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December 26 marks the third anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 countries. The tsunami remains one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. International attention and the drive for financial support for recovery efforts were strong for some time, but ultimately dwindled relatively quickly.
The US – and many other nations, for that matter – clearly had the capability of providing much more to the affected areas than they actually did in the critical months and years following the disaster. In the period that immediately followed the tsunami, the Bush Administration could hardly muster what amounted to a fraction of a Powerball jackpot to offer up to the people of a dozen traumatized nations. Meanwhile, the U.S. was busy spending billions and billions to kill thousands upon thousands of people in Iraq. Three years later, the killing continues in Iraq while the people of countries like Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia continue their struggle for recovery.
Even today, on the anniversary of the tragedy, the people of Sri Lanka are suffering through torrential rainstorms while landslides have buried scores in Indonesia. Despite some degree of progress in the restoration of infrastructure, the region remains scarred in many respects and reconstruction is hampered by corruption, apathy and new natural disasters such as the recent weather-related emergencies. The ramifications of the horrific events of the tsunami and its aftermath will surely be felt by generations to come. Further reading Asia remembers tsunami victims three years on AFP Tsunami Survivors Remember 2004 Disaster NPR Tsunami Recovery Uncovers New Challenges AP
It was interesting to read the article "Remembering Lin Biao" from Workers World a couple of weeks ago. The well-written piece was very informative and included some important background information on an individual who has been all but forgotten by much of the West since his death in 1971. "Remembering Lin Biao" was written on the occasion of the centennial of Lin's birth and accurately praises Lin as "an outstanding military leader in China's anti-feudal, anti-imperialist revolutionary war..." To this day, revolutionary groups including elements from India's Naxalites and Nepal's Maoist insurgency still look to Lin as an important strategist. One of Lin's more important contributions to revolutionary theory includes his 1965 piece "Long Live the Victory of the People's War!" which elucidated the doctrines of People's War and set a course for revolution in developing countries around the world. In addition to his work as a military strategist, Lin was capable of speaking on complex components of Marxism-Leninism, as in the matter of his discussion of the theory of the productive forces from his "Secret Address to the Eleventh Plenary Session" in 1966. By the late 1960s, Lin was honing his skills as an up-and-coming political leader, preparing for the role of Mao Zedong's successor.
It is important, however, to note that Lin's legacy is not one-sided by any means. It is relatively well-known that Lin's political differences with Mao and with Zhou Enlai led him to flee the People's Republic of China in relative disgrace in late 1971. In the course of Lin's hasty exit, he met an untimely end which remains shrouded in mystery to this day. But from an historical perspective, Lin's role as the so-called "architect" of China's Great Proletarian Revolution is much more significant than the circumstances of his controversial death. The Cultural Revolution is now widely regarded by much of the world's revolutionary left as a campaign fraught with errors and excess. Indeed, the greatest push to Lin's ascent to power came in the early years of the Cultural Revolution after the purge of Lin's political rival Liu Shaoqi. In one of the more unfortunate chapters of the Cultural Revolution, Liu Shaoqi was ultimately killed after a lengthy period of imprisonment, abuse and medical neglect. In a manner of speaking, the legacy of Lin Biao is – at the very least – tainted with the blood of Liu Shaoqi and many others who suffered needlessly during the Cultural Revolution. Moreover, it was Lin's political miscalculations which ultimately paved the way for the political dominance of China's "Gang of Four," led by Jiang Qing. The darker, latter portion of the Cultural Revolution saw Jiang complete the posthumous sacking of Lin with an extensive and pervasive campaign of public criticism. The downward spiral which Lin created through his own mistakes was to ultimately swallow him like some kind of Orwellian memory hole. Lin Biao's image and name were quickly erased from China's collective memory following his demise. Chinese citizens went so far as to publicly tear out pages from their Little Red Books which featured introductory notes by Lin, including Lin's legendary directive to China's masses:
"Study Chairman Mao's writings, follow his teachings, and act according to his instructions."
The Workers World piece notes that Lin's portrait was returned to public display in the Beijing Military Museum in July 2007, amounting to a nunc pro tunc recognition of Lin as a "hero" of the People's Republic. However, the move by itself is not necessarily an indication of a full-scale effort to rehabilitate Lin. His 100th birthday ultimately came and went with no fanfare or formal recognition by the PRC. Lin's legacy – with so many considerations regarding his political character and his relationship with Mao at at the time of his demise – is an issue which all sides of the controversy, from anti-revisionists to post-coup market socialists, will have difficulty reconciling for some years to come.
The following message regarding the continuing aftermath of the University Students’ Day was passed along by our friend “K.” I have made a few corrections to address minor grammatical and spelling errors.
As can be seen in the following address, our society has witnessed a huge number of arrests, before, during and after the ceremony celebrating the University Students' Day in Iran. The pivot of this ceremony held by the students known as "Equality and Freedom Seeking" was opposition with war and sanctions.
We do need your support by your signature and widespread circulation and condemnation of this act.
If we can not have international support, everything may happen to the arrested students – now numbering more than 30 – their respective families.
You may be kind enough to pass this over to as many people, organizations and universities as possible.
Please announce your condemnation of this act by sending an email to: seeking.committee@gmail.com . More information may be found at: http://13azar.blogspot.com
Do not forget that we do need your support. Proclamation of the arrests on the University Students’ Day
On the threshold of the 16th of Azar (December 7) the University Students’ Day in Iran, more than 30 “Equality and Freedom-seeking Students” have been arrested. Surprisingly, 16th of Azar – the symbol of the struggle against dictatorship of the ex-imperial regime – is not tolerated by the Islamic government either.
What has happened during this ceremony – the main pivot of which was the opposition with war and sanction – is the repetition of the same scenes of the previous government.
The commemoration of the University Students’ Day is the tradition of more than 50 years and the ones who have been arrested this year are the most honest children of our country. We want the unconditional and immediate release of our captivated students.
A friend has shared news of the arrest, detention and torture of students affiliated with the radical left of Iran following the Iranian government’s violent suppression of peaceful “Students' Day” demonstrations at the University of Iran. Several revisions have been made to the text to address minor grammatical and spelling errors.
Dear Friends,
Below is a letter from students in Iran, regarding the arrest of students before, during and after the demonstrations of “Students' Day”. They are currently being held in solitary confinement and are subject to intense interrogation, including torture. They need our support! Please demand their immediate release by sending letters to Iranian officials.
05 December 2007
The Complete Report of the Arrests in the Latter Days and the Students' Day Demonstration
Yesterday the demonstration of the "Students' Day" was held in the University of Tehran, by the Radical Leftist students of Iran. Some days before the demonstration, many left activists were threatened by the government, and were urged in order not to dispose this demonstration. Since the Iranian students have been holding this program for about 54 years (honoring 3 martyr comrades killed by the former regime in the engineering faculty of the University of Tehran for protesting against Nixon's trip to Iran) In the past year, all the social movements in Iran--including the workers’, women’s and students’ movements--have been repressed by the regime, and because of this, the students decided to hold the demonstration by any means possible. On Saturday December 2nd, 2007, while the students were preparing for the demonstration, the government was preparing to suppress them. The arrests started on Saturday at 9 AM when Mehdi Gerailoo (student of geophysics) and Nader Ahsani were kidnapped from their respective homes by the security forces and were taken to an unknown location. The same afternoon, two of the Sociology Faculty of the University of Tehran, Victoria Jamshidi and Anoosheh Azadbar"were arrested at their homes without any explanation. The arrests continued until December 4 at 2 PM and by this time almost 26 students from different universities had been arrested. The complete list of arrests is follows the conclusion of this letter.
But the demonstration was held as planned by the Radical Leftist students exactly on time, at 12 PM Tuesday, at the University of Tehran in front of the Engineering Faculty. The demonstration started with the singing of revolutionary songs by the students. Many students carried posters and slogans defining their wants and aims on them such as "The University Is Not Garrison" , "Liberty of Women Is Liberty of the Society" , "NO WAR" , "Hands Off the People of Iran", "Free the Political Prisoners" , "There IS an Alternative" , "Free Our Classmates" , "The Students Movement Allied with the Workers and Women movements", "We Want Independent Unions" and "FREEDOM EQUALITY".
Then some of the radical left students made speeches: Behzad Bagheri (student of Archeology) made speech about the pressures in the past year and about the arrested students.
Bita Samimizad (student of physics) made a speech against the war which may happen in Iran and about the repression of the women’s and workers’ movements in the past year.
Bijan Sabbagh (student of chemical engineering from University of Mazandaran) delivered a speech about the arrested students in the University of Mazandaran, Tehran, and Ahvaz and others.
Kaveh Abbasian (student of cinema), the representative of the students who were not allowed to continue their studies by the government, talked about these students and the problems they faced, and about how he himself was almost arrested when he tried to come to Tehran for the demonstration. He reminded the government that a movement which is supported by society cannot be ruined by the system.
Then Roozbeh Safshekan read the declaration of the Radical Leftist students. He was then arrested IN THE UNIVERSITY by security forces exactly after the demonstration.
Peyman Piran (the ex-political prisoner), Ali Ajami (student of law) and Kamran Akhshi (student of political sciences) and some other students talked about different political and social matters.
The demonstration continued in front of the main gate of the university. The students sang revolutionary songs and yelled out their wants so everyone in the street could hear: "Free the Imprisoned Students", "I'll Kill Them Who Killed my Brother", "Taking Part in Elections Is a Betrayal", "Down with the Dictator", "We Don't Want Savage Government and Police", "Ahmadinejad! Pinochet! Iran's not going to Be Chile"... The crowd came back to the faculty of Law and Political Sciences and ended the demonstration. Half an hour later, the security forces started to arrest the students who were active during the demonstration (especially the speech-makers). They first caught Roozbeh Safshekan who read the declaration of the Radical Leftist students and his wife, "Mina" (His wife was released some hours later). The security forces followed students and tried to arrest Kaveh Abbasian and Bijan Sabbagh in front of the Engineering Faculty. But they were not successful because the other students had surrounded them so that Kaveh and Bijan could escape. By 7 PM, all the activists had changed their appearances and the clothing and left the university. All of the remaining activists are now in hiding. The government still seeks to arrest them.
(click here to view a complete list of arrested students)
No matter how many they arrest or what ever they do to us, our movement will go ahead.
Long live FREEDOM and EQUALITY
Thanks to our friend “B.” for sharing this information.
