People's Democracy

THE Kolkata unit of the Left Front organised a rally in front of the American Centre in Kolkata on April 4, to condemn the wanton aggression of Israel on Palestinian territories.  Addressing the rally, Left Front chairman Biman Basu drew a parallel between the Israeli aggression following the attack by suicide bombers in Jerusalem with the assault on the Sabarmati Express and the subsequent unleashing of communal killings in Gujarat and elsewhere. Biman Basu said without the US backing, it was never possible for a small nation like Israel to mount such a massive attack on Palestinian territories. He demanded immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Ramallah where PLO chief Yasser Arafat has been holed up, and from other towns on the West Bank. 

State CPI(M) secretary Anil Biswas demanded that the BJP-led union government cut off all ties with Israel. He recalled that Israel organised no less than 3,782 assaults of Palestinian territories between 1948 and 2002. Lebanon, the neighbouring nation, has had to withstand an enormous amount of Israeli bombardment, both from the ground and from the air on nearly 75,000 occasions. Biswas also reminded the gathering that the decision to form the state of Israel was taken at an international conference following the Second World War at the insistence of Joseph Stalin.

Other speakers at the rally were Nihar Roychoudhury (Forward Bloc), Debashis Mukherjee (RSP), Mihir Byne (RCPI), Chanchal Ghosh (CPI), and M Rehman (Forward Bloc-Marxist).

The state unit of the DYFI also organised a rally and demonstration against Israeli aggression in front of the Americas Centre in Kolkata. 

At the call of the CPI(M) and the Left Front, other parts of the state also witnessed big militant demonstrations against the Israeli depredations in Palestinian areas. In North 24 Parganas district, militant actions, rallies, marches and street corner meetings took place in Barasat, Madhyagram, Rajarhat, New Barackpore, Baranagar, Kamarhati, Kanchanpara, Panihati, Naihati, Dum Dum, Bidhannagar, Bangaon, Gaihata and Basirhat.

In Nadia district, protest demonstrations took place in Krishnanagar and in all subdivisions and muffasil towns. Factory level meetings also took place in Kalyani industrial centre and elsewhere.

Reports of protest demonstrations and processions have come from several centres in Bardhaman and other districts.

WIDESPREAD protest is being expressed all over Kerala against the Zionist terrorism. On April 3, Palestine Solidarity Day was observed throughout the state by the CPI(M). Huge demonstrations and meetings were conducted. Thousands of people participated in the rallies.

In the state capital, the Palestine Day meeting was inaugurated by renowned poet O N V Kurup who urged the imperialists and Zionists to learn a lesson on human love. We should respect the freedom of others as we defend our own freedom. Palestine and Arafat should be recognised. America is the real villain behind the Israel-Palestine conflict, Kurup said.

According to M A Baby, CPI(M) Central Committee member who presided over the function, imperialism and its Zionist lackeys are as cruel against the Palestinians as Hitler was against the Jews. The birthright of any people to have a homeland is denied to the Palestinian people through diabolical deeds. In this naked act of state terrorism, the Zionists are being aided and abetted by the USA. All right-thinking people should come forward in defence of the rights of the people of Palestine, he said. The Vajpayee government is acting against the Palestine people by supporting Zionism and imperialism, Baby explained.

Dr N A Karim pointed out that Israel’s incursions on Palestine should be considered as an attack against the mankind. CPI(M) district secretary M Vijayakumar welcomed the gathering.

Before the meeting, a huge procession was taken out.

Similar rallies were held in other parts of the state. In Palghat, the Palestine Day meeting was inaugurated by DYFI national president N N Krishnadas. In Alappuzha, the rally was inaugurated by district CPI(M) secretary G Sudhakaran. Panchayat level rallies were held in some of the districts.

Palestine solidarity demonstrations were conducted in the state by the DYFI and SFI as well. Banners and placards condemning Ariel Sharon and George W Bush were carried by the demonstrators. Effigies of Bush and Sharon were also burnt.

ON April 4, hundreds of women and men from all walks of life marched to the Israeli embassy on Aurangzeb Road, under the banner of People’s Solidarity with Palestine. The demonstrators demanded that the siege around Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah be immediately lifted, that Israel withdraw to the 1967 position, and the fascist-terrorist war against the people of Palestine launched by the Sharon regime with the backing of the Bush administration be immediately ended. Factory and office workers, students, teachers, women from different sections walked shoulder to shoulder, shouting slogans against the Sharon regime and in solidarity with the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

Those who addressed rally included Jogendra Sharma of the CPI(M), Brinda Karat (AIDWA), Achin Vinayak (peace activist), Javed Naqvi and Kamar Agha (journalists), Sarojini (Sama) and Saswati Mazumdar (president, DUTA), among others.

The rally demanded that the government of India give up its shameful soft stand towards Israel and come out in strong support of Arafat and the Palestinians’ struggle for a homeland. The demonstration was joined by a group of Palestinian students studying in India.

The heavy police bandobast prevented the marchers from reaching the embassy. There were several scuffles with the police. Finally the march turned into a public meeting of protest. (INN)