Saturday, September 4, 2010

Fidel calls on youth to fight to prevent a nuclear war


On Friday, September 4th morning Fidel Castro addressed thousands of Cuban students and professors on the steps of the University of Havana. Fidel Castro confirmed that it is possible to win the great battle to save the world from a nuclear war that would destroy it completely and also to defend the right of all human beings to live.


Almost 65 years after his entry into higher education, the Cuban leader returned to the University of Havana where, as he has already said on previous occasions and reaffirmed once again this morning, he became a revolutionary and discovered his true destiny. He then went on to call on governments and peoples to safeguard peace, life and the future.


The time available to humanity to wage this battle is incredibly limited, warned the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, referring to the real and imminent danger of another war in the Middle East, the consequences of which are unforeseeable for the world and could be catastrophic.


Dressed in olive green, standing at the foot of the Alma Mater statue and before an enthusiastic crowd that filled the historic staircase and surrounding areas, Fidel read out his message to Cuba’s university students, which is also a call to fight against those who have imposed on the world a system that is currently threatening the very survival of the planet and the human race.




The following is the official translation of the speech made by Comrade Fidel Castro

My dear comrades:

I asked that we meet early, before the heat of our sun becomes too intense.

This stairway, to which I never imagined I would be returning, keeps some indelible memories of the years when I began to become aware of our era and our duty. One can acquire knowledge and awareness throughout one’s lifetime but never in any other stage of one’s existence will a person again have the purity and selflessness with which, being young, one faces up to life. At that age, I discovered my true destiny.

Thus it is inevitable that, at these moments, I am accompanied by the memory of so many comrades whom I knew exactly 65 years ago. It was during the first week of September that I entered this University, the only one in the country. It is best that I don’t even try to ask for each one of them, and I just hold on to the memory of when they were all young and full of enthusiasm and, as a rule, selfless and pure.

I am extremely encouraged to have present those who today, as we were in yesteryear, even incomparably more well-educated, freer and more aware.

In those days, the power of the brute force and the brutality of force fell upon this university hill, the lack of conscience and the corruption applied upon our people.

Thanks to the example of those preceding us, to the students massacred at the demand of the hordes called the Spanish volunteers, many of whom were born in this country who took up service for the Spanish tyranny, thanks to the Apostle of our Independence and to the blood spilt by dozens of thousands of patriots in three wars of Independence, we have really been preceded by a history which inspired our struggles. We didn’t deserve to be a colony of an empire that was even more powerful, that took over our Homeland and a good portion of our national conscience, sowing fatalism with the idea that it was impossible to shake off such a hefty yoke.

Worse still, a powerful exploiting sector had arisen which, at the service of the Empire’s interests, was plundering the wealth of our people, keeping them shackled and ignorant by force and, not on a few occasions, using others born in the country to act as the torturers and murderers of their own brothers and sisters.

The Revolution put an end to those horrors and it is because of that that we are able to meet here on this September morning.

How far away we were after the triumph to think that, on an occasion like this, we would be returning to meet in efforts even greater and with higher aims than those which, at a certain time, seemed to us to be the highest goals of peoples, in the name of justice and happiness for human beings.

It would not seem to be possible that a country as small as Cuba would be seen forced to carry the weight of the struggle against those who have globalized and submitted the world to an inconceivable plunder, and have imposed a system which today is threatening the very survival of humankind.

I am not speaking only in favour of the interests of our nation. One might say that such objectives have been left behind, in the measure that existence and the well-being of peoples stopped being our objectives, in the name of world interests, without which the life of nations is impossible. It is also certain that, in our struggles for national and social emancipation, our country, the bastion of Spanish colonialism in this hemisphere, was the first to be occupied and the last to rid itself of the yoke after more than 400 years of domination.

Our struggle for national liberation was mixed together with the tenacious efforts of the workers of our country for their social liberation. It was not an act of will; it was an act of fate. The merit of the Cuban people is that they knew how to understand and strengthen the indissoluble bonds between both. (Applause and cries of “¡Viva Fidel!”)

The time humankind has to fight this battle is incredibly limited. Throughout more than three months of unceasing struggle I modestly made the effort to reveal, to an inattentive world, the terrible dangers that threaten human life on our planet. It is well-known, and I have no other alternative than to remember the fact, that we are not living in an age of chivalry and the steel of the swords accompanied by crossbows that were preceded for centuries by battering rams that demolished walls or tried to do so, or war chariots drawn by horses with knives mounted on the wheels; weapons, in brief, always cruel, but with limited destructive power that humans used to wage war on each other since they invented the mace, up to World Wars I and II, when automatic weapons were used , tanks, combat planes and flying fortresses, submarines, torpedoes, armoured vehicles and aircraft carriers that raised the toll of lives lost to tens of millions of humans, and to hundreds of millions of victims of destruction, the wounded, the sick and the hungry, inevitable consequences of wars.

Two nuclear devices were used at the end of the last war. Mankind had never before conceived such terrible destruction and extermination. More than 60 years ago we speak of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; with that we have indicated that the destructive power of accumulated weapons is equal to more than four hundred and forty times the power of one of those bombs. That’s how it is, that’s what mathematics tells us. I add no more because I would have to use rather tough words about the causes and the people responsible for that extremely sad reality.

But that was not enough. The desire for economic and military domination by the first ones to use those terrifying instruments of destruction and death lead humankind to the real possibility of dying out, which we face today. I don’t need to give you arguments for something you already know very well. The problem of peoples today, shall we say, of more than seven billion human beings, is to prevent that such a tragedy should occur.


I am not happy speaking about the painful truth that constitutes something of shame for everything that is identified as policy or government. This truth was deliberately hidden from the world and the difficult task of warning humankind of the real danger it is facing has fallen upon Cuba. We must not falter in that activity. Faced with sceptics, our unmistakable duty is to continue fighting the battle. It is a fact that a growing number of persons in the world have become aware of the reality.

Commenting on the first part of the interview published on Monday, August 30 by the director of La Jornada in that prestigious Mexican newspaper, a citizen of Our America who read it on the CubaDebate website voiced his opinion with words that were so profound that I decided to include the crux of his thoughts in this message to the university students of Cuba:

“I call out to all the countries that today are involved in military conflicts. Please, always think about achieving true peace, that is what we need most. Our children, our grandchildren and the human beings of this world, all of us will thank you. We need to live in peace and security on a planet that day by day becomes less liveable. It is very easy to understand. Nuclear weapons should disappear, no country should have them, atomic energy should only be used for good. THE ONLY REAL VICTORY IS IN ACHIEVING PEACE.

“Today we face two great challenges: the consolidation of world peace and saving the planet from climatic changes. The first is to achieve a lasting peace on solid bases, the second is to reverse climate change. We have to become aware of these problems that we ourselves have created and that we are the protagonists of the changes we must attain. The panorama of the last century was not the same as the one in this century. Weaponry, at this time, is much more sophisticated and deadly and the planet is weaker and more polluted.

“World Conference on Climate Change in Cancun […] the only opportunity left to us. […] We are getting to a critical point where there is no turning back. At that moment, because we are afraid, we would like to do anything to save our lives, but by now everything is in vain and it is too late. The opportunities in our lives appear before us just once and we must know how to make use of them. Our Mother Nature is like a passive smoker who still has not become addicted, we are making her sick indiscriminately.”

“Nobody has the right to use violence against any human being, country or nation. Nobody can cut down a tree if he hasn’t first planted three. […] We cannot turn our backs on nature. Quite the opposite, we must always embrace her tightly. Because we ourselves are nature, we are part of that fan of many colours, sounds, balance and harmony. Nature is perfect.

“Kyoto signified hope for all human beings …”

“If we do nothing. Nobody will be saved, there will be no safe place on earth, not in the air, not in the cosmos. The great energy that accumulates daily because of the greenhouse effect, since the solar rays are trapped and emit more energy every day onto the surface of the earth. It will cause natural disasters having unpredictable consequences. Would there be anyone on earth with a button that would be able to stop such a disaster?”

“…we cannot lose any time on anachronistic wars that weaken us and use up our energies. Enemies make wars. Let us eliminate all the causes that make men see other men as their enemies. Not even those who face each other in a war are aware that this is the solution to their problems, they react to their emotions and ignore their consciences mistakenly thinking that the road to peace is war. I say, without the least margin for error, that peace is attained with peace and: IF YOU WANT PEACE, GET READY TO CHANGE YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS (Applause).”

Here you have the essence of his words, quite simple and within the reach of any citizen on earth.

On Wednesday, September 1st, as I was writing this message, information appearing on the CubaDebate website brought us the following news: “A new wave of leakage about an attack on Iran’s nuclear targets being prepared by Israel together with the United States might this time have a basis in reality, as expressed in an article printed this Tuesday by George Friedman, the executive director of the prestigious Stratfor Centre, which has some former CIA analysts among its collaborators..” He is a well educated person with prestige.

The information goes on to say:

“There have been numerous occasions on which different versions of the possible attack on the Islamic Republic presumably filtered from secret services have been spread. According to experts, it dealt with an attempt to exert psychological pressure on Teheran to make it seek consensus with the West.”

“…this technique didn’t work and it is highly unlikely that it will be used again with the same objective, states Friedman…”

“‘It is a paradox, but the new slew of rumours about war may this time be directed towards trying to convince Iran precisely that there will be no war, while in reality, war is now being prepared’ …”

“The analyst completely discards the fact that Tel Aviv is daring to embark on a military operation without counting on the support of the Pentagon.”

“At the same time, the expert warns that the most serious consequence of the possible attack against Iran would be that the Islamic Republic would block the Strait of Ormuz, between the Oman and Persian Gulfs, and that would collapse 45% of world oil supplies thus shooting prices sky high and making world economic recovery after the recession difficult.”

Thus concludes the information.

I find it incredible that the fear of an attack is due to consequences that the price of oil may suffer and to the struggle against the recession. I myself do not harbour the least doubt that the capacity for Iran’s conventional answer would provoke a ferocious war, control of which would escape the hands of the warring parties and it would become an irremediable global nuclear conflict. That is what I maintain.

An important AFP dispatch states that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned this Wednesday in a BBC interview when talking about his memoirs being released, that the international community might have no other alternative than the military option if Iran were to develop nuclear weapons.”

It continues:

“Blair concluded that he thought that there was no alternative to this if they continue developing nuclear weapons. They should receive this message loud and clear, he added, echoing a threat that has already been made several times by the US and Israel.

Of course, if they are manufacturing nuclear weapons they have no proof nor can they have any proof because they are using some research centres, doing research; they don’t have, for up to two or three years as they themselves have admitted, any material to begin manufacturing a bomb. This without taking into account that manufacturers of nuclear weapons have 25,000 nuclear weapons, without counting the unimaginable conventional ones. They have no proof of this, it’s a research centre. Is that a reason to attack them? Having a plant producing electrical energy, coming from uranium, that’s nothing constituting a crime and for them it is proof they are manufacturing weapons. They have already done it, they did it in 1981 against an Iraqi research centre, and they did it in 2007 against a Syrian research centre; they didn’t talk about that, it’s somewhat of a mystery why they didn’t speak of it. Because there are terrible things happening that nobody talks about and nobody prints them.

Well, that is the proof, because they are talking about attacking those reactors and those research centres. That’s why one cannot become confused by the little words “if they try” to manufacture nuclear weapons.

A new dispatch from the ITAR-TASS agency reports that sanctions against Iran will not report any desired results, the Iranian problem must not be resolved by any method using force. Today, Sergei Lavrov, head of Russian diplomatic services, stated this in his speech before students –what a coincidence – of the MGIMO International Affairs Institute.”

And the cable goes on:

“We come from the idea that no world problem should be resolved using force, he stated. Lavrov drew attention to the position of US President Barack Obama in regard to Iran, especially involving Iran in the negotiated process. We welcome a normalization in US-Iran relations, he added.

I would think that Russia is not just a member of the Security Council with the right to veto, but also a powerful country whose opinion cannot be ignored. Independently of the fact that in that Resolution of June 9th, all those with the right to veto supported the Resolution. Turkey and Brazil did not support it, and Lebanon abstained. That was a very important moment because the Resolution was approved; it authorized inspection of Iranian merchant vessels and also established a term, they said it was 90 days, and some say it expires on the 9th, other say on the 7th. It also says that on that day they have to inform if they attacked or not.

Now we must sit back and wait to see what they will do in this situation, how they value world opinion, what effect it will have, if they will invent another term or not, if they declare they are not going to do it, or if they ratify that they are going to do it, it might take a bit longer, but it cannot be a lot of time.

I recommend that we are watchful, that we ask our information media to communicate to us, so that we can closely follow the situation.

Thanks to the electronic media there are persons in the world, a growing number of persons who are being informed, because they cannot prevent that, besides even if the news agencies and the great information media in the hands of the powerful capitalist corporations keep silent, the world is finding out about it. I tell you this because of the number of messages that are arriving. I read you one opinion that I selected: it is at 4:52, at 4:54, another at 4:55, the comrades who collect these explain that they are coming from all parts of the world, not just from Latin America. It is impossible to collect and comment on them all, we have an idea about the state of opinions, about their credibility or not, and I can tell you that they are being given great credibility just as you are doing. It is clear, and that is decisive. It is a new stage, never have we seen a situation like this.

Therefore, I suggest to you, and to all our compatriots that are trying to be aware, and to our press media that inform us, because at times the international press keeps strangely silent and then suddenly a series of news items appears. The ones that are going to come out next, each day they will be more interesting.

Nobody can say exactly what is going to happen, because these events are unravelling.

What is going to happen on the 7th, the 9th, the 15th, the 20th? We have to make our plans, work plans, everyone makes their own. As for me, I will be concentrating; I am concentrating on this for a while now, collecting as much information as possible.

But in all this, we all play a part in the job, a part of the responsibility that doesn’t mean that we have to stop whatever we are doing.

Also, another very important country, it is the last one mentioned here, because it was the last cable, yesterday afternoon.

A Reuters dispatch states that the European Union is pressuring China to comply with sanctions against Iran.

Because besides the famous June 9th agreement, number 1929, establishing the sanctions I mentioned, these European satellite powers and those from other parts, imposed additional sanctions to strangle the country and, in this case, they were complaining about China, also about Russia in terms of what they were going to do, but it stated thus:

“The official responsible for the European Union foreign policy, Catherine Ashton, said on Thursday that China had been pressured to ensure that Chinese companies would not fill the void left by other companies that had abandoned Iran because of the sanctions …” It doesn’t say what sanctions, whether the ones by the Council or theirs, they must be referring to all of them, of course. .

Any honest person can understand the complexity of the very serious problem that today threatens the world.

Comrades, university students, as in other times which seem far away and which seem to me to have been just yesterday, I thank you for your presence and for the moral support you are providing for this struggle for peace (Applause). I urge you to not give up fighting for this. In this struggle, as in many others in years past, victory is possible (Applause).

May human life be preserved! May children and youth enjoy life in a world of justice! May parents and grandparents share with them the privilege of living!

The fair distribution of material and spiritual wealth, which mankind is capable of creating through the fabulous development of productive forces, that is the only possible alternative.

Thank you very much.

Trade Unions All India Strike on Tuesday

Nine major trade unions, including the INTUC, AITUC and CITU, have called for an all-India strike by workers on September 7 to protest against “inaction” of the Union government to look into their genuine problems. The leaders of the union met a INTUC headquarters in New Delhi and made a joint statement regarding the preparations for the strike.

The unions said some federations of bank employees unions too would participate in the dawn-to-dusk strike.

AITUC general secretary and MP Gurudas Dasgupta warned that the unions would launch a “march to Parliament” in February during the budget session if the UPA government failed to meet their demands.

CITU president M.K. Pandhe appealed to all workers to make the strike a success.

Though INTUC’s decision to join the strike along with outfits like CITU and AITUC for the first time has raised quite a few eyebrows within the Congress, its chief Sanjeev Reddy appeared unruffled. Mr. Reddy made a scathing attack on UPA government. “The rising prices of essential commodities have hit the working class. The poor workers of this country are suffering. They are starving,” he said.


To a question as to how the Congress-affiliated INTUC was joining the Left trade unions, Mr Reddy said: “If Congress could form a government with the Left’s support, then what is the harm in joining hands with them for an agitation.” Mr Reddy said the trade unions have been forced to chalk out a joint strategy because of the worsening scenario for the working class. “The government’s failure to control inflation and its indifference to the trade unions are matters of grave concern,” he said

CPIM Office in Lalgarh reopened

CPIM Dharampur Local Committee office in Lalgarh area, which was closed after Maoist-Trinamool attack 14 months ago was reopened. Hundreds of Party sympathizers and supporters including women attended the opening ceremony. Party activists under the leadership of CPIM Lalgarh Zonal Secretary Com Anju Panday came as a rally and hoisted the red flag in front of the office. After hoisting of flag a meeting was conducted and the leaders hailed the heroic resistance made by the cadres to reopen the office and to make the Maoists terrorists teach a lesson. Lalgarh party office was completly shattered and demolished by the Maoist-Trinamool goons. 21 Party cadres were killed by this unholy nexus team. They are now been marginalised after the people had seen their true face.

Prakash Karat Meets PM On Kashmir

Prakash Karat, General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), had a meeting with the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, today to appraise him of the serious situation prevailing in Kashmir and what needs to be done immediately.
On the basis of a visit to Srinagar and discussions with a wide section of the people, Prakash Karat submitted a letter to the Prime Minister.


Dear Dr. Manmohan Singhji,

I had visited Srinagar recently on August 22 & 23. I had met people from various walks of life and tried to get an assessment about the serious situation prevailing in Kashmir.

I would like to place before you some of the issues which are essential to be taken up without delay.

You had in the meeting of all parties from Jammu & Kashmir expressed your pain and grief at the loss of young lives in Kashmir. So far sixty six young boys and girls have died due to firing by the Central paramilitary and police forces. Those who have died are in the range of nine to twenty five years.

There has to be an immediate end to the resort to police firing to control the stone pelting crowds of youth. The Central and state governments should issue strict instructions to the security forces not to resort to police firings and use other measures to counter the situation. Every death is further inflaming the situation and brining ordinary people out into the streets to protest. Unfortunately, no distinction is being made between tackling the stone-throwing youth and the tactics adopted to fight the extremists resorting to terrorist violence.

I have got the medical reports of a number of those who have been injured in the police firings. Many of them will suffer from permanent disabilities. It is incumbent upon the Centre and the state administration to provide for adequate compensation to those injured in the police actions and rehabilitation measures for those who have permanent disabilities.

In order to help restore normalcy, it will be appropriate for the administration to release all young people who have been arrested and jailed if they are not facing any serious charges. I wish to point out to you that many juveniles are in jail. They should be released from prison.

The enforcement of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is another major source of unrest. We have been asking for the amendment of the AFSPA to remove certain draconian provisions. But immediately to solve the problem, the Disturbed Areas Act should be withdrawn from Srinagar as this will make the use of AFSPA redundant in the city. As you are aware, a similar step was taken in Manipur when the Imphal region was exempted from the Act.

Many of the bunkers manned by the paramilitary forces in the Srinagar localities are unnecessary. They were set up at the height of the militancy in the early 1990s. They should be removed.

You had assured earlier that there would be zero tolerance for human rights violations. But unfortunately this is not being seen as being implemented on the ground. Action has not been taken against those guilty in the Pathribal incident. The recent Machil fake encounter case should be taken up and the guilty brought to book. Without such actions, it will not be possible to restore faith in the people that the State will not tolerate excesses and violations of human rights.

There is urgent need to generate employment for the youth in Kashmir. This must be accompanied by the rehabilitation of the thousands of former militants and those who were victims of militancy who need jobs and other assistance.

Given the major economic losses suffered due to the continued curfews and hartals for the past two months, the government has to compensate and revive trade and other economic activities of different sections of the people. Similarly, the disruption of education of the children due to closure of schools and other institutions should also be addressed.

Ultimately, the Kashmir issue cannot be resolved without a political settlement. There has to be a sustained dialogue with all sections of the people of the state. You had taken some initiative in your previous term in government. But they have not been carried forward.

This is the time to take a bold initiative for a political dialogue with all sections in the state. Only you can initiate such a process by announcing that a dialogue can be held with all sides without preconditions.

In this connection, I would like to stress that our Party feels that it is only by recognizing the special status of the state and assuring the Kashmiri people of their identity that a solution can be found. This requires a new political framework in which the bedrock is maximum autonomy.

Tackling the extremely serious situation in Kashmir where the mass of the people are deeply alienated from the Indian State should be accorded top priority. I request you to take necessary steps in this direction.


CPIM Launches Jail Bharo campaign in Bihar


CPI-M activists staged demonstration to launch their state-wide Jail Bharo (Fill-the-Jail) Campaign in Patna on August 30, 2010 in support of their demands that included security, relief, land reforms and price rise.

It is to be noted that 83 per cent of the dalits and 66 per cent of the backwards are landless and it is they who could benefit most from the recommendations. Those championing the cause of social justice for dalits and backwards are making common cause with the feudal lords who are bent upon thwarting any attempts at land reforms in Bihar.

Since then, Bihar has witnessed a bizarre spectacle of bourgeois leaders floating a forum called Kisan Panchayat and spewing venom against Nitish Kumar and Bandopadhyay. In their rally at Patna on May 9, leaders of the RJD, LJP and JD(U) warned the Nitish government against implementing the Bandopadhyay report or face the consequences. This has brought the land reforms agenda to the fore and now it is the Catch 22 situation for Nitish Kumar. He can neither reject nor accept the commission’s recommendations. The BJP, partner in the Bihar government, has openly opposed land reforms, threatening to pull out of the government if land reforms were implemented. 
But the Left parties have taken up the issue. A campaign has been launched all across Bihar for the implementation of the commission’s recommendations. As part of this campaign  the Left took out Bhoomi Sudhar Jagran Jathas simultaneously from Darbhanga and Begusarai from May 14 to June 14. The month long campaign launched under the joint banner of Kisan Sabha (affiliated to the All India Kisan Sabha) and Khetihar Mazdoor Union (affiliated to the All India Agricultural Workers Union) in Bihar culminated in a massive turnout of peasants and agricultural workers, including rural women, at Patna on June 14. On this occasion, they saluted the memory of martyr Comrade Ajit Sarkar who fell to the bullets of landlords’ goons on this very day in the year 1998.

It is to be noted that the Kisan Sabha, Khetihar Mazdoor Union and other organisations have come together to fight for implementation of the Land Reform Act and the recommendations made by Bandopadhyay commission in this regard. As reported in these columns earlier, the Bandopadhyay commission has brought up the land reform agenda to the fore and has put the Nitish government in a fix. But the latter has meekly surrendered before the feudal forces who have ganged up under the banner of Kisan Mahapanchayat. The Left parties and particularly the CPI(M), Kisan Sabha and Khetihar Mazdoor Union has jointly decided to carry on the struggle for land reforms.

The June 14 rally of peasants and agricultural workers in the state capital marked the height of mobilisation of the rural poor for the possession of government, bhudan and ceiling surplus land. They came from the fields of Bihar where they have been relentlessly fighting against the evictions and all sorts of machination by the police-landlord-land mafia nexus. In the nineties, the CPI(M) and Kisan Sabha had liberated thousand of acres of land and since then the rural poor are in possession of those lands. The month long campaign has generated a new hope among the landless and the homeless people of Bihar who constitute around 90 per cent of the state’s population.
(courtesy :View Patna)

CPI(M) to conduct agitation over apple growers woes in Himachal Pradesh


Holding that the state government was indifferent toward problems being faced by apple growers, Communist Party of India (Marxists) today threatened to launch a mass agitation, should the government not act within a week to improve the road network and regulate post-harvest operations.

Speaking to the media persons, Sanjay Chauhan, state committee member CPI(M) said that there was complete chaos in the marketing operations during peak apple season time as black marketing was being resorted to by suppliers of packaging material.
Shortage of transport vehicles was not being met and hapless small and marginal farmers were having to pay stiff freight charges that were 50 to 100 % higher than the freights announced by the government, he said.

Due to breakdown of rural road network in Chopal region, there were over 30,000 boxes awaiting transport facility to access the market, he claimed. Kuldeep Tanwar, State Secretariat Member CPI(M) said the government had abdicated its regulatory role and the farmers were facing the brunt.

“The government needs to treat the situation as an emergency as the years livelihood of about 3 lakh farmers was dependent up apple crop,” he said. Recalling an earlier agitation in 1992, when 3 apple growers had died in police firing, Tikender Panwar, member secretary said, “unless the government acts within a week’s time, CPI(M) would be forced to launch a mass agitation.”
Photo credit: Amit Kanwar
Courtesy : Myhimachal.com