[Reader-list] NAXAL BRUTAL TERROR

[Pawan Durani]

Shuddhabrata,

Does all this stop at the cost of development ? Mining is not a new
invention and dates back many centuries as well.

Personally , it does pain me as well .Everytime i travel to Jaipur ,
just before Jaipur on right hand side a hill is actually cut as if
with a knife and i hate that ugly look.

Residents of Faridabad too suffer due to illegal mining happening
around Arravali range.

I wish to just know if the armed resistance is justified ? Why does
this covert justification happen ?

I am surprised that the only example you provided was of Bellary ,
probably because of your bias towards BJP. I do not mind that .

However mining is not limited to Bellary but is spread across at least
12 states in india , at-least....from Goa to Orissa and what not.

Pawan

On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 5:33 PM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta
<shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
> Pawan,
> The law of the land says that the forest dwellers are intruders in the
> forest who should be moved by force. The law of the land states that the
> commons of the forests are commodities that can be sold by their propreiter,
> the state to the highest or to the lowest bidder. When MoUs between the
> state and the mining corporations are signed, they become the law of the
> land, and these laws of the land insist that any efforts to resist the rape
> of the forests by mining interests be met with 'legal' violence. The law of
> the land is designed to protect the interests of capital.
> The 'law of the land' in a class society, inevitably reflects the interest
> of the classes that rule. In this case, the interests of the classes that
> rule will spell the end of the forests, and of ways of life that do not want
> to be made the objects of Capitalist development.
> My hope is that the 'law of the land' is made not to prevail. So that
> Dandakaranya does not become the hell that is, say, Bellary.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 17-Apr-10, at 5:30 PM, Pawan Durani wrote:
>
> I completely agree that there has to be development , education , job
> opportunities for the neglected lot and there is no doubt that they
> have been neglected.
> Not only these people , the whole of North east to a great extent till
> some time was never thought to be important as if it did not exist for
> India. Even today a procession in Kashmir makes it to headlines of
> India while as many killings in NE doesnt make it to inside page of a
> newspaper.
> But that does not take away the thought that law of land should not prevail.
> Regards
> Pawan
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
>
> Do the roads and the schools justify the violence of the memoranda of
> (mis)understanding ?
> How many apologies for schools does it take to justify the presence of a
> CRPF battalion stationed to protect the interests of a mining company in a
> forest that should not be laid waste to the lust of Capital?
> best,
> Shuddha
> On 17-Apr-10, at 4:20 PM, Pawan Durani wrote:
> Does this still justify the violence of Naxalites. Havent the
> Naxalites been objecting to roads ...schools....etc ?
> On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 4:08 PM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
> Dear All,
> A wall was certainly built. It was a wall built out of the paper of
> Forestry Acts and Memoranda of Understanding with Mining Companies.
> They paved the way for many other kinds of walls. These paper walls,
> much more powerful than any wall of bricks or mortar, made people
> homeless in their own space. It was written on the paper walls that
> the dweller in the forest was an intruder. One day, she picked up
> firewood from the ground, the next day she did the same, one day she
> was a forager, the next day she was a thief. The words on the walls
> separated those two days from each other.
> Then came the sentries, and the high priests of the words that were
> written on the paper walls. Forest guards came, then paramilitaries
> came, then came police and armed thugs to protect the paper wall. To
> man the watchtowers. To tell the forest dwellers that they must stay
> outside the wall, for their own good. Then came the TV channels and
> the patriots and the NGOs and the experts. They all admired the wall.
> No one said the wall needed to come down. Some tried to improve the
> handwriting on the paper. Some argued about the font size and
> italicization. Others said the papers needed to be copied and
> distributed.
> The inhabitants of the forest looked around for a method to rebuild
> their homes that had been broken by the words on the paper walls.
> Some of them tried to fight words with words. Some petitioned. Some
> of them tried to lay seige to the consciences of others. None of this
> worked. Some words were heard, understood, others were dismissed, not
> listened to.
> The paper wall grew stronger, deeper, thicker. Their words grew
> louder. The forest spoke. The forest sang. The forest warned. The
> forest cried. The forest whispered. The forest screamed. But the wall
> did not listen. And those who built the wall laughed out loud,
> thinking that paper was cement. That ink was stone. That their word
> was law.
> This meant that they (the people of the forest) had to take down some
> of the watchtowers. This meant that when words failed, they found
> their way to guns. It seemed that when the guns spoke, the people
> manning the watchtowers listened. And so, when the guns came to them,
> the forest dwellers did not say no to the guns. They no longer had
> the words with which they could afford to say 'no, we do not need the
> guns'. Perhaps, if those who had built the wall, had listened, the
> guns that came to the people in the forest would have found no use.
> If you hold a gun, you stand in the line of fire. No one wants to be
> in the line of fire for no good reason. Right now.The wall needs to
> be taken down for any conversation to begin again.
> Tear the paper that carries the MoUs, and maybe there can be some
> talking. So take the wall down. And the guns may fall silent. Words
> may begin again.  Or try and keep the wall, and invite the war to
> spread its cloak of silence. You don't need more development in the
> forests, perhaps you need less. At least less of the kind that is
> written up in the MoUs.
> If the war crosses the forest and comes to the fields, if the war
> comes to the cities, it will be because the paper walls multiplied.
> Then those who wrote the words that made the paper walls rise will
> answer for the war. After all, they did not have to build the paper
> walls in the first place. They could have chosen to listen, when
> there was still time to listen. They might then say that they were
> sorry, but people may have forgotten the meaning of forgiveness by
> then. Guns have a way of making people forget how to speak and to
> listen. If the words you write on the paper walls you build bring
> guns into the conversation, then many other words will eventually die.
> Try and listen for a change. Don't always think that your word is
> law.There may still be time.
> best
> Shuddha
> On 17-Apr-10, at 3:59 PM, Bipin Trivedi wrote:
> Dear Kshmendra,
>
> You are right. It is respected state govt. negligence since years that
> allowed to "build" wall and vote-bank politics made this wall
> thicker and
> thicker and so we are suffering the sins. Just like negligence by
> WB govt.
> allowing infiltrations of Bangladeshis to increase their vote bank
> in the
> name of minor appeasement and their sins are suffering whole India,
> since
> Bangladeshis spread almost all over India.
>
> Whatever, happened in the past, but it is time to rectify mistakes
> and govt.
> making/wants to make some sincere efforts but few rationalists like
> Aundhati
> Roy and few vote seeker politicians comes in between. Even maoist
> made this
> as their business now and don't want to come out by conversation,
> so they
> even did not allow infrastructure in their area or destroys if
> made. So, it
> is time for govt. to take some hard action though it is painful step.
>
> Thanks
> Bipin
>
>
>
> From: Kshmendra Kaul [mailto:kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 2:51 PM
> To: sarai-list; Bipin Trivedi
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] NAXAL BRUTAL TERROR
>
>
> Dear Bipin
>
> You wrote : "Naxal/maoist army cadre has built a wall like (may be not
> physical wall in some areas) periphery and cornered that area where
> army or
> even police cannot go there easily, so to built all above
> infrastructure and
> provide facilities to their local people is remote
> possibilities."
>
> I agree. That is an appropiate description of the situation.
>
> What needs thinking is:
>
> 1. Did this "wall" exist when India becamje independent in 1947?
> No, it did
> not. So what was it that allowed the Maoists/Naxals to build that
> "wall"?
> Who ceded that space to them? Who allowed their violent-extremist
> ideology
> to be propagated? Why were people attracted to it? Why did it
> become an
> 'alternative' for people to adopt instead of subscribing to the
> Constitution
> of India?
>
>     This is not a matter of the last 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 years, but a
> culmination of indifferent and/or corrupted governance since 1947.
>
> 2. If you think the above is a resonable argument then please
> consider that
> breaking down or bulldozing that "wall" might by itself alone not be a
> solution. If the "root causes" are not addressed then it will be
> only a
> matter of time that another "wall" comes up, and another, and another.
>
> 3. Wouldnt you agree that what needs to be done is to ensure that
> no one
> lays the foundations for more such "walls"?
>
>     Wouldnt you agree that the route for that is to make available
> competent
> governance, opportunities and an environment of justice?
>
> 4. Yes that will be an arduous task since the "walls" are strong
> but that is
> an impediment of our own making since we allowed the "walls" to
> come up in
> the first place through neglect and we have to suffer that
> disadvantage. It
> is a punishment for our own sins.
>
> Kshmendra
>
> --- On Sat, 4/17/10, Bipin Trivedi <aliens at dataone.in> wrote:
> From: Bipin Trivedi <aliens at dataone.in>
> Subject: [Reader-list] NAXAL BRUTAL TERROR
> To: "sarai-list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Saturday, April 17, 2010, 12:30 PM
> I believe that it is wrong to say that Naxal or Maoist are trying
> to protect
> right of poor/tribal. As in case of terrorist or supporter of
> terrorist
> (sleeper or active cell) are misguided by some terrorists group/wasted
> interest, same way naxal/maoist are acting with misguidance.
> Many argues that we should built infrastructure like school,
> hospitals,
> roads, industries and other amenities in naxal affected districts
> to provide
> essential amenities and employment. But, actual situation in all such
> district is very strange and different. Naxal/maoist army cadre has
> built a
> wall like (may be not physical wall in some areas) periphery and
> cornered
> that area where army or even police cannot go there easily, so to
> built all
> above infrastructure and provide facilities to their local people
> is remote
> possibilities. In the case, how can there up-liftment is possible?
> Is anyone
> who favors them have thought this much extremities adopted by
> naxals/maoist.
> Government did tried to solve by conversation and requested to
> allow govt.
> machinery for developing infrastructure, but they boldly denied. If
> we want
> to make some infrastructural work to provide facilities to people
> their then
> one has to remove such boundary and freed the area even with the
> help of
> army then also.
> In the news and media air attack news was published. This is also
> myth,
> there was no plan for air attack, but with the help air-force, aerial
> surveillance or map view is necessary, so that army or police can
> go ahead
> to capture that area and freed from maoist. Also, please note that
> most of
> the poor/tribal are not supporting them by heart but they support
> forcefully
> with gun on their head.
> So, looking to above reason it seems that they made business to create
> terror and playing in the hand of some wasted interest may be from
> outside
> India. So, it is necessary to freed such naxal affected area from
> their
> terror by any means. So if anyone says that naxal/maoist helping local
> people or tribal is baseless.
> Thanks
> Bipin
>
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> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
> _________________________________________
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> Critiques & Collaborations
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> in the subject header.
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> Critiques & Collaborations
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> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>