TN Naxals infiltrate forests in Agumbe

The CPI (Maoist) cadres from Tamil Nadu have reportedly infiltrated Karnataka and are strengthening the hands of their comrades here, according to a recent Intelligence report.

On January 6, in a fire exchange between the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) and the Maoists in Barkana Falls region near Agumbe in Udupi district, the ANF, for the first time, found Maoist literature in Tamil from the site where the Naxals were camping in the forest.

“This was the first such instance where Maoist literature in Tamil was found in Karnataka. Till now, the police believed that a majority of the Naxal cadres in Karnataka were from the Malekudiya tribe from the Kudremukh National Park area. This may not be true any more.

“In December 2010, the police had arrested Shekhar (25) alias Ranjith alias Ravi alias Prem – the Madurai area commander of the banned CPI (Maoist) in the Basavanpalu forests in Yedammoge village of Udupi district.

A resident of Kumaramangalam, Pallipattu in Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu, Shekhar was reportedly sent to Udupi district to recruit new cadres, impart field-craft training, provide medical assistance to underground members, propagate the Maoist ideology and act as a courier between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu members of the proscribed organization,” an officer added.

According to police sources, there has been no new recruitment of local people in the CPI (Maoist) outfit in Karnataka. “We have been keeping track of villagers in the Naxal-affected districts and no one in the last two years has gone missing or has been abducted by the Maoists,” said an officer from Udupi.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/bengaluru/tn-naxals-infiltrate-forests-agumbe-294

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Militiaman killed, 4 soldiers wounded in Samar encounter

CALBIGA, Samar — A militiaman was killed and four government soldiers were wounded in an encounter with New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in a remote barangay here on Monday.

The firefight between government forces and the NPA happened around 7:35 a.m. Monday in the boundaries of barangays Caamlogan and Guimbaga.

The encounter killed a member of the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit and wounded four soldiers. The militiaman didn’t reached the hospital alive.

Lieutenant Colonel Cerilo Balaoro, commander of the Army’s 87th Infantry Battalion, said about 50 NPA rebels waylaid the soldiers who were verifying a tip about the rebels’ presence in the area.

Following a clash that lasted 20 minutes, three suspected communist rebels, one of them a woman, were arrested. They were caught in possession of explosives, guns and subversive documents.

The Calbiga town, a known rebel stronghold in the Samar province, was earlier declared by the government forces as insurgency-free.

Meanwhile, a military spokesperson said the NPA rebels have killed at least 100 government soldiers and policemen across the country and waged 447 attacks in 2011. The figures are down by 184 from the 2010 statistics.

Colonel Arnulfo Burgos, Armed Forces spokesman, said the rebel attacks included 31 assaults on mining firms, banana plantations and other businesses that damaged 1.2 billion worth of equipment and property. Also, the rebels earned nearly P300 million from their extortion activities in 2011, he said.

The government has opened peace talks with the rebels, but the negotiations have been stalled for months over the rebels demand for officials to release more jailed rebels. Norway, which has been brokering the talks, has tried but failed, so far, to bridge the differences.

Although the Marxist insurgency, one of Asia’s longest-running, remains the Philippines’ leading security threat, rebel attacks have declined in recent years. The number of armed rebel fighters dropped to 7.8 percent last year to 4,043, Burgos said.

The rural-based insurgency has endured amid widespread poverty, landlessness and faulty governance in the country’s poorest regions. Clashes have killed an estimated 120,000 combatants and civilians during the 43 years of communist insurgency.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/tacloban/local-news/2012/01/27/militiaman-killed-4-soldiers-wounded-samar-encounter-202858

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Manipur: Blast rocks Imphal a day before polls

New Delhi: A day before polls in Manipur, one person has been injured in a blast in west district of Imphal. Police say they suspect the used of IED in the blast. The area has been evacuated.

The blast occurred a day after campaigning for Manipur assembly election ended on Thursday.

Manipur will on Saturday elect a new 60-member assembly to mark the start of make-or-break elections in five states. The staggered exercise, which ends with the vote in Goa and Uttar Pradesh on March 3, will be this year’s first major test for political parties. Along with Uttarakhand and Punjab, a grand total of 137 million voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise in the five states.

Official sources said major insurgent organisations had been targetting and attacking Congress workers and candidates in the past two weeks by lobbing grenades or exploding bombs.

Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh had questioned as to why insurgents were targetting only Congress and asked whether the insurgents had a ‘hidden agenda.’

Withdrawal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) 1958 from the state and protection of the territorial integrity of Manipura were the manin issues that that were highlighted during the campaign, the reports said.

Except Congress, all major political parties had promised to withdraw the AFSPA, if voted to power.

The Congress said it would lift it only after an improvement in the law and order situation, the reports said. Shortage of electricity and water supply, bad road conditions of the national highways and problems faced by the state due to frequent blockades on the national highways were the other issues raised during the campaigning.

The few public meetings which were addressed by national leaders in the past one week included a meeting by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee at Langjing in Imphal West district where she promised that AFSPA would be lifted if her party came to power.

BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari, Hema Malini and a few central leaders of other parties had also addressed some meetings in interior districts in the past week.

A spokesman of the Maniur people’s party (MPP) told mediapersons that the Congress had failed to deliver the results during its last ten-year rule.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javedkar had earlier said that Manipur had witnessed a spurt in corruption and criminal activities during the last ten-year Congress rule.

Alleging that the government remained silent about incidents like the one in which state advocate general Koteshore Singh was shot at by a minister during a tour and the killing of a boy by a minister’s son, he asked “Was there at all any government in the state?”

Demanding action against the culprits, he said if the BJP was voted to power it would put the guilty behind bars besides correcting the system.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/manipur-blast-rocks-imphal-a-day-before-polls/224679-37-170.html

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Aboriginal protests continue in Canberra

Aboriginal protesters kept their Australia Day anger alive for a second day and burnt the national flag outside Parliament House, as police considered laying charges over a melee that threatened the safety of the prime minister.

Indigenous community leaders Warren Mundine and Mick Gooda on Friday condemned the January 26 protest, saying the aggression and disrespect shown to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was appalling.

Mr Abbott, whose remarks on Thursday on the relevance of the Aboriginal tent embassy outside old Parliament House in Canberra sparked the storm, said he had been “verballed” by protesters who thought he was calling for the 40-year old site to be torn down.

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“I never said that and I don’t think that,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.

Ms Gillard, who together with Mr Abbott was targeted by 200 protesters while they attended an awards ceremony at The Lobby restaurant, said violent protests should be condemned.

“Generally, the tent embassy has been a peaceful protest,” she told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.

“What I utterly condemn is when protests turn violent, the way we saw the violence yesterday.”

Mr Mundine, a former ALP national president, said the protesters over-reacted to Mr Abbott’s comments, which he described as “pretty timid”.

“He echoed words I would have echoed,” he told ABC Radio.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mr Gooda said the protest was “aggressive, divisive and frightening”.

Both leaders questioned the current relevance of the tent embassy, with Mr Mundine saying it had been hijacked by a “very motley crew” intent on tagging their concerns to Aboriginal reconciliation.

“We’ve actually moved on from those days,” he said.

Tent embassy organisers were unmoved, calling Mr Mundine and Mr Gooda “handpicked puppets” who did not represent grassroots Aboriginal people.

“We’re over it, so get over it and move on,” Michael Anderson, the last surviving member of the original four that established the tent embassy in 1972, said on Friday.

Australian Federal Police will investigate the incident, during which the protesters surrounded the restaurant and banged on glass windows and shouted, and will consider laying charges if offences have been committed.

Security personnel had feared the glass could break and advised Ms Gillard to leave.

As she was rushed outside, with Mr Abbott close behind, the prime minister lost a shoe and stumbled in extraordinary scenes that were broadcast around the world.

Tent embassy organisers also on Friday said they would seek the approval of Aboriginal communities throughout the country to sign a “declaration of sovereignty” over Australia.

“Either you respect us as a sovereign people or piss off out of our country,” indigenous activist Paul Coe told reporters.

Later, another group of about 200 marched on Parliament House and set fire to an Australian flag while chanting “always was, always will be Aboriginal land”.

Ms Gillard she didn’t believe the events on Thursday would hamper progress toward the recognition of indigenous Australians in the constitution.

“We are a country on a journey to genuine reconciliation,” she said.

Mr Abbott described his comments on Thursday as “a perfectly appropriate, respectful, sensitive comment about where we are today compared to where we were 40 years ago on this issue”.

He had said: “I think a lot has changed since then, and I think it probably is time to move on from that.”

But acting Greens leader Christine Milne said his remarks were ill considered.

AFP national manager of protection Michael Outram said the protesters had been “threatening and aggressive” but if there were complaints against AFP officers they would also be investigated.

Ms Gillard had phoned commissioner Tony Negus to thank police for their efforts.

“I was very confident in the abilities of police. I knew I’d be fine and I was fine,” she told reporters.

Meanwhile, the person who found Ms Gillard’s abandoned navy blue suede wedge shoe attempted to sell it on eBay but the online auction house took down the listing.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/aboriginal-protests-continue-in-canberra-20120127-1qkc7.html

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Vietnamese frustrated by alleged land grabs by local officials

A land dispute in Vietnam’s northern port city of Haiphong has become a national issue.

When about 100 police and local officials came to evict a farmer and his family, they refused to be intimidated and fought back with guns and improvised explosive devices.

It is a rare example of violent opposition in authoritarian Communist-ruled Vietnam.

And the widespread public sympathy for the farmer underscores deep frustrations about alleged land grabs by local officials in cahoots with developers.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speaker: Ben Bland, Vietnam correspondent of Britain’s Financial Times

BLAND: Land disputes are very common across Vietnam, where the land ownership laws are unclear. What’s very unusual about this case is the high use of violence used by the farmer and his family to try and defend their land, so the farmer, a 49 year-old called Mr Doan Van Vuon had been in a long running dispute with the local government over his land, which was formerly swamp land. He turned it into a fish farm and when the local government and police eventually came to evict him from his land, he and his family had set up a number of improvised explosive devices and fought back with guns as well. There was a gun battle and six police were injured according to reports in the state media. This all took place on January 5th and he and his family fled and were eventually arrested and have been charged with attempted murder. So a very unusual level of violence involved and the case was quite a first, but slowly but surely over the last few weeks, there’s been a widespread support and sympathy building for Mr Vuon and his family. In the local media, a number of prominent lawyers, bloggers and even Vietnam’s former president have spoken out in his defence, saying that the authorities are wrong in the way they tried to seize his land and that they sympathise with the use of violence, which is highly unusual in Vietnam.

COCHRANE: And I mean with such a use of violence, as you say, quite unusual. Has this really kind of struck a chord with people around the country?

BLAND: I think so, I mean what you have to understand is that land disputes are one of the deepest sources of frustration and conflict in Vietnam and that’s all linked to corruption. So Vietnam, like China to the north, is run by the Communist Party, but it’s been liberalising its economy over the last 20 years. So now people can buy, sell and trade land use rights but officially the state or the people own all the land and this ambiguity leads to a lot of problems, particularly when the local government wants to take control of land to sell it onto a developer and the UN, for example, says that these land disputes are the biggest source of corruption in Vietnam, because they allege that often developers will get into cahoots with the local government, they will try and buy land cheaply off the people, develop it and then make huge profits. And corrupt Vietnam is a relatively corrupt country according to all the main international indices and land issues go to the heart of this problem. So I think there’s a lot of sympathy across the country. It’s not with the methods he used to try and defend his land, at least with the predicament he finds himself in and it’s common in Hanoi, where I live, to see land protests, people coming in from outlying villages where there is some sort of dispute, walk through the town with petitions and signs claiming their various causes. So this is an issue that all the 85, 86 million people in Vietnam have some sort of sympathy with. Many people will know a relative who has been involved in a land dispute, for example.

COCHRANE: I can imagine the Vietnamese government being quite concerned about this kind of incident becoming an example and about the potential threat to social stability from these kinds of land disputes. What have they been saying?

BLAND: Well, the government hasn’t said much openly about how concerned it is, but it’s definitely demonstrated a growing concern.

The prime minister of Vietnam who is the top of the three key leaders here has ordered an investigation into the actions by the local province and that’s a bit of an attempt to shut the issue down, to kick it into the long grass. But these land disputes and issues to do with land are one of the key social stability concerns for the government, alongside with labour strikes by workers in factories. And one of the signs of how concerned the government is is that they’ve refused to allow me and other foreign journalists to travel to the city to investigate the case and obviously we know what we’ve read in the state-owned media, but we’d rather go there to try and get a more balanced view on the ground, but they’re refusing to allow foreign journalists to go and the local government in Haiphong have said they also want the local press and the state-controlled press to stop reporting on the issue and that’s a sign that they’re nervous about rising temperatures over this issue and the level of public debate. So I think they’re trying to quieten it down now and perhaps this inquiry will report later on in a few months when the issue is more calm.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/201201/s3417209.htm

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Two Maoists killed in encounter

Bhubaneswar, Jan 26 (PTI) Two Maoists, including a woman, were killed in a fierce exchange of fire with security forces in Koraput district of Orissa this evening, police said. Acting on the basis of an intelligence input, jawans of district voluntary force (DVF) conducted a combing operation in the Naxal-infested Bandhugaon area where a group of red rebels were spotted. As the ultras and security men came face to face, a fierce encounter erupted in which two Maoists were killed and their bodies recovered, Deputy Iinspector General of Police (south-west), Souendra Priyadarshi told PTI over phone. One of the slain Maoists was identified as Chitru, an area commander of Jhanjawati division of CPI (Maoist) while the other one was a woman whose identity was yet to be ascertained, he said. Some arms and ammunition were also seized from the spot.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/two-maoists-killed-in-encounter/956365.html

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Maoist claims attack on Ph Parijat

Imphal, January 25, 2012: The Maoist Communist Party Manipur in a statement claimed that the bomb attack at the election office of CPI candidate of Lamlai A/C Pheiroijam Parijat was carried out by Maoist cadres.

In the statement Maoist claimed that the attack was carried out as per the ban of Maoist to Parijat for his activities during his tenure as a Minister in the SPF government.

In order to avoid any unwanted incidents, Maoist had previously warned the worker of four Ministers including the Chief Minister O Ibobi to abstain from poll related activities in favour of the ministers.

It also claimed that the blank fires at Sekmai, Lamsang and Heingang areas were also carried out by Maoist cadres.

It further stated that Maoist will never forgive election agents and workers of Trinamool Congress candidate Heikham Dingku and INC candidate Khwairakpa Devendro @ Yaimaof INC candidate of Thoubal A/C Okram Ibobi, INC candidate of Sugnu A/C K Ranjit, INC candidate of Heingang N Biren and CPI candidate of Lamlai A/C Pheiroijam Parijat.

http://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=Snipp12..260112.jan12

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Anti-Naxal ops: CRPF gets ‘Shaurya Chakra’ again

New Delhi: Anti-Maoist operations in Naxal hotbeds have emerged as the most enduring and tough assignment for the country’s largest paramilitary CRPF as these offensives have not only fetched a military gallantry medal to the force but also the maximum citations to its men.

The central force, which has deployed more than 70,000 troops for anti-naxal operations, has received a ‘Shaurya Chakra’ for the second consecutive time after its CoBRA commando Ashish Tiwary was decorated with the bravery medal last year.

While Assistant Commandant (AC) Ravindra K Singh was announced as the lone non-Army officer to get the third highest Army gallantry medal on the Republic day eve, four other CRPF personnel were decorated with the top-notch Presidents police medal for gallantry for “conspicuous bravery” in Naxal operations.

Singh, who lost his left-leg in the daring operation, is credited in the paramilitary force as the man who averted another ‘Dantewada type’ ambush on CRPF in which 75 personnel were killed in 2010 in Chhattisgarh.

The operation, in Jharkhand’s Lohardaga last year, saw the Naxals blowing up a total of 192 landmines simultaneously in an ambush, leading to the killing of 11 policemen and injuring 44.

In yet another operation in 2010 in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district CRPF AC Prakash Ranjan Mishra, Head constable Ram Chander and Constable Surjit Singh were honoured with the gallantry medal for taking on armed naxals amidts civilians while death was a “whisker away” from them.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/anti-naxal-ops-crpf-gets-shaurya-chakra-again_754954.html

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Maoists release three hostages in Jharkhand

Palamu, Jan 25 (ANI): Maoists have released three persons, including a government official, who had been held hostage for over 72 hours after the killing of 15 policemen in a landmine blast in Jharkhand’s Garhwa region on Tuesday.

District Council chairperson Sushma Mehta, her bodyguard Suresh Ram, driver Mehboob Ansari and State Communist Party of India-Marxist-Lenin member Akthar Ansari, were abducted on Saturday (January 21) soon after the Maoist attack.

The rebels are still holding Ram hostage who according to Mehta was alive as seen before exiting the Maoist hideout.

Mehta and her aides were released around six in the morning near Palamu from where they had to walk a considerable distance and found help to reach a safer location.

Mehta relived her moments of fear before media persons in a small interaction.

“They held us hostage separately; never allowing us to come together in order to prevent any communication between the hostages. We were blindfolded and our hands were tied up always,” said Mehta.

Over a dozen policemen died on Saturday in the state’s Maoist-infested Garhwa region after their vehicle went over a landmine laid to ambush them.

The police personnel were escorting local administrative officials including Bhandaria Block Development Officer Basudev Prasad, who were on their way to Bargarh village to request the villagers to call off their strike over a dispute.

Despite strong measures initiated by the Central 0overnment to crush the ultras, the Maoist insurgency has gripped nearly a third of the country, spreading into the interiors of 20 of India’s 28 states.

Maoists have significantly increased their presence in tribal and rural regions in the affected states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa. (ANI)

http://truthdive.com/2012/01/25/Maoists-release-three-hostages-in-Jharkhand.html

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32 landmines recovered in Jharkhand

Ranchi: A possible Maoist strike was averted in Jharkhand on the Republic Day Thursday with the recovery of 32 landmines from a jungle in Latehar district, police said.

The landmines, each weighing five kg, were planted in a row in Laap jungle of Latehar, some 130 km from Ranchi.

A police officer said the landmines were planted beneath an unpaved road used by police vehicles.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/jharkhand/32-landmines-recovered-in-jharkhand_754982.html

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10 injured as rioting prisoners set fire in cell

A riot broke out at the Ma’asiyahu Prison in Ramle on Thursday morning, resulting in a fire and several injuries.

Authorities say the incident began in the prison’s Ward 14, where suspects from east Jerusalem set their mattresses and piles of clothing on fire in their cell. The prisoners became trapped in their cell as the fire grew, forcing Prison Service wardens to break in and rescue them.

Four prisoners suffered serious injuries and four more were moderately injured from smoke inhalation and burns.

The two wardens who rescued the prisoners were lightly injured.

Magen David Adom paramedics evacuated the injured to the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin.

Prison Service staff backed up by police in Ramle surrounded the hospital to ensure that the injured prisoners do not attempt to mount an escape.

The prisoners, who are being held at Ma’asiyahu for a few days due to police investigations against them , began the disturbance to protest their conditions of incarceration.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=255258

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Anti-riot policemen deployed in FUPRE

WARRI- A lorry-load of anti-riot policemen were deployed to the Federal University  of Petroleum Resources, FUPRE, Ugbomro, Delta State, Thursday afternoon, as crisis between the authorities of the institution and students over non-accreditation of their degree courses escalated.

Vanguard learnt that the 400-level students, who declined to sit for their final year examinations, which commenced , Wednesday, on grounds that it was  worthless doing so, as their degree programmes have  not been  accredited  in the past five years.

An attempt by the authorities to break their ranks by asking those of them who were interested in graduating to write the final year examination backfired as the students, who appear united in their resolve, threatened to deal with any saboteur.

They only allowed those who had carry-over to write their re-sit examination, while the Vice Chancellor, Prof Babatunde Alabi was asked to justify their sitting for a final-year examination where as the certificate was not recognized.

The school authorities contacted the police to deploy its personnel policemen to the school when it became obvious that the final-year students were bent on making trouble if their demand was not met.

A lecturer in the school told Vanguard at about 1.00 pm said,  “The place is not safe, as I speak to you now, mobile policemen have been invited to the school and I don’t want anybody to say that it was stray bullet that hit me, I have to leave to save my life”.

He said, “I don’t expect any lecturer to be part of the charade by the authorities, what should be uppermost in the mind of the management of the school is accreditation of the degree courses offered by the university. Why should I blame the students? They are right, they are saying that they will not write examination for degree courses that are not accredited, the authorities should address the matter”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/anti-riot-policemen-deployed-in-fupre/

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Brazil evictions leave thousands homeless

SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil, Jan. 25 (UPI) — Amnesty International denounced Brazilian authorities for forcibly evicting thousands of people from a slum and urged the government to help the homeless.

“The Brazilian authorities must immediately address the needs of the thousands of people who now have been left homeless,” Atila Roque, director of Amnesty International, Brazil, said in a news release. The evictions, he said, violate “a raft of international standards.”

Brazilian police have removed an estimated 6,000 people since Sunday from the Pinheirinho settlement on the outskirts of Sao Jose dos Campos, about 50 miles from Sao Paulo, the BBC reported.

Police in riot gear, backed up by armored cars and helicopters, descended on the settlement without warning at 6 a.m. Sunday and used tear gas and rubber bullets, while authorities cut electricity, gas and phone lines and restricted access to homes, Amnesty said.

The human-rights group said about 30 people had been arrested after some residents resisted evictions by setting up barricades, burning cars and throwing rocks and sticks.

A judge had ordered nearly 2,000 police officers into the settlement despite a previous agreement to suspend the eviction while a peaceful solution was sought — possibly the federal government buying the land and making residents’ land titles legal, Amnesty said.

Some evicted residents of the settlement, formed in 2004 when groups of homeless people occupied land owned by a bankrupt investment firm, were staying with relatives, while others were being houses in a gym lacking adequate sanitation. The government made no provisions for alternative housing, Amnesty said.

The residents had been in a legal battle with administrators for the bankrupt company, and a residents association is appealing to the Superior Federal Court, asking the eviction order to be overturned.

The settlement includes churches, libraries, shops and football fields.

Amnesty says international law forbids Brazil to carry out forced evictions.

Col. Manoel Messias Mello, head of the region’s military police, told local radio “vandals” were responsible for violence and said police had seized a shotgun, a handgun and drugs, The Guardian of Britain reported. He said police were investigating reports one man had been shot in the back during a confrontation with officers, and several people were reportedly injured.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/01/25/Brazil-evictions-leave-thousands-homeless/UPI-14061327519017/

 

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Bima district office torched

Mataram. A district office in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, was burned to the ground along with several motorcycles and cars by a mob of thousands of residents demanding that officials revoke a decree granting exploration rights to mining companies.

The angry crowd also went to a nearby detention house and forced authorities there to release 35 people arrested during a mining protest at Sape port on Dec. 24, 2010.

The mob, drawn from across the province and angry at finding the district office empty, set it and the smaller Elections Commission building ablaze at around 2 p.m.

According to Antara, the demonstration was initially meant to be a peaceful show of anger at District Head Ferry Zulkarnain refusal to revoke a 2010 decree that led to the granting of exploration rights to miner Sumber Mineral Nusantara.

Earlier this week, residents had banded together to demand that officials revoke the decree within five days, but it was unclear exactly when that demand was issued.

Last month, a protest against mining operations in the area turned deadly when police officers fired on demonstrators at Sape port in Bima. Three protesters were killed in that incident and dozens were arrested.

Demonstrators on Thursday, angry at finding Satpol PP and other security forces guarding the empty district office, swarmed into the building, throwing furniture and other items out of the windows before leaving and setting the structure ablaze, police said.

Members of the mob also put the neighboring Election Commission office to the torch.

“From the information that we received, they burned down the Bima district office and the Bima Election Commission office, which is also in that area, along with the goods inside the buildings,” said West Nusa Tenggara Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Sukarman Husein.

Besides the two buildings, police said motorcycles and other vehicles in the area were also set ablaze.

“Recent news reports says the smoke is still swirling around the scene. It is not yet known if there’s any victims or not,” Sukarman said.

After setting the government buildings on fire, the mob marched to the Rutan Raba Bima detention house, and forced guards there to release 35 people arrested during the Sape port protest.

Bima District Head Ferry was reportedly far from the office at the time of the riot, and was in a safe place, according to authorities.

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/bima-district-office-torched-by-anti-mining-mob/493846

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Labour discontent grows in Indonesia

Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesian workers recently occupied toll roads linking Jakarta and its suburbs to demand higher pay, causing traffic jams extending several kilometres.

Elsewhere in the country, police clashed with factory workers seeking an increase in regional minimum wages.

Labour unrest has been growing in recent months as discontent over pay and working conditions grow.

Workers from both state-owned and multinational companies have gone on strike.

‘Things have become more difficult for workers,’ said Bambang Wirahyoso, chairman of the National Labour Union. ‘Their minimum wages are too low and they lack protection.’

Of 30 million workers in the formal sector, only 9.7 million are enrolled at the national pension fund Jamsostek, he said.

‘Violations of workers’ rights are rampant, but the government is doing little to tackle the problems,’ he said.

Some of the protests have turned violent.

At least one worker was killed in October during a clash between police and employees of a giant gold and copper mine operated by US company Freeport-McMoRan in Papua province.

After three months of strikes, the company in December agreed to increase wages by 37 per cent.

In the industrial town of Bekasi, just east of Jakarta, workers took to the streets after the Indonesian Employers’ Association took the local government to the State Administrative Court for raising the minimum wage by around 15 dollars a month.

Association chairman Sofjan Wanandi said smaller employers could not afford the raise and they made up 80 per cent of companies in the area.

‘We are defending the interests of these small and medium-sized companies,’ he said.

But Obon Tabroni, who represents about 50,000 employees from different sectors in Bekasi, dismissed Wanandi’s claim.

‘Of 3,000 companies, only 16 have raised objections’ to the increase, he said.

Tabroni said even with the rise the workers could barely make ends meet.

‘Our wives have to help supplement our income by opening small food stalls at home,’ he said. ‘Some of us moonlight as motorcycle taxi drivers at night.’

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1687501.php/Labour-discontent-grows-in-Indonesia

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Protesters disrupt Sri Lanka’s Upper Kothmale hydropower project

Jan 26, Kothmale: A protest launched by a group of workers of sub-contractors of the Upper Kothmale Hydropower Project Thursday disrupted the opening of the sluice gates of the reservoir.

The opening of the reservoir’s sluice gates for the first time was scheduled for 9 a.m. today. The gates were reportedly opened later.

The protesters were demanding a salary hike among other issues. Reportedly, the police anti-riot squad was called in to bring the situation under control.

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_12/Jan26_1327592327CH.php

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Mob lynches cop for killing driver over bribe

IBADAN—A policeman, Olufemi Ajayi was Wednesday lynched and set ablaze in Ayete, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, for allegedly shooting to death a middle aged man.

The policeman was said to have been lynched by irate mob after allegedly killing the man, identified as Mr. Emiola Kolade, said to be a popular commercial driver over a bribery disagreement  at a check-point.

Mr. Ajayi was said to have shot the commercial driver in the eye. One of his eyeballs was said to have bulged out of its socket.

Though the driver was said to have struggled with death, he died later at a nearby Igboora General hospital. His death was said to have triggered a street protest by sympathisers especially women.

The trigger-happy policeman was said to have been pursued into a nearby bush and was forced to take the driver to the hospital for treatment.

According to an eye witness, angered people on the Idere/ Ayete road were said to have descended heavily on the policeman and set him ablaze.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/mob-lynches-cop-for-killing-driver-over-bribe/

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Maoists murder another ‘police informer’

KORAPUT: Continuing their offensive against suspected police informers, Maoists murdered a trader in Narayanpatna in Koraput district on Monday. Local villagers spotted the body of Bidyut Bisoi (33) near a temple in the outskirts of Narayanpatna. Sources said that a group of rebels waylaid Bisoi, returning from the temple, around 9 am and attacked him with a sharp-edged weapon in broad daylight. Bisoi instantly succumbed to the injuries.

Though the rebels have not left any letter near the spot as usual, police, going by past records, believe it is the handiwork of the Maoists. “We suspect that Maoists are behind the murder as they had attacked Bisoi’s father few months ago. The Naxals had fired on Krushna Bisio but he escaped with bullet injuries. As Krushna was under Maoist scanner, rebels have targeted his son after they could not trace him,” said Koraput SP Anup Kumar Sahoo.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Maoists-murder-another-police-informer/articleshow/11606366.cms

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Top Odisha Maoist leader arrested in Bargarh

Notching up a major success against red rebels, Odisha police on Tuesday arrested top ultra leader and CPI (Maoist) Odisha state committee member Girish from Bargarh district, about 370 km west of Bhubaneswar.
Bargarh district police SP Kavita Jalan said Girish, 45, was arrested in
the morning along with another Maoist following reliable input regarding his movement in an area under Attabira police station limit in the district.

“We recovered one small fire arm with 12 live cartridges along with a compass and sketch maps of Bargarh district armoury and some police station,” Jalan said, adding that Bargarh district armoury had been a target of the ultras for the last five years.

He was involved in about 40 cases including murder, extortion and arson in Odisha and equal number of cases in Jharkhand.

A senior police officer engaged in anti-Maoist operation in Odisha described Girish’s arrest as a “prize catch” as he was the head of a division comprising six western Odisha districts of Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh and Balangir. “He was a planner, organiser and motivator responsible for recruiting and training young cadres. Among the four state committee members, only Girish had been authorised to be the liaison man between CPI (Maoist)’s Saranda division in Jharkhand and Mahasamund division in Chhatisgarh as far as military planning and implementation of the organisation was concerned. We expect a goldmine of information relating to Maoist activities in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh,” he said.

Girish, who earlier headed the Sambalpur-Deogarh-Sundergarh committee, was arrested from Bokaro in Jharkhand in 2007, escaped from the Chainbasa jail in January last year. Immediately after his escape, he was entrusted with expanding Maoist activities in entire western Odisha and linking the operation with Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand. Girish who used a number of aliases like Dhiren Mahato, Uttam, Narayan and Maharu hailed from Giridh district in Jharkhand.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Bhubaneshwar/Top-Odisha-Maoist-leader-arrested-in-Bargarh/Article1-801669.aspx

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Sri Lanka jail riot ‘injures 31′ in Colombo

At least 31 people have been injured in clashes between guards and rioting inmates at a prison in the Sri Lankan capital, hospital officials say.

Most of the injured are prisoners who were shot by guards. Police deny claims that three inmates were killed.

Several buildings were set alight in the remand wing of Colombo’s main prison before order was restored.

Prisoners say they want better food and conditions. Police said inmates were angry at moves to curb drug smuggling.

The head of Sri Lanka’s prisons department admitted that the treatment of prisoners in the jail fell short of acceptable standards.

A local resident told the Associated Press news agency that disturbances had been going on for several days.

Wounds ‘not serious’

Throughout Tuesday smoke billowed from the Welikada (Magazine) prison as dozens of inmates demonstrated on the rooftops. Some held up a banner calling for the head of the prison to be removed.

The BBC’s Charles Haviland says the air outside the jail was acrid with tear gas and smoke – inside the barrier gate the prison is teeming with police and armed military.
Guards carry an injured colleague to safety during riots at the main prison in Colombo on January 24, 2012. Several guards were also hurt in the clashes

Ambulances have been taking the wounded to Colombo’s National Hospital. A senior staff member there told the BBC that 26 inmates and five officers were being treated, although the injuries were not serious.

The prisoners had gunshot wounds, mostly below the knee. The officers had head or leg injuries after being assaulted.

Earlier, one of the inmates told the BBC Sinhala service that three prisoners had been killed when officers at the gates shot at a large group in the compound.

The deaths are unconfirmed and exactly what happened is unclear.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said gunfire and tear gas had been used after prisoners rioted over new regulations.

“The new prison administration have launched a massive programme in order to curtail the drugs inside the prison and apart from that to prevent drugs going inside the prison,” he said.

“I think this is the reason for this protest.”

But the prisoners said the new rules in fact banned food from outside.

Later the head of the prisons department told BBC Sinhala that the treatment of the prisoners was less than ideal and that this would be corrected.

Prisons Commissioner PW Kodippili said food had been sent in but there was no immediate confirmation of this from the prisoners.

He also said that 180 remand prisoners suspected of links with the Tamil Tigers had now been transferred to another jail.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-16699119

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Over 400 Kyrgyz prisoners stitch up their mouths

BISHKEK: Over 400 Kyrgyz prisoners stitched up their mouths Tuesday as part of a nationwide hunger strike that has spread throughout the country’s pre-trial detention facilities, Kyrgyz human rights ombudsman Tursunbek Akun said. The protest follows a riot in mid-January during a routine cell check in one of Bishkek’s pre-trial detention centres, when inmates started a fire and some slashed their wrists, protesting violence from the prison staff and visitor restrictions. Soon after the first protest, the rest of the country’s penitentiary facilities joined in, declaring a nationwide hunger strike. “Today the prisoners have toughened their protest. It will not lead to anything good, the situation needs to be urgently solved,” Akun said. According to Kyrgyz Federal Penitentiary Service, only 260 prisoners out of more than 1,300 are taking food.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Over-400-Kyrgyz-prisoners-stitch-up-their-mouths/articleshow/11616168.cms

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Unity-Struggle-Transformation: On Revolutionary Organization, Leadership and Cadre Development

Introduction

The object of a revolutionary organization is to unite (and unite with), mobilize, organize and lead masses of oppressed peoples to achieve fundamental economic, political, cultural, and social change and collective security.

Founded in 2005, the New Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter arose within the most oppressed stratum of U.S society, (namely amongst prisoners), to take up the banner of revolutionary struggle in the interests of New Afrikans and all oppressed and exploited peoples. We aspire to become,but are not as yet a formal and functional vanguard party.

We will be formally constituted once we transition to the outside, hold a founding Congress and elect a free world Central Committee and Executive Committee (Politburo). We will be functionally constituted only when the oppressed urban masses voluntarily embrace us as their revolutionary leadership.

Even as we remain a prison-based organization, we share an important revolutionary role which is to transform these prison plantations into liberation schools. This is the first phase of our Party’s strategy, which coincides with our having been founded inside the prisons.

The second phase of our strategy, which is largely consigned to the outside Party once established will be to transform the oppressed urban communities into base areas, where a new revolutionary economic, social, political and cultural life, and collective security will take root and thrive.

These two phases tie into a broader strategy of building a worldwide united front to overthrow this capitalist-imperialist system.

At this point comrades are still in need of practical guidance, and ideological and organizational clarity on building and consolidating a solid Party structure and mass revolutionary movement around us.

These are issues relevant to both the Prison Chapter and building the outside Party. Related questions and critiques have also been presented, some long outstanding, by our supporters and detractors alike concerning methods of building an effective political movement appropriate to existing conditions.

Some of these people of course, don’t understand or outright reject the need and importance of revolutionary leadership and organization. There is also the question of who must comprise this leadership. These are the issues we would like to address here.

 

On Organization and Security

On the “Left” the term “organizing” is used often and loosely. Especially by those who actually oppose forming, joining or subordinating their individual interests to the collective decision making and discipline of a revolutionary organization. Although they may exhort the virtues of “solidarity” they actually practice individualism which runs counter to building and advancing a movement for collective or mass change.

Obviously one cannot be a social organizer and not belong to a social organization. One implies the other. An organization is a body of people, never one persyn acting alone, who devise goals and work together to achieve them. It is coordinated with levels of responsibility and allocation of tasks and accountability between its members, who must perform functions alloted to them according to their means and the needs and goals of the organization.

This explicitly calls for leadership and discipline. Conversely to act individually according to one’s own whims, agenda and impulses, without accountability or responsibility, is the meaning of disorganization.

Which can only lead to chaos, division, conflict and disorder. The opposite of solidarity.

Becoming or remaining a voluntary member of any organization involves important considerations, such as whether one trusts and believes in, agrees with and understands the organization and its goals.

To the more mature and committed organizers; These are questions of especial concern and influence whether they will commit themselves wholeheartedly and long term to the group’s core principles, its work, growth, development, survival and regeneration.

It is therefore important that the group and its members be transparent if people are to know, trust and understand it. Without this the group cannot have even the foundation for “security”.

Comrade Safiya Bukhari, a former BPP and BLA leader explained:

“By definition, security means freedom from danger, fear and anxiety. Individual and organizational safety and well-being begin with the knowledge of what your about, what the organization is about, your limitations, the organization’s limitations, your strengths and the organization’s strengths. Knowledge is the key to security. History has shown that the best security depends on the internal strength of the organization and the internal principles of the people who make up the organization.” (1)

As an examples of solid organizational and individual principles she uses the creed of the Republic of New Africa (RNA) which states in the relevant part: “I will steal nothing from a brother or sister, cheat no brother or sister, misuse no brother or sister, inform on no brother or sister and spread no gossip.”

These principles, she observed, express

“an extremely important part of individual and collective security. The knowledge that the person next to you-the person working beside you-will not cheat you or lie and spread gossip about you is the basis for your feeling secure in your environment and within your organization. The ability to trust your comrades implicitly and to know with certainty what they will do in any circumstance is the best security.

The question then, is how do we get to this point? It begins with knowing what you’re about-what you want and what you believe and how far you will go to obtain it. The reciprocal reality is knowing what the organization is about. If the purpose and mission of the organization is clear, not subject to interpretation, then people joining will not be able to say that they thought the organization was about one thing when they joined only to find out later it was about something totally different.

That means that both the individual and the organization must be open and honest.” (2)

Our Party’s rules embrace standards akin to the RNA rules, which actual and potential members must know and obey. An important criteria of Party recruitment is that one’s internal principles be proven to be compatible with the Party’s.

They must also know, understand and commit to our Ten Point Program and Platform, which clearly sets out “what we want” and “what we believe”. They must also understand and adhere to our ideological and political line of Historical and Dialectical Materialism (HDM), instead of practicing dogmatism, sentimentalism, opportunism and subjectivism.

Before being recruited into the Party, comrades must prove to be dedicated and serious, and bring a great deal of voluntary discipline to this work; They must, having the courage of their convictions, be willing and able to stand firm in adversity, repression and isolation. And they must stand tall as “professional revolutionaries” meaning they must be committed foremost and completely in principle and practice to carrying forward the struggle against oppression and exploitation as their life’s work, instead of wavering, having divided loyalties, ulterior motives, other agendas or seeking individual gratifications and rewards. Only people of this caliber can be trusted by the masses to serve their interests without deviating. Hence it is they who must constitute the core of the revolutionary Party.

Indeed the moral stand of the vanguard must be “the masses first, think nothing of self.” The Party must have absolutely no private agenda to pursue and work solely to serve the people.

Supervised by the people it must never alienate or isolate itself from them, nor set itself above them. This work calls for planning, cooperation, and accountability. In a word: organization.

To proceed without order and planning is in fact counter-strategic, counter-productive and irresponsible.

Our individual moral outrage and love for the people can and should be our fuel to action, but our actual courses of action must be disciplined and informed by objective, collective, organized and scientific planning. This inherently requires and constitutes organizational leadership.

 

On Leadership


No revolutionary movement can proceed and succeed without a revolutionary leadership. And no one can participate in such a movement without themselves leading or misleading it or being led. To think otherwise is a mistaken idea.

As already discussed an organizer belongs and is loyal to an organization. The function of which is to collectively devise and achieve certain goals. In carrying out such goals, the organizer is in fact a leader. This is especially true when s/he seeks to inform or influence the actions of those outside the organization. Whether to induce them to aid, support or simply not oppose the organization’s ideas and goals.

So the organizer leads others, for good or for ill and regardless of whether they admit and accept their leadership role and its responsibilities. The same applies to individuals who seek to influence or inform others. In the case of a revolutionary organization which seeks to guide a mass movement, its leadership must be achieved by the voluntary consent of the people. It must be earned by proven merit, not by force, coercion, deception or fraud.

Our work in service to the People requires that we be educated by them-and in turn educate and elevate them-we must be both students and teachers.

As students we learn from them their conditions, needs and concerns, and being of the oppressed masses ourselves, we live and struggle alongside them daily, we must attentively listen to their views, remain close to them, and learn from their strengths.

If they are wrong we must explain their errors, but only after patiently hearing them out. But we don’t know everything and therefore must be good at listening and learning, accepting criticism and correcting our mistakes.

As teachers we take the masses raw and unorganized ideas and applying revolutionary theory-HDM-and understanding of the oppressive system as a whole, return their ideas to them in the form of programs, practical solutions and examples, which involve and enable them to solve their own problems. To do this Party cadre must be throughly versed in the science of HDM and be able to apply it to solving problems.

In this dialectical relationship of student and teacher, we don’t quibble over the question of leadership. Because it is inherently impossible to teach or guide or influence people’s thoughts, decisions or actions without assuming the role of leadership. And since we are always teaching or learning, setting or following examples, we are either leading or being led.

So unlike those “Leftists” who shun the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionary line; we don’t reject the role and responsibility of leaders and leadership. Indeed we recognize that in class divided society, the thinking of every person and group reflects the perspective of the class which has influenced and molded them.

And as soon as that persyn or group opens their mouth or puts pen to paper to share their perspectives, or take actions observed by or setting an example to others, the assume the authority to influence others opinions and actions according to the values of the class which has influenced them. They then teach others. And every teacher is a leader.

Their words and actions will affect the words and actions of others who hear and observe them.

Again, whether for good or for ill, whether conscious or not, and whether they accept or deny the fact of being a teacher, leader or authority. In fact it is through perceptions of our environment and others in it that we learn and form ideas, opinions, theories etc, which in turn inform our actions.

Intelligent life reflects reflects and follows the example and influence of others, especially the more advanced members of its species.

Who among us that oppose the oppressive system, when we speak or write critical articles, poetry etc,don’t aspire to influence the ideas and by extension the actions of others in relation to the system?

We therefore deceive ourselves and others when we profess to eschew leaders and leadership. And a grave injustice is committed by those who raise rejecting leadership and “authority” to the level of political principle. There is actually a class basis to this thinking which we will further discuss below.

Furthermore, consider how absurd it would be for a teacher to challenge and change your beliefs and understandings with new perspectives (say about capitalism for example), that affect how you perceive and relate to the world at the most fundamental levels, but then tell you not to act on this information.

And not to look to them for guidance or examples in resolving the problems and contradictions they opened your eyes to, or which arise as you struggle to apply your new understanding and values.

To abandon you in this manner would be to leave you at the mercy of a society and system organized to counter all that you have just learned, inevitably compelling you to resort to it or continue upholding it just as you have always done.

This is an erroneous line which leaves many a radical to ultimately integrate into the system.

Here is what distinguishes genuine revolutionary leaders from elitist philosophers. The revolutionary leader not only consciously teaches what is wrong with the system, but also leads in teaching the masses through example and participation how to correct what is wrong.

Mao Tse Tung summarized this revolutionary Marxist line thusly:

“Marxist philosophy holds that the most important problem does not lie in understanding laws of the objective world and thus being able to explain it, but in applying these laws actively to change the world…only social practice can be the criterion of truth.”

This is where the traditional “Left” falls short. In the manner of petty bourgeois intellectuals, they analyze, criticize and interpret the world in various ways, but they fail to bring their analysis down to the level of practice to change its oppressive conditions.

At best they resort to individualist rebelliousness or counter cultural or academic retreats, which does nothing to benefit the oppressed multitudes. And why?

Because their class stand prevents it. Which is a principle reason many of them reject the need for and function of revolutionary leadership. While in truth they act as leaders and teachers of the class stance of those who talk about but don’t dare organize to solve the problems of the oppressed.

Namely the petty bourgeois. Actually deep down many of these people don’t really want to fundamentally change conditions because they have privileges to protect and fear the exercise of power from below.

So while they arouse the discontent of many, they leave them to fall on their faces when it comes to leading the masses to organize to resolve the conditions that oppress them. This leaves the People to a fate of spontaneous, unorganized rebellion which will be co-opted and or violently repressed, leading to business as usual for their exploiters and mass conformity and demoralization.

This is why the People need a revolutionary vanguard. And “vanguard” by the way simply means leadership which is what building the NABPP-PC is all about.

 

On Cadre Practice


A revolutionary organization is only as strong or as solid as its members or cadre, who must be rooted in the masses. Thus it is imperative that cadre be good at communicating and connecting with and solicitous of the needs and ideas of the People.

Her/his love of the People must run deep. As Che Guevara once stated: “Let me say at the risk of seeming ridiculous that a true revolutionary is motivated by great feelings of love.” But the work of revolutionaries is not to be measured by motive alone.

“How can we tell the good from the bad-by motive [the subjective intention] or by the effect [social practice]? Idealists stress motive and ignore effect, while mechanical materialists stress effect and ignore motive. In contradistinction to both, we dialectical materialists insist on unity of motive and effect. The motive of serving the masses is inseparably linked with the effect of winning their approval; the two must be united.

The motive of serving the individual or a small clique is not good, nor is it good to have the motive of serving the masses without the effect of winning their approval and benefiting them. In examining the subjective intention of a writer or artist, that is whether his motive is correct or good, we do not judge by his declarations but by the effects of actions (mainly his works) on the masses in society.

The criteria for judging subjective intention or motive is social practice and its effect.” (3)

Of course not everyone amongst the People will be receptive, friendly or interested in political or intellectual growth.

We have however found that many prisoners are interested, but are hampered by limited access to information and rules which severely restricting the amount of property and publications they may have.

So collective pooling of information and cadre lead study groups within the prisons are very important.

On the other hand, many don’t find reading and study to be “cool” and shun it. But this tendency can be combated. Like all social “fads” its subject to change under positive or negative peer influence.

Cadre must be patient, tolerant, and sensitive to the People’s needs and issues, and capable of reaching and teaching them despite the conditioned disinterest of many. Methods vary.

One method we have found highly effective is to start by showing genuine interest in what interests the persyn or people in question, this calls for being a good listener. To serve the people we must understand them and be receptive to their ideas and interests. In speaking to their interests and also what disturbs them, we should study and learn all we can about these topics and gradually connect them up to political questions showing how the liberation struggle is relevant to their interests and unfulfilled needs. One can always find connections. We should give concrete examples when able and and encourage and enable hands on participation where possible.

Not all cadre will be capable communicators, although all should struggle, especially collectively to excel in this area. It was actually in prison that Fidel Castro studied and developed his exceptional abilities as a motivational speaker. Another exceptional orator, Comrade Fred Hampton, admitted the importance of studying and practicing good oration. He once noted, “I listen to anyone who speaks well.”

It is important that we are able to speak to, inspire and touch people’s deepest ambitions, longings and feelings. Whether good speakers or not all cadre will and do have some sets of skills and abilities, and the capacity to develop others, that can contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of the Party and its work in serving the people. As in any organized body, everyone has a part to play.

“No one person can do everything, but every person can do something-and all jobs are more or less equally important. That is the “soldier” is no more important (may in fact be less important) then the person putting out the newsletter, or the person organizing the students, or the person agitating on issues such as no-rent housing or people’s control of the airwaves…” (4)

And not all cadre will be equally advanced in applying the principles of HDM to problem solving.

At this point we daresay many Party cadre likely have little to no understanding of this Marxist science. A result of loose and inconsistent cadre training and recruitment we must resolutely and promptly address and correct. Because to apply any method of study, analysis and practice other then the scientific methods of HDM is to practice dogmatism, subjectivism, sentimentalism, and opportunism.

Therefore, an object of primary importance is to instruct and advance cadre in mastering and applying HDM. Like shooting a target, mastery comes with proper training and practice.

It also imperative for the organizational life of our Party, and for creating the leadership which can win the masses to change history, that we train cadre to become good organizers and excel at building and regenerating the Party and mass organizations as solid structures with strong inner unity and loyalty.

And also at bringing people together in collectives which ably pursue our work.

All of this is key to effective revolutionary leadership.

To enhance our effectiveness in serving, learning from and teaching the masses, cadre must be throughly knowledgeable in matters of political and social fact and phenomena, organizing, science etc.

We should be able to speak truthfully, knowledgeably and persuasively on a wide range of matters, since the enemy will use and actually cultivate an army of “experts” to attempt to discredit the truth and necessity of revolutionary theory and the diabolical workings of the system.

This also shows the value of collective leadership where we pool our knowledge and practice to collectively arrive at truth.

We must truly follow Sun Tzu’s edict to “know your enemy and know yourself and in a hundred battles you will never face defeat.” This applies at all levels-strategic and tactical-and on all fronts: economic, political, security, cultural and educational. It is especially important in cadre development and the roles within a revolutionary Party. Because to have cadre serve in roles most conducive to their abilities and the People’s and Party’s needs, we must be good at assessing each comrade’s strength and weaknesses. And by knowing the enemies strengths and weaknesses, we know where to assail and where to avoid him, and we will not become arrogant with a few successes nor demoralized by a few losses. This way we are objective in the face of triumph and failure and can adjust our plans and practice accordingly.

For there is no such thing as an unbeatable foe nor unwinnable war, only the use of the wrong tactics.

This often results from not having an objective study and understanding of one’s enemy and oneself.

Too, we must be careful to not hold ourselves out as authorities on matters we have not investigated throughly. “No investigation, no right to speak.” When it becomes apparent that we require more study and experience, we should seek it out without hesitation.

“To put forward a correct political line for the new Party, we must have concrete analysis of concrete conditions on the major questions: class struggle, the national question, trade union work, the women question, the international situation etc.” (5)

 

On Cadre Purpose


Cadre as pointed out, are the component parts of the revolutionary vanguard, the “professional” working class conscious revolutionaries, the most dedicated and loyal organizers.

Together they form the vanguard Party of the struggle which is the nervous system and organic part of the revolutionary movement of the masses.

Cadre must be prepared to do what the Party requires to the best of their abilities, and be good at building bases of support among the People (winning the masses over and organizing them to support the struggle and the Party). A revolutionary movement is only as effective as its leadership or its vanguard Party- “When revolution fails it is the fault of the vanguard Party.” Therefore cadre development is crucial. To this end.

“We must purposely train tens of thousands of cadres and leaders versed in Marxism-Leninism, politically farsighted, competent in work, full of the spirit of self sacrifice, capable of taking problems on their own, and devoted in serving the nation, the cadres and the party. It is on these cadres and leaders that the party relies on its links with the membership and the masses and it is relaying on their firm leadership of the masses that the party can succeed in defeating the enemy.

Such cadres and leaders must be free from selfishness, from individualistic heroism, ostentation, sloth, positivity and sectarian arrogance and they must be selfless, national and class heroes, such are the qualities and style of work demanded by the members, cadre and leaders of our party.”

-Mao Tse tung

Cadre are an indispensable requirement for revolutionary struggle. Mao demonstrated this, so did Comrade Amilcar Cabral, Afrika’s most outstanding revolutionary leader. As the founder of the revolutionary Party of Guinea Bissau in 1956, the PAIGC (6), he saw and proved that development of revolutionary cadre is key to building a successful revolutionary movement.

Initially in 1959 the oppressed workers of Guinea Bissau plunged headlong and blindly into resistance into resistance against the Portuguese colonial oppressors.

Their disastrous failure led Cabral to reassess the situation and the errors in their tactics. He then spent three years organizing and leading patient political education and preparatory work across the country while training 1000 Party cadre in his Party school to develop in them the consciousness and methods for waging a new wave of struggles under their collective leadership. He said:

“We prepared a number of cadre from the group [of declassed semi-intellectual urban youth] , some from people employed in commerce and other wage earners, and even some peasants, so that they could acquire what you might call a working class mentality mentality…when these cadres returned to the rural areas they inculcated a certain mentality into the peasants and it is among these cadre that we have chosen the people who are now leading the struggle…” (7)

These PAIGC cadre reignited the struggle in 1963 winning and mobilizing immense and immediate mass support, which quickly liberated vast sections of the country from Portuguese control. By 1969 two-thirds of the entire country was liberated and only five years later Portuguese rule was completely overthrown. Even though Cabral was himself assassinated by Portuguese agents a year before, it was the cadre trained and prepared ahead of time, that lead the people to victory.

As we discussed in a previous article, the original Black Panther Party’s efforts to lead mass struggle here in America, met with failure largely because it neglected to train and root its members here in Amerika met with failure largely because it neglected to train and root its members in revolutionary working class ideology. Instead its cadre retained and acted upon the values of their less then revolutionary class perspectives, like that of the lumpen proletariat, the petty bourgeois etc, etc.

Indeed, BPP leaders specifically promoted a lumpen class line, and even tried to advance a lumpen (as opposed to revolutionary working class) political theory to validate this line.

The failures and reversals of revolutionary mass movements here and abroad here result from the lack of ongoing working class cadre leadership.

In the past revolutionary movements have relied on the petty bourgeoisie for leadership which has given revisionism (deviation from the principles of Marxism Leninism and revolutionary proletarian political line) and every other form of petty bourgeois deviation in reversing the advances the masses have made through struggle.

The petty bourgeois have had the advantage because of their education and access to the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Mao. The petty bourgeois have produced some fine revolutionary intellectuals-like Marx, Engels, Lenin,Mao,Cabral, Nkrumah, and so on-but as a class they are not so ready to commit class suicide and develop working class consciousness and allegiance. Instead they impose their own class perspectives and prejudices on the proletarian movement, resisting its development into an all the way revolutionary consciousness and commitment.

However the needs of the capitalist system have created conditions (such as mass imprisonment) for some actual proletarians to get more then just basic literacy skills, and some proletarian intellectuals like Comrades George Jackson and James Yaki Sayles-have developed with access to and of revolutionary history and literature. Its no coincidence that these comrades developed within the prisons which Malcolm X once referred to as the poor man’s university.

Prisons have provided conditions for poor proletarians to have both study time and access to revolutionary literature. This is what our Prison Chapter is tapping into.

Our line of transforming the prisons into revolutionary universities is taking the revolutionary movement down a different path. Our aim is not to indoctrinate people in prison with a political line merely teaching them what to think. But to arm them with HDM-teaching them how to think and how to do so scientifically, to transform them into revolutionary cadre who can effectively lead a new wave of mass revolutionary struggle.

In training cadre we not merely give them materials and expect them to develop spontaneously. This is the importance of developing Party lead study groups and an interactive cadre study group as part of developing the prisons into liberation schools.

Cadre should be developed into critical and tactical thinkers. Therefore in training them we should balance the specifics in the application of certain tasks with encouragement to collectively think and apply critical analysis and practice; Promoting flexible thinking and work and developing tactical innovativeness. We must not encourage learning through mere memorization of general concepts but allow them to develop and experience details of tactics, techniques, historical examples, environmental effects and so on.

The Party should assimilate and circulate good ideas that develop or they will wither and die on the vine. Therefore we should develop information-sharing practices to aid in cadre and organizational development and incorporate them into our broader work.

As good organizers cadre must be good at teaching others organizing skills. They should also be conscientious in setting the best examples in character and conduct at all times. This is important because our role is not to exercise political power amongst the people, but educate, persuade, and learn from them, and set an example thereby empowering them to build their own collective institutions of political power.

Our leadership, therefore comes only on account of our unity, integrity, and ability to provide solutions to difficult problems that win mass support and through participation in the daily life, work and struggles of the masses.

This extends a great deal of prestige to the organization that must be reflected in the conduct and merit of its members. We lead by example, educate the people constantly (and should be conscious of this in our every word and deed) and must prove more principled, devoted, humble and selfless then ordinary people. This again is what qualifies one to serve as a revolutionary vanguard element.

It is also why we must guard against allowing just anyone to jump into the ranks of a vanguard or to there when proven unworthy of the people’s trust.

Also the people at low levels of political development tend to see in individuals the characteristics of an entire movement. This places a heavy responsibility on the Party, when cadre make mistakes or deviate from principles, many will attribute it to the entire movement, Party or school of thought.

Even folks on the “left” do this. How many impute errors of Joseph Stalin to all Marxist-Leninists and their ideology (although many of the critiques of Stalin are false, one-sided, or unfounded)? Also the enemy will use our mistakes to caricature and discredit the struggle before the People.

This too is why the Party must be open and accountable to the scrutiny and criticism of the masses, transparent in its relations with them, and acknowledge and rectify its errors humbly, openly and honestly to the People.

As Cabral said: “hide nothing from the masses of our people: Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories.” (9)

Cadre must be respected, respectable, reliable. They draw their moral authority to lead from the people not themselves. They mentor and are mentored by comrades and the people, and avail themselves of every opportunity to bring dedicated people into the struggle.

 

Conclusion


Hopefully, we have given comrades and Party supporters and detractors alike a clear picture of the importance of revolutionary organization, leadership, and cadre, how these things come together to form and serve as essential elements of building and ultimately succeeding in mass revolutionary struggle, and that they will not only think seriously over what we have said, but will unite with us and commit it to practice.

Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win!

All Power to the People!

 

Endnotes:

1: Safiya Bukhari, The War Before: The True Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison & Fighting for Those Left Behind (C.U.N.Y Feminist Press 2010) pp 37.

2: id pp 37.

3: Mao Tse Tung, Selected Works , vol III pp 88-89.

4: James Yaki Sayles, Meditations on Frantz Fannon’s Wretched of the Earth: New Afrikan Revolutionary writings by James Yaki Sayles (Montreal QC: Kersplebedeb/Chicago IL Spear & Shield 2010) p 184-185.

5: V.I.Lenin What is to Done?

6: African Independence Party of Guinea and Cape Verde Islands

7: Amilcar Cabral, The Politics of Struggle (1964)

8: Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, On the Roles and Characteristics of the Panther Vanguard Party and Mass Organizations, Right On (Vol.8, Summer 2007).

9: Amilcar Cabral. Directives of PAIGC (1965), published in Basil Davidson, The Liberation of Guinea : Aspects of an African Revolution (Baltimore MD, Penguin 1969).

-Kevin “Rashid” Johnson: Minister of Defense New African Black Panther Party (NABPP-PC) January 2012

 

Posted in Editor's desk, opinion, prisons, resistance, strategy and tactics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

RPF congratulates Maoist attack on Bhandara PS

Imphal, January 22, 2012: The proscribed UG group RPF today congratulated the Maoist attack on the Bhandaria Police Station of West Bengal left 13 policemen dead including the Officer-in-Charge. In a statement, RPF stated “India government had proudly claimed near elimination of Maoist movement after killing Kishenji (Koteswar Rao) 55yrs at Burisole forest area of West Midnapore District (West Bengal), 10 km away from Jharkhand border on November 11 last year”.

“However, the success in killing 13 police personnel including the officer-in-charge of Bhandaria police station yesterday at noon by exploding a powerful landmine bomb near Garhwa Jungle of Jharkhand District demonstrated Maoist fighters are not demoralized.

People are looking forward to such more successful series of offensives on India government by Maoist comrades” RPF stated expressing high regards for the Maoist.

“The RPF/PLA will continue to extend fullest cooperation and help to the armed campaign by Maoist to root out the corrupted Indian government, which supports the rich and stands against the poor and to bring a classless society, where all are equal.

The RPF/PLA will also continue to have friendly ties with Maoist” it added.
http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=20..230112.jan12

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Police readies to tackle Red rebels

GUWAHATI: The Maoist menace in the state is growing and Assam Police are readying themselves to tackle the problem. According to Assam police intelligence sources, the upper bank of the Brahmaputra is becoming a safe hideout for Maoists.

However, police said they have already taken strategic steps to check any illegal activities by Maoist elements in the state. They also confirmed fresh threats from the Paresh Baruah-led Ulfa faction ahead the Republic Day celebrations.

On the sidelines of a programme on Sunday, DGP Assam Jayanta Narayan Choudhury told mediapersons that the department has been preparing strategies to tackle the growing Maoist menace in the state. “There are some reports of Maoist presence but we are confident that we can control it soon,” said Choudhury.

Sources in the intelligence department said they have already received complaints of extortion drives being carried out by the CPI (Upper Assam Leading Committee), a Maoist rebel group. “Many businessmen in the state, even in the city, have received extortion notes from the Maoists’ Upper Assam Leading Committee. In every note, they have demanded at least Rs 5 lakh and have even threatened the targets would be killed if they report receiving the notes to police. Most of these notes are from the leader of the group, Munu,” said an official of the intelligence branch here.

The Assam police chief also said that Ulfa hardliners are planning to strike in some of the areas of upper Assam ahead of Republic Day. “We have taken adequate measures to check any strikes from Ulfa hardliners,” he added.

Earlier, chief minister Tarun Gogoi citing an MHA report, pointed out that Maoists are forming an anti-dam forum in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. “I have been saying this for quite some time not but now there are intelligence reports of the home ministry that Maoists set up a mega-dam resistance forum about two years ago in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh,” Gogoi said on January 12.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/Police-readies-to-tackle-Red-rebels/articleshow/11597230.cms

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Zilla Parishad chief, 3 others abducted by Maoists

Maoists today claimed to have abducted the chairperson of Garhwa Zilla Parishad and three others, and demanded the removal of police camps in Latehar district for their release.

Police, however, said they did not have any information about the abduction.

“Zilla Parishad chairperson Susma Mehta and three other persons are in our custody,” a person claiming to be CPI (Maoist)’s ‘Koel Committee’ spokesperson informed the media at Latehar over phone.

The four would be freed if the Jharkhand government removed three police base camps set up in Latehar’s Sarju, Odya and Kone areas, said the spokesperson, who identified himself as Sudhirji.

Following the landmine blast yesterday, Mehta’s husband claimed that Maoists had abducted his wife, her bodyguard Sunesh Ram, driver Ahmed and CPI (ML-Liberation) leader Akhtar Ansari.

The four persons were abducted while travelling in a car, soon after Maoists killed 13 policemen in a landmine blast near Bariganwa forest yesterday, he had said.

Earlier in the day, Director General of Police GS Rath told reporters inGarhwa that officials had no information about any such abduction.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_zilla-parishad-chief-3-others-kidnapped-by-maoists_1641067

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Military says Filipino communist rebels killed 100 troops, police in 447 attacks in 2011

MANILA, Philippines — Communist guerrillas killed about 100 government troops and police and waged 447 attacks last year despite a continuing decline in their 43-year insurgency, the military said Sunday.

The attacks by New People’s Army guerrillas included 31 assaults on mining firms, banana plantations and other businesses that damaged $27 million (1.2 billion pesos) worth of equipment and property, military spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos said. The rebels earned nearly $7 million (300 million pesos) from extortion in 2011, he said.

Although the Marxist insurgency, one of Asia’s longest-running, remains the Philippines’ leading security threat, rebel attacks have declined in recent years. The number of armed rebel fighters dropped 7.8 percent last year to 4,043, Burgos said.

The 447 rebel attacks last year were 11 percent fewer than in 2010 and consisted mostly of small assaults on remote detachments, killings, kidnappings, bombing and arson conducted as part of extortion demands, Burgos said. He said only 69 were major assaults, including simultaneous attacks in October on three nickel mining complexes in southeastern Surigao del Norte province that involved more than 200 guerrillas.

About 100 soldiers and troops were killed in rebel assaults last year, down from 184 in 2010, he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/military-says-filipino-communist-rebels-killed-100-troops-police-in-447-attacks-in-2011/2012/01/22/gIQAUbUrHQ_story.html

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Explosives, Maoist literature seized

Raipur: Raipur police and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) teams seized explosives and Maoist literature from Churiya forests.

At least 350 live grenades, a dozen hand grenades, American carbine magazines, batteries and base plugs were seized in the operation. SP BN Meena said the Maoists may have made a dumping point out of the Churiya forests.

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MP-RAI-explosives-maoist-literature-seized-2780178.html

 

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Brazil police storm slum near Sao Paulo

Brazilian police have stormed a a sprawling settlement of landless workers near Sao Paulo in an attempt to reclaim the land.

Local news media showed images of burning vehicles on Sunday as riot police faced off with local residents armed with clubs, makeshift shields and motorcycle helmets.

The Globo TV network portal G1 cited local officials in Sao Jose dos Campos as saying 15 people had been detained and one injured in the raid on the Pinheiros settlement.

An estimated 5,500 people live in the settlement, built on private land that landless families took over some eight years ago. They recently lost a legal battle with the land’s owner and were evicted.

In November, elite police units raided Rocinha, the largest slum in Rio de Janeiro, around 440 kilometres east of Sao Paulo.

The slum is home to about 100,000 people living in flimsy shacks that sprawl over a mountainside separating some of Rio de Janeiro’s richest neighbourhoods, a location that has made it one of the most lucrative and largest drug distribution points in the city.

Brazilian authorities have vowed to establish control over the country’s slums and present an orderly face by the time the country hosts the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/01/20121232228484774.html

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Two dead, one injured in KCCA demolition exercise

Two men have died from gunshot wounds and a woman injured in a Sunday morning clash of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) officials and the locals during an eviction exercise.

A somber mood akin to a funeral engulfed Port Bell Luzira parish as KCCA carried out its routine demolition of illegal structures.

During the eviction exercise that later turned bloody as the KCCA officials clashed with the locals, two people were shot dead and another left wiith deadly wounds.

Amidst a din of KCCA graders busy razing down kiosks and all manner of makeshift structures, children huddled around their mothers and a few household property that were salvageable in the Sunday morning operation, sobbing.

In one corner, a group of men led by the area Local Council II chairman, Charles Kwehinda, were engrossed in an animated discussion with the Director for Physical Planning at KCCA, George Agaba, about the exercise they claimed had taken them by “surprise.”

“As the area leader, I have not received a notice about this operation. It would only be fair if KCCA can tentatively suspend the demolition so that these people can be able to pick a few of their valuables like iron sheets, doors and windows,” Kwerinda said.

However, according to Agaba, the condemned structures were in breach of every law in the book. “These structures are in contravention of the Public health Act, Physical Planning Act, and Roads Act which makes it illegal to build in a road reserve. Besides, they were erected without permission from KCCA,” he explained.

And so the exercise continued like cloak work until 9:42am when the KCCA graders and a posse of KCCA workers clad in green decided to withdraw.

Then suddenly, hell broke loose. Apparently, a man still seething with rage at the demolition of his shanty house was whacked by a retreating KCCA law enforcement officer for resisting the confiscation of his axe. This riled the locals who decided to take on the offending KCCA officer.

As Agaba’s driver frantically tried to reverse his official car amidst a cacophony of noise, a hail of stones rained at the retreating KCCA workers, while an irate mob charging from the rubble and nearby shacks made a bee line for Agaba.

As KCCA enforcement officers engaged some men in fist fights, Agaba and other KCCA workers left the scene under the cover of a hail of bullets from a plain clothed security officer.

By the time the gunfire died down after 20 minutes, three people – two men and a woman – lay bleeding from gunshot wounds. They were later transported to Mulago Hospital in critical condition.

However, the two men were later confirmed dead from the gunshot wounds they sustained during the morning melee.

According to the Councilor for Luzira parish, Medi Mutumba, KCCA ought to involve local leaders in areas where it intends to carry out demolition exercises in order to avoid skirmishes like the one on Sunday.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/628526-Two-dead–one-injured-in-KCCA-demolition-exercise.html

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The People’s war in India: Not merely a object of solidarity, but an example to follow

It must be clearly understood that the development of the class struggle into an armed struggle of protracted duration is an inevitable feature of any revolutionary process today.

The development of mass organs of popular counter-power through and in the course of the armed struggle is the only realistic means of constructing the new state while destroying the old state.

This is what is universally applicable in the theory of Protracted People’s War, the mobilization of the masses for armed struggle and through armed struggle. The development of base areas outside the effective control of the reactionary state power where a new economy and a new culture can develop as the revolutionary process advances.

In certain parts of the world it may be reasonable to follow the strategy of giving primary importance to the rural areas and secondary importance to urban areas. However this is not applicable in the imperialist metropole and with increasing global urbanization tends to be superseded everywhere.

Regardless history provides many examples of more or less successful armed struggle in urban environments from the German Revolution to the Irish Republican movement.

The proletarian Party is first and foremost a machine for civil war. Before the initiation of armed struggle all mass work must prepare this initiation by escalating the level of confrontation and continually posing the general question of political power of class dictatorship in every intermediate struggle.

This is nothing to do with some sort of adventurist isolationism remote from the everyday practical concerns of the broad masses. On the contrary the immediate material needs of the majority can only be resolved through progressively broader and more intense struggles against the whole repressive machinery of the bourgeois state from the police and military to the regime unions and imperialist funded non-profits-struggles which advance to the level of civil war through their own internal logic.

Today it is the responsibility of communists to begin the long patient march of preparatory mobilization for war-not to perform the dirty work of cooption and preventative pacification of working class discontent through the whole sophisticated industrial machinery for diffusion of social conflict of the official “left” in the name of a spurious realism.

The communist movement in India is for us in the metropole not an exotic curiosity to be admired from a distance but on the contrary is indicative despite the particularities of semi-feudalism of the path forward for the international communist movement in general not only in the “backward” countries.

 

 

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