[Reader-list] anti corruption movement in india a different view

[pradeep shetty]

*THIS IS RUBBISH PLS DO NOT SEND SUCH MAILS . IF YOU CANNOT DO GOOD TO THIS
COUNTRY KEEP QUITE. BUT KINDLY DO NOT MAKE NEGATIVE PROPAGANDA ON SRI ANNA
HAZARE MOVEMENT.HE IS ALSO DOING  GOOD TO YOU TOO.*

On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 12:16 PM, asit das <asit1917 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Manufacturing Dissent, Making Mahatmas: Manu, Market, Media
> And The Anti-Corruption Sham
>
>  *By Democratic Students' Union (DSU) *
>
> *All historical struggles, whether they occur in the political, religious,
> philosophical or some other ideological domain, *
> *are in fact only the more or less clear expression of the struggles of
> social classes – Engels *
>
>
> *When two events occur in the same space and time, more often than not,
> there is a correlation between the two. *On the one hand the Indian Army,
> paramilitary and police forces — acting so plainly and clearly on behalf of
> the Indian ruling classes and multinational corporations—which continue to
> mount a war on the people of central and eastern India in order to
> facilitate a naked appropriation of the region's resources is given
> marching
> orders to fight the most dispossessed yet resilient masses. Then there are
> 80% of the country's population forced to eke out a living on a mere Rs.20
> per day and over half of the children suffer from the permanent
> malnourishment because of the genocidal famine conditions their families
> have been placed under; land acquisition of a mammoth scale affects
> millions
> of people whose sole means of livelihood is being alienated from them;
> thousands of small peasants are forced to find ‘escape' from an endemic
> agrarian crisis by committing suicide; over 2700 bodies of Kashmiris
> murdered by the Indian army once again reveals a Kashmir under occupation
> by
> India and the crushing of its struggle for national liberation—to name but
> a
> few instances revealing the brutal and systemic exploitation, oppression
> and
> occupation. And people are waging resilient struggles in many parts of the
> country against the ruling classes. On the other hand a base, distasteful
> drama is unfolding in front of us—the drama of an ‘anti-corruption drive',
> which is supposed to serve India a ‘second independence'. Needless to say,
> although this latter ‘struggle' seldom refers to the first set of
> struggles,
> events and phenomena, there is so simple a connection between the two that
> the silence over the relation between the two sets is nothing but
> deliberate.
>
> *The ‘Second freedom struggle' is nothing but an attempt of the ruling
> classes to consolidate themselves. *The Indian ruling classes today face an
> immense crisis, and are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain the
> mask of ‘world's largest democracy'. Given the onslaught on the people and
> their livelihood—through the acquisition of resources such as land, forests
> and other means of livelihood; the steep price rise of basic commodities;
> the privatisation of health, transport, water, electricity and education —
> the state faces the resistance of militant peoples' movements. And
> everywhere, the state is responding to this discontent and resistance with
> brute force. In addition to this central crisis, the ruling classes were
> reeling under the exposure of a series of scams such as 2G, Commonwealth
> Games, Adarsh Housing, etc. involving unimaginable amounts of money. It is
> precisely these circumstances that have given rise to an ‘anti-corruption
> drive' led by the so-called civil society and made it possible for the
> corporate media to project a reactionary like Anna Hazare as a hero in the
> eyes of the urban middle classes. Sweeping under the carpet more urgent
> structural issues affecting the vast majority of people and their very
> survival, ‘Team Anna' has projected corruption as the central issue
> plaguing
> Indian society. The anti-corruption drive and the Jan Lokpal have been
> likewise offered as the solution to all the problems. By seeking a solution
> within the existing system and by demanding a more coercive institution
> within it to check ‘corruption', the Anna Hazare-led mobilisation has
> appeared in the political scene as a much-needed respite to the
> crisis-ridden ruling classes. This ‘second freedom struggle' led by ‘Team
> Anna' is nothing but the mobilisation of a section of the ruling classes
> aiming to rid themselves of the deep contradictions and the crises that
> threaten them to sweep off their feet. Through a draconian bill
> (government's Lokpal bill and the ‘Jan' Lokpal bill are the two sides of
> the
> same coin), the ruling classes are aiming for further centralisation of
> authority. No legislation can provide an answer to the deep-seated
> exploitative structures of the society and the social relations which are
> the root cause of so-called corruption.
>
> *Corruption: A Mere Symptom of Structural Exploitation and Oppression.
> *Through
> its exclusive focus on corruption, 'Team Anna' in effect blinds us to the
> system where wealth created by peasants and workers is appropriated by the
> ruling classes. No doubt, a bribe running into crores is mind-boggling.
> Yet,
> we are asked to ignore a simple fact—the amount of wealth appropriated by
> the corporations in the first place, which enables them to provide bribes
> of
> such an amount. Corruption itself is not a new phenomenon in India; it has
> been endemic to the exploitative and oppressive semi-feudal semi-colonial
> system which concentrates wealth and power in the hands of a few. But just
> as imperialist globalization has heightened the exploitation of the masses,
> resulted in the intensified feudal appropriation of the rural labouring
> people, massive corporate loot of resources, the selling of the country's
> land and other natural resources at ridiculously low prices to corporate
> houses already reaping benefits in the form of tax holidays, the scale and
> intensity of corruption has also increased in proportion. A disease cannot
> be cured by suppressing its symptoms; rather, the symptom subsides only
> when
> the disease is cured. Similarly, corruption will only disappear with the
> revolutionary transformation of society.
>
> *A Special Drama, its Sponsorship and Mobilisation: *Corporate Funding and
> RSS Backing of the Anti-Corruption Drive. That the anti-corruption drive is
> a diversionary tactic of the ruling classes is clear not only from its
> programme and its goals, but also from its funding. It was clear from its
> very inception that this drama is funded by the corporations and business
> houses –Ambanis, Tatas, Jindals to real-estate developers – that are
> involved in the most massive of scams. It is now also public knowledge that
> among the list of sponsors funding the key figures of this drama are the
> likes of Lehman Brothers and Ford Foundation. Hazare claims to have the
> full
> support of army and the police: the two most corrupt institutions of the
> country. Moreover, the chief engineer of this Gandhian and so-called
> non-violent mobilisation is the fascist RSS. The same fascist force that
> killed thousands of Muslims in the Gujarat pogrom, massacred Christians in
> Kandhamal, and organised the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid, Malegoan and
> Ajmer Sharif blasts is now mobilising for this ‘peaceful' second freedom
> struggle. As usual, the rhetoric of nation and nationalism is deployed to
> serve the interests of the ruling classes. The imagery, the slogans, the
> objectives of the movement are all brazenly replete with right-wing
> ideology
> which are proudly casteist and communal. The lead actors of this drama have
> notorious histories of being anti-reservation and pro-sangh parivar. The
> corporate media is therefore comfortable in exalting this movement with its
> ceaseless hyperbole. They have projected this movement as ‘unprecedented
> mass movement'. Last time it was the anti-reservation reactionary movement
> which had caught its attention. When huge masses had hit the streets of
> Kashmir demanding azadi, or in Lalgarh, Odisha, Chhatisgrah against
> corporate loot, the media remained silent.
>
> *AISA/CPI(ML) Liberation: The cheerleaders of ‘Team Anna' *. As far as
> AISA-Liberation is concerned, history is repeating itself, but this time as
> a farce. AISA was formed in the context of the anti-Mandal agitation—not as
> a progressive force in support of reservations, but using all the tricks in
> the book to oppose the Mandal recommendations through a sleight of hand.
> Liberation's Vinod Mishra, who opened up the portal through which the party
> forever exited its role as a communist vanguard, and instead became a
> trickster serving the ruling classes, went to extent of stating at the
> juncture of AISA's unholy birth that ‘just as we do not approve of those
> politicians who want to take revenge on the present-day progeny of Babar,
> we
> also reject those theoreticians who would punish the present-day offsprings
> of Manu for the crimes of their ancestors'. This is evidence not only of
> the
> party's characteristic double-speak, but is also blatantly right-wing — in
> short, Muslims are being called ‘Babar ke aulad'; reservations are seen as
> crimes against ‘upper'-castes; and the caste system itself is projected as
> a
> crime that occurred only in the past. Thus, while AISA in fact rode on the
> crest of the anti-Mandal mobilisation to consolidate itself in
> campus-spaces
> in pockets of north India, it is trying desperately to repeat its ‘success'
> formula — this time, by wedding itself to this RSS engineered and corporate
> funded anti-corruption drive of ‘Team Anna'. Indeed, they cry foul of the
> ‘undemocratic' Annas for not allowing them enough space to participate!
> Although in JNU they have maintained a crafty silence on Anna Hazare till
> now, the degeneration of AISA became blatant when on 16th August, they
> joined hands with ABVP in Delhi University's north campus in a ‘spontaneous
> protest' against Anna Hazare's detention, shouting together ‘patriotic'
> slogans like ‘Vande Mataram' and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai'!. When they filled
> the
> walls of DU with anti-corruption slogans, these were all appropriated by
> ABVP by a simple brushstroke — in each case, by simply replacing AISA's
> insignia with its own. The justification put forward by Liberation/AISA and
> some ‘enlightened' intellectuals for joining the cacophony of ‘I am Anna'
> is
> to save it from RSS and to replace ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai' with ‘Inquilab
> Zindabad'! Social-democrats of Germany also gave similar justifications for
> allying with the Nazis which ultimately helped the rise of Hitler and the
> crushing of the German revolution. The convergence of the communal-fascists
> and the ‘Marxist-Leninists'/civil-society/NGOs therefore speak volumes not
> only of AISA /Liberation's political bankruptcy, but is also a wake-up call
> for the progressive, democratic and revolutionary forces to prepare for a
> new phase of battle.
>
> *Hazare is a convenient blindfold for the middle classes. *Many of the
> people who are out on the streets now, genuinely want an end to the brazen
> corruption and the scams. But Hazare and his team have been entrusted not
> to
> raise the real questions but to shroud the real struggles. The end to
> corruption can only take place when the current economic policies are
> repealed, when the MoUs signed with various corporate giants are scrapped.
> And the Indian state, a loyal lapdog of imperialism will never change its
> policies on its own. To end corruption, the corrupt system needs to be
> overhauled. And that is what the revolutionary armed movement which is
> spreading like prairie fire across the country is fighting for. It is the
> resilient struggle of the revolutionary masses and not the
> corporate-funded,
> RSS-backed and media-hyped theatrics that will resolve the burning problems
> afflicting the people of this country.
>
> *Democratic Students' Union* (DSU) is an independent students' organisation
> active in JNU and Delhi University in the state of Delhi. It is a
> constituent of the All India Revolutionary Students' Federation (AIRSF),
> and
> works towards attaining the ideals of the New Democratic Revolution.
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-- 
*Thanks and Regards,

Pradeep.Shetty*