Jan Myrdal's Speech at Public
Meeting,
Rajendra Bhawan, DD Upadhya Marg, New Delhi
6
February 2012
Dear
friends,
I want to
say something on the international solidarity movement with the peoples of
India.
We are
here because there is an ongoing war against the peoples of India by the Indian
state itself or – to put it more charitably – by dominant sections of the Indian
state machinery. You as Indian citizens want to stop this war. I and other friends
of India abroad are trying to organise an international solidarity movement with
the people of India against the horrors of this war.
To try to
do that is not interference in the internal affairs of India. We do not tell
you in India how to conduct your affairs. That is for you to decide. No foreigner
can prescribe for you. Even if many from the imperial camp – governments, media,
NGO's – always try do so.
This
respect is a matter of principle. You – not we – are in your actions responsible
to the peoples of India. As we said during the solidarity movement with the
peoples of South East Asia in their struggle against US imperialism:
"Support the peoples of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam on their own
terms."
But there
is a truth that was formulated in 1624 by John Donne and has been quoted and
used by those of us in different countries that have taken a stand against oppression
and social cruelty – as during the Franco war against the people of Spain. A
truth that is the base of international solidarity:
No man is
an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of
the main /.../ any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
There is
nothing secret about the present cruel war against the peoples of India. I
could myself witness and hear about the war against dalits and adivasis when I
was in Andhra Pradesh in 1980 (see India
Waits, Sangam books, Hyderabad) and now 2010 in Chhattisgarh (see Red Star over India, Setu Prakashani,
Kolkata).
In this
war armed gangs and groups from ruling elites and land grabbers are attempting
to drive people from their homes their lands and forests. Villages are being
burned. Women are raped. Not as an expression of male sexual lust but as a cold
conscious attempt thus to destroy the dignity and self-respect of the people. Those
who defend themselves are branded as terrorists.
This war
is not only in this way traditionally cruel but is on the formal state level by
the government conducted in open disregard to the existing laws and regulations
of the Indian state itself. Encounter is in India a word with a different
meaning to that which you find in a normal dictionary. In India it is the
specific word for the planned underhand murder by governmental agents of
important political undesirables. Last summer Azad was thus lured to his death
by the political promise of a discussion with the government about a ceasefire.
Just now Kishenji was “encountered”.
But there
is also nothing strange about this war. It is a war against the people for
simple economic reasons. Greed and profit. That is a truth even officially documented
by the Government of India. See "Committee on State Agrarian Relations and
Unfinished Task of Land Reforms", Ministry of Rural Development,
Government of India. Volume 1 (Draft Report), March 2009) Conclusion – “The
Biggest Grab of Tribal Lands after Columbus".
In India
this is well known, the war as I said is no secret. But abroad, in our countries,
that which is well known and reported in India is kept strangely unknown – or
only known in a partial and obfuscated manner. There is a very simple reason for
that. The official media are either owned by the large economic private interests
that are greedily implicated in the exploitation of the resources of India or
by governments that for their own imperial interests are against any public
discussion about the realities of India.
This is
in our age normal. Any study of international politics this last century shows
that the media can be rather free in minor questions. But when it comes to great
and decisive questions of war, colonialism or imperialism then the media become
mouth pieces and sounding boards for the powers that instigate war and defend
exploitation.
There
have been and there are individual journalists and writers who try and now and again
succeed to get true information spread through the big media. This we know. But
the editorial gate keepers serving the interest of the owners are vigilant. The
honest reporters have not only been and are few but every time the situation becomes
acute they are gagged. Remember that an American writer as well-known and as
popular as Edgar Snow only survived by translating comics during the cold war when
he was black-listed in the large US media precisely because he was well informed
and knowledgeable.
As the
conflict is well-known inside India the ruling circles have in their own interest
to accept news and some discussions on this war against the people. But outside
India there is a general silence. The reason for this is not that the Government
of India has erected an official censorship curtain around India. That is not
needed as long as the gate keepers in the official media in the imperial countries
do their job.
I don't
know those who are reporting from India. What they have to say about monuments
and folk art and the economic and scientific expansion in India is often interesting.
They might be the best of reporters for all I know. They are, I believe, all
honourable men and women. Yes, they are all honourable men. But as we can see
they do not report to the public in their home countries – the imperial countries
– much about the real situation of the peoples of India, of the adivasis and
dalits for instance. It might be that the reporters are not interested. But the
real explanation I believe is that that the editors back home do not allow them
to.
That is
why the international solidarity movement with the peoples of India must see it
as a main topic to spread information through the internet and those independent
– not by governments or monopoly capital funded – magazines and papers. The US
and other governments are trying to suppress the relative freedom of the net.
But as yet we can still use these outlets to spread information to our public.
In this
we need your co-operation. We do not, and you need not, trust the official reporters.
After all even if they want to be different and report honestly they are employed
to sing as they are paid to sing. If they are honest and also strong enough to
overcome the gate keepers: Good! If not, it is necessary for us to use other
ways. But what is needed the world around is concrete information. You have to
see to it that it is spread. The net is still rather open even if the media are
controlled.
I have my
political opinions. Biased, the Swedish government would call it if they did not
condemn me by using a far stronger word. Also I am a part of the solidarity movement.
But this international solidarity movement with the peoples of India is not
monolithic. It is a very broad and often disparate movement. That is its strength.
It is not a party. The participants do not agree in religious or social questions.
They might not all make the same analysis of imperialism or of the character of
the Indian state as I do. But they agree on the specific question of the need
of support for the peoples of India.
It is
important to remember this. The solidarity movement with the peoples of India has
and must have a very broad base. You might say that during this last century we
who have been active in the political work against wars, imperialism and
colonial oppression often have made mistakes and proven ourselves weak. The
demonstrations I participated in – in Stockholm and Istanbul – against the
United States war against the people of Iraq were among the largest I have seen
in my life. But still our governments – and also the parties that called
themselves "left" – then supported the destruction of Iraq.
Yes we
were not strong enough to hinder that. It is possible to criticise us. But during
the decades we have also been successful. We were so with the world-wide campaign
for the "Stockholm appeal" in stopping the more than possible US
nuclear war against the then Soviet Union in 1952. We were of importance in
building a people's support in our countries for the peoples of South East Asia
in their armed struggle against US imperialism. In Sweden the government sent
out riding police against us on 20 December 1967. But we got such a large
popular support that a couple of weeks later Olof Palme from the same
government that had its police beat us up now marched in the front of the mass
demonstration against the US war. That new position of the Swedish government
was a product of the solidarity movement ("If you can't beat them – join
them!) and became a great help to the struggling peoples of South East Asia.
Sweden is
a country far away from India. But that there is a growing popular solidarity
movement with the peoples of India, demonstrations, meetings study groups,
leaflets and literature is not an
expression of a feeling for "others". I did quote John Donne just
because he expresses a truth. A solidarity movement becomes strong when the
participants are conscious of the human reality that no man is an island of
itself. To defend the rights of the peoples of India is to defend the Swedish
people! -- Jan Myrdal
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