Mass Campus Protests Against Fascism
DELHI (India), March 6— “Every day, Dalits and Muslims are killed, raped, and their homes are flattened by bulldozers. Their families live in slums, and they work long hours,” said an angry protester at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). “And Vice-Chancellor Pandit says, ‘Dalits and Muslims are taking advantage. And they cannot play a victim card forever.’”
Pandit’s outrageous speech has infuriated thousands. Angry students demanded her immediate resignation.
Pandit is a hardcore member of the RSS, an extreme right-wing paramilitary organization. JNU, as a public University, attracts many oppressed Dalits, Muslims, and other working-class students. Pandit’s statements directly threaten all of them.
Fascist Modi appointed Pandit to set an example of purging progressive professors all across India. Pandit is particularly targeting JNU’s History Department, which has several Marxist professors. She wants to replace them with Hindu fanatics with fascist ideology.
Sharing Lessons of Farmers’ Mass Rebellion
Two ICWP members visited the protesting students. Both are JNU graduates. Back in their familiar setting, they took hundreds of copies of Red Flag.
“When I was on campus in 2021, hundreds of thousands of farmers had surrounded Delhi. The freeways were packed with farmers. I went to their rallies. They camped for months. We stayed with them, from freezing cold to scorching heat,” one reported.
“I learned that they wanted a better life for everyone,” the comrade continued. “They were generous. We shared communal meals. We learned to cook and clean. Meanwhile, the government was demonizing them and calling them terrorists. After spending weeks with them, I realized that the governments run by rich capitalists were the problem. And I started to see that only communism can put an end to this inequality. I joined the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP).”
The JNU students wanted to hear more. They all took Red Flag. We exchanged contact information.
Communism Unites the Working Class
When we returned the next day, the campus had become a combat zone. Barricades and water cannons blocked thousands of students. Students were teargassed. Many were violently attacked by BJP-supported goons and police. Undeterred, the students called for a “Long March.”
Later we met up with the students from the day before. They all had read Red Flag. Some said they are going to talk to more students about it.
One said that communism is the only way for the working class, but we have to destroy the discrimination the Dalits face first. An ICWP comrade’s story made a big difference in his thinking. When the comrade was at JNU, students were in a mass demonstration after the police killed at least sixty Muslims in Delhi. The fascist Modi was singling out Muslims.
“Many students thought that creating a separate body of Muslim students would highlight their struggle,” the comrade said. “That idea appealed to me. I was born into a Muslim family. But then, in a protest that I will never forget, two Hindu women tried to shield a Muslim man facing a severe beating. Their bravery saved him from serious injury or death.
“I saw we can’t be powerful by forming a separate organization,” the comrade concluded. “I joined ICWP, which unites workers and students of all castes and religions. Our struggle is against the capitalist class.”
These two days of intense discussion amid the protest at JNU made many students think more seriously about our party. We asked them to join ICWP.
Fighting for Communism Requires an Organization.
When we visited campus the next week, the US imperialists and Israeli capitalist rulers had started the war. We were there when an Iranian ship was sunk in the Indian Ocean. The students’ mood was very defiant. Fascist Modi was silent about the mass atrocities.
We brought the ICWP pamphlets on Palestine and copies of recent articles about Iran and the Middle East. About fifteen students listened to us. We said that this is the beginning of the world war. Students like you have to organize masses of workers, soldiers, and students into our party.
The students were very eager to learn. They expressed a desire to join if we could meet with them and explain more about our party. We are starting a formal biweekly meeting to organize for communism and ICWP.
Read about the 2020-2021 farmers’ struggle in India here