Issue 339 - 06/03/2020

26 06/03/2020 NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS
www.samajweekly.com
Virasam Solidarity Event at Boston University
On Friday, February 28, 2020 the Revolutionary
United Front and the US Coalition to Free
Professor Saibaba hosted a panel event at Boston
University to celebrate the 50th anniversary of
Viplava Rachayitala Sangham (Revolutionary
Writers’ Association), popularly known as
Virasam. The event focused on the founding and
history of Virasam, the work that Virasam is doing
in anti-feudal and anti-imperialist struggles, and
the importance of international solidarity here in
the U.S. There was great interest in learning from
the experiences of Virasam and considering how to
apply a similar political approach in the U.S.
This solidarity event came at an important time.
Virasam itself is facing heavy repression from the
Indian state. Varavara Rao, who is a founding
member of Virasam and a famous Telugu poet, has
been languishing in jail for the past 14 months. The
government has charged him and 8 other intellectuals
with serious crimes in a phony conspiracy
case as part of a larger state effort to criminalize all
forms of dissent. Professor Kaseem, who was just
elected secretary of Virasam, was arrested in
January. In a typically absurd fashion, the state
claimed that he had absconded for years to avoid
trumped up charges on an old case, despite the fact
that Kaseem has been teaching all this time at
Osmania University in Hyderabad, Telangana.
These arrests are part of a larger campaign of
suppression of dissent and attacks on democratic
rights by the Hindutva fascist government of
Narendra Modi. Shortly before the panel at BU,
Modi’s party—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—
orchestrated a brutal pogrom in Delhi. Following
calls from BJP leaders, right-wing goons associated
with the party attacked protesters in Delhi and
rampaged through Muslim neighborhoods. They
burned mosques, attacked people, and burned
Muslim homes and businesses. The Delhi police
joined in the carnage and aided the Hindutva
mobs.
These pogroms were aimed at crushing popular
resistance against the Citizenship Amendment
Act and National Register of Citizens, two pieces
of legislation aimed at disenfranchising Muslims.
This is part of the BJP’s larger effort to impose a
Hindu Rashtra (Hindu State) in India. The
pogroms happened while U.S. President Donald
Trump was making his first official visit to India.
Unsurprisingly, Trump made no mention of them.
Instead, during his visit he signed a series of
political and economic agreements with India,
including a multi-billion dollar arms deal which
includes the sale of armed drones to the Modi
government.
All of this is important context which helps to
clarify the significance of the panel event at BU.
At a time when the BJP Modi government is
ratcheting up their efforts to impose Hindutvafascism
nationwide, it is important to support and
learn from organizations like Virasam. For the
last fifty years they have been on the forefront of
anti-feudal and anti-imperialist struggles in India.
They have supported struggles against landlords,
Brahminism, displacement of adivasis, patriarchy,
and more.
Extending solidarity and learning from
Virasam are important in their own right.
However, it has a particular significance for those
of us in the U.S. As Trump’s visit shows, the relationship
between the U.S. and Indian ruling classes
is quite significant. American corporations
make billions of dollars each year by looting
India’s natural resources, stealing indigenous
land, and putting Indian people to work as wageslaves
in sweat shops. The U.S. government is
deepening ties with India as part of a larger effort
to counter the rise of its main imperialist rival,
China. Given all of this, it is particularly important
for progressive and revolutionary movements
in the U.S. to extend their support and solidarity to
people’s struggles in India. This panel event with
Virasam was a modest but significant step in developing
solidarity between the people’s movements
in the U.S. and India. Audience members were
very interested in learning about the history of
Virasam, and asked many engaging questions.
Many asked questions about how Virasam makes
revolutionary art for the people. People were excited
to hear about the method of “from to the masses
to the masses” in which revolutionary artists go
among the masses of people, learn from their experiences
and struggles, create art about these matters,
and then present the art to the masses of people
for feedback. This inspired many, and stands in
sharp contrast to the elitist doctrines about art that
many have been taught at elite institutions of higher
education. The last question the audience asked
focused on the recent arrest of Professor Kaseem.
The audience member in question proposed that
those in attendance work together to get intellectuals
from the U.S. to condemn professor Kaseem’s
arrest. In the wake of the event, the sponsoring
groups and audience members have taken up this
effort. This is just one small example of how the
panel event has inspired people here in the U.S. to
extend solidarity to Virasam and the revolutionary
movement in India.
Not satisfied on one
issue: Rajinikanth
after party meeting
Chennai : The meeting with
the Rajini Makkal Mandram
(RMM) district secretaries went
off well except for one aspect on
which he was not personally satisfied,
said actor-turned-politician
Rajinikanth here on
Thursday. Speaking to reporters
here after the meeting,
Rajinikanth said there were lots
of questions which he had
answered and various views
were exchanged.
He said on one issue he was
not personally satisfied and
would disclose that at a later
date. Queried about his recent
meeting with the leaders of
Tamil Nadu Jamathul Ulama
Sabai (TNJUS), Rajinikanth said
he had suggested them to meet
Home Minister Amit Shah and
discuss the issue. The members
of TNJUS apprised Rajinikanth
of issues Muslims would face
due to the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act (CAA), the
National Population Register
(NPR) and the National Register
of Citizens (NRC).
Srinagar : As the Jammu & Kashmir
administration lifted the ban on social media
and restored 2G mobile and broadband
internet connectivity, people in the valley
are now looking forward to the restoration
of high-speed internet as well. The impact of
the government order is already visible on
the ground. There was a considerable
decrease in the number of journalists at the
state media centre on Thursday after the
social media ban was lifted along with curbs
on accessing websites. "It is really a good
move that curbs have been lifted on the
social media, we welcome it," said Aaqib, a
journalist. "It would be in the fitness of
things if high speed internet is restored as
well."
The business community in Kashmir has
also demanded the restoration of high speed
internet for the revival of businesses.
"We are hopeful that the government
restores high speed internet soon so that we
are able to complete all our pending work,"
said a Srinagar-based businessman.
A day after J&K administration lifted the
ban on social media, broadband internet
services were restored in Kashmir on
Kashmiris await restoration
of high-speed INTERNET
Death toll in Delhi
violence rises to 53
New Delhi : The death toll in the violence
in northeast Delhi has risen to 53
even though normalcy is returning. Till
now, the maximum 44 deaths have been
reported from the Guru Teg Bahadur
Thursday after seven months. A government
order on Wednesday had no mention of
whitelisting of websites. The order is applicable
till March 17.
Wednesday's order however said the J&K
administration has extended the ban on high
speed internet across the Union Territory till
March 17. The order said the move is being
taken in the interest of the sovereignty and
integrity of the country, security of the state
and for maintaining public order.
"About mobile data services, the internet
speed shall be restricted to 2G only. While
the post-paid SIM card holders shall continue
to be provided access to the internet,
these services shall not be made available on
pre-paid SIM cards unless verified as per the
norms applicable for post-paid connections,"
the order said. It said internet connectivity
shall continue to be made available
with Mac-binding. Internet was suspended
across J&K ahead of the abrogation of
Article 370 on August 5 last year. It was then
restored in a phased manner. The restoration
of broadband and lifting of restrictions has
brought much cheer to people across
Kashmir.
(GTB) Hospital which is in the vicinity of
these areas. GTB Hospital's Medical
Director Sunil Kumar said: "Most of the
deceased were young, as they fell in the
age group between 20 to 40. Out of the 44
dead, only one is female."
H e
also said
that 298
patients
have been
treated so
far at the
hospital.
Three
deaths have been reported from Lok Nayak
Hospital, one from Jag Parvesh Chander
Hospital and five from Dr Ram Manohar
Lohia Hospital. The violence which hit the
national capital for over three days started
on February 24 as a clash between groups
supporting and opposing the new
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and
then took on a communal hue.
Two Special Investigation Teams (SITs)
have been constituted under the Delhi
Police's Crime Branch to carry out an
investigation into it.