BOYCOTT DOWLYMPIC!

Dow Chemicals are sponsoring the London Olympics, gaining millions of pounds of contracts and boosting their reputation. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games is supposed to promote environmental, social and ethical issues, but Dow is responsible for this ongoing humanitarian and environmental disaster. 1984 saw the biggest industrial disaster in human history. A Union Carbide factory in Bhopal leaked toxic gas, killing 7000 to 10,000 people in just a few days. Today the death toll has reached at least 25,000, and an estimated 500,000 have been affected. Survivors suffer extreme health problems, the groundwater is contaminated, and birth defects in Bhopal are many times higher than the average in India. In 2001, Union Carbide (UCC) was bought by Dow Chemical, so the responsibility to adequately compensate the gas victims, clean up the site and compensate those poisoned by the contaminated water falls to Dow. Dow Chemicals are the prime example of an unethical sponsor, their subsidiary is wanted on criminal charges of culpable homicide and the IOC are looking increasingly like a faceless and shameless corporation. 25,000 people have died as a result of the Bhopal Gas Disaster and people are still being poisoned today. There has never been a clean up of Union Carbide’s mess in Bhopal and their toxic waste is still poisoning the people of Bhopal. The toxic waste has leached into the water table and tens of thousands of people have no choice but to drink this diluted poison. Unsettled court cases name Dow Chemical, and subsidiary Union Carbide, as respondents. Dow’s subsidiary Union Carbide faces criminal charges of culpable homicide. By refusing to present its subsidiary in court to face charges of ‘culpable homicide’, Dow is sheltering Union Carbide, the perpetrators of the 1984 Bhopal Disaster from the law, and preventing justice being done. 120,000 people in Bhopal are estimated to live with chronic health problems because of the disaster, and because of the water contamination caused by Union Carbide dumping its toxic waste in the ground, which has leached into the water supply for over 30,000 people. Dow, the official ‘chemistry partner’ of the Olympics, has a grim history. When Nazi war criminal Otto Ambros (also known as Doctor Death), convicted for crimes against humanity at Auschwitz, was released Dow happily employed him. In Vietnam, Dow found plenty of uses for their deadly chemistry as one of the major suppliers of Agent Orange and with their own product, Napalm. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and IOC must stop defending Dow’s toxic legacy, and apologise to the survivors of Bhopal for allowing Dow to be part of London Olympics. India should boycott London Olympic if Dow Chemicals are not dropped from its sponsors list if she considers the 1984 Bhopal Victims as Indians.

Rio+20: A conference to propagate Imperilist's agenda on climate

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio 2012 or Rio+20, hosted from 13 to 22 June 2012 by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro failed completely to address the looming climate crisis that the planet is facing. The climate conference was dubbed Rio+20 because it was a 20-year follow-up to the historic 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) also held in the same city in which broad goals were negotiated to control greenhouse gas emissions, protect ecosystems and biodiversity, and prevent desertification. Two decades on, the planet’s ecosystems are still degrading fast. Any green gains have been wiped out by soaring consumption. Humanity’s annual requirement for natural resources is about double what it was then. The rate of species extinctions is undiminished. Carbon dioxide emissions are up 40 percent, and the concentration of the heat-trapping gas this year for the first time hit 400 parts per million (ppm) in the Arctic air — up about 40 ppm from 1992. Rio+20 summit achieved nothing more than a weak affirmation of the 1992 document. The 58-page document it published, titled “The Future We Want,” is nothing but a demonstration of the massive political power of the world’s financial and military superpowers. As US President Barack Obama declined to attend the summit, Hillary Clinton only showed in Rio for a few hours there. That clearly underscores the low priority the US Government has given to addressing climate change. Mrs. Clinton suggested that any effort to address pollution and climate change is subservient to the interests of the corporate elite, particularly that of the United States. She advised the delegates to think about “harnessing the power of the market,” and claimed that “private sector investments, using targeted resources and smart policies, have catalyzed more balanced, inclusive, sustainable growth.” Her comments again exposed the imperialist climate policy of the Obama administration which is nothing but a corporate conspiracy under the guise of supporting the “green economy.” She went on to support the big corporate houses by suggesting the people of the to “use the private sector, particularly the consumer goods companies, as they have agreed to do, to make sure they have sustainable supply chains, the right kind of packaging and marketing.” It seemed she was addressing an investment forum rather than a climate summit! She concluded her speech by calling for a new type of cooperation between “the nonprofits, the civil society organizations, faith groups and individuals, all of us.” Her call to shift responsibility for dealing with the global ecological crisis to regional organizations and individuals represents a rejection of any responsibility on the part of the US ruling classes. The reality is that the American government has not merely failed to advance and strengthen solutions to climate change, but has actively undermined any serious attempt to address the pending ecological crisis if it cuts across corporate interests. Their climate policy and all other considerations are subordinated to the interests of America’s corporate and financial aristocracy.
Environment organizations like Oxfam and Greenpeace denounced the summit as a “hoax” and “an epic failure”. But these organizations are also paralyzed by the pro-capitalist politics of the upper class “green” movement that can offer no solution to the real crisis. In the context of a capitalist world economy dominated by the big corporate and financial houses, no progressive solution to the climate crisis is possible. Faced with national governments reluctant to engage in its grand plans, the UN is increasingly turning to corporations to make a difference. This too is seen as part of the brave new world of green economics. Tim Wirth, the former U.S. senator who now heads the UN Foundation, which fosters UN links with business, told journalists that “magic” public-private partnerships were more important than any conference declaration. As long as the big multinational corporate houses have control over all the political and economic decisions, no fundamental issue, from unemployment to climate change, can be addressed by any government. Making them party in any process of development, as deserved by Mrs. Hilary Clinton only exacerbate the crisis. If the political monopoly of the wealthy class, which is the main characteristic of capitalist economy, is broken by a unified and politically conscious movement of the common people of the world then the problems of pollution and climate change will only be dealt with seriously. The director of the UN Environment Programme Achim Steiner has rightly said “If we do not go into the heart of economic policy, we will meet here at Rio+40 even more culpable. Markets are social constructs. They are not a force like gravity. They can be governed.”

HASH FACTS

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, held its summit this year in Chicago on May 20-21. NATO presents itself, and is portrayed in the major media of this country and countries it is allied with, as a force for “humanitarian interests.” On its website, NATO claims to be a “leading contributor to peace and security on the international stage.” This benign self image is a vicious lie and masquerade that influences the thinking of far too many people in the U.S. and around the world. In reality, NATO is the world’s largest military alliance. Its 28 countries account for 65% of the world’s military spending, and far and away the largest of these is the United States. NATO exists to use the most advanced weaponry in the world in service of the interests of the big capitalist-imperialist powers of North America and Europe, above all the U.S. Most of this weaponry, especially in recent years, has been used not against similarly equipped opponents, but against defenceless civilian populations who they characterize as “terrorists.”
In the 60 years of its existence, the year 2011 was NATO’s “busiest year ever for military operations.” NATO maintained an occupation force of over 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, and what it calls a “stabilization force” in Bosnia, in the Balkan region of Eastern Europe. It launched a seven-month air war to topple Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. In Libya, estimates of the civilian death toll from all fighting during the NATO campaign range from 13,000 to 17,000, with 50,000 wounded; civilians killed in the fighting in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2011 total almost 13,000. Countless people have been displaced, wounded, and dispossessed of everything they owned.
NATO claims that the purpose of its mission in Afghanistan is “to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a haven for terrorists, to help provide security, and to contribute to a better future for the Afghan people.” But in fact, the nine years of the U.S.-NATO war in Afghanistan has inflicted horrific suffering on the people of that country. After just five days NATO held a “heads of state” summit in Chicago on May 20 and 21, a NATO air strike wiped out an entire Afghan family—father, mother and six children—according to Afghan officials in Paktia province, near the country’s eastern border with Pakistan. The air strike took place in the village of Sar Khilo in Gerda Serai district of Paktia about 8 p.m. local time Saturday night, according to Rohullah Samon, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The strike killed four teenage boys, two teenage girls, and two women, and wounded two others. Those killed were not Taliban or in any opposition group against the government. They were innocent villagers.
NATO bombing attacks have obliterated wedding parties, farming villages, people walking to visit neighbors or relatives. NATO night raids have left children dead, families torn apart, homes and farms in ruins. The incidents have gone on for almost a decade and have a grim repetitiveness. One of the most infamous was in November 2008, in the village of Wech Baghtu—a wedding party was bombed by U.S.-led NATO planes and at least 37 civilians were murdered. On August 6, 2011, NATO forces, in a firefight with forces they claim were Taliban members, called in a NATO air strike—the bombing destroyed a house and killed all eight family members inside.
Radio Free Europe described one of those murderous assaults, and the NATO response: “The U.S.-led NATO force in Afghanistan says it regrets that eight young Afghan males were killed in a NATO air strike in the northeastern province of Kapisa on February 8. British Air Commodore Mike Wigston, a NATO spokesman, told a news conference on February 15 that the eight appeared to be carrying arms, according to Afghan and French troops who were operating in the area. NATO investigators are examining photographs of the bodies to estimate their ages, and the NATO spokesman said they appeared to be close to 15 years old, with one older. Local officials have said they believe the boys were 6 to 14 years old.”
Another example, from February this year: According to Reuters, “‘Eight young Afghans lost their lives as the result of an air strike by coalition forces,’ General Lewis Boone, communications director of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition, told reporters. The victims appeared to be carrying weapons and were walking in a menacing manner, prompting ISAF forces in the area to request air support, he said. ‘The aircraft dropped two bombs on the group that we believed to be an imminent threat to our people ... in the end, eight young Afghans lost their lives in this very sad event.’”
On May 7, the Washington Post reported that “NATO airstrikes killed Afghan civilians in two provinces … and the U.S.-led coalition said it plans an apology in one of the incidents. An airstrike Friday killed six members of a family in the Sangin area of southern Helmand province, according to the provincial spokesman.”
Some people argue that it’s a good thing when the U.S. builds “coalitions” to carry out aggression, rather than “going it alone.” Barack Obama has promoted this view, and claims it is one of the things that makes him different from his predecessor, George W. Bush. When Obama ran for president, he promised a “new dawn of American leadership” that would “combine military power with strengthened diplomacy … and build and forge stronger alliances around the world so that we’re not carrying the burdens and challenges by ourselves.”
Anyone who swallows and accepts this view—who thinks that somehow war crimes on such a vast scale are less vicious and hateful if they are carried out by U.S.-led “coalition forces” and not the U.S. alone—needs to ask themselves: is it somehow less horrible for the people of Afghanistan to be torn to shreds by bombing raids under the banner of NATO—by a coalition dominated and led by the United States—than just under the American flag? Is it somehow not as deadly and criminal if “coalition forces” kick in the doors of people’s homes at three in the morning and destroy everyone inside?
These are war crimes of enormous magnitude. The “humanitarian missions” of NATO are monstrous deceit used to cover crimes that are among the worst atrocities afflicted on humanity by the system of capitalism-imperialism.
And anyone who thinks that the U.S. and its NATO allies are withdrawing from Afghanistan needs to discard such illusions and look at the facts. President Obama recently made a highly publicized midnight run to Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, and claimed U.S. combat forces would “withdraw” from Afghanistan by 2014. In fact, the “Strategic Partnership Agreement” signed by Obama and Afghan President Karzai guarantees that a U.S. force of 20,000 to 30,000 will remain in Afghanistan until 2024. It also contained a “Memorandum of Understanding” that will, in the words of journalist Gareth Porter, “allow powerful U.S. Special Operations Forces to continue to carry out the unilateral [one-sided] night raids on private homes that are universally hated in the Pashtun zones of Afghanistan.”
NATO’s “peacekeeping” is aimed at maintaining a world of Western imperialist—especially U.S. imperialist—domination over the people of the world, and sustaining overwhelming firepower advantage over any current or potential opponent. The fundamental purpose of NATO’s so-called “humanitarianism” is to devote massive weaponry to protect, defend, and extend a system that inflicts great suffering on the vast majority of humanity and enriches a handful—this is the “world order” of capitalism-imperialism.

Scrap POSCO project!

I strongly condemn the ongoing assault on the anti-POSCO protesters by the Orissa Government. Two days before the world celebrated environment day on June 3rd, 17 people were arrested and beaten by the police for obstructing land acquisition in Kujanga, in Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa. This horrific attack comes at a time when two cases by the villagers are pending in the Orissa High Court, and when there is a criminal complaint against the District Collector for lying and fabricating the evidence that was the basis of the clearance to take the land. It also comes after three official committees found the land grab to be illegal and in violation of the Forest Rights Act, and after it was exposed by international experts that the project has no benefits for the local or national economy while providing a minimum profit of Rs. 1,95,000 crores to POSCO. After arresting and beating people, more than one thousand police surrounded the area and laid siege to those protesting. Villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur who are keeping a day and night vigil to prevent forcible land acquisition for the Rs 52,000 crore integrated POSCO steel project, fear that the police might unleash a mid-night action any time similar to what happened at the Ramlila grounds few days ago. More than 20 platoons of police are currently stationed at the mouth of these villages and any ill-conceived move to forcibly acquire land or evict the protesters might lead to bloodshed. The Orissa State Government is planning to acquire more than 3400 hectares of forest land in Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages for the project in violation of the Forest Rights Act. Clearly the State government, with the support of the Centre, is not concerned about the law, the people, the environment or development. Yet again we see the use of police terror to loot our people for private profit. No words of condemnation are sufficient for this heinous crime.

Down with OBAMA & US IMPERIALISM!

The Corporate Media is eulogising US president Obama’s visit to India as a great event. That he is visiting Pakistan only in 2011 and this is his longest stay in a foreign country are repeated as great stories. Along with US think tanks, the corporate media are writing editorials after editorials thanking and congratulating Manmohan Singh for not wasting this opportunity for a Bi-lateral Investment Treaty to ensure further US inroads in to Indian economy, trade and defence. According to them, the growing power of China poses a risk to Asian Security balance and so India should strengthen its strategic alliance with US to dove-tail its policies as a natural ally of US. Thus the US imperialists and their Indian compradors are working overtime to make Obama’s visit a great success at the cost of the masses in this country. The United States, as part of its global hegemonic designs, is pursuing policies which are inimical to the national sovereignty and the people’s interests of many countries. As far as India is concerned, the United States is aggressively pressurising the government to adopt economic policies which are detrimental to the people in the name of a strategic alliance. Take the case of the Civil Nuclear Liability Act. UPA government got it adopted by the parliament through many dirty deals just including a paltry Rs. 1500 crores as the liability of the supplier and builder of a plant in case of an accident. There are loopholes to serve the supplier from most of the liabilities even after adopting the much debated amendment. But according to US this
Act should be amended to save the supplier further from liabilities. Various forms of pressure are exerted to get it done before the outdated US nuclear plants and technology are imported to this country. That, in spite of the disastrous Enron
episode, and in spite of the fact that Three Mile Island/Chernobyl like nuclear disasters, radiation danger and nuclear waste disposal calls for putting an end to any further nuclear plants, as the European and US governments are doing under public pressure, Manmohan Singh is bending backwards to please the US bosses. It
poses a great danger to people in the region like Jaitapur, Maharashtra, where new nuclear plants are planned. Vested interests are calling for strengthening
economic ties with US further when Obama has taken steps to cut down outsourcing by raising H1-B and L1 Visa fees for foreign companies and when he has threatened to end tax breaks to companies that outsource. In spite of any amount of pleading by Manmohan, these steps are bound to be followed threatening the much trumpeted IT
sector of this country. Besides, US demands raising of foreign investment caps in sectors such as defence, and further tightening of the ‘intellectual property regime’ to help the MNCs. The US think tanks are prompting to Obama to cut down barriers to transfer of technology so that defence and high-tech sales to India shall double
in next five years. US imperialists’ strategic goals are very clear. Still, as in the past, the Manmohan Singh government is going to further surrender before US pressure. Obama or Bush, the strategic goals of US have not changed. So it is responsibility of
all revolutionary and democratic forces and the vast toiling masses of the country to campaign and protest against the UPA government’s complete surrender to the US imperialism. The people of India must raise their voice in support of the following demands to the US President: -
Scrap the Indo-US Defence Framework Agreement which seeks to convert India into a military ally of the United States. Stop pressurizing India to give up liability claims on US nuclear suppliers.
The United States should stop pressurizing India on foreign policy and to open up agriculture, retail trade, education and other services for American capital and multinational companies.
Justice for the victims of the Bhopal Gas accident; to make Dow Chemicals pay for the damages and for the clean up of the factory site; US should extradite Warren Anderson to India to stand trial.
Withdraw the remaining 50,000 US troops in Iraq forthwith; have a political settlement in Afghanistan to establish an independent and neutral state and withdraw US-Nato forces immediately.
End the US embargo on Cuba; stop all assistance to Israel till it vacates the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories.

Mockery of peace!

The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2009 Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama, the person who started a new war in Pakistan, expanded the war in Afghanistan. He has created 2 million displaced Pakistanis and the unknown numbers of dead ones. Obama’s “war of necessity” drones are killing civilians of Afghanistan. He continues to threaten Iran with attack unless Iran does what the US government demands and rejects its rights as a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty. Yet, he is a "peacemaker" to Nobel Committee!
In 5 month Obama regime, no Bush policy has changed. Obama has done nothing to hold the criminal Bush regime to account for its crime against humanity. Iraq is still occupied and Obama has continued deadly, inhuman military action in Iraq. He is going to send tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan and escalating the bombing in that country and across the border in Pakistan. He is constantly supporting and aiding Israel which is carrying out many slaughters and genocides of the indigenous Palestinians. Last year's Israel’s inhuman military attack on the defenseless civilian population in the Gaza Ghetto was fully supported by Obama Administration. Obama is never going to put a stop to Western hegemony over the world. He is only another face of imperialism. A warmonger like him can never be a man of peace. The Nobel committee has placed all its hopes on a bit of skin colour. But nobody should be surprised by such an act of The Nobel Committee. Previously, the committee saw fit to give a peace prize to Henry Kissinger, the architect of war and occupation of Vietnam who matches the definition of a war criminal very accurately. Kissinger "peacefully" bombed peasant villages in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, as Obama is fighting "Peace full" wars all over the world!

Killing fields of Gujarat: Are you Muslim? You're from Al-Quida or Lashkar!!

The Magisterial Enquiry, which is mandatory in every encounter case has finally termed it Ishrat jahan’s killing as a fake encounter in a metropolitan court. It is not a matter of surprise for anyone as everyone knew that she was killed in cold blood. Such killings are happening and happened in Gujarat under Modi for last ten years. Modi presided over the government-aided pogrom against the Muslim minority in 2002. And the four Muslim youths - including a teenage girl Ishrat jahan - were officially described as "Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists" involved in a plot to assassinate Modi. They were said to have been shot dead in an "encounter" with the police near the Chief Minister's residence. But the report shows that they were “killed by Gujarat police in a cold-blooded, pre-planned way” to please Modi to get “rewards” and “promotion” from him. Behind the killings then and now looms the same bearded figure that has symbolized Indian fascism at its most shameless and distinct figure of Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat. To a Hindu fascist like Modi, every Muslim is a terrorist, a Pakistani, an al-Queda operative, fascist the theory held and propagated by Modi, his Party BJP and their father RSS. Their idea of “India” is a Hindurastra, where only Hindus are “Patriotic”; all the others are “anti-India” and “traitors”. Madha Sadashib Golwalkar, 2nd Head or Sarsanghchalak of RSS wrote “The Muslims, Christians and Jews etc., have perfect upasana swatantrya, freedom of worship so long as they do not seek to destroy or undermine the faith and symbolism of the national society. They should subordinate their exclusive claims for final and sole revelation vis-à-vis the national society. They could bear witness to their faith in life and speech but they should not indulge in any unfair and unspiritual modes of conversion.” The ghosts of Hedgewar and Golwalkar are still living through Narendra Modi, L. K. Advani, Pravin Togadia and others.