Kerala police rounding up activists and those who “look like Maoists”

[The broad brush which criminalizes all victims and opposition, and which justifies political repression on ever-growing scale, is characteristic of all repressive undemocratic states, but is especially so in India today, which is a prison-house for oppressed nations, adivasis (tribals), dalits (in Hindutva society, the outcasts, permanently dehumanized and scorned), the women who have no rights against patrirchy, and all who choose to resist.  And within India, the state of Kerala today reveals the intensity of these attacks, when all who are not part of the club of privilege and power are labelled “Maoist” and toward them no repressive move is unused, and the police wield this label to prevent the slightest sympathy in media coverage. — Frontlines ed.]

When Everyone Became A Maoist in Kerala

By Ajmal Khan, India Resists

Kerala police is hunting for Maoist’s from the last one year, innocent Adivasis and Dalit boys, people working among the tribals, human rights activists, people who respond to the daily injustice and human right violations and even people who “look like Maoist”are being picked up every day. What does it mean to be a Maoist Kerala? To answer this, an analysis of the so called Maoist incidents and arrests that have happen has to be closely looked at. There are many questions that are unanswered in the fog that are spreading from the last one year in the name of Maoist. The recent Maoist story in Kerala starts after the lookout notice which was displayed in the limits of Mananthawadi Police station in Wayanad district in April 2014.

The notice carried the names and pictures of around 40 people, including few alleged Maoist guerrillas and number of social and human rights activist who are active in the mainstream political sphere in the state. The notice carried names and picture of Adv. PA Pouran, state general secretary of Peoples Union for Civil Liberties , N Subramanian, a social activist with more than three decades of public presence, Adv. Thushar Nirmal Saradhy, president of the Jankeeya Manushyvakasa Prasthanam , MN Ravunni, general convener of Porattam , CRPP member Nikhil, CHRD member KK Rajeesh, RDF President Sugathan, Secretary Ajayan, Joint Secretary Devarajan, C. Ajithan, a trade union activist in public life for more than two decades, activist Karthikeyan, Vilayodi Sivankuti, Jaison Cooper, and Adv. Manuel. All of them have public appearance and life in the Kerala society actively engaging and responding to the different socio-political injustice that were taking place.

This look out notice was contested and condemned by the larger civil society with huge shock that was inflicted to the political activist. It was also a reminder to the activist by the state that, if you engaged in activities “against the state” this can be the result, this has to also be understood in the context where people are waking up and started voicing against the injustice that is historically imposed upon them and the new forms of injustice that are being manifested in the recent times. All of those whose names were appeared were also from outside the main stream political parties and in fact their enemies or threat to them in many ways.

India Orders Colonized Naga Soldiers to Fight Revolutionary Maoists

[The Indian state’s war on tribal people (adivasis) and their Maoist champions is guided by the historic colonizer’s strategy book. When they order troops from colonized nations within India to fight people rising against Indian State terror, it is useful to remember …. this has been done, many times, before.

When hostages identify with their captors, it is called the “Stockholm Syndrome.”  As Malcolm X pointed out, when “House Negroes” see the Master’s house is on fire, they run for water to extinguish the flames, while “Field Negroes” get gasoline so the fire will burn more intense.  In this sense, as Steve Biko said, “The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”  These “mental” weapons for the oppressors become material, when the oppressed take up arms for the oppressor.  The rejection of such colonized deployments is a critical part of every liberation and revolution.

When the French colonizers fought the British colonizers in North America, they manipulated indigenous people (“Indians”) to do their fighting for them. When, after the US Civil War, the Northern victors set out to conquer the native “Indians” in lands to the West, they deployed Black soldiers (“Buffalo Soldiers”) to carry through the colonization fight. When Europeans were facing uprisings across colonized Africa, they most commonly sent their native colonial troops to suppress the anti-colonial challengers.

Hundreds of such examples dot the pages of colonial history – and in some cases, like the San Patricio Battalion (Irish migrants who were deployed by the US in the “Mexican War” of the 1840’s), or Black troops deployed against the Filipino independence fighters in early 1900s, or US soldiers in Vietnam who became resisters and fraggers, the deployment of oppressed soldiers against other oppressed peoples was rejected and many refused to fight, and some joined the resistance of the colonized. This struggle to exorcise the influence of the oppressor, to de-colonize the minds of the oppressed, continues today in Nagaland, in Chhattisgargh, and everywhere oppression and resistance is found. — Frontlines ed.]

MCPM urges Nagas to resist deployment in Maoist areas

Correspondent IMPHAL, Nagaland Post, October 23, 2014

Major General R. K. Sharma, Additional Director General, NCC Directorate North Eastern Region Shillong on his visit to Ist Nagaland Girls Battalion, NCC Kohima on April 9. The ADG highlighted the NCC activities and various opportunities and incentives offered by NCC. He appreciated the state government for its support towards NCC activity in Nagaland. Patkai College has been selected by UGC to take up National Cadet Corps (NCC) as elective subject in the curriculum from the academic year 2013-14.

Maoists have put up posters at Kalimela Policestation area in Malkangiri districts of Orissa asking people to cooperate with them to make the PLGA week observation a success

The Manipur based underground group Maoist Communist Party Manipur (MCPM) has asked Naga Regiments not to allow themselves to be deployed in the Maoist stronghold areas of India, especially in Dandakaranya Revolutionary zone.
Publicity and propaganda secretary Comrade Nonglen Meitei of the outfit, in a statement dispatched to the local media, appealed to the Naga Regiment to oppose the implementation of this decision regarding their deployment.
It further appealed the regiment not to go to Chhattisgarh as “slaves” while urging to raise their voices against the forceful deployment and showed solidarity towards the revolutionary people of that region who are fighting for their very existence.

South Africa: Another Political Eviction in Sisonke Village

By Abahlali BaseMjondolo, Pambazuka News

Armed ANC members acting with police support now openly attack people struggling against corruption and for land in Cato Crest. They are even hiring assassins

On Sunday 28 September 2014 the ANC Ward 74 councillor Nolubabalo Mthembu called an ANC meeting to discuss ways of replacing the Land Invasion Unit with an ANC demolition team. This meeting took place at the Lamontville Community hall in the afternoon at around 1pm. The Task Team Committee was launched to carry out the illegal eviction of the nearby Sisonke settlement. Sisonke Village, formerly known as Madlala Village, made headlines early this year when they approached the Constitutional Court after they had been subjected to more than 24 illegal evictions.

The Constitutional court found that the Eviction Order obtained by the Member of the Executive Council, Ravi Pillay, was invalid as it was made in breach of the Constitution. The court also found that the eThekwini Municipality [one of the 11 districts of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, covering the City of Durban and surrounding towns] had lied to the Court and referred the matter back to Durban High Court. We are still waiting for the High Court to make a ruling on the matter. It is clear that replacing the Land Invasions Unit with ANC members is a tactic to avoid legal accountability for evictions. We saw a similar strategy at the Marikana Land Occupation in Cato Crest on Friday 26 September when ANC members began demolishing shacks. They also attacked one of our members with a spade.

In 2009 repression by the police was replaced with repression by armed ANC members acting with police support. Last year Willies Mchunu openly called for ANC members to act directly against people struggling against corruption and for land in Cato Crest. Since last year izinkabi (assassins) have also been used to repress us.

Reaching for “World-Class” Glory, the Brazilian State Unleashes a Reign of Terror in the Favelas

[In Brazil, the international promotion of a global sporting event, the FIFA World Cup of 2014, has driven a “sophisticated, cosmetic” PR and brutal policing and counter-insurgency program.   In this article, The Guardian describes the deadly repression of the poor, and  the “charm-the-tourists” propaganda campaign of the Brazilian state. — Frontlines ed.]

———————————-

Brazil’s favelas are in big trouble, despite the World Cup marketing push

Recent police abuse and killings in the favelas have highlighted how the government’s so-called security programme is more about PR

Nicole Froio,, theguardian.com, Sunday 18 May 2014

‘In Rio de Janeiro, the number of deaths in conflict with the police rose by 69% from 2013 to 2014.’ Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

This week, a study by Amnesty International revealed that 80% of Brazilians are afraid of being tortured by their own police force on arrest. In a survey across 21 countries, Brazil was found to be the country where people feel most unsafe in the hands of authorities, almost twice the international average of 44%.

In Rio de Janeiro this fear is very real. Although the media has reported the efforts to pacify favelas across the city, armed violence has once again escalated in the city – weeks before it will receive thousands of football fans for the 2014 World Cup.

Back in 2008 favela residents dreamed of a life without violence as the government unveiled a project to build Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) in which policemen would be stationed to take back territory controlled by drug gangs for decades. Today the failures of this programme are starting to show – and a corrupt and violent police force is the main cause.

Edward Snowden: “NSA Surveillance Is About Power, Not ‘Safety'”

By Edward Snowden

17 December, 2013
[Countercurrents.org published this note introducing Edward Snowden’s open letter to the people of Brazil. “This letter was published today in the Brazilian newspaper A Folha in Portuguese and this original text was provided via the Facebook page of Glenn Greenwald’s husband David Miranda.”]

Six months ago, I stepped out from the shadows of the United States Government’s National Security Agency to stand in front of a journalist’s camera. I shared with the world evidence proving some governments are building a world-wide surveillance system to secretly track how we live, who we talk to, and what we say. I went in front of that camera with open eyes, knowing that the decision would cost me family and my home, and would risk my life. I was motivated by a belief that the citizens of the world deserve to understand the system in which they live.

My greatest fear was that no one would listen to my warning. Never have I been so glad to have been so wrong. The reaction in certain countries has been particularly inspiring to me, and Brazil is certainly one of those.

Indian TV interview with Delhi U. Professor Saibaba: “Are Left sympathisers being branded as Naxals?”

Sep 19, 2013

Is GN Saibaba, the wheelchair-bound professor of English in one of the country’s premier university, the new face of Naxalism? The Maharashtra Police raided the home of Delhi University professor Saibaba last week, alleging that he is an active member of the banned CPI-Maoist.

US / Israel: Behind the Mask of “Human Rights” — Spies for Repression

The Strange History of the Anti-Defamation League | June 12, 2013

ADL Spies

by JEFFREY BLANKFORT

“[T]he Anti-Defamation League for many years has maintained a very important, confidential investigative coverage of Arab activities and propaganda….Our information, in addition to being essential for our own operations, has been of great value and service to both the United States State Department and the Israeli government. All data have been made available to both countries with full knowledge to each that we were the source.”

–  Letter from Benjamin R. Epstein, National Director, Anti-Defamation League to Saul Joftes, Executive Secretary, B’nai B’rith, July 7, 1961.

Those were the days when snooping usually meant digging through garbage cans, checking other people’s mailboxes, and primitive phone tapping. How the Anti-Defamation League is doing it today one can only imagine.

Over the last three days of April, the ADL celebrated its 100^th anniversary in Washington DC in high style with Vice President Joe Biden the featured speaker at its Centennial Gala dinner on April 30 and Attorney General Eric Holder doing the obligatory genuflecting the day before.

Standing next to the ADL’s ubiquitous current national director, Abe Foxman, Biden told the one thousand paying guests, “You have become the conscience of this country, no matter what the issue. You have been a pillar of the Jewish community, but you reach out and you have reached out your embrace for all communities.”

For hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals the ADL’s embrace has been too close for comfort and “unconscionable” would be a term more befitting the organization’s activities. What is definitely in order is a reminder that this year also marks the 20^th anniversary of the exposure of a nation-wide spying operation run by the ADL that went back at least five decades.

India: Mass organisations stage protest demonstration against the arbitrary expulsion of hundreds of workers of Maruti Suzuki

Delhi Metro Kamgar Union:

“Efforts to buy industrial peace by covering up the real reasons for the incident

at the Maruti Suzuki will only lead to a greater unrest”

 New Delhi, August 21. Various mass organisations, unions and social activists staged a protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar today against the arbitrary expulsion of hundreds of workers Maruti Suzuki  by the management and the continued persecution of the workers. The protestors also submitted a memorandum to the union labour minister to revoke the suspension of the workers.

It is to be noted that tha Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki has opened today itself after a month long lockout. However the management has announced the expulsion of the 500 permanent workers. Also the future of more than 1500 contract workers remains uncertain. The company has threatend to terminate more workers in future.

Despite heavy rainfall since morning, large number of workers and activists coming from Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurgaon took part in the demonstration.

While strongly condemning the dictatorial decision of the Maruti Suzuki management, the speakers said that the anti-labour attitude of Haryana government and the Central government stands exposed through their support to this act of pushing the hundreds of workers and their families on the street.

The speakers mentioned that the incident of July 18 at Maruti Suzuki Manesar was not a planned act of violence but an explosion of workers’ anger against the company’s policies which had accumulated over a period of time. But the company has waged a campaign to brand the workers as a “murderous mob” and “criminals” and by puttting all the legal conventions on the back burner the police is on look out for the workers merely on the F.I.R. of one side. Nobody bothered to understand what caused the workers, who were increasing the company’s profit through their hard labour, to take the violent course.

China’s New Eco-Warriors

Monday 13 August 2012

Thanks to micro-blogs and the Internet spreading the word, people in China have become more and more aware of environmental issues, taking a stand against big corporations.

– (Occupy Vienna)

By Harold Thibault
LE MONDE/Worldcrunch

QIDONG – At 18-years-old, Li Wei does not look like a dissident. She is mostly focused on her studies in accountancy, her friends – with whom she is always in contact – and chatting with her sister. However, none of that stopped the young girl – who has given us a false name because of the difficult situation in her hometown of Qidong – from participating in a protest that escalated in the ransacking of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) offices.

Protesters had been gathering since sunrise on Saturday July 28 in this small town one hour’s drive north of Shanghai. As the day passed, the local government’s offices were stormed. Administration documents flew from the windows while the angered crowd grabbed at the shirt of the PCP secretary, overcome by the extent of the movement. “We have to mobilize to protect the environment, this is our hometown,” says Li Wei, sitting in the restaurant run by her parents.

Protests against polluting industries have multiplied recently due to citizens becoming increasingly aware of the ecological impacts created by economic development. Even state-run television channels are now talking about the environment as a priority in China, with young people spreading the word via micro-blogs. “People now realize that the fight against pollution is serious, as there are scarce few places in the world where industrialization is having such a heavy and direct impact on the masses,” says environmentalist Ma Jun.

India: On the Maruti Suzuki Worker’s Struggle

Resolution of the All India Executive Committee, Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) — (approved at meeting in Delhi, 1-2 August 2012)

On Maruti Suzuki Worker’s Struggle

RDF hails the militant movement of the workers of Maruti Suzuki factory at Gurgaon, and strongly condemns the management of the company as well as the government who have undertaken a severe repressive campaign against the workers. The company has declared a lock-out which leading to the loss of jobs of thousands of workers. More than a hundred workers including the office-bearers of the Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Union have been arrested and charged with murder, while most of the other workers have been forced to go underground to avoid arrests. RDF resolves to extend solidarity and all possible support to the struggling workers of Maruti Suzuki. RDF demands that the plant be immediately reopened, the arrested workers be released, the cases against them withdrawn unconditionally, they be restored to their previous jobs, and all the demands of the workers’ Union be resolved forthwith. We call upon the workers to continue and step up the struggle till these demands are achieved.

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Source:  http://www.icawpi.org/en/peoples-resistance/statements/856-rdf-on-workers-struggle-communal-clashes-and-caste-atrociities

India: Maruti Crisis – Protestors demand release of innocent workers

Maruti Crisis: Protestors demand release of innocent workers

By Abu Zafar, newzfirst.com, July 21, 2012

NEW DELHI – A large number of people Saturday protested against the repression of workers at Maruti Suzuki plant, a leading car manufacturer and urged government to act against management of the company and to release innocent workers, who were arrested following violence inside the plant on last Wednesday.

The protestors, who gathered outside Haryana Bhavan, shouting the slogans against Bhupinder Hooda, the chief minister of Haryana and the management of Maruti Suzuki Company, accused the management of repressing the workers of the factory since a year.

Addressing the gathering of protestors, Shivkumar of Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra said, “Workers had long pending resentment against the officials of management, who used to harass and abuse the workers for trivial issues.”

He also expressed the deep anguish over the entire episode and death of Awanish Kumar Dev. “We grieve over this unfortunate and painful incident. And also deplore the move to make others scapegoat for this.”

He also held management of the plant, labor department and administration responsible for the entire incident.

India: Government attacks the poor under sham pretense–thousands arrested falsely or disappeared

Counter terror ops a facade for anti-people policies, say activists

New Delhi | Deccan Herald | 26 June 2012

Cases of men and women disappearing, false cases and illegal detentions have become rampant in the name of fighting “maoism and terrorism”, alleged activists at a convention held in Delhi on Tuesday.

Activists demanded withdrawal of the undeclared emergency imposed in 1975 terming it as a “draconian law” at the convention held on Anti-emergency Day observed on June 26. They said that a new wave of “counter terrorism” has been evolved “in the name of IPC” to terrorise people from backward communities.

Kuldip Nayar, who has been raising concerns over undeclared emergency for several years said, “In June 1975 the press was stopped because the government decided to impose censorship. But some media publications fought back. Similarly, today people need to fight back rather than depending on the government.”

Dr Binayak Sen, who spent two and a half years in prison said, “I took this message while walking out of the prison that it is our duty to fight for thousands who are imprisoned for no reason.”

February 23: International protests at the arraignment of Bradley Manning

23 Feb: Vigil at US Embassy, London as Bradley Manning is Arraigned in US

WISE Up for Bradley Manning | 20.02.2012

Thursday 23 February, 5pm – 6pm:  Stand in solidarity with Bradley Manning in London as he is arraigned for Court Martial in the US. The Vigil will take place at the hour the arraignment is starting at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Meet in front of the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. Nearest tube: Bond Street
Solidarity Vigil presently sponsored by London Catholic Worker, Veterans for Peace UK, WISE Up for Bradley Manning

Short YouTube video of a previous vigil outside the US Embassy by British Veterans in solidarity with Bradley Manning here

The Court Martial of Bradley Manning is expected to begin in early May.

Meanwhile, the US National Lawyers Guild has called for all charges against Bradley Manning to be dismissed.

WISE Up for Bradley Manning
e-mail: wiseupforbm[at]yahoo.com
Homepage: http://wiseupforbradleymanning.wordpress.com

Sudan police raid campus, arrest hundreds of activists

Fri Feb 17, 2012

KHARTOUM Feb 17 (Reuters) – Sudanese police arrested hundreds of students in a pre-dawn raid on a major university’s dormitories on Friday, activists said, in a crackdown on a campus that has been at the centre of recent anti-government protests.

The University of Khartoum in the Sudanese capital has been closed for about two months after students staged demonstrations over rising prices, unemployment and other issues.

Police wielding batons entered the student housing early on Friday morning, beating and arresting hundreds of those who had remained in the dormitories waiting for classes to resume, a witness said.

“We were woken in our rooms by the voices and strikes of the police,” said the witness, who asked not to be identified. He said more than 300 students had been arrested.

Sudan’s police spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the reports.

A lawyer who has been monitoring the events, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said police had arrested between 300 to 400 students under a law against inciting unrest.

An activist from the group “Change Now” also confirmed the raid had taken place.

Sudan has not seen mass protests like the ones that ousted leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, but small demonstrations inspired by revolts in other Arab countries have flared up over the past year over inflation and other issues. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Writing by Alessandra Rizzo)

Istanbul: Mass arrests at protest of Turkish government’s massacre in Sirnk Uludere

35 Civilians Dead – Protestors Released

32 people who were taken into custody in Istanbul because they protested the death of 35 civilians were now released. The villagers were killed in an aerial strike in south-eastern Turkey.

Riot police stand guard as Kurds protest after Turkey's air force attacked suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border in Iraq, killing some 35 people, many of them believed to be smugglers mistaken for guerrillas, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 29. 2011. The killings spurred angry demonstrations in Istanbul and several cities in the mostly Kurdish southeast.

Kurds protest after Turkey's air force attacked suspected Kurdish rebel targets across the border in Iraq, killing a dozen people, many of them believed to be smugglers mistaken for guerrillas, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 29. 2011.

Istanbul – BİA News Center

03 January 2012, Tuesday

32 people were taken into police custody on 29 December in Istanbul because they protested the death of 35 civilians who were killed in an operation of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in south-eastern Turkey. All of the 32 people in custody, among them conscientious objector İnan Süver, were released on 31 December.

The TSK carried out an aerial strike in the region of Uludere in the Kurdish-majority province of Şırnak in the night of 28 December. Unmanned air vehicles and thermal cameras of the TSK had determined a group of people close to the Iraqi border. Thereupon, an aerial strike was launched in the region close to the Ortasu Village.

35 civilians from the villages of Ortasu (Roboski) and Gülyazı were reported dead after the incident. It turned out later on that these people were not members of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as supposed by the military but villagers aged between 12 and 37 years old who were smuggling diesel fuel.

After the funerals, relatives of the victims explained the reason why they went to get diesel fuel from Iraq: “Poverty is the reason. This is our only source to get by”.