[Marxism] ML Update Vol. 12 No. 01 30 DEC 2008 - 05 JAN 2009

[CPIML Liberation]

*ML Update*
*

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine
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Vol. 12 No. 0130 DEC 2008 - 05 JAN 2009

*Turn 2009 Into A Year of Bigger Struggles and Greater Victories*

Eventful as the year has been, the main trend of times stood out in bold
relief particularly in the closing months of 2008. If the worldwide
financial tsunami and economic contraction generated by the collapse of the
colossus on Wall Street showed up the moribund nature of parasitic
capitalism, the political dimension was graphically captured in the most
disgraceful exit of the most despised warlord of our time. After his
policies and priorities were emphatically rejected by US voters, he was
treated to a spectacular "Bye Bye Bush" (as the manufacturer of the shoes
thrown at him renamed that particular model) ceremony -- an incident that
symbolised the intense hatred of freedom loving people the world over.

But the naked king is shameless: he continues to support the barbarous
Israeli aggression on Gaza strip. Not surprisingly Barack Obama, a
vociferous supporter of Israel who picked up pro- Israel hawk Rahm Emanuel
as the chief of staff, has chosen to indirectly endorse the Israeli
aggression. It is heartening to note that the Communist Party of Israel has
condemned "these blatant war crimes." "Israel is exploiting the last moments
of the Bush administration" to implement its imperialist policy, the CP of
Israel said.

Back home, the year started with a bloated ego of India Inc. expanding
overseas, a soaring sensex, overflowing forex reserves and unprecedented
growth rates. All these were used to cover up burning problems like price
rise, peasant suicides and starvation deaths. Now it ends in a bleak
economic scenario that promises to get darker in the approaching year. In
between, from the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) signed early in the year
to the nuclear deal clinched later in the wake of the tainted trust vote in
parliament, New Delhi slipped more and more into Washington's strategic
embrace, with the self-appointed Left watchdog barking occasionally but
refusing to bite before it was too late.

And then in the wake of the Mumbai blasts the national scene has come to be
dominated by the competitive anti-terrorist, anti-Pak and by implication
anti-Muslim rhetoric of the Congress and the BJP. With the Lok Sabha
elections only a few months away, the ruling Congress finds this convenient
for diverting public attention away from the economic mess it has created.
And the Sangh Parivar on its part is using the frenzied atmosphere to the
hilt in advancing its communal-fascist agenda both in the electoral arena
and in anti-minorities terror campaigns. While this strategy failed in Delhi
assembly election, the party's recent advance in Jammu, like its Gujarat
victory earlier in the past, calls for more concerted and effective action
against the saffron brigade.

The fascist networks run by this brigade, we now know, encompass not only
known outfits like the VHP and Bajrang Dal but also sadhvis and sadhus, army
officials, bodies like Abhinav Bharat, sangh academies providing military
training and so on, which work clandestinely round-the-clock to spread
terror and violence. Rather than taking the bull of Sanghi terror by the
horn, the Congress- led government at the Centre is reintroducing the
infamous POTA through the backdoors in the shape of amendments to the UAPA
and inviting the notorious FBI through the front doors in the name of
fighting terrorism.

But surely it is not problems alone that 2008 has bequeathed to us. All over
the world popular movements have surged ahead and in several cases -- as in
Nepal and Latin America -- achieved impressive successes. Even in the US the
masses have achieved a new opening in their fight against racism,
neoliberalism and war. It will be interesting to watch how the great
conflict between two trends -- the people's pressure on the new president to
implement his platform of change and the ruling elite's crafty moves to
carry forward its old anti-people, pro-corporate, militarist agenda under a
new facade -- plays itself out in the approaching year.

In India, the year we are leaving behind saw a rising tide of mass movements
in all parts of the country. From struggles on specific local issues to all
India movements on key questions like land and liberty, employment and
wages, and dignity and democracy, 2008 was a year of struggles many of which
attained a good degree of success. 2009 comes with an excellent opportunity
for making new breakthroughs in all these areas. To take one instance, the
groundswell of popular opposition to the US-India "strategic partnership",
which we witnessed several times last year, can and must be revived in the
context of the US itself looking like a troubled Titanic.

With the economic crisis deepening by the day and the ruling Left getting
discredited in their strongholds, 2009 calls on the forces of revolutionary
Left and consistent democracy to provide bold leadership to people's
struggles in the extra-parliamentary and parliamentary arenas. Let us rise
to the occasion. Let us make 2009 a year of bigger struggles and greater
victories.