PaRCha - JNU - AISF-SFI - 2007 ID-38885
.
ON THESTRUGGLE AGAINST NEOLIBERILISM.
.
Friends, .
October 25, 2007It is amply clear from the pamphlets issued by the AISA and the ABVP yesterday that they have nothingconcrete and substantial to offer, as far as the debate during the JNUSU elections 2007 is concerned, except fora continuous diatribe against the Left. It is indeed strange that AISA and ABVP, supposedly belonging toopposite ends ofthe ideological spectrum, are speaking in one voice against the Left Front government in WestBengal. However, once one realizes that both the CPI (ML) Liberation and the RSS-BJP are fringe players inthe political scene in Bengal . and are nothing more than mere appendages to the arch reactionary mahajotagainst the Left, led by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamul Congress, the political motivation behind their anti-Leftsabre-rattling becomes clear. These cheerleaders of Mamata Banerjee have no other agenda but to malign and.
weaken the Left Front, which is currently engaged in a crucial battle with the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal and neoliberal economic policies. SFI-AISF appeals to the student community to see throughthe dubious game ofthese politically bankrupt organizations who have no constructive agenda to present beforethe student community and who are hell bent upon converting the students' union elections in a nationaluniversity like JNU, into a municipality election in West Bengal. .
The juvenile questions raised by the AISA in yesterday's pamphlet reflect the complete degeneration that hasset in the thinking of the ultra-Left in India. The sectarianism inherent within AISA-CPI (ML)'s brand ofperpetually confused politics has led them to drag the names of esteemed Marxist intellectuals and pit them.
against the ChiefMinister of West Bengal, in a cavalier and cheap manner. AISA would be foolish to think thatthe students of JNU, who have a high intellectual and academic level, can be hood winked by such attempts atdistorting, trivializing and sensationalizing a serious debate. Following the footsteps of US backed mediachannels like CNN-IBN, who serves their daily doses of mirch-masaala stories regarding "differences" withinthe Left to the ultimate satisfaction ofthe urban elite, the AISA has reduced the level oftheir pamphleteering toyellow-journalism. They would do well to read the history ofthe Communist movement in India, which showsthat ideological political debates on issues lik~ economic development have been one of the most cherishedtraditions ofthe Left. It is precisely because of ~uch.,a rich and democratic culture of debate and discussion thatthe Left in India did not meet the fate of the Communist parties in the USSR and Eastern Europe, which hadstifled inner-Party democracy to their own detriment. Parties and individuals within the Left do have ideological political differences between them, but that does not deter a broader unity in order to advance the cause oftheLeft. Unfortunately, sectarian outfits like the CPI {ML) Liberation and AISA, who are neither serious about Leftpolitics nor have any real stake in the Left movement, do.not realize the importance ofeither Left unity or intra-Left debate. .
The substantive part ofAISA's criticism regarding the Left Front government in West Bengal, is a carbon copyof the bourgeois campaign, that the Left indulges in "doublespeak", that they implement the same policies inLeft ruled states like West Bengal and Kerala which they oppose at the Centre. In this neoliberal era, where theCentral Government has withdrawn from the responsibility of undertaking Public Investments through CentralPublic Sector undertakings and the States have been pushed into a destructive competition ofattracting privateinvestments by giving more and more concessions, the Left ruled States are faced with a particularly difficultchoice. Either to turn away from private investments altogether (which the ultra-Left wants the Left FrontGovernment to do) or to seek private investment. In the first case, the natural outcome would be industrialstagnation and burgeoning unemployment leading to the unpopularity ofthe Left Front Governments eventuallyleading to their downfall. In the second case some degree of industrialization, employment generation andresource mobilization is possible which can provide reliefto the people. It is the second path that the Left FrontGovernments, especially the West Bengal Government, have chosen keeping in mind the fact that the areas inwhich State Governments continue to have a say, like for instance agriculture or land reforms, alternativepolicies ofthe Left would continue to be pursued. It is no wonder therefore, that the most pro-people policies inthe sphere of agriculture and land reforms are being implemented by the Left ruled States of West Bengal,Kerala and Tripura. Neither is it surprising that the Left ruled States continue to be the most advanced outposts .
.
PaRCha - JNU - AISF-SFI - 2007 ID-38885
.
ON THESTRUGGLE AGAINST NEOLIBERILISM.
.
Friends, .
October 25, 2007It is amply clear from the pamphlets issued by the AISA and the ABVP yesterday that they have nothingconcrete and substantial to offer, as far as the debate during the JNUSU elections 2007 is concerned, except fora continuous diatribe against the Left. It is indeed strange that AISA and ABVP, supposedly belonging toopposite ends ofthe ideological spectrum, are speaking in one voice against the Left Front government in WestBengal. However, once one realizes that both the CPI (ML) Liberation and the RSS-BJP are fringe players inthe political scene in Bengal . and are nothing more than mere appendages to the arch reactionary mahajotagainst the Left, led by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamul Congress, the political motivation behind their anti-Leftsabre-rattling becomes clear. These cheerleaders of Mamata Banerjee have no other agenda but to malign and.
weaken the Left Front, which is currently engaged in a crucial battle with the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal and neoliberal economic policies. SFI-AISF appeals to the student community to see throughthe dubious game ofthese politically bankrupt organizations who have no constructive agenda to present beforethe student community and who are hell bent upon converting the students' union elections in a nationaluniversity like JNU, into a municipality election in West Bengal. .
The juvenile questions raised by the AISA in yesterday's pamphlet reflect the complete degeneration that hasset in the thinking of the ultra-Left in India. The sectarianism inherent within AISA-CPI (ML)'s brand ofperpetually confused politics has led them to drag the names of esteemed Marxist intellectuals and pit them.
against the ChiefMinister of West Bengal, in a cavalier and cheap manner. AISA would be foolish to think thatthe students of JNU, who have a high intellectual and academic level, can be hood winked by such attempts atdistorting, trivializing and sensationalizing a serious debate. Following the footsteps of US backed mediachannels like CNN-IBN, who serves their daily doses of mirch-masaala stories regarding "differences" withinthe Left to the ultimate satisfaction ofthe urban elite, the AISA has reduced the level oftheir pamphleteering toyellow-journalism. They would do well to read the history ofthe Communist movement in India, which showsthat ideological political debates on issues lik~ economic development have been one of the most cherishedtraditions ofthe Left. It is precisely because of ~uch.,a rich and democratic culture of debate and discussion thatthe Left in India did not meet the fate of the Communist parties in the USSR and Eastern Europe, which hadstifled inner-Party democracy to their own detriment. Parties and individuals within the Left do have ideological political differences between them, but that does not deter a broader unity in order to advance the cause oftheLeft. Unfortunately, sectarian outfits like the CPI {ML) Liberation and AISA, who are neither serious about Leftpolitics nor have any real stake in the Left movement, do.not realize the importance ofeither Left unity or intra-Left debate. .
The substantive part ofAISA's criticism regarding the Left Front government in West Bengal, is a carbon copyof the bourgeois campaign, that the Left indulges in "doublespeak", that they implement the same policies inLeft ruled states like West Bengal and Kerala which they oppose at the Centre. In this neoliberal era, where theCentral Government has withdrawn from the responsibility of undertaking Public Investments through CentralPublic Sector undertakings and the States have been pushed into a destructive competition ofattracting privateinvestments by giving more and more concessions, the Left ruled States are faced with a particularly difficultchoice. Either to turn away from private investments altogether (which the ultra-Left wants the Left FrontGovernment to do) or to seek private investment. In the first case, the natural outcome would be industrialstagnation and burgeoning unemployment leading to the unpopularity ofthe Left Front Governments eventuallyleading to their downfall. In the second case some degree of industrialization, employment generation andresource mobilization is possible which can provide reliefto the people. It is the second path that the Left FrontGovernments, especially the West Bengal Government, have chosen keeping in mind the fact that the areas inwhich State Governments continue to have a say, like for instance agriculture or land reforms, alternativepolicies ofthe Left would continue to be pursued. It is no wonder therefore, that the most pro-people policies inthe sphere of agriculture and land reforms are being implemented by the Left ruled States of West Bengal,Kerala and Tripura. Neither is it surprising that the Left ruled States continue to be the most advanced outposts .
.