Left Parties Call For A Broader  Fight Against Globalisation

M Venugopala Rao

 A CONVENTION against globalisation, organised by seven Left parties, gave a call for polarisation of the Left, democratic and secular forces, social groups and intellectuals to forge a broader coalition to fight against imperialist globalisation, which is endangering self-reliance,  economy and sovereignty of  the third world countries. 

Leaders of several Left parties who addressed the convention held on January 5 at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad, stressed upon the need for fighting simultaneously against the twin evils of globalisation and communalism, which are complementary to each other.

The convention of the Left parties was organised at a time when the meetings of Asian Social Forum were taking place in Hyderabad, with a view to facilitate and broaden the fight against imperialist globalisation.

B V Raghavulu, secretary of the AP state committee of the CPI(M), K Narayana, assistant secretary of the state council of the CPI, Murahari of SUCI, G Vijaya Kumar of CPI(M-L) Unity Initiative, N Murthy of CPI(M-L) Liberation, M Omkar of MCPI and D Nagayya of M-L Committee acted as the presidium of the convention.

Addressing the convention, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury explained that the imperialist forces were imposing globalisation with a clear aim of gaining total dominance over world economy. They created the triumvirate of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation for achieving this aim. 

He accused the BJP-led NDA government of surrendering the sovereignty of our country to the imperialist forces by mortgaging our economy to this triumvirate. The central government and state governments like those in Andhra Pradesh, were surviving on loans taken from the IMF and the World Bank, agreeing  to and implementing the conditionalities imposed by them.  Sitaram expressed concern that the country was being caught in a debt trap and was paying a hefty sum of Rs 1.5 lakh crores towards debt servicing  per annum.

After our country was subjected to the process of globalisation, our gross domestic product was decreasing and the burdens and sufferings of the common people were increasing, he explained. The reform process under globalisation, started by the Congress government in 1991, has been intensified  by the BJP-led central government.  The independence of our country, for which we waged struggles for one hundred years, was now under threat because of these policies and the communal forces. 

Sitaram underlined the imperative of continuing the fight against the twin threats of globalisation and communalism, coming from  the IMF, World Bank and WTO, on the one hand, and the trident of communal forces, on the other. He made it clear that both the evils were not independent of each other and that the fight against them must be waged simultaneously. Sitaram called upon the people suffering under the yoke of   the disastrous reform process   to come out and join the fight against imperialist globalisation and communalism and stressed the need for polarisation of the Left, democratic and secular forces to broaden the struggle.

S Sudhakara Reddy, secretary of AP state council of the CPI, said when the Left parties were trying to raise the consciousness of the people and mobilise them against globalisation, some forces were trying to thwart these efforts. Explaining the adverse impact of the onslaught of  imperialist globalisation, he said the farmers were committing suicides, starvation deaths were taking place and  public sector units were being liquidated and privatised, rendering thousands of workers unemployed. He called upon all the forces opposing globalisation to come on to a single platform. 

Kanu Sanyal, the convenor of the CPI(M-L) Unity Initiative and CPI(M-L) Convening Committee, said with a view to crippling our country financially, the imperialist countries were bringing forth the issue of Kashmir  and serving their own interests.  He said countries like Cuba and North Korea were revolting against the globalisation process and their assertion of independence was being dubbed as ‘terrorism’ by the US. 

Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the CPI(M-L) Liberation,  Gangadhar Reddy of MCPI, K.Venkateswara Rao of M-L Committee, Sridhar of SUCI and Surendra Mohan, a socialist leader,  addressing the convention called upon the people to fight against globalisation and communalism.