Dear Friend,
The elephant in the room of Sri Lanka’s spiraling crisis appears to be balanced analysis and news of Geopolitics in the Indian Ocean region and the Covid-19 induced ‘Global Reset’ to benefit the global corporates backed by the NATO-QUAD military business industrial complex.
If you think the contents of this newsletter are critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our newsletter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/.
In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
Countercurrents.org
The Elephant in the Room: Geopolitics and the ‘Great Reset’ in Sri Lanka
by Darini Rajaisngham-Senanayake
“But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?” A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022
Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country was in its worst economic crisis ever, due to a lack of Dollars to buy fuel caused by an international Sovereign Bond (ISB), debt trap and Staged Default.
The cricket victory followed a magical weekend in which the Aragalaya, or peoples’ struggle, exceeded all expectations, staging multiple coups to peacefully claim both the Presidential Palace and the Prime Minister’s official residence. The island’s President and PM were unseated by massive waves of protestors without a single person killed in gunfire. Later the protestors cooled off in the Presidential pool and had impromptu concerts celebrating what appeared to be a successful regime change operation.
There’s never a dull moment in this strategically located emerald island that is perpetually in the cross hairs of big power rivalry! Even though the confrontations in Colombo were replete with barricade breaches, water cannon charges and tear-gas sprayed, the police and military conceded to peoples’ power after brief stand-offs with unarmed protestors.
This was also on the urging of an eminent group of religious leaders in this multi-faith land of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Christians and myriad local gods, spirits, and sentient beings.
100 Days of Protest
Fewer people have died in a 100 days of massive protests in Sri Lanka than in a single day of gun violence in the United States, although the island is invariably portrayed as a space of (ethno-religious) violence in media, expert analysis and ethnography. This speaks volumes about where violence springs from in the global military business industrial complex.
The bright spot was that the Sri Lankan armed forces had demonstrated that they had little interest in military takeovers for foreign-backed dictators despite being trained in “inter-operability” by various Big powers fishing in the Indian Ocean! This was another cause for hope, peace, DEBT JUSTICE, debt cancellation and victory in International Monetary Fund (IMF) talks– if only the external actors staging the crisis would let up!
Although no one has been killed during protests, the new acting President came to power in a lightening-strike Arab Spring regime change operation on May 12th during an island wide curfew with military was on the streets. Some of the big powers fishing in Sri Lanka’s troubles waters have a bad habit of installing chosen Dictators in strategic countries.
Ranil Wickramasinghe who lost his parliament seat and decimated his own political party at the last elections, and whose house was partially burned by protestors, is now Acting President! He is the Chief architect of the Central Bank Bondscam in 2015 that opened the door to vulture funds like Blackrock that engage in reckless lending and odious debt that has cause the Debt trap, and has never made a secret of his fondness for the West.
Protestors who want him out, question Wickramasinghe’s legitimacy and suitability to represent the people of Sri Lanka’s interests in negotiations with the IMF and US-based ISB traders. He has termed the protestors “fascists” and given all power to the military to do whatever it takes to maintain law and order and protect the Constitution! So, the scene is now set for a deadlier turn as the protestors have vowed to keep protesting, as an Indian Ocean war game heats up.
Three layers to the Crisis: Political, Economic and Geopolitical
It is clear that there are three layers and dynamics– economic, political and geopolitical– to the Crisis in Sri Lanka.
Although least discussed, geopolitics would likely determine the outcome of compounding crises in the country as a new Cold War hots up: Last week, Vlodimir Zelinski, Ukrainian President beloved of the Corporate Media that crafts the narrative weighed in on Sri Lanka at a Global Leadership meeting in Seoul, Korea, where he claimed that Russia was the cause of the island nation’s unrest!
China is routinely blamed for Sri Lanka’s U.S-based ISB debt trap and Russia for the island’s fuel crisis in both global and local media.
Zelinski did not mention two years of Covid-19 lockdowns and related economic and institutional debilitation as part of the great reset ‘shock doctrine” and Digital Colonialism to enable what Naomi Klein has termed “humanitarian disaster capitalism”, or the fact that the Weaponization of the US dollar with sanctions had ruined many countries. But this may be back firing as London-based economist Michael Roberts noted: “the dollar’s decades-long dominance has placed America in a strong position to dictate the terms of trade and finance for the last 70 years, but its dominance has been waning gradually”. More countries are de-dollarizing at this time.[i]
Zelinski obviously had no idea that Sri Lanka’s biggest problem was a shortage of “exorbitantly privileged’ US dollars due to International Sovereign Bond (ISB) debt trap—a result of odious debt owed to US and EU vulture funds like Black Rock that received huge US-Government Covid-19 bailout funds to debt-trap and asset strip in countries like Sri Lanka. This is what has triggered the Default and fuel shortage in strategic Sri Lanka at the center of Indian Ocean Sea Lanes of Communication– so the IMF could enter the fray.
Zelinsky appeared to be quoting a disingenuous comment made at an international panel discussion focused on “Preventing Global Hunger and Famine”, by Sri Lanka’s Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who said the island nation’s political turmoil is a result of the global food shortage and fuel crisis brought on by the Russia- Ukraine war.[ii]
The Financial Times noted recently that “Western nations have introduced unprecedented financial sanctions on Russia, including on the country’s central bank, which have the potential to decimate its economy. Experts say they amount to full-scale financial warfare of an unheard-of nature and scope.[iii] While the dollar has been weaponized against sanctions hit Russia, Sri Lanka too is starved of Russian oil seemingly to deepen the crisis ex poste facto the default?!
Indeed, as a number of analysts have noted, US-led NATO sanctions on big oil producing countries like Russia, Iran and Venezuela and speculation by traders in commodities futures are the main source of the current global fuel trade disruption, related food shortages and soaring oil prices! Oil companies meanwhile have never made more profit, just like big Pharma companies did during Covid-9 lockdowns and mass injection campaigns.
QUAD, Cricket, and Disinformation
Who said “Cricket is the Opiate of the masses of South Asia?” QUAD cricket teams from India, Australia (and now Pakistani), have played flood-lit matches despite power outages in Sri Lanka in the past two months to keep the natives entertained and distracted from the Big Picture – geopolitics and great power contest in the strategic Indian Ocean island as the crisis unfolds! Of course, the corporate media that crafts the narrative also helps.
The last ship bringing Russian oil to the Sapugaskanda oil refinery docked in the Colombo Port, South Asia’s busiest, at the end of May, after which the US Marines have been conducting Sea Vision training in Sri Lanka, as oil tankers that were due in the months of June-July in the oil staved country disappeared into thin air like the dollars paid for them via cyber hacks of data on the Government Cloud, as happened to the National Medicines Regulatory Authority during a Covid-19 injection purchasing spree in 2020?!
The Eagle had landed with the IMF team and “special US Advisors” in town with Lazard, Clifford and Chance representing bond traders to bailout ISB holders? Was the disappearance of ships bring Russian oil and gas to the strategic island for 6 weeks in June-July and compounding ex post the staged default linked to the fact that US Department of Defense “Sea Vision” operations were on-going with the Sea Vision Technical Assistance Field Team [iv]?
A Russian Aeroflot Airlines plane was also mysteriously grounded at the BIA International Airport in a scenario of Lawfare. Aeroflot suspended all flights to Sri Lanka after a court ordered the seizure of one of its Airbus A330s on June 2nd. The case was dismissed a month later but the episode seemed designed to disrupt relations between the two countries and impede the possibility of fuel deliveries from Russia which has de-dollarized and does not take US dollars.
As citizens died in petrol queues, Prime Minister Wickramasinghe stated on June 10th: “If we can get oil from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise [we] may have to go to Russia again”.[v] Wickramasinghe was clearly waiting for the IMF and Washington’s permission to buy oil from Russia!
Thus, the staged fuel-crisis, a policy choice of the pro-US regime in Colombo reached another milestone: In the first week of July 120 flights to the island were diverted to India, effectively “islanding” and marooning the strategic country from the rest of the world in the midst of a news blackout and a de facto fuel embargo on the island at the center of the Indian Ocean, now known as the “free and open Indo-Pacific”![vi]
Fuel and News Embargo: The First Domino to Fall?
While Indian media carried the story about 120 planes that were diverted to Kochi and Thiruvanathapuram airports from Sri Lanka purportedly to help the fuel-starved island at the center of the Indian Ocean after ships bringing oil vanished into thin air, the local and global corporate media that crafts the narrative in the country were silent about this. Failure to publish geopolitical analysis is often attributed by to a shortage of paper and news print, lately!
Is Sri Lanka the first domino to fall in America’s mythical ‘free and open Indo-Pacific? Would the Quadrilateral Group (QUAD), enable a de facto cyber, maritime trade fuel, and News, embargo to starve the island’s economy from Russian oil, deepen the debt-trap and enable and IMF to set economic and trade policy in this island at the center of the Indian Ocean? “It is well known that “the United States bears a good share of responsibility” for increasingly weaponising trade among most countries” wrote Dr, Anis Chowdury recently in a much quoted article.[vii]
The elephant in the room of Sri Lanka’s spiraling crisis appears to be balanced analysis and news of Geopolitics in the IOR and the Covid-19 induced ‘Global Reset’ to benefit the global corporates backed by the NATO-QUAD military business industrial complex.[viii]
Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake is a social and medical anthropologist with research expertise in international development and political economic analysis. She was a member of the International Steering Group on “Southern Perspectives on Reform of the International Development Architecture”
[i] https://english.news.cn/20220714/1302e4c23211412ca571e73f10e994a2/c.html
[ii] http://www.colombopage.com/archive_22B/Jul17_1658072441CH.php
[iii] https://www.ft.com/content/ff95ee3f-a1b8-4a54-9657-6a1aaecc105f
[iv] https://ceylontoday.lk/2022/07/04/odcs-sea-vision-third-phase-training-concludes-successfully/
[v] https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/sri-lanka-pm-wickremesinghe-says-hes-open-to-russian-oil/article65520639.ece
[vi] https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/120-flights-sri-lanka-flights-diverted-to-kerala-aviation-minister-scindia-lauds-trivandrum-and-kochi-airports
[vii] https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/the-world/usa-and-canada/5461-weaponizing-trade-has-gained-new-impetus-and-focus
[viii] https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/conspiracy-theories-aside-there-something-fishy-about-great-reset/
Burning Questions of the Sri Lankan People’s Movement: What is to be Done?
by Dr Maya John
(This article is based on a talk delivered at the online session organised by International Solidarity with the People’s Movement in Sri Lanka on a 23.07.2022)
The people’s movement in Sri Lanka has entered into a deadlock with the ‘(s)election’ of Ranil Wickremesinghe as President. Within hours of him assuming office, a mid-night crackdown on the Galle Face protest camp was unleashed. Only cowards attack in the dead of the night as they have much to hide during the day. Despite brutal state repression, the people’s movement shows a resilient commitment to continue. This resilience stems from a simple fact: the people are fighting against Wickremesinghe for the same reason why they were fighting against his predecessor.
This is the first time in the history of Sri Lanka that a serving President has fled the country and the Parliament has voted for a new President. In an election that has been nothing short of a political gimmick desperately played out by power-hungry and cunning politicians, Wickremesinghe got 134 votes. He owes these votes to the support he garnered from the ruling coalition, in particular, the SLPP (a Rajapaksa family outfit), which has the largest number of members in the Parliament. The other candidates were a dissident member from the SLPP, Dullas Alahapperume, who got 82 votes, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the JVP who garnered three votes. Sajith Premadasa, an opposition leader and the fourth candidate in the fray, withdrew his name prior to the election, reportedly as part of behind-the-scenes assurances by Alahapperume that he would nominate him for the prime minister’s post in the new government. The election of Ranil Wickremesinghe as the President is a travesty. The decision of the Sri Lankan parliamentarians to allow Wickremesinghe, a puppet of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to act as President till November 2024, completely delegitimizes the parliament as an institution. This election of Wickremesinghe is outright illegitimate manoeuvre because on the one hand it gives a new lease of life to the much despised, authoritarian executive presidency system, and on the other, it has allowed a crony of imperialist, capitalist forces to dictate the terms of the country’s so-called economic recovery. Wickremesinghe has been edged into powerful positions in the government despite the fact that his own party, the UNP, was badly defeated in the last parliamentary election and attained only a single seat in the parliament due to its national cumulative vote share. As a politician who has no independent backing except for that which is extended to him by the parties of the ruling coalition, in particular, the SLPP with majority seats in the parliament, we can only expect President Wickremesinghe to work in close coordination with the interest of such ruling elites.
The result has left many people feeling dejected and it seems that we have returned to the same point from where we started. Some of the people in the movement expected that the Parliament would stand with justice and listen to the voices emanating from the ground. While they were making appeals to the conscience of the Members of Parliament (MPs), these politicians were hatching a conspiracy against the people. It is imperative to note that a large section of the people were already apprehensive of the role of MPs, and therefore, had been demanding for the resignation of all 225 MPs in the Parliament. Indeed, within a short period of time, the aragalaya had transitioned from initially demanding for the resignation of the President, “Gota Gedera Yanu,” to demanding for the resignation of all 225 parliamentarians, “225 Ma Gedera Yanu”.
Despite the apprehension that the parliamentarians were not be trusted since they were a part of the obsolete representative system which has overseen the crash of the Sri Lankan economy, some thought that the due process should be given a chance and the Parliament should be allowed to ‘elect’ a new President. Now that Ranil Wickremesinghe has been elected, it is being argued by some that the people should give the ‘duly elected’ President a chance to bring the economy out of the crisis. The mainstream media, for one, is celebrating Wickremesinghe’s presidency and soon-to-be formed government as a harbinger of stability and peace. These voices apart, even now for a majority of the struggling people, the Parliament does not represent the interest and aspirations of the masses, and has now lost whatever legitimacy it still had by ‘electing’ Ranil Wickremesinghe as President.
Wickremesinghe’s ‘election’ has been a foregone conclusion from the very beginning. To those who believed otherwise, we ask, were they sleepwalking so as to not see clearly just how futile it was to appeal to the ‘conscience’ of the parliamentarians? The janatha aragalaya has till now valiantly fought the thugs of ruling elites, and bravely rose to counter every attack made on it. Currently, these gains of the movement and people’s power is at the verge of being arrested by the newly formed government. This brings us to the burning questions of the day, the answers to which will determine the course of the people’s struggle in the coming days. We, therefore, need to think seriously and concretely at this crucial juncture in history when we are poised to bring about revolutionary transformations in our society.
What is the current situation in Sri Lanka?
The economy of the country has collapsed. Does this mean that all the people are facing economic troubles? What about the dominant economic classes, the ruling elite, the bureaucracy, and the rich strata of society? Are they having to go hungry or having to stand in endless queues for the meagre rations and essentials which are being doled out to us? The answer is no.
The rich and the elites who own more than 60 percent of the resources of the country are living their lives peacefully amidst the general misery. As per 2021 data, the richest 10 percent strata of Sri Lankan society own 63.8 percent of the country’s total wealth, while the bottom 50 percent strata of society own a miniscule 4.3 percent of the total wealth. The income disparity is markedly further skewed: while the poor toil away to sustain the economy, the rich amass the wealth and poor accumulate miseries. It is the rich who think that our movement will peter out with the formation of a new government. They alone project that the new government is capable of bringing about the much-talked about stability and peace. This is precisely what the mainstream media is also echoing.
Through various means, people are now being waylaid into believing that they should give time to the newly elected President to take some active measure which are based on ‘fiscal prudence and responsible governance’, or else the economic crisis will worsen. However, the dominant economic classes, the rich, are the only sections which have wanted the government to come back through a reinstated, pro-IMF executive presidency. These sections are now selling dreams of stability to the struggling people of Sri Lanka whereas the new government is going to prove a nightmare for the common masses. The rich are busy propagating the myth that if time is given to the elected President, better days will surely come. With this aim, they are ably served by some pseudo economists and so-called financial trouble-shooters, who are peddling the same myth. However, what is lost among all this talk for ‘fiscal prudence and stability’ is the fact that the government has started to usher in IMF-decreed austerity measures which will make the already miserable life of the people a living hell in the coming days.
It should be noted that the government has openly expressed its opinion to not touch the wealth of the rich, and it is an open secret that IMF-dictated austerity measures are going to be imposed on the labouring masses and common people of the country, if they are not resisted by the people’s collective power. Expectedly, only the rich are very pleased with Ranil Wickremesinghe becoming the President of the country. The purpose of the government formed henceforth is to provide a façade of change and to grant a much-needed breathing space to the beleaguered corrupt politicians, while preparing grounds for the anti-democratic measures needed to impose the IMF’s diktats.
To better comprehend the impact of the IMF’s so-called bail-out package and appended austerity measures, it is imperative to bring to the forefront the differential impact of the economic crisis. We should remember that economic collapse initially affected everyone, albeit very differently. There were ubiquitous power cuts and people struggled to get fuel and food. But, people who are rich have seen their situation stabilize soon, and it is ultimately their servants who have stood in lines for food and fuel. There has been a scarcity not for the wealthy but for the poor. While the poor struggle to buy essentials, the rich have been hoarding in bulk, given their higher purchasing power.
It is not unusual that the initial trauma of a collapsing economy has subsided for the rich, and now these elites are calling for peace and stability whilst demanding the common people to sacrifice. Of course, it is not these richie-rich who are going to sacrifice, but the poor who will have to sacrifice the most. Even at the height of the present economic crisis, the rich are not beleaguered by the problem of food scarcity, as food is not a huge portion of their expenses. In contrast, the food expenses eat up almost the whole of the meagre income of the poor.
It is imperative to note that during the present crisis, when street lights were turned off to conserve fuel and electricity, a bulk of the country’s fuel was used to generate electricity in luxury hotels, fancy restaurants, high-rise apartments, casinos, nightclubs, and various other places where the rich live and entertain themselves. We should note that fuel for generators costs more to the country than that consumed by the bikes used by the middle-class and the general working population.
At a time when most of the Sri Lankans are struggling to eat two meals a day, and daily wagers, who are a significant section of the working population, are the hardest hit, Sri Lankan politicians and corporates are known to have stashed their millions of dollars in offshore bank accounts. It is important to understand that the economy is created through the extensive exploitation of labour. It is the labour of the working masses which creates the wealth of the nation, but is ruthlessly appropriated by the rich. This stolen wealth actually belongs to the country because it is society’s vast majority of labouring people who have created it in the first place. The time has come to enforce an alternative in which there is reappropriation of the wealth created by the labouring poor.
The rich are very pleased with Ranil Wickremesinghe becoming the President of the country as he represents nothing but the status quo. The dominant economic classes have begun vociferously propagating their trust in Wickremesinghe’s ‘experienced’ and ‘pragmatic’ governance, which for them constitutes as a step in the direction of stabilizing the economy, needless to say, an economy in their interest. Consider a small example, increasing the interest rates in banks would only profit the rich who can afford to keep their surplus money in banks. Naturally, this measure would benefit those with big deposits. On the other hand, it will gravely impact the poor who need urgent loans. This policy measure would simply rob the poor, while making the rich even richer. It is surprising that this measure which would make life hell for the poor is being touted as a brave measure at the time of the worst economic crisis in the Sri Lankan history.
Needless to say, a prominent section of the rich earns its income in dollars, which simply means that its income actually increases with the collapse of the economy. Many millionaires and billionaires were simply looting in Sri Lanka and hoarding their ill-gotten wealth in dollars. This has been achieved through various measures. For example, export companies avoided duty through misinvoicing and transfer pricing. Of course, in this context one can understand that brokering a bail-out package from the IMF would immensely help Sri Lanka’s richie-rich, who, therefore, want Wickremesinghe to remain at the helm of affairs. This situation in Sri Lanka is like jumping out of the frying pan, into the fire. Ultimately, in the name of overcoming the economic crisis, an IMF ‘bail-out’ package would end up reproducing and intensifying the crisis in its worst possible form.
What pro-people economic measures are the need of the hour?
The idea of a deal with the IMF to get a bail-out package is being sold as the only panacea to the crippling economic crisis. However, as noted earlier, this idea is actually being promoted solely by the ruling elites as well as opportunist politicians in the opposition. We must not forget that this economic crisis is not of recent making. Rather, it was brewing for many decades, especially since the beginning of the 21st century. It is, in fact, the 17th bail-out package which the country has sought from the IMF.
In contrast to the much-touted IMF ‘bail-out’ package, are a set of measures which need to be demanded and fought for to save the country rather than strengthening the richie-rich. The country can only emerge from the crisis if the rich are made to suffer and pay for the crisis which they themselves have caused. The alternative measures are:
- To address the fuel crisis, the vehicles which the rich use, such as petrol-guzzling cars, should be forbidden on the roads, and only public transport and those vehicles used by the middle-class and labouring masses should be allowed. Public transportation undertakings, the middle class and labouring poor should alone be provided required quotas of fuel.
- The payment demanded for electricity from those having high incomes should be enhanced. This would mean that higher bracket of electricity consumption by the rich would cost more, and in effect, would allow more electricity to be provided to the poor at a low cost.
- The inputs used by the small peasantry should be subsidized so that the country’s food production is stabilized. This should be done to ensure that in the middle-term, the country does not have to import staple consumption items.
- The stolen wealth, which has actually been created by the labouring masses of the country but accumulated by the wealthy, should be reappropriated so as to finance the social sector. Sri Lanka has vast plantations and tea companies wherein a large section of labouring population works. These, along with the large industrial enterprises, should be nationalised, and the vast wealth and profits of these enterprises should be used to purchase essential imports.
- All the essential items should be distributed through a strengthened Public Distribution System (PDS). Education and healthcare should be managed by people’s committees and should be completely publicly-funded. Also, for all other small economic activities, cooperatives should be formed and promoted.
- There should be nationalization of all private banks, repudiation of all foreign debts, and stopping of trade in the US dollar, which benefits only imperialist America while adversely affecting the balance of payments of beleaguered Sri Lanka. Currency swap policy is something which is not just the need of the hour in Sri Lanka, but is something which is going to be the future of many debt-ridden countries and their billions of people around the globe.*
[* It is important to reckon with the fact that almost all the oil sales worldwide are transacted in the US dollar (USD), which makes USD the most dominant reserve currency, allowing it to de facto acquire a status of an international currency. Since the 1970s there has been an agreement with the oil-rich Saudi Arabia for oil sales exclusively in USD, in return for military protection. By 1975 all countries which were part of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had reached similar agreements to price oil exclusively in USD and to invest surplus oil proceeds in the American government’s debt securities. In exchange, America extended military protection to these OPEC countries. Such developments have expectedly culminated in the consistent international demand for the USD, irrespective of the economic health of America. The American government gains huge revenues through seigniorage. Issuing treasury bonds at lower rates allows the American government to maintain a higher budgetary deficit. Further, a stronger USD has also meant that commodities imported into America are relatively cheaper while those exported from America are more expensive for purchasing countries. Taken together, the hegemony of the dollar–treasury nexus has contributed in a major way towards America’s dominance in several international financial institutions. In this regard, it is important to note that the debt burden of Sri Lanka to IMF and other western imperialist countries is more than 80 percent, while to China is only 10 percent. Contrary to this fact, the western imperialist countries in their global fight for dominance with China are propagating the myth that the present situation in Sri Lanka is due to debt-trap diplomacy pursued by China.]
The choice which needs to be made at the present moment is very simple. The people have to either re-appropriate the wealth created by them, or else, continue to live under an economic system wherein the economic exploitation of the poor further intensified. The ruling establishment has made clear its choice for the pro-rich, anti-poor austerity measures. The moment thus beckons people to make their firm choice. The people are standing at a precipice. Extraordinary anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist measures alone can get us out of this situation. Otherwise, whatever has been achieved after three months of the popular uprising, might eventually culminate into a grand tragedy. The historic moment would then become a lost opportunity, for despite changes in government personnel, no real change will materialise for which people have so valiantly fought. It would become a classic case of ‘the more things change, the more they remain same’.
What does it mean to bring about change?
People’s self-rule is not going to come from the Parliament. Expecting the Parliament to constitute a People’s Council is equally foolish. People are the real constituents of power. The time has come for them to start constituting their own assemblies, where they must decide democratically the fate of the country. They should not wait for the present dispensation to stabilize and launch a counter-offensive of the rich and powerful against the labouring masses. They must realise that there is irreconcilable conflict between the greed of the profit system and needs of the masses. There is an irreconcilable conflict between the illegitimate Parliament and the President, and the people on the street. Currently, the condition of dual power exists, and the movement should aim at constituting the people’s power through people’s assemblies and councils. Sovereignty must be inalienable, and in substance, it must be vested in people themselves.
The most clearly expressed aspiration of the people in the struggle has been to bring out a clear-cut, concrete change. The only way to resolve the present deadlock is to dissolve the current system and rebuild a new political system in its place. However, to change the system, we also need to change the way we think and understand the things. Extraordinary conditions in history bring out the possibility of extraordinary consciousness to emerge. We need a renaissance of pro-people thinking which will take us beyond the way we have been made to think, i.e., being confined within the coordinates of the dominant ideology promoted and propagated by the elites of all hues. We should not become accustomed to thinking about the possibilities only within the system, but change the very parameters within which the possibilities are comprehended and concretised.
Remember that till few months back deposing Gotabaya Rajapaksa was considered impossible. Remember that despite all the difficulty of transportation, swathes of people descended on the capital, defying curfew. People who couldn’t come to the capital staged their protests in different parts of the country. Police barricades were swept aside like matchsticks and people surged forward.
Remember that many were arrested, injured and killed, but despite this the people became confident in their collective power and lost their fear. It ushered in the time for the powerful to fear and flee. We managed to make Gotabaya Rajapaksa flee. But, how can we forget that Wickremesinghe is a cover for the ruling party and Rajapaksa clan. It is the same clique which is ruling under a different face. Moreover, the change of face is a fraud since the IMF is going to dictate everything.
Now, while a few in the movement are considering a truce with the government, a large majority wants a re-composition of the movement with more rigour and a firm direction. Remember that Wickremesinghe is not recognized by the people’s movement as a legitimate President, and the people have resolved to intensify the movement till he resigns, as well as to change the very system of governance.
People have expressed their collective power in the last few months. What was unthinkable only a few months back has transpired. The people have, with their collective struggle, the janatha aragalaya, ousted the Rajapaksas from power. However, majority of the sly politicians still remain in power and are simply brokering deals over ministerial positions in Wickremesinghe’s government. Even the opposition parties’ politicians, who spew rhetoric about changing the system due to the pressure of the movement, are basically interested in furthering their own interests and arresting the people’s aspirations.
Thus, the parliamentarians have not per se challenged the system, but have sworn their allegiance to the existing Constitution that has simply allowed president after president to use executive power to mercilessly suppress people’s rights. The politicians who use radical phraseology under the pressure of the people, utter meek words in the Parliament in support of the struggling people, without of course undertaking any concrete action. The cadres of these politicians’ parties mingle with the masses at protest sites but have little to offer except empty rhetoric. Radicalism of words and opportunism in deeds has exposed the sly character of Sri Lanka’s mainstream politicians. They have, ultimately, played a massive role in legitimizing the existing representative system that has propped up Wickremesinghe once more into an authoritative position in contradiction to the people’s will.
The struggling people need to aim for real change. The extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures to be taken by the people themselves. Representative democracy as it exists in many parts of the world today is a colonial construct. In the colonial context it served to propel native elites into positions of power brokering with colonial authorities. Hence, for a long time, the edifice of representative democracy was built on property-based franchise, expensive elections, and uneven carving out of electoral constituencies that together allowed the wealthy to dominate the formation of ‘representative’ institutions like legislative assemblies and legislative councils. In other words, explicit rules of polity and institutional set-ups were erected as effective trenches around the property and privilege of the dominant sections and colonial power. Even after the transfer of power from the colonial elite to the native elites, the basic structure, with certain cosmetic changes, persists. In this way, the inner core of representative democracy remains consistent in terms of alienating the power of people and transferring it to political institutions, like Presidencies, Parliaments and Cabinets, on whose functioning the people have little control.
Repeated reproduction of this form of governance has made people accustomed to take the existing form of representative democracy as sacrosanct and the final form of democracy. This paralysis in thinking compels people to reduce their involvement simply to the search for better representatives. The quest for ‘better’ representatives absurdly continues. Within this form, people alienate the right to rule themselves, and transpose this right to elected representatives. These representatives become a power unto themselves who represent their electors, more or less, as they please. In other words, they are not delegates mandated by the views of the electorate. The hierarchy between rulers and ruled remains. And so does the perpetual possibility of getting betrayed. It is, thus, important to decolonize democracy, and for people’s movements to envisage democracy in new, revolutionary ways. People’s assemblies could be bodies that enable people to participate in ruling themselves. We must strive to build a political system in which no law can be made without the consent of the people’s assemblies, and the parliament, as a representative body, is under continuous check by the actual presence of the people in the decision-making process via people’s assemblies.
In this regard, real change in Sri Lanka would only be possible by waging a concerted struggle on certain immediate political aspirations. These include:
- The present conjuncture necessitates an alternative which completely replaces the way in which the political system exists to keep the common people, the labouring masses, voiceless. The alternative, imperatively, manifests itself in the evolution of a new democratic system and the institutionalization of the people’s will through establishment of people’s assemblies across the country. Expectedly, it will possible to establish people’s assemblies in some places first; namely where the aragalaya is strongest. Nonetheless, these assemblies will serve as a model of institutionalized people’s power which can be replicated across the country.
- The people’s assemblies in the cities, towns and villages should be empowered to decide upon the most pressing issues in the country.
- The power of people’s assemblies should be supreme, and the Parliament should only be a representative body to manage the affairs of the country in consultation with the people’s assemblies.
- Further, each people’s assembly would elect a people’s council. All the candidates in the election to the people’s council who secure a cut-off number of votes out of total votes cast, will be deemed the elected delegates. The people’s council would be a permanent deliberative body while the people’s assembly would be routinely convened for deliberation and voting on crucial policy matters / legislative action. The expansive nature of democracy emerging from such political formations would be further guaranteed by extending the right to any group of individuals or political organization to bring an issue with substantial support to the people’s council for deliberation, and to requisition a referendum in a duly convened meeting of the people’s assembly. Decisions henceforth reached would move to the Parliament, which will submit it to other people’s councils and assemblies for deliberation and ratification. In this way, the people through the people’s councils and assemblies would have legislative power to make or repeal laws for the country by the criterion that the majority of such bodies decide to do so.
- Such a restructured democratic framework would empower the people’s assemblies to summon and recall their representatives in Parliament and People’s Council.
A new democratic polity of Sri Lanka is not possible under the existing Constitution and the Wickremesinghe government that comprises a sizeable component of existing ruling elites. Neither can the rights of the people be concretised without transforming the economy; a process which demands the active participation of the common masses in policy framing. Presently, the balance of forces is favourable to strategic use of the current conjuncture to transform the system in a revolutionary direction, so that there is not simply a change of degree in people’s life but a change in kind.
At this juncture, all the advanced sections of the struggling masses, and the rank-and-file of oppositional organizations, should form joint co-ordination and action committees while continuing their camp and sit-ins. We can expect the illegitimate Wickremesinghe government to keep trying to delegitimise the people’s movement and to unleash troops on our sit-ins. Needless to say, the more this government unleashes the army and police, the more the aragalaya should implore the masses, the common people, to join on the ground in the defence of the movement. This is a test of nerves, a test of numbers, and the aragalaya has ample of both.
Overcoming the sombre mood among some activist quarters following the 21st July mid-night crackdown, the movement has resiliently persisted. Nursing wounds, yet re-energised, it rises like a phoenix from the ashes to inspire struggling people across the world. This moment calls for a go-to-the-people campaign so as to escalate the momentum of the people’s movement in the direction of revolutionary possibilities. Currently, the mobilisation of the common masses to reach Columbo for a march to the Parliament is crucial for the movement. The rallying call for the People’s March to Parliament should be the immediate convening of a special session of the Parliament on the motion for prohibition of the use of military and police forces against the protesting people. This special session will serve as a litmus test for the existing Parliament in the ongoing battle for democracy, and the Parliament’s failure to deliver will be a catalyst for further mass action for a new transformative polity.
Maya John teaches at the University of Delhi, India. She has been part of the Left movement for around two decades. Email: maya.john85@gmail.com
Walter Rodney –
A Revolutionary to Inspire Us Today
by Ellen Isaacs
All of us who yearn to see a mass movement of workers united across national, racial and gender lines against capitalism and imperialism should remember and learn from the life of Walter Rodney. A Guyanese historian and activist who was murdered by his own ruling class in 1980 at the age of 38, Rodney understood the pitfalls of pseudo-socialism and neocolonialism like few others. And also like few others, he combined a profound understanding of history from a Marxist perspective, the ability to convey his knowledge and learn from broad swath of workers, and a commitment to actively participate in workers’ struggles. It is that combination that made him so dangerous to the Guyanese rulers.
The War ‘Diplomat’: How Borrell, the West Lost the ‘Global Battle of Narratives’
by Dr Ramzy Baroud
In a blog entry, reflecting on the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia on July 7-8, the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, seems to have accepted the painful truth that the West is losing what he termed “the global battle of narratives”.
“The global battle of narratives is in full swing and, for now, we are not winning,” Borrell admitted. The solution: “As the EU, we have to engage further to refute Russian lies and war propaganda,” the EU’s top diplomat added.
Borrell’s piece is a testimony to the very erroneous logic that led to the so-called ‘battle of narratives’ to be lost in the first place.
Borrell starts by reassuring his readers that, despite the fact that many countries in the Global South refuse to join the West’s sanctions on Russia, “everybody agrees”, though in “abstract terms”, on the “need for multilateralism and defending principles such as territorial sovereignty”.
The immediate impression that such a statement gives is that the West is the global vanguard of multilateralism and territorial sovereignty. The opposite is true. The US-western military interventions in Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and many other regions around the world have largely taken place without international consent and without any regard for the sovereignty of nations. In the case of the NATO war on Libya, a massively destructive military campaign was initiated based on the intentional misinterpretation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1973, which calledfor the use of “all means necessary to protect civilians”.
Borrell, like other western diplomats, conveniently omits the West’s repeated – and ongoing – interventions in the affairs of other nations, while painting the Russian-Ukraine war as the starkest example of “blatant violations of international law, contravening the basic tenets of the UN Charter and endangering the global economic recovery” .
Would Borrell employ such strong language to depict the numerous ongoing war crimes in parts of the world involving European countries or their allies? For example, France’s despicable war record in Mali? Or, even more obvious, the 75-year-old Israeli occupation of Palestine?
When addressing “food and energy security”, Borrell lamented that many in the G20 have bought into the “propaganda and lies coming from the Kremlin” regarding the actual cause of the food crisis. He concluded that it is not the EU but “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine that is dramatically aggravating the food crisis.”
Again, Borrell was selective with his logic. While naturally, a war between two countries that contribute a large share of the world’s basic food supplies will detrimentally impact food security, Borrell made no mention that the thousands ofsanctions imposed by the West on Moscow have disrupted the supply chain of many critical products, raw material and basic food items.
When the West imposed those sanctions, it only thought of its national interests, erroneously centered around defeating Russia. Neither the people of Sri Lanka, Somalia, Lebanon, nor, frankly, Ukraine were relevant factors in the West’s decision.
Borrell, whose job as a diplomat suggests that he should be investing in diplomacy to resolve conflicts, has repeatedly called for widening the scope of war on Russia, insisting that the war can only be “won on the battlefield”. Such statements were made with western interests in mind, despite the obvious devastating consequences that Borrell’s battlefield would have on the rest of the world.
Still, Borrell had the audacity to chastise G20 members for behaving in ways that seemed, to him, focused solely on their national interests. “The hard truth is that national interests often outweigh general commitments to bigger ideals,” hewrote. If defeating Russia is central to Borrell’s and the EU’s “bigger ideals”, why should the rest of the world, especially in the Global South, embrace the West’s self-serving priorities?
Borrell also needs to be reminded that the West’s “global battle of narratives” had been lost well before February 24. Much of the Global South rightly sees the West’s interests at odds with its own. This seemingly cynical view is an outcome of decades – in fact, hundreds of years – of real experiences, starting with colonialism and ending, presently, with the routine military and political interventions.
Borrell speaks of ‘bigger ideals’, as if the West is the only morally mature entity that is capable of thinking about rights and wrongs in a selfless, detached manner. In addition to there being no evidence to support Borrell’s claim, such condescending language, itself an expression of cultural arrogance, makes it impossible for non-western countries to accept, or even engage, with the West regarding the morality of its politics.
Borrell, for example, accuses Russia of a “deliberate attempt to use food as a weapon against the most vulnerable countries in the world, especially in Africa”. Even if we accept this problematic premise as a morally driven position, how can Borrell justify the West’s sanctions that have effectively starved many people in “vulnerable countries” around the world?
Perhaps, Afghans are the most vulnerable people in the world today, thanks to 20 years of a devastating US/NATO war which has killed and maimed tens of thousands. Though the US and its western allies were forced out of Afghanistan last August, billions of dollars of Afghan money are illegally frozen in Western bank accounts, pushing the whole country to the brink of starvation. Why can Borrell not apply his ‘bigger ideals’ in this particular scenario, demanding immediate unfreezing of Afghan money?
In truth, Borrell, the EU, NATO and the West are not only losing the global battle of narratives, they have never won it in the first place. Winning or losing that battle never mattered to Western leaders in the past, because the Global South was hardly considered when the West made its unilateral decisions regarding war, military invasions or economic sanctions.
The Global South matters now, simply because the West is no longer determining all political outcomes, as was often the case. Russia, China, India and others are now relevant, because they can collectively balance out the skewed global order that has been dominated by Borrell and his likes for far too long.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website iswww.ramzybaroud.net
Activists Demand Biden End Support to Marcos 2.0
by Phil Pasquini
A small group of activists marched from Dupont Circle to the Philippine Embassy calling for President Biden to stop supporting the Philippine government of “BongBong” Marcos while calling for the prosecution of former President Duterte for the extrajudicial killings in his “War on Drugs.” Signs in both English and Tagalog were used to inspire resistance and to fight for change. “Makibaka Huwag Matakot” (don’t be afraid), “Wakasan Na” (end it), “Kapit Bisik” (tight fist) and “Marcos Magananakaw” (Marcos steals) were buttressed with chants in both languages.
Protesters called for the prosecution of former President Duterte who promised the Philippine people if he was elected he would do what he had done in Davao during his 22-year tenure as mayor where his extrajudicial violence campaign attacked drug dealers, criminals and what he described as “do-nothings.” Since June of 2016 as president of the Philippines, he has been responsible for more than 20,000 killings that victimized mostly the urban poor across the islands. His “War on Drugs” has been condemned as crimes against humanity by Human Rights groups around the globe.
With the recent election of Bongbong Marcos, former dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ son, protesters also demanded the end for US aid to the Philippines, by not supporting what will highly likely evolve into yet another dictatorship-kleptocracy not unlike what Filipinos experienced during Bongbong’s father’s regime. During his 21-year reign Ferdinand Marcos stole an estimate $10 billion from the country stashing it in various bank accounts along with making other investments.
Much of the stolen proceeds were used by Marcos and his wife in acquiring luxury homes, antiques, jewelry and other valuables along with amassing a museum quality art collection. Swiss banks eventually returned $684 million to the Philippines of his “personal fortune.” All this on a presidential salary of $13,500 a year. A remarkable feat of leveraging one’s paltry salary into a financial windfall.
It may well be remembered, too, that while much of the country’s citizenry lived in abject poverty, the president’s wife Imelda enjoyed a life of riches including her famous 3,000 pairs of shoes that filled a massive closet. Seven hundred pairs of her shoes now reside in a shoe museum in Manila. This is the stuff of revolutions and Filipinos are right in being on guard and ever vigilant when the second generation raised in a despotic and kleptocratic family is elected to take the helm of his nation.
(This article has previously appeared in Nuzeink.)
Phil Pasquini is a freelance journalist and photographer. His reports and photographs appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Pakistan Link and Nuze.ink. He is the author of Domes, Arches and Minarets: A History of Islamic-Inspired Buildings in America.
Israel is an Apartheid State
Press Release
The Indo-Palestine Solidarity
Network has called Israel an apartheid state
The Indo-Palestine Solidarity Network (IPSN) is a network of like- minded people drawn from all parts of the country committed to justice and freedom for Palestine. It seeks an end to the racist-colonialist-apartheid politics of Israel. Over the last three years, IPSN has consistently been involved in creating awareness about the conditions of the Palestinian people and drawing people together in acts of solidarity with the Palestinian people. IPSN has also advocated with the Government of India against its close military ties with Israel arguing that by purchasing military hardware from Israel, it supports a brutal military-industrial-complex in Israel which enables it to oppress and subjugate the Palestinian people. A recent investigative report by The New York Times revealed that NSO Groups’ Pegasus was part of a $2 billion defence deal signed by the Prime Minister during his 2017 official visit to Israel. Israeli spyware technology is developed by being systematically used against Palestinians. Spyware trade is per se designed for repression, and Israel is at the centre of it because its colonial and apartheid regime deploys it against a subjugated people. In defence of the civil rights of Indian human rights activists, and in solidarity with the resisting Palestinian people, we demand that our public resources are not spent on surveillance technology bought from an apartheid regime.
IPSN notes that the Israeli government has adopted and practices a policy of separation the over the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. IPSN follows the call of the UN independent human rights expert who has noted that “apartheid is being practiced by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory”. IPSN agrees with the contention of other human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and others who have analyzed the 55-year occupation of the Palestinian Territory. In different ways they have each underlined how, in the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, there exists a deeply discriminatory dual legal and political system, that privileges the 700,000 Israeli Jewish settlers living in the 300 illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. This was the assertion of the UN Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory. His report points to the absence of the “rights of people living in the same vicinity, but separated by walls, checkpoints and roads”. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur has observed that “there are more than three million Palestinians living under an oppressive rule of institutional discrimination and without a path to a genuine Palestinian state that the world has long promised, which is their right”. This is also true of Gaza where two million Palestinians live in Gaza, described in what is referred to as an ‘open-air prison’, without adequate access to power, water or health, with a collapsing economy and with no ability to freely travel to the rest of Palestine or the outside world.
We affirm the internationally-understood legal definition of apartheid – a system of institutionalized racial segregation. Israel falls within the scope of this definition as a “political regime which so intentionally and clearly prioritizes fundamental political, legal and social rights to one group over another, within the same geographic unit on the basis of one’s racial-national-ethnic identity”. This is nothing short of a Crime against Humanity.
The 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is a forward-looking legal instrument which prohibits apartheid as a crime against humanity today and into the future, wherever it may exist. In opposition to this definition Israel seeks to demographically foist a permanent, and illegal, Israeli sovereign claim over occupied territory, while confining Palestinians in smaller and more confined reserves of disconnected land, just as there were the Bantustans in South Africa under the apartheid regime there.
IPSN regards the multiple barbaric acts, arbitrary and extra-judicial killings, torture, the denial of fundamental rights, an abysmal child mortality rate, collective punishment, an abusive military court system, and home demolitions as signs of a cruel regime which holds human rights in disregard. Israel’s annexation of occupied territory is unlawful, its construction of hundreds of Jewish settlements is illegal, and its denial of Palestinian self-determination breaches international law.
Sadly, the international community has failed in its duty to create a united rejection of Israel’s apartheid.
IPSN commits itself to joining hands with other networks in India to oppose Israel’s apartheid policies and practices through several measures:
- Join the BDS-India Movement, INCACBI which is also a Platform for Indian solidarity with the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to be actively engaged in fighting against economic-academic-cultural collaboration with Israel.
- Bring Israeli apartheid to the notice of the Indian Human Rights community by engaging in comparative studies of discriminatory laws and practices in Israel which the Indian Government has duplicated. (The practices of the Indian government against Muslim and Christian minorities are virtually a copy-cat version of the way Israel discriminates and brutalizes Palestinians).
- Campaign against Indian collaboration with Israel’s military-industrial complex, noting especially that Israel is influencing the Indian government in its subjugation of the Kashmiri people by applying near-identical policies as Israel does on the Palestinian people.
- IPSN will continue its work with inter-faith platforms including Muslim collectives, Dalit and Adivasi groups and the Hindus for Human Rights through which it is able to highlight the Question of Palestine.
- To seek a working dialogue with the NCCI and Catholic institutions for a Christian response against apartheid in Israel.
Roger Gaikwad, President
Sr. Lisa Peres, Executive Secretary
How to flag hate speech and related matters
by Hiren Gohain
The order passed by the SC bench led by Justice D.Y.Chandrachud releasing Mohammed Zubair on bail and clubbing together all six cases filed by UP and Delhi police comes as welcome relief at a time when the extraordinary judgment of another bench ordering prosecution of Teesta Setalvad,well-known human rights activist, seemed to be the culmination of courts’ indecisive and hesitant responses to the grim attacks of the government on liberties of citizens.That development had caused widespread alarm and distrust in our justice system.The order of the SC bench also refused to grant the prayer of the police to forbid him to keep on posting messages on Twitter on eminently sound grounds putting liberties of citizens out of reach of the claws of an aggressive government.
It also provides an opportunity to return to the tired old subject of hate speeches.The term originally coined to cover speeches with rabid and violent communal animus has of late been turned inside out as the police in some states appear to be targetting people flagging their occurrence rather than those spreading them.The distinction is important and must not be blurred.And those who are really guilty of disturbing communal harmony and tranquil relations among people of different faiths and creeds need must be brought to the book.
Everyone knows which political group goes by the credo of action necessarily causing reaction,and how it applies the formula to suit its propaganda needs.It is in states like U.P.where the misuse of the term to harass minorities has been most egregious.So that point need not be labored here.But the question arises as to how one may evade the confusion to spot and flag real hate speech as the term had been originally intended to do.Actually strict guidelines in a special manual should be provided to the police so they do not use it too loosely and mindlessly.
First,hate speech is not simply any critical comment on a community or religion.Among friends on social media meeting on internet for mere exchange of views and interaction one may conceivably offer opinions critical of any religion or institution or creed or community.As long as it is not given out for circulation,and as long as the language is sober and free from venom, it is under protection of freedom of speech.And that freedom is vital for a free society as circulation of blood is to the body.If,however,someone else who comes across it by chance and deliberately circulates it with intent to cause ill-will and mischief in society at large without the author’s knowledge,he should be charged with the crime.On the other hand there are plenty of pretty toxic spiteful posts intended merely to provoke and offend which certainly deserve to be flagged and charged with this crime,and their sources must be booked.However,if it is taken up by someone and hyped and shared among like-minded gnomes creating an uproar,then the person actively circulating it should share major part of the blame.
Supposing there had been some such post on social media on the face of it hurtful and offensive but left alone and causing no turmoil for more than a year.In that case its source or originator may simply be warned and asked to take it down.Otherwise the police and authorities will be overburdened with complaints, will have no time to deal with serious matters.
The procedure now in place is also messy and should be streamlined and made less open to subjective and biased response.The current procedure has any complainant anywhere in the country spotting such a hate post and filing a complaint with the police of his area,whereupon the police registers a case even without considering if the complaint is frivolous or malicious.It will be better to have dedicated police panels to consider such cases first and people merely reporting such posts in stead of lodging a formal complaint.Since it conceivably concerns state security,the panels should study the reports and prepare FIRs if and when the case meets certain prescribed norms.This may help remove the waywardness visible at present in such cases.
What has regrettably become quite common and vicious is politically motivated police not only targeting the innocent and the unwary,but also piling up more and fabricated evidence to load the scales against their victims.There also appear to be armies of trolls working in tandem with the police as their accomplices.Or there is overenthusiasm on the part of the police to please their political bosses.
Hence prosecution should be required to provide evidence of the application of mind by police at a higher level to check proliferation of cases and wasting the time and resources of courts.Further there should be a provision for exacting the costs of such a suit from the police as well as official punishment visited on erring policemem should the case turn out to be trumped up.
If the procedure thus gets regulated and made responsible at every step,and the usual hype and hoop-la pared away,it will help control and eliminate not only a lot that threaten peace and tranquility in our society but also tend to undermine the secular democratic foundations of our state.
Hiren Gohain is a political commentator
We received the article on July 22nd
Climate change wreaks havoc in Uttarakhand’s mountainous terrain
by Seema Sharma
Indiscriminate road building and hydropower projects are increasing the vulnerability of the mountainous areas of Uttarakhand to the impact of climate change that is manifesting in the form of cloud bursts and flash floods in recent years. With every passing year, both frequency and magnitude of the disasters is getting more severe.
An example of how this is affecting the lives of people on the ground comes from Joshimath, in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, which witnessed a major calamity on February 7 last year due to a glacial burst which triggered floods that destroyed two hydropower projects near the Naina Devi National Park[1]. The incident claimed 74 lives and several workers who were trapped in a tunnel near the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project were rescued but many bodies were found days later.
Experts believe that the construction of hydel power projects, which involves stone quarrying, blasting of mountains and digging of tunnels in the base of a mountain system could have led to the disaster.
Over a year later, the land is still unstable and local residents have been complaining of their houses developing cracks or, premises and roads caving in at random places.
“The road beneath our village has caved in. The iconic statue of Gaura Devi, who led the famous Chipko Movement had to be shifted from the centre of the road. Many houses have developed wide cracks and can crumble anytime. People have no other option but to take shelter in the nearby forest area whenever it rains heavily,” said Chander Singh Rana, grandson of Gaura Devi and resident of Raini village. The village was closest to the origin of a flash flood disaster that hit the area last year.
Following last year’s flash floods, on behest of the state government, noted geologists -Saraswati Prakash Sati, Shubhra Sharma and Navin Juyal- conducted a study on the fragility of Joshimath and suggested measures to avert or mitigate catastrophic consequences for this fragile area in future.
According to the report, the very first observation by renowned geologists Heim and Gansser (1939) that the Joshimath town is situated on an old landslide deposit itself speaks about how fragile the slopes are.
However, ignoring the geological fragility of its location, the town began to grow rapidly after 1960. It was only during the late 60’s that the concern about the safety and stability of the town became an issue. The then government set up a body, named as the Mishra Committee, in 1976. The recommendations of this committee are still relevant today.
The committee recommended that as an immediate measure, there should not be any excavation activities particularly of the precariously balanced crystalline boulders. Further construction in the area should be made only after examining the stability of the site and restrictions should be placed on excavation on slopes.
Secondly, no boulders should be removed either by digging or blasting and no tree should be cut in the landslide zone. Extensive plantation work should be launched in the area particularly between Marwari and Joshimath and the cracks, which have developed on the slopes, should be sealed. Thirdly and most importantly, hanging boulders on the foothills should be provided with appropriate support and anti-erosion measures should be taken up. It was also emphasized that there should be a blanket ban on collecting constructional material from a radius of 5 km of the Joshimath town.
However none of the Mishra Committee recommendations have ever been adopted in the government’s policies or implemented on the ground.
Ravi Chopra, renowned expert on matters related to river ecology and hydro power projects said, “The way the Rishi Ganga hydro project got smashed and, Tapovan Vishnugad hydro project was severely damaged in last year’s flash flood in Joshimath, suggests no homework was done before the site selection or project viability. Besides incurring monumental economic losses, the debris of the project structures also added to the volume of the flood and magnitude of the havoc , which also led to reactivation of stabilized landslides in this region.”
The recent report by the noted geologists also mentions that Uttarakhand Himalaya is witnessing an unprecedented spree of infrastructural developmental activities. As a consequence, the precariously stabilized, debris-laden slopes become extremely sensitive towards both natural (extreme hydro-meteorological events) and anthropogenic interventions. The latter includes attempts to harness the hydropower potential of the glacial fed rivers, excavation of slopes for road networking and most importantly the unplanned proliferation of urban towns. Severity of the crises can be ascertained from the fact that during the monsoon, some region or the other in the Central Himalaya experiences a catastrophic disaster.
Geologists in the report rued the fact that least consideration is given for the slope stability and disposal of domestic wastewater. Chopra said, “The road widening work has created many new landslide zones which give trouble to local people every monsoon. Many people have been injured or died as the debris came tumbling down from the slopes, which were randomly cut and not treated as per norms after the road widening works were completed.”
In the report , geologists suggest that the road engineers must find ways to provide stability to the areas prone to subsidence by providing state-of-the-art slope treatment methods as observed at some locations along the NH-58.
Unfortunately, despite persistent efforts of officials of the Uttarakhand Climate Change Centre to make every state government department incorporate climate change concerns in their policies and allocation of budget, their advice has not made much difference.
Dr. Anjal Prakash, research Director and adjunct associate professor at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad said, “The IPCC’s Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) reports that climate change has altered the frequency and magnitude of natural hazards. We do not have the data now to give you information on what has caused the avalanche in the Joshimath but what we know, prima facie, is that this looks very much like a climate change event as the glaciers are melting due to global warming. The impact of global warming on glacial retreat is well documented. The recent assessment report called the HI-MAP report facilitated by ICIMOD has also pointed these out. The report shows that temperatures are rising in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region and the rise in global temperature will have more impact in the Himalayan region due to elevation-dependent warming.”
He further added, “ I would request the government to spend more resources in monitoring the region better so that we have more information about the change process. The result would be that we are more aware and could develop better adaptation practices.” “. Prakash was Coordinating Lead Author of the special report on Oceans and Cryosphere, 2018 and Lead Author of the 6th Assessment report of IPCC.
It is indeed the local people, who are living in disaster prone areas, who are bearing the brunt. The state government has failed to provide them any relief. The relocation or rehabilitation policy is full of loopholes. There are thousands who are still awaiting to be rehabilitated to safer places for many years.
Sharad Singh Negi, vice chairman of Uttarakhand Rural Development and Migration Commission said, “There is no need to clear the forests to create new safer places for relocation of people of disaster affected villages. The state has some 1000 villages that are lying abandoned or are thinly populated with vacant houses because of migration of the inhabitants. After improvement in infrastructure, these villages can be used for rehabilitation. “
According to Migration Commission , between the 2011 Census and 2017, 734 villages were completely vacated by their inhabitants, while in another 565, the population fell by 50 per cent in the state.
Atul Sati, Joshimath based activist said , “There are glaring loopholes in the state rehabilitation policy, which provide for compensation of Rs. 360,000 and an allocation of 100 sq ft of land to a family without adequate land for agriculture, livestock grazing etc. This is the reason, people who have been relocated to newer places have been going back to their old disaster prone native villages to take care of their agrarian land.”
Seema Sharma is a Chandigarh based freelance journalist who writes about environment, climate change, human rights and gender issues . She tweets at seema_ env
[1] https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/dehradun-news/another-glacier-burst-at-uttarakhand-s-joshimath-puts-authorities-on-alert-101619232291665.html
Securing Skilled Jobs for the Present and the Future
by Bhargavi S Rao
From the experiences of the pandemic it has been learned that it is certainly more beneficial for society overall to provide a range of skill training – from farm-based activities to non-farm skills – and speaking to the needs of the region, even at the very local levels. It is such an approach of care that will help youth in making wise choices to secure their futures, in ensuring economic security of their households and to look to the future with dignity and confidence.
Indian Constitution, Ethnic Factors & Murmu’s Election!
by Nilofar Suhrawardy
Sadly, the manner in which socio-political strategies -based on ethnic factors – are exercised during elections at practically all levels only suggests that fate of Indians is decided by what no one has command over, that is ethnic identity decided by their birth. Election of 15th President of India may also be viewed as part of this bracket. Murmu’s election, prior to her that of Kovind and others to hold country’s highest office are only symbolic displays. They hardly signal end of bias towards all still being subject to discrimination at numerous levels.
Book Review: People’s Tales From Narmada Valley
by T Vijayendra
Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA, Save Narmada Movement) is one of the longest drawn (35 years) people’s movement against ‘development’ at the cost of people and nature in India.
While the contributions to the movement by middle class activists like Medha Patkar and Sylvi are well known, contribution by affected villagers of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujrat are not known much. This book deals with this aspect of the movement.
Dehli Aanganwadi Workers and Helpers Union gherao Development Department in Delhi protesting termination
by Harsh Thakor
The Delhi state Aanganwadi workers and helpers Union launched an effective gherao at the city govt’s women and child development Department at Kashmere gate on July 22nd , raising slogans against the Aam Admi party dispensation. Their plight is symbolic of that of women workers all over the country, mercilessly entrapped by the contract system, denied stipulated or fair wages, housing, medical facilities or daily work
