On the third anniversary of the horrific police firing in Nandigram, which occurred on 14 March 2007, we strongly condemn the failure of various state institutions to do justice to the victims and survivors of this violent attack on a peaceful mass movement.
Over sixty years after Dr Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, talked about the ‘essentially undemocratic’ nature of the ‘Indian soil’ his insight remains relevant to any discussion on human rights and civil liberties in the country.
”How do we make non-violent activism sexy?” asked a friend in a letter to me recently. His question was posed in the context of the ongoing debate in the national media and elsewhere about the supposed threat to national security from Maoists who are mobilising tribals in central and eastern India for a protracted war to overthrow the Indian State. The State on its part is marshalling its paramilitary and other troops to ‘flush out’ the Maoists, unfazed by the collateral damage this civil war is likely to cause among the already severely exploited tribal population.
‘Scientists discover way to convert human hair into high grade fuel’ read the innocuous looking news item tucked away in a corner of the technology pages of my daily newspaper.
At first I didn’t take it seriously and thought it was another self-promoting piece of propaganda from some corporate biotech lab somewhere. Little did I realize this was the beginning of a most bizarre series of events.
The Indian elite is becoming more concerned about the situation in Afghanistan. Indian analysts pay much attention to the fact that the majority of the US population-irrespective of their political preferences- speaks for the unconditional withdrawal of the American troops from Afghanistan. Delhi thinks that in order to remain in power after the presidential elections of 2012, Barack Obama might order the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Moscow is trying to draw India and China closer to put out the flames now flaring across the continent, from the Caucasus and Central Asia, to Iran and Pakistan, notes Eric Walberg
Is Maoism in India really the only response to poverty and lack of development? Is an armed rebellion the only way to change the way the Indian State operates? Will such a movement lead to a better future for underprivileged people in this country? Are other forms of mass democratic struggles an alternative option at all?
The support and positions of various foreign governments in regards to the diabolic fighting between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan military, which cost the lives of thousands of innocent civilians, says a great deal about the geo-strategic interests of these foreign governments. The position of the governments of India and a group of states that can collectively be called the Periphery, such as the U.S. and Australia, were in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers, either overtly or covertly. Many of these governments also provided this support tacitly, so as not to close any future opportunity of co-opting Sri Lanka after the fighting was over.
Since 1947, India has not fully pledged itself to any camp or global pole during the Cold War and as a result was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (N.A.M.). Since the post-Cold War era that position has eroded. New Delhi has been gradually moving away from its traditional position, relationships, and policies in the international arena for over a decade.
India has been vied for as an ally in the “Great Game” that is underway, once again. This round of the “Great Game” is, however, being played under a far broader spectrum than the one played between Britain and Czarist Russia. In question is the Indian power relationship with two geo-political entities: the first is the “Periphery” and the second is “Eurasia.”
Also filed in Creative-i on Asia, Creative-i on China
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Tagged Clash of Civilizations, Eurasia, G-20, israel, Israel Aerospace Industries, Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Manmohan Singh, NATO, nuclear weapons, tibet
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