Peoples’Alliance for Democracy and Secularism Condemns Fundamentalist Violence in South Asia - May 31, 2016
Peoples’Alliance
for Democracy and Secularism Condemns Fundamentalist Violence in South Asia
The
past few years have seen an alarming increase in violent attacks on the democratic
rights of ordinary people all over South Asia. Fundamentalist groups are attacking
and/or killing people whom they perceive to be challenging their beliefs, or
'hurting their sentiments'. For the past
two years India has had a Central government that has fraternal relations with
fundamentalist Hindutva groups that are widely perceived to be sympathetic to
or involved in violence. There is no lack of revenge-filled rhetoric from
representatives of and/or allies of the ruling dispensation. Cattle traders
have been attacked and killed in the name of protecting cows. A man was killed in
his home because of rumours that he was eating beef. Three well-known elderly intellectuals: Dr
Dabholkar, Dr Panasare and Prof Kalburgi were murdered for holding views on
religion that displeased certain fanatics, and more than a year later the
police have not tracked down the culprits. Localised violence against ordinary
citizens of minorities, and oppressed strata continues.
The
past year has also seen brutal attacks in Bangladesh. Islamist fundamentalist
forces have expanded their target beyond secular authors and bloggers. The most
recent killings have involved academics who may have promoted folk music, gay
rights activists, student activists and ordinary Hindu and Buddhist citizens of
Bangladesh. Citizens of Pakistan have been facing fundamentalist violence for
many decades. Even provincial governors and ministers have been killed by
extremists. The most recent attacks have been on a polio vaccination center, a
university, gatherings of religious minorities and sects within Islam, and on
human rights activists, lawyers, and trans-genders.
Religious
fundamentalists are on rampage in all the countries in South Asia. Their ideas
and organizational methods are no secret. They do not believe in the equality
of all citizens, nor that people have a right to differing beliefs. They do not
respect the ideal of a non-violent and/or legal resolution of conflicts. All
countries of South Asia now have popularly elected governments, which do at least
pay lip service to democracy. Every attack produces popular revulsion, and in
many cases has led to protests in solidarity with the victims. If fundamentalist
violence continues despite this, we must conclude that the entire region is
faced with deep political crisis.
It
would seem that the authorities all over South Asia have stopped protecting
citizens against fundamentalist violence. Instead of catching the killers, the Bangladesh
government is arresting bloggers under Section 57 of the Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) Act. After the murder of secular blogger
Nazimuddin Samad, the Bangladesh Home Minister remarked that 'no one has the
right to attack religious leaders and that the blogger’s writings will be
scrutinized by the government'. In India, while cattle traders are being killed,
BJP-led state governments are criminalising cow slaughter, indicating that for
them that protecting cows is more important than upholding the criminal justice
system as regards human beings.
The
degradation of Indian justice over the years, and especially under the current
government, indicates the criminalization of the polity and a creeping
ideological coup d’etat against the Constitution. The violent assaults upon the
JNU president by pro-BJP lawyers inside court premises in Delhi in February;
the fact that numbers of witnesses in the Ajmer Dargah (2007) and Samjhauta
(2007) blast cases have rapidly turned hostile; that the chief public
prosecutor in the Malegaon blast case stated that the NIA asked her to go soft
on the accused – all this indicates that the Modi government wishes to
encourage the criminal conduct of members of the Hindutva political fraternity.
The turn-around by the NIA in the Malegaon blast case and asking for the
acquittal of Sadhavi Pragya and others, is the latest and most obvious face of
this degradation. They have gone so far as to accused the late IPS officer
Hemant Karkare of fabricating evidence against Hindutva activists – an
allegation that has shocked retired and serving members of the police officer
cadre.
Communal
bias in the functioning of the police, investigative agencies, prosecution and
lower judiciary is an alarming phenomenon. This degradation creates an
environment in which violent fundamentalist forces feel safe and secure. But we
should remember that such violence does enjoy some popularity and/or silent
complicity. The political culture of South Asia appears to be moving towards
the normalization of violence, especially violence in the name of religion. The
countries of the region have suffered much sectarian violence in the past,
including the violence and forced migrations of 1947, and communal killings
since then. Mass culture has deep patriarchal and caste-related roots. Economic,
political and geo-strategic developments in the entire region have not led to more
humane institutional arrangements, but rather, pushed these societies in an anti-democratic
direction. Such changes have variable causes in the different countries of the
region. India possesses a constitution, which despite its flaws, remains
democratic in its basic structure. This statute is under attack from a section
of the ruling elite. A focus on the independence of the judiciary and upholding
of the rule of law are essential components of the struggle to resist fascism
and to defend democracy. This struggle will need to be carried out at various levels,
inside families, mohallas, educational institutions, and through popular
protests and mobilizations.
Democratic
forces also need to address the relationship of the neo-liberal economic order
with the recent regressive turn. The collapse of public education and the shift
towards commercialized education has encouraged the spread of religion-based
educational activity among marginalized communities and the poor. Marketisation
of education also encourages depoliticisation of those who can pay for it. The
same is true of privatisation of health, disaster relief or social welfare. The
neo-liberal political economic order is an attack on the rights of citizens to
education, health, employment benefits and self-organisation.
Democratic
and secular forces of South Asia cannot remain content with demanding
incremental advances, rather it is time to stop a dangerous slide. People of
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal need to begin a
cooperative dialogue for the cultural isolation of fundamentalist and
revengeful ideas; the political isolation of authoritarian forces and for democratic
unity at the broadest level. The defence of democracy in India includes
struggle against patriarchy, caste oppression and for the economic welfare of
workers, self employed persons and peasants. The struggle against
fundamentalism needs to develop a vision of popular democracy that goes beyond
the market-driven logic of neo-liberalism, and that is grounded in the principle
of the political equality of every citizen.
PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE FOR DEMOCRACY AND SECULARISM (PADS)
Email: info-pads@lycos.com
Telephone contact: Srinivas Rao 09393875195
Sampradayikta Virodhi Andolan :Documents
Message of solidarity sent by Brazilian labor and people's federation CSP-Conlutas.
Battini Rao - People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) convener
Brothers and Sisters,
CSP-Conlutas, a Brazilian labor and people's federation, stands in solidarity with all peoples in South Asia currently under attack by fundamentalist backlash. Hindutva and salafists are instruments in the hands of bourgeois administrations to divert working classes attention and energies from fighting back neo liberal policies.
The ruling classes are afraid of the unity of the working classes who are the ones who can overthrow the capitalist order and finish all oppression and exploitation. The current struggles for democratic, labor and people’s rights in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar are in the interest of the working class across the world.
Solidarity with South Asia workers and people's!
Workers of all the World, Unite!
Wilson Ribeiro,
On behalf of CSP-Conlutas
São Paulo, May 30th 2016
