SARKASH: JANA NATYA MANCH (JANAM)’S FUND-RAISING FESTIVAL IN MUMBAI - SUDHANVA DESHPANDE

ABOUT six months before he was killed, in the summer of 1988, Safdar Hashmi gave a long interview to the Dutch theatre scholar Eugene van Erven. In this interview, Safdar talked about Jana Natya Manch (Janam), how it came into being, its history, he reflected on the plays done thus far. Towards the end of the interview, Safdar outlined the rough outlines of a big future project – to create a small cultural institute and training centre:

“The idea is that . . . we could buy a plot of land in a working-class district of Delhi and erect a simple building there without a fixed stage or anything but where we could have proscenium or theatre in the round or whatever we wanted to . . . There we could have a repertory of 10 or 12 professional actors who would do nothing but theatre, training ourselves. You see, we have become rusty. We have been performing so much that we have not been able to learn. Some of us were talented 10 years ago. To some extent we have been able to develop that. But since then theatre has advanced a great deal. We are feeling the need to learn so many things . . . We would like to [regularly] perform for a nominal charge . . . so that [the audiences] will have an attitude of responsibility towards it. During the day we could train ourselves and do other things beside the agitational-propaganda theatre we’re doing now. Our workers are culturally today starved and marginalised . . . Theatre doesn’t reach them at all . . . I would like to perform Shakespeare for them as well. I want to perform Gorki, Tolstoy, Chekhov . . . For all those activities an institute is necessary. Looking further into the future, if we want to sow the seeds for a truly people-oriented leftist theatre, we need this kind of a construction. At the same time we have a dream of making this institute a training centre for groups like ours who could come to us from different parts of the country . . . Right now it seems a farfetched dream. To start it we would need [a lot of money]. I don’t know where we are going to get hold of this money but we are going to try.” [This interview was published in the collection of his writings, The Right to Perform, and has been republished in Theatre of the Streets (available on www.leftword.com).]

Safdar’s motivations were manifold – every time Janam went to working class areas and slums to perform, he was excited at the talent he saw in the youth, and appalled that this talent would most often go waste; he was concerned that Janam might stagnate as artists if we only kept doing a certain kind of street theatre; he saw that many members of Janam were entering middle age and the pressures of family and work were beginning to tell on them; but most of all, he wanted to take the best of world culture to the workers.

TRAINING GROUND

The cultural centre that he envisaged, then, was to be a training ground for working class youth, a space where Janam members could replenish their creative resources, a centre that might allow some Janam members to become full-time cultural workers, and an institute that imparted training.

Over the years we realised that one of the key areas of concern for theatre groups was the lack of rehearsal infrastructure. A rehearsal space for an amateur theatre group typically means any place they are not heckled out of. It may be in the open, leaving the actors at the mercy of the elements; it may be filthy, damp and squalid; it may not even have running water or electricity. Theatre groups are forced, then, to rent rehearsal space at commercial rates, drilling a hole in their pockets.

Janam is currently working towards acquiring a space that will address two needs simultaneously. First, a space that will provide the facilities for Janam and other theatre groups and activist organisations to conduct workshops and training. In particular, a space that would encourage community engagement. Second, a space that can become a theatre studio, where performers do the final stage of their rehearsal before they go public. Since Janam is not looking to maximise profit, we would charge relatively small rental – just about enough to cover our expenses. We want to realise Safdar’s dream, updated to our time.

Naturally, this will require a lot of money – Janam wants to raise Rs One crore. To kickstart this effort, Janam recently organised a fundraising festival in Mumbai, SARKASH. Held over eight days, from December 4-8, the festival brought together some of India’s best-known performers at the Prithvi Theatre. The festival was kicked off with an open event that had Om Puri, Sanjna Kapoor, Rajat Kapoor, Yashpal Sharma, Luvleen Misra and others doing readings from Safdar’s writings and Janam’s plays. The play Satyashodhak by Govind Deshpande, on the life and work of Jotirao Phule, which was first produced by Janam, was released by Shyam Benegal. A collection of Janam’s 15 street plays, Sarkash Afsaney, and the special issue of Janam’s magazine Nukkad Janam Samvaad was also released. An exhibition-cum-sale of vintage theatre photographs from the archives of Janam, entitled ‘Street: Theatre’, curated by Joyoti Roy, was inaugurated by Shabana Azmi, who has been a long-time supporter of Janam’s work. This was followed by the play Tumhari Amrita, featuring Shabana Azmi and Farooq Shaikh.

The second day of the festival featured a very special performance: Naseeruddin Shah made his debut as a street theatre actor! The play was Janam’s Yeh Dil Mange More, Guruji, on the Gujarat pogrom. This was followed by Ismat Apa ke Naam, featuring Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah and Heeba Shah.

Janam opened its new proscenium play at this festival. Titled Char Rang, it is a play about Rabindranath Tagore’s short novel Chaturanga. This is not an adaptation – it is set in today’s times, and in fact much of the play takes place on the Delhi Metro – but refers to, and interprets, Tagore’s novel. The play is stylistically innovative, using puppets for some scenes as well as live painting, and focuses on two issues: the emotional independence of women and the debate between irrationality and scientific thinking.

The festival also featured Hamlet the Clown Prince, directed by Rajat Kapoor, in which a bunch of clowns try to put up Shakespeare’s classic with results which are hilarious as well as moving; Ramu Ramanathan’s Cotton 56, Polyester 84, directed by Sunil Shanbag, a play on the mill workers of Mumbai; and Aao Sathi Sapna Dekhein, directed by Swanand Kirkire, a musical love story set in Delhi’s Jama Masjid area. Janam performed Ujle Safed Kabootar, a reading of poetry for Palestine, accompanied by a visual essay by the filmmaker-designer Sherna Dastur. The final evening of the festival featured a concert by Shubha Mudgal, Sarkash Taraney, where she sang in her inimitable way a repertoire of socially-relevant songs by Kabir, Sahir Ludhianvi, Ibne Insha, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and others. She also spoke movingly about her association with several instances of artists’ solidarity after Safdar’s murder.

SUCCESSFUL FESTIVAL

SARKASH was a hugely successful festival, which saw the participation of large numbers of Mumbai’s theatre lovers. Those interested can see a special feature on the festival prepared by NDTV on http://www.pragoti.org/node/4241, while photographs and more details are available on www.sarkash.in. A large number of well-known cultural personalities issued statements in support of Janam’s efforts (available on the SARKASH website).

The natural question that will follow, however, is whether Janam succeeded in raising the requisite funds for the proposed centre. The answer to that is yes and no. Considering that the festival did not have any large corporate sponsorships, the fact that gate money, sale of merchandise, and small sponsorships managed to raise Rs 15 lakh must be considered a success – even though it is barely 15 per cent of the target! However, what the festival did was to get the word out there that Janam is working hard to give concrete shape to Safdar’s dream, and that this dream is backed by leading figures from the world of art and culture. An important plank of Janam’s fundraising efforts is centred on getting donations from friends, sympathisers, comrades, and the large number of fighting organisations that our theatre has allied itself to in the last 38 years (details of how to help are available at the ‘donate’ button on www.sarkash.in). As Naseeruddin Shah said, SARKASH is not the end, it is a beginning.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/

PINARAYI VIJAYAN: INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON KERALA IN NEW DECADE

ORGANISED by the AKG Centre for Research and Studies, an International Congress on Kerala Studies endeavoured to grasp the various developmental questions the state of Kerala confronts today. The participants in the congress, including academicians as well as social and political activists, deliberated on various issues and thus contributed to moulding some general perceptions and practical solutions for the sake of the state’s further progress and overall development. The congress arrived at certain general perceptions and delineated comprehensive programmes and projects for the coming decade. Though it is the Communist Party of India (Marxist) that runs the AKG Centre for Research and Studies, the congress took note not only of the Left view but also of the opinions coming from various kinds of political activists and academics.

It may be recalled that the first International Congress on Kerala Studies was organised under the leadership of late Comrade E M S Namboodiripad, former general secretary of the CPI (M) and one who had been the chief minister of Kerala twice.

COMMUNIST PERCEPTION

As for the projects delineated and proposals made by such congresses for the development of the state, it is true that they cannot be fully implemented with the limited powers of a state government. The communists cannot afford to harbinger the illusion that all the problems of the people can be resolved through governmental action in a bourgeois-landlord framework. At the same time, they do not adhere to the pessimist view that nothing is possible till the fulfilment of the people’s democratic revolution. It is with this communist perception that since 1957 the communist led governments in Kerala have sought to demonstrate how a Left government can rush some relief to the people by using the limited powers of a state government in the bourgeois-landlord currently prevailing in India. The present government of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has also established this fact.

In Kerala, the communist led governments have always strove to lead the state on the path of development and prosperity. At the same time, the Congress led rightist governments in Kerala always adopted a reactionary approach and thus put obstacles to the development of the state. It is an established fact that the first communist government in Kerala, formed in 1957, laid the basis for an overall development of the state. Before the central government dismissed in 1959 that communist government, led by Comrade E M S Namboodiripad, its initiatives included the Land Reforms Bill, the Education Bill, a democratic police policy, efforts to strengthen the public health system, social welfare schemes, and projects to develop backward regions, among others. All these initiatives constituted what has been widely acclaimed as the “Kerala Model of Development.” This resulted in far-reaching and significant changes in the Kerala society. Consequently, the state came to have universal education, a wide-ranging healthcare system, various social security schemes, minimum wages for the workers etc. Subsequently, the communist led government of 1967 too pursued these policies relentlessly and undertook numerous reforms in the next two and a half years before the central government dismissed it. That government, the second under Comrade EMS, reinforced the Land Reforms Act, and took initiatives to strengthen the decentralisation of power and democratise the education system. The enactments related to decentralisation of powers and agrarian reforms were some of the significant achievements of that period.

ENSURING PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION

Coming to power in 1980, a third CPI (M) led government not only strengthened the policy interventions of the earlier Left governments but also forged ahead with various new welfare schemes and further intervened in the matter of food security.

Formed in 1987, the LDF government laid emphasis on ensuring the people’s participation in various government programmes. In addition to numerous welfare measures, a massive literacy drive was launched during that period, which accomplished total literacy in the state. All such achievements in Kerala became possible due to the interventions of the communist led governments in the state. On its part, the CPI (M) and the LDF launched numerous agitations and movements to realise various demands of the people and also to safeguard all such achievements.

All such interventions have had a positive reflection in the life and of the people of Kerala. It was thus that an economically backward state, which Kerala has been, compared favourably with other states, even the more advanced ones, in the matters of above-average living condition, health and sanitation, education and literacy, drinking water and housing, etc, with a more balanced redistribution of the state domestic product (SDP) and income. The universalisation of the education system, creation of a wide ranging healthcare facilities, ensured minimum wages, land for the landless, elimination of the evil legacies of caste oppression and many other things became due to relentless interventions of the CPI(M) and LDF.

ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

However, it is true that the state could not attain economic growth in the same way as it made tremendous stride in the social sector. Numerous other questions have also come to fore, including the sluggish state of affairs in the industrial and agricultural sectors. The quality of education and health services and the issue of unemployment among the educated youth also need to be addressed as vital and significant issues. This is why the CPI (M) has been making zealous efforts to address these developmental questions.

In accordance with this understanding, the party initiated efforts to mobilise all such sections as are interested in the development of Kerala, and thus set off a broad-based movement with this objective. It was as part of it that the first International Congress on Kerala Studies was organised in 1994 under the guidance of Comrade EMS. The congress put forward the view that, cutting across political lines, we have to rally all sections of the society on the question of development. In fact, it was not for the first time that the Communist Party had suggested such a perception in regard to Kerala. Long back, in 1956, a document of the united party had stressed this point, which Comrade EMS himself had described as a stride towards a new epoch. Contrary to what many people assume, it is not an apolitical exercise. The right-wing politics aims to divide the people in different camps. But the communists aspire to unite all sections of the people on their common demands and pave the ground for people’s upsurge beyond the caste and communal divides. This very realisation forms the basis for organising such programmes.

MORE NEW STRIDES

The first international congress arrived at a common understanding on certain issues. It led to wide acceptance of the need to augment production and productivity in the industrial as well as agricultural sectors. The congress arrived at a general perception about eradication of poverty that exists among certain sections and about the significance of enhancing women’s participation in the process of development. The congress also underlined the significance of decentralisation of powers and recognised the need to further forge ahead the people’s participation in the process of development.

Formed in 1998, the CPI (M) led LDF government endeavoured to put into practice the perceptions of the first international congress. Thus it launched a People’s Plan campaign to strengthen the process of democratic decentralisation. As part of the People’s Plan campaign, many efforts were made to boost both the industrial and agricultural sectors. At the same time, it gave utmost importance to the newer areas like IT and BT. Many projects were also launched to utilise the tourism potential. Also, the government took steps to strengthen the health and education sectors, reinforced many social welfare schemes and also introduced new ones. However, what is significant to note is that the LDF government has been making all-out efforts to fulfil the aspirations of the people amid the economic crisis created by the neo-liberal policies of the central government, which have been threatening to undo all such gains.

That frequent government changes in the state are not beneficial to the potential progress of the state is clear, for instance, from the experience of the period 2001-06 when the government of the Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) did all it could do to undo the various achievements one after another. In that period, the CPI (M) had to launch massive movements against the UDF government’s policies and practices in order to save the earlier achievements and forge further ahead. While doing so, the party had initiated a discussion on what should be the alternative policies to meet the new challenges. Thus was organised the second International Congress that discussed the issue at hand on the basis of an approach paper on development. On the basis of the discussions in the second congress on Kerala studies, the LDF has successfully come up with a development perspective which found wide appreciation from all sections of the people. It resulted in the historic victory of the LDF in the last assembly elections.

The present LDF government attaches greatest significance to meeting the basic needs of the people. For instance, the LDF government is making efforts to ensure home for all the homeless, full electricity supply and drinking water facility for all. The government is also intervening to strengthen the industrial as well as agricultural sectors and to make the social security measures more effective. While revamping the existing public sector units while combating the neo-liberal policies, the LDF government has commenced new public sector units, setting a model for the rest of the country. It is now giving importance to analysing the experiences of the alternative development initiatives and to formulating the future course of action through the process of debate and discussion. The recent, third International Congress on Kerala Studies was also organised with this objective in view.

As said, the CPI (M) does not harbinger an illusion that one can resolve all the developmental questions through a state government within the present social order. The party is aware of the limitations of the existing federal structure. That is the reason the party has always stood for democratic centre-state relations. At the same time, it cannot subscribe the rhetoric that a revolutionary party has nothing to do with the present bourgeois-landlord system or run a state government in it. Whiling rallying the people for a change in the social order, the CPI (M) intervenes to ensure as much relief to the people as possible through its alternative policies. It visualises the questions of Kerala’s development with the same perception.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/

UNIVERSITIES PLAY FOOTSIE WITH COMPANY LABELED ‘BABY KILLER’ - Amit Sen Gupta

IT is a company that has been the subject of an international boycott for over 23 years – perhaps the longest standing boycott of a global corporation. It has been labeled by activist organisations as a “baby killer” for persistent unethical marketing of breast milk substitutes. Yet the same company, media reports indicate, has signed a memorandum of understanding with four public sector educational institutions. Recent reports in the press (Times of India, dated January 1, 2011) suggest that Nestle India, a 61.9 per cent subsidiary of Nestle S A of Switzerland, signed an MOU with Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana; National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana; University of Mysore in Karnataka; and the GB Pant University for Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. Under the MoU, Nestle staff along with the faculty of these universities launched a “nutrition education” programme. This joint initiative, it is understood, was launched in April 2009 by minister of state for rural development Agatha Sangma along with Nestle India chairman Helio Waszyk.

MOU SHROUDED IN SECRECY

The story gets murkier still. PAU has refused to give information about the MoU and the details of the nutrition education programme, in response to a RTI application. It has now been reported that information about the MoU was refused as the MoU itself states that: "This MoU, its existence and all information exchanged between the parties under this MoU or during the negotiations preceding this MoU is confidential to them and may not be shared with a third party”. The Times of India reports that the head of the department of nutrition in PAU, Dr J K Sangha, actually wrote to Nestle seeking its permission to reply to the RTI petition. In his reply dated July 1, 2010, the senior manager of corporate affairs in Nestle, Ajay Pal Singh Kang, wrote back stating: "We wish to inform you that all contents of the programme being conducted jointly by PAU and Nestle India have been specially developed by scientists and experts to be used exclusively to carry out the set objectives of the MoU. The contents of the programme are of commercial and confidential nature and the disclosure of which may harm our competitive position…Therefore, we are constrained to decline our consent for the supply or disclosure, to any third party, of any information or document pertaining to this joint collaboration."

The obvious question that needs to be asked is why a programme on “nutrition education” should be shrouded in such secrecy, and further what could be the “commercial and confidential” nature of such a programme. The questions are particularly important given that the company involved is Nestle. The UK based Corporate Watch website says: “The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 1.5 million infants die each year because of inappropriate feeding, because children vulnerable to disease are being bottle-fed on breast milk substitutes rather than breastfed whenever possible. As the world's largest artificial baby milk producer controlling 40 per cent of the market, Nestlé has been seen as a leading cause of this catastrophe..”

INTERNATIONAL CODEON MARKETING

Responding to global concerns about the unethical nature of marketing of breast milk substitutes, the WHO in 1981 formulated the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. India formulated its own law, keeping in mind the provisions of the code, in 1992. The Act, known as the Infant Milk Substitutes Act (IMS) was further strengthened through amendments in 2003.

The WHO code includes several acts that baby food companies such as Nestle should not do:

• promote their products in hospitals, shops or to the general public;

• give free samples to mothers or free or subsidised supplies to hospitals or maternity wards;

• give gifts to health workers or mothers;

• promote their products to health workers: any information provided by companies must contain only scientific and factual matters;

• promote foods or drinks for babies;

• give misleading information

The code further says that:

• There should be no contact between baby milk company sales personnel and mothers.

• Labels must be in a language understood by the mother and must include a clear health warning.

• Baby pictures may not be shown on baby milk labels.

• The labels must not include language which idealises the use of the product.

Nestle has been singled out, internationally, as the biggest violator of this code. In 2004, monitoring results from 69 countries showed up over 2,000 violations of the code, and Nestlé was found responsible for more violations than any other company. But then, this is befitting of a company that takes pride in being the world's largest and most “diversified food company” in the world, with around 2,50,000 employees worldwide, 500 factories in approximately 100 countries and offering over 8,000 products to millions of consumers universally. In India, Nestle markets its products in four key categories – milk products, beverages, prepared dishes and cooking aids, chocolates & confectionery. Nestle has been the market leader with 70 per cent share in the Rs 1000 crore instant noodles market and in the infant baby food segment. Outside the baby food market, Nestle’s prominent brands include Nescafe, Maggi and KitKat.

DIVERSE METHODS TO SUBVERT THE LAW

Faced with negative publicity and legal measures instituted in many countries, companies such as Nestle have consistently tried to circumvent the WHO code and country laws. A regular ploy has been to resort to double standards while advertising its products -- ie advertise the same product differently in countries of the North and the South. In 2008, Nestle was caught out when an advertisement for Maggie Noodles claimed it strengthened muscles and bones. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned the advertisement in the UK and said that it was deceptive and violated the UK’s strict industry code. Nestle, claimed that their products that were due to appear in Bangladesh had been accidentally aired in Britain!

Another common ploy has been to tie up with professional organisations on issues that would appear to be of “public interest”, and thereby try to influence them. To do so, in India, Nestle uses a surrogate front organisation – the Nestle Nutrition Institute. The Breast Promotion Network of India (the Indian Chapter of the International Breast Feeding Action Network) reported last year that the Institute had sponsored conferences of doctors in Kolkata and Chennai on “Emerging Trends in Pediatric Nutrition”. Such sponsorships clearly violate provisions of the Infant Milk Substitutes Act in India.

This is by no means an isolated instance. Last year the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh was embroiled in a similar controversy. Nestle Nutrition Institute had been listed as one of the sponsors of the 16^th annual conference on nutrition sponsored by the Indian Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ISPEN). The sponsorship deal was called off at the last moment when the matter was made public by the Breast Feeding Promotion Network in India. The issue had even prompted the secretaries of the ministries of health and women and child development to write a joint letter asking for a ban on sponsorship by baby food manufacturers or their front organisations of health workers, doctors or meetings of their associations. The letter had pointed out numerous instances of corporate sponsorship and unethical practices such as: offering to set up libraries in medical colleges; approaching paediatricians and providing them with gifts and also distributing infant feeding booklets with misleading information on infant feeding in several hospitals, etc.

Nestle has resorted to unethical tactics to promote its other products as well. In 2010 Nestle was made to withdraw TV commercials aired between April and June, by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). ASCI decreed that Nestle Maggi Ketchup's claims of being healthy was misleading – Nestle’s commercial showed an obese and aged gentleman consuming unhealthy burgers with claims of "Make India Healthy."

CORPORATE INTERESTS ARE SUPREME

Clearly, Nestle has a colourful track record that should have prompted public institutions to think twice before deciding to play footsie. This is not just a conflict of interest issue. It goes beyond and involves vexing issues that are seen to arise today as educational institutions are being forced to raise extra resources, and thereby making themselves available for predation by commercial interests. But then, one can argue that in today’s climate corporate interests rank way above public interest – even when they put into jeopardy the lives of countless infants.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/

PRAKASH KARAT: CENTRE TURNING BLIND EYE TO TMC-MAOIST GANG-UP

Rahul Sinha

THE central government prefers to turn a blind eye to the collaboration between the Trinamul Congress (TMC) and the Maoists. On the other hand, in West Bengal the CPI(M) and the Left Front are putting up political resistance to the Maoists, which is why their cadres are becoming the target of Maoist violence. This was what CPI(M) general secretary, Prakash Karat, said in a press meet at Agartala on January 23. At the concluding day of his three-day visit to Tripura, Karat addressed a press meet on the day at the CPI(M)’s Tripura state committee office in the state capital.

In his opening remarks, Karat accused the centre of total failure to check the skyrocketing rises in the prices of food articles including vegetables and onions. Karat lambasted the centre for its refusal to ban the forward trading in food articles and its unwillingness to universalise the public distribution system (PDS). He said despite our repeated demand, there has come no meaningful action from the centre. So we have decided to launch a countrywide anti-price rise agitation from February 3 to 9. In addition to the four Left parties, viz. the CPI(M), CPI, RSP and FB, parties like the TDP, AIADMK, BJD, RLD and JDS have also decided to join the movement. On February 9, a mass dharna would be held at Delhi, where central leaders of these parties will be present.

Karat said we want the budget session of the parliament to function smoothly, but to avoid disruption the government must agree to the demand of a JPC probe into the 2G scam. Parliament is supreme in a parliamentary democracy. Karat said our understanding is such a huge scam must be probed widely and comprehensively, which can be achieved by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) alone while the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) can have a very limited inquiry.

On the issue of black money deposited in Switzerland and other foreign tax havens, Karat severely criticised the centre for not disclosing the details of these accounts. He said the Supreme Court too is dissatisfied with the government’s argument that international agreements don’t allow for disclosure of these details. The government must take initiative to bring back the huge amount of illegal money deposited in the foreign banks, he demanded.

On the day, Karat reiterated the demand of the four Left parties made to the prime minister one year ago to declare January 23, the birthday of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, as Desh Prem Divas. He termed as unfortunate the prime minister’s reply there are a large number of freedom fighters in our country and that it is difficult to observe everyone’s birthday. Karat said we have a tradition of observing the birthdays of many freedom fighter; for instance, Nehru’s birthday is observed as Children’s Day. He appealed all the political parties to support this demand.

Karat said as far as West Bengal is concerned, we have pointed out to the central government and its home ministry that while the joint forces sent by the centre are combating the Maoists, the TMC is openly collaborating with the Maoists even though it is a part of the same government. The TMC is in fact quite openly supporting and aiding the Maoist violence, Karat said. During his meeting with the union home minister, the West Bengal chief minister has submitted a detailed report on the TMC-Maoist collaboration but yet the centre’s preference is to turn a blind eye to all this. Karat asked the centre to ensure that the TMC ends its collaboration with the Maoists. Rubbishing the media reports that there is a contradiction between the West Bengal chief minister and the central leadership of the CPI(M) regarding the approach to be adopted to tackle the Maoist menace, Karat said we know well which section of the media is resorting to such propaganda. He said after the chief minister had a meeting with Chidambaram at Delhi, he met the Polit Bureau members of the party at its Central Committee office and briefed them about the discussions. Later, at a press conference, he said a few armed groups are active in the Jungle Mahal area but the West Bengal government is committed to stop the violence by any of the armed groups. Yet some sections of the media went on to write that the chief minister had admitted the presence of armed camps. The CPI(M) has already clarified that armed camps and armed groups are two different things. In fact, the chief minister had not said anything wrong. There is no contradiction between the party and the West Bengal government or its chief minister regarding how to tackle the Maoist problem.

Karat said the Maoist problem is not a problem of Bengal alone. They are active in seven states. The situation in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh is a serious concern. They are better equipped with modern weapons and are resorting to guerrilla tactics. No state with its ordinary police force can combat them effectively. Replying to a question, Karat said other political parties in other states are not prepared to politically resist the Maoists. On the other hand, in West Bengal the CPI(M) and the Left Front are resisting the Maoists politically by mobilising the masses against them. That is why we are becoming the targets of Maoist violence.

Earlier, on Friday (January 21), Karat addressed a meeting at the Agartala Town Hall in connection with the birth centenary celebration of Comrade Nripen Chakraborty. On Saturday, he addressed the open rally in connection with the 13th central conference of Tribal Youth Federation (TYF) at Manughat in Dhalai district.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/

SOUTH SUDAN REFERENDUM: A FAIT ACCOMPLI - Yohannan Chemerapally

FROM all available indications, a new country will be adorning the map of Africa very soon. In the second week of January, the people of South Sudan participated in a week long referendum exercise. At stake was the future of Africa’s largest country. The central government in Khartoum adhered to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which had brought the fifty year long conflict to a close. More than two million Sudanese had lost their lives in the turmoil which started soon after Sudan gained independence from the British. Under the terms of the Peace Agreement brokered under the auspices of the previous Bush administration, the North had agreed to allow their compatriots from the South to opt for either unity or separation. Until the eleventh hour, western governments and the media had cast doubts about the sincerity of the government led by president Omar al Bashir to allow the holding of a fair and free referendum. On a visit to Juba, the capital of the South, a few days before the referendum vote, the Sudanese president had reiterated that he would abide by the verdict. “If the vote is for secession, we will support you and congratulate you”, he had said during the visit.

DOMINO EFFECT

Many African leaders had warned against the break-up of Sudan, the continent’s largest country, arguing that it would have a domino effect. Almost all the countries in the region have inherited borders drawn up arbitrarily by the colonial powers. Many governments fear that they will now come under pressure from the West to redraw the map of the continent. In Southern Sudan, the people are hailing Americans as their liberators. The African Union (AU) had taken a stand against country’s being divided on the basis of ethnicity or religion, fearing that the political map of the continent would unravel in no time. So far only Ethiopia has had the distinction of voluntarily allowing an independent country to emerge from within its territory. Eritrea broke from Ethiopia in 1993. From initial bonhomie, the two countries have since fought a war over disputed borders. Other countries on the African continent have experienced serious attempts at secession. The attempt to detach mineral rich Katanga from the Congo, with the backing of western mercenaries in the early sixties was the first serious attempt. In Nigeria, the “Biafra” war started just six years after independence. The civil war in Nigeria from 1966-70 led to the loss of more than a million lives. The wounds from the war are still to heal. Like in the Sudan, most of Nigeria’s oil wealth is in South of the country. There are many separatist movements already active on the continent.

The turning point in Sudan was in the seventies when the military ruler Gen. Jaffar Nimeiry suddenly introduced Islamic law in the country at a time when the South was enjoying autonomy for the first time. The waters were further muddied when in the late eighties, Khartoum decreed that strict Sharia laws were to be implemented. Though the laws were applicable only in the North, it sent the wrong message to the mainly Christian and animist South. John Garang who from the eighties had emerged as the undisputed leader of the South had at one time rejected separation saying that the goal was to convert Sudan into a secular and socialist state. But after the collapse of the Socialist bloc and the overthrow of his ally, president Mengistu Haile Merriam of Ethiopia, Garang changed course and became an ally of the West. But for his death in a helicopter crash soon after the signing of the CPA, he would have been the president of the new state that will come into being in June, 2011. His former deputy, Salva Kiir, will be the new president of South Sudan.

In the week long polling that took place under the glare of thousands of western observers, there were comparatively few instances of violence. And the violence that occurred was mainly a result of clashes between tribal militias in the South. After the week long polling, the chairman of the South’s Referendum Commission, Ibrahim Khalil announced that more than 83 per cent of the eligible voters in the South and 53 per cent of those registered in the North had cast their votes. There are around one to two million Southerners living in Khartoum for generations. Many of them had however registered to vote in the South. The eligibility limit was spelt out in the 2005 peace accords, for the vote to be deemed valid. In all there were 3.5 million registered to vote. 80 per cent of the electorate is illiterate.

Celebrations in the southern capital city of Juba have already started though independence will only be formally declared in the middle of the year. Jimmy Carter, the former US president, who is heading an observer’s mission, has said that the vote was fair and the counting would also be done in a transparent manner. “The likelihood is that the referendum result would be for independence”, he told the media. The Obama administration seems to be very happy at the outcome. According to an Egyptian scholar on Sudan, Hani Raslan of the Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, the US “is dead set on seeing the emergence of an independent state of Southern Sudan to achieve political aims on the African continent”. He told the IPS news agency that the US insistence on independence for the South has more to do with its geo-political ambitions. Raslan pointed out that in the final days of the Bush administration, the US had set up the Africa Command (Africom).The central component of this new command will be a large military base. This base is likely to come up in South Sudan. Kosovo independence was also mid-wifed by the US. Today Kosovo hosts the biggest US military base in the Balkans.

As reward for Khartoum’s accommodative stance, senior US state department officials have hinted that Sudan will be dropped from the list of states supporting terrorism and sanctions lifted for allowing peaceful secession.

Other key countries like China also sent a big contingent of observers for the referendum. Beijing has big investments in the hydro-carbon sector in the South. At present, around 60 per cent of the oil produced in South is bought by China. India too has a sizeable stake in the petroleum sector but is not as big a player as China. 24,000 Chinese work in the South. China, seeing the writing on the wall, had already started cultivating good relations with the political leadership in the South. China opened a consulate in Juba in 2008, which was then upgraded to a full embassy last year. Pagan Anum, the secretary general of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) has said that China played a key role “in consolidating the smooth implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement”. India’s role in comparison has been noticeably low key. The Southern Sudan exercise is an example of people exercising their right of self determination. Like Kosovo’s independence, South Sudan’s independence has set a precedent that will no doubt be encouraging to separatists in the Indian subcontinent. Helmy Sharawi of the Cairo based Arab-Africa Centre contrasted Washington’s enthusiasm for the Sudan referendum to the indifference shown to a similar referendum proposal for Kashmir by the UNSC in 1948.

OUTSTANDING ISSUES

But before independence for the South is formalised, there are many outstanding issues still to be resolved. These include border demarcation and the sharing of oil revenues. Right now, the oil revenues are shared equally but the agreement between the North and the South expires in July this year. The two sides have not been able to come to an agreement on the issue so far. Another contentious issue is the dispute over Abyei, an oil producing province situated along the North-South border. Though the residents of Abyei were not allowed to participate in the referendum, there were clashes between the Dinka ethnic group and Misseriya Arab tribesmen. Around 38 people were killed in the clashes. Carter gave a clean chit to Khartoum saying that the Sudanese army was in no way involved in the clashes.

Abyei will be holding a plebiscite of its own to decide its future course but disagreements over the voters list has forced the UN to postpone the vote for the time being. Abyei is important for the North as most of the oil producing areas fall within South Sudan. But Khartoum controls the pipelines through which the oil is exported to the international markets. 90 per cent of Sudan’s export earnings are from oil. Landlocked South Sudan’s only direct access to the sea at this juncture is through Sudanese ports in the north and its economy is almost entirely dependent on oil exports. In the short term at least, the South will have to depend on Khartoum’s cooperation to get its oil into the international market. But there are indications that plans are afoot to build an alternative pipeline through Kenya that would end the dependency on the North for the export of oil. The issue of sharing the waters of the Nile is also bound to come up, sooner than later. Already Egypt is threatening action against up-stream states like Ethiopia for diverting the Nile waters. As Egypt had a big stake in neighbouring Sudan, Cairo had been sending high level delegations to the meet with the southern leadership to convince them to opt for unity in the run-up to the referendum.

The new country will also be facing serious developmental challenges. South Sudan which is bigger than Spain has asphalted roads totalling less than 100 km. The South, scarred by decades of war, has few hospitals or schools but is overflowing with guns and militias. Large scale corruption, triggered by massive oil revenues, has already reared its head. Inter-ethnic disputes have been increasingly over revenue sharing and pastoral rights are turning bloodier. The Nuer and the Shiluk ethnic groups are alienated from the Dinka, who dominate the SPLM. The problems of Sudan will not be solved by southern secession. Darfur is still on the front burner as far as the Americans and the West is concerned. Their attention will now turn to that troubled region of Sudan. Other restive ethnic groups along Sudan’s border with Ethiopia and Eritrea are trying to raise the banner of secession.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/