Report from Bangladesh: 10,000 people in 40 villages outside Dhaka resist army land g

[red cat]

Salute to the People’s Resistance in Rupganj against the Army
Yesterday, October 23, 2010, in Rupganj, at the outskirt of the capital Dhaka, around ten thousand people of forty villages started resistance simultaneously against the army, police, RAB [Rapid Action Brigade] and Awami fascists [People's League--the ruling party in Bangladesh] to protest against the effort of the army of illegally grabbing people’s land to build quarters for their officers. In this incident many people have been injured being shot by police and Rab. A person died and ten are missing so far.


Agitated masses torched an army camp. Some local Awami League leaders along with several high police officials were beaten by people. Then the army took away their members from four camps through helicopters. In order to seize people’s land, the army had ceased all the selling and buying lands of that area. They led local brokers to collaborate with them.
This is an outburst of accumulated anger against the Awami fascists. At a time when the people’s situation is disastrous because of multiplying increase of daily goods like rice, dal, oil, when garment workers didn’t get wage for a minimum livelihood, peasants are compelled to till land by buying fertilizer, oil and water in excessive price, government is starting a new campaign from 1st November to clean hawkers from the streets, the conspiracy to wiping out the masses from their land is just like slaying the slain.


Land grabbers are grabbing huge lands surrounding Dhaka and its neighborhood. The biggest capitalist groups like Bashundhara and Jamuna groups are leading in these. Many of them are associated with the Awami League while many are with BNP [Bangladesh National Party--the largest opposition party that has ties Islamic fundamentalist forces]. Apart from them there are many petty land grabber groups. The administration and government are also overthrowing people from lands in the name of various projects. That’s nothing new. The conspiracy of the army is one of those. The army hatched the conspiracy to grab more than two thousand acres of land there. Needless to say, not the common army members but the officers have interests here.


Situated at the eastern side of Dhaka city, this suburb area is totally rural. During the national liberation war of 1971 [against Pakistan] these villages were the shelter of liberation fighters. But in 4o years since the formation of Bangladesh, there is not a single bit touch of so called development has taken place. Though being 4/5 km away from Dhaka city, boat is the only communication to reach here. There is no road communication here to Dhaka. Neither the Awami League nor BNP sided with people of this area, rather they continuously cheated with them with so called electoral vote business.


What is the way out?


The only way out is the path of people’s war. As the people in neighboring India are struggling with Maoist ideology, we have to step up in the same way. By taking rural areas as principal, people’s war will occur in cities too. Chairman Siraj Sikder was the guide of our path to liberation. He initiated people’s war in this country. Siraj Sikder Thought is those lines, principles and methodologies that he created by applying the ideology of proletariat, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to the conditions of this country. If we can ignite the fire of a new people’s war, people’s rebellion will have a successful shape. Let us strongly advance its preparation.


Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!


Long live the Guiding Thought of Chairman Siraj Sikder!


Advance preparation for people’s war ideologically, politically and militarily!


Socialism and communism is our goal through new democratic revolution!


Provisional central leading body, Maoist unity group, Proletarian Party of East Bengal (Bangladesh)


Date: October, 24, 2010


http://www.bannedthought.net/Bangladesh/MUG-PBSP/SaluteToPeopleOfRupganj-101024.pdf

[red cat]

Some mod please change the title of this thread to " Bangladesh: 10,000 people in 40 villages outside Dhaka resist army land grab " .

[Kiev Communard]

It's promising development, but I doubt that subscribing to the effective personality cult of some "glorious leader" is anything useful. The peasants must create their own self-defense groups from the bottom-up, not the other way around.

[RED DAVE]

It's promising development, but I doubt that subscribing to the effective personality cult of some "glorious leader" is anything useful. The peasants must create their own self-defense groups from the bottom-up, not the other way around.In addition, as usual for Maoists, in the middle of a working class struggle in the major cities, they are concentrating on rural struggles. Maoism has no strategy for uniting urban and rural struggles, so, at best, we end up with a stalemate as is currently the case in Nepal. The above statement by the Bangladesh Maoists echoes the exact same dilemma.

RED DAVE

[Kiev Communard]

In addition, as usual for Maoists, in the middle of a working class struggle in the major cities, they are concentrating on rural struggles. Maoism has no strategy for uniting urban and rural struggles, so, at best, we end up with a stalemate as is currently the case in Nepal. The above statement by the Bangladesh Maoists echoes the exact same dilemma.

RED DAVE

Yes, that's one part of the problem, but I think cult of personality and dogmatism are even more serious in this case. The garment workers of Bangladesh seem to be one of the most class conscious elements of modern proletariat, I hope that they will find adequate political expression for their demands.

[red cat]

Yes, that's one part of the problem, but I think cult of personality and dogmatism are even more serious in this case. The garment workers of Bangladesh seem to be one of the most class conscious elements of modern proletariat, I hope that they will find adequate political expression for their demands.

The garment workers are indeed putting up a brave fight. But as of now, their lines of defense are very weak, and a majority of them are not making any demand greater than those relevant to immediate quantitative benefits. To take their struggle to that level, a strengthening of the people's war is required, because otherwise the government will not hesitate to commit mass murders and suppress the workers movement.

[RED DAVE]

Yes, that's one part of the problem, but I think cult of personality and dogmatism are even more serious in this case. The garment workers of Bangladesh seem to be one of the most class conscious elements of modern proletariat, I hope that they will find adequate political expression for their demands.I doubt very much if they'll get it from the Maoists. It's incredible that in the midst of a huge outbreak of workers protests, the Maoists don't even mention it in tandem with the announcement of the resistance to the land seizures, and they are almost certainly linked by the objective conditions in Bangladesh.

It's also significant that neither the Nepalese nor the Indian Maoists, right across the borders, have made statements about the workers struggles in Bangladesh. Imagine if there were massive strikes and demonstrations by workers in Canada or Mexico and a US leftist organization paid them no attention in their foreign-language press.

RED DAVE

[Quetzal]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/21/wikileaks-cables-british-police-bangladesh-death-squad

WikiLeaks cables: Bangladeshi 'death squad' trained by UK government

Rapid Action Battalion, accused of hundreds of extra-judicial killings, received training from UK officers, cables reveal

In December last year the high court in Dhaka ruled that such killings must be brought to a halt following litigation by victims' familes and human rights groups, but they continue on an almost weekly basis. Most of the victims are young men, some are alleged to be petty criminals or are said to be left-wing activists, and the killings invariably take place in the middle of the night.

[scarletghoul]

In addition, as usual for Maoists, in the middle of a working class struggle in the major cities, they are concentrating on rural struggles. Maoism has no strategy for uniting urban and rural struggles, so, at best, we end up with a stalemate as is currently the case in Nepal. The above statement by the Bangladesh Maoists echoes the exact same dilemma.

RED DAVE
Yes because the Nepali Maoists never paralysed the capital with a general strike, the Indian Maoists have never been found secretly organising workers in Kolkata or running libraries in the slums of Mumbai...

[Palingenisis]

I doubt very much if they'll get it from the Maoists. It's incredible that in the midst of a huge outbreak of workers protests, the Maoists don't even mention it in tandem with the announcement of the resistance to the land seizures, and they are almost certainly linked by the objective conditions in Bangladesh.


I dont think you realize that actual revolutionary activism in these countries is incredibly dangerous and that the Maoists are underground parties.