Assaults on Indians in Australia : Globalisation, Recession and Renewed Racism
The continuing spate of attacks and violence against Indians and Indian students in particular in Australia has once again exploded the much touted myth that globalisation promotes and respects pluralism and multiculturalism. The response of the Australian govt. has been shockingly muted, trying to cover up and even deny the racist dimensions of the attack, terming them as just routine robberies and muggings. If so, why do Indians constitute a disproportionate share of the victims – 30% in Melbourne ? One of the important demands of the protesting Indian students is to make the records of the assaults public - which would bring out the actual extent and dimension of these racist crimes. The least that the Australian govt could have done in the wake of these attacks was to unequivocally apologize ; but far from that, the Australian police has unleashed a brutal crackdown by thrashing and arresting the peaceful student protestors agitating against the attacks. It is really shocking that while the Aussie police swooped down on the Indian students to thwart their protests against racist violence, the same police has hardly displayed any urgency or sensitivity to stop the spate of crimes and violence so far. This brings out the real attitude and intent of Aussie authorities towards this phenomenon.
The Australian authorities deny racism – but their own pronouncements and assumptions are racist ! Take for example the “advice” of one Inspector Scott Mahony of the Melbourne police force, who asked Indians “not to talk loudly in their native language in public or travel around with expensive items such as mp3 players on display.” Is it not racist to blame the victims for the “display” of their “native language” and their electronic equipment ?!
Attacks on Indians, though not a new phenomenon in Australia, have been especially violent during the last few weeks. There have been at least 60 to 70 incidents of serious nature. According to police records at least three cases of crime against Indian students are registered on a daily basis. Partly, of course, Indian students are being targeted for shining academically and because they are perceived as getting better jobs than local Australian unemployed youth. But that is not all the story.
Remember that not long ago, taxi drivers of Indian and Pakistani origin had protested against the Australian police’s indifference to a series of attacks on them. That story had not been highlighted much by the corporate Indian media because it made less interesting copy for elite India than the attacks on “people like us.”
The truth is that racism is deeply entrenched in Australia’s state policy : the worst of its racism is directed at its Aborigine population, from whom the country itself was stolen by colonial Europeans. Today, a disproportionate percentage of Aborigines are jailed, or killed in ‘encounters’ on the streets, and there is no Aborigine representation in Australian parliament. Australian Ministers have time and again got away with racist remarks against immigrants – the “boat people” who come seeking refuge to Australia. Australian policy treats such immigrant refugees as criminals – penning them into jail-like detention centres for months. And of course, that is not to mention the rampant and rising racism against Muslims in Australia, in the wake of the “war on terror.” The episode of Dr. Hanif was only the tip of the iceberg – the Australian Government’s racism today is reinforced by its role in the occupation of Iraq, and its partnership with the US in sponsoring Islamophobia. The attacks on Indian students are no aberration – they are part and parcel of the deep-seated racism in Australian society and politics finding renewed expression in the wake of the globalised recession.
Commentators have dubbed the recent developments as the “present day Pauline Hanson phenomenon.« , Pauline Hanson was the conservative politician who got elected to the Australian Parliament in 1996, openly speaking of the »swamping« of Australia by people from Asia and the consequent unemployment of »Aussie battlers".
Racism is a simmering phenomenon not just in Australia, but also in other countries like the US and the UK which are championing globalisation. For them, globalization means the free mobility of capital to usurp the land and livelihood of people of developing countries ; it has never meant the free movement of labour to their countries. Predictably, in the wake of the current economic recession spawned by their disastrous policies, we are seeing a renewed offensive of racism against migrant workers from the third world in these countries – from attacks on Sikh cab drivers and retrenchment of Asian teachers in the US, to Gordon Brown’s call for “British jobs for British people”, the drum of racism is clearly being beaten by the ruling class to divert and mislead the anxiety of the working class in the face of recession.
As we protest against the attacks on Indians in Australia, we must also, however, remind ourselves of India’s own homespun variant of ‘anti-migrant’ chauvinism – such as the violence unleashed by MNS and Shiv Sena against North Indian migrants in Mumbai.
It is high time that the people of the third world and the working class all over the world speak out against the present spate of racist assaults and the politics of hate and chauvinism in which the promoters of recession-hit globalisation are seeking a convenient refuge.
Sri Lanka : Ten Questions
As the gory details of what the Tamil population of northern Sri Lanka have been subjected in recent weeks emerge - bit by bloody bit - there is need for a full accounting of every act of barbarity committed against them by the Sri Lankan government.
For, behind Colombo’s public parade of bodies of dead rebels and tasteless celebrations of ‘victory’ over the Tamil Tigers there hides today a horror list of unspeakable crimes carried out by the Mahinda Rajapakse regime.
Make no mistake about it -for all the Sri Lankan spin about what really happened in the final weeks of assault on the LTTE- the simple fact remains that this was a war conducted with no respect for either global opinion or any human norm, international convention or law.
And the governments of the world, blinded as they are by the perverse notion that every evil is acceptable in the global ‘War on Terror’, seem to have completely lost their moral compass in the case of Sri Lanka. Or are they keeping quiet because those who died in this grossly one-sided war were dark-skinned, poor and the term ‘genocide’ cannot be applied to them no matter how many of them are murdered in cold blood ?
For the people of the world, the perpetual and historical victims of state terror, there remains no option but to fight back and demand justice. To begin with here are ten questions that need to be answered immediately :
1) How many civilians died in the final weeks of assault on the LTTE inside the ‘no fire’ zone and what has happened to their corpses ?
2) Why were hospitals treating the injured and the sick inside the ‘no fire’ zone repeatedly shelled by the Sri Lankan army and what is the fate of the Tamil doctors who reported this to the global media ?
3) What kind of banned weapons did the Sri Lankan forces use in their operations against the LTTE and which governments around the world supplied these to them ?
4) Despite repeated official assertions that the ‘war is over’ why is the Sri Lankan government afraid of allowing independent media, humanitarian workers and human rights groups access to war affected areas ?
5) Why are the thousands upon thousands of Tamil refugees –Sri Lankan citizens all of them– still being kept behind barbed wires like cattle corralled off before slaughter and why are Tamil youth being abducted from within these camps ?
6) Why are the repeated reports of Tamil women being raped by Sri Lankan army personnel not being investigated ?
7) Why are Sri Lankan journalists questioning the conduct of the war being killed, tortured or forced into exile if the government has nothing to hide ?
8) How can a chauvinist regime responsible for the worst kind of prejudice and atrocities against its minority population be entrusted with either their immediate rehabilitation or long-term solutions to the island’s ethnic question ?
9) How long will it be before Mahinda Rajapakse and all high officials under his command are brought before an International Tribunal to account for their war crimes and crimes against humanity ?
10) Now that the Tamil Tigers are defeated is it not time for the world to tame the rampaging Sinhala Lion too ?
AISA Held Protest, Burns Effigy of Racist Australian Government
Against Continuing Racist Assault on Indian Students in Australia !
AISA held a protest demonstration on Parliament Street in New Delhi condemning the continuing racial assaults on Indians in Australia. Young students like Shravan Kumar from Andhra Pradesh, Baljinder Singh from Punjab and Sourabh Sharma are victims of such attacks in last month itself.
AISA appealed to the student community to extend support and solidarity to the students and workers in Australia who are bearing the brunt of racist attack and demanded that both the Indian and Australian governments act decisively to book the culprits and guarantee security to the Indian students and workers.
Movement Continues in Punjab
Even with approximately 1337 agricultural workers, activists and leaders in 8 jails of Punjab, protest activities continued unabated. A large demonstration was held at Barnala on 30 May, and at Sangrur on 31 May. On 28 May itself, a meeting of various Left groups including Comrade Raminder Patiala from CPI(ML) New Democracy, Comrade Inderjit Singh Grewal from CPM Punjab (Pasla), Com. Tara Chand from Inquilabi Kendra as well as Comrades Tarsem Jodhan and Harbhagwan Bhikhi from CPI(ML) attended the meeting. A decision was taken to jointly demand release of all arrested workers and leaders ; and upholding of the agreement of 19 May and allotting of housing plots to the rural poor. The government’s repression on the landless poor was condemned.
On 31 May, Comrade Bant Singh held a dharna in protest against the arrest of agricultural labourers at Mansa – where he was arrested from the dharna site and confined to the CPI(ML) office. Others too were arrested with him, including his wife comrade Harbans Kaur, and Punjab Kisan Union Vice President Gamdoor Singh Kotdharmu. On 1 June, Bant Singh against held a dharna at Matka Chowk in the state capital of Chandigarh. On this day, the arrested workers were to be produced before a magistrate in court ; but in order to thwart the large number of people gathered in courts to meet the workers, they were not produced in court. Instead the next date for appearance in court was announced in jail itself. The workers gathered in courts immediately protested at Mansa, Budhlada, Dhuri, Ludhiana, and Moga. At Mansa, protesters were again arrested, including RYA activist Iqbal Singh.
On 30 May, 184 arrested workers including 30 women held a one-day hunger strike in Patiala jail, in protest against the news that CPI(ML) leader and candidate in the last Lok Sabha elections from Bathinda, Comrade Bhagwant Singh Samaon, was being held in solitary confinement in a cell in Gurdaspur jail.
Sangrur : 102 men ; Ludhiana : 11 men, 174 women, 24 children ; Patiala : 164 men ; Bathinda jail : 64 men, 126 women, 9 children ; Gurdaspur : 56 men ; Firozepur : 112 men, 70 women ; Faridkot : 110 men, 70 women ; Jalandhar Nari Niketen : 9 girl children, between10-14 years of age ; Jalandhar jail : 70 women ; Amritsar : 100 men, Naba jail : 65 men, and one woman, employees’ leader Jasbir Kaur Nat
(Total : 784 men, 511 women, 42 children)
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AIPWA-led Team Visits Punjab
On 1 June, a team from Delhi comprising Kavita Krishnan, Secretary, AIPWA and Manisha Sethi of the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Group, visited Punjab. The team, accompanied by Comrade Hasmeet of RYA, Punjab, met with some of the jailed workers, and also with women who had recently been released from jail. The report of the visit will follow in the next issue.
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Is Fighting for Basic Necessities a Crime ?
(Open Letter by Revolutionary Youth Association, Punjab)
Dear Friends
We the youth of Chandigarh are writing this letter on behalf of landless daily wage rural labourers of Malwa. We want to address the learned citizens of Chandigarh about inhuman conditions in which the landless poor of our ‘Proud Democracy’ are living. The conditions, which have forced the innocent poor to take the steering wheel of politics in their own hands by acquiring the 1/3 share in Common Panchayti land which is their legal right and 50 year old unfulfilled promise of State and Center Govt., are as follow :
• Where in Rural Punjab 20% of richest population owns 67.7% of productive forces, the bottom 40% owns only 2% of productive forces. So broadly the poor have almost no productive forces which include land and animals.
• Only source of income left with the rural labourers is to work either on daily-wages (in Villages/Cities) or yearly contract with landlords. Daily-wage rate is Rs. 80-120 and yearly contract rate is Rs. 18000-30000. Due to modern machines like Combines, lift trolleys etc. a labourer gets work on an average 10 days a month making annual income of nearly Rs15000. So in both case the average daily income they get comes out to be Rs. 40-70. How can they feed their children with such a petty amount ??
• Central Govt. has started NREGA scheme. The scheme stipulates 100 days of employment to them at rate of Rs. 123/- daily. But the reality is instead of implementing this scheme Punjab Govt. has returned the grant of 350 crores which Center Govt. sanctioned under the NREGA scheme.
• Malwa is becoming hub of Cancer caused due to contaminated land water. Even students of Govt. schools are forced to drink land water as the panchayati taps are removed. Providing clean water for drinking is duty of Govt. The responsibility was earlier given to Panchayats but this has now been given to private companies. The security for getting Tap is Rs. 2000-2500 and monthly bill is extra. The labourers are left with 2 options either drink contaminated land water and get cancer or take loans from rich to get water taps.
• Loans are not easy to get as labourers do not have any property to keep as security. So the only option left is to approach the non-institutional mortgagers who charge 4-5 times more interest than banks. Once the loan is taken, the women of labourer family is forced to do household (cleaning of animal waste) for years of mortgager’s family in lieu of interest of loan as long as Principal amount is not paid off.
• The condition of their present houses can be judged from the fact that most of labouer families even have no space to build toilets and they (including women and young girls) are forced to go out in fields for answering nature’s call. The Owners of fields don’t allow them and women are insulted daily over this.
Above points may have cleared the pitiable conditions in which the poor labourers are living. A law (Consolidation and fragmentation Act, 1961) has been made long back in 1961 giving them 1/3 of the share in Common Panchayati Land. Various Governments have befooled them for Votes with promises to implement this act and allotting them houses. Political, Social and Youth Organizations like CPI (ML) Liberation, Mazdoor Mukti Morcha with Revolutionary Youth Association took lead of the rural labour when they decided to solve this by themselves. Consequently possessions were taken in 35 villages by labourers of their 1/3 share in common panchayati land. Under pressure from the labourers, the administration signed an agreement stating that plots will be allotted to all landless labourers of area within 3 month time and NREGA job cards will be made for all within 1 month. In the agreement CPI (ML) promised the no new possessions will be made and this promise is kept till date.
But the administration, led by Dy. CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, breaking the agreement on 21st May started arresting state leadership of CPI (ML) Liberation and lathi-charged the labourers sitting on peaceful protest, arresting nearly 400 labourers which included mostly women and children. Continuing the arrests on 22nd May, police arrested 950 more labourers from 2 villages where labourers gathered to attend Akhand Path. Many have been kept under illegal confinement as no information is being provided till date by police that how many arrests they have shown. Where are remaining people ?
What are the various charges under which 1500 people have been detained and kept ? As among those arrested are mostly women and children, what steps are been taken to provide them basic requirements like clothes and medicines ?
WE APPEAL TO THE RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS OF CHANDIGARH TO STAND WITH US IN THIS STRUGGLE FOR BASIC DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS OF THE OPPRESSED CLASSES OF OUR SOCIETY.
Spiraling Unemployment – Disaster in the Making : Information from ILO Report
The International Labour Office (ILO) has forecasted of increase in the number of unemployed people between 29 to 59 million in 2009. Such an evolving scenario is even more disturbing for women and men in the vulnerable working condition. The figure is more likely to reach the upper limit as the response of various governments around the world to the current economic crisis has been to inject massive money capital leading to reinforcing conditions of low employment rate, besides puncturing the deflationary measures taken earlier which will spell further disaster for working people in the form of price rise.
As per ILO’s estimate the crisis poses a grave threat to the livelihoods, health and wellbeing of 1.2 billion workers around the world (that’s more than India’s population) who were living with their families in poverty prior to the onset of the crisis, with more than 620 million living in extreme poverty of less than USD 1.25 (or less than Rs.60) per day.
Another disturbing fact is that the planned spending in 2009 that could generate employment is only 1.4 percent of the global GDP, even less than the 2 percent prescribed by the International Monetary Fund.
Impacts on women and youth : The Global Employment Trends for Women report released in March highlights the different ways in which men and women are expected to be impacted. The report confirmed that women are often in a disadvantaged position in comparison to men in labour markets around the world.
“In most regions, the female unemployment rates are expected to increase more than male unemployment rates, a reflection of women’s disproportionate representation in temporary employment and that women tend to comprise a substantial share of employment in export-oriented manufacturing industries in many developing countries.
As regards youth, prior to the onset of the global economic crisis, young people were 2.8 times as likely to be unemployed than adults at the global level. It is therefore a concern that the impact of the economic crisis has been particularly severe for youth, who face a shortage of employment opportunities as they look to enter the labour market. The youth unemployment rate is projected to increase from 12.2 per cent in 2008 to between 13.0 and 15.1 per cent in 2009.”
Quality of employment : vulnerable employment : It is also important to assess whether employment quality is declining. In the previous Global Employment Trends reports on the crisis, the ILO produced scenarios to gauge the impact of the crisis on “vulnerable employment”, which is calculated as the sum of own-account workers and contributing family workers. Many workers in these types of employment status, particularly in developing economies but at times in developed economies as well, do not benefit from a social safety net if they lose their livelihoods or face challenges such as personal or family member illnesses. These workers are also less likely than more formal wage and salary employees to receive an adequate income and have their fundamental labour rights respected.
In many developing countries in recent years, real wages have grown at a much slower rate than labour productivity.
Working Poverty : An estimated 1.2 billion workers lived with their families on less than USD 2 per person per day in 2007, representing more than 40 per cent of all workers in the world. The current projections indicate a range of between 40.1 percent and 43.7 percent of workers in the world living on less than USD 2 per day in 2008, and between 40 per cent and 46.8 per cent of workers below this poverty line in 2009.
There is also an expected scenario that would result in more than 1.4 billion workers below the USD 2 poverty line in 2009, an increase of more than 200 million since 2007. Across all three scenarios, the number of USD 2 working poor is projected to grow in 2009. At a minimum, the scenarios highlight the enormous number of workers that are at serious risk of slipping into extreme poverty.
South Asia – Though the economic crisis is expected to lead to increased unemployment in South Asia – particularly among workers in globally-oriented industries, such as information and communications technology and among youth, who face more limited job opportunities in high-tech sectors after graduation – the impact on the masses of the region’s workers engaged in low productivity, vulnerable employment, will play a much larger role in determining the overall effect of the crisis on poverty. Approximately 5 per cent of the labour force in South Asia is unemployed but nearly 15 times as many workers are employed, but in vulnerable employment. The number of vulnerable workers is projected to grow across all three scenarios, with an increase to 493 million or nearly 79 per cent of total employment predicted by the third scenario. At the same time, reduced remittances from migrant workers suffering layoffs are likely to have a negative impact, particularly in countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka for which remittances comprise a substantial share of GDP.