People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

Neither With Terrorists Nor With USA

BY now, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Bush Administration has embarked on a cynical and diabolic strategy. It is utilising the human tragedy that struck on September 11 to strengthen the grip of US hegemony over the world. Even as a whole range of world leaders demand "unquestionable evidence," the USA is zeroing in on Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. From the People's Republic of China to Egypt, the USA's staunch Middle-East ally, many countries are demanding a UN sanction to any possible American retaliatory action in order to prevent the further loss of innocent lives. President Bush, however, has refused so far to invoke the United Nations.

It needs to be recollected that there is a standing resolution, 1269 (1999) of the Security Council which unequivocally condemns "all acts, methods and practices of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable where and by whomever committed." The draft for a comprehensive convention on international terrorism is in its final stages. Instead of building a truly global coalition against international terrorism, the intemperate and arrogant declaration by Bush to the world that they are either with the US or with the terrorists, clearly indicates that the USA is seeking to tighten its hegemonistic grip over the world.

Bellicose war hysteria against imaginary and intangible enemies has let loose a spate of violence, particularly against Arabs and Muslims. The calls for a crusade are accompanied by the threats that Afghanistan is not the only country the USA is targetting. It is only the beginning, the world is told. Iraq is repeatedly mentioned. The movement of American military machine towards the Middle-East and the declaration that this "war" would be a protracted one means the entrenchment of US military bases and positions in many new areas. The USA thus seeks to seal its total control of this oil-rich area.

The freezing of bank accounts of those allegedly harbouring terrorism, without concrete proof, is the beginning of a new financial authoritarianism that US imperialism seeks to instal. The threats to beef up intelligence operations, transgressing the sovereignty of independent nations, is yet another effort to strengthen US control of world events

Thus, acting as the self-proclaimed policeman of the world, the USA and its President Bush are setting in motion dangerous institutional arrangements that can adversely affect the lives of millions of people the world over.

Given the track record of US military interventions in the past, such belligerence today is ominous for peace and security. It is justice that the people of the world seek, not revenge and retribution. US attempts to use the death of over six thousand innocent lives to advance its global interests must be resisted. The failure to do so will lead to greater human tragedies.

Reflections Of A Sick Mind

PRIME MINISTER Atal Behari Vajpayee, adopted a belligerent attitude while exposing his total lack of concern about the conditions of livelihood of the Indian people. He made a most preposterous and untrue claim that there have been no starvation deaths in India, leave alone Orissa. Echoing his junior partner, Biju Janata Dal's absurd claim that reports of starvation deaths are the handiwork of the enemies of India, the prime minister went on to describe reports of such deaths as figments of media's imagination. These are, at best, reflections of a callous and a sick mind.

Through these columns, we had repeatedly highlighted the disturbing trend of increasing starvation deaths and distress suicides. The mainstream media resonate similarly. As the Hindustan Times editorial of September 26 states: "Starvation and starvation deaths is not a media-generated conspiracy. It is a man-made tragedy with its roots in the political economy of poverty. Starvation deaths only prove how a powerful nexus of administrators, politicians and traders have disrupted the food distribution system to their own financial advantage, even while our godowns are spilling over with excess foodgrains. What is more, even if the ration shops have supplies, the poor do not have the purchasing power to buy a day's meal. What is happening in Bolangir today is not a new phenomenon. The entire KBK (Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi) region is perennially drought-stricken and hungry and, despite every chief minister and prime minister waxing eloquent that they will wave the magic wand of change, the reality remains as replete with despair as ever. People keep dying of hunger, and no one cares. Last week, several children died of starvation. But the thick-skinned state government has only resorted to a perverse " blame-game."

The illusory dream world schemes that the prime minister announces with sickening regularity have become exercises in deception. What is needed is to immediately release foodgrains from the existing mountain of food stock and start a massive food for work programme all over the country on a war footing. We have been saying this for a long. People are not going to wait any longer. Either the Vajpayee government takes such measures or the people will force it to quit office.