Anti-imperialist meeting stresses solidarity

On the second anniversary of the U.S. attack on Iraq, anti-imperialist groups in India last March mobilized a million people to form a human chain across Bengal, from the hills of Darjeeling to the coastal inlets of the Sunderbans.

Heather Cottin, fifth from left, at anti-imperialist conference in India.

On Nov. 24, one of the organizations involved, the All-India Anti-Imperialist Forum (AIAIF), held an international conference in Kolkata that stressed global cooperation in building “militant movements for peace and against imperialist oppression and aggression in all corners of the globe” in order to “thwart the sinister designs of the imperialists.”

The AIAIF conference unanimously hailed the valiant struggle of the Iraqi people against the occupation of Iraq and upheld the fight of the Nepalese people against an autocratic, imperialist-backed king. Delegates saluted the resistance of peoples of Latin America, demanding that the U.S. end its economic blockade and all aggressive maneuvers against Cuba. Resolutions condemned the butchery of the Palestinian people by U.S.-supported Zionist Israel. Resolutions also condemned the imperialist powers’ exploitation of Africa.

The General Secretary of the AIAIF, Dr. Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, opened the conference with a review of the struggle against imperialism since his group’s founding in 1995. “During these 10 years the world has seen the rampant and inhuman demolition of civil and moral rights.... [I]mperialism has spread ... throughout the world using newer, more destructive weapons.”

Delegates came from anti-imperialist groups in many countries, including the International Action Center in the U.S. In a videotape made for the event, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, founder of the IAC, told the conference, “Peoples of the world need to work together to overcome the concentrated power of wealth.... The imperative need is that we study hard, analyze carefully, reach out to each other to organize, to plan, to work to bring peace to earth.”

The IAC, which has had solidarity relations with the AIAIF since 1995, was represented at this event by Heather Cottin, who was invited to make a 13-day speaking tour that encompassed Delhi, Bangalore, Mysore, Siliguri, Thiruvan an thapuram (Kerala) and the international conference in Kolkata.

Cottin told the conference that, “Because of the resistance of the Iraqi people, the world’s people see that the U.S., while capable of inflicting horrible wounds, is incapable of defeating a people in resistance. This has given heart and strength to ... Syria and Iran as well as Cuba and Bolivarian Venezuela.”

North of India is Nepal, an impoverished country of 28 million people where a united left front is struggling against King Gyanendra, an absolute monarch supported by the U.S. and Britain. Sunil Manandhar, president of the Nepal Progressive Trade Union Federation (NPTUF), pointed out that in his country “an undeclared military autocratic dictatorship is reigning, pushing the nation to the verge of civil war.” Manandhar said that for the “working class movement there is nothing more urgent and more important than to internationalize the anti-imperialist struggle.”

East of India lies another deeply oppressed country: Bangladesh, with 144 million people. Khalekuzzaman, the convener of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh, told the conference that in his country, the “U.S. and India, with the collaboration of our ruling class, are plundering our natural resources, including oil, gas and coal. They are destroying our industries and agriculture. The U.S. is eying our main seaport, which is the lifeline of our economy. This is threatening peace and stability in our region.”

Khalekuzzaman commended “the heroic resistance war of the Iraqi masses, Palestinian people, and DPRK, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria at the forefront of the struggle against U.S. hegemonism.”

Other international speakers included Nina Andreyeva of Russia’s All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, who contrasted socialist international cooperation with imperialist globalization that “sharply increases inequality and destroys the environment,” and Nisha, a delegate from Turkey and North Kurdistan’s Marxist-Leninist Communist Party, who called for the formation of “institutions that would provide regional co-ordination ... to combine anti-imperialist struggle with the fight against capitalism.”

India is one of the major countries providing cheap labor and resources for imperialism. From Starbuck’s Tazo tea to tomatoes for Heinz ketchup, from information technology for BankAmerica to hand-crafted textiles, the U.S. is India’s number-one trading partner, and the ravages of imperialism are visible everywhere.

Although two of India’s states—West Bengal and Tripura—are led by left fronts that include parliamentary-oriented communist parties, which also command huge votes in several other states, even there the rapid spread of privatization and globalization has enmeshed Indian workers in the web of imperialism. Some 65 percent of India’s population lives below the poverty level while commercialism is spreading among the middle class.

Nevertheless, at press conferences and meetings where Heather Cottin spoke on her tour, amazement was frequently expressed at how the victims of Hurricane Katrina were left to suffer and die in the richest country in the world.

AIAIF members were keen to maintain an on-going relationship with the International Action Center to coordinate anti-imperialist activities with comrades in the United States. Cottin explained the significance for the U.S. anti-war movement of the unity between Black, Latin@, Native American, lesbian/gay/bi/trans and international activists in the Troops Out Now Coalition, of which the IAC is a part.