Consequential alienation

This is not a research article, but just a small thought that I have been working on.

With every new set of friends that I interact with and after substantial proximity has been established, the inevitable debate always occurs, almost as though it is the natural sequence of making friends. The vegetarian debate is what I am speaking about. The same set of questions, the same set of retorts, my excruciatingly painful task of convincing them through arguments centred around biology, animal sociology (if something like that exists), anthropology, natural law and what not. The irony of it all is the fact that every time, I almost succeed in convincing my friends that meat, as it is consumed today and the institutional cruelty that is meted out to animals is unnatural, evil and definitely not sustainable but all to no avail as the unfailing response when they have run out of arguments is "I don't care, I enjoy my meat and I will continue doing so.." So, I had to change the direction of my thoughts not so much regarding whether meat eating is good or bad but more towards why are people insensitive towards the cruelty once they are exposed to it.

Then, I figured that the answer to that is not very complex and perhaps might even fall in the realm of 'common sense'. Though I did not run out in the streets nude shouting Eureka à la Archimedes, I was, however, pretty glad that I had realized it especially because of its overarching practical explanatory ability. The thing that I am alluding to is exactly what the title describes, alienation. Primarily, I am of the opinion that once people have detached themselves from the actual point of interaction where the ‘cruelty’ is taking place, they see themselves as not culpable. Notice, how the most common argument proves my point: “If I don’t eat this xxx animal, then someone else will, since it’s already killed” or some variations of the same. Think about it, if they had to kill the animal themselves, this argument just wouldn’t hold, would it? It is the ability, in the modern day economic system, to detach oneself from the actions that are done on one’s behalf that causes people to enjoy the benefits of these actions without the usually accompanying guilty feeling.

I realize that there are a few loopholes in this line of thinking and it cannot be absolutely generalized, but looking at smaller samples, it could hold true. To be more precise, it is true of the people I encounter and interact with. The first counter-argument against this is easy and let me provide that before all else: what about those who are doing the killing? According to this reasoning, shouldn’t they stop? There, there’s another Freudian defence mechanism working there, that of rationalization. Their line of reasoning would be “I am doing this for others” or “I have to do this to earn my living”, etc. It is a rather weak argument, but as of now, it’s the best response I can give. I got this idea mainly from a psychological study that I read some time back; it wanted to study the possible thoughts accompanying those who actually pulled the trigger against the Jews in the Nazi regime. The results were rather conclusive and interesting – almost all the people interviewed said that they did not feel responsible for the deaths as they were merely carrying out the orders of their superiors. So, in a twisted way, our butcher example can be seen as a parallel to the Nazi example, where Hitler is the twin of the people who just ‘order’ meat and not actually kill and the butcher is like the soldiers who just ‘took orders’.

I think it is the same with the environment: as long as people do not see a direct link between their actions and the damage it’s causing, they would be oblivious to the circumstances and thus, it would be extremely easy to shirk away from the responsibility. Imagine a person living in a big city, surrounded by the artificiality of human civilization, masking its own decadence. This person lives so far away, physically and emotionally from nature that it is impossible to connect with nature and thus, see what bearing his actions have on environmental change. Could he possibly see the connection between a simple action such as leaving his PC switched on all night or the big SUV guzzler he drives to office alone and the effect it has on the Western Ghats? It is an abstract causal relationship which is far from evident, unless internalized and indoctrinated. This is why, I feel, that consumerism is thriving today in all its glory and the other social institutions are functionally designed to keep people from realizing this relationship.

Let me now try to apply this theory to other circumstances. I am presently reading this book by Joseph Stiglitz, an outstanding economist, titled “Globalization and its discontents”. He gives an example of the fund and its handling of the Ethiopian case. The person in IMF who was ruthlessly pushing through outdated, ineffective policies, because of his dogmatic beliefs in free markets, that would affect millions of the poorest people in Ethiopia was sitting in an AC room in the IMF building on the 19^th street in Washington, who had never been to Ethiopia, could not describe what the people were going through and, I’m sure, did not know what poverty meant, apart from the official definition given by the World Bank as less than 2400 calories a day. When the policies miserably failed, he merely shrugged his shoulder and blamed it on the ineffectiveness of the policy implementation apparatus. Once, the blame is shifted, he can happily move on to the next target. I have thought of many other instances that can generally fit into this model, but it might exceed the scope of this write-up.

I am now rather convinced that people are apathetic about the moral obligations of certain actions because of their ability to intellectualize or to alienate, detach and isolate themselves from those actions that would otherwise cause anxiety and perhaps, a vague moral dilemma. My question is, which I am still uncertain about, would people still continue to engage in these if, in a hypothetical situation, they would be primarily responsible for the action. The ability to shift responsibility is the core concept that is resounding throughout this piece; and thus, my question would be, what would happen if they could not carry out the required shift? What if the responsibility stuck with them? Would they continue? To exemplify, ignoring practicality for some time, imagine a restaurant where one would have to kill their own meat, if they wanted to eat it. The restaurant would provide all the facilities, the knife, the animal, etc, then, would people still go ahead, kill the meat and eat it? I know that, with habituation, they probably might, but at first, will they? Would this serve as a strong enough reason for them not to eat meat? I wonder...

TIGHTROPE WALKER

Try to conceive a tight rope walker balancing on a rope tied between two identical buildings. The rope represents the man’s current state. Man is something that must be overcome as he is a bridge with no ends. Thus while it is highly impossible for any one to balance on the rope it is impossible to stay there, eliminating the rope as a possibility for being the goal. Then again if it is two identical buildings and the walker has just left one then it is impossible that the other building should become a goal.

Then what exactly do these represent?? The building he has left is himself, the building he is targeting is himself and finally the rope he is walking on is himself. Thus the man is overcoming himself and in the process of doing so, he is overcoming others.

"Here man has been overcome at every moment; this has here become the greatest reality--whatever was so far considered great in man lies beneath him at an infinite distance. (The abyss.) The halcyon, the light feet, the omnipresence of malice and exuberance, and whatever else is typical of the type of man. While he has overcome self he is at a great height and he is looking down to see the people.

The rope is reality, reality without illusions--dangerous, elusive, contradictory, terrible and beautiful. Only while balancing on the rope, can man, look into that abyss, truly see it.

It also represents a kind of transformation and transcendence of man’s animal instincts. Here, man is seen as the bridge between the animals and finally the ubermensch or the overman that he must strive to become. Humans are not the be all and end all of existence, as the "last men" would see themselves. We are still largely governed by our animal instincts, which lead us to prejudice, superficiality, and to easy reliance upon faith. In order to refine our being, we must turn our instinct for cruelty upon ourselves, and carve away at our prejudices, superficiality, and faith, creating something deeper. Zarathustra speaks of the triumphant moment where we look with contempt upon all the human qualities that we once valued. This would signify our triumph over our shallow, human nature, and our progress toward the overman.

IDEOLOGY, CONDITIONING AND ORIGINAL THINKING

A small discussion in Socio class today made me go into a thought spiral. A small phrase about ideology being borrowed that was thrown in in the class got me thinking about the whole issue of ideology, conditioned knowledge and original thinking.

This is basically my proposal: There have been great amount of writing on the greatness of human intelligence, its unlimited capacity and the general wonder that it is. However, most people have overlooked one great flaw or shortcoming in the human intelligent order: our extremely limited imagination/ creativity. All our existing thinking patterns are nothing but products of conditioning of a particular social structure or existing thinking patterns. Thus, there is really no such thing as a novel idea, creative thinking, creating new forms of thinking, etc. When we think we have come up with an original idea, it is nothing but furtherance of existing cognitive order and knowledge based. There can be no original idea, no new theory which is not already based upon existing knowledge. Even if this idea is in sharp contrast to the existing order, it is still dependent on the knowledge base for its survival.

So can there be any original thinking at all? IS there anything called original or is it just an extension of the present knowledge based? Can there be a single thought that is free from all other thoughts, from previous conditioning? The answer is no!!!

Even in rebellion, one can but see the influence of present conditioning!Historically, there've been ideas that have dramatically shifted from existing moral order. Ideas that are contrary to the present thinking patterns which are known as paradigm shifts... Marx, Montesquieu, etc might have all architectured these shifts but doesn't the shift literally mean that they're moving from an existing position of perception to a new one because of whatever shortcomings they found... Such revolutionary ideas are not really that revolutionary... It is a change in thinking but within the same conceptual frameworks and social structure...

Let me move on to the next aspect - imagination.
One of the high points of human intelligence is our supposed great imagination capacity. Again, following the logical sequence, I believe that our imagination wither has a long way to go or it's just that we can never really achieve higher levels of imagination. We cannot imagine new things. Our imagination always requires supply of material from real life for fabrication.
Have you ever wondered about the fact that we can never really dream of unknown things. Every element that presents itself in a dream is a product of previous experience. We never really dream of unknown faces or locations. We use, in different proportions, things that we have previously viewed to fabricate dreams.
Like the anti- cliché goes: Man created God in his own image!

Let us take a more practical example... Something that has been eluding me for quite some time. We've all watched alien movies... The depiction of the aliens provide an excellent example. We've always created figures and images of aliens in more or less human or animal terms. We use the concepts, imagery, etc known to us in diff combination to try and recreate alien images. For ex: aliens always use eyes, some form of organs for movement, and basically are represented as a mutated form of organisms that we have encountered. We are never able to transcend this limitation of our imagination. If we take this step further, apart from the use of known organs, aliens are also represented in the familiar concepts. Concepts such as vision, movement, life, cognition, communication, interaction, survival, etc. What if aliens are unknown to the concept of vision or movement? What if aliens don't know what sensation is? what if there's no death for aliens? What if...

Ultimately imagination is heavily dependent on knowledge, and knowledge is acquired... thus with the law of transitivity, imagination is acquired and hence, cannot be new or original!

NAXALISM

INTRODUCTION:

In 2004, during his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted that the Naxalism was the “single biggest threat to India’s internal security” bypassing the more ostensible contenders like fundamental terrorism, insurgency movements and cross-border terrorism. In retrospect, this acknowledgement by the government is a positive step in itself.

Naxalism unlike other militant movements has the double dubious distinction of not being confined to either a single issue or to a single region. The significance of the problem of Naxalism cannot be overstated as it reflects deeper shortcomings of the socio-economic system itself. The birth, maintenance and inspiration for the movement are derived from the faulty structure of the socio-economic system.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NAXAL MOVEMENT:

The decade of the 1960’s will be remembered as one that sparked revolutions all over the globe. “There was music in the cafés at night and revolution in the air” . There were mass uprisings against the system in different parts of the World. France had its students and workers’ movement against the Charles de Gaulle govt, there was a cultural revolution in China, a Maoist led sociological repression, apart from the several communist guerrilla rebellions.

India too had her share with the spontaneous uprising of peasants in Naxalbari, a hitherto unknown small hamlet in West Bengal. This was largely due to oppressive land tenure system and the general economic backwardness of the masses that existed there. Though the seeds were sown in Telengana in 1948 in Andhra, the Naxalbari movement was the first concentrated communist revolutionary movement of the peasants against the state. Comrade Charu Mazumdar was at the forefront of the revolution and the mainstay of the movement in the initial years.

The ideology of naxalism soon assumed larger dimension and entire state units of CPI (M) in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and some sections in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh joined the struggle. The AICCCR was formed as the leading organization for the Naxalite movement. Then on it has been a story of violence, party splits, insurgency, counter-insurgency, more violence, more party splits, unification, etc.


SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NAXAL STRUGGLES:

It is a common mistake to label the Naxalites as just another terrorist group. There cannot be a greater folly. While possessing a completely different ideology, the Naxals stand out in terms of mode of operation and organizational structure. Other terrorists attack the Indian state at its strong points—its secularism, its inclusiveness, its democracy. Naxalism attacks where it is weakest: in delivering basic government services to those who need them most. The Naxalites do not threaten the government in Delhi, but they do have the power to deter investment and development in some of India's poorest regions, which also happen to be among the richest in some vital resources-notably iron and coal. So their movement itself has the effect of sharpening inequity, which many see as the biggest danger facing India in the next few years, and which is the Naxalites' recruiting sergeant.

Forty years after the Naxalbari uprising, it is remarkable that Maoism remains a potent political force. It has survived the disappearance of Maoism in the land of its origin and the collapse of the Soviet bloc. It has survived the retreat of the Left in academia and trade unions, which contributed to the rise of a middle class that was indifferent to politics in general and the Left in particular. It has survived the rise of caste, as opposed to class, politics.


IMPACT OF THE NAXALITE MOVEMENT ON INDIAN SOCIETY:

IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY:

The Maoists campaign against the government will have far-reaching consequences on India's stability and, most particularly, its energy security. It is an alarming fact that the Naxalite insurgency is strongest precisely in the areas with the richest natural resources, especially the coal that is the power behind the Indian economy.

The state of Chattisgarh is by far the worst effected with the Naxal problem and woefully, the state is generously endowed with rich minerals and other natural resources. Forest accounts for 46% of the total land area. Sal and teak are the main trees of the forests both of which have high economical value. Timber accounts for 40% of the total revenue from the forest sector. Chattisgarh is home to 28 varieties of major minerals including Bauxite, Garnet, Quartz, Aluminium, Diamond and Gold. In addition, the state produces all the tin ore in India and is renowned for having one of the best iron ore deposits the world over.

The Naxalites have a presence in almost half of India's 28 states, while in some of the poorer and most heavily tribal states, particularly Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkand and West Bengal, they have turned into a political force to reckon with. These five states account for about 85% of India's coal resources, and continued disruption and deterioration of the political environment could lead to profound consequences for both India and its neighbours.

Coal is an important part of the Indian Economy as it accounts for about 55% of India's current primary energy supply and 75% of its electricity generation. A prolonged or excessively costly resource war in these states could cripple the economy and alter the global import balance if India has to look elsewhere for energy resources.

Naxalites frequently levy their own "taxes" on resource extraction in districts within their control while many ideological Naxalites are opposed to the development of additional coalmines and power plants at any price.

The Naxalite insurgency is creating hurdles in India’s economic growth story. Naxalite insurgency could not only hamper India’s economic growth but also restrict the in-flow of Foreign Direct Investment into the country.

Fear of being caught in the cross-fire between the Maoists and the state law officers has forced over 3000 villagers in the Naxal controlled region of Andhra Pradesh to refuse telephone connections. The villagers fear that they would be caught between the two warring parties if they apply for phone connections. Either the Maoists would suspect them of being police informers or the cops would label as Maoist sympathisers refusing to pass on information.

Intelligence sources estimate that roughly INR 40-50 crore is extorted by the PWG in Andhra Pradesh alone each year. Similarly, papers seized during special operations in the Garhwa-Palamau areas of Bihar provide evidence of enormous and organised financial operations in which targets and 'block budgets' are defined for each 'squad' of the MCC . Thus, one such squad had raised INR seven million in a single year. In addition, Naxalite squads exercise a monopolistic control over forest produce and government contracts in their areas of dominance, and also receive a substantial share of all development funding flowing into these areas. Moreover, the Naxalites also engage in, or control, significant levels of illegal economic activity, especially the illegal harvesting and smuggling of forest produce. This does not include the money spent on counter-insurgency operations by the govt as it is incalculable.

One has to remember that Naxalites are themselves, the cause and effect of economic backwardness and underdevelopment. While they rose to prominence with a view to develop the hitherto overlooked areas of India, they seem to be blocking all forms of developmental activity initiated by the govt in its vow to fight it. Thus, they systematically block infrastructure development (roads and telephones), stop industries and factories from being set up and finally protests against foreign investment in these areas, the general path of development taken by the GOI.


VIOLENCE AND MODUS OPERANDI:

Though the stream of Naxalite violence had been subdued during the 80’s, it has found a new vigour in the 90’s and post 2000. The Naxalites operate mostly in the interiors of the forests of the backward areas as previously mentioned. Apart from violence carried out on the developmental projects and energy projects, their other favourite target includes police stations.

Telephone exchanges are the second most favourite targets of the Maoists after police stations. A total of 270 exchanges have been attacked so far with Andhra Pradesh accounting for 265. The damage caused by these attacks ranges anywhere from Rs.30,000 to Rs. 50 lakh. Each time the Maoists attack a telephone exchange, they not only succeed in cutting off all lines of communication but also scare people about the repercussions of using these utilities.

Some of the deadliest Maoist attacks in the past 5 years:

•An attack on ex-CM Janardhan Reddy in 2007 and on TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu in 2003.
•2004: Over 1000 Maoists looted over 2000 sophisticated guns worth Rs 50 crore.
•Jehanabad Jail-break (2005), involving the freeing of over 375 prisoners and looting 200 rifles and freed 40 prisoners in Orissa in 2006 and again 303 in Chhatisgarh in 2007.
•2006: Attack on relief camp in Chhatisgarh, killing 25, kidnapping 20.
•2007: Attack on police outpost in Chhatisgarh killing 55 security personnel, looted weapons.
•2008: Attack on police outposts and training camps in Orissa, killing 45 security personnel and looting over crores of Rs worth ammunition.

Now, I shall proceed to make a closer examination of the particular causes behind the Naxal movement in the Indian context.

Overall, the Naxalite challenge rests upon the issues of agrarian transformation, tribal people's rights, the nationality movement and resisting imperialism and globalisation. All this adds up to what they characterise as the people's democratic revolution to change the very character of the Indian state. Because of the issues they pursue, the Naxalites have a social base, which sustains them despite a variety of repressive measures pursued by the state.

The reasons for the Naxals' success are fairly straightforward. Naxals flourish where there are huge disparities in assets and incomes, and where injustice and violence by the privileged are rampant. “The Naxal movement is irrepressible because it draws sustenance from the grievances of the people which have not be addressed by the government”

We are all quite familiar with the plight of the average tiller who works on an Absentee landlord’s lands for pittance of a pay for his labour. All the hitherto sufferers of the oppressive Zamindhari and land tenure system of Indian society are sympathizers of the Naxal cause mainly due to the fact that the Naxals are sympathizers to theirs.

While, economic backwardness are some of the primary causes, Naxalism is as much a crisis of political empowerment. It is hardly surprising that Naxal influence is strongest in tribal India. Tribals, more than any other oppressed category, have got nothing out of the Indian state, before or after globalisation. The Indian state has always taken land alienation of tribals for granted, as one of the consequences of 'progress' that must be put up with owing to a skewed pattern of land distribution, tribals and Dalits are at the receiving end of the land- owning castes. However, they do not possess adequate political resources (power) to be able to fight for their cause, which is a classical example of Bachrach and Baratz second dimension of power.

In addition, a contractor-politician nexus controls the wealth of the forests and pushes tribals to the margins. A repressive state apparatus, represented by the police and the black laws they use to their advantage, helps keep this exploitative system going.

With the opening up of the Indian economy to trade and investment, the entry of mining companies in Orissa and Chhattisgarh poses a threat to the livelihood of tribals and their way of life. Naxalites are among those — though not the only, or even main, political force — who are with the tribals in this context. Even as their adherence to violence cannot be condoned, it is no worse than the violence of the state and oppressive forces in the region.

The entry of MNCs is doing no good to the oppressed duo (dalits and tribals) either. FDIs, MNCs and giant private corporate houses all want a share of the rich natural resources that rural India is endowed with. While they are pushing indiscriminately and a more than willing state apparatus to please them, the effect on their entry on the indigenous population is oft forgotten. The only recourse the tribals have, it seems, is to join the Naxals.


GOVERNAMENTAL FAILURE:

The govt is definitely a top contender to take a part of the blame for the current problem. This is not to be construed as the govt being the main culpable for the problem. Instead, it reflects the govt’s failure to handle the bad situation in a better fashion, thus, making things worse. A series of faulty policy measures or plain incompetence has left the discontent groups at worse stages.

To start with, it was the failure of the govt machinery in its policy of land reforms. Land reforms were never seriously implemented. Ceiling on land holdings was treated as a joke by the rich landlords, who could easily evade the laws. Consolidation of land holding and tenancy reforms was an utter failure. Co-operative farming, micro-finance, rural credit, and a whole array of such well-intentioned schemes never saw the light of the day. Land acquisition for industrialization and a horrible record of implementing R&R packages are other factors aggravating the problem. In brief, the govt utterly failed in addressing the problems of the rural poor who form a bulk of the Indian population.

One of the costliest mistakes of the govt was to treat the Naxalite problem as a mere ‘law and order’ problem, failing to recognise the underlying socio-economic tones. The waves of rebellion and revolution was sustained mainly due to the fact that the govt continued to look the other way when it came to matters of developing the really underdeveloped regions of the country. Since, it was treated as a law and order problem, the govt adopted a battery of repressive measures which only contributed to make matters worse. It increased state spending on paramilitary forces, special task police, and ordinary police to try to repress the movement. Violence cannot be solved with counter-violence. The repression only infuriated the naxals more and resulted in fresh violence. It was nothing short of an all out war between the state and the rebel forces, overlooking the heavy toll it took on citizen’s lives, property and peaceful existence.

Banning the organizations was the other costly mistake. This resulted in denying the necessary political space, which otherwise might, perhaps, have led the rebels to seek justice within the constitutional provisions. In addition, the label of being a banned organization shed the naxalites of all responsibility towards a responsible approach.

Perhaps, one of the most juvenile and puerile course of action that the govt took was to employ the Salwa-Judum, counter insurgency movement. Though govt officials claim that it was a spontaneous uprising by the tribals against the naxals, the neutral NGO reports speak otherwise. The govt accepted, coerced and seduced the tribals into becoming armed groups to fight Naxals.

The Naxalite problem recently got aggravated because of the Indian state's withdrawal from public services, leading to their near-collapse, and the growing illegitimacy of governance in many regions, coupled with massive corruption. This has led to failing states in many parts of India. Agrarian distress, growing unemployment, and depredations of the forester-contractor mafia, have intensified popular discontent. As has unequal globalisation.


SOLUTIONS:

Obviously, because of the multitude of causes and the multifarious manifestations of the problem, there cannot possibly be a single solution. Instead, the govt should try and attack the problem at the cause itself. Mentioning the causes which have to be attacked would be unnecessary but it has to be noted that the alleviation of poverty and amelioration of socio-economic backwardness seems to be the instant mantra for any sort of reprise. The govt should learn from its own experience, both positive and negative. For instance, in the late 70s, the West Bengal govt carried out land reform schemes extensively in Naxal affected areas. This led to the disappearance of the movement and the creation of happy and a new wealthy peasant class. Notice how there is no mention of Naxal activities in Naxalbari, the birthplace of the movement. Land reforms and tribal rights have to be implemented!
Excessive spending on the armed forces is definitely not the solution, but for the short run, the govt should upgrade its armed personnel in terms of training and weaponry so that the police do not find themselves in a situation where they are as scared as the next ordinary citizen.

Moreover, the govt should give the Naxals a democratic space for self-expression and encouraging them to come overground. This was a success in Andhra Pradesh in the 80s and recently in 2004, when peace talks were held.

While these are the basic solutions, I would like to mention that the latest govt report on the Naxals is definitely a step in the right direction. It has pinpointed many causes for previous lapses and offers many novel solutions based on a good understanding of the problem. Though it will be useless to repeat what the report says, it is however, necessary to mention that implementation is the key.


CONCLUSION:
Now that we know that the situation of the oppressed classes is bad and that the govt has done nothing, we must ask the inevitable question – Was the Naxals of any use? What did they achieve?

The story of the Naxalite movement on the ground certainly has had beautiful aspects and inspiring moments. The Naxalite movement has been a significant political movement of our times. Politically, the movement has raised important questions regarding India's democracy and underlined the need to bring about "a people's democracy". There have also been significant practical achievements in specific areas: curbing of feudal practices and social oppression; confiscation and redistribution of ceiling surplus land; more equitable access to village commons; higher agricultural wages; elimination of the stranglehold of landlords, moneylenders, and contractors; protection from harassment by forest department officials and the police; heightened political consciousness and empowerment of the poor, amongst others.

The question remains whether the same results could not have been achieved through non-violent or at least less violent means. The use of indiscriminate violence has taken a heavy toll and has negated what the Naxals stood for.

On the other hand, like a lot of other cultural and social revolutions in the world, Naxalism too has slowly diluted into petty wars, quick materialistic gains and a taste for violence. The Naxal ideology serves as an excellent platform for unemployed, uneducated youth to extort, kidnap, use violence and ultimately feel the power of taking others’ lives. I wonder if the newly recruited youth, who are attracted mainly by a steady wage promised by the naxals, a secure shelter, supply of arms, etc, still remember the slogans of the Naxalbari uprising, or the cause for which Charu Mozumdar gave his life to, or what Marx really meant by armed resistance and false consciousness.

Ultimately, because of either the govt or the Naxals or the perpetual war between the two, it is the common person who suffers. India still has a long way to go before it can reach and solve the root causes of such problems.

The Jharkhand Tribal Movement

The tribes of the Chotanagpur region have been subjected repeatedly to outside invasions from the Mughal to the British to the Hindu Zamindars. The tribals were marginalized when the Hindu traders and Muslim farmers had moved in and modern law and administration was established. British authority and its accompanying array of devises facilitated the process of pauperizing the tribals. The administration was manned by outsiders and there was introduction of paper currency which was alien to the tribals. Their villages were in the hands of the landlords who were committed to the expropriation of tribals. All this had one inevitable result: that of armed resistance.

The 19th century rebellions have been attributed to the twin consequences of illegal deprivation of tribal lands and the reduction of the tribals to a state of poverty and indebtedness.

The first ever revolt against the landlords and the British government was led by Tilka Manjhi, a valiant Santhal leader in Santal tribal belt in 1771. He wanted to liberate his people from the clutches of the unscrupulous landlords and restore the lands of their ancestors. The British government sent its troops and crushed the uprisings of Tilka Manjhi.

Soon after in 1779, the Bhumij tribes rose in arms against the British rule in Manbhum, now in West Bengal. The Bhumij were always conspicuous as a turbulent people. Whenever the authorities made any attempt to settle the jungle Mahals, the Bhumij rose in open revolt. This was followed by the Chero tribes unrest in Palamau. They revolted against the British Rule in 1800 AD. Hardly seven years later in 1807, the Oraons in Barway murdered their big landlord of Srinagar west of Gumla. Soon the uprisings spread around Gumla. The tribal uprisings spread eastward to neighbouring Tamar areas of the Munda tribes.

THE TAMAR REVOLT
The landlords were given extraordinary powers and the authority to evict the tenants, dispose of and sell their property, and even seize their persons without recourse to the court of law. The tenants had no documentary evidence of their rights.
Signs of tribal unrest became evident. In 1789, there was an insurrection in Tamar, which was put down by the military, but disturbances followed again in 1794 and 95. Police outstations were now introduced who joined hands with the powerful landlords to further worsen the state of the Tribals. Further insurrections followed in 1811, 1817 and 1820. The Hos in Singhbhum were growing restless and came out in open revolt in 1820 and fought against the landlords and the British troops for two years. This is called the Larka Kol Risings 1820-1821.
The Kol Insurrection was the biggest uprising against the British empire (Dec1831 to Jan 1832) which united the Oraons, Hos, and Mundas in a frenzied but short-lived outburst. They had decided that not a single foreigner should be left alive in their land. In every village, the Suds(Hindus) and the dikus were murdered, plundered and their houses were burnt down. By the end of January, the rebels were in control of the Chotanagpur as the British were not expecting such an upheaval. It was not until March that the rebellion could be suppressed.



THE SANTHAL REBELLION: 1855-57

The Santhals occupy the third place among the major tribes of India. Santhal Paraganas form the largest political unit if this tribe.
The Santhal rebellion was one of the more pronounced instances of tribal resistance to the growing deterioration in their conditions. 4 factors were primarily seen as instrumental in its eruption:

1. Exploitation by moneylenders
2. The misery caused by their wicked and immoral system of allowing personal and hereditary bondage for debt.
3. The corruption of the police in aiding the moneylenders.
4. The impossibility for the Santhals of obtaining redress from the courts.

Rising prices, deteriorating financial conditions, bonded labour all loomed in the background while two brothers Sidhu and Kanhu kindled the revolution with their tale of divine inspiration. In it, they were instructed to kill and end all the diku rule themselves. The beginning of the movement was marked by peaceful submission of petitions and grievances. A few spontaneous murders of moneylenders and traders occurred. Soon, the tribals picked up the only weapon he possessed and knew to operate, the bow and the axe. They soon went on a rampage killing police officers, moneylenders, railway attendants and the Zamindhars. The brothers were in command of the entire operations. In a last desperate measure, the brothers led an army of 30,000 Santhals to Calcutta to petition the Governor-general.

In a fierce engagement between the British and some 4,000 Santhals on 15-7-1855, the latter ultimately lost the battle after their leaders Sidhu and Kanhu were wounded with bullets. Later, 12 Santhal villages were set on fire by Captain Sherwill. And again a cluster of 15 villages were destroyed. There was a year long hard fought battle which witnessed 10,000 – 15,000 deaths, mostly Santhals. The British had crushed them.

Owing to the mutiny of 1857 and the Santhal rebellion itself, a few temporary administrative reforms were introduced. These were quickly nullified and the tribals soon found themselves in the same old boat. Many other fractured and small rebellions took place under various leaders which did not yield any positive result like those under Bhagirat Manjhi, Dubia Gosian and the Kerwar movement and the Sardar Agitation.

THE BIRSA MUNDA MOVEMENT: 1895-1900

This was the last of the heroic tribal movements of the 19th century in the Chotanagpur plateau. The mundas had been living in the Chotanagpur plateau for more than 2000 years and are one of the most ancient settlers in this land.
The revolt essentially started as an economic one like many other tribal revolts but soon turned into a political one. They fought against the British who openly supported the exploiters namely the Zamindhars and money lenders who took advantage of the corrupt British and Indian officials. In 1856, there were in Bihar 600 Zamindhar dikus holding land ranging from a portion of a single village to even 150 villages each.

The introduction of rent for the land, a concept hitherto unknown to the tribals, infuriated them. Then there was collection of taxes for just about any reason. The British courts, unfamiliar with the tribal language had to depend upon the local interpreters to act as middle men. These people were only too pleased to help their powerful landowners. Thus, the tribals could not get justice from any direction and led them to believe that it rest upon themselves to rid the place of dikus.
The dikus, unable to comprehend the social and political organization of the tribals simply dismissed them and replaced with limbs of modern governmental machinery. Worst of all, the tribal customs, practices and superstitions were dismissed lightly. Another important reason for the revolt was of course, the concept of Beth Begari, or what is known today as Bonded labour.
General poverty led many of the Mundas to leave their ancestral homes and shift to work in the Assam tea plantations and their earnings were spent mostly on liquor.

Though at first the struggle commenced by attacking the land-lords, later it was directed against the ruling British authorities and the Christian missionaries, as the Christian missionaries over emphasis on conversion irritated the Mundas. They now helped only the tribals who had converted and oppressed the non-converts and with the aid of the authorities, perpetuated atrocities against them. This resulted first in the Sardari Larai (1890).

The hero of the revolt had been Birsa Munda, who on account of piety, virtuous life and reputation for possessing psychic powers which enabled him to have communion with God, came to be known as Birsa Bhagwan. His followers came to be known as Birsite Bhagats. He believed that the Mundas will be able to regain their lost kingdom with the annihilation of the enemies. He then wanted to establish Birsaite Raj in which he would be the King. He had, by now, a firm belief that he was a divine incarnation fit to lead his people.

The core of Birsa’s message had initially been social and religious. He called upon the Mundas to uproot superstition, abjure animal sacrifise, cease taking intoxicants. Birsa Munda continuously infused the tribals with a sense of their destiny with many of the ancient myths that lay embedded in the popular consciousness.

He advised people to not to obey the police, the magistrates and the landlords and to boycott the ‘beth begari sytem’. He spoke against unlawful land acquisition and tried to unite his people against the diabolic exploitative triad of zamindhar, foreigner and traders.
In 1895, Arson and arrow firing against the Christian missionaries and few police stations started in an epidemic scale under the leadership of the Birsa. There were secret meetings held on the hill tops where they would plan their next attacks which would be carried out sincerely by the Mundas. 3-4 revolts later, the police got a tip off on the next location and surrounded the Dombari hill. The arrows were met with the bullets, yet surprisingly the toll was not alarming. Then, the police systematically arrested the disciples of Birsa, who had by now absconded into the thick of the forests.

The Mundas were galvanized into martial fury and carried out their revolts with great courage and determination. The results were, however, the same whenever the tribals fought the mighty British: they were crushed. Birsa was captured, released and finally recaptured after his forces suffered a terrible crushing by the British army in 1900. With his death, the Birsa movement slipped into oblivion but he had succeeded in giving them a solidarity which was missing before. Again, some temporary measures were taken.

THE TANA BHAGAT MOVEMENT: 1915-1920

The next major tribal movement was the Tana Bhagat Movement organized by the Oraons from 1915 – 1920. The movement took its origins at the hands of Jatra Bhagat and Hanuman Oraon. Like all else, it was anti-Zamindhari, anti-missionary, anti-British. The main features of the movement were:
1) Self government
2) Abolition of Rajship
3) Perfect equality between man and man
4) No rent payment.

It then merged with the mainstream national movement, firmly Gandhian by then. The enemies and reasons were retained from the previous rebellions. They refused to pay rent to the non-tribal Landlords as land was a gift from God to the tribals. They then, went on to participate in the civil disobedience movement of 1930 by refusing to pay rent. This did not quite provide fruitful results, largely due to the peculiarities of their situation.

FROM ETHNICITY TO REGIONALISM:

From the 1920s, the focuses shifted from small, sporadic tribal uprisings to party politics led by an urbanized intelligentsia.
The foremost objective was to expel the ‘dikus’ from the Chotanagpur and Santhal Paraganas, to recover ancestral tribal lands that had been forcibly alienated. Allied to this primary imperatives was the demand for a larger share in the revenue generated from this territory. Finally, the tribals wanted recognition of their special historical status recognized within the Indian union by the reservation of jobs and places in the administrative structure.

In 1915 the Chotanagpur Unnati Samaj was started for the socio-economic development of the tribals. This organisation had also political objectives in mind. When the Simon Commission in 1928 came to Patna the Chotanagpur Unnati Samaj sent its delegation and placed its demand for a separate Jharkhand State for self-rule by the tribals. The Simon Commission however did not accede to the demand for a separate Jharkhand State.

The demand for Jharkhand had its genesis in the Adivasi Mahasabha. In 1939 Jaipal Singh was invited to come to Ranchi from Darjeeling to join Adivasi Mahasabha. He came and joined the Adivasee Mahasabha and was elected its President. After the independence of the country, the Adivasee Mahasabha was given the name of Jharkhand Party. Jaipal Singh remained the President of the Jharkhand Party from 1939 to 1960.

JHARKHAND FOR JHARKANDIS:
The new phase of the movement beginning with independence saw the pinnacle of the movement being reached. The Jharkhand party was born under the leadership of Jaipal singh. The tribals had been awarded the minority status in the constitution. The geographical entity of Jharkhand was sought to be broadened with the inclusion of 16 districts in Bihar, Orissa, and M.P. The Jharkhand Party grew stronger politically gradually but various Commissions examining the demands for a separate Jharkhand State rejected its demand one after another. In August 1947 the Thakkar Commission rejected it saying that it would not be to the advantage of the adivasees. In 1948 Dar Commission also examined the demand for a separate Jharkhand state but rejected it on linguistic grounds. Despite these reports of these Commissions going negative in nature, Jharkhand Party never lost sight of its ultimate target – a separate state of Jharkhand. It fought first General Election in 1952 and won 32 seats in the Bihar Assembly. In the second General Election in 1957 too Jharkhand Party won 32 seats and for two terms the party remained the leading opposition party.
Tribal politics in the 60s were molded by 2 factors: the fission of the party with congress and the introduction of agrarian issues. The conditions of the tribals did not see any marked improvement.
The party was soon split into several splinter groups each claiming to be the genuine Jharkhand party. Finally in 1973 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha was formed under the leadership of Sibu Soren. In 1986 All political parties carrying with themselves the name of Jharkhand gradually dwindled except the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha led by Sibu Soren, which was an alliance between the Mahtos and the Santhals. The demand for a separate state and repossession of alienated tribal lands were on top of its agenda apart from cultural revivalism.

CREATION OF A NEW JHARKHAND STATE

In a historic move both the houses of Parliament passed the Bihar Reorganisation Bill – 2000 during the first week of August and the President gave his assent to it a few days later. With this the stage was all set for the formal beginning of the governance of the new Jharkhand state from the 15th of November 2000. This witnessed the fulfillment of the long cherished dream of the people of Chhotanagpur and Santhalparganas for a separate state of Jharkhand. The new state comprised of 18 districts in Santalparganas and Chotanagpur.

MILITANCY AND IDENTITY POLITICS IN ASSAM

Composition:

Assam, in the North Eastern part of India, is connected to 6 other N.E states and shares a long border with two neighbouring countries – Bangladesh and Bhutan. Assam is specially known for its diversity. It has different national, ethnic, religious and tribal group living together in this region for centuries.
The population of Assam is a broad intermixture of Mongolian, Indo-Burmese, Indo-Iranian and Aryan races and a considerable number of Bengali and other language/dialects speaking people are also present. The Assamese people form the upper part while the Bengali speaking population is concentrated in the south. In terms of religion, Hindus are the majority (54%), while Muslims constitute the second largest group (24%).
The tribal population constitutes only 13% of the total population. The Karbis and Damashas, living in the hilly districts in the North, have their own dialects and culture and do not wholly identify with the Assamese people. Besides these hill tribes, there are also many plain tribes spread throughout Assam. While some of these tribes are entirely assimilated into the Assamese culture, there are others who are determined to maintain their unique identity. There are also tea plantation workers who were brought by the British to work in the tea gardens. What contributed to such a diverse population in Assam?

IMMIGRATION ISSUES:

The present situation in Assam cannot be understood without looking at the complex history of immigration in Assam. Immigration in Assam began nearly 200 years before Christ. Tribes from different parts of the world belonging to different races came to Assam throughout history. The Mongoloid race from West China, The Austric race, the Drabian race, and finally the Aryan race from the Gangetic plains have all immigrated to Assam before 1st century AD. Successive Mongoloid rulers invited Brahmin priests to Assam and got converted to Hinduism. Around 12th century, the Ahom rulers from Burma established their long lasting rule (till the advent of British). The Ahom rulers also converted to Hinduism but encouraged the co-existence of all other religions. The captured Mughal soldiers also set up their families in the region. The British conquered entire region of Assam and brought together the various tribes in Assam under the administrative umbrella of Assam province. The British also imported large numbers of tillers from East Bengal, who were Muslims. The influx of Muslims into the region was constant and thorough. If the initial communal riots in East Bengal after partition brought 15,00,000 Bengali Hindus to the region, the liberation wars and quite constantly after that, lacks of Bangladeshis are crossing the border with much ease. There is also immigration from different parts of India for commercial purposes (Marwaris).

COMPLEXITIES OF IDENTITY FORMATION:

Due to this immigration and other factors, Assam also has an equally complex history of identity formation and identity crisis. Most importantly, the population is mainly composed of different communities migrating to the region, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible to determine who is the original inhabitants of the region, who exactly compromises of the ‘natives’? Different tribes of this region claim their tribal identity and the outsiders subscribe to their own identity and thus, Assam as a whole does not have its identity. Going by lingual standards, the state govt tried to impose Assamese as the ‘native’ language of the state, which received strict resistance from other tribes. Religiously and ethnically, the population is too diverse to carve an identity that can encompass all. Politically, and here is the biggest paradox, it is impossible for people from this region to take up the Indian identity as very few believe that Assam belongs to India, and an even smaller minority can relate to the India that treats it nothing more than a strategic, conflict ridden area and the people treated as coming from an entirely different race, and often mistaken for Chinese or other oriental religions. In addition, the North Easterners themselves are conscious of not having a recorded history of their antecedents. Their historical pasts and migrant routes, often so essential in identity formation, are shrouded in mystery.


THE ROLE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS:

Since, historically Assam has inherited a fractured society, there was bound to be competition for scarce social, economic and political space, which further aggravated the prejudices and hostility among the different ethnic groups. The interesting characteristic of this autonomy movement is the role of the newly educated middle class. The spread of modern education in the hills and the influence of Indian markets, have led to the creation of a newly educated moneyed class among the Adivasis, who have taken upon them the responsibility of fighting the exploitation by the non-Adivasis. In Assam, the growing English educated middle class gave voice to the subnationalist aspirations of the people. The Bengalis who had settled largely in the south began to push for Bengali as the official language and as a medium of instruction. This annoyed the Assamese middle class. This support from the educated middle class had a determining effect on the growth of the autonomy movements. It was the middle class that often stressed on making Assamese as the official language and medium of instruction in schools in Assam through various organizations such as the Asom Sahitya Sabha.

Economic probs:

We can also look at the entire autonomy movement from the economic perspective. The economy was stagnating and employment and other resources were scarce. The Congress government, both at the centre and at the state did very little to develop the economy. Thanks to their non-performance, even after 5 decades of independence, Assam still remains an agrarian state. Owing to low levels of industrialization, limited urbanization, week transport and other infrastructure facilities, alternative avenues of employment for the people are very limited. Govt jobs and administrative posts are also limited. Land is the only way to income and when land started becoming scarce, different communities soon became hostile to the other and tried to monopolize the existing resources.

Outsiders dominating the economy:

During the formative years of the Assam Movement, its leaders noted with dismay that though at that ime, the state supplied more than 60% of India’s crude oil production, it received less than 3% of its value from the federal government. It was again the major contributor to the tea production in India but its royalties were incredibly low and it was the same case with plywood. Even the regional capitalist class that developed in Assam after independence was mostly comprised of Marwaris. The urban areas were dominated by outsiders and even the major source for administrative personnel came from outside.

Guha and other historian have often pointed out that the immigrant Bengali Hindus were initially disliked because they competed with the dominant Assamese middle class for land, jobs and local power. Later, there was a shift of focus from the Hindu Bengalis to the Muslim Bangladeshi immigrants who had hijacked much of the local jobs and not to mention, inflated the electoral roll. This significantly reduced the importance of the middle class, economically and politically. The infuriated emerging Assamese middle class, frustrated by being squeezed out of their own homes, took to arms. The unsympathetic and apathetic attitude of the plains people serving in the bureaucracy of the provincial government has further hardened the attitude of the conscious sections of the tribal middle class.

ORGANIZATIONS:

The main organizations that took up these issues, which often took a violent turn, was either formed by the middle class or was entirely backed by them. The All Assam Students Union (AASU), All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) or the Assam Popular Movement Front were all aided and supported by the emerging middle class. Finally, even the ULFA comprised many of urban educated youth and had the firm ideological backing from this class.

LANGUAGE ISSUES:

The state and the central government are both equally responsible for the mess. The State government in Assam handled the language issue bad enough to drive the other tribes into a flurry of insecure thoughts about their survival in the state. Initially in its drive to fight Bengali domination, it got the support of other tribes in promoting Assamese nationality. But soon, it went into an overdrive and failed to redress the fears of other tribes of an Assamese domination. Blinded by the fear of Bengali domination and in a hurry to make the Assamese a major community in Assam, the political leaders tried to Assamise all linguistic minorities in the state.
In 1960’s, the govt tried to establish Assamese as the official language of the state but due to stiff resistance from the Bengalis in the valley and the Bodos from the hills, the govt had to recognise their languages also as associate official languages. This hasty move from the govt created suspicions in the minds of the hill tribes such as Mizos, Nagas, Boros, Khasis, etc and each demanded for separate hill states fearing living under Assamese domination (which eventually led to the formation of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, etc). The incompetence of the State government in addressing the development issues also spread discontentment among the diverse population.


Hope was created and shattered within no time of the victory of the AGP in Assam as people realized that it provided no solutions to their problems. The successive failure of the AGP to redress issues was perhaps one of the important causes for the general population to go in favour of more hard-line violent organization like ULFA.

POROUS BORDER:

Another important contributing factor to the problem is the absolute lack of political will regarding the porous border. The constant demand of the Assamese people to the central govt has been to check the large influx of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants into the state. The centre however, has taken very little or no corrective measures over the years. Even the regional party AGP, though it came to power based on the promise to correct the porous border has terribly failed in this regard. This has further pushed the insurgents to take the issue in their own hands.


THE GROWTH OF MILITANCY AND INSURGENCY MOVEMENTS:

By provoking national and ethnic identities, the Assam agitation has prepared the ground for the rise of militancy in Assam. The dreaded ULFA which has challenged India’s sovereignty over Assam, showed the way for other militant organizations in Assam fighting for the protection of their communities’ interests. Their avowed goals range from protection of the interests of the natives from foreign immigrants to the formation of autonomous district/ state and creation of a separate state within the Indian Union to complete secession. Though, initially, their intentions were good and in relation to the community’s needs, it soon moved away from the very people it claimed to serve. Many are taking to militancy either for adventure or to make a quick buck.
These militant organizations resort to all kinds of methods, including killing, abduction, extortion, etc to collect money for their activities. They have also resorted to bombing trains and destruction of public property and innocent lives just to get attention. Because of their inhuman and unjustified activities, they are quickly loosing public support.

ULFA didn’t believe in moderate action, instead, it stood for armed action, conspicuous brutality, and exemplary violence. The students body and their political discourse lend an intellectual legitimization of a brutal chain of extortion, intimidation, terror, murder, etc. Initially the targets were corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and others suspected of committing crimes against Assamese society. This soon shifted to big business men and professionals, making them pay incredibly large sums of money to the organization. Hundreds of prominent businessmen were killed and many more were robbed in broad day light when the AGP was looking the other way. Non-Assamese people really felt insecure now as they considered this nothing more than the military arm of the Assamese middleclass chauvinism.


GOVT’S POLICY TOWARDS MILITANCY:
When things got out of hand, the AGP govt thought it wise to lend support to the operations of the unified command. At present, the army, the paramilitary forces and the state police are working together to suppress the militant activities in the state. Several leaders and cadres have either been arrested or killed. The government is also tying to wean away both militants and the people from insurgent activities. By offering rehabilitation packages, the govt has appealed to the militants to lay down their arms and surrender. The govt has also begun to take initiative to develop the N.E region by offering economic packages. However, most importantly it has started fencing the Bangladeshi border. This is just the starting step as lots left to be done in this area if peace is ever to be achieved.

CONCLUSION:

There seems to be a lack of political will both at the centre and at the state to help speed up the process of integration by accelerating the economic growth of different ethnic regions. All the political parties whether regional of the left or right appear to be more interested in pitting one ethnic group against the other rather than in evolving a common workable solution to the long standing grievances of the people.

Electoral politics in a society dominated by identity politics further consolidates ethnic loyalties and identities. Even national parties like the Congress and the BJP have no solutions to the real problems of the people but encourage identity politics to the extent that it serves their narrow political needs. Viewed from this angle, militancy in Assam is only a by-product of macro-social mismanagement and regional ethnic parochialism. As for now, the central government has to ensure rapid economic growth to fight against poverty and unemployment which after all might be the root cause and on our own part, we have to stop perceiving the region as a conflict stricken area which consists of people suffering from pre-conceived ethnic labels.

GENOCIDE IN DARFUR

Do you remember the Rwandan crisis of 1994??? That was when 937,000 people were killed in a span of 100 days... In Darfur, we thought that History is giving us a second opportunity to redeem the mistakes that were committed in Rwanda... But history is repeating itself all over again... 400, 000 killed and 5 million displaced and counting... and no one's rising a finger against it... In Darfur, Sudan, ‘Rwanda in slow motion’ is unraveling... In case anyone missed Rwandan genocide, here's a repeat telecast!!


GENOCIDE IN AFRICA : A Historical Perspective

Ø 1968-79 - Equatorial Guinea - 80,000
Ø 1977-78 - Ethiopia 150,000 – 500,000 people were systematically wiped out by the Ethiopian Red Terror.
Ø 1971-1979 – Uganda - 300,000 to 500,000 were killed in Uganda by Idi Amin.
Ø 1994 - One of the worst instances of genocide took place in Rwanda; there was ethnic cleansing of the tutsi tribe. 937,000 is the official stated number and the speed of the killing far exceeded any other genocide in history. 100 days is all it took to wipe out 937,000 people.


History, Demographics and the like..

Ø Irrespective of the govt that comes to power in Khartoum, the Darfurians feel neglected.
Ø Due to overpopulation and low agricultural productivity, there is a perpetual food crisis.
Ø The population is roughly divided into two groups : the Arab Africans and the native tribal population. Ø The influence of an ideology of Arab supremacy propagated by Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi that began to be acted upon by Darfurians. Soon categorization of the Darfurians began into "progressive, revolutionary Arabs " and "reactionary, anti-Arab Africans ".
Ø A famine in the mid-1980s disrupted many societal structures and led to the first significant fighting amongst Darfurians. A low level conflict continued for the next 15 years, with the government co-opting and arming "Arab" militias against its enemies.



Humanitarian Crisis: Facts, Figures and a Timeline

Ø April 23, 2003 - Due to continuous neglect, the black non-Arabs decide to take matters in their own hands. They form two militant groups known as the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
Ø The rebel groups attack govt officials (killing 75) and the conflict soon resulted in civilians moving out in large numbers.
Ø In response, the Sudanese govt. trains and arms the Janjaweed, a black Arab militia to fight and destroy the rebels and the tribes that they belong to.
Ø Janjaweed literally means “devils on horseback” as they mainly used camels and horses to launch their attacks. The Janjaweed got the ‘Carte Blanche’ which means an official license to loot, rape, extort and murder at will. That is exactly what they did.
Ø This further causes thousands of civilians to take refuge in the neighbouring Chad.
Ø The two groups sign many ceasefire agreements and violate them anyway, accusing the other party of violating it first.


Ø Dec, 2003 – Almost 100,000 refugees are in Chad due to emergence of conflict.
Ø Jan, 2004 – The Sudanese govt sends its army also and the fighting and the no of refugees escalates.
Ø A typical attack would involve the “devils on horseback” launch an ground attack. They would kill and rape anything that even moved. This would be followed by an aerial attack of bombing by the Army to kill anything that might have survived the Janjaweed carnage.
Ø June, 2004 - UN officials say every fifth child in the Darfur region is acutely undernourished. Many have dysentery, measles and high fever. Children in refugee camps are dying every day from starvation and exhaustion.
Ø UN aid organization also warns about mass rapes of women and a new generation of displaced children.


Ø July, 2004 – The UN Security Council will ‘consider’ to “threaten” to issue an arms embargo and a travel ban against Sudan.
Ø The Arab militias destroy food and water resources and deny entry for the humanitarian groups.
Ø Later in 2004 - The US congress decides to label this as “genocide” in Darfur. Ø Apparently, the Congress label of genocide is supposed to carry a lot of weightage. Ø Sudanese President Omar al Bashir couldn’t care less about the sanctions. He says “I couldn’t care less about the UN or its sanctions”
Ø Sept, 2004 - The World Health Organization says about 10,000+ who fled their homes in Darfur are dying each month.
Ø While these thousands are dying, the UN calls for a meeting to discuss two extremely important issues:
Ø Whether it would be appropriate to call this as genocide?
Ø Secondly, whether or not to put Omar al Bashir, when captured, to trial in the UN Court of Justice?



Ø Dec, 2004 – The aid workers become the new target of the militia and this resulted in the humanitarian groups pulling out in large numbers.
Ø The official numbers come out as close to 400,000 killed because of the civil war and yet, some experts believe that this is a gross underestimation.
Ø The weak and inefficient African Union peace keeping force struggles to keep things from getting out of hand.
Ø Oct, 2005 - Aid workers and part of the UN peace keeping force pulls out due to increased attacks, while the Sudanese govt denies entry for all foreign journalists, making information about current situations extremely hard to reach to the international community.
Ø 10 peace meetings have been held so far between the govt and the rebels and in each of them, one of the two parties walked out without coming to a satisfactory conclusion.

The Killing Continues...
... And so does the Political Drama

Ø Oct, 2006 - Food supply to the refugee camps is cut in half because of shortage of funds.
Ø May 29, 2007 - The US announces further sanctions against Sudan.
Ø The Sudanese Govt further cuts food and medicinal rations to the refugee camps.
Ø Oxfam, the biggest aid workers in Sudan pulled out which left the refugee camps in even dire situations.

Sudan, Oil and The Darfur Crisis: The Background Story



Making Sense of it all ... A Crash Course in Political Economy

Ø The first relevant question is who’s responsible for this mess? Who’s to take the fall for the disaster? Who should we send to the gallows on count of the murder of 400,000?
Ø The First nominee is quite obviously Al Bashir’s regime.
Ø It’s a simple tale of an insatiable thirst for power. As long as there is anarchy in Sudan, he will stay in power. And as long as he is in power, he keeps becoming rich. Simple enough.. A little too simple actually. So, we call upon our second nominee… The JANJAWEED!
Ø As we already know, Darfur is an impoverished region which cannot sustain the existing huge population. The Janjaweed sees this as the perfect opportunity to loot large amounts of wealth which they could never accumulate in the normal course.
Ø The Janjaweed also gets all its desires fulfilled, be it sexual in terms of the 200 rapes committed in a day or be it for power they get when torturing and taking lives.

CHAPTER II : Love thy Neighbour


Ø Our next nominee… CHAD!
Ø In 1990, Chad's Idriss Deby came to power by launching a military blitzkrieg from Darfur and overthrowing President Hissan Habre. Deby hails from the elite Zaghawa tribe, which makes up one of the Darfur rebel groups trying to topple the government. So when the conflict broke out, Deby had to decide whether to support Sudan or his tribe. He eventually chose his tribe!
Ø Meanwhile, Sudan’s rebels also have their base in Chad and are continuously trying to destabilize the govt.

CHAPTER III : The Logic of "Humanitarian Intervention“ …Neocolonial tool serving geopolitical interests

Ø The fourth nominee for the prestigious position.. the US of A!
Ø After Sudan received its formal independence from Britain in 1956, the country went through a period of internal struggles. It began moving in a radical Islamic direction rejecting the neocolonial relations that the US and UK was trying to impose.
Ø The U.S in order to tap the rich oil resources in Sudan, sponsored and trained the southern rebel groups (SLA and JEM) in the beginning. It was mainly responsible for providing sophisticated arms to the rebel groups.
Ø The expected consequence was clear to see. As in neighbouring Chad, Rwanda and many other African countries, the rebel groups can cause enough havoc and destruction to completely destabilize the economy.
Ø The IMF and World Bank would then move in along with UN peace keeping force. The IMF would promise to lend money on the condition that Sudan would open up its economy and the hungry American corporations will swoop in to have exclusive control over the rich oil base.
Ø Washington even went so far as to bomb the only pharmaceutical industry in Sudan under no particular pretext (biochemicals or terrorism).


Ø What it did not expect however is for the govt to employ a stronger counter-militia.
Ø What really ticked off US is the fact that Sudan has been using its oil for the cardinal sin of developing an economy independent of the United States.
Ø The US is pushing for its army led peacekeeping force to enter Darfur so as to deny Sudanese the liberty of their land.

Ø It also has to be noted that though the killings were intense enough to be called genocide in 2003 – early 2004, the US were still hopeful of entry into the zone. But when Al Bashir made it clear that the US was not going to have a share of the pie, they suddenly termed it as genocide and issued sanctions.


CHAPTER IV: Beijing 'fuel'ing the killings


Ø So, the question is: If the US and the West is not benefiting from the Darfur crisis, who is? The strongest contender is definitely the burgeoning Asian super power – CHINA!
Ø As we know that China has reached growth rates of over 10% and would eventually find it difficult to sustain unless they found new sources of energy. The answer was Sudan.
Ø China has invested over 300 bn $ through China National Petroleum Company (CNPS) and is responsible for roughly 2/3rds of Sudan’s oil exports.
Ø The new oil refinery pumped as much as 1 billion $ into the govt coffers which will allow Al Bashir to defy the UN and US with much ease and continue the ‘crime against humanity’.
Ø Because of this immense nature and level of investment, china is doing all it can to shield Bashir.
Ø Primarily by Vetoing against any suggestions of sanctions against Sudan.
Ø China is Sudan's largest supplier of arms, according to a former Sudan government minister.
Ø Chinese-made tanks, fighter planes, bombers, helicopters, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades have intensified Sudan's two-decade-old north-south civil war.
Ø While Beijing may be one focal point for international outrage, it would be a mistake if it were the only one. With the Darfur death toll well over rising and with 2.5 million people left homeless by the conflict--there's plenty of blame to go around.


CHAPTER V – Arms instead of Alms

Ø While the US is supplying arms to the SLA and JEM, Russia and China are providing arms to the Sudanese govt and the Janjaweed. Whoever wins, wins the jackpot!
Ø Russia is also one of the nations with veto power and thus would ensure no sanctions and embargo are applied to Sudan.
Ø Russia is the leading supplier of helicopters, and other sophisticated military weapons and is known to make a good deal of money.


CHAPTER VI: Other 'Developing' Interests

Other important players in Sudan's slowly growing oil industry are mostly from India and Malaysia, two other industrialising Asian countries with urgent strategic needs to secure their parts of the world's oil production in an ever fiercer competition with US interests.
Ø India's ONGC Videsh and Malaysia's Petronas have bought substantial shares in Sudanese oil fields as Western companies have been pressured to divest in the country during the last years.
Ø India has already signed 2 pipeline deals with Sudan which means a substantial amount of money going into the Janjaweed.
Ø We can also observe that Darfur crisis has received no or very little attention from the Indian media because of its indirect involvement. Ø In the past three years India's trade with Sudan has increased 100%.
Ø ONGC has a little over 25% in Sudan’s biggest oil extracting projects.
Ø Meanwhile, both India and Malaysia have helped to prevent the U.N. Human Rights Council from criticizing Sudan's conduct.



CONCLUSION


Ø Thus, it seems that after reading about all this political drama, the rebel groups and the janjaweed are perhaps more innocent than the vicious, parochial and avarice nations battling it out to get a share of the oil. The janjaweed after all is just carrying out orders.
Ø The Black man’s skin is now worth so little that the international community still prefers to keep quite and has not found a solution.
Ø As big and powerful nations battle it out amongst themselves to gain control over oil resources, the ‘insignificant’ black man dies for this larger than life cause!
Ø I wonder how many more should die before they think that too many have died!!!
Ø It’s time to put an end to it! NOW!!!