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See Also : http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/egypts-morsi-ousted-cairo-explodes.html

Dalit youth E. ILAVARASAN, whose marriage to a Vanniyar girl had resulted in caste violence in Tamil Nadu last year, was found dead on a railway track .

Given below is an interview Ilavarasan gave to KAVIN MALAR and was published in the Tamil edition of India Today magazine.

This translation is by PRAKASH VENKATESAN.

Did you realise you were going to be in the headlines in TN when

Press Release: 14th July 2013 As the struggle of the workers of Maruti Suzuki, Manesar continues despite the powerful anti-worker forces that are arrayed against them, progressive and democratic sections of society came in their support on 13th July 2013 in a program organized under the banner ‘Justice for Maruti Workers Campaign’. Over 400 people […]

by N. Venugopal (Source : EPW) With the ghastly assassination of Ganti Prasadam, a popular Maoist ideologue, trade unionist, writer and public speaker, on July 4 in Nellore, the state seems to have thought it has succeeded in intimidating those who question its brutalities. The horrifying murder might have been planned as a threat to […]

On July 13, an almost all-white jury ruled that George Zimmerman was not guilty on all charges for the murder of Trayvon Martin. While saddened and angered by this verdict, we were not surprised that the U.S. so-called ‘justice system’ has again said that racist cops and vigilantes like Zimmerman have a green light to shoot and kill African Americans.

Just as one of the foundations of the U.S. economy was profits from slavery, the U.S. legal system began with a constitution that said that African Americans were only 3/5 of a person. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that African slaves and their children have no rights in the U.S., in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford. Then in 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was constitutional in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. And early this year, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Civil Rights Act, opening the door for racist local and state governments to exclude Black and Brown voters from the polls.

The law, the police and the courts are not about justice, they are about protecting the property, privilege and power of the monopoly capitalists, the richest 1% who own and control the corporations and government that dominate the economy and society. They are part and parcel of the national oppression that African Americans face: the all-around, social, political and economic inequality of Black people face as an oppressed nationality in the U.S.

The fight for full equality and liberation by African Americans has been a powerful force for progress in the U.S. The sit-in by four African American college students at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter on Feb. 1, 1960 launched a national movement of direct action to desegregate the South and to fight for Black political power. This movement, and the organization that arose out of it, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC, directly led to the rise of Students for a Democratic Society and the anti-war movement and was an inspiration to other oppressed nationalities, especially Asian Americans, Chicanos, Native Americans and Puerto Ricans, as well as the women’s movement, and the struggle of LGBTQ people.

Our experience from participating in these movements for almost 50 years is that progress does not mainly come from the courts or elections. Nor does it mainly come from economic struggles such as boycotts. The fight for equality advances when the masses of working people organize and show their power in the streets through militant mass actions such as rallies, marches, occupations, strikes, etc.

The huge protests across the county that have mobilized hundreds of thousands of people, including large numbers of Black and Brown youth, are a great development. Everything possible should be done to build this struggle.

Justice for Trayvon Martin!

Fight for Full Equality and Liberation for African Americans!

Don’t Mourn, Organize!

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/activists-pitch-for-maruti-workers/article4916038.ece Madhur Tankha Expressing solidarity with the incarcerated workers of Maruti Suzuki, Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan on Saturday charged that the case demonstrated that the Union Government’s developmental model worked on behalf of big multi-national corporations but ignored workers’ rights. Speaking at a programme titled “Justice for Maruti Suzuki Workers”, Mr. Bhushan said the […]

San José, CA – On July 14, almost 100 protesters, more than half African American, marched through the streets of downtown San José to protest the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who was on trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin. The protest began at the San José City Hall, where Reverend Houston of the House of San Kofa told the crowd, “It is necessary that our voices be heard!”

The protest was overwhelmingly of young people. A young African American women told Fight Back! that she works with children and thought about how it could be any one of them. “How will it be for my children when I have them?” she asked. Miriam Mosqueda, a member of the nearby San José State University MEXA and Native American Student Organization, said, “It is not right to kill someone and walk free. There is a lot of anger and it is important to come together, so change can come.” Another young African American woman told the crowd that, “We need to be courageous and fight – not just make statements on Twitter.”

The protesters then marched to the nearby federal building, filling the street along the way. With chants of “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” and “No justice, no peace! We’re taking over the streets!” the militancy of the crowd attracted honks and raised fists from cars passing by.

At the federal building, Masao Suzuki said that, “It was right to be here. The federal government cleared out the native peoples and oversaw their genocide. The federal government was founded on a constitution which said that Blacks were 3/5 of a person. The federal government put Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II, and now the federal government is deporting record numbers of immigrants, mainly Mexicans and Central Americans!”

The protest then marched backed to city hall, this time attracting more than half a dozen police cars, which forced the marchers on to the sidewalks. Back at city hall, there was a call to return the following Sunday, July 21, at 6:00 p.m. with even more people.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Gurgaon/A-year-after-Maruti-violence-admin-bans-protests-rallies-in-city/Article1-1091174.aspx A year after Maruti violence, admin bans protests, rallies in city Fearing massive protests by workers to mark the first anniversary of violence at the Maruti plant in Manesar, the district administration on Thursday banned demonstrations and rallies near the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway and the Manesar area, a spokesperson said. Deputy commissioner of Gurgaon […]

Report of the Demonstration in Delhi Protesting the Dastardly Murder of Revolutionary Leader Ganti Prasadam Today, 10th of July, 2013, democratic and revolutionary voices from across Delhi came together to condemn the brutal attack and murder of Ganti Prasadam in a protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar. A dastardly murder of a popular trade union leader […]

We at present face a most crucial situation in our struggle when the state is making an all-out attack on us and denying our basic democratic rights. In this situation, we have decided to take the slogan of ‘Manesar chalo’ for 18th July 2013, which also marks a year in Jail for our fellow workers, […]