Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups

Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups (AIPSG),
Email: aipsg@yahoo.com,

AIPSG publishes a news-blog Charcha (click here for archives of the old monthly edition) of news, news analysis, views and opinions on India, South Asia and South Asians abroad. Archived articles from its antecedent publication, Taraqqi, are listed below by subject heading.

Last Updated: Thursday 7 May 2009

International Conference in Toronto Calls on South Asians to Unite to Oppose War in South Asia

A four-day long international gathering of academics, activists and concerned individuals from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as from Canada, the UK and the US, concluded on April 26^th at the University of Toronto after resolving to whole-heartedly work to eliminate the threat of war in South Asia. The movement to stop the war and military intervention in South Asia also echoed through the Second Annual Faiz Peace Festival and the First International Festival of Poetry of Resistance which were being held concurrently in Toronto during these days, attended by hundreds of participants.

The conference to “Build the Unity of the People to Secure South Asia for the Peoples of South Asia” was jointly organized by the South Asian Peoples’ Forum, the Ghadar Heritage Organization and the Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups to discuss and develop an action plan against the escalating war and foreign military intervention in South Asia, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. On behalf of the Organizing Committee, Sara Abraham opened the conference and presented the keynote paper on Aril 23^rdevening in a festive social-political event, inviting the participants to openly voice their analysis of events and expound their views on solutions to the problems plaguing the peoples of South Asia. The opening session also included welcome remarks by representatives of the sponsoring organizations as well as remarks by Douglas Sanderson, Professor of Law at the University of Toronto, Prof. Sherene Razack of the Ontario Institute of Secondary Education, and Mr. Abid Hassan Minto, Senior Advocate of Pakistan’s Supreme Court and President of the National Workers’ Party, Pakistan.

The sessions of the conference were organized as panel discussions. A total of five panel discussions were organized to explore the themes of the military crisis in Sri Lanka, the sources of war in South Asia, violence and terrorism in South Asia, left politics and people’s unity in South Asia and the resistance struggles of the people against neoliberal economic reforms. K. Ahilan, Syed Azeem, Hamid Bashani, Shonali Bose, Horace Campbell, K. Chattopadhyay, Vivek Chibber, P. Dhakal, G. Hashmi, Hassan, Rohini Hensman, S. Kanavi, Soma Marik, Naeem Malik, B. Pain, Rajan Philips, Ahmad Salim, Gurdev Singh, Ijaz Syed, Amrit Wilson and Sima Zerehi served as panelists in these sessions. Amongst these panelists were professors, journalists, lawyers, communists, workers, students, film makers, activists and community organizers who came from far and near - from Calcutta, Mumbai, Islamabad, Delhi, Birmingham, London, Los Angeles, New York, Syracuse, San Francisco, Toronto and Ottawa. Different opinions and views were presented and debated for hours as the panelists and the participants labored to hear and be heard on the key problems of the peoples and the different visions for taking the struggles forward to victory. The feature film Amu was screened during the conference.

The conference concluded after adopting the following resolutions:

The Conference condemns all foreign intervention in the region and demands the immediate withdrawal of US, NATO, ISAF and other foreign troops from the region;
The Conference opposes militarization and war preparations by our individual governments, and stands against nuclearization;
The Conference condemns all acts of state terror and repression against our peoples and against all social and political movements under any pretext such as the war on terror, democracy, development, secularism, national unity and territorial integrity and others;
The Conference condemns political violence and acts of terror by non-state actors against civilians in the name of religion, ethnicity and nationalism;
The Conference holds that neo-liberal offensives have weakened the security of all ordinary people of South Asia and other parts of the world, and supports all struggles in defence of livelihood, economic rights, well-being and social security; and
The Conference resolves to disseminate the proceedings of the conference and to organize similar conferences in future.

The Key to Ending War and War Preparations in South Asia is for the People of the Region to Unite and to Become Decision-Makers

Remarks by the AIPSG Representative at SAPF Conference,

April 23, 2009 Toronto

It is my honour and privilege to welcome all the guests, speakers and participants in this historic international conference to build people’s unity to stop war and war preparations in South Asia.
The threat of war in South Asia is higher than ever today and the international balance of forces is such that any war in South Asia will inevitably acquire global dimensions.

South Asia is home to two nuclear armed states. The region is located where the spheres of influence of other nuclear powers collide. The old arrangements between China, the US, the former Soviet Union, the European powers and the countries of South Asia are ripe for realignment.

War occurs when other peaceful means to re-divide the zones of influence fails. AIPSG’s view is that the peoples of South Asia cannot look up to their governments to avert war because many of these governments themselves are factors for war. Unless the people of the region become the decision-makers to determine the destinies of their countries and nations, the powers-that-be will not hesitate to go to war to carve out their spheres of influence.

The AIPSG considers the issue of people becoming decision-makers in their own countries and nations as the most important ingredient for shaping the 21st century to a century of progress rather than a century of wars. Within the current economic-political conditions, people do not make decisions – big business houses make decisions through the governments in the name of the people, if at all.

The Westminster style or any other style multiparty election is the main mechanism that reduces people from being decision-makers to being a tool to legitimize the decision-making by the big business houses. For example, the government that will arise out of the general elections going on in India right now will not make the people decision-makers. The new government will pursue the aims of the Indian business houses to compete globally and make India a global power with its sphere of influence, even by going to war.

Nevertheless, it will claim legitimacy to those decisions in the name of the people. In the opinion of the AIPSG, a thorough overhaul of the multi-party political process can weaken the stranglehold of the monopolies and big business houses on political power and enable people to control decision-making so that their country will not participate in a war of aggression.

The AIPSG’s current fronts of work are on the renewal of the political process in India and the defence of rights. The work on political renewal involves broad study and exposure of the origins and foundations of the Indian state structure that was established by the colonial powers by force. AIPSG is currently elaborating on a new electoral process with candidate selection and election by the people to limit the scope of political parties to field partisan candidates and form partisan government on behalf of their big financial backers.

The AIPSG is carrying out activities in support of the struggles for rights - against state repression, torture and preventive detention, communal violence etc. in India and in defence of the rights of South Asian minorities abroad. AIPSG has argued that rights belong to one by virtue of one’s being. Everyone has right to conscience by virtue of being human and also has other rights by virtue of being part of collectives - as workers, as women, as minorities, as youth, as nations and tribes, as farmers and so on.

Everyone belongs to society and thus has the right to participate in decision-making. The affirmation of individual, collective and societal rights under modern conditions are necessary for social advance to occur in the 21st century. The AIPSG considers that building the unity of the people irrespective of their ideological differences is the tool to carry out the democratic renewal of the political process in each country so that people’s rights can be affirmed and harmonized.

The current rulers use ideological differences to divide the people politically, thus controlling political power and depriving people many of their rights. The AIPSG’s experience suggests that struggle for rights, opposition to state terrorism and repression, defense of minority rights, struggle against war, etc. unites people irrespective of their ideologies and outlook. We are confident this conference will prove once more how opposition to war unites the peoples of the countries of South Asia and all the peoples of the world.

I want to welcome all of you to this conference. We encourage all the speakers and participants to elaborate the issue under discussion from their unique perspective. The organizing committee is here to help you to make your contribution to this movement and wish success in your work. Thank you.

URL: www.oocities.org/aipsg

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Oppose War and War Preparations in South Asia!

Joint statement by the South Asian People’s Forum, Ghadar Heritage Organization and the Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups (AIPSG)

The question in the first decade of the 21^st century has emerged as how to avert the war that the big powers are preparing in South Asia. The new U.S. administration has articulated a militarist agenda for South Asia. Under the pretext of hunting for terrorists, the Americans plan to mobilize NATO and other allies to deepen their occupation of Afghanistan and enter Pakistan. It is up to the people of the world and the people of South Asia in particular to stop such intervention and bring an end to the current occupation. The times require the building of a movement against war and war-aims to also ensure that war does not become the means for the big powers to emerge out of the current economic, political and military crises engulfing the world.

An occupation army in Afghanistan is already killing innocent people; and Pakistan’s territory is being bombed everyday by the US. The secret agencies of the US and allied countries are roaming through South Asia under the pretext of capturing terrorists. Their fore-most aim in these countries is to secure a strategic advantage and lay hands on the resources and markets. War will provide them with the best opportunity to accomplish those aims. People in all the countries of South Asia are already waging resistance struggles against the neoliberal offensive and violation of rights and they can avert the march to war through their united opposition.

India and other countries of South Asia have been building their military machines and linking their military with the U.S. and other big powers for some time. Occupation and aggression from abroad can become the occasion for war amongst the countries of South Asia to settle old scores and pursue their own ambitions. We have a duty to support the people’s struggles being waged in the countries of South Asia through our struggles for the same aims, irrespective of where we live.

Please participate in the conference and help build this movement against war as our contribution to world peace in the 21^st century!

AIPSG NEWS ARCHIVE...

Dec 15, 2005	15th Anniversary of AIPSG
March 21, 2004	Anti-War Governments are the Needs of the Time
March 19, 2004	Elections - Oppose the Rise of an Imperial India on the Backs of the People - IPSG Michigan Statement
Jan 15, 2004	World Social Forum and Mumbai Resistance - How can the Indian People become Beneficiaries?
Sept 27, 2003	Geopolitics and the Indo-Pak Conflict...
Sept 9, 2003	CANCUN 2003 - One Humanity One Struggle - Join the Global Mobilization to Oppose the WTO Agenda
June 17th 2003	New AIPSG booklet on Gujarat - BREAKING THE STALEMATE
April 5th 2003	The Iraq War - a defining event of the 21st century
March 23rd 2003	END THE WAR NOW! - Anti-War Governments are the Demand of the Time
Nov 20th 2002	South Asia at a Turning Point
Oct 2nd 2002	Geopolitics and the Necessity for Anti-War Governments
Aug 24 2002	The Last Reform: Breaking With the Past by Hardial Bains
Aug 15 2002	INDIA AT 55
Jun 20 2002	NO TO WAR: People Must Seize the Initiative on the Indo-Pak Conflict!
Apr 28 2002	AIPSG Message to Rally for Palestine
Apr 7 2002	LRS Conference: "How to Stop the Privatization and Anti-Labour Laws" - Mumbai
Mar 29 2002	It is Our Future - AIPSG at Johns Hopkins
Mar 20 2002	IPSG MI Statement on Gujarat Riots
Mar 08 2002	International Women's Day - It's a Matter of Initiative
Mar 06 2002	War in Afghanistan and the Future of South Asia
Feb 23 2002	AIPSG Sends Message to All India Conference on Rights

BREAKING THE STALEMATE:
The Carnage in Gujarat and the Movement for Justice and Rehabilitation

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE BOOKLET IN:

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© 2003, Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups

Introduction: Calling for a Bold New Initiative in Gujarat
A Time for the Utmost Vigilance
Gujarat Riots: Update
The Carnage in Gujarat is an Attack on all the People of India!
People Must Take a Stand on the Gujarat Carnage!
Continued Killings in Gujarat: A Matter of Grave Concern!
Who Will Put an End to the Anarchy?
Gujarat – What is the Question?
The Business of Violence
What Should People Do?
Gujarat Elections – A Self-Serving Debate
Akshardham – Gujarat is Far From “Normal”
A Grudging Acknowledgment is the First Step
Elections – Picking up Where the Carnage Left Off
Gujarat After the Elections
“Punishing the Guilty” is More Important than Ever
Infamous Anniversary, Profound Significance
Documenting the Carnage
An Ominous Assassination
Epilogue – Facts Can’t be Obliterated

BREAKING THE STALEMATE:
The Carnage in Gujarat and the Movement for Justice and Rehabilitation

FOREWORD:
The Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups (AIPSG) is pleased to release this booklet containing a series of articles, statements and speeches relating to the horrific communal carnage in Gujarat in 2002.

All of these items have already appeared in Charcha – the online discussion journal of the AIPSG. Each of the articles is self-contained, capturing the context of these developments, analysing and highlighting their immediate and long-term significance in a timeline running from February 2002 through March 2003. Taken together, they sum up the experiences of the past year and draw out a conclusion that can serve as a guide to action for people concerned about the situation in Gujarat and elsewhere in India.

The meticulous work of journalists, activists, jurists, and ordinary people has exposed the reality of who was responsible for the killings in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and elsewhere. As a result, most people are well aware of the culpability of the organs of the state and various levels of government, and a broad movement seeking the investigation, trial and punishment of those responsible has taken shape. Even the NRIs have drawn this conclusion, and India’s Prime Minister and Home Minister were forced into statements of contrition while visiting New York and London respectively.

But the powers that be in New Delhi or Gandhinagar still refuse to provide for the rehabilitation of the victims or the for any investigative or judicial process. According to them, the assembly elections of December 2002 provided an electoral mandate for this inaction, and they have subsequently sought to paralyse and liquidate any popular demands for further action. A number of eminent jurists and human rights activists in India have prepared detailed documentation of the complicity of the state apparatus in the carnage, and there are strong possibilities of using this evidence to bring charges against the Gujarat government functionaries for genocide and crimes against humanity in the Indian and international courts. This can be an important step in preventing the recurrence of such horrors in the future.

As readers will find in this collection, analyses of the events in Gujarat brought forth the limitations of the existing political mechanisms to prevent or control state-sanctioned or state-organised communal violence. One problem remains that the relief and rehabilitation work remains the charge of wilfully negligent functionaries. Another problem is in the administration of justice, starting with the investigation of the crimes and leading up to the trial and punishment of those responsible. In spite of all the evidence presented in the various investigations and reports, the law enforcement and judicial system showed no enthusiasm to take them up. One important theme that resonates through this booklet is the necessity of creating new political mechanisms that give people a political role in the administration of justice or rehabilitation.

The AIPSG sincerely hopes that this idea is taken up in the months and years ahead. Every Indian has either been a victim or is rendered more vulnerable to become a victim in the future if such officially sanctioned violence and insecurity is further entrenched. The movement against communal violence was unable to prevent the deaths of thousands in Gujarat between February and May 2002. Thus far, it has not succeeded in bringing the main perpetrators to justice.

It is time to sum up these experiences and those of other similar protest movements such as the anti-war or anti-privatisation movement. Those women and men of conscience who stood up in defence of the rights of their fellow citizens have no cause to be disheartened , they are being called upon to take their struggle to a new level.

10 June 2003
Association of Indian Progressive Study Groups

Elaborating the Agenda for Democratic Renewal -
AVAILABLE IN PDF FORMAT:

On Saturday February 24, 2001, the AIPSG released a new book at a reception held in Cambridge, Massachussetts. Titled Elaborating the Agenda for Democratic Renewal in India and consists of the papers and presentations given during 1999 in two seminar series held on the Indian constitution and on the Indian economy in Los Angeles and Boston respectively.

Introduction, TOC and Preface
The Last Reform: Breaking with the Past, Hardial Bains

Papers on the Indian Economy
Introduction, IPSG Boston
India’s Public Debt, R.Gopalan
The Indian Economy – Lessons From East Asia Financial Crisis, C.Ravi
The 1999 Budget and the Future of Liberalisation in India, AIPSG
The Impact of Liberalisation and Privatisation in India, Raj Mishra
Message from Lok Raj Sangathan
Working Out India’s Economic Agenda During The 13th Lok Sabha Elections, R.Gopalan
Globalisation and the Indian Economy, Raj Mishra
What Vision for the Indian Economy?, AIPSG
War against Poverty, Lok Raj Sangathan
Agrarian Question and the Indian Economy, IPSG Boston