Monday, April 23, 2007

In Solidarity

SANHATI (meaning "solidarity") has been created to resist neoliberal forces in West Bengal and to spread the spirit of dissent that has been sparked by Singur. The forced acquisition of agricultural land and the consequent dispossession of thousands of farmers made many of us rally in Calcutta, elsewhere in India and abroad. Democratic forces, leftist forces, people who stand for human rights and civil liberties all came together to form the Chhatra Chhatri Sanhati Mancha (Students' Solidarity Forum) in Calcutta. Sanhati is inspired by this solidarity of resistance.

Singur marks a watershed event in the moribund political landscape of West Bengal. A loud and resounding NO has been heard all over Bengal – a strong negation of a linear anti-people development model. With their livelihoods threatened, thousands of peasants have united in resistance. The State has responded with terror.

We are voices of dissent. We oppose the murderous politics of the state government of West Bengal as well as the cheap populism of otherwise pro-liberalism parties. We stand in solidarity, in Sanhati, with all forces that oppose police terror in Bengal and the inhuman urban-industrial vision. We staunchly defend the rights of tillers over their lives and their lands.

We have a vision that Sanhati will develop both as a clearing house for ideas and as a platform for people looking for a new way - from old third-streamers to new activists. We may be the last generation to be able to realistically organize. We may be the first generation to drive back the “development” beast.

The above introduction is from the website of SANHATI. The website is a valuable resource as it makes available important documents, such as the reports of APDR and a medical team on the Nandigram massacre. Upcoming events have also been announced, such as the Cultural Convention, featuring Kabir Suman, Dohar, Moushumi Bhowmick, Joy Goswami and others. Several important recent articles on the forced land acquisition in West Bengal and the resistance movement against it are also accessible here.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

so, rama is back!
Why don't you tell the world that you are an active trinamool congress worker? Are you afraid?
Or are you simply a moron?
The people of West Bengal have exercised their democratic right by electing a LF Govt.
Are you against industrialization? methinks you are. I can assure you that the common people are with the left- they will never vote for right wing parties. and as for sanhiti/sanhati/whatever it is garbage.

4:54 pm, April 23, 2007
Anonymous said...

Active Trinamul worker - that's a great joke indeed! Ha ha ha! Thanks for the laugh. Moron - its pretty evident who is one, isn't it. People can exercise their democratic right by casting their vote once in 5 years. They can also exercise their democratic right to express their dismay and protest against the govt. What you think - really doesn't matter. The common people may be with the "left", for whatever reason. But you can be sure the "left" is not with the common people! If this wonderful "left" is just another bourgeois party, pimping for foreign investments - why do we need a CPI(M) to be that? Garbage - again, its clear who and what the garbage is. Go back to your garbage dump and the vermin there.

5:45 pm, April 23, 2007
Apoplexy said...

Thanks for putting the word out for www.sanhati.com
Are you in Kolkata?

12:39 am, April 24, 2007
Holden Caulfield said...

I do not know why, for what reason everything is dragged into an imaginary right-left debate. There are issues more fundamental and more salient than these categories.

First, industrialization is a wrong word. It should be entrepreneurship. And the entrepreneur can choose not to use industries - of the concrete and steel variety - to connect his intrinsic motivations to other people (which is the market). With increasing population, the entrepreneurial pursuit should be to cater to other people's internal psychological needs without increasing entropy outside.

Some people are obviously biased against the word 'market'. At some point in their lives - probably in early childhood - they have acquired this taste, and since then maintain this nagging consistency.

Any philosophy that is based on the negative idea of resistance will not be long lasting. Soon decay will start from within.

Instead of focusing on resistance, Sanhati should try to focus on what they can do. How can they beat the corporate objective - by arguments, by action and by the merit of their ideas.

By the positive energy within, Sanhati has to expose the negative objectives of the corporation.

However, good intentions are no substitute for good ideas. Any normative stance will be weaker in the face of descriptive ones ... nouns are more powerful without adjectives.

To achieve success, Sanhati has to think of creative ideas. They have to be entrepreneurs themselves.

8:05 am, April 24, 2007
Anonymous said...

Hullo apoplexy, yes I'm in Kol and am acquainted with some of the Sanhati members.

Thanks for your perspective Holden, which I am entirely one with.

9:35 am, April 24, 2007

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