The ugly face of SEZ development.
One Year Later: Nandigram and the Struggle against Forced
Displacement in India
BY DAVE PUGH
ALTERNATIVE READER
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 11, April 20-26, 2008
In January and March 2007, tens of thousands of peasants at Nandigram
in West Bengal, India rose up to defend their land. By the time
their struggle abated, the peasants had stopped the plans of the Left
Front government in West Bengal to build a giant chemical complex on
their land, and they had driven the police and the armed cadre of the
CPI (Marxist) entirely out of the Nandigram area for eight months.
This struggle radically transformed the political terrain in the
growing struggle against the hundreds of "Special Economic Zones"
that are being planned and built from one end of India to another.
Based on legislation passed in 2005, Special Economic Zones are
enclaves of new industry and infrastructure. SEZs offer hefty
exemptions from taxes on profits, no tariffs, and exemptions from
most labor legislation. Since SEZs are treated as "public service
utilities," strikes are illegal. SEZs are aptly called Special
Exploitation Zones by Indian activists because they allow big Indian
capitalists and multinational corporations to extract high rates of
profit from their workers and plunder India's natural resources.
Though not yet on the same scale as the sprawling economic zones of
southeast China, over 500 SEZs have been approved by the Central and
State authorities. Most of them are under construction or in the
process of land acquisition.
After plans for SEZs have been announced, farmers have resisted
selling their land and peasants have refused to move. When bribery
and bullying tactics have failed, the government in West Bengal as
well as other states has employed the 1894 Land Acquisition Act. This
British colonial-era law allows the state to force farmers to sell
their land for "public purposes" on the government's terms.
The Role of the CPI (Marxist) in West Bengal
In West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, is
the dominant force in the Left Front government. After giving up on
revolutionary struggle in the 1960s, the CPM reconfigured itself as
a parliamentary party. The CPM rode the tide of militant struggle in
the West Bengal countryside and Kolkata to power in the 1970s.
Today the CPM leadership is mostly composed of an upper-caste urban
elite. It has been able to stay in power through instituting a land
reform program in the 1980s (which it has abandoned), and through
setting up a system of strong-armed patronage, which reaches down
into every village in West Bengal. Any who dare oppose local CPM
bosses are socially boycotted, harassed over rations, fired from
jobs, and thrashed or worse. In spite of the CPM's self-proclaimed
progressive credentials, workers' wages, peasants' incomes, health
services and primary education in West Bengal (over 900,000 children
are officially out of the school system and 40 percent of the schools
have no toilets) are no better than the rest of India.
The CPM has been trying to sell the SEZs as vehicles for "pro-people
industrialization" that will allegedly create the material conditions
for "socialism." The document on economic policy passed at the 18th
Congress of the CPM in 2005 welcomes foreign capital which brings
more advanced technology and generates employment. In fact, the
industries being set up in the SEZs are extremely capital intensive
and will create few jobs, almost none of which will be for the
peasants dispossessed from their ancestral lands. According to a
peasant who once worked on the land now occupied by an SEZ near
Nandigram, "all those who left their land are selling cucumber and
cleaning shit."
Land Grab at Singur
In West Bengal, the CPM-led government has moved to acquire 140,000
acres of land for SEZs, which will eventually uproot a total of 2.5
million peasants. The first big test of this policy came at Singur in
2006, where the government sought to acquire 997 acres of fertile
multi-crop land for an auto plant for the Tatas, the largest
capitalist conglomerate in India. This project threatened to
displace over 20,000 people.
When the news of the land acquisition came out, farmers and peasants
organized themselves in the Singur Krishi Raksha Committee. In early
June 2006, over 2,000 peasants staged a demonstration at a government
office with bullocks and agricultural implements. Many women carried
brooms in their hands, which became the symbol of protest in Singur.
In July, peasants blockaded one of the main express roads in the
area. On the night of September 25, as local people gheraoed
(surrounded) the government office in charge of the land grab, they
were attacked by the police and CPM cadres. Dozens were injured,
including many women, and one youth was beaten to death.
As popular opposition mounted, the government imposed Section 144,
which prevented more than four people from moving together in Singur.
When 15,000 unarmed people demonstrated on December 2, over 20,000
police and para-military forces met them with lathis (long batons),
rubber bullets and tear gas. This overwhelming show of force made it
possible for the Tatas to start erecting a wall along the boundary of
the land grabbed by the West Bengal police on their behalf.
The CPM and the West Bengal government believed that the events at
Singur would demonstrate the futility of resistance to other planned
SEZs in the state. The peasants of Nandigram, on the other hand,
drew very different lessons from Singur.
Nandigram Erupts
Nandigram is a block of 38 villages located in a coastal area of East
Medinipur district, 150 kilometers southwest of Kolkata. Most of the
villages here have no electricity. The 440,000 villagers living in
Nandigram are mainly lower-caste Hindus and Muslims. The people of
Nandigram are small farmers, garment workers, laborers, fisherfolk
and shop owners. They have a proud history of struggle, going back to
the anti-British Quit India Movement in 1942 when they liberated the
area and set up their own government for 17 months.
On December 28, 2006, the CPM representative for the Nandigram area
announced that 14,000 acres of land would be acquired for a "mega
chemical hub" and a ship building center. One of the investors was
to be Dow Chemical, which now owns Union Carbide, a company
responsible for 5,000 deaths in Bhopal, India in 1984. The developer
chosen by the CPM was, ironically, the Salim group of Indonesia,
whose founder was a close supporter of the Suharto military
dictatorship that came to power in 1965 after massacring over one
million members and supporters of the Communist Party of Indonesia.
This SEZ would have displaced 95,000 people in Nandigram. A total of
130 schools, 112 temples, 42 mosques were to be razed. Thousands of
people organized themselves under the banner of Bhumi Uchhed
Protirodh Committee (Committee against Eviction from the Land). The
BUPC included representatives from Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, various
leftist groups, the TMC (a right-wing opposition political party) and
even some local CPM cadres who were opposed to giving up their land.
On January 3, as over 3,000 villagers gathered at a meeting to
discuss the land acquisition, police opened fire, wounding four
people. The peasants retaliated, beating up a number of policemen
and torching a police van. The peasants knew that more police would
be coming, so they worked through the night barricading the roads to
prevent the entry of police jeeps. For the next few days, the
villagers came under attack from CPM cadres from nearby Khejuri and
harmads (goons) hired by the CPM. After three members of the BUPC
were murdered, the people's resistance stiffened. Several attackers
were killed and the offices of the CPM were destroyed. On January 7,
the people succeeded in driving the CPM cadres and harmads out of
Nandigram.
From early January until March 13, Nandigram was in the hands of the
people themselves. They formed resistance groups to protect
themselves from the police and the armed CPM cadres. This situation
was unacceptable to the Left Front government, particularly its Chief
Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. In mid-March, the state and local
authorities planned a massive military operation to take back
Nandigram. The force consisted of Eastern Frontier Rifles, Central
Reserve Battalions and more than 20,000 police armed with tear gas
and high-powered weapons.
A massacre ensued on March 14, 2007 in Nandigram. 10,000 unarmed
villagers underestimated the ferocity with which they would be
attacked. The first line of women-- Hindus who were praying to a
goddess to save their homes, and Muslims who were reading from the
Quran--were fired at without warning with tear gas and live
ammunition. The initial attack of the paramilitary and police forces
was followed by CPM cadres dressed in police uniforms, who proceeded
to brutalize the villagers and rape dozens of women. Leaders and
members of the BUPC were particular targets. Afterwards, the
authorities claimed that 14 villagers were killed on March 14th, but
eyewitnesses saw many more bodies of people being dragged onto trucks
and driven away for secret burials.
In the CPM's version of these events, "the mob started hurling bombs
followed by opening of fire…. Ultimately the police had to open fire
in self-defense causing dispersal of the mob…. However, a number of
people were injured in the police firing and it is believed that some
of the agitators were also injured by the bombs they were hurling."
(from Bhattacharjee's speech at the West Bengal Assembly on March
15th) In contrast, even the Central Bureau of Investigation team
sent by the High Court in Kolkata concluded that the police firing
was "unprovoked."
Stories of police brutality, rape and murder were consistently
reported by survivors at Nandigram Block Hospital, Tamluk Hospital,
and the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. One 35 year old woman said she was
pinned between two sticks and gang-raped. Her husband was forced to
watch as the cadres threatened to bash their six-month old baby to
the ground and stamp it underfoot. A physician reported treating a
woman whose uterus had been ruptured after a metal rod had been
thrust into her vagina. CPM cadres barged into hospitals and ordered
doctors not to falsify medical reports (eliminating reference to
gunshot wounds) and to discharge those who urgently needed medical
care.
In the 48 hours following the events of March 14, the people of
Nandigram regrouped and fought back. On March 16, more than 20,000
villagers, armed with sticks and iron rods, chased the CPM cadres and
goons out of the area. The police and paramilitary forces were
restrained because of the public outcry that the March 14 carnage
caused. A state-wide bandh (strike) was called by opposition groups.
Intellectuals, teachers, youth and students, Muslim groups, artists,
singers and many others demonstrated and demanded the resignation
of "Butcher Buddha." Several noted intellectuals returned their
Rabindra prizes (West Bengal's highest literary award) and donated
the Rs. 75,000 cash award to the Nandigram relief fund.
Faced with defeat on the ground, the state government announced that
the SEZ at Nandigram would be cancelled, though they are actively
considering another site in the district.
From March 16 through early November 2007, Nandigram was back in the
hands of the people. Fact finding delegations from all over India
arrived to investigate. Relief supplies were brought in by caravan.
Beginning in April, hundreds of college students organized "go-to-the-
village" campaigns to Nandigram in order to get a first hand
experience of village life and to understand what impelled the
peasants to wage such a powerful struggle to defend their land.
Nandigram Women Organize
A new phase in the struggle began in July when women and girls,
including many who had been molested and raped, came forward and
organized the Matangini Mahila Samiti (MMS). This women's
organization drew its name from that of Matangini Hazra, who led a
procession during the 1942 Quit India Movement and was shot dead.
The MMS raised its voice against the SEZ, the CPM and patriarchal
customs.
According to Professor Amit Bhattacharyya from Jadavpur University,
who interviewed some of its members, the MMS organized large
processions of women who stopped the CPM from firing from Khejuri on
many occasions. It also organized people's courts to deal with cases
of theft or the beatings of wives by their husbands. The MMS
successfully supported women against husbands, including some in the
BUPC, who didn't want their wives to move about freely. Another
success of the women's organization was the destruction of the liquor
shops which they correctly identified as a destructive influence on
the men.
Throughout the summer, the CPM cadres continuously attacked the
villages. Tens of thousands of villagers spent sleepless nights
resisting these attacks. The CPM also tried to isolate Nandigram by
cutting off food, consumer goods, power and water supplies. Ferry
services to nearby Haldia which 10,000 people from Nandigram ride
daily were suspended. With local elections coming up in the spring of
2008, and worried that the people of Nandigram could become an
example for the rest of rural Bengal, the CPM decided that it had to
recapture Nandigram and crush the people's struggle.
The Second Assault on Nandigram
In the fall of 2007, the CPM gathered a force of 2,000-3,000 CPM
cadres from all over West Bengal, backed up by hundreds of hired
mercenaries from Bihar and Jharkhand states. This force was armed and
trained with AK-47s and Insas rifles. According to The Statesman, on
November 1, CPM member of parliament Lakshman Seth told his
troops, "The only option now is to kill or get killed. We have to
fight till the last drop of blood in our bodies."
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
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.
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