[Marxism] MLIN [July-Aug] Price Hike Protests | Election Analysis | SA Taxi Drivers | and More |

[CPI (ML) Intl Liaison Office]

ML International Newsletter 

July-August 2008 

   

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An update on news and ideas from the revolutionary left in India .  

Produced by: Communist Party of India 
(Marxist-Leninist) Liberation international team  



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Websites: <mlint.wordpress.com> and <www.cpiml.org> 



Emails: <cpiml_elo at yahoo.com>
and <cpimllib at gmail.com> 



   

Table of Contents 



1)       Soaring Prices and
Manmohan’s Nuclear Chess 

2)       Nationwide Outrage
Against Oil Price Hike 

3)       Murder of NREG
Activists in Jharkhand 

4)      
Sri Lanka and Nepal :
A Tale of Two Conflicts 

5)      
South Asian Taxi
Drivers Demand Better Safety Measures 

6)      
Letter from Jaipur 

7)      
Women’s Assertion
Rally by AIPWA in Patna 

8)      
Karnataka Assembly
Elections 2008 

9)      
Message from West Bengal Panchayat Polls 

10)  
Homage to Vijay
Tendulkar 



   



Politics in India  



Soaring Prices and Manmohan’s Nuclear Chess

  

- Liberation, July, 2008. 

   

They had been talking about
double-digit economic growth. Instead, it is inflation which has crossed the
double-digit barrier and the upward climb of the price spiral shows no sign of
slowing down. As we go to press, officially measured inflation has reached a
thirteen-year high, equalling the 1995 level when Manmohan Singh was the
Finance Minister in Narsimha Rao’s cabinet. The official measurement of inflation
is based on the wholesale price index which is obviously quite removed from the
actual prices that consumers have to pay at the retail market. But a quick look
at the major segments accounting for the rise in wholesale prices – food and
food products: 24%, petro products: 17%, iron and steel: 10% – gives us a clear
idea of how badly the poor and fixed-income consumers are being hurt.  

   

Even as prices of all
essential commodities soar sky-high, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
government keeps telling us that this inflation is a global phenomenon and we
have to bear with it. Instead of taking urgent measures to douse the flame, the
government has instead chosen to fan the fire by dutifully passing on the
‘global’ burden to the people at home. How does it help to know that the fire
raging in the Indian market is ‘imported’ from abroad when prices of every
local produce are going through the roof! Having broken down every potential
protective barrier and opened up the entire economy to all kinds of external
assaults, the UPA government can now hardly excuse itself by attributing the
inflationary surge to global economic factors.  

   

History tells us that when Rome was burning, Emperor
Nero was busy playing his violin. In today’s India , when the market is aflame,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is busy playing nuclear chess. Media reports have
it that Singh has offered to resign if he cannot push through his favourite
nuclear deal with the US .
The mainstream media is also more perturbed over the future of the deal than
the crushing blow inflicted by soaring prices. Indeed, inflation is being seen
as a spoilsport of sorts by the pro-deal lobby. The deal enthusiasts are wary
that clinching the deal at this stage might lead to somewhat early elections
and many in the ruling coalition do not seem to be ready to risk an election in
conditions of double-digit inflation and face the ire of the electorate.  

   

It is this utterly callous and
anti-people attitude that best indicates the current degree of disconnect
between the powers that be and the people and their plight. This disconnect has
today become the hallmark of the UPA model of ‘secular governance’ and ‘aam
aadmi’ (common person) rhetoric. Soaked neck-deep in the ideology of ‘corporate
industrialisation and development’, the CPI (M) in West
 Bengal has also begun to revel in this disconnect. The panchayat
results have merely provided some early electoral confirmation of the emerging
popular mood in West Bengal . In a way the
situation seems tailor-made for the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA). True to the ideology and historical tradition of
fascism, the BJP is evidently capable of exploiting any and every popular
resentment for its own sectarian and retrograde agenda. Karnataka has once
again confirmed this basic truth regarding the BJP.  

   

What should be the Left and
democratic response to this political challenge thrown up by the unfolding
situation? More doses of ‘secular partnership’ with the Congress? Bihar and Karnataka have clearly revealed the basic
fallacy in this approach. A decade ago elections had produced a ruling
arrangement in the shape of a United Front (UF) backed from outside both by the
Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)]. On the face of
it the UF had managed to keep the BJP out of power, but only for a few months.
If today the UPA experiment seems headed in the same direction, it must compel
Left and democratic forces to look beyond such suicidal tactical shortcuts. The
way forward lies only through a bold, consistent and vigorous espousal of the
cause of the people against the growing economic and national crisis
home-delivered by the comprador Indian votaries of imperialist globalization. 



   



Struggles in India



Nationwide Outrage Against Oil Price Hike



- Liberation, July, 2008. 

   

There has been nationwide
protest against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s decision to
hike the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas. Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist) [CPI (ML)] had given a call for an all-India protest on 6th
June, and on that day and since, the party has organised independent protests
and joined other Left parties in resisting the oil price hike.      

   

In Delhi on 5 June, immediately after the
announcement of the hike in prices, the CPI (ML) held a protest demonstration
at Parliament Street 
and burnt the effigy of the UPA Government.  

   

In Bihar ,
the CPI (ML) along with other Left parties including CPI and CPI (M) called a
bandh on 10 June. The bandh was a great success, and was vigorously implemented
with demonstrations at almost all district headquarters. In Patna alone, 6 separate, massive contingents
comprising more than 2000 people marched on the streets to implement the bandh.
Over 1000 CPI (ML) activists were arrested in Patna including the State Secretary Nand
Kishore Prasad, central committee members (CCMs) Ram Jatan Sharma, K D Yadav
and Meena Tiwari and All India Progressive Women Association (AIPWA) leader
Shashi Yadav, while around 85 activists from CPI and CPI (M) were arrested. All
the National Highways were blockaded by people, and train routes blockaded at
Buxar, Muzaffarpur, Siwan, Ara, Leheriasarai, Narkatiaganj, Hilsa, Bihar
Sharif, and Masaurhi. At Jehanabad, CPI (ML) activists clashed with the police
during the bandh.         

   

In Jharkhand, the CPI (ML)
gave a call for bandh on 7 June, which was highly effective. As many as 1,000
party activists and leaders were arrested by the police in different parts of
the state, who were later released. In Ranchi ,
party activists blockaded the Main
  Road and brought traffic to a standstill. The
bandh got a very good response in Bokaro, Ramgarh and Dhanbad districts. In
Giridih district, the bandh was led by CPI (ML) member of legislative assembly
(MLA) Vinod Singh with over 2,000 activists. CCM and former MLA Bahadur Oraon
led the workers in the bandh in Chakradharpur. The bandh had an effect in
Lohardaga, Garhwa, Barwadih, Nirsa and many other places. The traffic on the Ranchi-Tata Road 
came to a halt for over an hour as over 100 workers blocked the road at Bundu. 

   

In Uttar Pradesh, a
demonstration was held and an effigy of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
Government burnt outside the assembly building at Lucknow on 6 June. CPI (ML) State Secretary
Sudhakar Yadav condemned the lathicharge against CPI (ML) demonstrators
protesting at the Mirzapur district headquarters and the arrest of several
activists including the party’s district secretary Nandlal and Revolutionary
Youth Association (RYA) National President Mohd. Salim. In spite of these
arrests, protest demonstrations were held at the block headquarters at Ahiraura
and Narayanpur in Mirzapur. Demonstrations were held and effigies of the central
government burnt at the Sonebhadra District headquarters at Robertsganj, as
well as at the block headquarters at Anpara, Duddhi, Babhani, Gherawal and at
Mughalsarai and Chakia block headquarters in Chandauli district. At Varanasi , CPI (ML)
activists burnt the effigy of the UPA Government near the Cantt. Railway
Station. In Lakhimpuri Kheri town, as well as in Gorakhpur, Devaria,
Maharajganj, Gazipur, Mau, Jalaun, Moradabad, Bijnaur, Sitapur and other
districts, protest marches were held. Earlier on 4 June, immediately after the
hikes in prices were announced, effigies of the UPA Government were burnt at
Jamalpur in Mirzapur, as well as at Faizabad and Mau. 

   

In Tamilnadu, demonstrations
were held against petrol price hike in Chennai, Tiruvallore, Kanchipuram,
Villupuram, Cuddalore, Nagappattinam, Coimbatore ,
 Salem , Namakkal, Tirnelveli, Krishnagiri,
Kanyakumari and Madurai 
districts. In Krishnagiri, on 5 June, 30 comrades were arrested for burning an
effigy, and were released later. In Kanyakumari, comrades pulled an auto by
ropes. In Chennai more than 100 workers mobilised by CPI (ML) participated in
the protest. Demonstrations were also held in Pudukottai district in two points
on 6 June against petrol price hike. The CPI (ML) supported the CPI – CPI (M)’s
call for statewide bandh on 7 June, and our comrades were active in
implementing the bandh at Vridhachalam (Cuddalore), Kotakuppam (Vilupuram), and
Tirupanandal (Thanjavur). In Pondicherry 
too the bandh was a success and our comrades actively participated in it.  

   

In Orissa, a road blockade was
held at Rayagada on 6 June in which 100 people participated. A dharna was held
at Laxmipur Block, Korapur district, in which 300 people protested against
price rise, corruption and irregularities in issuing of below poverty line (BPL)
cards and National Rural Employee Guarantee Act (NREG) implementation.    

   

In Andhra Pradesh, the CPI (ML)
Liberation along with CPI (ML) New Democracy, and MCPI held a rasta roko (road
blockade) in Vijaywada on 6 June. In Prathipadu district of East Godavari, in
Jaggampeta, in Gollaprolu, in Kakinada Rural, CPI (ML) held rasta roko
programmes. In Vissampeta (Krishna District), a dharna was held at the
Tehsildar’s office. In Jangareddygudem (West Godavari District), and in Visakhapatnam also, CPI (ML)
Liberation, CPI(ML) ND, and MCPI held a rasta roko. 

   

In Rajasthan, demonstrations
were held and memoranda submitted on 6 June at district headquarters of
Pratapgarh, Udaipur , Jaipur, Ajmer , and Bhuhana (Jhunjhuna). In Ajmer , the demonstration
comprised a large number of women activists.  
 

   

At Rewari in Haryana, CPI (ML)
activists held a demonstration and burnt the effigy of the UPA Government on 6
June. In Gwalior 
(Madhya Pradesh), a street corner meeting was held and an effigy of the central
government burnt. In the Andamans, CPI (ML) conducted a protest demonstration
at the Secretariat gate in Port Blair on 5 June. At Gangavati in Karnataka on 6
June, a demonstration was held and an effigy of the Prime Minister burnt. 



   



Struggles in India 

   

Murder
of NREG Activists in Jharkhand 

   

- Liberation, July, 2008. 

   

On 14 May, a young activist
Lalit Mehta, who had been active in the right to food campaign and had the
previous day initiated a social audit to expose corruption in implementation of
National Rural Employement Guarantee (NREG) in Palamu District, was killed on
14 May while on his way from Daltonganj to Chatarpur. The social audit
threatened to expose corruption in high places. His murder was met with
outraged protests all over the country, and eventually, after much delay, the
demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the murder was
accepted by the State Government.     

   

Lalit Mehta’s killing was no
exception. On 7 June, Kameshwar Yadav, of Khatauri village of Deori Block
(Giridih District Jharkhand); a Block Committee member of CPI (ML) in Giridih;
also an activist on NREG-related issues, was shot dead as he was returning home
from Kisgo on a motorcycle in the evening. He is survived by his wife Babita
Devi, two sons and a daughter.  

   

The suicide of adivasi Turia
Munda, due to failure to get his due wages under NREG act, exposed the sorry state
of implementation of NREG scheme in Jharkhand. The murders of Lalit and
Kameshwar are part of a spate of such killings and harassment of activists
exposing rural corruption. There have been several recent murders of rural
activists in Giridih itself. Last month, Rajinder Das, a dalit activist of CPI (ML)
at Rajdhanwar, Giridih, who had been at the forefront of the struggle against
grabbing of land allocated to dalits by local land mafia, was killed. Two
months back, another dalit CPI (ML) activist Munshi Tori had been killed. In
these two cases, the perpetrators of the murder – leaders of the Jharkhand
Vikas Morcha (Babulal Marandi’s party) – have been named in the first
information report (FIR), yet they are yet to be arrested. Deuri Block is the
same area where CPI (ML) waged a powerful struggle against public distribution
system (PDS) black-marketeering, and a key leader of this movement, Comrade
Osman Ansari is in jail since May 2007. 

      

The CPI (ML) conducted a
campaign for justice for Kameshwar from 16-25 June culminating in a Giridih
March on 25 June. In Delhi ,
party mass organisations participated in a protest at the Jharkhand Bhawan
along with other groups. Following this, a delegation comprising Central
Employment Guarantee Council member Annie Raja, Kiran Shaheen and CPI (ML) CCM
Kavita Krishnan met with Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh to
apprise him of the situation in Jharkhand. The Minister claimed that Jharkhand
was one of the few states where corruption was least because all wage payments
were being done through bank or post office ( PO )
accounts. This rosy picture was challenged by the delegation, and a comptroller
and auditor general (CAG) enquiry, especially for NREG in Jharkhand was
demanded. 

   

Letter
to PM from Activists and Intellectuals  

Activists and intellectuals
submitted a letter to the Prime Minister, Rural Development Minister and
Jharkhand Governor, excerpts of which are below:       

We the undersigned would like
to bring to your notice the serious problems in the functioning of NREG act in
Jharkhand. These also include the murders of prominent activists like Lalit
Mehta and a general atmosphere of terror against those who expose corruption in
NREGA. 

   

The announcement of a request
for a CBI enquiry into Lalit Mehta's murder by the Jharkhand government is a
welcome development but insufficient. However the extent of terror and
corruption in Palamu and adjoining districts is very high. A CBI enquiry into
Lalit Mehta's murder is not sufficient. There should be a high level enquiry by
the CAG's office into the corruption in the NREGA scheme in Palamu and
elsewhere. A special CBI task force should also investigate the  murders of other social activists in Jharkhand
like Kameshwar Yadav [CPI (ML)] and Jawahar Singh (People’s Union of Civil Liberties)
and the general atmosphere of terror unleashed against activists and labourers
who expose corruption and stand up for their rights.  

   

Regarding NREG Act (NREGA) and
the safety of activists we have the following demands:  

   

1] The safety of activists and
others monitoring NREGA should be ensured, especially in districts like
Palamu,  Koderma and Singhbhum.  

   

2] A political intervention be
made to remove all hindrances to establish the panchayati raj institutions in
Jharkhand at the earliest.  

   

3] The Central Employment
Guarantee Council should meet in Palamu and suggest measures to the Central
Government regarding the eradication of corruption and the security of
activists. It should also do an overview of the functioning of NREGA in
Jharkhand and the weakness thereof. In particular it should ensure that social
audits are conducted regularly and reports be made public.  

   

4] Within 30 days necessary
action be taken against NREGA irregularities, brought out during the
investigations and on the registered complaints. 

Signed by  

Aruna Roy, Arundhati Roy,
Nikhil Dey, Swami Agnivesh, Subhashini Ali, Kuldip Nayar, Annie Raja, Medha
Patkar, Prof. Kamal Chenoy, Dunu Roy, Babu Mathew, Kavita Krishnan, and others.
 



   





South Asia


Sri Lanka and Nepal :
A Tale of Two Conflicts

  

- S. Sivasegaram. 

   

Both Sri Lanka and Nepal have faced long periods of
insurgency, but the armed conflicts concerned different issues and the degree
of success in resolving them differs vastly. They, nevertheless, have lessons
for each other. Important social and political differences between the two
tower over obvious geographical factors, despite the importance of the
geographic location of each to its course of social and political development. Sri Lanka ’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean caused it to be subject to one of the
longest, (if not the longest) uninterrupted colonial rules, by three successive
colonial masters, lasting over four centuries. Landlocked Nepal , although subject to British Colonial
domination from the 19th Century, was only a protectorate, declared independent
in 1923 by treaty with Britain .
 

   

Modernisation of the Sri
Lankan polity started in the late 19th Century under colonial rule, much after
the Kandyan Kingdom , the last feudal monarchy, ended
early that century. But vestiges of feudalism like the caste system and modes
of agricultural production remained untouched by colonialism, which also
created an elite class of landed gentry with feudal links. Nepal was slower to
modernise; and the Indian successors to the British Raj, helped to restore the
Shah dynasty in 1951 and dominated Nepal, whose geography made its trade and
hence economy dependent on India.  

   

Sri Lanka had universal
suffrage in 1931, three years after Britain , an influential left party
soon after, and a mature political party system when the British left in 1948.
But, failure to address the national question made chauvinism and narrow
nationalism emerge as major forces, and only the left was truly national in
approach.   Nepal had its first general
elections in 1959, but royal interference ensured that, despite popular
protests leading to restoration of democratic elections to parliament, the
monarch prevailed and elected governments were dismissed at will. Thus
democracy itself became a central political issue. 

   

The Sri Lankan national
question was deliberately aggravated by Sinhala chauvinists to degenerate into
war by 1983. Despite heavy blows to the economy by a quarter century of war and
untold suffering of the people, especially in war-affected regions, the
dominant players lack the will to resolve the national question. Nepal , besides its complex national question,
faced oppression by class, ethnicity, religion, caste and gender, certainly
more severe than in Sri
  Lanka at any stage. Attempts to resolve some
of the grievances were frustrated by the monarchy aided by the ruling elite and
reactionary political parties. The withdrawal of the Maoists from parliament in
1995 to launch its People’s War in 1996 transformed Nepal ’s political landscape in one
decade.  

   

Sri Lankan parliamentary
democracy though severely eroded is still formally intact. The weakening of the
Sri Lankan left started in 1964 with its bulk losing its way in parliamentary
politics. The left failed the working class and the minorities, since electoral
alliances with bourgeois parties meant compromise and accommodation of policies
pandering to base communal sentiments. Its decimation at the 1977 elections demoralised
the working class; and the reactionary government that came to power in 1977
escalated the ethnic conflict, and used it as a smokescreen to negate the
achievements of progressive and popular struggles led by the left, including
democratic and fundamental rights, and to introduce a disastrous open economic
policy. The Nepali left was, in electoral terms, stronger than that in Sri Lanka , but
it too indulged in parliamentary folly. The parliamentary left failed to learn
from the royal subversion of its short-lived government in 1992, and the
country paid the price.  

   

The first and only successful
armed struggle in Sri Lanka 
was the Marxist-Leninist mass campaign (1966-1970) against caste oppression in
the North. Care for the safety of the masses ensured that the number of deaths
was small. Since then, the adventurist insurgencies led by the chauvinistic
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in 1971 and 1987-89 claimed nearly 100,000 lives,
anti-Tamil violence several thousands, and the war of national oppression and
internecine killings since 1983 well over 100,000. The war also displaced
around a million internationally, besides up to 500,000 displaced internally.
But there is little to show by way of progress on the national question,
despite various political deals up to 1983, and efforts since 1983 to resolve
the armed conflict, including the Indian intervention in 1987 and the Ceasefire
Agreement of 2002, ritually abandoned early this year. In contrast, ten years
of armed conflict in Nepal cost 13,000 lives, with the state’s armed forces
answerable for over 10,000; and a peace process, born of a crisis created for
the parliamentary political parties by the monarch who assumed absolute power,
made way for the securing and consolidation of important victories for the
people and an end to the monarchy. 

   

Escalation of national
oppression, war and armed struggle in Sri Lanka , along with the weakness
of the Sinhala left, let the initiative be with the Sinhala chauvinists,
irrespective of party label, and the Tamil militants. With the genuine left in
disarray and chauvinism dominating politics in the South, and democracy denied
on the pretext of the armed conflict in the North-East, the national question
remained over-simplified as a Sinhala-Tamil conflict to the neglect of all
else. The war, now portrayed as war against terrorism, takes precedence over
mounting economic problems and the denial of democratic, human and fundamental
rights. All peace initiatives including the failed ceasefire came about under
external pressure; and subject to interference by hegemonic powers.
Negotiations did not progress beyond formal cessation of hostilities and a
vague demarcation of domains of authority that allowed the two sides to
conserve and rebuild. Where even humanitarian relief to the victims of war and
tsunami has faced stiff chauvinist resistance, efforts to resolve the national
question will certainly be sabotaged by disruptive forces within the country
and without. As long as the present group of players dominate the scene, there
is scant hope for any peace and even less for a solution to the national
question; and foreign intervention will use pretexts of human rights and
democracy to control the country rather than resolve the national question. 

   

In Nepal, a mass struggle
aimed at ending a dictatorial monarchy under a leadership with a working class
perspective also dealt constructively with several contradictions, some hostile
like that between landlords and agricultural labour, and others ‘friendly’ like
those based on identity. But there can be no complaisance since vested
interests will kindle ethnic, caste and religious conflict, as seen in the
Terai region a year ago, and the opportunist ‘left’ joining hands with the
right to undermine the people’s democratic structures secured through mass
struggle. Besides subversion in the form of foreign investment, ‘development
projects’ and ‘aid’, the corrupting influence of the bourgeois parliamentary
system on individuals is a potential danger from within. Yet, even if the new
democratic structure anticipated by the Maoists fails to materialise, the
politicisation and empowerment of the masses through struggle will act as an
immune system to combat attempts to subvert democratic rights and restore
oppression by class, gender, ethnicity, caste and religion.  

   

Sri
  Lanka’s hope could be embedded in
its impending tragedy. The deterioration of the political situation will sooner
than later make it necessary for the entire people to struggle for democratic
and fundamental rights against a reactionary repressive regime backed by one
hegemonic power or another. Given the record of narrow nationalism on all sides
thus far, only a genuine left leadership can show the way out of the morass. 

   

The lessons for Nepal can be
from the experiences of the Sri Lankan left and the dangers of allowing issues
of identity dominate over issues of class and class struggle. Such a risk can
be averted only through the Maoists holding on to their revolutionary
initiative. 

   

   



   



South Asian Diaspora 

   

South
Asian Taxi Drivers Demand Better Safety Measures 

   

- Lionel Bopage. 

   

Adelaide and Melbourne witnessed
thousands of South Asian students, predominantly Indians holding direct action
to demand better safety conditions in the pursuit of their role as taxi
drivers. In Adelaide 
they held up traffic at the airport after a colleague was bashed and robbed. In
 Melbourne they
staged a sit down protest at peak hour in the middle of the central business
district (CBD) after a colleague was stabbed. In Melbourne their action was spontaneous,
vocal, passionate and peaceful. Their action took the state government and the
police by surprise. Even though government concessions did not go far enough
and was limited to boosting driver safety and security it served as an example
for our pensioners, who staged a similar protest in the CBD to get their
concerns across. They followed the taxi drivers’ example in taking off their
clothing in protest to prove they were ‘fair dinkum’. The reason for the taxi
drivers protests are not hard to discern.  

   

The state government has not
addressed the broader issues of the overseas students that underpin these
protests. Globalisation allows capital to freely move but does not allow labour
to do so. In India 
the process has exacerbated the gap between the rich and the poor but also has
created a bourgeoning entrepreneurial middle class caught up in trappings of
consumerism. Traditional jobs do not provide sufficient opportunities to
maintain such life styles. Hence, those who miss out try moving overseas to countries
like Australia . 

   

Overseas students are allowed
to work a maximum of 20 hours a week to repay their loans and to pay their
exorbitant tertiary fees! Of course, they cannot survive by working 20 hours.
If they get caught working more hours they are taken to a detention centre and
are instantly deported with no chance of appeal. Melbourne alone has over three thousand such
students who mostly work night shifts. Driving taxis is not considered a safe
or well paid job by the majority community. 

   

If overseas students are
considered Australian for tax purposes, they should be given the same
opportunity and security provided to the majority of taxpayers. However, taxi
drivers in the majority of cases are considered independent contractors. As
such, they do not enjoy the employment rights most other workers are entitled
to. The federal minimum wage and work conditions do not apply to them. Hence
most drivers are paid less and work longer shifts. After deregulation taxi
licences were bought by speculating investors causing licence plates to be sold
at extremely high prices, the current costs running up to about $500,000 per
plate. In their desire for profit maximisation, the licence-owners not only
take advantage of drivers in terms of their pay and conditions, but also
passengers in terms of the service provided, to pay for the over-priced
licenses.  

   

Many of these protestors have
not played an active role in any of the previous protest actions held by the
organised trade union movement against the employers and the state implementing
their neo-liberal industrial relations agenda which is to sack workers as and
when necessary. Nevertheless, the trade union movement needs not only to learn
from these exploited students on how to stage direct action but should organise
and harness their enthusiasm and guts to raise the consciousness of their own
workers.  

   

The trade union movement
should immediately start a campaign to ensure taxi drivers are entitled to the
normal wage and working conditions enjoyed by the rest of the Australian
drivers such as working eight hour shifts enjoying minimum wage and working
conditions with entitlements for superannuation. An industrial union for the
whole transport industry covering all types of drivers is in the order of the
day. 



   



Struggles in India 

   

Letter
from Jaipur 

   

- Srilata Swaminathan, Liberation,
July, 2008.  

   

Tuesday, 13 May, 1900 hours
saw the first of a series of bomb blasts in the crowded Pink City of Jaipur. In
all, seven powerful blasts shook the old city, one after the other, and all
within thirteen minutes and within a one kilometre area. An eighth bomb was
found and diffused by the police.