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Anti-Imperialist Convention, 2007 |
Anti-Imperialist International Conference at Kolkata,
November 27-29, 2007 :
A Step Towards Global Anti-Imperialist Co-ordinated
Action
In a development of far-reaching significance for the global anti-imperialist movement, the International Anti-Imperialist and People’s Solidarity Co-ordinating Committee (IAPSCC) was established at Kolkata on November 29, 2007. The Committee has the eminent American jurist and veteran anti-imperialist campaigner Ramsey Clark as its President, and Manik Mukherjee, of India as its General Secretary. Ramsey Clark is a former Attorney General of the US and President of the New York-based International Action Centre. Manik Mukherjee is an ardent fighter for the people’s cause and Vice-President of the All India Anti-Imperialist Forum. The Committee will have an International Secretariat with members drawn from USA, France, Germany, Bangladesh, Palestine, India, Lebanon (2 members) and Nepal (2 members); Cuba, Venezuela, Iraq, Iran and Canada will be approached to each depute a Secretariat member; in addition there will be Committee Members from Turkey, Russia, Bangladesh, Bahrain and other countries. The names of the Secretariat and Committee members will be finalized soon after consultation with the organizers in the different countries. Other Committee members and Secretariat members may be co-opted later.
A Militant Conference
The Committee was formed at the end of two packed days of deliberations at the International Anti-Imperialist Conference organised by the All India Anti-Imperialist Forum at Kolkata, in which over 1500 delegates participated; over 600 observers watched the proceedings through close-circuit TVs. Beginning on Palestine Solidarity Day, 28th November, the Conference was neither academic nor pacifist, but was remarkably militant and focussed on analysis and strategies, drawing from the experience of the participants. Delegates from Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Nepal, Germany, Canada, Russia and the USA keenly participated in the proceedings, providing detailed perspectives and insights on imperialism from their own long experience of anti-imperialist struggle.
The Conference was presided over by the noted Bengali poet and educationist Tarun Sanyal. Noted geologist, educationist and General Secretary of the All India Anti-Imperialist Forum, Dhruba Mukhopadhyay placed his Report of the Forum’s activities in the context of the national and international situations, and co-ordinated the proceedings. At the outset, eminent scientist, Gourishankar Ghatak moved a condolence resolution in memory of Professor Sushil Kumar Mukherji, the renowned soil scientist and educationist, who was the first General Secretary of the Forum from its inception in 1995 till his demise in 2006.
In his inaugural speech, Ramsey Clark said that the USA should be forced out of Iraq forever, pay reparations for the Iraqi people to start anew but USA should have no role in the reconstruction of Iraq. Those who had started the war should be held accountable for the supreme international crime of aggression through criminal proceedings. The US and Israel should also pay reparations to the Palestinian people, and recognise the sovereign right of the Palestinian people to live as they choose. Calling militarism a necessary tool of imperialism, Ramsey Clark said that nobody on earth was safe until the American military budget was reduced to a tenth of what it is, and until there was complete nuclear disarmament. “Expansion of poverty and concentration of wealth is a consequence of imperialism. Ending nuclearism and militarism alone will free the resources necessary to restore human dignity - education, healthcare and shelter for all, peace and equal respect for all peoples.”
On behalf of the All India Anti-Imperialist Forum, Manik Mukherjee set the tone of the Conference with an Approach Paper that described the international situation after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist bloc: the deepening crisis in the economies of the imperialist countries and growing contradictions between them over the world market, the failing attempt to manage the division of the world market through globalisation and the WTO, the growing imperialistic aspirations of developing countries like India, and the savage military attacks on Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, as well as sanctions and threat of attack on Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Syria. The paper dwelt on the role of Zionist Israel as gendarme for US imperialism in West Asia, crushing the popular anti-imperialist struggles of Palestine and Lebanon as a warning to similar struggles all over the Arab world. “What is needed today is to co-ordinate all the individual struggles of the different countries and to link them up with anti-capitalist movements in these countries”, said Manik Mukherjee.
Important Delegates at the Conference | ||
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Ramsey Clark |
President, |
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Sara Flounders |
Member, Central Secretariat, Workers World Party, Co-Director,
International Action Centre |
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Stevan Kirschbaum |
Vice-President, United Steel Workers of America
(Local 8751) |
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William
R. Woodward |
Professor of Psychology, |
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Nina Andreeva |
General Secretary, All Union Communist Party Bolshevik |
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Mohammed Kassem |
Left Intellectual |
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Mustafa Haj Ali |
Hizbullah representative |
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Abdulhalim Fadlalah |
Consultative Centre for Studies and Documentation,
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Mohammed Tay |
Professor of |
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Kassim Ezzedine |
Movement for Alternative to Globalization |
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Ali Akhil Khalil |
Ambassador for Peace and Human Rights |
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Hussein Shukur |
Anti-Imperialist Campaigner |
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Barish |
Marxist Leninist Communist |
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Aynoor |
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Ahmed Chahine |
Left Intellectual, PLO |
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Amir Ahmed Al-Mukhareq |
Democratic Progressive Tribune |
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Violette Daguerre |
Arab Commission for Human Rights |
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Michael Opperskalski |
Editor, Top Secret |
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Sonia Boshko |
International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet
People, and NorthStar Compass |
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Ninu Chapagain |
Mashal and Unity Centre |
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Suman Jadhav |
Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist) |
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Khalequzzaman |
Convener, Socialist Party of Bangladesh |
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Mobinul
Hyder Choudhury |
Socialist Party of Bangladesh |
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Manik Mukherjee |
Vice-President, All India
Anti-Imperialist Forum |
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Ranjit Dhar |
Leader in anti-imperialist movement |
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Dhruba Mukhopadhyay |
General Secretary, All India
Anti-Imperialist Forum |
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Tarun Sanyal |
Poet, educationist, President of the Forum of Artists, Cultural
Activists and Intellectuals, |
Deliberations in the Delegates Sessions
Mustafa Haj Ali from Lebanon, representing Hizbullah, said that imperialism disrupts and destroys human relations and human value system, which will eventually bring about total dehumanization of human beings. It is the endless greed of imperialism which is at the root of the ecological problems threatening our world today. The evil effects of imperialism and its progeny, globalization, have triggered a general spirit of resistance. He asserted that resistance is a natural human right, though imperialist propaganda distorts and twists the concepts and brands it as violence and terrorism. He said that the experience in Lebanon teaches that it is possible to resist imperialism, and a wise and aware leadership and a sober management could accumulate achievements and attain victory after victory. He gave a call that we have to struggle for a better mankind dominated by the relations of brotherhood, pluralism and aid.
Abdul Halim Fadlalah said in his brief speech that Hizbullah has been fighting for national freedom for more than 18 years.
Mohammad Kassem from Lebanon said that Bush’s vision of a New World Order could not be realized due to determined resistance from the people. USA has failed in its attempt at the restructuring of the Arab world. American-Israeli aggression against Lebanon was waged to achieve Bush’s scheme in the region to establish a stable and strong base to launch his new order and to crush the Lebanese Resistance that has gained wide and great respect and admiration of all the free people and revolutionaries of the world. The July 2006 victory of the Lebanese Resistance is a turning point in the anti-imperialist struggle against Israel-USA; today a new strategy is founded in the Middle East, the strategy of resistance and struggle.
Mohammad Tay, Professor of Law, Lebanon University accused Israel of committing war crimes. Kidnapping of two soldiers cannot be a pretext for going to war against an entire nation, for destroying homes, devastating the environment, killing people, women, children, thousands of innocent civilians. Israel is to be tried for its war crimes, for killing civilians, for violating the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Convention, the UN Charter of Human Rights. The initiative for an International Conscience Court at Brussels to be held at Brussels on 1st, 2nd and 3rd February needs support of this Conference.
Dr. Kassem Ezzedine of Movement for Alternative to Globalization, Lebanon stressed the importance of united action and joint effort in facing and fighting imperialism. The time for demonstration, discussions and protests must be ended, we must change style. As imperialism faces us with all means, with poverty, with ignorance, in education and other fields, we must face it in the same way and in the same fields. He also talked about the importance of setting up an International Tribunal for trying Israeli war criminals for committing genocide, for killing children, for destroying nations, destroying future.
Violette Daguerre of Arab Human Rights Commission, France focussed on the tortures and human rights violations in the Guantanamo prison. She accused the triplet Rumsfeld-Cheney-Bush of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ali Akil Khalil, Ambassador for Peace and Human Rights, Lebanon, highlighted the Israeli atrocities in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon. Hizbulla and its leader Hassan Nasrullah are fighting for the freedom of the people of Lebanon, Palestine and for all who are oppressed by Israel-USA. The people want them to win, but the imperialists brand them as terrorists.
Ahmed Chahine of Palestine made a fervent appeal that the Conference send a letter of solidarity to the Palestinian people in support for their demand for an independent state. He emphasized that we have to work for peace and justice, for a world without wars.
Ameer Ahmed Al Mukharreq of Democratic Progressive Tribune, from Bahrain, pointed out the falsehood of the American claim of bringing democracy to the Middle East region, and reminded us of their long record of crimes against humanity throughout the world. He stressed that it is time to stand up and rise. The people’s movements and protests against imperialist globalization is taking root and growing day by day.
Nina Andreeva of All Union Communist Party Bolshevik, Russia, pointed out that the Zionist lobby with their money power has a decisive influence on US administration and that international Zionism is the shock force of American imperialism. The Zionists are the Jewish bourgeoisie who are striving for world domination. But the Jewish working class together with the progressive Jewish intellectuals will not support the bourgeoisie neither in the USA nor in Israel. All of us proletarians, rural workers, labouring intellectuals, and everyone who is subjected to the oppression of the ruling class of the bourgeoisie, must, regardless of their race, nation, beliefs, fight together against the common enemy of mankind – international Zionism.
Professor William R. Woodward of New Hampshire University USA, also referred to the strength of the Zionist lobby in USA and discussed how they influence decisions in the Congress through money power. He mentioned that the US regime is becoming increasingly totalitarian and suppressing dissidents.
Sara Flounders of the Workers World Party, USA, pointed out that the State of Israel could not exist without the economic, political, diplomatic and military support of USA. Zionism is an outgrowth of US imperialism and Israel’s crimes are Washington’s crimes. Imperialist globalization has led to greater exploitation, increased poverty, and intensified disparity between rich and poor. The rights of workers, social benefits earned through years of struggle are being curtailed. But the imperialists bid for world domination is being foiled, and they are loosing everywhere, in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine. The world owes a debt of gratitude to resistance fighters in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine for imposing decisive defeats on the imperialists by their courageous fights. Today the workers are not isolated any more, they can easily connect to each other and learn quickly from each other’s tactics and political struggle. The material basis for unity and solidarity on a global scale exists today in a way that it never had before. But we must organize for it, prepare for it, plan it, nurture it; we have a big task ahead of us. May this Conference be an important step on that road.
Highlighting the growing anti-imperialist sentiments in the working class of USA, Stevan Kirschbaum of United Steel Workers of America stressed that the US working class is like a sleeping giant who is waking up. On May Day of 2006, 5 million US industrial workers and their allies shut down major cities all across the United States. He pointed out that Zionism has nothing to do with religion, it is ideologically based on a colonial doctrine. Hailing the fight of Nandigram peasants he said that their fight is against the imperialist monster of Special Economic Zones. It is a vital battle that can unite so many different movements. He pledged to bring the Nandigram battle to focus so that Nandigram becomes a household word in USA.
Barish of MLCP, Turkey emphasized that anti-imperialist struggle is not merely against wars of aggression, but also against the neo-liberal policies of the imperialists, against imperialist globalization. The anti-imperialist struggle is to be led by the communists. But today, internationally the anti-imperialist struggle does not continue under the leadership and influence of the communist forces because of the absence of a communist vanguard organized on the international level. He said that the Kurdish question, the question of national freedom of the Kurdish people is also a part of the problems of the Middle East. He said that all the peoples of the Middle East have a common enemy and they must unite to fight this enemy. Highlighting the urgent need of unity of all the forces fighting against imperialism he said that what is needed today is to build up regional federations and co-ordinations with all the forces that can be united against imperialism and fascism, with progressive, anti-imperialist, anti-fascist forces, revolutionary and communist forces. The AIAIF is such an initiative, and it is a meaningful and valuable initiative not only for the national coordination but also for the regional coordination. It is a force that could play a role in the regional coordination of the anti-imperialist struggle.
Michael Opperskalski, Editor, Top Secret Magazine, Germany, pointed out that in every corner of the world resistance against imperialism and its neo-liberal policies is growing and getting stronger. What is needed today is to have a global co-ordination. We should take concrete steps to go forward on the basis of a definite political programme. He outlined four principles about a suggested political programme – recognition of the legitimate right of resistance for all people; refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of any occupation; imperialism and its Zionist ally are the main enemy of the people; true legitimacy is the legitimacy of the people and their basic and historic rights.
Sonia Boshko of Northstar Compass, Canada expressed the need for unified actions against US imperialism in the world, and said that the All India Anti-imperialist Forum must become the leading force in this necessary step to unite all of the forces in a well-planned and systematic movement all over the world.
Khalekuzzaman of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh gave full support to the proposal for forming an international coordination committee. He said that we should stand by the side of peoples of Middle East, Latin America who are fighting so valiantly against US imperialism. Referring to the recent disastrous cyclone in Bangladesh, he remarked that US imperialism in the name of humanitarian assistance uses even natural disasters to spread its domination.
Suman Jadav of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) talked about the long struggle of the Nepalese people against the autocracy of feudal monarchy supported by expansionist India and imperialist USA. The armed struggle of CPN(Maoist) since 1996 combined with the struggle by the democratic forces and the people’s movements forced the monarchy to agree to move towards a republican form of Government. But intrigue by India and USA and treachery of the parliamentary parties are creating obstacles to a republican form of government. He said that there may be differences in politics and strategies of the different parties and groups, but all have to work together to defeat the imperialist machinations. Hailing the initiative of the AIAIF, he expressed his appreciation that the AIAIF is following the principle of resolving the differences through discussions and interactions.
Ninu Chapaganai of Unity Centre, and Mashal, Nepal, emphasized the attack of imperialism on culture, through fostering degraded culture and dehumanizing people. He said that even if Nepal becomes a republic, the struggle of the people for emancipation would continue and they have to be vigilant about imperialist machinations.
Delegates from different States of India, B. K. Mishra (Orissa), Narendra Sharma (Delhi), Anil Trivedi(Madhya Pradesh), K. Sridhar (Andhra Pradesh), Dwarkadas Santani (Maharashtra), Kartar Singh Malik (Haryana), D. M. Divakar (Uttar Pradesh), O. P. Jaiswal (Bihar), Ramji Singh (Bihar), Subhash Gupta (Jharkhand), J. Kheer (Karnataka) spoke about the different aspects of imperialist attack, particularly in the Indian context, and about the anti-imperialist movements in different corners of India.
Resolutions on the Middle East and the International Situation
The Conference adopted several resolutions on the international situation. These demand the immediate withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraq, express solidarity with the Iraqi resistance, condemn the butchering of Palestinian people and forcible occupation by the ruling clique of Israel with overt and covert patronage from the US rulers, demand Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories, unconditionally support the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people for an independent state with capital at Jerusalem, and the right of return of all Palestinian refugees, demand that the US ruling clique must stop its aggressive machinations and hegemonistic design against people of Lebanon, and let all people of West Asia decide their own agenda, express full support to the Lebanese resistance led by Hizbullah and others against US-Zionist interference regarding Lebanese sovereignty, independence and security and deep admiration and respect to the courageous and militant Lebanese resistance led by Hizbullah and its leader decent Mr. Hassan Nassrulah, condemn the attacks of the fascist dictatorship of Turkey to oppress and liquidate the revolutionary and nationalist movements in Turkey and the fascist dictatorship’s policy of denial and annihilation of Kurdish nation and its policy of occupation of South Kurdistan, express solidarity with the Iranian people’s struggle to protect their sovereignty from imperialist attack, solidarity with the “Bolivarian Revolution” in Latin America, and the fight of its champion Hugo Chavez against US imperialism.
Another Resolution noted that “the USA today is the progenitor of wars of aggression in different corners of the world, taking advantage of the absence of the erstwhile powerful socialist camp and of worldwide organised militant anti-war peace movements”. It called upon people all over the world to build broad-based united anti-imperialist struggles.
Resolutions on the Indo-US Strategic-Military Alliance and Nuclear Deal and on Nandigram
Another resolution noted that the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, is “part of a blueprint for a bigger political-strategic collaboration between India and the US, a plank for the ruling powers to come closer for mutual accommodation and fulfilment of respective imperialist interests…The US gains by blocking India’s ties with Iran in its bid to isolate Iran, and securing a strong foothold in India for carrying out its economic-political-military designs in West, South and South-East Asia; India gains by accessing foreign markets for its nuclear military hardware and securing stronger hegemony over this region for its economic forays and expansionist manoeuvres.” The resolution was critical of both the CPI(M)-led Left parties and the BJP for “their collusion with the Congress to cover up the growing imperialistic character and cravings of the Indian State”.
A resolution critical of the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in India for “unrestricted exploitation, loot and plunder” by foreign and Indian capital and demanding their complete scrapping noted, “The CPI(M), the leading party in the so-called Left Front ruling the state of West Bengal has been following a policy of offering special concessions to the multinationals and Indian monopolists and is acquiring the land for them by forcibly ousting the peasants”. The resolution saluted the struggling peasants and people of Nandigram for their unprecedented resistance against attack by police, hired criminals and ruling party cadres “…all over the world the name Nandigram has become synonymous with people’s battle against imperialist economic attack…providing courage and inspiration to the struggling people everywhere”. This resolution demanded withdrawal of CPI(M) marauders from Nandigram, arrest and exemplary punishment of cadres, criminals and police guilty of rape, murder and torture, and relief and compensation to the affected people.
Nandigram to Lebanon : Two Glimpses of Imperialism
On the second day of the Conference, Ramsey Clark, accompanied by Sara Flounders, Central Secretariat Member of Workers’ World Party of the US and Stevan Kirschbaum, Vice-President of United Steel Workers of America (Local 8751), visited Nandigram and interacted with people in the villages and at a refugee camp there. Returning to the closing session of the Conference, Clark said, “I am not sure we will find a better battle cry today that brings everything together than Nandigram- a struggle against power that destroys people and places for its own enrichment while impoverishing others. I hope we can carry the banner of these people, not just to help them, but to save ourselves from the march of imperialism which is at its most dangerous today.”
The malevolence of imperialism was also brought home to the Conference by the saga of Lebanese delegate Hussein Shukur, who lost his entire family when his home was bombed to rubble by Israeli forces during their illegal and barbarous attack on Lebanon in July 2006. Shukur’s wife and three young children were killed in their sleep. Shukur, who has now devoted himself to travelling around the world to highlight the crimes of imperialism, showed delegates a film of his family’s pictures in better days and their mangled corpses. Holding aloft paintings drawn by his young son, he declared, “Let the story of this massacre be told all over the world so that people can know of the cruelty of George Bush…I ask for a common consciousness against US imperialism and its crimes”. Showing the delegates the shroud that he always carried around with him in readiness for death, he said, “Never be afraid of the killers, there are enough of us good people…the criminals will be punished here on earth before they are punished in heaven.”
The Iraqi Resistance
An important paper by Salah Almukthar, Chairman of the Friendship, Peace and Solidarity Organisation, Iraq and Co-ordinator of Free Trade Unions and NGOs, Iraq, was presented in absentia at the Conference. The paper described the extensive preparations for guerrilla resistance in Iraq by the late President Saddam Hussein and its operationalisation from the very first day of American occupation, the composition of the Iraqi resistance, and the significance of the resistance in the world arena. “The failure of the United States to defeat the Iraqi armed revolution, on the one hand, and the full success of the Iraqi armed resistance to contain and defeat all American strategic choices has determined the course of the war and emphasises the fact that America is losing the war, and the Iraqi resistance is marching towards the final victory…” Almukthar’s paper concluded that all-out support for the Iraqi armed resistance would guarantee the defeat of America, and the world would consequently witness the defeat of American influence and bases the world over.
Messages of Solidarity
Messages of solidarity were received from the renowned jurist and President of the All India Anti-Imperialist Forum V.R. Krishna Iyer, Indian historian R.S. Sharma, Indian educationist M.S. Agwani, American activist Lenora Foerstal, the Turkey Peace Initiative, the Anti-Imperialist Struggle Co-ordination of the Middle East, Kominform – internet network system, the Communist Party of Sweden, the progressive Journal “Offen-siv” of Germany, the Nino Pasti Foundation of Italy, the Studies Centre of Problems of Socialist Transition, Italy, the World Federation of Trade Unions, the New Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Jordanian Workers Communist Party, Freedom Road Socialist Organisation of the US, Communist Marxist-Leninist Party of Greece, Baath Socialist Party of Lebanon and Action Chadian for Unity and Socialism.
Visas Refused
Significantly, two Iranian delegates from the Neda Institute for Scientific-Political Research, representative from the progressive German magazine Offen-siv and Alexander Moumbaris, editor of the French journal Democrite, were not given visas by the Indian Government to attend the Conference. They too sent their messages of solidarity.
Anti-Imperialist Rally
The Conference was preceded by a rousing Rally of over 50,000 people from all over India. Peasants, workers, intellectuals and activists from all over India marched in a huge procession from College Street. Ramsey Clark and other delegates from abroad raising militant anti-imperialist slogans led the procession. With tableaus, banners, placards and slogans against American imperialism and in support of people’s struggles in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon, as well as in Nandigram, the procession wound its way to the American Consulate at Esplanade. A mass meeting was held, which was addressed by Ramsey Clark, Manik Mukherjee, and the international delegates to the Conference. A memorandum addressed to George Bush demanding the immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq and condemning the US-Israeli acts of aggression on the Palestinian people, the invasion of Lebanon and US belligerence against Iran, Syria, Cuba and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was read out by Dhruba Mukhopadhyay. Aavishkara, a theatre group from Karnataka, presented a powerful street play on the war crimes of George Bush - the war of aggression and occupation of Iraq, and the hanging of President Saddam Hussein.
Memorandum to George W. Bush
November 27, 2007
Mr. George W. Bush
President
United States of America
Sir,
The horrifying nature of “The New World Order”, which the United States administration had so proudly announced after the dismantling of the socialist camp, is becoming clearer to the people of the world with each passing day.
The economic sanctions imposed on Iraq and the military invasion carried out on a false plea, and the subsequent occupation sought to be justified on the excuse of bringing democracy to the country have caused the death of millions of Iraqi people, destroyed the civic amenities, educational system and medical facilities, and devastated the country. The sovereignty of a country has been trampled defying all international laws and conventions, and a puppet regime has been installed there. However, the Iraqi people have totally rejected the regime, and are putting up a determined resistance to the military occupation. Along with the people of the United States the whole world is asking for withdrawal of American troops. The All India Anti-imperialist Forum demands that the American troops be immediately withdrawn from Iraq, and that the Iraqi people be given back the right to decide on the governance of their country. We place the same demand for Afghanistan and Haiti.
We strongly condemn the US backing of the Israeli acts of aggression and oppression on the Palestinian people, its invasion of Lebanon, and the US belligerence against Iran,Syria, Cuba and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The so-called Peace Conference on Palestine that your administration has called on this very day is nothing but a stratagem to scuttle the Palestinians’ struggle for freedom and to help Israel continue its occupation and oppression.
The neo-liberal model of development which the US and other imperialist powers have imposed on the different countries through IMF, World Bank, GATT and WTO has pauperized the people of the countries, concentrated the wealth in the hands of a few, and has given rise to widespread retrenchment, unemployment, extreme poverty, social unrest and imbalance. The Latin American people are rejecting this model and are opting for an alternative model of development. You have taken a confrontationist attitude towards the Latin American people’s demands. The All India Anti-imperialist Forum asserts that it is only the people of any country who can decide on their course of development and progress. We categorically reject the slogans of ‘open trade’, ‘borderless market’, ‘globalization’, ‘liberalization’, ‘privatization’, through which the US and other imperialist powers want to ensure their economic domination of the weaker countries, and the imperialists’ unfettered right of exploitation.
People have now seen through the ploy of your empty slogan ‘War on Terror’. World opinion now regards USA under your administration as the number one terrorist state. It is well known that USA wantonly transgresses the sovereignty of nation and it routinely finances, arms, and politically backs the fundamentalists and terrorists to curb the democratic movements of people in many countries, and to topple the elected governments for installing puppet regimes. The many anti-democratic measures enforced by you in USA have exposed the real nature of your administration.
The Indian people have realized that the India-US Nuclear Deal is a stratagem to rope in India in a military alliance with USA. This is against the interest of the Indian people and would bring in further economic and political crisis. The Indian people totally oppose this Deal.
We urge you to desist from hatching political, economic, military conspiracies to promote US global hegemony. The day is not far away when united struggle of the people of the world will force the imperialists to retreat and stop their acts of aggression.
Manik Mukherjee, D. Mukhopadhyay,
Vice-President General Secretary
A Historic Conference
The Conference was a truly historic event for three reasons: one, it created a co-ordinating body of militant anti-imperialist organisations and individuals drawn from four continents; two, it heralded a new chapter in the genuine anti-imperialist movement in India, which is itself a major aspirant imperialist power; and three, it internationalised the Nandigram struggle by correctly recognising it as an epitome of anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist movement.
It was decided that a document containing the Approach Paper and the accepted Resolutions will be the DECLARATION of the Conference.
As the delegates rose at the end to sing the historic Internationale in unison, there was a palpable renewed resolve to slay the monster of imperialism.
Ramsey Clark on Nandigram
What happened in Nandigram reveals most aspects of the crisis facing all people in the planet today, something that is not quite understood by merely reading about it. People who have lived on the lands of their ancestors going back 1500 years, a beautiful people, attacked by their own Government, killed, injured, their homes burnt- 119 homes in one part of Nandigram, we saw the homes and talked to the survivors, their property taken or destroyed, many still missing. I saw a boy hit by a bullet in the front forehead, I could also see the exit wound. He was able to stand up, but was unable to talk. The death toll is far greater than what we are told. In one small area that we visited, people were sure of a hundred.
Why? Why is the Government doing this to its people? It is doing it so that powerful foreign interests can come on to the lands of the Indian people to exploit not only people of India, but people of the whole world. In the SEZ they are planning, you will find chemical companies, perhaps Dow Chemicals again. Can you imagine Dow Chemicals returning to India after Bhopal? That’s exactly what’s being planned, to pollute life, to exploit resources. One plan is to manufacture munitions there. To kill Iraqis, perhaps? What nations will be assaulted with these munitions?
We have to be united if we hope to stop the march of imperialism. The concentration of power that comes from imperialism becomes so dramatically clear in Nandigram. People utterly impoverished have lost all they had, their loved ones, their homes, so that wealth can come in, poison the environment there, exploit the rest of the country, concentrating wealth in fewer hands, while the masses get poorer and poorer.
How incredibly courageous the movement has been! As of this moment, they have successfully defied enormous power, at tragic cost to themselves. They say they can’t make it without our help. We can’t make it without the help of each other and without reaching out to more and more people…I am not sure we will find a better battle cry today that brings everything together than Nandigram- a struggle against power that destroys people and places for its own enrichment while impoverishing others. I hope we can carry the banner of these people, not just to help them, but to save ourselves from the march of imperialism which has never been more threatening in history than it is today. We will find ways as we leave here to unite our vision and our energies and our commitment and our actions and we then shall overcome.
(Narrated at the Conference after returning from Nandigram)
Declarations
