Mumbai Resistance 2004

27. August 2003

Against Imperialist Globalisation and War

1. The MR-2004 is an event, scheduled for January 17-20, 2004, and will run parallel to the World Social Forum (WSF) Mumbai programme. It is an international event, part of the process of building a strong worldwide anti-imperialist movement, that seeks to take the people of the world, including those attending the WSF, beyond the limits of “reflective thinking and debate” towards organised resistance against imperialist globalisation and imperialist wars. It is based on clear and unambiguous premises. The MR-2004 considers itself as a continuation of the militant traditions set in the anti-globalisation and anti-war movements that assumed a new intensity after Seattle.

The MR-2004 was conceived of at the International Camp, Thessaloniki Resistance 2003, and Greece in June 2003. It took a more concrete form following a decision of the International Co-ordinating Group of the International League of Peoples` Struggles, ILPS, (a coalition of over 100 struggling people´s organisations from different parts of the world), which at its meeting in the Netherlands on July 18-20, 2003 resolved to organise an event at the same time as the WSF “co-sponsored with other groups .. to consolidate and strengthen the anti-imperialist movement”, and subsequently through discussions with other international and Indian organisations.

2. MR-2004, being held in Mumbai, in particular seeks to take the anti-imperialist movement in India one step forward, as part of the international mobilisation against the growing concentration of capitalist forces across the globe and the ravages of their imperialist globalisation. This is seriously harming the socio-economic fabric of all backward countries of the world, causing acute devastation to peoples´ livelihoods, and actually depriving them of the very Right to Life.

3. MR-2004, seeing a futility in the amorphous presentation of “Another Possible World” by the WSF, seeks to concretely define an alternative socio-economic structure, as one built on a basis of self-reliance, with a total break from all controls, domination and subjugation by imperialism and the institutions of the world capitalist system – such as World Bank, IMF, WTO, TNCs, etc. It believes that prosperity and growth in India, as with all other underdeveloped countries, can be achieved only through a self-reliant economy, moving towards a genuine socialist order. It is of the opinion that this can be achieved through struggle, not endless and often not so meaningful debates.

4. MR-2004 seeks to vehemently oppose the rapacious plunder of the backward countries of the world — their economies, natural resources, agriculture, enormous wealth, and, primarily, of their people — by the TNCs as a result of the pro-imperialist policies of the governments, masquerading under the signboard of …‘economic reforms´. It firmly believes that the battle against imperialism and the global system of capital cannot be fought without also targeting the local ruling classes within countries who support and actively implement these policies.

5. MR-2004 is totally opposed to the privatisation and disinvestment policies of governments, especially in the resource based basic industries, and in all public utilities, health, education, welfare and other social sectors, which is actually the contrived open sale of the nation´s assets.

6. MR-2004 unequivocally rejects the foreign debt accumulated by the anti-people rulers of the oppressed nations from the imperialists, with its onerous servicing liability, and calls for its unilateral liquidation.

7. MR-2004 opposes the massive attack on the working class throughout the world, taking place under the signboard of globalisation. Faced with a severe economic crisis, capital is seeking to stem the falling rate of profit through, privatisations, job-losses, wage-cuts, contract labour/labour flexibility, cut in benefits, pensions, etc and even increasing attacks on the right to organise and strike. In India, as in many other parts of the world, the living conditions of the working-class have reached unimaginable depths.

8. MR-2004 opposes also the back-breaking attack on the lives of the peasantry of the backward countries through the `globalisation` of agriculture. In India the entire rural populace is being ruined by unbridled heavily subsidised cheap imports, plummeting of prices of all crops, absence of any price-protection mechanism, withdrawal of bank credit for peasants, growth of usury, slashing of public investment in agriculture, increased prices of inputs, increased dependence on MNC inputs, increased concentration of land, handing over vast tracts of land to MNCs etc. along with droughts and floods ravaging the country, and thousands being sent to their death each year because of these policies.

9. MR-2004 stands against the trend of growing fascism throughout the world, which has taken a menacing form and launched numerous attacks especially on the minorities in various parts of the world in the post 9/11 period in the name of fighting terrorism. These attacks are nothing but attempts to curb the struggling people from seeking their basic rights and just demands. In India this has taken different shapes, though by far the most prominent is that of Hindutva Fascism, which terrorises the minority communities while utilising and strengthening the highly oppressive caste system and whipping up national chauvinism. Its most deadly form was witnessed during the Gujarat pogroms in 2002 and also in the draconian legislations being framed by the state and central governments like POTA, ESMA, etc, which continue the highly undemocratic and repressive traditions of the centralised state apparatus inherited from the colonial powers.

10. MR-2004 believes that the present cultural degeneration, crass-consumerism, religious bigotry, is the direct product of a fusion of backward/feudal and capitalist/imperialist values nurtured on the one hand, by the extreme market fetishism of globalisation, and, on the other, by the religious fanaticism promoted by the rulers of the various countries. It seeks genuinely democratic values and culture, through a systematic countering of this growing deterioration in the cultural life of the people.

11. MR-2004 is of the view that the enormous environmental destruction taking place in the world, including India, is the direct result of the principle of primacy of the market and the capitalist/imperialist concept of development that leads to the commoditisation of natural resources as well as corporate greed that seeks the maximisation of profits at the cost of the ecological and human life of the people of the earth. Protection of the environment is impossible without eradicating the root cause of this depredation.

12. MR-2004 seeks to fight the increasing marginalisation of all sections of the oppressed masses under imperialist globalisation, particularly the socially oppressed groups and indigenous people. In India, the Adivasis, who constitute 7% of the population, are being systematically driven off their lands, their natural habitat, and pushed further and further to the fringes of this system.

13. MR-2004 fights against all forms of social oppression. In India particularly caste plays a significant role in the overall system of exploitation even today. MR 2004 stands for the complete eradication of the centuries-old, inhuman caste-based social system in all its political, economic and socio-religio-cultural facets, which are getting accentuated under the impact of globalisation. Whether one terms it upper caste chauvinism or Brahmanical fascism, the reactionary assault on the people of the most oppressed castes has become even fiercer. MR 2004 strongly opposes all forms of upper caste domination and chauvinism and casteist discrimination including the horrendous practice of untouchability, which is still seen in parts of the country.

14. MR 2004 seeks to fight the patriarchal oppression of women, and opposes the vulgar and degenerate imperialist culture that breeds violence against them and views them as commodities.

15. MR 2004 stands against the growing communalisation of society, and opposes all forms of communal violence, but most particularly the majority form of Hindutva communalism which has targeted the minorities including Christians, Sikhs and Dalits, but most particularly the Muslims. In this context it will support and unite with progressive forces of people belonging to each religion who are struggling against imperialist sponsored fundamentalist and fascist forces.

16. MR 2004 seeks justice, equality and liberation for all, irrespective of caste, nationality, religion or gender and believes that the struggles of all these oppressed sections of society are an important part of the anti-imperialist movement and will play a crucial role in the building of a new world.

17. MR-2004 unites strongly with the millions of struggling people fighting US-led aggression and war throughout the world. It stands firmly with the fighting people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and all the other countries that are being crushed under the jack-boots of US-led imperialist/Zionist aggression. It stands for the unilateral withdrawal of all US bases from various countries in the world. It also stands against the military interventions and expansionist strategies of the other imperialist powers.

18. Finally, MR-2004 appeals to all the genuine anti-imperialist forces from India and abroad, including those who will be attending the WSF in Mumbai, to join and strengthen the MR-2004 trend of true resistance to imperialist globalisation and war.

19. MR-2004 is of the strong opinion that justice, equality and liberation can be achieved only through peoples´ struggles. In this process we do not exclude any form of struggle that the situation may demand. The achievement of justice, equality and liberation is the primary objective, and the people choose the method of struggle according to the specific situation. Any restriction based on the forms of struggle can only serve to divide the forces standing up against imperialism.

20. We appeal to you all to attend our plenary sessions, workshops, seminars, cultural festival and rally, and thereby lend weight to the growing resistance in India and throughout the world. The MR-2004 will be inaugurated at 9.00 am on January 17, 2004. This will be followed by a series of workshops (primarily on issues that affect the lives of the people) on January 17th and 18th. January 19th will be witness to a cultural festival; and January 20th to a mammoth rally.

21. We, the initiators of MR-2004, call on all democratic mass organisations to join the MR-2004 process, democratic individuals to lend their name the Reception Committee, and for all to donate funds for this effort. It firmly believes that funding from imperialist/capitalist governments, corporates or foreign institutional sources can never help the peoples´ movements, and will not get funds from these sources. It will declare its sources of funds and expenditure. With the MR-2004 process being initiated from now itself, not only in India but in many countries of the world, we call on all people to participate in this new process culminating in the January 2004 event.

September 5, 2003

Initiators of MR-2004 are:

1. International League for Peoples´ Struggles (ILPS)
2. World Peoples´ Resistance Movement (WPRM), South Asia.
3. Anti-Imperialist Camp
4. Bayan (Philippines)
5. Confederation of Turkish Workers in Europe (ATIK)
6. Militant Movement (Greece)
7. All India Peoples Resistance Forum (AIPRF)
8. AP Forum for Secularism and Democracy
9. Bahujan Mukti Mahasangh
10. Bharat Jan Andolan (BJA)
11. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Haryana
12. Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM)
13. Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS)
14. Kashtakari Yuvak Sanghatana
15. Lokshahi Hakk Sanghatana
16. MY India — Muslim Youth of India
17. Movement for Implementation of Land Reforms, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh
18. Samajik Nyaya Morcha
19. Struggling Forum for People´s Resistance (SFPR)
20. Telengana Jana Sabha
21. Yuva Bharat
22. Left Front, Hungary