CITU calls for Shutdown strike in West Bengal against Petroleum price hike

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has called for 24-hour public transport strike in West Bengal Saturday to protest the fuel price hike. CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty said buses, taxis, auto rickshaws, trams, tourist taxis and trucks and lorries will come within the purview of the strike. "It will start at 6 a.m. Saturday and continue till 6 a.m. Sunday," Chakraborty said

Left Democratic Front Kerala to observe Hartal on 26th June

In protest against the UPA governments decision to increase the price of petroleum products the Left Democratic Front has given a dawn to dust hartal in Kerala on 26th June. " The price hike will be an added burden to the common man "  said in a statement. 

First Anniversary Gift from UPA : V S Achuthanandan

Comrade V S Achuthanandan, Chief Minister of Kerala, termed the hike in petroleum price as a gift by the Congress led UPA ministry on the completion of their first year in office. It is for the third time in an year the price is hiked. A consumer state like Kerala will be the most affected by this hike." he said

Strongly Oppose this Cruel Blow of petroleum price hike

The four Left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party – have issued the following statement:

The decision of the UPA government to inflict a steep rise in the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene oil and cooking gas is a cruel blow against the people who are already suffering due to the runaway increase in the prices of food and essential commodities. The price of petrol has gone up by Rs. 3.50 per litre, diesel by Rs. 2 per litre, kerosene oil by Rs. 3 per litre and cooking gas by Rs. 35 per cylinder.

This callous decision of the government has come at a time when the food inflation rate is around 17 per cent and the general inflation rate has reached double digits. India has the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of consumer price inflation in the world.

The UPA government has decided to deregulate the price of petrol and leave it to the market to determine. Going by the Kirit Parikh Report, the government is going to decontrol prices of all petroleum products, including diesel. This is going to prove disastrous for the economy and the country.

The government is giving false arguments to justify these measures. The prices of petrol and diesel were increased by Rs. 3 per litre only three months ago at the time of the Union Budget. International oil prices have not risen substantially in this period. Neither is the government prepared to rationalize the taxation structure on petroleum products which is adding to a price of petrol and diesel in a large measure.

It is a myth that such a step is being taken to protect the public sector companies from under-recoveries. The so-called under-recoveries are entirely based on notional prices calculated without any reference to the actual cost of production. In fact, the deregulation is only to help private companies who withdrew from the market because of the government price controls. Now they will be free to enter the market to make profits.

By deregulating petrol prices, the government has opened the way for continuous increases in the prices of petrol. By increasing the price of diesel and kerosene oil, the farmers and the poorer sections are going to be badly hit. The LPG increase will further burden the middle classes.

The Congress-led government has shown its callous and anti-people character by these measures.

The Left parties demand the immediate scrapping of the price increases. They call upon all their units to jointly launch protests against these hikes.

June 23rd Strike by Greek Workers : A resolute response to the capitalist and its supporters

Tens of thousands of striking workers participated in the demonstrations of All Workers’ Militant Front (PAME) on June 23 in Athens and in 60 cities across the country, declaring that they will not remain passive spectators of the slaughter of their rights, neither fall into the trap of the “lesser evil” set by the compromised trade union leaderships of GSEE and ADEDY. The strike demonstrations of PAME overcame the obstacles set by the government, the employers, and the yellow trade unionism along with other mechanisms e.g. media. The working people, the self-employed and the youth protested the barbaric policy of the social democrat government, the EU and the IMF which is also supported by the parties of ND and LAOS. Picket lines were mounted in numerous factories and workplaces throughout the country.

Once again, the port of Piraeus occupied centre stage. The strike organised by the seamen’s trade unions was declared illegal by the bourgeois tribunal. On the other hand, the ship-owners and their staff were deliberately sending tourists to the port although they knew that the strike was to take place as scheduled, using them as a vehicle for breaking the strike. Nevertheless, their efforts fell flat. For 24 hours, till the end of the strike no ship left the port while there was a wave of solidarity with the strike despite the ongoing bourgeois propaganda about “the abolition of legitimacy and institutions by PAME”. The bourgeoisie are particularly disturbed by the slogan “law is the rights of the workers” and for that reason they use all the dirty means in order to slander the struggles claiming that tourism is allegedly damaged by the strikes of PAME and not by the drastic reduction of the workers’ income.  At the same time GSEE and ADEDY did not participate in the strike functioning once again as a strike breaking mechanism.

Aleka Papariga, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece, made the following statement during the demonstration in Athens:

“All of us have to options: either the fatalist submission to poverty and misery that will spread even more or the counterattack with courage and endurance and the struggle for social and people’s prosperity”.

The success of the strike on June 23 constitutes a legacy for the escalation of the struggle and the determinance in the organisation of the new strike of PAME on 29 June against the offensive of the government, the EU, and the IMF on wages, collective labor agreements, social security and labor rights.

CORPSE OF DALIT BURIED IN DISPUTED BURIAL GROUND DESPITE POLICE RESISTANCE IN SORISPURAM under the leadership of TNEUF

P.Esakkimuthu,Dist.Convener,TNUEF,Tuticorin

The burial ground in the enjoyment of dalit People of Sorispuram in Tuticorin District (TN) for more than 6 decades was all of a sudden denied on the ground that it located in a patta land of a private party. The dalit people under the banner of TN Untouchability Eradication front (TNUEF) undertook different form of struggle but in vain. A picketing of Collectorate on 5.7.10 was declared. In the meantime one Sri nainar of age 85 died of sickness all of a sudden.

The villagers led by TNUEF leaders P.Esakkimuthu ( District Convener), K P.Perumal (District Secretary of AIKS) K.S.Arjunan (Town Secretary of CPI(M) and Sankarasubbu (AIKS), Marimuthu (Town Secretary of DYFI) Vai.Balu (CITU), took the corpse in procession to the disputed burial ground. The RDO and Police denied permission to enter into the burial ground. The processionist with the corpse,however, managed to enter into the burial ground by breaking the fence and the stone pillars, dig the ground and buried the corpse despite the police snatched the crowbar and spades used for digging the burial ground. Thus the dead body was buried and a memorial stone was laid near the buried place. The police force was all of a sudden withdrawn from the scene.

After the burial was over, P.Esakkimuthu, K.S.Arjunan and K.P.Perumal addressed the gathering stressing the need to rally behind the TNUEF to protect the rights of the dalits. It is thus again established that the abrogated burial ground can be restored with the unity and struggle of the dalit people under the banner of TNUEF despite fence, stonepillars and Police