On the morning of November 5, they attacked. The rationale given was that they were merely trying to bring back the several hundred CPM cadres who had been driven out of Nandigram in March. (The BUPC had stated repeatedly that other than 35 CPM cadre who had been involved in murders and rapes in March, all others were welcome to return to Nandigram.)
Over the next week, this attacking force killed dozens of people. Many women were dragged off and raped. The Bengali daily Dainik Statesmen ran a description of these events by Sibani Mondal, a resident of Gokulnagar village: “She was literally trembling with fear while relating the experience of 10 November. She was one of those who joined the procession led by the BUPC at 12 noon [which was] greeted by hundreds of bullets. Many people standing in the front row dropped down to the ground….There were six rickshaw-vans on which dead bodies lying on the streets were placed and taken towards Tekhali. Sibani along with about 600 others were taken to Amratola primary school in a procession with both hands placed on their heads…. There were about 100 women in that group. Some goondas with their faces covered with cloth came to us to identify those who were young. They picked up about 12 girls from them as the meat-seller picks up chicken from the basket and then vanished into the darkness. Soon afterwards, wails and cries of women were heard.”
Over 500 people, including members of the BUPC, were taken hostage and used as human shields by the attackers. Much of Sonachura and Gokulnagar villages, the epicenter of the Nandigram resistance, was looted and burned down. No members of the media, medical personnel or human rights activists were allowed inside the area by CPM cadres. All mobile towers in a radius of 36 sq. kms. were jammed so that news of the massacre could not get out.
Throughout several days of attacks on the people of Nandigram, the police were confined to their barracks. Several units of CRPF paramilitary police were sent by the central government and conveniently arrived after the CPM cadre and harmads had “recaptured” Nandigram. CPM Polit Bureau Member and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee stated chillingly at a press conference that the people of Nandigram had been “paid back in the same coin.”
As a result of this pre-planned and savage assault, 10,000-15,000 villagers were driven out of Nandigram. Though some people have moved back to their homes, thousands are staying in relief camps set up by neighboring villages or elsewhere in the state. According to a November 24 fact-finding delegation of women’s organizations, many families were scared to return due to the threat of assault and rape by marauding groups of CPM cadre. After the Communist Party of India (Maoist) sent cadre to Nandigram to assist the villagers, a large group of them moved to an area 50 km. west of Nandigram where the Maoists have a strong base of popular support.
As news of this new massacre reached Kolkata, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life took to the streets on November 14 for three hours of silent protest. Marchers wore black badges and held placards reading “Shame on the West Bengal Government” and “Down with Killers of Innocent Villagers.” In early December, the charred bone and skull remains of people killed and burned in November were discovered. After a fact-finding visit to Nandigram, India’s chapters of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called for an independent judicial investigation and underlined the seriousness of the attacks on women activists by CPM cadre.
However, the CPM’s version of the struggle in Nandigram managed to convince some intellectuals abroad, including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Tariq Ali and Walden Bello, to write a statement in The Hindu on November 22 advising critics of the CPM not to “split the Left” in the face of American imperialism. Demonstrating ignorance on the real state of affairs in Nandigram, this group wrote, “We understand that those who have been dispossessed by the violence are now being allowed back into their homes, without recrimination.”
This statement received a quick rebuke from a group of prominent Indian intellectuals including Arundhati Roy, Sumit Sarkar and others. This reply pointed to a number of glaring misconceptions in the statement and expressed disbelief that many of the signatories “share similar values” with the CPM. The reply pointed out, “Over the last decade, the policies of the Left Front government in West Bengal have become virtually indistinguishable from those of other parties committed to the neoliberal agenda.” Shortly after the reply was issued, one of the signers of the original statement, Susan George, publicly dissociated herself from it.
Two Models of Development
The unarmed and armed struggle of tens of thousands of peasants at Nandigram has placed the issue of SEZs and forced displacement at center stage in India. In neighboring Orissa, tens of thousands of adivasis (tribal people) are waging militant battles against the construction of massive steel plants and bauxite mines. A 35,000 acre SEZ is being built just outside Mumbai that will be one-third the size of that city. Indian activists estimate that various kinds of forced displacement–industrial complexes, large-scale mining projects, mega-dams, urban “beautification” projects, real estate development and the expansion of tourist-oriented national parks—will uproot upwards of 100 million people in the next decade.
In March 2007, an important national anti-displacement conference was held in Ranchi, bringing together more than one hundred organizations. Its Declaration not only analyses and opposes the imperialist model of “development” that has brought misery to tens of millions in India, but calls for an alternative model of development: “a people-centred model based on a self-reliant economy free from the imperialist yoke. The policies of development must, first and foremost, enhance the well-being of the masses and must be in their interest—not at their cost.”
The Declaration calls for (1) extracting the natural wealth of the country only to the extent that it serves the needs of the Indian people; (2) developing indigenous industry that generates employment and protects labor rights; (3) introducing land reforms with the ultimate goal of “community ownership and individual right to use,” and (4) extensive reforestation, scientific water management and topsoil regeneration. At the core of this new model of development the Declaration states: “All decisions must be made by the people themselves at the grass-root level and built upwards in a genuine form of people’s government. It is the people themselves who know best what type of development is in their interest and what is harmful. They have the inalienable right and are in the best position to decide their own future.”
Calls for International Solidarity
As a result of a meeting held in Birmingham on December 15, 2007, an Initiative Committee for a Solidarity Campaign Against Forced Displacements was formed in Britain (no2displacement@gmail.com). Furthermore, in February 2008 the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), an alliance of over 350 organizations from 40 countries, adopted a centrally proposed International Campaign against Forced Displacement in India.
This campaign, which is earmarked to be fully launched at the ILPS congress in June 2008, will build on the anti-displacement initiatives underway in India such as the Ranchi Conference. It will bring together campaigns and movements opposing forced displacement in other countries, expanding the sources of international support and solidarity. This is a sign that when future Nandigrams against SEZs and other forced displacements arise, they will have support from many outside India. Posted by (Bulatlat.com)
Dave Pugh works with ILPS and lives in San Francisco, California. If you would like more information or want to work on this issue, please write the author at dpugh@mindspring.com.
