|
May Day 2003 is being
ushered in, in an atmosphere fraught by war and severe world wide economic
recession. Poverty, joblessness, destitution stalk every corner of the world.
The imperialist system is in acute crisis. A shrill war-cry rents the air. It is
the US imperialists, led by the Bush administration that wants another war. This
time its target is Iraq. Next, it may be Korea, or Iran or any other country.
The US imperialists need a war to tide over its crisis, and for this they
concoct one plea or another. To cover their heinous war crimes they propagate
that this is for democracy, freedom and against terrorism. This is a great
irony! The number one terrorist of the world, one of the biggest enemies of
democracy and the perpetrator of all sorts of fascist activities, pretends as
the champions of democracy.
But the people of the
world are not silent. They have rallied in millions all over the world, on a
scale never seen before. They clearly see through the Bush hoax and say it is
crude ‘blood for oil’. The anti-war movement is growing from strength to
strength.
It would be wrong to
assume that the other imperialist countries, like Germany, France, Russia, etc.,
that oppose the Iraq war are for peace and democracy. Their present stand is
only to prevent the domination of the US in world affairs and befool the people.
As the economic strength of the US is on the decline, the other imperialist
forces, particularly Europe, are raising their heads to challenge the dominance
of the US. Along with the deepening crisis, the rivalry amongst the imperialist
forces is becoming more and more acute. These imperialist forces too seek to
push their domination over the backward countries of the world as can been seen
at the WTO, and resort to undemocratic means, where necessary. They, in fact,
united with the US to attack Iraq (1992) and Afghanistan. These forces are also
the enemies of the world people, but it is the US that is the number one danger.
All the imperialist
forces in their desperate attempt to come out of this crisis have been shifting
the burden of their crisis on to the backs of the people, particularly in the
underdeveloped countries. In this period of crisis, the imperialists,
particularly US imperialists, are resorting to more and more aggressive
measures, interfering in the internal affairs of the backward countries and
blatantly abusing their sovereignty. Under the pretext of the war against
terrorism the US imperialists are assisting or directly suppressing peoples’
movements and nationality struggles all over the world. In spite of the ruthless
imperialist exploitation and plunder, resulting in more and more joblessness,
poverty, and deprivation, the onward march of the people cannot be retarded.
The Indian economy,
like most economies of the backward countries, is entirely dependent on the
imperialist world economy and has been facing a severe crisis for the last five
years. The chief cause for this, is that the comprador ruling classes are
capitulating more and more to the dictates of the imperialists, particularly the
US, and their multilateral institutions. In the name of ‘economic reforms’ they
have completely opened up the economy for the ruthless plunder by the
imperialists. And to serve these interests of the ruling classes, all the ruling
class parties - whether Congress, or BJP or NDA or CPI/CPM or any regional
formation - all adopt similar economic policies.
Due to these
policies, big business has been given enormous concessions and there has been a
major attack for the rights of the workers and their living conditions.
Thousands of factories/mills have been closed down, throwing lakhs of workers
out of jobs. Draconian laws have been enacted and put into practice to suppress
the workers’ movements. The ever-increasing cost of agricultural production, the
drop in subsidies, the flood of imports, the drop in government expenditure on
agriculture, and the continuing forms of semi-feudal exploitation has reduced
the vast bulk of our rural masses to a miserable plight. The struggling
nationalities are being deprived of their freedom and right to
self-determination. So also the toiling masses under the leadership of the
revolutionary forces have been developing the struggle for an alternative
system.
The NDA government,
led by the BJP, has been suppressing all these struggles and movements, under
the brutality of its armed forces. At the same time, the BJP and the Sangh
Parivar have been whipping up Hindu fascism. Hindutva is being raised to a high
pitch to drown the peoples’ aspirations in a communal holocaust. They have been
vehemently attacking the minorities, particularly the Muslims. They want to
thereby divide the people and weaken their struggles for justice. The
imperialist forces champion these fascist outfits like the BJP, in every
country. With the enormous loot resulting from the policies of globalisation,
the imperialists too require such Hindutva fascist forces with which to divert
peoples’ attention and suppress their revolts.
All the present ills
in the world are a result of the deepening crisis of the imperialist system. And
as long as this system persists, there will always be the danger of war, and the
untold suffering that comes with it. To get a world free from war, there is need
to smash the existing imperialist system.
The people of India
must rally to fight back the latest onslaughts of imperialism, particularly that
of the US on our country, and their war-mongering designs against Iraq and
throughout the world. They must stand steadfastly by the people of Iraq and
rally in their millions against the US-led imperialist gangsters; boycott the
Anglo-American goods and throw out their corporations and all forms of their
capital from our country; and build a mighty movement to force the GOI to sever
all ties with the US-British imperialists if ever they dare to attack Iraq. They
must also fight back the Hindu fascist wave, by mobilizing the masses on a huge
scale to fight militant battles with the fascist gangs and the State that
protects them.
The people of the
world should celebrate this year’s May Day with the rallying cry:
No to War! No to
Imperialist Globalisation! No to Hindu Fascist Offensive! Unite to build a world
system free from war, exploitation and oppression!
|
