Largest Students' Gathering in Recent Memory
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Volume 41 No. 11 Organ of the SOCIALIST UNITY CENTRE OF INDIA January 18, 2008 Founder Editor-in-Chief : COMRADE SHIBDAS GHOSH Price : Rs. 3.00 7th all-India AIDSO Conference in Calcutta Largest Students’ Gathering in Recent Memory The flag was unfurled 53 years Rashmoni road. The huge dais chair. Seated on the dais were back. In 1954, AIDSO was founded draped in red went up high boldly Comrades Provash Ghosh, Central in Kolkata in a small hall by a proclaiming its battle against fee Committee member, SUCI and handful of students who, at the call hike, sex education, GATS, SEZ, advisor, AIDSO, Debasish Roy, of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, the etc. On the left of the dais was put General Secretary, AIDSO, and great Marxist thinker, took the up a big portrait of Comrade fraternal delegates Comrades pledge to fight capitalist onslaughts Shibdas Ghosh bordered with a deep Fakhruddin Kabir Adik, Vice- 22 April 1870 21 January 1924 on education and build up militant line of white flowers. Two huge President, Socialist Students' Front The only way of students' movement conducive to spirited processions, one from of Bangladesh and Jivan Gautam, wresting concessions anti-capitalist revolution. And now, Howrah and the other from Sealdah President, All Nepal Free Students' AIDSO was holding the 7th All Railway stations, converged at the Union (Unified). from the bourgeoisie is India Students' Conference in venue turning into a tumultuous sea Also present were AIDSO not by ‘bringing’ with Kolkata with 2150 delegates from of vibrant students. They voiced leaders from the 20 participating it not ‘adepting’ Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, slogans in their mother tongues and states. Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, in English presenting a mini India In his opening remarks, ourselves to its Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, before the wonder eyes of the Comrade Navendu Pal, West Bengal interests or prejudices, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Assam, people flanking the huge rally of the State Secretary, pointed out how the but by preparing the Tripura, Sikkim, Kerala, Tamil might of over 30,000. "No one has CPI(M)-led West Bengal revolutionary forces of Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, seen such a massive students' government put up obstacles by Orissa, West Bengal and with gathering in recent times", cancelling booking of the Salt Lake the masses against it. fraternal delegates from Bangladesh commented a leading Bengali daily stadium, the originally scheduled — V. I. LENIN and Nepal. in their next day's edition. The open conference venue, at the last hours, Collected Works, Vol. 23, P-141 On 8 January '08 was the open session began with Comrade Pratap refusing allotment of government session of the Conference at Rani Samal, President AIDSO, on the Contd. on page 2 Massive students' gathering in the open session of AIDSO conference on January 8 in Calcutta PAGE TWO JANUARY 18, 2008 PROLETARIAN ERA Students’ movement must conduce to anti-capitalist revolutiion Contd. from page 1 thoughts. Bereft of the ideals of buses at concessional rate, a secular scientific democratic traditional and legally valid practice, universal education, man will turn Comrade Nihar Mukherjee’s and advancing examination dates to into beast. Congress-BJP-CPI(M), coincide with the conference dates. as political managers of the ruling Comrade Pratap Samal drew a vivid bourgeoisie, are, through their Message to the picture as to how AIDSO starting its governments at the Centre and in the journey five decades back has states taking up measures after through struggle and braving all measures to buttress its class Students’ Conference odds become such a big motive. All sorts of rotten debased On the occasion of the Seventh All India Students' Conference of the All organization. The massive students' culture, sex perversion, drug India Democratic Students' Organization, Comrade Nihar Mukherjee, gathering, he observed, bore addictions, social alienation, General Secretary, Socialist Unity Centre of India, sent the following eloquent testimony to this massive meanness, ego-centricism, utter message on 8-1-08 : growth and expansion. Comrade opportunism, crass individualism, Debasish Roy stressed the role of religious fanaticism, obscurantism, It is heartening to note that the indicated that the prevailing AIDSO in taking up the cause of the communalism, parochialism are All India Democratic Students' capitalist society of the country, as a toiling people while conducting being merrily encouraged, overtly or Organization (AIDSO) is going to part and parcel of the world sustained movements against allout covertly, to turn the students and hold its seventh All India Students' moribund capitalist-imperialist attack on education. Comrade youths in particular into beasts. Conference from January 8 to system, is bogged in an all-out Fakhruddin Kabir Adik presented a Absence of desired January10, 2008 in the city of crisis, economic-political-social- detailed picture of the mounting enlightenment through secular Calcutta, that has remained through cultural. Acute industrial recession assault on education in Bangladesh scientific education is helping this decades a citadel of democratic leads to closure, lay-off and such and narrated how his organization nefarious design in implementation. movements of students in particular others, in turn giving way to ever- drawing inspiration from the On one hand, sex and violence is and people in general. It is mounting unemployment, job- illumining thoughts of Comrade widely promoted through cinema, significant more so, because the crunch and such other maladies. Shibdas Ghosh is building up TV, obscene literature and so forth AIDSO is a students' organization Unable to cope with them and revolutionary students' movement while on the other, sex education is that was founded at the inspiration rather with a view to restricting the there. Comrade Jivan Gautam said being introduced at school level on of and guided by the thoughts of number of educated unemployed, that both Indian expansionism and the plea of stymieing the pernicious Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, one of the the ruling class has long been US imperialism are out to destroy effect of sex perversion on the foremost Marxist thinkers of the curtailing the scope of education for mass movements in Nepal. All children. Alongside, the ruling class present era and the founder General common people. Comrade Ghosh Nepal Free Students' Union is closing the door of education to Secretary of SUCI, the made it clear to the students that (Unified) is engaged in building up millions by steep fee hike, capitation revolutionary party of the country, they must fight tooth and nail movements on education. fee and donation system. Plunged with a view to not only conducting against such curtailment and Next Comrade Provash Ghosh in severe market crisis endemic of democratic movements on problems restriction of education. Side by addressed the students' rally. He the system, imperialism-capitalism of student as well as teaching side, Comrade Provash Ghosh said :When we started AIDSO, we is closing down existing industries community and of education, but emphasized, education is being were a handful few. Our only throwing millions out of job and also imbuing students with robbed of its essence, its man- weapon was Marxism-Leninism- turning back from setting up job- revolutionary consciousness based making, character-building role that Shibdas Ghosh Thought. With this breeding labour-intensive industries. on correct understanding of fortifies students with rational weapon, through countless struggles Instead, in its bid to find new Marxism- Leninism and the edifice scientific outlook towards life, AIDSO has reached the present avenues for earning maximum of high moral and ethical values. instilled with lofty moral-ethical and stage of strength all over the profit, it is now turning education As far back as in those days, cultural values making them valiant country. The concept of secular into a commercial commodity. So Comrade Ghosh pointed out that competent soldiers in the march for scientific education free from education is being made any education movement should be social progress. It is only by dint of tutelege of religion was brought by exorbitantly costly and affordable directed to make education truly such education that students acquire the bourgeoisie during the advent of only to a handful of rich. The ruling scientific, secular, cheap and the capacity to find out the roots of capitalism as a progressive force. class has included education in universal at the same time fighting evils that stand in the way of But now capitalism having been GATS. Thus it has commercialized for democratization of the entire progress of society as also the turned reactionary, is reversing the education opening the door for educational system. While correct path to eradicate those current and opting to curtail super profit in the field of secularism means non-recognition impediments and open the course of education, rob it of its essence and knowledge also. Also there is of any supernatural entity, a secular progress. stuff it with all unscientific rotten Contd. on page 12 state must neither encourage nor It is also by dint of such obstruct faith, thus leaving religion education that student can develop as a matter of personal belief. But in themselves into characters that stand our country, secularism as practiced out as laudable examples before the came down to equal encouragement society. On the contrary, the ruling of all religions by the state. Even class has been opposing this correct religion was, and is, incorporated and desirable approach to education, into education, thus reducing through their slogans of job-oriented democratic and scientific education, or vocational education, stripping for which the leading educationists education off its essence. Further, and stalwarts of the Indian by incorporating religion into renaissance had fought, to mere education and by emphasizing upon verbosity. This made Comrade the technological aspects in place of Ghosh fix the tasks of students to true scientific outlook in education uncompromisingly fight for secular, and true scientific and systematic scientific and democratic education.