The bullets have flown and found their mark. The blood of children has flowed, as Neruda once wrote, without fuss, like children’s blood. The dust has not yet settled, as Nandigram seethes, but an uneasy truce prevails. The villagers, as they promised to do, have given up their lives but not their land, and have driven out CPM cadres and policemen (or ‘police-cadres’, as they call them there) from their villages. The SEZ has been scrapped for the moment, but the local hostilities in Nandigram continue unabated. Rumours abound. Will more bodies be found, will the trail of blood the papers spoke of be traced to its source? Will the chopped limbs of children be found buried, will we uncover mass graves? Is Lakshman Seth gearing up for another offensive? Are local cadres regrouping to avenge their expulsion from their villages by the resistance movement? The Left Front partners are divided, but have reluctantly crept to Buddhadeb’s side. The Politbureau and many affiliated intellectuals have, against the conscience of some within their ranks, thrown their lot in with the Bengal unit. The tail wags the dog. Real political confrontations have broken out again on the streets of Calcutta, after over two decades of dormancy. Things have fallen apart, the centre has ceased to hold, the state government has lost what legitimacy it had amongst the poor of West Bengal and, yes, among all leftists of any integrity. It’s still difficult to write with balance, but the time’s come, perhaps, for some colder stocktaking, to apprehend the political dimensions of what happened last week.
Read our guest writer, Aditya Sarkar’s full post here.
2245 IST: PRESS RELEASE, PETITION and PHOTOS, of protest in Chennai. Please circulate widely!protestbyyouthinchennai.zip
(For higher resoultion pictures, please email nandigram at gmail dot com) Thanks to Yash for update.
1040 IST
Dharavi is now for sale, $2bn. And if you thought the Nandigramers ‘made a fuss’ you are in for an ass kicking. Thanks to Som for the shocking news.
Speculations about CBI report - See also the video below.
Friends - unconfirmed reports were suggesting that Medha Patkar had been arrested yesterday. This has been confirmed. Please check here and here.
Wikipedia article on Nandigram has now split into two: Nandigram and Nandigram SEZ controversy.
CPM - Gangster nexus - bless the mobile phone, via Aditya Nigam. Read full article here
Update 1600 Fresh Tension in Nandigram
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CNN-IBN Video “Nandigram Still Waits for Justice” Click here if you don’t know anything about Nandigram. It is the Indian mass media, so take the sound effects with a pinch of salt.
Sanhati: Fighting Neoliberalism in Bengal Excellent resource site. See this
Wikipedia Link Scroll down to the references to see links to news coverage.
Statement by Chief Minister “It was decided that this law-less situation in Nandigram and its surroundings should not be allowed to continue, the damaged roads, bridges and culverts should be repaired without any further delay and police should take up the investigations in the cases of murder.”
Trinketization - Director of Cultural Studies (University of London, Goldsmiths) John Hutnyk provides his analysis from Kolkata
“Stray dogs feed on with a charred human bodies of people killed by CPM goons and Police forces in nandigram (click on image for full size)
“Bands of CPM goons aided by platoons of Eastern Frontier Rifles and Commando forces are entering every village and paras [mohollas]. They bring out the men folk, they take no prisoners, no witnesses, they shoot them, bayonet them, rip apart their stomachs and then lay them down the canal to the sea and confluence. They then bring out the young girls, gather them in open spaces, open gang rape them multiple times till the girls collapse, they then literally TEAR their limbs, in some cases cut them to pieces and let them down the Haldi river and/or Talpati canal.” (From Naxal Revolution)
If Singur and Nandigram, in an obscenely twisted way, still represent some kind of clash over questions of ‘development’ and industrialization, the proposed nuclear power plant in Haripur has no place outside the realm of the absurd and dystopian. The Central Government proposes, with the collusion of the Left Front, to set up a nuclear power plant in an extremely fertile coastal area populated by farmers and fisherfolk. The possible ecological consequences - in the broadest sense of the word ‘ecological’, covering both nature and human livelihood and wellbeing - are terrifying. We also need to remember that Haripur and Nandigram are neighbours, and that, had both these projects gone ahead unresisted, we would have had, by now, a chemical hub and a nuclear power plant side by side in a part of Bengal which is densely populated, where fields are multi-cropped, and where fish breed in local water bodies and the sea. What could they have been thinking? As it is, with its current nuclear policy India is down on its knees, palms outstretched, begging for Chernobyl to happen. If a nuclear power plant is set up, it will be accountable to no one, and if radiocative emissions happen, it’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’, devastation and disease will spread through and beyond West Bengal. No one seems to acknowledge this, but given that India is arguably the most irresponsible and least accountable nuclear power in the world (other than you-know-who), and given the absence of ecological consciousness in the formulation of state policy, it’s not a matter of if but when a really major radiocative discharge will happen. We also need to remember that the basis of nuclear processing in India is the unthinkably gross exploitation of tribal labour in Jadugada, in Jharkhand, where people mine uranium without any protection, and suffer from all manner of diseases. This is what it takes to make the Buddha smile, to use Vajpayee’s unforgettable paean to our Bomb. It’s also, it seems, what it takes to make Buddha smile.So the project at Haripur is about much more than land acquisition and displacement - every time the state builds a nuclear power plant, nothing short of the survival of human life on the subcontinent is directly at stake. But it is also about land acquisition and displacement, on an enormous scale, with a lack of democratic accountability that Buddhadeb - and the Indian State in general - could by now patent. Just as in Nandigram, resistance, organized by farmers and fisherfolk, has been mounting over months. The state has been blocked from Haripur; policemen haven’t been able to enter for months. For the moment, Buddha and his district-level thugs may tread cautiously, but how long can we expect that to last? In Nandigram we had to stand by and watch while villages burned, and then react. With Haripur, things have to be different. I’m sorry to sound so hysterical, but we need to press the alarm button. SEE ALSO haripur-land-for-nuclear-plant.doc
(Not really an) Update, 2350 IST - You say it best, when you say nothing at all … Ronan Keating in the house
2051 IST - Nandigram tense again
1740 IST - Friends, according to Bhochka, “there’s another Nandigram waiting to happen at Haripur, which adjoins it, and where there are plans to acquire land for a nuclear power plant.” He will be giving us more background soon, but in the meantime here is the article:
haripur-land-for-nuclear-plant.doc
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An orkut group - ‘the gang rape of democracy’ - has a bunch of links worth pursuing for those who want more information. Log in with your gmail address and password.
Just in case you cannot access Orkut, I have collated the 15 most interesting links here:
Leading Indian intellectuals condemn West Bengal’s Stalinist-led government on word socialist website
West Bengal Stalinist regime perpetrates peasant massacre on world socialist website
What not to do in Economic times
Nandigram Villages: Scene of desolation in The Hindu
Reform, but not by stealth in Indian Express
It’s not hammer vs sickle in Indian Express
The nandigram seige in Tehelka
Indian Mutiny in Times online
Outsiders involved in Nandigram fury: CBI Business Standard
nandiram sitting on powder keg Business Standard
Nandigram: CBI report points to ‘outsider’ role - TOI
Nandigram rape: CPM man owns up The Statesman
Omens from Nandigram Business Standard
POLICE
Online news sources have this to say.Our guest blogger, Aditya Sarkar, has earlier been blogging about the issue here , but has noticed a lack of coverage in the media about something that happened yesterday. This is the first of his updates from the field:
Yesterday afternoon, a massive and entirely peaceful citizens’ march to writers’ building in Kolkata, organized chiefly by the Jamaat but attended by a rainbow coalition of other associations, was teargassed and lathicharged by the police. This was a demonstration protesting against the massacre in Nandigram and demanding the resignation of the Government. The police were apparently unprovoked, so this is a clear act of terrorist intimidation.
Image from The Tribune, last page, on the 21st of March, with reference to Aditya’s comment above:
“How does it feel to be party to a mass-murder masterminded by politicians? Or — precisely — to be branded as “killers-in-uniform” by just about everyone, including one’s own family?” from Nandigram Cops Shaken Times of India
MEDIA
CNN-IBN Video “Nandigram Still Waits for Justice”
Tagore Song “Shokatorey Oi Kandichhe Shokoley” sung for the Nandigram victims. (Via The Great Indian Mutiny)
Video of police beaten off by students in Kolkata (via Shivam Vij)
bochka, why is there such a black out in news. been trawling the mainstream papers and zilch. come on, half of these guys hate the Left, they should be going after them. and not beinf allowed access has never stopped reporters from speculation. what is going on? or is this Left Govt the poster boy of “reform.” Seriousy, what the fuck is going on?
som, glad you asked that question. as far as the national papers go, well, they covered it fairly well for a couple of days - the toi and the ht especially - then switched off once woolmer died, and there was a new hot item. that’s as cynical as it gets, i know, but i see no other explanation right now. the hindu is beholden to the cpm, and is basically acting as a party rag right now. so the really serious coverage has only come from cal - there again, the abp etc are caught in a cleft stick because they LOVED buddha, and see him as the only hope for corporate ‘reform’. so as things stand, only tara bangla and calcutta tv have been covering the issue consistently and well, and the bangla papers, i hear - dainik statesman etc. and of course the media can’t rule out the possibility of buddhadeb cracking down. seriously, i hadn’t realized till lately how far down into the grave democracy in west bengal had sunk.
good question. this is why i am trying to put up as much as we can here at smc. also - if anyone knows anything worth putting up, such as links, reports, etc. please email them to me on angad DoT chowdhry at gmail dot com and I will put them up.
bochka, angad thanks for this. i dont know if one of you guys would do this, but for our international readers, could you write an article giving the background details and what happened, for people who have missed this. Fuck, people need to wake up to this.
Yes, bochka, abysmal isnt it. whats the difference between BJP and these bastards. Difference is probably that Buddha reads Camus (he claims he is a big fan and has done a translation of Camus in a play called poka) and then orders his policemen in. The BJP lot is a bit ill read and get caught out by the media.
bhochka told me last night that 14th March 2007 is Karl Marx’s 123rd death aniv.
bochka, great blog. thanks for letting us know.
2 points, the first emotional, the second, being a news person
a) what is the official reaction from the Left. What are they saying, whom are they blaming and how is the cover up being framed. Is there a scapegoat? Has the local SP been sacked?
b) How are the left papers and television covering this. How did Gana shakti cover it, what did 24 Ghanta do. The latter is a CPM channel. Today a friend from Star News says they are scared that the channel will get more TRP because of this. It surprises me because people know its a left channel, why would they watch an incident caused by the Left.
som, as far as the official reaction from the left goes, well, it’s shameful. not a word of real condemnation from the central party headquarters, who lie through their teeth and pin all the violence on ‘naxals’ and ‘trinamul’ - the organized Left’s clearly forgotten the meaning of the term ‘political movement’, which is what Nandigram is. there are cracks inside the Left Front - sections of the RSP, the FB, and the NFIW have condemned the massacre - and of course many CPM people are appalled in private, but bound by party line to not express this, which means their anguish is meaningless. As far as scapegoats go, there were rumours in the beginning that Buddha might have to go, but that seems less likely now. At the local level, as far as I know, no sackings, no disciplinary measures at all. Lakshman Seth and Benoy Konar have not been touched and will not be touched. This is the scary thing - even if the CPM leadership in Bengal changes, and there’s a change of heart at the top, it won’t make a jot of difference. in Bengal, the tail wags the dog - the party is controlled not by the top leadership but local mafia dons like Seth and Konar.
As for the media - well, the CPM papers and channels are obviously covering it as they will, with a pack of lies. but it’s the shabbiest of cover-ups, and apparently people are completely unconvinced - the demonstrations and protests in Calcutta grow louder and bigger every day. Don’t know what your friend’s apprehension’s based on, but it seems to me unlikely that 24 Ghanta’s credibility is likely to do anything but fall, especially since Tara Bangla and Calcutta TV have both carried such damaging reports, and so much of the West Bengal print media has also joined in the chorus of protest and criticism.
bochka, thanks, that indeed was detailed. Seems like Russia of the 70’s. Well, the Left in Kolkata so wanted to get there. I forget the name of the place, Bochka, that small village which was burnt down by left thugs sometime in the late 90s before an election in WB. I went to that village in 2001. They were so scared, not a person spoke to me, not one. Each family had someone who died. This is not new. These bastards know that they just have to ride out the storm.
Well, all online groups are being monitored. Rumour is orkut groups, as well as sites like ours, are being watched. They can only ride out the storm if we people stop generating it.
As you have rightly said, let’s keep this our main post. The heat should be on. Any new posts can be posted under this. Is there anyway we can get local Kolkata reporters. I am calling up my sources to see if they will do some anonymous postings.
From shankar’s blog:-
http://singur-singur.blogspot.com/2007/03/demand-for-resignation-of-buddha-and.html
First of all, we would like to point out that we do respect the concern of people reflected in different forms of protest, although we might have some differences on some aspects.
We feel that the responsibility of the brutality against the people of Nandigram on march 14, 2007 should go to the state machinery whose sole orientation is to serve the interest of imperialism-comprador capitalism and semi-feudalism. To secure the maximum profit of MNCs and big companies, different governments, as political representatives of them have been implementing the policy of SEZ and land acquisition.
If we like to fight against land acquisition, which we believe, people all over the India do, we should try our level best to point out the enemy. Failure in identification of enemy will mislead the direction of the struggle and essentially helps the enemy.
No doubt, Buddha, as a trusted dog of these companies played a major role in this carnage. But, resignation of Buddha won’t help us if they don’t cancel the policy of SEZ. We should not forget that Buddha has his successors—Nirupam, Binoy etc. Therefore, resignation of Buddha won’t hurt his masters if the policy continues. And, after the killings in Nandigram, the central commerce minister, Kamal Nath said that SEZ policy would not be canceled.
Under the circumstances, we do believe, to make sure that Nandigram will not happen again, we have to demand first, the nation-wide cancellation of SEZ and then the resignation issue should come.
And, this blog doubts whether it would be possible to expose the truth by any government sponsored agency. But, we should demand the enquiry and at the same time bring the reports of independent enquiries just to show how reluctant state machineries are to find out the truth (in reality how dedicated they are to hide the truth).
Nearly as shameful as the Morichjhapi massacre.
A write up by AB Bardhan on CPI’s New Age.
http://www.google.co.uk/url?q=http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/23/stories/2007032319111500.htm&sa=X&oi=news&ct=result&cd=1&usg=__HMTKwBVisSdj89_089nfzCPUnZo=
it is really painful to read the atrocities witnessed by the people of nandigram. is the state government and the government authorities just this capable of finding themselves incapable of avoiding such anti human incidents.
i am speechless at the lack of awareness about this issue. i live in the UK and half the people including indians here have never heard of nandigram!! the international media is not covering the issue seriously enough with much attention focused on pakistan and burma and we need to take our protests to another level.i noticed a lot of protests on orkut communities in bengali, which will be lost on people who do not speak the language. we need to tell the world about nandigram. we have to stop these long lists of atrocoties on democracy that have begun to hit the headlines so casually everyday.we have to begin somewhere…
In all, the theme was 121 comments and 120 of them spamskih - well is not that fox?