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Vol. 74 No. 37 Mahatma – The Great Communicator October 6, 2019 Nikhil Chakravartty

Romila Thapar on Bhagat Singh’s The following is the text of acquired its unique characteristic 112th Birth Anniversary the Gandhi Peace Foundation from the way Gandhiji built and How Labour's Radical Agenda was Lecture 1995 delivered by Nikhil guided it. Built from the Ground Up Chakravartty in New Delhi on Our freedom struggle needs to be Laurie Macfarlane January 30, 1995. It first appeared in assessed in a historical perspective. Mainstream (October 3, 1998) after Its dominant characteristic that marks Several Reasons Why West N.C.’s demise. it out from other great revolutions in Papua Should Get Its Freedom… Immediately! I am deeply touched by having history was its tremendous sweep. Andre Vltchek been asked to deliver this year’s No other revolution in history set Gandhi Peace Foundation Lecture. in motion so many millions of The Root Problem is the Nobody is more conscious than I am people. This is no idle boast but Capitalist System about my inadequacy in speaking the plain statement of a historical National Award on this sacred occasion, the day of reality which is often missed by our of MP Government: the martyrdom of the greatest son academics and politicians alike. Acceptance Speech of my country. Perhaps my only In late eighteenth century Neeraj Jain qualification to talk about him is France, the objective conditions of that I belong to the generation that mass discontent and disenchantment The Human Cost Of Apple’s was witness to the historic transition with the ancient regime no iPhone Manufacturing Process from subjection to freedom of our doubt prevailed, but the actual great motherland, and as a young revolutionary action involved a Editor : G. G. Parikh reporter I cherish the memory of the small number of a few thousand, Associate Editor : Neeraj Jain exciting moments in the presence of mostly in Paris: once the fuse was Gandhi. lighted, the revolution flared up in Managing Editor : Guddi I am no scholar of the study of different parts of France without Editorial Board : Gandhiji’s great life, rather I spent my any coherent leadership. It was B. Vivekanandan, Qurban Ali activist youth as an impudent critic of largely a spontaneous upsurge, even Anil Nauriya, Sonal Shah the elders in our national movement the leadership at the core could not Amarendra Dhaneshwar, for independence. Having spent hold its own and it changed hands Sandeep Pandey over half-a-century as a journalist, fast so that even those who led it I have chosen as the subject of this at the beginning were soon either D-15, Ganesh Prasad, presentation: ‘Mahatma Gandhi— left by the wayside or liquidated, Naushir Bharucha Marg, the Great Communicator’. This is a giving rise to the classic phrase that Mumbai - 400 007. very subjective endeavour—a string the revolution had devoured its own Email : [email protected] of cursory thoughts—based largely children. Website:www.janataweekly.org on my personal reflections on our The Russian Revolution had a struggle for freedom and how it more organised leadership than those 2 JANATA, October 6, 2019

who had led the French Revolution, action was small—the same reliance of the leaders of the independence but it was a small band of determined on a determined band. The form movement to raise the consciousness militant revolutionaries under a of action was essentially armed of the vast masses of common leader who had an uncanny sense guerrilla forays which harassed the people—not just a small section of the configuration of forces ranged enemy and finally overpowered it. of determined revolutionaries as in a decadent imperial system. This way the authority of the state had been the case of the other great So, when the Czarist system itself was subverted until the final citadel revolutions. The fact that the Indian cracked up with the fiasco of defeat of power was captured, and thereby people were not permitted to bear in the First World War, Lenin gave the guerrilla bands of yesterday arms under the British Raj was not the call for capture of power which were joined together to form the allowed to dampen or demoralise the Bolsheviks swiftly carried victorious People’s Liberation Army. the millions. Rather, a new form out. In terms of moving millions Compare these three great of strength was instilled into their into revolutionary action, the landmarks in modern history with consciousness. Bolshevik Revolution was mostly what happened in our country This aspect of the Indian the handiwork of small groups of in the first half of the twentieth Revolution marks it out as distinct determined revolutionaries who, century. Stage by stage, the premier from the other revolutions in everywhere, first captured the key nationalist organisation, committed modern times. Nowhere was the points of power and then sought to to the struggle for independence, question of the gun permitted to be redesign the social structure in the fully involved larger and larger of supreme or decisive importance interest of the common people as sections of the people into the in the mainstream of our national they thought fit. In a sense it was vortex of struggle for power. This struggle for independence. This does a sort of managerial revolution led way, the only weapon for winning not mean that the sacrifice of those by a party which concentrated on power was to organise larger and revolutionaries who unwaveringly the means of capturing power, and larger sections of ’s unarmed gave their lives by taking up arms power alone. humanity into mass action. By the against the foreign ruler was of The Chinese Revolution time independence actually came, no consequence. From Aurobindo was also similar to the Russian the Congress commanded much Ghosh and Savarkar to Bhagat Singh Revolution in its broad historical larger sections of the people than and Chandrashekhar Azad to Subhas sweep. In this case also, it was a anybody had so far done in history. Chandra Bose, they all made the small group of a few thousand led by The main feature of the Indian finest contributions to the struggle a remarkable leader, Mao Zedong, struggle for freedom has been that it for freedom, but the successive steeled in the Long March which throughout depended almost wholly waves of mass upheavals that was a sort of armed —a on activating the masses by injecting decisively brought down the British decade-old campaign to rouse the into them the urge for independence rule in India did not depend on the peasantry in some pockets of the by emphasising the strength of the wielding of arms by a small minority vast sprawling domain of China Indian people vis-a-vis the colonial of dedicated revolutionaries, but with the administrative system rulers, and thereby set them free essentially on the raising of the level itself having broken down and from the fear of the ruler. The of consciousness of the broad masses replaced by an ineffective regime non-violence, as it was practised, of the people. under the Kuomintang. It was the emphasised on the strength of the This precisely was the unique specialisation of the guerrilla war Indian people in relation to the contribution of Gandhiji. When approach which enabled Mao to ruler who had to depend on the gun historians and publicists talk of spread his network taking advantage for establishing his authority. The Gandhi having taken politics from of the Japanese occupation of most fact that through the Arms Act the the monopoly of the intelligentsia of the mainland. Unlike the Russian Indian people were denied the right to the wider world of the common Revolution, which relied more to defend themselves was turned into humanity, it was not just a question of on the working class, the Chinese a symbol of strength, that the people broadening the base of the movement Revolution targeted largely the would depend on their conscious for freedom. This was not merely a peasantry. Here too, the number of strength to ward off the foreign ruler. question of quantitative increase people actively engaged in mass This meant constant effort on the part in the number of participants in JANATA, October 6, 2019 3

the movement, but qualitatively a darkness about the limited capacity in them the imperative of their active different type of movement emerged of the foreign ruler and the great participation in the movement. To with its essentially distinct hallmark. opening for the country’s advance enable him to do so, he took up a How was this achieved, what once the foreign ruler was forced to wide range of activities pertaining was the weapon by which the mass quit through the demonstration of to all sections of the people—from consciousness was raised? How strength by the people. education to village welfare, from the was the message of the freedom Gandhiji ran the pilot project spinning wheel to cattle protection. struggle conveyed to the common of his new technique in South His effort at total identification with people? Herein comes Gandhi’s role Africa against the hated rule of the village poor made him design as a great communicator. For, he apartheid. There too he did not even his personal attire and way of depended solely on communicating advocate the taking up of arms living. Since he looked upon public the message of freedom to the but sought to instil in the common activity as having an element of masses and thereby sought to lift people a realisation of their own moral purpose, he regarded the their consciousness. That message strength in blocking and muzzling entire crusade for independence as was not just a mere exhortation the White ruler’s oppressive rule. an experiment with truth. For him for rousing the emotional urge From that apprenticeship abroad, the freedom of the country was of a nation to be free—however when he came back to India in 1915, part of the struggle for truth—an important might have been that task political activity in the country approach which was perhaps easier for welding the sense of unity among was afflicted with stagnation and for the unlettered villager, steeped the people. This had been done in a political forces, mostly confined to in the tradition of customs, to grasp limited area during the Bengal anti- the intelligentsia, were in disarray. than the Western educated liberal partition movement of 1905—which The tour he undertook—his Bharat intelligentsia of the city. in a particular region had assumed Darshan—enabled him to understand This is an aspect of Gandhiji’s the character of a mass movement the urges of the common people movement which was not easy and had been successful in forcing and one of his first acts was the to understand for the educated the British rulers to abandon their Champaran , a form of intelligentsia and in this controversy plan to vivisect one of the militant struggle so unfamiliar to both the arose the intense debate over the pockets of the national movement. Indian politician and the British question of linking ends with means. Gandhiji’s movement, on ruler of the day. Drawing upon his From the Marxists to the radicalists the other hand, was much more South African experience, he made of all hues, the linking of ends and comprehensive: it tried to activate a special effort at cultivating the means could not possibly be part all the diverse sectors of the national minority Muslim community and of the domain of politics, where spectrum. From the affluent classes from then onwards came his interest the supremacy of the objective to the impoverished, from the and subsequent compact with the of power became of paramount intelligentsia to the unlettered— Khilafat agitation. The Rowlatt consideration, and hence there could nobody was left out. It was not stayagraha and the Khilafat were be no organised link between ends just confined to tending only the his earlier excursions before his first and means. In the early thirties, grassroots level as a multitude of major national campaign in the form when Aldous Huxley reopened activist groups are doing nowadays. of the non-cooperation of 1920. For the question in his book, Ends and No doubt these are bringing some the first time in the annals of the Means, the Indian Marxist response relief to the people at the bottom. By national movement, a countrywide was Ends are Means. This is where their endeavour these activist groups campaign involving the common Gandhiji’s insistence on politics have certainly been educating and masses was initiated. and morality being inseparable activating the uncared-for sections It is not the purpose of this demarcated him from the Western of society to stand on their own presentation to trace the history educated liberals ands helped him legs. What distinguished Gandhi’s of the freedom struggle—what is in a large measure to be attuned to movement for independence was relevant for the purpose is Gandhiji’s the philosophical base of very large that it was not only much more role as a communicator. He left out sections of the corpus of India’s comprehensive but it sought to no means, no technique, to rouse the socio-cultural heritage. This also open the eyes of the millions left in consciousness of the people—instil denoted that for him politics— 4 JANATA, October 6, 2019

the struggle for independence— merely to excite passion. The reader of the brainwave of one individual could not be compartmentalised can have no idea of the restraint leader. Recent research on the subject from the totality of the human I have to exercise from week to by a very perceptive scholar in social condition. In his scheme of things, week in the choice of topics and my communication at Ahmedabad the struggle for independence was vocabulary. It is training for me. It has brought out significant details but the manifestation of the wider enables me to peep into myself and to about it (“What Moves the Masses? struggle for the regeneration of the make discoveries of my weaknesses. Salt Satyagraha as Case-Study”, by entire society. Often my vanity dictates a smart Suchitra, Mainstream, January 28, As a communicator, Gandhiji, expression or my anger a harsh 1995). After the pledge to achieve like most of our great leaders, adjective. It is a terrible ordeal complete independence, taken on used the medium of the press apart but a fine exercise to remove these the banks of the Ravi at Lahore on from the spoken word. In the midst weeds. December 31, 1929, first came the of all his multitude of activities, As a communicator, Gandhiji Independence Day declaration of , and was aware of the need to take into January 26, 1930 which catalogued Harijan came out regularly—a one- account the level of awareness of the injustices of the British Raj. man endeavour—conveying his his target reader or listener. This Next came Gandhiji’s letter to message to his countrymen. The can be seen in the very naming of Viceroy Lord Irwin, in which eleven importance that was attached to each of the great upsurges. None demands were raised, including the the written word by Gandhiji and of these were just spontaneous abolition of the salt tax. Meanwhile, other national leaders reflected their upsurges, but each one was preceded the leaders discussed the form of urge to reach out their message to by meticulous preparations. By the to be launched. as wide a section of the people as correct standards of a communicator, Pandit Nehru and Subhas Bose possible. The means to convey that Gandhiji chose the form of struggle, suggested the setting up of a parallel message were often primitive, but no the target and even the language of government while Sardar Patel medium available at the time was left every campaign in keeping with proposed a march to Delhi or out. From traditional interpersonal the level of consciousness of the alternatively a countrywide breaking means—including the travelling common people. In the first round of land laws. Gandhiji envisaged a bards—the bauls of Bengal, for it was Non-Cooperation (1920). Ten long drawn-out movement in which instance—to the educated student years later, it was more assertive— the masses would have to be drawn going out on literacy-cum-swadeshi Civil Disobedience (1930–32). in. He felt the British Government missions, the composing of patriotic And a decade later, having taken would pounce upon the setting up songs and setting up of choirs in into account both the internal and of a parallel government or a march villages, mohallas and bustees, to the external circumstances, it was to Delhi. Gandhiji felt his target the immortal ‘magic lantern’—there Quit India (1942). With every audience was the Indian society to was no video at that time—nothing stage, the tempo was raised higher, be unified and he was conscious was left out. It was a gigantic mass involvement more intense of the need to cultivate public operation, sustained through the ups and widespread than before, until opinion abroad. So, the defiance and downs of the freedom struggle, the finale was reached with the of the salt law was taken up as the and later on followed by handwritten battle cry of Do-or-Die. Here was initial item of civil disobedience. posters and graffiti. the remarkable manifestation of Resentment at the salt law had How true to his convictions the acute sensitivity of a great a long history. As early as 1844, Gandhiji was in his actual functioning communicator. there were disturbances protesting as a journalist could be gathered It may be worthwhile to refer against this impost which touched from many of his writings. Here is briefly to a couple of specific even the poorest of the poor. The a passage from Young India (July 2, instances of how Gandhiji operated Congress, at its inaugural session 1925) about how he strove to serve as a communicator. Before he in 1885, had referred to it. During as a true communicator: undertook the Dandi March for the 1905 in To be true to my faith therefore, the Salt Satyagraha in 1930, there Bengal, the call was given for the I may not write in anger or malice. was careful consultation within the boycott of Manchester cloth and I may not write idly. I may not write leadership; it was not just the product salt imported from Liverpool. At JANATA, October 6, 2019 5

the same time, focusing on this with religious lore. Incidentally, name of its legal journal) as also the iniquitous tax, Gandhiji expected Gandhiji drew the correct lesson so-called Nationalist Congressmen to mobilise international support, at from the poor response to the repeat representing by and large the point least to expose the exploitation of performance of the Dandi March of view of Hindu orthodoxy. There the Indian people under the British exactly two years later, in 1932— were arrest warrants against the Raj. In his own hand he wrote out for after the failure of the Gandhi–Irwin Communist leaders, including the the press: “I want world sympathy in pact. From this the lesson was drawn notification of handsome police this battle of Right against Might.” that the repetition of a specific form reward for their capture. The Then the form of the struggle. of campaign does not fetch the same Communists had sent one of their A march from Ahmedabad to the results. This is a lesson which many leaders, Bharadwaj, to participate in seashore at Dandi passing through of our political parties and mass the Congress session. With an arrest villages would provide sufficient organisation activists need to keep warrant against him and the police space for non-stop propaganda for in mind today. and their informers hovering all over weeks against the Raj and mobilise Ten years after the Civil the place, it was difficult for him to villagers along the route, whose Disobedience movement, I had a come out of his undisclosed shelter publicisation would bestir other personal experience of Gandhiji’s in the Congress nagar and place volunteers in other parts of the remarkable style of communication the National Front point of view country, and thereby propagate the at the Ramgarh Congress session in before the Subjects Committee. The vision of Purna . The march 1940. The Congress nagar had come Communists approached Panditji was undertaken by 80 persons up in a rural setting with bamboo for advice on how Bharadwaj could including Gandhiji himself. The and local shrubs. During his early come to the Subjects Committee other 79 were chosen to represent morning walk, Gandhiji noticed session. Panditji promptly went to all the provinces in India, and they a red flag fluttering at a corner Gandhiji for advice. Remembering were drawn from all communities— of the enclosure reserved for the the morning incident, we were Muslims, Christians and Hindus, leaders’ camp. It appeared that the almost sure that Gandhiji would be both upper caste and the depressed. fraternal delegation from Burma’s far from helpful. In a few minutes and Sarojini Naidu Dobama party was put up there Panditji came out of Gandhiji’s camp were chosen as leaders in the event and so they hoisted their party flag. and told us that Bharadwaj would go of his own arrest—symbolically Panditji was sent for and he tried to to the Subjects Committee pandal representing the Muslims and the explain to Gandhiji that this red flag, with Gandhiji himself in his car. womanhood of the country. And he being the party flag of the Burmese We were literally taken aback when sent his letter to the Viceroy notifying delegation, should not be taken we found the car carrying Gandhiji his decision to break the salt law, as a defiant rival to the Congress going right at the back of the through an Englishman, Reginald tricolour. But Gandhiji was adamant, platform, and out came Bharadwaj Reynolds, who later recalled: and so Pandijit quietly managed to trailing behind Gandhiji, and then I realise that Gandhi’s use of shift the Burmese delegation to the sat on the dais greeting the leaders me was symbolic—it was to show nearby Dak Bungalow outside the from Maulana Azad, Rajen Babu, that this was not a matter of Indians Congress nagar. The matter betrayed Sardar Patel and Panditji to JP and versus British but of principles. an attitude of intolerance on the part all the others. Sardar Patel moved The whole nation was electrified of Gandhiji, some of us thought. the official resolution, followed by this new form of mass action— In the afternoon of the same by JP who placed the CSP point totally peaceful and non-violent day, the Subjects Committee was of view. Then Bharadwaj placed even when facing police brutality as scheduled to meet. In those days, the National Front point of view. the satyagrahis tried to enter the salt the Congress as a unique national Discussions went on, and at the end factory at Dharasana. platform included within its fold Sardar Patel replying to the debate In this campaign—the first truly different ideological and political tore the CSP and the National Front nationwide mass campaign against formations from the Congress amendments to pieces and carried the Raj—Gandhi often used the Socialist Party and the banned the day. Meanwhile, unnoticed by religious idioms as the best means Communist Party (functioning as many, Bharadwaj slipped out, helped of arousing the rural masses familiar the National Front group after the by Panditji and Dr Lohia. 6 JANATA, October 6, 2019

This indeed was an amazing the morning earlier than usual and vitiating that newly won freedom. experience. How could one reconcile spent the time before the prayer in It was the hour of fulfilment tinged Gandhiji’s morning allergy to the red musing: with a horrendous tragedy. For him, flag and the very same afternoon, Today I find myself all alone. therefore, there was no moment sheltering a ‘wanted’ Communist Even the Sardar and Jawaharlal of rest with the achievement of leader to come before the party think that my reading of the political independence: the struggle had to forum and place his point of view? situation is wrong and peace is go on. Since he could not avert the I have thought over this incident sure to return if partition is agreed partitioning of the country, he had many times since. By his conduct, upon. They did not like my telling to meet the challenge of its sombre Gandhiji was transmitting two the Viceroy that even if there was aftermath—how to put out the hell- messages. First, by insisting on the to be partition, it should not be fire of communal animosity. And so removal of the red flag Gandhiji through British intervention or he set out on this, his final crusade— wanted to convey the message to under the British rule. They wonder, how to turn the millions of common all, that within the national platform if I have not deteriorated with age. humanity that he had served to which the Congress represented Nevertheless, I must speak as I feel, mould all his life and make each one in the struggle against the foreign if I am to prove a true, loyal friend of them his brother’s keeper. In the power, there could be but one to the Congress and to the British midst of blood and fire, he strove— leadership, one flag—no question people, as I claim to be, regardless Noakhali, Beliaghata, Bihar and of any ambiguity. At the same of whether my advice is appreciated Delhi—until he fell a martyr to the time, he wanted to convey the or not. I see clearly that we are cause which is yet to be redeemed clear message to the British Raj setting about this business the wrong by his heirs and successors. Till the that in its confrontation with the way. We may not feel the full effect last drop of life ebbed out of that frail Congress, no party would be on immediately, but I can see clearly body, the great communicator never its side, that all were behind the that the future of independence ceased for a moment to transmit Congress. Subsequently, it was the gained at this price is going to be his message—the message which breach of this commitment in 1942, dark. remains a sacred injunction even to when the Communists went against Then after a pause, he pondered: this day forty-seven years after. the Quit India upheaval, that they I shall, perhaps, not be alive Today, this country needs invited upon themselves the anger to witness it, but should the evil I a Gandhi to bring about the of Congressmen and were thrown apprehend overtake India and her regeneration of our democracy. As out of the Congress. independence be imperilled, let morality is being banished from The protracted negotiations over posterity know what agony this old our politics and public life getting the transfer of power and the Muslim soul went through thinking of it. Let corroded all around, this country has League’s insistence on Pakistan it not be said that Gandhi was party the need of the Mahatma, the Great finally led to the Mountabatten to India’s vivisection. But everybody Communicator today more than at Award of June 3, 1947, by which is today impatient for independence. any time in the past. Seventy years the country was partitioned. As was Therefore, there is no other help. ago, Mahatma Gandhi had said: well known at the time, Gandhiji Here is a seer who could Real swaraj will come not by the was opposed to the partition. The communicate his premonition. For acquisition of authority by a few, but difference between him and the those of us who were fortunate by the acquisition of the capacity leaders of the Congress flowed out in watching him in person, those by all to resist authority when it is of his premonition about the future. last days of his life—with his abused. As a great communicator, Gandhiji mind heavy with the unleashing of This commandment alone can could not only transmit but perceive Hindu–Muslim clashes even when enthrone social justice in this great as well what was in store. This is the foreign power had left—were land of ours. borne out by a very penetrating perhaps the most momentous. On passage in Tendulkar’s biography, the one hand came the realisation of [Nikhil Chakravartty (1913–88) was Mahatma. Two days before the his goal—the independence of the a famed journalist and the founder– Mountbatten Award, that is, on June country—while at the same time, editor of the respected current 1, 1947, Gandhiji had woken up in the menace of communal hatred was affairs weekly Mainstream.] JANATA, October 6, 2019 7 Romila Thapar on Bhagat Singh’s 112th Birth Anniversary

September 28, 2019 was the democracy. In this secularism had a Comrades, 112th birth anniversary of freedom major role. Today, we cannot ask the youth fighter and iconic youth leader, The definition of secularism to take to pistols and bombs. Today, Bhagat Singh. On this occasion, a did not stop with just proclaiming students are confronted with a far book, ‘The Bhagat Singh Reader’, the co-existence of all religions. It more important assignment. In edited by professor Chaman Lal, went much further. It was seen as an the coming Lahore Session the was released at the Jawaharlal essential component of democratic Congress is to give call for a fierce Nehru University on September 25. functioning. Today this debate is fight for the independence of the Professor Romila Thapar, professor marginal in the public space and country. The youth will have to emeritus of the university, sent this seems not to reach those crafting bear a great burden in this difficult message for the programme: the state. time in the history of the nation. Bhagat Singh has a very special Nationalism was not intended to It is true that students have faced place in our lives, reflecting as cease once the nation-state had come death at the forward positions of he does, a significant aspect of into being. What is equally crucial the struggle for independence. Will our anti-colonial movement for is that the emerging state be one they hesitate this time in proving independence, a movement that that ensures and protects the basic their same staunchness and self- ensured our ceasing to be a colony rights of every citizen. This meant confidence? The youth will have to and becoming an independent establishing the equal status of every spread this revolutionary message to nation. It was a movement that saw citizen, not just in law but in practice the far corner of the country. They an intense concern with debating as well. In the last seventy years, we have to awaken crores of slum- and discussing the meaning of have succeeded in establishing an dwellers of the industrial areas and nationalism, as well as the methods acknowledged independent state, villagers living in worn-out cottages, of attaining freedom from an after having been a colony. so that we will be independent oppressive government. To this We have still to become the and the exploitation of man by debate Bhagat Singh made his own secular democratic state that is man will become impossibility. contribution. He was part of a large universally recognized as such, and Punjab is considered politically number of others, equally effective one that ensures the guarantee of backward even otherwise. This nationalists, committed to creating human rights for all its citizens. Had is also the responsibility of the a recognizably secular democratic Bhagat Singh lived he would have youth. Taking inspiration from the state under the leadership of Gandhi had a stellar role in making this a martyr YatindraNath Das and with and Nehru. reality. boundless reverence for the country, We applaud Bhagat Singh today, * * * they must prove that they can fight not only for being a nationalist but The editor of the book, Chaman with steadfast resolve in this struggle also, and sometimes more so, for Lal, in his comments, made a reading for independence. being a person who read widely, of two letters of Bhagat Singh. reflected on what he had read, Letter to the Editor, Modern and then worked out his ideas on Message to the Punjab Students Review, 22 December 1929 how we might create the nation Conference, 19 October 1929 Ramanand Chatterjee, editor of that we aspired to be. This was not Bhagat Singh sent a message the ‘Modern Review’, ridiculed the exceptional. This was normal in for the Punjab Students Conference, slogan of ‘Long Live Revolution’ in those days not only to those who which was held on 19 October 1929 one of his editorials. Bhagat Singh spoke about nationalism and the at Lahore with Netaji Subhas Bose wrote a reply to the note and handed state, but who were directly involved as the chair. This letter was read it over to the trying magistrate to be in the making of such a state. Having out in the conference and was later sent to the ‘Modern Review’. The decided on a democratic state they published in ‘The Tribune’ on 22 reply was subsequently published in also discussed what was inherent to October 1929. ‘The Tribune’ on 24 December 1929. 8 JANATA, October 6, 2019

Ramanand Chatterjee wrote the state of improvement; there must partly inherent in them. For instance, following in his editorial: be changes even after a revolution. when we shout "Long Live Jatin According to a free press But these should be brought about Das", we cannot and do not mean by message, at a meeting of the by evolution. There may again be a that shout is that the noble ideal of Naujawan Sabha (Youth League) revolution after several generations, his life, the indomitable spirit which of Gujranwala in the Punjab, a if not centuries, have passed. But that enabled that great martyr to bear resolution was passed protesting is not what is implied in the shout such untold suffering and to make against the arrest of students on "Long Live Revolution". the extreme sacrifice for that ideal, the ground of their shouting "Long Bhagat Singh wrote the should ever live. By raising this Live Revolution" and "Down with following reply: cry we wish that we may show the Imperialism", before the Court of same unfailing courage in pursuance the Special Magistrate of Lahore. To, The Editor, Modern Review of our ideal. It is that spirit that we The resolution states they everyone You have, in the December (1929) allude to. has the right to utter these cries. It issue of your esteemed magazine, Similarly, one should not is difficult for laymen to say what written a note under the caption interpret the word "revolution" in cries are or are not legal, when even "Long Live Revolution", and have its literal sense. Various meanings High Court judges have differed pointed out the meaninglessness of and significances are attributed to in their interpretation of the law of this phrase. It would be impertinent this word attributed to this word, sedition. But young enthusiasts will on our part to try to refute or according to the interests of those pardon an old cynical journalist for contradict the statement of such who use or misuse it. For the confessing that the cry of "Long an old, experienced and renowned established agencies of exploitation Live Revolution" has sometimes journalist as your noble self, for it conjures up a feeling of blood- appeared to him to be a bit funny. A whom every enlightened India has stained horror. To the revolutionaries revolution may now and then have profound admiration. Still we feel it it is a sacred phrase. We tried to been a necessity in the world history, our duty to explain what we desire clear in our statement before the and we should personally like an to convey by the said phrase, as in Sessions Judge, Delhi, in our trial early non-violent social, economic a way it fell to our lot to give these in the Assembly Bomb Case, what and political revolution in India. "cries" a publicity in this country at we mean by the word "Revolution". But, what is the exact meaning of this stage. We started therein that “Long Live Revolution”? To be We are not the originators of this Revolution did not necessarily at work is a sign of life. When a cry. The same cry had been used in involve sanguinary strife. It was not desire is expressed for revolution Russian revolutionary movements. a cult of bomb and pistol. They may to live long, is it desired that the Upton Sinclair, the well-known sometimes be mere means for its revolutionary process should be at socialist writer, has, in his recent achievement. No doubt they play a work every hour, day, week, month novels “Boston” and “Oil”, used this prominent part in some movements, and year of our lives? In other cry through some of the anarchist but they do not—for that very words, are we to have a revolution revolutionary characters. The phrase reason—become one and the same as often as possible? Such ceaseless never means that the sanguinary thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. revolution may make for change, but strife should ever continue, or that It may ultimately lead to that end. scarcely for progress, improvement nothing should ever be stationary The sense, in which the word and enlightenment. What one even for a short while. By long usage ‘Revolution’ is used in that phrase, revolution offered must have time this cry achieves a significance which is the spirit, the longing for a change to settle down and take root and may not be quite justifiable from the for the better. The people generally bear fruit. A ceaseless revolutionary grammatical or the etymological get accustomed to the established process would make India like what point of view, but nevertheless order of things and begin to tremble James Russel Lowell called "the we cannot abstract from that the at the very idea of a change. It is Catherine-while republics of South association of ideas connected with this lethargical spirit that needs be America", of his day. No doubt, that. All such shouts denote a general replaced by the revolutionary spirit. no revolution can produce a final sense which is partly acquired and Otherwise degeneration gains the JANATA, October 6, 2019 9 upper hand and the whole humanity How Labour's Radical Agenda was is led astray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affairs leads Built from the Ground Up to stagnation and paralysis in human Laurie Macfarlane progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of A common criticism of left-wing “Capitalism: time for a reset”. humanity, so that the reactionary politics is that activists always know Citing the need to “reform in order forces may not accumulate (strength) what they are against, but struggle to preserve”, the editor called on to check its eternal onward march. to articulate what they are for. After business leaders to “protect the future Old order should change, always this week’s Labour Party conference of free enterprise and wealth creation and ever, yielding place to new, in Brighton, this taunt can safely be by pursuing profit with purpose.” so that one "good” order may not retired. Despite the heretical overtones, it’s corrupt the world. It is in this sense Labour delegates backed a range clear that the newspaper's aim is to that we raise the shout "Long Live of radical policies including the preserve the status quo, not replace it. Revolution." introduction of a four-day week But at a time when the scientific Yours Sincerely, with no loss of pay within a decade; community is calling for a “rapid, far- (Sd.) Bhagat Singh, B.K. Dutt a Green New Deal that commits to reaching and unprecedented changes reaching net zero carbon emissions in all aspects of society”, many feel Courtesy: Sabrang India by 2030; the abolition of private that a full-scale reorganisation is schools; a radical shakeup of the precisely what is needed. And while pharmaceutical industry; free it is true that the ideas debated in Articles Put on Janata Blog personal care for the elderly; a host Brighton have not been given much Last Week (Sept 29) of radical housing policies including space in the pages of the mainstream the right to requisition empty homes; financial press, it is wrong to assume 1. Bharat Dogra, Jagmohan the extension of free movement; and they are “half-baked”. Singh, Madhu Dogra, “Shahid the closure of all detention centres. For many decades the boundaries Bhagat Singh” These policies build on an of what is politically possible have 2. Nishikant Kolge, “The already ambitious policy platform been policed by a closed network Politician: A Response to that includes worker ownership of politicians, advisors, corporate Arundhati Roy’s ‘The Doctor funds; plans to double the size lobbyists, think tanks and journalists. and The Saint’” of the co-operative sector; a new But in recent years, this cosy club has public banking network; a National consistently failed to acknowledge 3. Romila Thapar, “The Presence Transformation Fund and the the scale of the challenges we face, of the Other: Religion and nationalisation of key utilities. or engage in a serious debate about Society in Early North India” Taken together, Labour’s agenda how our economy needs to change 4. Interview with S’bu Zikode, amounts to the most radical political- to overcome them. As a result, a “The Story of Shack-Dwellers economic transformation for a new wave of campaign groups, Movement in S. Africa” generation. organisers, think tanks and party Not everyone is convinced, members have stepped into the 5. Arun Kumar, “Today’s however. The Financial Times has void—energised by a Labour Party Imperative: Gandhian Values” described the new suite of policies as leadership that is willing to listen 6. Prof Michel Chossudovsky “half-baked”, warning that Labour to them. interviewed by Bonnie “is not offering a reform of the The wave of radical policies Faulkner, “US Foreign Policy capitalist economy” but instead a passed at this week’s Labour in Shambles: NATO and the “full-scale reorganisation of the conference did not come from Middle East: How Do You economy.” PR lobbyists or the scribblings of Wage War Without Allies?” Last week the Financial Times special advisors. Instead, they came published its own ‘new agenda’, from the blood, sweat and tears of launched under the strapline of thousands of thinkers, doers and 10 JANATA, October 6, 2019

campaigners from all across the Public Purpose, Global Justice Now, the food chain” will come to an country and beyond. STOPAIDS and the campaign group end, he declared. This year, for the The four-day week would Just Treatment. The housing motion first time, this vision has started to not have become policy without backed by delegates is packed become a reality (although concerns the research and advocacy of with ideas from various groups have since been raised about whether organisations such as Autonomy, including Land for the Many, Young some of the policies will in fact the New Economics Foundation, Labour and the Labour Campaign become official policy). the 4 Day Week Campaign and the for Council Housing. The vote to Corbyn himself will not be Communication Workers Union abolish private schools was primarily around forever. But the tide of (CWU). The Green New Deal the result of an effective campaign people-power unleashed under would not have become a reality spearheaded by the activists behind his leadership is not going away without the tireless work of activists Labour Against Private Schools. The anytime soon—and it is this that from Labour for a Green New list goes on. may ultimately prove to be his most Deal, sections of the trade union During his leadership campaign important legacy. community, Common Wealth and in 2015, Jeremy Corbyn talked about a host of other academics and grass the need for “a new type of politics”, (Laurie Macfarlane is economics roots organisations. Labour’s bold including in the way that the Labour editor at openDemocracy, and plans for the pharmaceutical industry Party makes policy. The era “when a research associate at the UCL draw on research undertaken by the you elect some all-knowing all- Institute for Innovation and Public UCL Institute for Innovation and seeing celebrity who sends it down Purpose.)

Several Reasons Why West Papua Should Get Its Freedom… Immediately!

Andre Vltchek

More than ten years ago, in What followed, I described in the majority Javanese. A political Nadi, Fiji, during a UN conference, detail in my book, Oceania. In brief, activist from Papua, Filep Karma, I was approached by the Minister I managed to scramble some money wrote in 2014 in his book, Seakan of Education of Papua New Guinea for my trip from Samoa back to PNG, Kitorang Setengah Binatang: (PNG). I found the Minister of Education, Rasialisme Indonesia di Tanah He was deeply shaken, troubled, but he refused to take me to the Papua (As If We Are Half Animal: his eyes full of tears: “Please help camps. I contacted his subordinates Indonesia’s Racism in Papua Land), our children,” he kept repeating: as well as local journalists, and was that he experienced racism when “Indonesian army, TNI, is told the same thing: he studied in a state university in kidnapping our little girls in the “Nothing has changed; nothing Surakarta, Central Java. He often villages, raping them, and then… improved; but the Minister was heard his friends calling Papuans in the most sadistic way cutting off bribed and intimidated by the ‘monkeys’, he said in the book. their nipples and clitorises. And if omnipresent Indonesian embassy.” “The book speaks volumes of they speak, entire villages get burned * * * the crimes against humanity facing down in retribution. Many already Now even the mainstream media Papuans on their own land.” have been. Some children managed in Java, including the generally pro- But what really is happening to escape; to cross the border, from regime English-language daily The in West Papua? Of course, foreign West Papua to PNG. Now they are Jakarta Post, has had to react to journalists are banned from entering staying in our refugee camps, but the terrible events which are taking and reporting freely from there. our country is poor; we are hardly place on the occupied territory of Only official Indonesian journalists, coping. Please come to Papua, West Papua. On August 19, 2019, basically lackeys of the regime, and we will take you to the border Evi Mariani, wrote: are regularly flown to the most region… please tell the story to the “Papuans are said to have devastated and oppressed areas. world…” endured racial discrimination from Their lies and twisted ‘reporting’ JANATA, October 6, 2019 11

are the only things that the world is would never be allowed to film, the introduction of illegal arms and ‘allowed to see’. photograph or even openly talk to militia training and recruitment; and Working for years in South people. I would never be allowed prostitution and the spread of HIV/ Pacific (Oceania), I visited on to enter those monstrous mines AIDS. several occasions both Papua New controlled by Freeport and other “The report concludes with a Guinea (PNG) and Vanuatu, where corporations; mines that are being number of urgent recommendations the West Papuan resistance has ‘protected’ by the corrupt and to the Indonesian and Australian been regrouping. I also have some murderous Indonesian military. governments, the United Nations 25 years of experience of working Prof. Peter King and Prof. and other involved parties.” in Indonesia itself. And I used to John Wing wrote in the Executive Since 2005, not much has cooperate with a late professor from Summary to their report “Genocide improved. Actually, things have Sydney University, Peter King, a in West Papua?” (Centre for Peace deteriorated even further. man who basically dedicated his life and Conflict Studies, The University Eliza Egret and Tom Anderson to the plight of West Papua. I spoke at of Sydney, 2005): reported on August 31, 2017 in Sydney University, side by side with “The report details a series of their essay “West Papua’s Silent him, recalling my experience from concerns which, if not acted upon, Genocide”: East Timor; from the Indonesian may pose serious threats to the “The occupation of West Papua occupation, where 30–40% of the survival of the indigenous people of receives little attention in the UK. population lost their life, and where the Indonesian province of Papua. This is, in no small part, due to I, myself, was savagely tortured It covers the threats posed by the Indonesia’s ban on foreign journalists in 1996, for trying to expose the Indonesian military to the province’s and its outlawing of West Papuan systematic gang rapes committed by stability, the recent increase in social movements who try to speak the Indonesian military, TNI. large scale military campaigns out internationally. However, West While living in Oceania, I spent which are decimating highland Papua has not been forgotten by days discussing the occupation with tribal communities, the HIV/AIDS international corporations, including the West Papuan refugees, who explosion and persistent Papuan companies from the UK. For them, resided outside Port Moresby, the underdevelopment in the face of a Indonesia’s brutal occupation of capital of PNG. rapid and threatening demographic West Papua provides lucrative I managed to enter West Papua transition in which the Papuans opportunities for profit. only once, illegally, in 1999, as a face becoming a minority in their “Mining companies exploit the ‘side-trip’ while covering the horrific own land. country’s vast wealth of minerals, sectarian conflict in Ambon. “A ‘culture of impunity’ exists with security for their operations From the information and in Indonesia which sees its highest provided by the Indonesian military. testimonies that I have amassed manifestation currently in Papua International arms companies profit so far, I can clearly see that the and Aceh. Military operations have from selling Indonesia the weapons occupation of West Papua is, together led to thousands of deaths in Papua it needs to maintain the occupation. with the situation in the Democratic and continue to costs lives, yet The UK government, which gives Republic of Congo (DRC) which is the Republic’s armed forces act financial support and training to being plundered by both Rwanda as a law unto themselves with Indonesian police forces, is also and Uganda on behalf of Western no real accountability for crimes complicit in the repression in West corporations and governments and against the Papuan population. Papua. where approximately 8 million The report discusses a number of “West Papuans have called on people have already lost their areas of Indonesian security forces people in the UK to help stop what lives, perhaps the most horrendous involvement, including: illegal they describe as the silent genocide genocide taking place on our planet. logging and corrupt infrastructure and in West Papua.” But in the region of the Great construction work; destabilization The ‘Free West Papua Campaign’ Lakes of Africa I managed to make and manipulation of local politics, states: my big documentary film, Rwanda and orchestration of attacks blamed “Over 500,000 civilians have Gambit. While in West Papua, I on pro-Papuan independence groups; been killed in a genocide against the 12 JANATA, October 6, 2019

indigenous population. Thousands during the occupation and genocide Australian historian, Geoffrey Gunn, more have been raped, tortured, committed in East Timor. Professor Emeritus at Nagasaki imprisoned or ‘disappeared’ after It is important to point out University, wrote for this essay: being detained. Basic human rights that the Indonesian military and “The crimes committed by such as freedom of speech are denied police are enjoying unprecedented the Indonesian military in Papua and Papuans live in a constant state impunity. After presiding over today appear very similar to East of fear and intimidation.” the murder of approximately 2 Timor under Indonesian military In a series of the official reports, million Communists, intellectuals, occupation between 1975–1999 and fingers were being pointed at teachers and members of the Chinese with some of the same Indonesian Indonesia and its genocidal behavior minority in 1965–66, no culprit has officials involved. That would in the occupied West Papua. From ever been sent to prison. Acts of include General Wiranto, the the United Nations to human rights killing are still being celebrated, butcher of East Timor in 1999 who, organizations, a gruesome picture publicly. Generals and officers far from being brought before an has been emerging. who openly participated in the East international tribunal Rwanda-style, As mentioned by the ‘Free West Timor genocide, as well as in the on- enjoys cabinet-level appointment Papua Campaign’: going genocide in West Papua, have in the Jokowi government. But “Sexual assault and rape have been holding high positions in the even when Suharto-era crimes been repeatedly used as a weapon by Indonesian governments, including could no longer be covered up in the Indonesian military and police.” the present one. East Timor thanks to the courage In a public report to the UN The monstrous brutality is well of crusading journalists and others, Commission on Human Rights in documented (even some mainstream so incredulously does the avowedly 1999, the Special Rapporteur on media outlets like Al-Jazeera are democratic regime in Jakarta today Violence Against Women concluded regularly releasing footage of disallow the entry of humanitarian that the Indonesian security forces torture committed by the Indonesian workers much less foreign media used rape “as an instrument of troops), but Indonesia is never into Papua. If the Western-backed torture and intimidation” in West dragged through the international cover up of crimes committed in Papua, and “torture of women courts of justice. It is because Jakarta East Timor was itself a crime of detained by the Indonesian security is a well-tested and greatly reliable complicity then Western—especially forces was widespread”. ally of Western companies and Australian—silence over the agony The Robert F. Kennedy governments. For instance, it allows of the Papuan people over an even Memorial Centre for Human Rights many local and Western mining longer time frame is a crime of prepared a full report on “Rape and companies to plunder West Papua. a special order, and with mining Other Human Rights Abuses by the The Indonesian President, “Jokowi”, company, oil company interests in Indonesian Military in Irian Jaya actually flies around the world, the fore as if this was the heart of (West Papua), Indonesia”. asking for “more investment”, Africa under Leopold II of Belgium.” Even the otherwise ‘timid’ promising tax holidays, “reforms” We saw the same chilling Amnesty International (timid when of already pathetic labour laws, and indifference when 30% to 40% of it comes to the West’s allies) admits other pro-big-business concessions. East Timorese were slaughtered that torture, killings and other grave All this is brilliantly exposed in by Indonesia. Again, and again, I human rights abuses, are regularly an Australian short (2:39 minute) was managing to illegally penetrate taking place in the Indonesia- satirical film “Honest Government that then Indonesian colony, which controlled territory, in its reports on Ad/Visit West Papua”. was screaming in pain, shedding West Papua. But the world prefers to stay thousands and thousands of people Information about sexual idle. As least for now. No mass- every month. And again, and again, assaults and rapes highlighted in protest movements, like those in my stories were being rejected; no the above-mentioned UN report, is support of the Palestinian cause, or interest whatsoever shown by the consistent with the behavior of the even the Kurdish cause. mass media outlets. Indonesian military during and after Why is all this happening? Then and now. East Timor and the 1965–66 military coup, and later, My close friend, the renowned West Papua. JANATA, October 6, 2019 13

And in Indonesia itself, chilling, money’, ensuring that local West genocide, legitimizing occupation. horrifying defiance. Silence. Papuans are kept out of the area.” A boycotting Raja Ampat campaign Almost no activism, and hardly Time states that “In 2015 alone, is unheard of. any awareness. The country lives Freeport mined some $3.1 billion Now the Papuan people are in total denial. Like in the case of worth of gold and copper here. rising. Their Morning Star flag, 1965–66, like in the case of East In addition, Papua boasts timber the symbol of resistance, is waving Timor: total rejection of the truth. resources worth an estimated $78 again, all over the island. There is near zero chance that billion.” The world should support the the barbarity will stop because Amos explained the history Papuan people. They have been of the pressure ‘from within’. behind Freeport’s mining in West suffering for decades. Their nation Indonesia has proven, again and Papua: “A contract was signed lost hundreds of thousands of men, again, that after being conditioned for Freeport to operate in West women and children. Torture, by decades of extreme fascist Papua before we were even part of rape and humiliation have been ideology, fundamentalist religions, Indonesia.” With the help of Henry widespread ever since the beginning and grotesque individualism, it has Kissinger, Freeport was awarded of the occupation. Religion has been no mercy, and no sympathy for its the rights to pillage West Papua. brutally forced down the throats of own victims. After mass killings and Kissinger later became a Freeport the robbed people, in many areas of consistent conditioning, it is now in board member.” West Papua: ‘You either embrace a serious mental, pathological state. Australian–British corporation Islam, or you will starve to death, The government of President Rio Tinto holds an interest in after we have looted you of all that Jokowi is nowhere near being deep Freeport’s Grasberg mine, which you used to possess.’ in thought, considering a referendum entitles it to 40% of production over Here, Java and its Western on independence for West Papuans. specified levels until 2021, and 40% handlers have managed to re- On the contrary: it is ‘investing in of all production after 2021. define colonialism, bringing it to a infrastructure’ in order to bring even Meanwhile, British company monstrous extreme. more ‘investment’ from abroad, BP continues to profit from the It is a “Freedom or Death” and to extract even more natural occupation through its massive situation, now. Either freedom, resources. liquified natural gas fields in or,the total destruction of the nation. According to investigation Tangguh. Kugi told us: “BP’s biggest The Indonesian President Jokowi conducted by Eliza Egret and Tom operation in Southeast Asia is in West is on a selling spree. He is flying Anderson: Papua, and Papuan communities are all over the world, offering what “The Indonesian occupation of also being pushed from their land for is left of both Indonesia, and its West Papua is directly related to palm oil.” According to CorpWatch, ‘dependencies’, to the multi-national corporate interests. US company an indigenous community in West corporations, for an extremely low Freeport-McMoRan operates the Papua filed a complaint against Sri price, and often tax free. Papua is not Grasberg mine in Papua—the largest Lankan company Goodhope Asia his, and he is well aware of the fact gold mine and the third largest for taking over their land to create a that it may soon find a way to break copper mine in the world. Freeport’s palm plantation.” free from the torture chamber and third largest shareholder, Carl Icahn, In the meantime, the government the horror of Indonesian occupation. happens to be a Special Advisor to of Indonesia has been turning the That is why he is accelerating his Donald Trump.” pristine waters of Papuan Raja business activities: trying to trade According to the ‘Free West Ampat into a luxury diving as quickly as possible with what is Papua Campaign’: destination, charging horrendous not his to touch. “Freeport is Indonesia’s biggest airfares and lodging prices, and taxpayer, making billions of dollars making the mainly Western tourist (Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, for the Indonesian government every live in a bubble. novelist, filmmaker and investigative year. Freeport reportedly pays the And Westerners are now journalist, who presently resides in Indonesian military around US $3 coming there, indifferent to the East Asia and the Middle East, and million every year in ‘protection fact that they are actually funding continues to work around the world.) 14 JANATA, October 6, 2019 The Root Problem is the Capitalist System

Evo Morales

Text of Bolivian President Evo day we suffer the disappearance of The financial system remains Morales’ speech to the United species, soil erosion, desertification undemocratic, inequitable and Nations General Assembly, and deforestation. unstable, which privileges tax havens September 24, 2019. Sisters and brothers, we are and the banking secrecy that subjects Brother President of the United warned that if we follow this course weak countries to accept conditions Nations General Assembly, Tijjani of action, by the year 2100 we that perpetuate their dependence. Muhammad Bande. will reach an increase of 3 degrees We note with sadness that the Brother Secretary General of the Celsius. That would imply massive great social asymmetries continue. United Nations, Antonio Guterres. and devastating changes. According to Oxfam, today 1.3 Sisters and brothers Presidents, The consequences of climate billion people live in poverty, while Chancellors and Delegates change will condemn, according 1% of the richest kept 82% of the Sisters and brothers of the to data from our organization [the world’s wealth in 2017. International Organizations and all United Nations], millions of people Inequality, hunger, poverty, the the peoples of the world: to poverty, hunger, no potable migration crisis, epidemic diseases, Once again we meet in the most water, losing their homes, forced unemployment, are not just local important multilateral organization displacement, more refugee crises problems, they are global problems. of humanity, to reflect and analyze and new armed conflicts. On the other hand, the creative collectively on the global problems Sisters and brothers, in recent capacity of humanity, every day that concern the peoples of the weeks we have been surprised surprises us with new inventions world. by the forest fires that have been and new technological applications. We note with concern the unleashed in different parts of the They have offered great solutions to deterioration of the multilateral planet: in the Amazon, in Oceania very complex problems. Technology system, product of unilateral and Africa, affecting flora, fauna and has meant a qualitative leap for measures promoted by some states biodiversity. humanity. However, it is necessary which have decided to ignore In recent weeks, fires have that from this multilateral body the commitments, good faith and broken out in Bolivia, which we agreements on the matter be global structures built for a healthy have been fighting against using established with the participation coexistence between states, within our financial, technical and human of all States. the framework of international resources. To date, our country law and the basic principles of the has spent more than $15 million to The Root Problem: The Capitalist Charter of the United Nations. mitigate fires. System We meet in this forum to discuss We thank the International Sisters and brothers, it is essential and find solutions to the serious Community for their timely to talk about the structural causes of threats facing humanity and life on cooperation in our fight against the the different crises. the planet. fires, as well as their commitment to Transnational companies participate in post-fire actions. control food, water, non-renewable The Threat to Mother Earth resources, weapons, technology Our house, Mother Earth, is our Military Spending and World and our personal data. They intend only home and is irreplaceable. It Poverty to commercialize everything, to increasingly suffers more fires, more Sisters, brothers and the peoples accumulate more capital. floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, of the world: The world is being controlled by droughts and other catastrophes. The arms race, military spending, a global oligarchy, only a handful of Each year is hotter than the technology at the service of death billionaires define the political and previous one, the thaws are greater, and the unscrupulous arms trade economic destiny of humanity. the level of the oceans grows. Every have increased. 26 people have the same wealth JANATA, October 6, 2019 15

as 3.8 billion people. That is unfair, women received land in 2005 and Today we can say with pride and that is immoral, that is inadmissible. 1,011,249 up to 2018. optimism that Bolivia has a future. The underlying problem lies Bolivia ranks third country in the Sisters and brothers, our in the model of production and world with the highest participation countries face diverse and conflicting consumerism, in the ownership of of women in Parliament. More than situations, which must be approached natural resources and in the unequal 50% of Parliament is made up of in a sovereign manner and solutions distribution of wealth. Let’s say it women. must be found through dialogue and very clearly: the root of the problem Bolivia was declared a territory negotiation, in favor of the interests is in the capitalist system. free of illiteracy in 2008. of the people. That is why the United Nations School dropout rate fell from Bolivia, in accordance with the is more relevant and important 4.5% to 1.5% between 2005 and resolutions of the United Nations, than ever. Individual efforts are 2018. ratifies its rejection of the economic insufficient and only joint action and The infant mortality rate was and financial blockade imposed unity will give us an opportunity to reduced by 56%. against Cuba, which violates all overcome them. We are in the process of human rights. As we have already said, the implementing the Universal Health Finally, sisters and brothers, I responsibility of our generation is System, which will guarantee that take this opportunity to thank all to give the next a fairer and more 100% of Bolivians access a free, member countries for their support human world. dignified service, with quality and in the various initiatives promoted That will only be achieved if warmth. by Bolivia. we work together to consolidate We passed a law to provide free This year: The International a multipolar world, with common health care for cancer patients. Year of Indigenous Languages, The rules, defending multilateralism and The above data are part of the Declaration of the Rights of Peasants the principles and purposes of the achievements of our democratic and the Declaration of June 21 as Charter of the United Nations and and cultural revolution, which have International Solstice Day. International Law. given Bolivia political, economic To conclude, we ratify our and social stability. commitment to consolidate a new Bolivia‘s Achievements Sisters and brothers: world order of peace with social Sisters and brothers, in Bolivia How do we achieve these justice, in harmony with Mother we have taken very important steps: achievements in such a short time? Earth to Live Well, respecting the We are the country with the How is it that Bolivia has taken dignity and identity of the peoples. highest economic growth in South the path to defeat poverty and Thank you. America, with an average of 4.9% underdevelopment? in the last six years. Thanks to the conscience of the Between 2005 and 2019, the people, of the social movements, The Unemployment Gross Domestic Product increased of indigenous, peasants, workers, Crisis: from $9.574 billion to $40.885 professionals, of men and women Reasons and billion. of the countryside and of the cities. We have the lowest We nationalized our natural Solutions unemployment in the region. It fell resources and our strategic from 8.1% in 2005 to 4.2% in 2018. companies. We have taken control Contribution Rs. 25/- Extreme poverty fell from 38.2% of our destiny. to 15.2% in 13 years. Published by Life expectancy increased by We are building a Community Janata Trust & Lokayat 9 years. and Productive Social Economic D-15, Ganesh Prasad, The minimum wage rose from Model, which recognizes basic Naushir Bharucha Marg, $60 to $310. services (water, electricity, Grant Road (W), The gender gap in land titling telecommunications) as a human Mumbai 400 007 for women was reduced. 138,788 right. 16 JANATA, October 6, 2019 National Mahatma Gandhi Award of MP Government: Acceptance Speech

Neeraj Jain

The Madhya Pradesh Government confined to being only a political monster of communalism, which recently conferred the prestigious movement, but simultaneously, must should more appropriately be called National Mahatma Gandhi Award for also transform the people. And so, majoritarianism, is raising its ugly 2018 to Lokayat. The award has been along with the political movement, head once again. given in recognition of the exemplary he also laid great stress on building Even in the sphere of work done by Lokayat in spreading a social movement to bring the development, Gandhiji's economic the message and values of Mahatma people out of their age-old caste ideas are more relevant than ever Gandhi among the youth. As a part and gender prejudices. One of the before. The inequitous development of this, the recepient institution is biggest myths about Gandhiji is model being followed in the country honoured with a commendation that he was a supporter of the caste has made our country one of the most plaque and a cash award of Rs 10 system. But that he did not believe unequal in the world, pushing it into lakh. The award was given to Alka in caste and untouchability is best a deep economic and unemployment Joshi and Neeraj Jain, convenors seen from the practices followed crisis. At such a critical time, we of Lokayat, at a function held in in all the ashrams he founded, need to revisit Gandhiji's economic Bhopal by the Chief Minister of where no caste restrictions were philosophy. His insistence on Madhya Pradesh, Shri Kamal Nath, observed. As the freedom struggle focussing on development of the on October 2, 2019. We are giving moved towards its victory, Gandhiji rural economy and decentralised below the acceptance speech by publicly announced that he would development, are the real solutions Neeraj Jain while accepting the attend only those marriages which to the economic crisis facing the award on behalf of Lokayat. were inter-caste marriages and country. On behalf of Lokayat, both of where one partner was a Dalit. Today, on the 150th birth us would like to thank the Madhya Another issue that was very anniversary of the greatest son that Pradesh Government for honouring close to Gandhi's heart was Hindu- India has produced, the need is our work by bestowing upon our Muslim unity. By the time Gandhiji to take Gandhiji's message to the organisation the National Mahatma took over the reins of the freedom masses, raise their consciousness in Gandhi Award. struggle in the country, the British the true Gandhian way, and inspire Today is the perfect occasion had succeeded in sowing the seeds them to stand up against all injustice; for remembering the father of our of communalism among the people in this process of struggle, they will nation, not just because it is his 150th in order to divide the people along also transform themselves into truly Birth Anniversary, but also because communal lines and thus weaken human beings. his message, his values and ideals, our freedom struggle. Gandhiji This regeneration of our are all the more relevant today—as tried his best to build a unified democracy through the teachings they illuminate the path that should freedom struggle. But he failed in and practice of Mahatma Gandhi— be followed by our country to tackle his efforts to prevent the partition of is precisely what the activists of the most important problems being the country. He then strove to douse Lokayat are striving to do, through faced by it, some of which appear to the communal fires that engulfed the innumerable activities that we be almost intractable—which also northern India and was planning to take up. As Mahatma Gandhi had implies that we have forgotten his do the same in Pakistan - but his life said, seventy years ago: teachings. was cut short in a fit of anger by a Real swaraj will come not by the While laying the foundations for fellow countryman. Today, seventy acquisition of authority by a few, but and transforming the Indian freedom one years after the martyrdom of by the acquisition of the capacity struggle into a mass movement, Gandhiji, the cause for which the by all to resist authority when it is Gandhiji's vision of the freedom father of our nation sacrificed his abused. movement was that it must not remain life has been forgotten, and the Thank you. JANATA, October 6, 2019 17 The Human Cost Of Apple’s iPhone Manufacturing Process Janata It is not sufficient to know that Africa would need to work for is available at workers are exploited, or to demand 14.5 years for one phone. higher wages within a capitalist • Each time an iPhone X is sold for www.lohiatoday.com system: it is necessary to have a $999, Apple receives $603.56 of framework to understand more surplus value in money form. deeply the injustices that we see in In other words, every time an places like Foxconn factories, where iPhone is purchased for $999, Janata Subscription long workdays and unsafe working Apple keeps $605.56. conditions are the norm. • The rate of exploitation of the Annual Rs. : 260/- This framework is provided by iPhone is 2458%. This is 25 the concept of ‘rate of exploitation’— times the rates of exploitation Three Years : 750/- one of the most essential concepts that are gleaned from Marx’s Demand Draft / in Marx’s theory. Its measurement examples in Capital, published allows us to show how much the in 1867. Workers who make the Cheque worker contributes to the increase iPhone in the 21st century, in on of value in the production process. other words, are 25 times more It shows that even if the worker is exploited than textile workers in Mumbai Bank paid more, by the special magic England in the 19th century. in favour of of mechanisation and of efficient • What does this management of the production number—2458%—tell us? It process, the rate of exploitation tells us that an infinitesimal part Janata Trust increases. of the working day is devoted to D-15, Ganesh Prasad, Recently, Tricontinental brought the value needed by the workers Naushir Bharucha Marg, out a report that used Marx’s rate as wages. The bulk of the day is of exploitation on the iPhone spent by the worker producing Grant Road (W), manufacturing process to show goods that enhance the wealth Mumbai 400 007. quantitatively the contradictory of the capitalist. The higher the interests of the capitalists and of the rate of exploitation, the greater workers. It enables workers to see the enhancement of the capital’s how much of the share of the value wealth by the worker’s labor. produced is appropriated from them by the capitalists, and to therefore Tricontinental: make the case for a different way Institute for Social Research to organise production and to end exploitation. Here is a brief summary from Spectre of the report: • If the iPhone were made in the Fascism United States, it would cost at Contribution Rs. 20/- least $30,000 per phone. • In order to purchase one iPhone Published by for $30,000, a minimum wage Janata Trust & Lokayat worker in India would have to D-15, Ganesh Prasad, work for 15.5 years, each day. A Naushir Bharucha Marg, minimum wage worker in South Grant Road (W), Mumbai 400 007 18 JANATA, October 6, 2019 JANATA, October 6, 2019 19 R.N.I. NO. 1855/1957 20 JANATA, October 6, 2019 Postal Registration No. MCW/275/2018-2020. License to Post without prepayment WPP License No. MR/Tech/WPP-210/West/2019 Published on Sunday, October 6, 2019 & Posted on Wedenesday, October 9, 2019 at Mumbai Patrika Channel, Mumbai GPO-1

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