us to be either arrested or killed prior to the 2011 assembly election.
As the spokesperson of the CPI (Maoist), all I want to say is that these ever-changing political equations amuse us greatly; crafty politicians and their shifting loyalties entertain us.
As we stand united to put up a brave fight against our class enemies, we express our deepest hatred for the 'rotten' political system of our country.
As told to Indrani Roy Mitra
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Report of fact-finding team from JNU on the eve of Lalgarh violence
source -sanhati
June 17, 2009 (revised version June 20). By a fact finding team of students from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
A 9 member fact finding team comprising students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and journalists recently visited Lalgarh, to probe into the reality of the ongoing movement of the people in the area. Here is a preliminary account of our observations. We would like to appeal to your daily/ news channel to highlight on certain issues of the movement, which have so far been overlooked and neglected by the media.
We heard through various media and other sources that massive state repression had been underway in Lalgarh and other adjacent areas since November 2008, after the attempted mine blast on the convoy of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. We had learnt of the incidents of rampant police atrocities after this land mine blast, especially on women and school children in the area. Following this the people there had formed the Pulishi Santrash Birodhi Janasadharoner Committee (PSBJC) or the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities and have blockaded Lalgarh and other adjoining areas from police and other administration. With these preliminary facts in hand, we visited Lalgarh from 7 to 10 June. The team visited the villages of Chhotapelia, Katapahari, Bohardanga, Sijua, Dain Tikri, Sindurpur, Madhupur, Babui Basha, Shaluka, Moltola Kadoshol, Basban, Papuria, Komladanga, pukhria, Korengapara, gopalnagar, Khash jongol, Shaalboni, Shaal danga, Andharmari, Darigera, Bhuladanga, Chitaram Dahi, Teshabandh, Bhuladanga and talked extensively to people. We attended a big meeting called by the People’s Committee in Lodhashuli on the 7th of June and witnessed other small meetings which were held inside the villages. A firing and frontal battle between the people on the one hand and the state and armed gangs of the CPM on the other, in Dharampura and Madhupur/Shijua had started during our stay in Lalgarh.
The visit to Lalgarh and interaction with the people broke many of the myths which we still held before going there. After listening to the chronological narrative of the history of police atrocities in the area, we realized that the November incidents were not unique. It was merely the continuation of extreme state terror and police atrocities that the people of the region have been subjected to since 2000.
What is unique this time is the resistance, which has taken an organized and sustained shape this time around.
The people in all the villages we visited conclusively verified police torture. They described how the police entered houses very late at night, and in the name of ‘raids’ and ‘checks’ vandalized their houses and mercilessly beat them up, how any movement of the villagers at night even to look for their cattle was banned. Almost every family had one or more members who had been booked for being a ‘Maoist’. We were told about the 90 year old Maiku Murmu of Teshabandh who was beaten to death by the police way back in 2006. Young school girls were regularly molested by the police in the pretext of ‘body check’. Women were forced to show their genitals at night during ‘raids’ to confirm their gender. Before every election 30-40 people from every village were picked up as ‘Maoists’ in order to weaken the opposition to the ruling CPI (M). The incident of police brutality in Chhotopelia, where a number of women were ruthlessly beaten up and one of them Chhitamoni lost her eye, acted as the last straw. The arrest of three students on the baseless charge of ‘waging war against the state’ further enraged the people. Lalgarh have now risen up-in-arms against this long drawn atrocities and organised oppression of the CPI (M)
For the villagers, police terror was accompanied by the terror unleashed by CPI (M). In fact, the police and CPI (M) are not just in alliance with each other, they meant one and the same thing for the villagers. Our team was taken to Madhupur, where the local panchayat office had been turned into a camp of the harmad vahini (armed gangs of the CPM). They told us how the ‘motor cycle army’ of the harmads roamed around the villages, terrorizing people, breaking their houses brutally, firing in the air, and beating people up, exactly in the same way they did in Nandigram. The police not only stood as mute spectators whenever the harmads went on a rampage, it supported them in all possible ways. The harmads even used police jeeps to move around. To return these ‘favours’, the local CPI (M) cadres acted as informers for the police. We met one villager whose house was demolished by the harmad, during which he kept calling the police for help, but they never came. Similarly, they narrated the incident of Khash Jongol where the harmads open fired on a village meeting and killed three people, injuring three others. It was only after an armed resistance was put up by the villagers, that the harmads were forced to retreat to Memul and then to Shijua.
The Committee was formed against police atrocities but has also been carrying out alternative developmental work inside Lalgarh in the past seven months. These areas are marked by extreme poverty and backwardness. Agriculture is dependent on rainfall which is scanty. We saw the dysfunctional government canal, which is lying dry. They showed us the pathetic condition of roads which become completely inaccessible during the monsoons. The Committee on its own has made 20 km of roads with red stone chips (‘morrum’), with villagers volunteering their labour. They have repaired several tubewells, and have installed new ones at half the price than the panchayat. They have also started constructing a check dam in Bohardanga to fight the water crisis. Two major works undertaken by the committee is the process of land distribution and running a health center in Katapahari. The government was supposed to distribute wasteland among the landless, but never did so. Now the Committee is taking initiative in Banshberi and other villages to distribute the wasteland adjacent to the forests to the landless people. We witnessed the distribution of the patta in one village. The Committee has also turned a dysfunctional building in Katapahari into a health center, which attends to more than 150 patients every day. Doctors from Kolkata and other regions visit there thrice a week.
We had also attended a huge meeting called by the Committee in Lodhashuli against a sponge iron factory located in the region. We visited the factory site and saw the adverse effect of pollution on the trees, water bodies and land. The people informed that even the paddy grown in the region have turned black, so much so that even the panchayat has refused to accept the paddy. The meeting was attended by around 12000 people from many villages of the district, despite a bus strike called by CPM. It was a vibrant meeting, where the committee resolved among other things to boycott the factory and bring about its closure.
The presence of the Maoists within Lalgarh was one of the most contended issues during our visit. Our team observed the presence of Maoists and that they had mass support of the people in this area. Their posters could be seen everywhere. We were informed by the villagers that Maoists have held meetings attended by thousands of people. The people seemed pretty clear about the need for an armed resistance in the face of the regular joint attacks by the CPM and the state. The restriction on carrying traditional arms by them is a clear signal by the state to debilitate this movement.
This team was witness to the genuine anger and suffering of the people. Therefore, we do not agree with many sections sections of the media which brand the resistance there as ‘anarchy’. We also believe that the police, administration and CPM are solely responsible for the current situation in Lalgarh.
By the time we left Lalgarh, the struggle has intensified. By then, the people had been successful in making their immediate enemy CPM to escape along with the police. The enthusiasm we saw in the people was exuberant. For the first time they are being part of not some vote-minting political party but a committee which is their own organization. They are living a life free of state terror and building their own developmental projects. In different villages many residents held one opinion in common, ‘we have got independence for the first time’. Their fight is against age old exploitation, deprivation, torture and terror. In this way, it is a historic fight.
We urge the media to revisit Lalgarh. The movement has its roots in extremely impoverished socio economic conditions increased by the inaction of the state. The state is bound to strike back at this fight of the people. The CRPF and other central forces will soon come with the orders to open fire on the resilient masses. The state government is also shamelessly asking the notorious and infamous Grey hounds and Cobra to come and crush the people’s movement. That will be the most unfortunate and condemnable thing. The anger of the masses against massive state terror, underdevelopment and corruption is valid. And so is the fight against it. This team will publish a detailed report based on our visit about this movement in Lalgarh. We remember the progressive role played by some sections of the media especially the regional media in Bengal progressive role during the Nandigram movement and would appeal to you to also stand by the people of Lalgarh and their genuine fight before the state carries out yet another genocide.
Priya Ranjan, Banojyotsna, Sumati, Anirban, Gogol, Kusum, Reyaz, Yadvinder, Veer Singh,
Contact: 09711826861
June 17, 2009 (revised version June 20). By a fact finding team of students from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
A 9 member fact finding team comprising students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and journalists recently visited Lalgarh, to probe into the reality of the ongoing movement of the people in the area. Here is a preliminary account of our observations. We would like to appeal to your daily/ news channel to highlight on certain issues of the movement, which have so far been overlooked and neglected by the media.
We heard through various media and other sources that massive state repression had been underway in Lalgarh and other adjacent areas since November 2008, after the attempted mine blast on the convoy of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. We had learnt of the incidents of rampant police atrocities after this land mine blast, especially on women and school children in the area. Following this the people there had formed the Pulishi Santrash Birodhi Janasadharoner Committee (PSBJC) or the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities and have blockaded Lalgarh and other adjoining areas from police and other administration. With these preliminary facts in hand, we visited Lalgarh from 7 to 10 June. The team visited the villages of Chhotapelia, Katapahari, Bohardanga, Sijua, Dain Tikri, Sindurpur, Madhupur, Babui Basha, Shaluka, Moltola Kadoshol, Basban, Papuria, Komladanga, pukhria, Korengapara, gopalnagar, Khash jongol, Shaalboni, Shaal danga, Andharmari, Darigera, Bhuladanga, Chitaram Dahi, Teshabandh, Bhuladanga and talked extensively to people. We attended a big meeting called by the People’s Committee in Lodhashuli on the 7th of June and witnessed other small meetings which were held inside the villages. A firing and frontal battle between the people on the one hand and the state and armed gangs of the CPM on the other, in Dharampura and Madhupur/Shijua had started during our stay in Lalgarh.
The visit to Lalgarh and interaction with the people broke many of the myths which we still held before going there. After listening to the chronological narrative of the history of police atrocities in the area, we realized that the November incidents were not unique. It was merely the continuation of extreme state terror and police atrocities that the people of the region have been subjected to since 2000.
What is unique this time is the resistance, which has taken an organized and sustained shape this time around.
The people in all the villages we visited conclusively verified police torture. They described how the police entered houses very late at night, and in the name of ‘raids’ and ‘checks’ vandalized their houses and mercilessly beat them up, how any movement of the villagers at night even to look for their cattle was banned. Almost every family had one or more members who had been booked for being a ‘Maoist’. We were told about the 90 year old Maiku Murmu of Teshabandh who was beaten to death by the police way back in 2006. Young school girls were regularly molested by the police in the pretext of ‘body check’. Women were forced to show their genitals at night during ‘raids’ to confirm their gender. Before every election 30-40 people from every village were picked up as ‘Maoists’ in order to weaken the opposition to the ruling CPI (M). The incident of police brutality in Chhotopelia, where a number of women were ruthlessly beaten up and one of them Chhitamoni lost her eye, acted as the last straw. The arrest of three students on the baseless charge of ‘waging war against the state’ further enraged the people. Lalgarh have now risen up-in-arms against this long drawn atrocities and organised oppression of the CPI (M)
For the villagers, police terror was accompanied by the terror unleashed by CPI (M). In fact, the police and CPI (M) are not just in alliance with each other, they meant one and the same thing for the villagers. Our team was taken to Madhupur, where the local panchayat office had been turned into a camp of the harmad vahini (armed gangs of the CPM). They told us how the ‘motor cycle army’ of the harmads roamed around the villages, terrorizing people, breaking their houses brutally, firing in the air, and beating people up, exactly in the same way they did in Nandigram. The police not only stood as mute spectators whenever the harmads went on a rampage, it supported them in all possible ways. The harmads even used police jeeps to move around. To return these ‘favours’, the local CPI (M) cadres acted as informers for the police. We met one villager whose house was demolished by the harmad, during which he kept calling the police for help, but they never came. Similarly, they narrated the incident of Khash Jongol where the harmads open fired on a village meeting and killed three people, injuring three others. It was only after an armed resistance was put up by the villagers, that the harmads were forced to retreat to Memul and then to Shijua.
The Committee was formed against police atrocities but has also been carrying out alternative developmental work inside Lalgarh in the past seven months. These areas are marked by extreme poverty and backwardness. Agriculture is dependent on rainfall which is scanty. We saw the dysfunctional government canal, which is lying dry. They showed us the pathetic condition of roads which become completely inaccessible during the monsoons. The Committee on its own has made 20 km of roads with red stone chips (‘morrum’), with villagers volunteering their labour. They have repaired several tubewells, and have installed new ones at half the price than the panchayat. They have also started constructing a check dam in Bohardanga to fight the water crisis. Two major works undertaken by the committee is the process of land distribution and running a health center in Katapahari. The government was supposed to distribute wasteland among the landless, but never did so. Now the Committee is taking initiative in Banshberi and other villages to distribute the wasteland adjacent to the forests to the landless people. We witnessed the distribution of the patta in one village. The Committee has also turned a dysfunctional building in Katapahari into a health center, which attends to more than 150 patients every day. Doctors from Kolkata and other regions visit there thrice a week.
We had also attended a huge meeting called by the Committee in Lodhashuli against a sponge iron factory located in the region. We visited the factory site and saw the adverse effect of pollution on the trees, water bodies and land. The people informed that even the paddy grown in the region have turned black, so much so that even the panchayat has refused to accept the paddy. The meeting was attended by around 12000 people from many villages of the district, despite a bus strike called by CPM. It was a vibrant meeting, where the committee resolved among other things to boycott the factory and bring about its closure.
The presence of the Maoists within Lalgarh was one of the most contended issues during our visit. Our team observed the presence of Maoists and that they had mass support of the people in this area. Their posters could be seen everywhere. We were informed by the villagers that Maoists have held meetings attended by thousands of people. The people seemed pretty clear about the need for an armed resistance in the face of the regular joint attacks by the CPM and the state. The restriction on carrying traditional arms by them is a clear signal by the state to debilitate this movement.
This team was witness to the genuine anger and suffering of the people. Therefore, we do not agree with many sections sections of the media which brand the resistance there as ‘anarchy’. We also believe that the police, administration and CPM are solely responsible for the current situation in Lalgarh.
By the time we left Lalgarh, the struggle has intensified. By then, the people had been successful in making their immediate enemy CPM to escape along with the police. The enthusiasm we saw in the people was exuberant. For the first time they are being part of not some vote-minting political party but a committee which is their own organization. They are living a life free of state terror and building their own developmental projects. In different villages many residents held one opinion in common, ‘we have got independence for the first time’. Their fight is against age old exploitation, deprivation, torture and terror. In this way, it is a historic fight.
We urge the media to revisit Lalgarh. The movement has its roots in extremely impoverished socio economic conditions increased by the inaction of the state. The state is bound to strike back at this fight of the people. The CRPF and other central forces will soon come with the orders to open fire on the resilient masses. The state government is also shamelessly asking the notorious and infamous Grey hounds and Cobra to come and crush the people’s movement. That will be the most unfortunate and condemnable thing. The anger of the masses against massive state terror, underdevelopment and corruption is valid. And so is the fight against it. This team will publish a detailed report based on our visit about this movement in Lalgarh. We remember the progressive role played by some sections of the media especially the regional media in Bengal progressive role during the Nandigram movement and would appeal to you to also stand by the people of Lalgarh and their genuine fight before the state carries out yet another genocide.
Priya Ranjan, Banojyotsna, Sumati, Anirban, Gogol, Kusum, Reyaz, Yadvinder, Veer Singh,
Contact: 09711826861
Maoists take over Lalgarh an area of India's eastern West Bengal state
A Maoist-backed organization of local tribalpeople has virtually taken over Lalgarh, an area of India's eastern WestBengal state, and set fire to police camps and offices of the rulingparty.
Hundreds of supporters of the People's Committee Against PoliceAtrocities (PCPA) set fire to police camps in the villages of Salboni,Rangarh and Dharampur in the early hours of Monday, the Indian Expressnewspaper reported.
They also demolished offices of the revisionist 'Communist Party' ofIndia-Marxist (CPI-M), a leading partner in West Bengal's rulingcoalition.
The locals were accompanied by armed cadres of the CPI-M, which is spear heading the rebellion in the area.
Lalgarh town and adjoining villages in West Midnapore district haveseen widespread unrest by local tribes since November when the Maoistssupported the formation of the PCPA to organize protests against allegedpolice atrocities.
Barely 200 kilometres north-west of the state capital Kolkata,Lalgarh has been a virtual no-go area for the local administration sincelate 2008 and the media has largely been barred.On Monday, the media was allowed in and television channels showed drumming, dancing villagers celebrating the victory of the Maoists.
PCPA leaders were quoted as saying that they were not responsible for the arson or demolitions but that it was a spontaneous expression of anger.Most local officeholders of the CPI-M as well as police fled the areabefore the attacks took place.At least three CPI-M cadres were killed during the violence and twomore were missing.Three police posts were ransacked and set on fire along with a localoffice of the revisionist CPI-M.Television channels filmed PCPA members demolishing a new two-storeyhouse belonging to a local CPI-M leader on Monday.After the demolition, a leader of the Communist Party ofIndia-Maoist, identified as Bikash, gave a press briefing with his backto the camera and an AK-47 rifle slung across his shoulder.'The ground here is already ready and waiting for us. A child isabout to be born and we are playing the role of the nurse who willdeliver it,' he said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya called a meeting oftop officials to discuss future action in Lalgarh.Bhattacharya narrowly escaped a landmine blast triggered by theMaoists when he was passing through the area in November 2008, followingwhich, locals allege, the police atrocities increased with illegal detentions and torture.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Defend the right to freedom of expression and political opinion!
COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
185/3 Fourth floor, Zakir Nagar, New Delhi
15/05/09
Defend the right to freedom of expression and political opinion!
Release all the political prisoners who have been booked for exercising their right to not vote in Yamunanagar!
Condemn the attempts of the government to foist false cases and negative profiling of the political activists!
The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) take strong exception to the manner in which the police officials have resorted to a witch hunt of people who have exercised their right to not vote and had politically exhorted to the people of many villages in the Chhachhroli areas in Yamunanagar under the banner of Shivalik Jansangharsh Manch. These people have only resorted to exercising their democratic right in a democratic country that India claims to be to ask the people not to vote. And this is a constitutionally guaranteed right. To indulge in sensationalism and hostile profiling of the people involved in the campaign as anti-nationals and hence deserved to be charged under several sections such as 124-A, 153-B, 34 IPC, 125 RP Act of year 1951 smacks of nothing less than outright prejudice and pre-meditated attempts from that arm of the state who supposed to uphold the law so that justice prevails.
The state police and the CIA have launched themselves into a hyperbole and declared prize money of Rs. 11000 for anyone who would furnish information about the Maoists anywhere in the state. This again is a desperate attempt from the side of the state to deal with a political issue as a mere “law and order” problem. It also defies all reason and logic to understand this aggressive witch hunt indulged in by the state police and the CIA depicting the whole attempt to go on a poll boycott campaign through posters as a major threat to the national interest! The responsible person that he is, the SP Vikas Arora and his deputy Mukesh Kumar should explain how Shivalik Jansangharsh Manch is ‘anti-national’ when they resort to a campaign among the people to not vote as the local representatives has completely failed in protecting the aspirations of the common people. Does that mean talking for the interests of the people, the common citizen of this country, tantamount to being ‘anti-national’? The responsible and learned men in khaki should explain. It is interesting to note that immediately after the arrests the police are quick to add that they have increased the surveillance while the SDM Bilaspur has held meetings with the villagers and assured them full protection. Full protection for people from whom? From those who will talk in favour of their interests?
The act of the police and the government of Haryana defy all logic of a democratic polity. It exposes the worst face of a system which is scared of its own image. In a metro like Delhi, funded NGOs and pro-establishment organisations like the Youth For Equality have been campaigning for the right to not vote making a song and dance of the section 49 (O). Nobody bothered to arrest them. No one talked about any ‘anti-national’ designs and mind you there was no price money also.
When the poorest of the poor people resort to their democratic right and come forward to assert themselves the government and all its arms takes law and procedures to their hands and indulge in the worst kinds of arbitrariness. It is high time that all democratic people should stand up and expose this double standards and demand justice.
The CRPP calls upon the Haryana government and police to immediately stop the witch hunt of people having political opinions that might have a note of dissent with the status quo. Historically Haryana State has used Sedition charges to suppress voices of dissent. Around 50 peasants were charged under sedition in the Kandela Peasant Movement of Bhartiya Kisan Union during the Chautala regime in 2003. In 2007, 9 persons were charged under the same act while demanding residential plots on the Panchayat Village Common land. In the same year, 11 students were charged under the same act when they were protesting against Private University Bill. All these cases were proved false in the Court. The present arrested Poonam was also targeted in that case and was acquitted only in the previous month. Now she was staying at her parental house while again being arrested by Police after a media hype of Election boycott call given by Shivalik Jan Sangharsh Manch in Chhachroli region and the alleged Maoist presence there.
In the past 20 -25 days the police have arrested 14 people from different places to plot a major story. These include Poonam(24) r/o Brhaman Khera, Bintu(26), Charan Singh (22) r/o Bhund Kalan and Mukesh. They were arrested in the sequence: Poonam on 20 April from Brhamkhera, Bintu and Charan Singh on 9 May from Bhund kalan, Mukesh from Bhund Kalan on 10 May. This was followed by the arrests of Subhash and Dinesh, from Khijrabad Anaj Mandi. All of them are being portrayed as Maoists. Yet another five more have been arrested from Jind. The arrested are Rajesh, Ved Pal, Tilku, Sanjiv, Devinder.
The CRPP once again demand an immediate stop to all such arrests and framing of political activists of the Haryana government not to say the unconditional release of all the activists who have been part of the vilification campaign of the state and police. We demand all the forces fighting for democratic rights to protest against this undemocratic, authoritarian and fascist designs of the Haryana government.
In Solidarity,
Gurucharan Singh Amit Bhattacharyya SAR Geelani
President Secretary General Vice President
Rona Wilson
Secretary Public Relations
185/3 Fourth floor, Zakir Nagar, New Delhi
15/05/09
Defend the right to freedom of expression and political opinion!
Release all the political prisoners who have been booked for exercising their right to not vote in Yamunanagar!
Condemn the attempts of the government to foist false cases and negative profiling of the political activists!
The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) take strong exception to the manner in which the police officials have resorted to a witch hunt of people who have exercised their right to not vote and had politically exhorted to the people of many villages in the Chhachhroli areas in Yamunanagar under the banner of Shivalik Jansangharsh Manch. These people have only resorted to exercising their democratic right in a democratic country that India claims to be to ask the people not to vote. And this is a constitutionally guaranteed right. To indulge in sensationalism and hostile profiling of the people involved in the campaign as anti-nationals and hence deserved to be charged under several sections such as 124-A, 153-B, 34 IPC, 125 RP Act of year 1951 smacks of nothing less than outright prejudice and pre-meditated attempts from that arm of the state who supposed to uphold the law so that justice prevails.
The state police and the CIA have launched themselves into a hyperbole and declared prize money of Rs. 11000 for anyone who would furnish information about the Maoists anywhere in the state. This again is a desperate attempt from the side of the state to deal with a political issue as a mere “law and order” problem. It also defies all reason and logic to understand this aggressive witch hunt indulged in by the state police and the CIA depicting the whole attempt to go on a poll boycott campaign through posters as a major threat to the national interest! The responsible person that he is, the SP Vikas Arora and his deputy Mukesh Kumar should explain how Shivalik Jansangharsh Manch is ‘anti-national’ when they resort to a campaign among the people to not vote as the local representatives has completely failed in protecting the aspirations of the common people. Does that mean talking for the interests of the people, the common citizen of this country, tantamount to being ‘anti-national’? The responsible and learned men in khaki should explain. It is interesting to note that immediately after the arrests the police are quick to add that they have increased the surveillance while the SDM Bilaspur has held meetings with the villagers and assured them full protection. Full protection for people from whom? From those who will talk in favour of their interests?
The act of the police and the government of Haryana defy all logic of a democratic polity. It exposes the worst face of a system which is scared of its own image. In a metro like Delhi, funded NGOs and pro-establishment organisations like the Youth For Equality have been campaigning for the right to not vote making a song and dance of the section 49 (O). Nobody bothered to arrest them. No one talked about any ‘anti-national’ designs and mind you there was no price money also.
When the poorest of the poor people resort to their democratic right and come forward to assert themselves the government and all its arms takes law and procedures to their hands and indulge in the worst kinds of arbitrariness. It is high time that all democratic people should stand up and expose this double standards and demand justice.
The CRPP calls upon the Haryana government and police to immediately stop the witch hunt of people having political opinions that might have a note of dissent with the status quo. Historically Haryana State has used Sedition charges to suppress voices of dissent. Around 50 peasants were charged under sedition in the Kandela Peasant Movement of Bhartiya Kisan Union during the Chautala regime in 2003. In 2007, 9 persons were charged under the same act while demanding residential plots on the Panchayat Village Common land. In the same year, 11 students were charged under the same act when they were protesting against Private University Bill. All these cases were proved false in the Court. The present arrested Poonam was also targeted in that case and was acquitted only in the previous month. Now she was staying at her parental house while again being arrested by Police after a media hype of Election boycott call given by Shivalik Jan Sangharsh Manch in Chhachroli region and the alleged Maoist presence there.
In the past 20 -25 days the police have arrested 14 people from different places to plot a major story. These include Poonam(24) r/o Brhaman Khera, Bintu(26), Charan Singh (22) r/o Bhund Kalan and Mukesh. They were arrested in the sequence: Poonam on 20 April from Brhamkhera, Bintu and Charan Singh on 9 May from Bhund kalan, Mukesh from Bhund Kalan on 10 May. This was followed by the arrests of Subhash and Dinesh, from Khijrabad Anaj Mandi. All of them are being portrayed as Maoists. Yet another five more have been arrested from Jind. The arrested are Rajesh, Ved Pal, Tilku, Sanjiv, Devinder.
The CRPP once again demand an immediate stop to all such arrests and framing of political activists of the Haryana government not to say the unconditional release of all the activists who have been part of the vilification campaign of the state and police. We demand all the forces fighting for democratic rights to protest against this undemocratic, authoritarian and fascist designs of the Haryana government.
In Solidarity,
Gurucharan Singh Amit Bhattacharyya SAR Geelani
President Secretary General Vice President
Rona Wilson
Secretary Public Relations
Monday, June 08, 2009
Nagarjuna too ‘power’ful for them
UDUPI: The agitation against the coal-based Nagarjuna Power Project probably suffered a decisive blow with the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Authority (KIADB) evacuating the last three families from the project area under tight police security. One more family had been evicted from the area just a month ago. With this, over 100 families have been evacuated to make way for the Nagarjuna Power Project.
On Friday morning, houses of Deju Shetty, Gopi Poojary and Somayya Moolya were demolished using earth movers. While Shetty and Poojary had approached the Supreme Court, Moolya had filed a petition in the High Court. One Odi Mogera’s family had been evicted from the area last month.
When KIADB authorities had visited the houses to evict the residents, they initially protested. But later, they sought at least one week’s time to shift their belongings.
The officials denied the evacuees more time saying they had already been issued with a week’s notice and a show cause notice earlier.
The tearful evacuees vacated their houses with whatever they could carry.
Police, anticipating protests from anti-Nagarjuna activists, had guarded all the three gates of the project site
On Friday morning, houses of Deju Shetty, Gopi Poojary and Somayya Moolya were demolished using earth movers. While Shetty and Poojary had approached the Supreme Court, Moolya had filed a petition in the High Court. One Odi Mogera’s family had been evicted from the area last month.
When KIADB authorities had visited the houses to evict the residents, they initially protested. But later, they sought at least one week’s time to shift their belongings.
The officials denied the evacuees more time saying they had already been issued with a week’s notice and a show cause notice earlier.
The tearful evacuees vacated their houses with whatever they could carry.
Police, anticipating protests from anti-Nagarjuna activists, had guarded all the three gates of the project site
PCP Kill Soldier, Wound Four Others in Peru
LIMA – At least one soldier died and four more were wounded in an attack launched by Communist Party Of Perú (PCP) against the military base at Sanabamba in the Ayacucho region.
On Friday the attack occurred during a changing of troops at the military base, when a helicopter arrived bringing reinforcements.
Defense Ministry officials said that the aircraft was not shot down, but was hit by several bullets in the fuselage.Soldiers at the Sanabamba base are carrying out an offensive against the PCP in the valley of the Aspurimac and Ene rivers (VRAE), who move throughout this jungle region in an attempt to establish base areas.
It was in that same area that the PCP ambushed an army patrol last Easter Week, leaving 14 soldiers dead.The Maoist-inspired group launched its uprising on May 17, 1980, with an attack on Chuschi, a small town in Ayacucho province.
On Friday the attack occurred during a changing of troops at the military base, when a helicopter arrived bringing reinforcements.
Defense Ministry officials said that the aircraft was not shot down, but was hit by several bullets in the fuselage.Soldiers at the Sanabamba base are carrying out an offensive against the PCP in the valley of the Aspurimac and Ene rivers (VRAE), who move throughout this jungle region in an attempt to establish base areas.
It was in that same area that the PCP ambushed an army patrol last Easter Week, leaving 14 soldiers dead.The Maoist-inspired group launched its uprising on May 17, 1980, with an attack on Chuschi, a small town in Ayacucho province.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Phillipines: Revolution will put an end to backwardness and poverty
Gloria Arroyo's vision of the Philippines becoming a First World country by 2020 is a huge delusion. Arroyo deceives the Filipino people by repeatedly telling them that their century-old poverty will be coming to an end in a few years' time through her efforts and the measures she has taken. No one, of course, actually believes her when she insinuates that she has to stay in power in order to save the Philippines and deliver on her promise of prosperity.
The intensified crisis of the country's semifeudal economy and the blows inflicted by the current crisis of the world capitalist system have worsened economic backwardness in the Philippines. The same assessment has been made by the imperialist financial agencies.
So long as the Philippine economy remains a mere supplier of cheap raw materials and cheap labor for the imperialists, so long as it remains tied to exporting semi-manufactured goods, and so long as superprofits are extracted from it in exchange for a tiny amount of excess capital invested, the country will forever be condemned to backwardness and will remain agrarian and unindustrialized. It will also be constantly in the throes of permanent crisis and will never prosper under this rotten system.
The Philippine economy and Philippine society on the whole have been at a standstill since US imperialism imposed colonial and neocolonial rule, plunder and oppression. The implementation since the 1980s of the imperialist policies of "neoliberal globalization" and the concomitant policies of liberalization, deregulation, labor flexibilization, privatization and denationalization have worsened this already dismal situation.
The solution to the Filipino people's poverty and misery does not lie in Arroyo's empty promises. The US-Arroyo regime is in fact responsible for the continued backwardness of Philippine economy and society. This regime has not done a thing to develop the economy, industry, agriculture and the Filipino people's quality of life. It has in fact blocked national industrialization, land reform and programs and bills for the people's betterment.
It is the most rabid implementor of imperialist "globalization" policies that have further condemned the Filipino people to poverty. Imperialist "globalization" destroys productive forces, depletes the country's natural resources and deprives the poor of the most basic social services.
Revolution will put an end to the country's backwardness and rottenness. Through the new democratic revolution, we can overthrow the existing semicolonial and semifeudal social order and achieve national liberation, democracy, justice, peace and the prosperity that has been denied the country and the Filipino people for more than a century. Only through revolution can economic development be attained and the people's quality of life uplifted.
The socialist revolution that will lead to the establishment of a far more developed political and socio-economic system that will mainly benefit the working class and the toiling masses will be advanced as soon as the national democratic revolution is completed.
In advancing the Philippine revolution, we must wage allout resistance against the ruling US-Arroyo regime and all other puppet and reactionary regimes that prop up the ruling system until the entire rotten system is overthrown.
The intensified crisis of the country's semifeudal economy and the blows inflicted by the current crisis of the world capitalist system have worsened economic backwardness in the Philippines. The same assessment has been made by the imperialist financial agencies.
So long as the Philippine economy remains a mere supplier of cheap raw materials and cheap labor for the imperialists, so long as it remains tied to exporting semi-manufactured goods, and so long as superprofits are extracted from it in exchange for a tiny amount of excess capital invested, the country will forever be condemned to backwardness and will remain agrarian and unindustrialized. It will also be constantly in the throes of permanent crisis and will never prosper under this rotten system.
The Philippine economy and Philippine society on the whole have been at a standstill since US imperialism imposed colonial and neocolonial rule, plunder and oppression. The implementation since the 1980s of the imperialist policies of "neoliberal globalization" and the concomitant policies of liberalization, deregulation, labor flexibilization, privatization and denationalization have worsened this already dismal situation.
The solution to the Filipino people's poverty and misery does not lie in Arroyo's empty promises. The US-Arroyo regime is in fact responsible for the continued backwardness of Philippine economy and society. This regime has not done a thing to develop the economy, industry, agriculture and the Filipino people's quality of life. It has in fact blocked national industrialization, land reform and programs and bills for the people's betterment.
It is the most rabid implementor of imperialist "globalization" policies that have further condemned the Filipino people to poverty. Imperialist "globalization" destroys productive forces, depletes the country's natural resources and deprives the poor of the most basic social services.
Revolution will put an end to the country's backwardness and rottenness. Through the new democratic revolution, we can overthrow the existing semicolonial and semifeudal social order and achieve national liberation, democracy, justice, peace and the prosperity that has been denied the country and the Filipino people for more than a century. Only through revolution can economic development be attained and the people's quality of life uplifted.
The socialist revolution that will lead to the establishment of a far more developed political and socio-economic system that will mainly benefit the working class and the toiling masses will be advanced as soon as the national democratic revolution is completed.
In advancing the Philippine revolution, we must wage allout resistance against the ruling US-Arroyo regime and all other puppet and reactionary regimes that prop up the ruling system until the entire rotten system is overthrown.
Nepal Maoists revive Parallel State Structure
Enraged and pretty annoyed by their disrespectful departure from the government structure, the Maoists party has begun reactivating the people's local government and people's court that had been dismantled by the party's high command after the party became a part of the main-stream politics more so when it formed the government.
The Maoists Party Central Secretariat meeting of the Dharan City Committee, Sunsari District, stated on Thursday May 28, 2009, that the move was aimed at confronting the government based in Kathmandu that is formed ignoring what is called the peoples' supremacy.
The Maoists party had constituted the parallel structure at time of the peoples' revolt that was kept in a dormant state after the party became a part of the main-stream politics.
"The Dharan Committee meeting also assured that the party will continue to fight for restoring peoples' supremacy and provide justice to the needed ones."
"It is not a Peoples' Court in the strictest sense of the term but it is yet in its embryonic stage", said Dharan district in-charge Mr. Chotlung.
The Maoists Party Central Secretariat meeting of the Dharan City Committee, Sunsari District, stated on Thursday May 28, 2009, that the move was aimed at confronting the government based in Kathmandu that is formed ignoring what is called the peoples' supremacy.
The Maoists party had constituted the parallel structure at time of the peoples' revolt that was kept in a dormant state after the party became a part of the main-stream politics.
"The Dharan Committee meeting also assured that the party will continue to fight for restoring peoples' supremacy and provide justice to the needed ones."
"It is not a Peoples' Court in the strictest sense of the term but it is yet in its embryonic stage", said Dharan district in-charge Mr. Chotlung.
Phillipines: New Peoples Army statement - PNP Hit by Successive NPA Tactical Offensives
Spokesperson
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operational Command
New People's Army
May 31, 2009
The Philippine National Police contingent in Compostela Valley Province again suffered a heavy blow after two successive New People's Army tactical offensives last week. Yet again, this showcases the tactical initiative held by the people's army against the intruding forces of the GRP armed forces and police units.
On May 26, 2009, Red fighters of the NPA's Rhyme Petalcorin Command of Guerilla Front 27 ambushed an enemy column composed of troops of the PNP 1102nd Provincial Mobile Group and Special Action Force and some Cafgu elements conducting patrol operations in Barangay Mainit, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province. Seven enemy combatants were killed in action. The 1001st Brigade-10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army ordered an aerial bombing the following day, causing fear to farmers and their families.
On the evening of May 29, 2009, a platoon of the 3rd Pulang Bagani Company-NPA disarmed another 1102nd Provincial Mobile Group-PNP squad assigned as a security force of the APEX Mining Corporation in Barangay Masara, Maco, Comval. Swiftly seized were five high-powered rifles consisting of four (4) M16 armalites and one (1) M14 rifle after being surprised by the raiding NPA unit that entered the company compound. Since the target PNP unit did not make any armed resistance, they did not have any casualty.
The mining firm which is owned by the London-based Crew Minerals Corporation was punished for the continuing environmental destruction its operation has caused. One such devastation was the landslide in Barangay Masara last year that caused deaths and displacement in two barangays. Also, the 1102nd PMG-PNP in Comval forms part of the Investment Defense Force (IDF) -- the Arroyo regime's armed component that directly protects the interests of large mining companies and big agribusiness, and violates the inherent rights of poor peasants and lumads to their livelihood and ancestral lands.
In both combat operations initiated by squads and platoons of the Merardo Arce Command-NPA, the NPA did not have any casualty.
As the army battalions and special operations forces of the 10th ID-AFP go berserk in Southern Mindanao in a fascist rampage under the aegis of Oplan Bantay Laya 2, the people's army are ever ready to intensify tactical offensives in conjunction with an expanding and deepening mass base.
(Sgd) Rigoberto F. Sanchez
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command
New People's Army
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operational Command
New People's Army
May 31, 2009
The Philippine National Police contingent in Compostela Valley Province again suffered a heavy blow after two successive New People's Army tactical offensives last week. Yet again, this showcases the tactical initiative held by the people's army against the intruding forces of the GRP armed forces and police units.
On May 26, 2009, Red fighters of the NPA's Rhyme Petalcorin Command of Guerilla Front 27 ambushed an enemy column composed of troops of the PNP 1102nd Provincial Mobile Group and Special Action Force and some Cafgu elements conducting patrol operations in Barangay Mainit, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province. Seven enemy combatants were killed in action. The 1001st Brigade-10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army ordered an aerial bombing the following day, causing fear to farmers and their families.
On the evening of May 29, 2009, a platoon of the 3rd Pulang Bagani Company-NPA disarmed another 1102nd Provincial Mobile Group-PNP squad assigned as a security force of the APEX Mining Corporation in Barangay Masara, Maco, Comval. Swiftly seized were five high-powered rifles consisting of four (4) M16 armalites and one (1) M14 rifle after being surprised by the raiding NPA unit that entered the company compound. Since the target PNP unit did not make any armed resistance, they did not have any casualty.
The mining firm which is owned by the London-based Crew Minerals Corporation was punished for the continuing environmental destruction its operation has caused. One such devastation was the landslide in Barangay Masara last year that caused deaths and displacement in two barangays. Also, the 1102nd PMG-PNP in Comval forms part of the Investment Defense Force (IDF) -- the Arroyo regime's armed component that directly protects the interests of large mining companies and big agribusiness, and violates the inherent rights of poor peasants and lumads to their livelihood and ancestral lands.
In both combat operations initiated by squads and platoons of the Merardo Arce Command-NPA, the NPA did not have any casualty.
As the army battalions and special operations forces of the 10th ID-AFP go berserk in Southern Mindanao in a fascist rampage under the aegis of Oplan Bantay Laya 2, the people's army are ever ready to intensify tactical offensives in conjunction with an expanding and deepening mass base.
(Sgd) Rigoberto F. Sanchez
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command
New People's Army
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
ChatBox
