People's Democracy

SFI, DYFI March in Solidarity with US Protests

ON October 31, the Students Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) organised a protest march from Mandi House to the American Cultural Centre in New Delhi, in solidarity with the ongoing “Occupy Wall Street” movement in the USA and the world over. For the few past weeks, raising the slogan “We are the 99 per cent,” the people have been protesting against the massive bailouts of banks, corporate greed and unhindered power of the Wall Street in regard to policy making by successive governments in the USA. The protest, which began with a sit-in in New York, has spread across the rest of the country and has been followed by massive demonstrations in more than 1500 cities in the world.

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement clearly shows that the neo-liberal model has utterly failed. After the global financial crisis, the entire burden was shifted onto the people, while the big corporations and financial companies were bailed out. Unemployment rates in various countries have also risen in a significant manner, with no efforts by the governments to address the root causes of the issue. Most of the people taking part in the movement are youth and students, who have been severely affected by the crisis. Most of the students who have been forced to take exorbitant loans for their studies due to the highly commercialised education system and have been unable to pay the excruciating debts, as there are no jobs in these economies.

The resonance of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement has also been felt in our country. While the struggles of the Left have ensured that vital sectors like banking and insurance remained under the government, the trajectory of the neo-liberal model continues unabated. This model has only widened the disparities in our country, with rising levels of poverty and unemployment. More than two lakh farmers have committed suicide in India. There have been repeated offensives of commercialisation and privatisation in the education sector. Massive tax concessions have been doled out to the big corporates, even as the government desists from spending substantively on the health and education sectors. On the other hand, there has been massive corruption and loot of resources by the nexus of ruling politicians, corporates and bureaucrats.

It is imperative that the common people of this country in general and the youth and students in particular rise against such a pro-rich, anti-poor neo-liberal economic policy regime. The SFI and the DYFI say they stand in complete solidarity with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and its genuine demands.