Table of Contents

1) Soaring Prices and Manmohan’s Nuclear Chess *

2) Nationwide Outrage Against Oil Price Hike *

3) Murder of NREG Activists in Jharkhand *

4) Sri Lanka and Nepal : A Tale of Two Conflicts *

5) South Asian Taxi Drivers Demand Better Safety Measures

6) Letter from Jaipur

7) Women’s Assertion Rally by AIPWA in Patna

8) Karnataka Assembly Elections 2008 *

9) Message from West Bengal Panchayat Polls *

10) Homage to Vijay Tendulkar *

* : These articles have been posted in their relevant sections.

 South Asian Diaspora: South Asian Taxi Drivers Demand Better Safety Measures

Lionel Bopage

Adelaide and Melbourne witnessed thousands of South Asian students, predominantly Indians holding direct action to demand better safety conditions in the pursuit of their role as taxi drivers. In Adelaide they held up traffic at the airport after a colleague was bashed and robbed. In Melbourne they staged a sit down protest at peak hour in the middle of the central business district (CBD) after a colleague was stabbed. In Melbourne their action was spontaneous, vocal, passionate and peaceful. Their action took the state government and the police by surprise. Even though government concessions did not go far enough and was limited to boosting driver safety and security it served as an example for our pensioners, who staged a similar protest in the CBD to get their concerns across. They followed the taxi drivers’ example in taking off their clothing in protest to prove they were ‘fair dinkum’. The reason for the taxi drivers protests are not hard to discern.

The state government has not addressed the broader issues of the overseas students that underpin these protests. Globalisation allows capital to freely move but does not allow labour to do so. In India the process has exacerbated the gap between the rich and the poor but also has created a bourgeoning entrepreneurial middle class caught up in trappings of consumerism. Traditional jobs do not provide sufficient opportunities to maintain such life styles. Hence, those who miss out try moving overseas to countries like Australia .

Overseas students are allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours a week to repay their loans and to pay their exorbitant tertiary fees! Of course, they cannot survive by working 20 hours. If they get caught working more hours they are taken to a detention centre and are instantly deported with no chance of appeal. Melbourne alone has over three thousand such students who mostly work night shifts. Driving taxis is not considered a safe or well paid job by the majority community.

If overseas students are considered Australian for tax purposes, they should be given the same opportunity and security provided to the majority of taxpayers. However, taxi drivers in the majority of cases are considered independent contractors. As such, they do not enjoy the employment rights most other workers are entitled to. The federal minimum wage and work conditions do not apply to them. Hence most drivers are paid less and work longer shifts. After deregulation taxi licences were bought by speculating investors causing licence plates to be sold at extremely high prices, the current costs running up to about $500,000 per plate. In their desire for profit maximisation, the licence-owners not only take advantage of drivers in terms of their pay and conditions, but also passengers in terms of the service provided, to pay for the over-priced licenses.

Many of these protestors have not played an active role in any of the previous protest actions held by the organised trade union movement against the employers and the state implementing their neo-liberal industrial relations agenda which is to sack workers as and when necessary. Nevertheless, the trade union movement needs not only to learn from these exploited students on how to stage direct action but should organise and harness their enthusiasm and guts to raise the consciousness of their own workers.

The trade union movement should immediately start a campaign to ensure taxi drivers are entitled to the normal wage and working conditions enjoyed by the rest of the Australian drivers such as working eight hour shifts enjoying minimum wage and working conditions with entitlements for superannuation. An industrial union for the whole transport industry covering all types of drivers is in the order of the day.

 Struggles in India: Letter from Jaipur

Srilata Swaminathan, Liberation, July, 2008.

Tuesday, 13 May, 1900 hours saw the first of a series of bomb blasts in the crowded Pink City of Jaipur. In all, seven powerful blasts shook the old city, one after the other, and all within thirteen minutes and within a one kilometre area. An eighth bomb was found and diffused by the police.

From the point of view of the bombers the timing was perfect to cause the most damage and havoc. All the places targeted were in the over-crowded, shopping and commercial areas, tourist-oriented spots, mainly residential areas, and the temple areas of Chandpol, Johri Bazaar and Tripolia where, being a Tuesday, there was a good crowd of devotees plus lines of beggars and destitute who get fed by the temples. To make matters worse, it was also the rush hour, and roads were packed with a profusion of pedestrians and vehicles. The colourful confusion of Jaipur’s congested markets which is a great attraction to both foreign and Indian tourists was at its height. At the end of the day, there were 65 dead and 280 wounded. Many of the residents, survivors still complain of hearing defects from the deafening explosions.

Both the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) [CPI (ML)] and All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) were active and helped collect one lakh (100, 000) rupees which was donated to the poor victims of the blasts that were hospitalised. One was struck by the reaction of people in Jaipur who, from the humble rickshawala, vendor and flower-seller to the rich trading communities, intellectuals, teachers, lawyers as, one and all, they have come forward, without being asked, to help in whatever way they could. Immediately after the blasts, people rushed into action. The wounded were immediately taken to the hospital by rickshaw pullers, on cycles, scooters and whatever was handy. Many groups of citizens immediately started collecting fruit, food and drinking water so that the patients and their families did not go thirsty or hungry. Hundreds of blood donors rushed forward. The first to donate blood were the Muslims who donated so much that they met almost the full demand. The lawyers also came forward in hundreds to donate blood as did the employees of the state roadways department, a motorcycle club and hundreds of individuals.

We are also heartened by the mood in the old city. While many are mourning the loss of loved ones, there is no communal tension. Many Hindutva forces tried to raise anti-Muslim slogans both in some residential areas in the affected city and in the hospital where the victims were being treated. They were swiftly dealt with by the local residents, both Hindu and Muslim, and speedily sent on their way.

All this is even more amazing when seen in the light of how the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government and Hindutva forces have been working overtime for several years to spread anti-Muslim sentiments throughout Rajasthan, saffronising textbooks to paint Muslims as traitors, encouraging ghettoisation of Muslims and taking lessons from Modi’s Gujarat . Although it is early days yet, it is remarkable that Rajasthan has not burst into a communal conflagration. Forces in Jodhpur , Ajmer , Kota and elsewhere tried to light the communal fire but failed.

But the blame game between the BJP government in the state and the Congress at the Centre has begun with each holding the other responsible for lack of warning, information etc. The BJP is also desperate to find the culprits especially after their bungling the Ajmer bomb blast investigation last year where they are still to trace or arrest the culprits. They are busy harassing innocent ‘Bangladeshis’, who are very poor and work as rag pickers or unskilled labour but happen to be Muslim, in their frantic attempt to make arrests. They are also threatening them with deportation even though these ‘Bangladeshis’ have ration and voter identity cards and swear they are from West Bengal and are also wooed for their votes by every party! Democratic forces in Jaipur are vigilant, refusing to allow the blasts to provide a pretext for the Sangh Parivar’s and BJP Government’s communal agenda.

 Struggles in India: Women’s Assertion Rally by AIPWA in Patna

Liberation, July, 2008.

The Bihar unit of All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) organised an impressive rally on 30^th May consisting of large number of women demanding to rein in the growing incidents of victimisation and rapes of women in the State. Despite the scorching sun, women came in thousands from various corners of Bihar to participate in the rally. Stopped by police barricades, and told that the chief minister (CM) would not meet them, the rallyists held a spirited protest meeting. The march was led by AIPWA National Secretary Meena Tiwary, State President and Secretary Saroj Chaube and Shashi Yadav and others.

Addressing the mass meeting the speakers said that the projects for women’s empowerment in Bihar have proved to be a damp squib. They expressed deep resentment and anger at the rising graph of assaults on women’s life and cases of rape, saying that even women’s dignity is not guaranteed in the State. Among the main demands addressed to the CM in a memorandum are: holding the administration and police accountable for the incidents of victimisation and rape of women, increasing the number of primary schools for girls’ education, stopping distribution of licenses to liquor shops in the name of excise tax collection, declaring Asha and Aanganbadi workers as govt. employees and fixing a minimum of Rs.5000/- for the Asha workers. On the occasion AIPWA also released a booklet titled “Women’s victimisation in Nitish rule – an open letter to Chief Minister: Governmental claims vs. ground realities”