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Posts archive for: 03 August, 2007
  • Manusmriti Promoted by Intelligensia

    Manusmriti Promoted by Intelligensia

    Palash Biswas
    Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
    Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

    The largest circulated Hindi daily which is incidentally most popular amongst the Dalits in Eastern Part of India including Kolkata and aspires to become national very soon- publishes quotes from Manusmriti daily on its Edit page!
    Bengali and English Dailies in Kolkata do not quote Manusmriti. The ruling Left in Bengal is said to be up against Manusmriti and it launches a marxist dalit movement with a platfarm named dalit samanyaya samiti. CPIM Hyderabad conference officially passed dalit agenda.
    Our Constitution is based on equality!
    Even Manusmriti sustains. So much so Namboodaripad supported castism and the People`s president APJ missileman abdul Kalam quotes from manusmriti.
    In Bengal , the Brahmincal system is most organised, systematic and scientific. it is never as rough and rigid as the Hindi daily representing feudalism persistant in Rest Of India.
    In fact, media as well as so called Mainstream Intellegentsia promotes manusmriti in most sophisticated way. Take any Bengali or English daily you may get the tone. they have sophisticated the folk and the dilects and use them against the indigenous people. Politicians play Vote Bank game. We may identify the casteology in the polity. But the most dangerous type of discrimination is monopoly on knwledge, information, art, literature and culture.
    Indian Intellgentsia has the single agenda of Post modern Manusmriti Galaxy Order under Zionist Hindu Imperilism.
    Thus, while they pose standing United with Nandigram singur Resistance, they never allow a real Dalit movement in India!

    The former Bihar Governor, M. Ramajois, said here on Sunday that despite the propaganda against it, the Manusmriti remained a source of eternal values for humanity. At a popular lecture on the role of professionals in enforcement of contractual obligations in the construction industry, Justice Ramajois said the good points in this ancient law text must be taken and the irrelevant and unsuitable ones discarded. He opined that Manusmriti elaborated on the "right to happiness" which contained within its ambit all other rights developed by western jurisprudence.
    Dalit activists in Jaipur have taken strong exception to then President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam making a reference to “Manusmriti” while extolling the virtue of not accepting gifts that come with a purpose, saying his citation from the ancient Hindu treatise was “unwarranted” and had “hurt the sentiments of Dalits” by according respectability to Manu’s pronouncements.
    Mr. Kalam, addressing a function at the India Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi on Thursday, had remarked while quoting from “Manusmriti” that by accepting gifts, the divine light in the person gets extinguished.
    Centre for Dalit Rights (CDR) chairperson P. L. Mimroth said the outgoing President need not have quoted from the archaic Hindu code of law that had created the Varna system under which the higher castes for centuries denied all basic human rights and dignity to Dalits. “For us, Manu only symbolises the unjust social order imposed on Dalits from time immemorial.”
    Mr. Mimroth said Mr. Kalam, shortly demitting the highest constitutional office in the country, should not have made the “unwarranted reference” to an antiquated treatise which was squarely responsible for discrimination against Dalits and flew in the face of the constitutional ideal of a casteless society.
    “Quoting from Manusmriti amounts to paying homage to a figure who represents all that is unjust in the Indian society,” said Mr. Mimroth. He added that Mr. Kalam could have mentioned any of the hundreds of literary, spiritual or religious figures – such as the acclaimed Tamil poet Sumbramanya Bharathi – to emphasise his point.
    The Rajasthan convener of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) and PUCL State president, Than Singh, said Mr. Kalam’s reference to Manusmriti was “shocking and strange” in view of the known fact that the unabated oppression of Dalits was because of the edicts prescribed in the treatise. “The President’s remarks have without doubt injured the emotions of Dalits who looked up to him for upholding constitutional values all these years,” he added.
    Dharma is the everlasting friend. It is essential not only for the individuals happiness but also for the happiness of other individuals who constitute the family and the society," said Justice Shri Rama Jois, the Governor of Jharkhand. Speaking on his latest book, "The Eternal Values in Manusmriti", at the Indian Institue of World Culture under the aegis of IGNCA - Southern Regional Centre, he elucidated upon the ancient text, regarded as the oldest codification of rules of dharma. This was the first of the monthly lecture series planned by IGNCA-SRC.
    http://ignca.nic.in/nl002506.htm

    Manusmriti – Law book of Hindus
    some excerpts

    I – 91. One occupation only the lord prescribed to the shudra to serve meekly even these other three castes.
    I – 93. As the Brahmana sprang from (Prajapati’s i.e. God’s ) mouth, as he was first-born, and as he possesses the veda, he is by right the lord of this whole creation.
    II – 31. Let (the first part of ) a brahmin’s (denote) something auspicious, a kshatriya’s name be connected with power and a vaishya’s with wealth, but a Shudra’s (express something) contemptible.
    II-32. (The second part of) a brahmin’s (name) shall be (a word) implying happiness, of a kshatriya’s (word) implying protection, of a Vaishya’s (a term) expressive of thriving, and of a shudra’s (an expression) denoting service.
    II – 100. Whatever exists in the world is the property of the Brahmana; on account of the excellence of his origin the Brahmana is indeed, entitled to it all.
    Regarding the study of Vedas by shudras:
    IV – 99. He (the twice born) must never read (the vedas) ----- in the presence of the shudras.
    VIII – 37. When a learned Brahmin has found treasure, deposited in former (times), he may take even the whole (of it); for he is the master of everything.
    VIII – 270. A shudra who insults a twice born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin.
    VIII – 271. If he mentions names and castes of the (twice born) with contumely, an iron nail, ten fingers, shall be thrust red hot into his mouth.
    VIII – 410. King should order each man of the mercantile class to practice trade, or money lending or agriculture and attendance on cattle; and each man of the servile class to act in the service of the twice born.
    About the status of women:
    IX – 3 . Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.
    IX – 18. Women have no business with the text of the veda.
    IX – 189. The property of a Brahmana must never be taken by the king, that is a settled rule; but (the property of men) of other castes the king may take on failure of all (heirs).
    IX – 317. A Brahmin, whether learned or ignorant, is a powerful divinity.
    X – 121. If a shudra (unable to subsist by serving brahmanas) seeks a livelihood, he may serve kshatriyas, or he may also seek to maintain himself by attending on a wealthy viashya.
    X – 122. But let a shudra serve brahmans, either for the sake of heaven or with a view to both this life and the text, for he who is called the servant of a Brahmana thereby gains all his ends.
    X – 123. The service of the Brahmana alone is declared to be an excellent occupation for a shudra; for whatever else besides this he may perform will bear no fruit.
    Dealing with the question of wages to the shudras:
    X – 124. They must allot to him (shudra) out of their own family property a suitable maintenance, after considering his ability, his industry and the number of those whom he is bound to support.
    X – 125. The remnants of their food must be given to him, as well as their old clothes, the refuge of their grain and their old household furniture.
    X – 129. No collection of wealth must be made by a shudra even though he be able to do it; for a shudra who has acquired wealth gives pain to Brahmana.
    XI – 6. One should give, according to one’s ability, wealth to Brahmanas learned in the veda and living alone; (thus) one obtains after death heavenly bliss.
    XI – 261-62. A Brahmana who has killed even the peoples of the three worlds, is completely freed from all sins on reciting three times the Rig, Yajur or Sama- Veda with the Upanishad.
    Thus in Hinduism, there is no choice of avocation. There is no economic independence and there is no economic security. Economically, speaking of a shudra is a precarious thing.
    Successors of Manu made the disability of the shudra in the matter of study of veda into an offence involving dire penalties as:
    XII. 4. If the shudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the veda, then his ears should be filled with (molten) lead and lac; if he utters the veda, then his tongue should be cut off; if he has mastered the veda his body should be cut to pieces.
    http://www.geocities.com/indiafas/Hindu/manusmriti.htm

    http://www.khoj.com/Society_and_Culture/Religion_and_Spirituality/Hinduism/Sacred_Texts_and_Scriptures/Manusmriti/

    Manu Smriti
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    The Manusmriti (Sanskrit ?????????), translated smriti of Manu is a work of Hindu law and ancient Indian society. It is also known as the Manava Dharma Sastra.[1][2] It is one of the nineteen[3] Dharmasastra, which are part of the Smriti literature. It is considered the oldest and one of the most important texts of this genre.[4][5] some of these codes of conduct pertain to the Hindu caste system and discuss the stages of life for "twice-born" males (the asrama system).[6][7] It explains itself as a discourse given by Sage Manu to rishis who begged him to enlighten them on the topic. There are 2,684 verses divided into twelve chapters
    Dating and historical context
    A range of historical opinion generally dates composition of the text any time between 200 BCE and 200 CE.[9][10][11][12][13][14] The dating is significant because the work was written during the period when Brahmanical tradition was seriously threatened by non-Vedic movements.[15][16] The Manu Smriti and other dharmashastras and the views of society that they represent were Brahmanical responses to those threats.[17] After the breakdown of the Maurya and Shunga empires, there was a period of uncertainty that led to renewed interest in traditional social norms.[18] In Thapar's view, "The severity of the Dharma-shastras was doubtless a commentary arising from the insecurity of the orthodox in an age of flux."[19]
    The dharma class of texts were also noteworthy because they did not depend on the authority of particular Vedic schools, becoming the starting point of an independent tradition that emphasized dharma itself and not its Vedic origins.[20]

    [edit] Views and criticism
    The work is considered an important source for sociological, political and historical studies. Manusmriti is one of the most heavily criticized of the scriptures of Hinduism, having been attacked by a gamut of people including colonial scholars, Dalit advocates, feminists,[21] Marxists, and Hindu Nationalists. Some of these groups have burned the text in public demonstrations.[22]
    The Manu Smriti was one of the first Sanskrit texts studied by the British. It was first translated into English by the founder of Indology, Sir William Jones, and the translated version was published in 1794.[23] British administrative requirements encouraged their interest in the Dharmashastras, which they believed to be legal codes, but which were in fact not codes of law but norms related to social obligations and ritual requirements.[24] According to Avari:
    The text was never universally followed or acclaimed by the vast majority of Indians in their history; it came to the world's attention through a late eighteenth-century translation by Sir William Jones, who mistakenly exaggerated both its antiquity and its importance. Today many of its ideas are popularised as the golden norm of classical Hindu law by Hindu universalists. They are, however, anathema to modern thinkers and particularly feminists.[25]
    Dr. Surendra Kumar, who counts a total of 2,685 verses, claims that only 1,214 are authentic, the other 1,471 being interpolations on the text.[26].
    In reply to criticism of Shudras, verses critical of Shudras and women are proclaimed to be later interpolations, but not after times of Adi Shankara (7th-8th century CE). The law in Manu Smriti also is claimed to be overtly positive towards Brahmins (priests) in terms of concessions made in fines and punishments. The stance of Manu Smriti about women is also an issue. While certain verses such as (III - 55, 56, 57, 59, 62) glorify the position of women, other verses (IX - 3, 17) seem to attack the position and freedom women have. The education of women is also an issue. Certain interpretations of Verse (IX - 18) claim that it discourages women from reading Vedic scriptures. Verse (II - 240) however, allows women to read Vedic scriptures. Similar contradictory phrases are encountered in relation to child marriage in verses (IX - 94) and (IX - 90).
    Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in his book "Revolution and Counter-Revolution in India" says that Manusmriti was written by a sage named Brigu during the times of Pushyamitra of Sangha in connection with social pressures caused by the rise of Buddhism.[citation needed] However, historians, such as Romila Thapar, debunk these claims as gross exaggerations. She writes that archaeological evidence casts doubt on the claims of Buddhist persecution by Pushyamitra.[27] Support of the Buddhist faith by the Sungas at some point is suggested by an epigraph on the gateway of Bharhut, which mentions its erection "during the supremacy of the Sungas"[28] Incidentally, it is also noted that Hinduism does not evangelize.[29][30].
    Prominent Hindu figures such as Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Srila Prabhupada however hold the scripture to be authentic and authoritative, while widely appreciated by figures such as Annie Besant, P.D. Ouspensky, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Pandurang Shastri Athavale and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Nietszche is noted to have said "Close the Bible and open the Manu Smriti
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manusmriti
    Vision India: Together We Can !
    By Nishikant Waghmare
    28 July, 2007
    Countercurrents.org
    As Indians we must have one motto: "One People! One Nation ! One India!" Now, let us look back at the Indian society. In villages where 81% of Indians live untouchability is practiced. Do untouchables get drinking water? Do they socialize like others? Have their Human Rights violations- rapes, beatings, and cold blooded murders stopped? Will they get justice in their lifetime?
    The fact is that although a Dalit has made it to the post of the President of India Mr. K. R.Narayannan (1997-2002), but the condition of Dalits remains unchanged. The scourge of untouchbility prevails in India. (60 Minuties the CBS story was anchored By Christine Amanpour in 1999.)
    No matter how many Lok –Sabha seats (122 SCs and STs) are reserved, it doesn't do much good if a Dalit cannot drink from public water taps and is condemned to live in the outer fringes of society. It is with a heart full of love, gratitude, and trust that I take up my pen to write for the Dalit cause. The Indian National Congress Party and Bhartiya Janata Party – led by National Democratic Alliance( NDA) is toying with the idea of job reservation in the private Sector for SCs/ STs'. I believe that for SCs/STs' jobs are the only route to socio-economic empowerment as they do not own any means of production, like land! President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said, "Our greatest enemy is poverty and not human beings, and if we want progress, we will have to fight poverty." Eradicating poverty, illiteracy, and reducing inequalities within upper caste and Dalits is the challenge we must face as a nation.
    It is crying shame that after 60 years of the Independence, 350 Millions of our people live in poverty. The UNDP Report shows that in India 23crore and 30 lakh people live in starvation. I am sorry to state that after India gained Independence we have no social justice, social security, health care, sanitation, education, infrastructure, drinking water, food, and socio-economic empowerment of all its citizens. We have less cars in on the road but more accident. Train accidents have become more frequent and also India Air Force MIG 21 crashes. Is anyone thinking about it?
    India stands highest in the world for blind people, HIV positive, and illiteracy and poverty. As Indians become more educated we will be more productive. Mostly, Indians also lack sense of humor. Our strength, however, lies in our family values.
    http://www.countercurrents.org/wagmare280707.htm

    Police firing on people without lethal arms is highly condemnable. More so when people are killed who are not out to kill.
    Even then, a quick comparison between Mudigonda and Nandigram may not be out of place.
    Officially admitted death toll as a result of police firing in Mudigonda is 8, Nandigram 14. In Nandigram the opposition alleges many more deaths. Massive violence against villagers following firing reported. No such claim as yet in case of Mudigonda.
    In case of Nandigram, opposition alleges that the CPIM cadres joined the police force in firing upon the villagers and committing subsequent atrocities.
    No such reports from Mudigonda.
    In Mudigonda, it was an aggressive mob out to take possession of lands, and reportedly pelting stones.
    In Nandigram, it was a defensive crowd determined not to part with the lands in their possession for generations and reportedly carrying out religious rituals when attacked by the police.
    In case of Mudigonda firing, the government has immediately expressed regret. One top police official is transferred, one suspended. Judicial enquiry ordered. Compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for each death announced.
    In case of Nandigram, the CM expressed regret only after long wrangling. No compensation. Only administrative enquiry. No penal action whatever against any police person.
    Pls. sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/cpfap/petition.html
    Sukla
    Justice at last for Dalits?
    Wednesday August 1 2007 12:46 IST
    TSUNDUR: The tension was palpable. Not many in Tsundur were in a mood to talk. But scores of them gathered on the roofs of their homes waiting for the verdict to be made public.
    The mood in the courtroom was tense too. Relatives of the accused waited nervously, while the scribes and shutterbugs fidgeted impatiently. When the verdict came, there were sighs, sobs, stunned silence and a few blank gazes.
    The Tsundur massacre had been a defining moment in Dalit politics in the State. It spawned a plethora of Dalit organisations and a host of movements. But for the upper castes and the Dalits, the trial was tortuous and the wait for the verdict stretched on for 16 long years.
    As many as 30 of the accused and 20 of the witnesses had passed away. Several of the accused became old and infirm. In fact, one such ? 6 5 - year- old Annapareddy Bhavanarayana of Modukuru ? had to lie on a cot in the courtroom as he was terribly ill. Fortunately for him, he was acquitted.
    For the Dalits, the verdict was a belated but sweet and sour victory ? sour because no accused was given the death penalty. ??There is discrimination even now,?? said Vaddi Rama Rao. He was 10 years old when the massacre happened. ??I still remember 6 August 1991. We hid beneath a cot to save ourselves. It was only later that we came to know that several of our people were killed,?? he recalls.
    Teacher Sambireddy has a different account: ??We were trembling and spent sleepless nights for over a month. Though I was not present in the village on August 6, my name was included in the complaint. It was only later that it was removed.??
    http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEA20070801022457&Page=A&Title=Southern+News+-+Andhra+Pradesh&Topic=0
    Cry Freedom!
    Of the many forms of untouchability that persist in modern India, unarguably the most unconscionable is the wide prevalence of discrimination against dalit children within schools
    Harsh Mander Delhi
    In a dilapidated slum shanty near the banks of the Ganga in Patna is settled a group of families whose profession is to clean dry toilets with their bare hands, and to carry human waste on their heads to throw into the forgiving waters of the mighty river. I found that not a single child studied in the government school, which, as it happened, was located literally just across the road from the scavenger colony. It took a while to coax from the guardians the reason for their steady resolve to keep their children away from school. It transpired that they had indeed sent their children to the school initially. It is a custom in many government schools for the teacher to send children on errands. The upper-caste children were assigned tasks such as to fetch tea. The children from the scavenger colony were asked to wash the toilets, or to clean up after a dog had soiled the school premises. The children could not bear the shame, and refused to return to the school.
    Of the many forms of untouchability that persist in modern India, unarguably the most unconscionable is the wide prevalence of discrimination against dalit children within schools. Children in rural India, and even parts of the cities, learn early the rules of caste, which survive unremittingly through their lifetimes, even as their country races into the 21st century. A survey of practices of untouchability undertaken in 565 villages in 11 major states of India reveals shockingly that in as many as 38 per cent government schools, dalit children are made to sit separately while eating. In 20 per cent schools, dalit children are not even permitted to drink water from the same source.
    As the outcome of a major direction of the Supreme Court of India, millions of children in most government primary schools in the country are being provided hot, cooked, mid-day meals everyday. The mid-day meal programme not only strengthens the nutrition of children in government schools, many of whom are poor and do not have access to sufficient and nutritious food in their homes, it also encourages enrolment into schools, retention and regular attendance. But an equally important outcome is that since children of all castes and classes sit together and eat, it teaches them caste equality. Traditionally, caste and communal barriers are expressed most in the refusal to eat together; therefore, people of diversity sitting together gently can shatter a range of iniquitous social practices, and what better place for this to happen than the school?
    However, there are disturbing field studies of caste discrimination within schools. Caste discrimination in mid-day meals is seen in various ways. The first is defiance of the Supreme Court orders to appoint cooks from dalit backgrounds. In states like Tamil Nadu only 14 per cent of the cooks are dalit. In many places where, although, dalit cooks have been appointed, upper-caste parents retaliated by not allowing their children to eat the meal, threatening to withdraw, putting pressure to replace the cook with an upper-caste cook and so on.
    The other forms of discrimination are where children are not allowed to sit together and eat. Dalit children are required to sit apart from the dominant caste children; sometimes apart within the same space, other times outside of the school building while the dominant caste children sit inside, or on a lower level than their dominant caste peers. Some studies have also shown that dalit children are required to bring their own plates and/or are given less quantity of food, refused a second serving, not allowed to drink water from the public taps and hand pump at the school and so on.
    http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/portal/2007/08/1092

    Hyderabad : Terming the Communists and the TDP as two sides of the same coin, Mala Mahanadu leader and member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Jupudi Prabhakara Rao today called upon Dalits not to participate in the movement for house sites launched by these parties and sacrifice their lives.
    In a statement here, he said of the seven persons killed in the police firing in Mudigonda village of Khammam district in the land movement, five were Dalits.
    Charging the Communists with trying to play with the lives of Dalits for their own selfish ends, he questioned why no people from the forward community were dying in any movement launched by the Leftists.
    Alleging ''the flags of Communists will not flutter without the help of Dalits'', the Mala leader claimed ''they (left parties) were using the poor Dalits as scapegoats.
    Stating that TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, who did not distribute a single 'yard' of land to the poor during his rule, was now shedding 'crocodile' tears and launching land movement to gain political mileage.
    It was Mr Naidu, who engineered a split between Malas and Madigas, two important sections of Dalits, he alleged.
    Accusing the Communists of distancing the Dalits from the principles of Dr B R Ambedkar and keeping them under the illusion of Communism, Mr Rao called upon the Dalits to follow only the footsteps of Dr Ambedkar and stay away from the politics of parties of upper caste leaders.
    Madhani to work for the uplift of Muslims, Dalits
    By T. K Devasia
    3 August 2007
    TRIVANDRUM — People’s Democratic Party chairman Abdul Nasser Madhani has sought to adopt a moderate political line for the uplift of Dalits and Muslims after his acquittal in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts case.

    Addressing a Press conference after his release from the jail here yesterday, Madhani indicated that he would occupy the third space in the state’s political scene. Though the party would continue its support to the Left Democratic Front, it will not align with the existing coalitions.
    “The PDP was formed to ensure power to the oppressed and downtrodden. We could not prepare the political ground in the state to achieve this. We committed certain mistakes in our activities. We will correct them and go forward to fulfill our political objective,’’ he added.
    Madhani said he was not in a hurry to take a plunge into electoral politics. “We will first concentrate on social service. We would come out with specific programmes for the economic and social upliftment of the oppressed sections”, he added.
    Madhani is apparently trying to bring all the scattered Dalit forces under the PDP banner. But this is not easy considering the tag he has got as an extremist. He was seen as a fire- spitting fundamentalist after he floated the Islamic Sevak Sangh to champion the interest of the Muslim community. But Madhani has made conscious efforts to change his image. He sent out strong signals in his Press conference. The first gesture was his decision to pardon the Hindu, who made an attempt on his life. Madhani lost his right leg in the attack. “The assailant came to me in the jail seeking apology. I have pardoned him. But my pardon will not help him in the court. I will do everything possible to ensure that he is not punished,’’ Madhani said. He also sought to project a moderate image by disassociating totally with the NDF, which came into force after the ban on the ISS in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
    Officials told to restore peace in Surpur

    BANGALORE: The State Government has issued strict instructions to the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police of Gulbarga district to take measures to restore peace in Surpur taluk where Dalits are living in fear because of frequent atrocities against them.
    Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj S. Horatti, who replied on behalf of Home Minister M.P. Prakash, told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that the Government had taken the matter seriously. It had directed the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police to take measures to restore normality and also to ensure that such incidents did not recur.
    Earlier, raising the issue during zero hour, G.V. Sriram Reddy (CPI-M) said the district in-charge Minister had not visited the affected village though a large number of Dalits were gripped by fear. He urged the Government to organise peace meetings in the taluk to restore normality.

    Did Budha name enemy of Dhamma & ask his followers to fight & finish Brahminism?
    http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/august2007/editorial.htm
    Who says Budhism stands for peace, non-violence, vegetarianism, meditation? Nonsense. Gautam Budha did not say all this. Nor Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.
    The credit for distorting and destroying Budhism and then literally killing thousands and thousands of Budhist monks, burning down their monasteries and libraries goes to the notorious Adi Sankara, a dwarf Brahmin from Kerala. (Prof. K.S. Bhagavan, Violence in Hinduism, DSA-1986, photocopy available with DV).
    Neither Budha nor Babasaheb talked of non-violence or vegetarianism. Both were meat-eaters and sanctioned violence against violent enemies of Dhamma.
    It is only after the alien Brahminical people killed Budhism and drove it out of India, they gave this new interpretation that Budhism stood for peace, non-violence and all sorts of nonsense.
    Vaidiks killed Budhism: Brahminical people launched perhaps the worst violence in India’s history to slaughter Budhists and destroy India’s one and the only liberating philosophy called Dhamma. They practised horrible violence but preached non-violence for us (their victims) to prevent our people turning against them.
    Not only the vaidiks killed Budhism, then distorted Budhism, but put out all sorts of falsehood against Budha and Budhism.
    What then are the facts? Budha preached and trained his followers on two things:
    (1) Fighting practices and (2) peaceful practices.
    The first to be used against the cruel Brahminical enemies of the Dhamma and the second to strengthen innocent people. In other words, Budha asked his followers to be fully armed to fight and finish Brahminical enemies of Budhism.
    World’s most violent enemy: Fighting, violence against violent people, armed struggle, resistance are all fully sanctioned under Budhism, as per the writings of Nichiren Daishonin , a famous 13th century Japanese Budhist, which are kept out of India as they are considered dangerous to the existence of Brahminical people who infiltrated Budhism and misled the innocent Dalits, the children of Babasaheb.
    We call upon our people, the children of Babasaheb, not to follow the enemies of Budhism but go back to Babasaheb who never spoke about ahimsa (non-violence), vegetarianism, or peace. How can we be peaceful faced with the world’s most violent enemy? On our own we will be always peaceful. We will never, ever attack or kill the Brahminical enemy but when the enemy comes in the way of the Dhamma we have to resist with all our might. This is what Budha said. This is what Babasaheb also said.
    According to the Japanese book, Budha had not only identified the enemies of Budhism but had even named them in his conversation with his disciples.
    “Educated” people made monkeys: “Educated” people, particularly the English-knowing (5%) who fortunately are a micro-minority, may not believe these great truths mentioned by the Japanese scholar but they are true. Readers may order photocopies of the book to verify the truth.
    Budha had asked his followers to be fully armed to fight and even finish the enemies of Dhamma. Who are the enemies? He named them as Brahminical people.
    In certain parts of Andhra Pradesh they found during excavations stone idols of Kadgadhari Budha (holding sword). If he was for non-violence, why was he brandishing the sword? Answer it.
    Here below we are reproducing just three pages from the book of Nichiren Daishonin in which the Budha, virtually lying on his death bed, has his last conversation with a Brahmin called Chunda.
    But all these were erased from the memories of Bahujans, victims of Brahminism — though they are even today fighting against Brahminism in every part of India.
    India has only one enemy: What is shocking is ever since the Aryans set foot on India, the original Indians considered the alien Brahminical people alone as their enemy although many other foreign elements also came to India, mingled with the indi

  • South Asia: An Infinite US MNC Hunting Ground! US-India deal conforms to Hyde Act

    South Asia: An Infinite US MNC Hunting Ground! US-India deal conforms to Hyde Act
    Indian communists have to be remebered with Red Letters in Historyn as they finally annihilite Marxism!
    Palash Biswas
    Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
    Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

    LEFT TURN IN AP
    Is a new national alliance taking shape around the Khammam agitation?
    Sankarshan Thakur

    NANDIGRAM HAS come up repeatedly in the context of the Khammam land agitation and the response of YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s Congress government to it. A protracted, and often angry, struggle by the landless backed by political groups in volatile Telangana. Sustained lack of response from the government in Hyderabad. Last week, a clash between agitators and the police. Eight dead. Thousands enraged. A cry that the Chief Minister, no less, quit owning moral responsibility. The CPM leading that cry. Here is where Nandigram comes in. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya never quit over Nandigram. Much worse happened there. So how is the CPM in a position to demand the resignation of Rajasekhara Reddy? Perhaps there is a point to be made here — the CPM is inconsistent, it should mind its mess in West Bengal in Kerala, it has no legs to stand on when it makes common cause with the landless in Khammam because it has been trying to grab land away from the people in Nandigram and Singur. That’s good rhetoric, but only rhetoric. The Congress in Andhra Pradesh can play that argument against the CPM but it cannot wish away problems that the Khammam agitation — and the police action — has created for the government. Those will follow a dynamic independent of what happened in West Bengal.
    With the CPM aligning with Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam, the Andhra government has its task cut out. And it is not unlikely that the Congress, as a political entity, could also begin to feel the heat of such an alliance. The CPM-TDP partnership is fairly localised and issue-based, of course, but there are sections in the CPM hinting at possible realignments if the distance between them and the Reddy government continues to widen. And who knows, Andhra could become the platform for a new national experiment two years from now.
    http://www.tehelka.com/story_main33.asp?filename=Ne110807left_turn_in_PRO.asp

    Indian PM warns agriculture is in crisis despite booming economy.
    Indian shares fell sharply in opening trade, tracking a sell-off in other Asian markets, which slipped on concerns of subprime mortgage woes taking a toll on the US economy. At 0441 GMT, the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex was down 440.55 points or 2.83 pct, at 15,110.44. The National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty was down 3.01 pct at 4,392.55 points.
    All 30 Sensex components were in the red. In the broader market, 436 shares advanced, 1,041 declined and 28 remained unchanged. Shares across sectors were razed and yesterday's gains were undone within the first few minutes of trading.
    As India and the United States released the text of the accord to implement their civil nuclear deal, Washington's point man on the issue Nicholas Burns dismissed suggestions that it violates the spirit of the Hyde Act.The two countries had struggled to sew up the agreement because India had wanted the United States to allow it to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, assure permanent fuel supplies and not penalise India by ending nuclear trade if it conducts another nuclear test.The text of the agreement showed that the first two demands had largely been met, while there was no direct mention of the consequences of another Indian test.
    Political parties were today sharply divided on the Indo-US nuclear deal with Opposition BJP saying it will impact on the country's right to conduct atomic tests while the Congress terming it as a historic pact that recognises India as a nuclear power.
    The Left parties, however, reserved their comments saying they will have to analyse it "thoroughly" and indicated that they would like to hold another round of discussions with the government on the issue. They are expected to come out with a reaction tomorrow.
    Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told PTI "the reservations that we expressed earlier are still outstanding. We have serious reservations with regard to the agreement.... I can say that our fears remain in place. They, in fact, have multiplied.
    Top BJP leaders, including A B Vajpayee, who had earlier expressed reservation on the deal, met here later to discuss the 123 pact but did not come out with a formal reaction. They said the party will give a detailed reaction tomorrow after indepth study of the text.
    Besides Vajpayee, the meeting was attended by senior party leaders L K Advani, Jaswant Singh, Sinha and former National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra.
    The Hyde Act, passed in December last year, provides that US President will have discretionary powers to terminate the civil nuclear cooperation if India conducts a nuclear test. "The agreement is derived from the Hyde Act," he remarked.
    Congratulations, P sainath for Magsaysay Award, who reportedly spends three hundred days of the year in villages and is the greatest supporter of Buddha`s Capitalist Development and Evict Rural India for US interests with his eminent editor! I remeber his rebel role as a coordinator of Mumabai resistance. he called me that he could not include the dalit Bengali refugee issue in the agenda and was kind enough to hear my briefing with patience!As the economy surges, matters that call for the urgent attention of the public and government are ignored in favor of film starlets and beauty queens, the stock market, and India's famed IT boom. Sainath has taken a different path. Believing that "journalism is for people, not for shareholders," he has doggedly covered the lives of those who have been left behind. Sainath discovered that the acute misery of India's poorest districts was not caused by drought, as the government said. It was rooted in India's enduring structural inequalities-in poverty, illiteracy, and caste discrimination-and exacerbated by recent economic reforms favoring foreign investment and privatization. Indeed, these sweeping changes combined with endemic corruption had led small farmers and landless laborers into evermore crippling debt-with devastating consequences.
    In electing Palagummi Sainath to receive the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts, the board of trustees recognizes his passionate commitment as a journalist to restore the rural poor to India's consciousness, moving the nation to action.
    But , the Sainath, we used to know has changed to save the interest of his class, the ruling Brahmins!
    US Indo Nuclear Deal is final. Leftistsor Rightist protest whatevermay it be, is not serios enough or intended to stall the legislation work. Indian sovereignty is now vested in US President as he is empoered to enforce Hyde Act against India! This is a century for most wanted galaxy manusmriti Order which destroys ideology as well as history. Political borders are irrelevent and Zionist Hindu US Post Modern galaxy Order rules all over. India is aspiring to be a Hindu super power which may not deal with day today problems of the suffering people. Rather a war is launched against rural India! Eviction drive is on. Riverlink project continues despite the fact that the nation is unable to manage gignatic dams. Penansular India is at the stake. Dandakar based dalit bengali refugees and tribals have to be wiped out. Coast line security Act, Environment Act, Mining Act, Labour Acts - everything is violated to serve US as well as MNC interests! Citizenship, human rights, civil rights, life and livlihood of the enslaved people of south asia is now dependent on Neo Liberal colonial rule enacted by the new strategic grouping of US, India, Japan and Australia. chemical Hubs have become the need of the hour as Asian Brown cloud envelops Indian Ocean! It is a free military zone. It is a free War Zone. An infinite Hunting ground!
    Buddh Deb Bhattacharya is in Lead in charge for the Capitalist Development. However, this century will initially be rather one of capitalism than socialism. Indian communists have to be remebered with Red Letters in Historyn as they finally annihilite Marxism!
    "That's absolutely false," said Burns, US Under Secretary of State, addressing concerns that US assurances to help India find other sources of fuel in the event of it conducting a nuclear weapons test would violate the spirit of the Hyde Act that approved the deal in principle.
    The agreement preserved intact the responsibility of the president under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 that if India or any other country conducts a nuclear test, the president will have the right to ask for the return of the nuclear fuel or nuclear technologies that have been transferred by American firms, he said.
    Suspect burned in Glasgow airport attack dies
    An Indian man who took part in a suspected bomb plot in Britain has died in hospital after suffering horrific burns in a botched attack on a Scottish airport nearly five weeks ago, police said on Friday.

    Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned Friday against complacency over India's booming economy, saying the dividends of growth are yet to trickle down to the rural poor and farmers are in crisis. On the other hand,India and the United States unveiled the much-awaited text outlining their landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal Friday, and analysts said it appeared to have met New Delhi's key demands.The deal aims to give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment, overturning a three-decade ban imposed after New Delhi, which has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, conducted a nuclear test in 1974.Although the framework deal was approved by the U.S. Congress last December, talks over a bilateral pact, called the 123 agreement after a section of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act, had run into trouble over Indian objections to "new conditions" in it.It was finalised last month at what were seen as make-or-break talks between top officials of the two sides in Washington and is expected to be formally signed this month.
    Singh, whose party came to power in 2004 on the promise of improving rural lives, is presiding over an economy that is growing at around nine percent, the fastest after China. The investment and savings rate is as high as 35 percent of national economic output, Singh said at a meeting of his Congress party in this southern Indian city,BANGALORE ,the hub of a 50-billion-dollar IT industry at the vanguard of the country's economic resurgence.
    "But we cannot be complacent till the growth becomes inclusive and socio-economic development benefits more than half the population, especially in rural areas," Singh said.
    India's rain-dependent agriculture, which contributes about a fifth of economic output but is a direct or indirect source of livelihood for two-thirds of its billion-plus population, is growing at less than a quarter the pace of the overall economy.
    Annual per capita foodgrain production declined from 207 kilograms (455 pounds) in 1995 to 186 kilos last year. The rate of agricultural growth fell from five percent in the mid-1980s to less than two percent in the past five years.
    India, the world's second-largest wheat producer, exported no wheat last year after shortages forced it to import the commodity for the first time in six years.
    Despite the Indian economy growing at a sizzling pace, thousands of debt-ridden farmers have committed suicide after crop failures.
    Prosperity and crisis alternate constantly in capitalism, but behind this up-and-down process are tendencies towards an extension and further development of capitalism, which is nowhere near its end. Overstretched British troops face escalating mental problems the longer they stay on frontline duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, a study showed on Friday.Those deployed for 13 months or more in a three-year period were more likely to have symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, The King's College London research revealed.
    US President George W. Bush has invited major world economies to a multinational climate change conference in Washington on September 27-28, the White House announced Friday.
    The death toll from a collapsed U.S. highway bridge rose to at least five and was expected to climb more as divers felt their way through murky Mississippi waters to victims, authorities said on Friday. Rescuers spent an entire day extracting the fifth fatality from under mounds of debris, Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack said. He said another victim had died in a hospital, but the local coroner did not confirm either death.
    The cost to the taxpayer of Labour's special leadership conference in Manchester in June must be investigated, a Liberal Democrat MP has said.
    Paul Rowen is demanding a parliamentary watchdog inquiry claiming the "publicity stunt" at which Gordon Brown was formally appointed as party leader should have been paid for from party funds.
    "Agriculture in many parts of the country is in a state of crisis," said Singh, an economist who in 1991 introduced reforms that ended four decades of socialist-style insulation by opening the doors to foreign investors.
    "The fact that farmers are compelled to resort to suicides is a matter of deep concern for all," he said.
    In May, Singh announced a six billion US dollar package to try and help poor farmers. The funds for investment in technology and infrastructure to bring crops to market more efficiently will be made available to India's 29 states over a four-year period.
    On Friday, the premier pledged to improve living standards in the countryside by building state-of-the art power plants, roads, telecommunications, housing, healthcare and education facilities.

    More than 200 people have died in monsoon flooding in South Asia in the last 10 days while more than 10 million remained marooned in their villages or homeless on Friday, with many having no access to health care.The threat of water-borne diseases is rising, with many villages cut off for days. Some people have been bitten by snakes flooded out of their pits, others crushed under the rubble of their houses, and many drowned by rising flood waters.
    The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the floods were causing "havoc" and "chaos" in the region, with around 20 million affected and could be the worst in living memory in some areas.
    The South Korean government has told Taliban insurgents holding 21 Koreans there is a limit to what it can do to resolve the hostage standoff that has stretched into a third week, an official said on Friday.
    "That right is preserved wholly in the agreement. We're releasing the agreement on our website on Friday afternoon and people will see that when they cite the text," Burns said in an interview with Council on Foreign Relations, a leading US think tank.
    Asked if he saw enough movement in the US Congress that there might be a vote this autumn to approve the deal, Burns said, "We hope so." But noted that two things have to happen before it goes back for a final vote in Congress.
    "First, India has to conclude a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which I expect will happen in the next 30 to 35 days.
    "Secondly, the Indians will need to convince the Nuclear Suppliers Group, this is the group of 45 nuclear energy powers in the world, that it should give the same kind of international treatment in terms of civil nuclear trade to India that the United States would have just given bilaterally.
    "Once those two steps are taken, then perhaps by November or December we'll be ready to formally send this agreement to Capitol Hill for a final vote. We hope that vote will mirror the Hyde Act vote which was, of course, an overwhelming vote in favour of India and the United States by Congress," Burns said.
    Asked what safeguards had been provided to ensure that India would reprocess nuclear material only for civilian use, he said Washington had agreed to confer reprocessing consent rights, as it's called, on the Indians because of two factors.
    "Number one, the Indians offered and have now agreed to construct a state-of-the-art processing facility and all the foreign fuel shipped into India will go through that plant to be reprocessed. It will be fully safeguarded by the IAEA, fully transparent and monitored by the IAEA. That will give the entire international community an abundance of reassurance that there is no diversion to the weapons programme.
    "Secondly, US law states that while we can promise reprocessing consent rights, we have to negotiate a subsequent agreement. We will do that and Congress will have the right to review that agreement," the official said.
    The deal would end India's nuclear isolation and bring it more securely in line with global safeguards, said Burns. "I think it speaks to the modern-day needs of the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) as well as what we need to do to strengthen it in the years ahead."
    Asked if the deal addressed US concerns that India would support efforts to press Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons programme, Burns said it doesn't speak of political issues in the text of the agreement as it was a technical agreement of the type that US has done with Japan, Russia, China, and the European Union in the past.
    "But apart from that, we have been very actively involved in counselling the Indian government that they should remain with the rest of the international community in arguing to the Iranians that they should not become a nuclear weapons power, number one. And number two, we hope very much that India will not conclude any long-term oil and gas agreements with Iran," Burns said.
    "And so I trust the Indians will maintain this policy of not in any way, shape, or form assisting the Iranian government in its nuclear plans, and in giving the right advice to the Iranian government that we would expect any democratic country to give" he said, noting that the Indians had voted with US at the IAEA board of governors against Iran on two occasions.
    The once-estranged democracies had agreed that nuclear cooperation would be "on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty, non-interference in each other's internal affairs ... and with due respect for each other's nuclear programs," it said.
    "This agreement shall remain in force for a period of 40 years," the text said. "It shall continue in force thereafter for additional periods of 10 years each."
    In Washington, where some lawmakers and disarmament experts oppose the pact, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey called it "a win for everyone" because it brought India's program into the international non-proliferation system.
    "MATURE DEAL"
    The pact has to be approved by Congress, while India needs to get clearances from the Nuclear Suppliers Group of nations that govern global civilian nuclear trade and also conclude an agreement to place its civilian reactors under U.N. safeguards.
    "The United States will support an Indian effort to develop a strategic reserve of nuclear fuel to guard against any disruption of supply over the lifetime of India's reactors," the text said.
    If despite these arrangements fuel supply is disrupted, the two countries would jointly convene a group of friendly supplier countries such as Russia, France and Britain to restore supplies to India, it said.
    While both countries would have the right to end the pact with a year's advance notice and demand the return of fuel and equipment transferred, "the two parties recognize that exercising the right of return would have profound implications for their relations," the agreement said.
    In what Indian officials said was an indirect reference to a future Indian nuclear test, the pact said the two sides had agreed to take into account whether "circumstances that may lead to termination" resulted from a "changed security environment" or "a response to similar actions by other states."
    In other words, if Pakistan or China conducted nuclear tests, the U.S. would take that into account if Indian responded.
    Indian officials had last week said they were satisfied with the pact and analysts and lobby groups echoed that on Friday.
    "On the face of it, it's all there. It's a very mature deal," said Robinder Sachdev of lobby group U.S. Indian Political Action Committee.
    "It covers very clearly the basis for moving ahead. It shows both governments want to engage in a mature and sophisticated manner with each other in the next half a century," he said.
    Randeep Ramesh writes well. Pl read:
    But Nehru pursued a strategy that would build up the country's technological capacity, not employ people. He set about institutionalising innovation and spent money on a network of world-class science universities rather than universal primary education. Nehru built huge dams. He took pains to create an atomic industry and cultivate brilliant scientists.
    In a sense, he laid the foundations for an idiot savant economy that can do the impossible but fumbles the mundane. India turns out more scientists than far wealthier China, but cannot get all its children to school. While the country's business houses prowl the world picking off weaker western companies, they cannot acquire land at home because villagers protest violently against forcible takeovers.
    This disparity in productivity is India's greatest asset and liability. Workers in the private organised sector are ten times more productive than those in the "unorganised sector". The emphasis on capital-intensive growth has helped India achieve impressive results with fewer resources. It is estimated that in 2007, India will grow at 9 per cent - a fraction behind its larger northern neighbour. Remarkable, given that India is achieving this growth with just 50 per cent of China's investments and 10 per cent of China's foreign direct investment.
    Hoping for a miracle
    But the flipside is that while new management graduates in India are offered 10,000 rupees (£120) a day in salaries, cotton farmers struggle to make 10,000 rupees in a whole season. Crossing between these two worlds rarely happens because it requires workers with skills, education and opportunity. India will have to pour more money into health and education as well as create the kinds of industries that can offer the rural poor a chance out of poverty. It needs to change its labour laws - at the moment you need government permission to shut down a factory with 100 workers in it. Clearly this is a deterrent to setting up shop in India.
    For the first 1,500 years of the past two millennia, India and China dominated the world economy. Then came the western industrial revolution, which propelled smaller and less populous nations to wealth and power. The Asian giants were overtaken first by Britain, then by the rest of Europe, and finally by the United States. But in the same way as commentators refer to the 1900s as the "American century", the 21st century is forecast to be Asian. If the scale and speed of growth can be maintained on both sides of the Himalayas, by 2050 Beijing and Delhi will be the capitals of the two richest nations on the planet.
    It is worth being sceptical about such claims. Historically there is no precedent for such a transformation. Britain and America took a century each to achieve primacy and had far fewer people to deal with. India and China have a billion-plus people each. Both nations expect to maintain growth rates of near 10 per cent. "What these two countries propose," wrote Willem Buiter of the London School of Economics, "is growth on a scale that is more than 200 times larger than what the UK and US managed." Such events are not beyond the bounds of possibility, but they have never happened before.
    Growing pains
    Randeep Ramesh
    Published 02 August 2007
    http://www.newstatesman.com/200708020028
    And see this LEADER ARTICLE published in Times of India: Buddha Can Show The Way
    3 Aug 2007, 0054 hrs IST,Kaushik Basu
    I had argued in these columns last week that changes in the states of Bihar, Orissa and Bengal raise the possibility of an industrial resurgence in the eastern region of the nation.
    The source of West Bengal's change is the CPM's recent realisation of what the Chinese realised in 1978 — that good economic policy has nothing to do with one's fondness for or dislike of big companies and capitalists.
    In today's world, with free-floating capital and footloose corporations, if you are in charge of just a region, or even a country, and want your workers to be employed and paid decent wages, you have no choice but to welcome capital. In an interview in 2005, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said, "I want investment. Money has no colour or nationality... We cannot dwell in the past. Look at China. Does it have any problems accepting investments from capitalist countries? Does Vietnam not want American capital?"
    From the manner in which re-industrialisation is being attempted in West Bengal, there are signs that the government is trying to take a page out of China's book of "capitalism by fiat". The state government is using its party power and proximity to the unions to forcibly acquire rural land and other rights for big business houses to start up large industrial projects.
    The state has struck deals on steel, port development, hydro-chemicals, and food processing with large corporations — all in the last two or three years. It had earlier persuaded IBM and Wipro to start operations in the state; and has received investment from Pepsi and Mitsubishi.
    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Editorial/LEADER_ARTICLE_Buddha_Can_Show_The_Way/articleshow/2251758.cms
    Pl Read this Article also to understand the mechanism:
    Profit without End:
    Capitalism Is Just Getting Started
    by Michael Heinrich
    http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/heinrich280707.html
    After two World Wars, a global economic crisis which eclipsed all previous crises, and after National Socialism and the Holocaust, the USA established itself as the hegemonic capitalist power with the Soviet Union as its antagonist. Exceptional economic and political circumstances in Western Europe and North America led to a prosperity without precedent in the years between 1955 and 1974, which also contributed to the capitalist development of Japan. During the period of this "economic miracle," real income increased dramatically, and welfare state expenditures were expanded. Capitalism, at least in the metropolis, seemed to have transcended crisis and poverty.
    However, in the late seventies and eighties it became clear that the global economic crisis of 1974/75 did not merely constitute an interruption of this economic miracle. Capitalist development remained prone to crisis, and as usual escape was sought in increased exports and accelerated technological development, above all in an increased exploitation of the forces of labor. Real income stagnated or declined, welfare state expenditures were continually reduced.The period of the economic miracle was merely an episode in the development of capitalism. However, its influence dug deep into the collective subconsciousness, above all in Germany. Within the rather leftist part of the political spectrum there still exists the belief that, with the "correct" economic policies, full employment can be conjured up; "unchained" capitalism must simply be properly regulated again. But the period of the economic miracle also dominates the perceptions of the more radical left, as the development of capitalism since the miracle is perceived as a plunge towards a final crisis, or at least as a period of decline for capitalism -- as if it were ever the purpose of capitalism to spread full employment and welfare among the people. Crisis and unemployment are in no way a sign of capitalist decline; they are capitalist normality.
    The expansion of capitalism continued vigorously, above all in East Asia. The rise of the four "little Tigers" (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea) in the seventies and eighties was followed at the beginning of the nineties by the four "little dragons" (Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines).
    With the collapse of the Soviet Unionthe geopolitical system of coordinates was altered. On the one hand, western capital now had direct access to Eastern Europe and Russia. On the other hand, the East Asian emerging economies were no longer useful as bulwarks against "Communism." As a massive speculative bubble burst in 1997/98 and substantial industrial overcapacities were evident, the crash of these economies did not disturb the leading capitalist countries. There no longer existed a geopolitical opponent into whose hands the crash could play.
    Against this background, a global competitive capitalism emerged in the nineties, which was spurred by an internationalized financial system that had developed in the seventies and had continuously grown ever since. Not only were new markets opened up globally; possibilities for increased profit were exploited via international valorization chains.
    At the same time, the neo-liberal credo of a lean state without debt reached the high point of its effectiveness. In constant tax-cut rounds, business and upper income groups were relieved and state budgets subject to a permanent imperative of austerity which demanded the cutting of social services and the privatization of state firms.
    For capital, the conditions of valorization improved, and new spheres of investment opened up: not only privatized state businesses, but also privatized care industries (health insurance, elderly care). The "individual responsibility" constantly demanded of citizens ultimately meant that they had to pay more, so profit could be made in new sectors. The further development of capitalism, the subsumption of new spheres of existence under the logic of profit maximization, is already underway in the developed capitalist countries.
    Global Competitive Capitalism
    Poverty Capitalism in the 21st Century
    With China and India, two new capitalist powers became clearly noticeable in the 1990s which, with 1.3 and 1.1 billion residents respectively, comprised more than a third of the global population. Both countries had experienced enormously high rates of economic growth over the years. Whereas in China the mass of the forces of labor were exploited under conditions resembling those of early capitalism so that the world market could be flooded with cheap products, India has managed to bring about, via enormous investments in the educational system, a great deal of highly qualified and nonetheless cheap forces of labor (engineers, software developers, pharmacists) which are particularly attractive for foreign investors. At the same time, income disparity as well as differences in regional development in both countries has increased sharply.
    The capitalist development of India and China is at its very beginning; it may have a substantial influence upon global economy and politics in the future. If in the course of the next few decades a middle class with purchasing power emerges -- albeit comprising merely 20 to 30 percent of the population, with the rest living in poverty -- in them, that alone would constitute a market of 600 to 700 million people, far larger than the expanded European Union. At the same time, the massive army of poor people ensures a stream of cheap labor for the decades ahead. For capital, all manner of things might become scarce in the 21st century, but cheap labor will not be among them. The rate of surplus value will increase worldwide -- relative surplus value increases with technological development, absolute surplus value with the extension of the working day and the sinking of real wages.

    That even in the midst of economic upswings workers will be forced to accept a lengthening of the working day and cuts in wages, as is currently the case with employees at Deutsche Telekom, will no longer be an exception in the future. It will simply not be noticed as much. In Germany, the largest growth of jobs has occurred in the temporary labor sector. In order to impose deteriorations in working conditions, one no longer has to change collective bargaining agreements and fire workers. It's enough simply to not renew employment relationships.
    Insecure employment conditions are expanding, but the talk of a "precariat" presumes a non-existing commonality of interests. A non-skilled woman who commutes between a "mini

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