Of Israel's cowardly attack on Gaza Aids Flotilla - By Seema Mustafa

South Africa's President Zouma is visiting India. The fact remains that the meeting of a liberated South Africa's President and Indian President and Prime Minister is taking place in the backdrop of another Apartheid regime being created in the Middle East, and Indian Government has no comparable role to play when comparing with the enormous moral support extended by India towards the breakdown of apartheid regime in South Africa. 

Indian government should stand up and be counted and not remain a stooge of the zionist forces.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Seema Mustafa <seemamustafa@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Jun 5, 2010 at 5:12 PM
Subject: column
To: Ghulam Muhammed <ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

By Seema Mustafa

Israel has demonstrated not just its intolerance but also its cowardice. Nine peace activists aboard the Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for the people trapped in Gaza by the Israeli military, were shot not once but several times at close range. And of these five were shot in the back. And the Israeli defence: they were al Qaeda, they were terrorists, they came at us with sticks and knives.

Shame! Brutal murder following an act of aggression has evoked condemnation across the globe, but a lot more needs to be done. Turkey that had established diplomatic relations with Israel giving it legitimacy in that part of the world, has now withdrawn its Ambassador and taken up the matter in the United Nations. Other governments have also condemned the killing, but stopped short at that. India has also added a feeble voice to the criticism, and took an entire day to frame the statement which talks of the ‘use of force’ but does not carry the word ‘Israel.” Almost as if by stating this, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government are afraid of inviting Israeli and American ire. Not a word that the blockage against the Palestinians should be lifted immediately, and all supplies of medicines and food and other essential commodities resumed forthwith. Not a word.

Shame! Shame on Israel for occupation and murder. Shame on the world, including India, for maintaining complete silence. Shame on the Arab countries for cowering under US pressure, and refusing to unite to get the Palestinians back their land and Israel contained to agreed on territory. The courage of armies has been taken over by the peace activists across the world who are defying Israel’s threats and have refused to back off after the brutal attack. Ship after ship will arrive at the Palestinian waters seeking to break the blockade, and whether the aid material they are carrying is unloaded or not, this war has already been won. Israel has been defeated morally by a group of ordinary people who worked over the months to get the ships together and break the blockade. They have done so, and have actually challenged Israel’s claims to the waters, even though the countries across the world have failed to do so.

The four ‘terrorist’ groups of West Asia have been those who challenged Israel and Washington’s writ in the region. One of them is dead, and his country destroyed, namely Iraq President Saddam Hussein who had, in his final years, tried to right some of the wrongs he had committed  through a new agenda that included taking up the cause of the Palestinians. Iraq was invaded as then US President George W.Bush was convinced that it was harbouring weapons of mass destruction, and when these were not found, the ugly invasion was justified as an attack on a “terrorist.”

The other three continue to exist, and are the demons that the West and now even the East raises and whips every time it wants to consolidate votes and polarize people. There is the Hamas that is now controlling Gaza, that won the elections through a process that was certified as free and fair by the US, and that has been rigid in its anti-Israel and anti-US positions. It is therefore, terrorist and targeted by Israel in a continuing war that has been sanctioned by the world, including India. Needless to say innocent Palestinians are paying the price, with the blockade of Gaza just a small example of the terror that the Palestinians are living with on a daily basis. The terrorist is the Israeli state for them.

There is Hezbollah, a strong voice that has challenged the might of Israel not just verbally but in deed by inflicting a severe defeat on the army a few years ago. It is a defeat that Israel has not recovered from till now, and of course Hezbollah is a ‘terrorist’ outfit as it has refused to accept Zionism as an ideology, and is one of the few organizations in West Asia that is also represented in the government. Hezbollah leader Nasrullah has refused to compromise and has filled the sizeable anti-Israel space in Lebanon, and in fact in the region itself where he is seen as a hero of the Arab street.

And then there is Iran, the ‘rogue nation’ despite its ancient civilization and its sophisticated brain. For the new definition now brands any one---individual, group, state---who questions the right of Israel and the US to push their writ across the globe as a “terrorist” or at best a “terrorist sympathizer.” A description being used by governments to restrain other nations, or their own people. It is being used to justify and perpetrate state terror, establish and reinforce the will of the militarily powerful over the poor, and to kill and maim at will. Iraqis were killed and imprisoned, and the proud people of ancient Mesopotamia were treated like dogs by the ugly ‘conquering’ army. Palestinians have been humiliated, tortured, killed with their land having become a playing field for the Israeli state. And people resisting the might of autocratic states across the world are under attack by their own governments.

India, after attaining freedom, had declared her support for the struggle of the world. Her leaders at the time were part of the anti-apartheid struggle and the Palestinians efforts to get back their land. Jawaharlal Nehru, and even Indira Gandhi, realized that foreign policy and domestic policy were totally interlinked, and Indian independence could only draw strength from these struggles in Africa and West Asia. There was nothing Hindu or Muslim about the decision. It was a decision taken by a fledgling democracy that had dreams of a future.

Unfortunately the pygmies who have come to power over the last years have no sense of history, or justice, or even a basic understanding of the rule of law. Important global issues are reduced to the Hindu-Muslim, Shia-Sunni discourse by petty politicians who are scrambling to be recognized as leaders by Washington. The tenets of democracy are  reduced to petty politics, as India moves away from the strength of the non aligned to the weakness of a nation captured by the glitz of globalization and militarization.

One wonders, if today India would have had a voice loud enough to make a difference for the anti-apartheid forces if the movement was still alive. Or whether hers would have been a feeble croak, unheard and ignored by not just the world powers but even the smaller nations.

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Seema Mustafa

‘Iron’ic? Story of the Great Indian Loot - The Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/-Ironic-Story-of-the-Great-Indian-Loot/articleshow/6012491.cms

‘Iron’ic? Story of the Great Indian Loot

Shankar Raghuraman, TNN, Jun 5, 2010, 02.02am IST

Take a look at the accompanying map and you can’t but notice the extent of overlap between India’s thickly forested areas, the regions with the bulk of the country’s most important mineral wealth and the territory over which Maoists are dominant. Is this just a coincidence? No, that would stretch credulity.

So what connects the Maoist menace with forests and mining? Clearly, forests give a guerilla force its best chance of taking on the might of the state. But any guerilla army needs more than just thick foliage. Insurgents thrive where the local population is sympathetic to them or at least not sympathetic towards the state.

That’s where mining comes into the picture. There has been a long history of traditional forest dwellers being denied the right to live off the forest, a process that cannot but lead to alienation. Add to that a mining policy regime that has allowed massive scaling up of mining in the same areas for super profits, and it is not difficult to see why many tribals believe the state is hostile to their interests, but in tune with corporate interests.

Mining projects have repeatedly led to localized protests. In many cases, the administration has muttered darkly about agent provocateurs from outside fishing in troubled waters. In states like Orissa, Maoists have been accused of exploiting local resentment for their own ends.

To understand how mining policy has actually helped the Maoists, let’s take the specific case of iron ore — crucial for Chhattisgarh and Orissa and not insignificant for Jharkhand, all states with a serious Maoist problem on their hands.

At the turn of the millennium in 2001-01, India exported iron ore worth a measly Rs 358 crore. By 2008-09, that figure was up to Rs 21,725 crore, a sixty-fold jump in just seven years.

Driving this export of ore were several factors. One was the decanalisation of exports of ore with an iron content of 64% or less in the late 1990s. The other was China’s seemingly insatiable appetite for iron ore in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As a result, the international price of ore — with 63% iron content — soared to $200 per tonne in March 2008, more than four times the price five years ago.

Indian ore exporters thus had a ready and profitable market. The icing on the cake was provided by the royalty rates charged by the government. The rates fixed in October 2004 varied from as little as Rs 4 per tonne for low-grade ore to a maximum of Rs 27 per tonne for the highest grades. There was also no export duty.

To see what this meant, check out what the Karnataka Lok Ayukta had to say on the allegations of illegal mining in the Bellary region of the state. Its report submitted in December 2008 pointed out that when the export price was hovering around Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 per tonne, the state government was getting between Rs 16 and Rs 27 by way of royalty. The extraction cost to the miner was, by the state’s own admission, of the order of Rs 150 per tonne. The Lok Ayukta noted that even if the transportation cost was estimated at Rs 250 per tonne, the total cost for the exporter would be not more than Rs 427 per tonne.

Since the export price of the ore even in a slump was never lower than Rs 1,500 per tonne, that would leave a neat profit of Rs1,073 per tonne. Out of this, the state was getting at best Rs 27.

So outraged was the Lok Ayukta by these calculations, that the report went on to advocate a complete ban not just on export of ore but also on its trading, saying it should be reserved only for captive mining by domestic steel producers.

A committee appointed by the planning commission in 2005 to examine the national mining policy, observed that “the margins available in the mining sector have been very substantial and are widely expected to continue being so in the foreseeable future”. It recommended in December 2006 that royalty rates be reviewed. A subsequent study group suggested that the royalty be pegged at 10% of the sale price of ore.

It took another two years before the ministry finally notified the new rates in August 2009. But there was a catch. The “sale price” which was to form the basis for the ad valorem rates would be determined by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) on the basis of the average of sale prices reported by non-captive producers.

To see why this made a mockery of the 10% rate, just look at the numbers for February 2010, the last month for which the IBM has put up the sale prices on its website. The all-India sale price average for lumps of 62-65% iron content was Rs 1,760 per tonne. The highest sale price for any state for this grade of ore was put at Rs 1,949 per tonne.

Against this, the average international price prevailing in February for Indian ore of 63% iron content bound for Chinese ports was $128 per tonne, which is closer to Rs 6,000 per tonne. Even allowing for transportation costs, which can be significant, clearly there is a wide gap between the price at which the royalty rate is being applied and what the exporter is actually getting.

Why do these details of iron ore extraction and sale matter? Because the enormous margins involved — in exports as well as domestic sales — mean that the scope for sleaze and the temptation for illegal mining are huge.

And this is where the connection with Maoists lies. Not only has rapacious mining turned the tribal away from the state, it has reportedly provided a steady source of funding for the Maoists through extortion. In short, by promoting this variety of crony capitalism, the state has shot itself in the foot.

So, what’s the way out? When TOI recently asked a Union minister whether it would be a good idea to auction mines to raise more revenues for the states, which could then put a chunk of it back into development work for the local community, the minister’s response was, “But why allow exports in the first place?”

That’s the language of Left radicals, but when it comes from a minister, it’s an indication of how serious the problem has become.

Since 2007, the government has imposed export duties on iron ore that have varied between zero and 15%, but are we in for a further tightening of the screws?