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' ,.--.. STUDENTS' FEDERATION OF INDIA.

, 04 .04.04 .

--EXPOSE TBE AJSA'S POLITICS OF LfES ANO PUBLIC tT\'-SEEKING! .

OPPOSE TilE USE OF OUR PUBLIC SPACES FOR CORPORATE PROPAGANDA! .

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nph let dated ov t4.04 and in posters put up across the ca mpus: the A !SA has once again shameless\ y put forwa rd.

Friends. [n 1heir pa .

their efforts to carry1out parallel union acti>i rics iu U1e form of a stgnaturc. cmpa1gn .on the same 1ssues that were to be discussed in the JNUSU Council Meeting as examples orthcir conumtment to student 1ssues. Wh1le, the JNUSU representatives froru AI SA had pro-actively participated i u their rganisations signature c:ampaig~,th<Yh;tve been markedly absent from class campaigns and room· to-room campa gns whtch were 0part of the JNUSU efforts to mob!lt?.e the student conm1un1ty 10 order w ensure a positive response .

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from the Admioistrat1on on the Union's Olal1£r of Demands. Why were the AISA's ·ettrCl<cntatives to JNUSU and other AISA activists com[llctcl)' ul.scnt fwm the ,..--to-room campaigns from ZS.Il?.tt4 to 30.03.04, class campaigns on 29.03.04 and .

31.OJ.04 and mcs.tration on last W edoesday which forced the Administ'"ti11on to concede ,.,.. of the demands rell"rding the U[lgradation of Lihrary facilities? By being completely absent from such mobilisation>! efforts whil~ nogistering only a token presence in protest actions the AISA has exposed itself as being i ntcrested on! y , n one-upmanship and parusan propaganda and not 1 n gcuume studenl struggles. This is an affront to the .

students who gave a nt<1ndate to AI SA candidatos in the JNUSU elections aiui to the student community in general. [ n line with AIS A· s glorious bis!D<! of' paper' strugglevay !ulvc the authorily to frame syllabi. Yet the AISA claims that .

photocopies of ews cit ppi n gs put up by it ha~b.."Cn instrumental in stopping the. at hicks of pri vMiwtioo a ud safironisation. JNU can .

do without student org,aniuJtions wh1ch are tittle more than glorifted news agcnc1es!.

Wh<ll 11 bas been AI SA's role in actual struggles against privattl<ltion and S<tffronis;~tion? They bad accused the SF! of · campusism · when the S Fl-A ISF.\cd J NtJSU in 1999 was Cll rryi ng out a hun gc r slti kc m dcma nd for more hostel facilities. They later also alleged tl1at the JNUSU lutd compromised although it was all together a different matter that the Tapti Soys' Wing, Mahi· Manduvi Hostel have been constntctcd with h other hostels in hne after that so-culled compromise. However, AISA 's ftxatiou on ·co mpromis< rcac hed u o p rcccdentcd levels dun ng the JNU SU·led X Pl;o n agitation "' 100 I ugainst the attempt to introduce obscurantist and self-financing courses in our t:01mpus. They had gone to the c'tcul of conducting a mess c:ampatgn spreading lies of .

com promise e\ co as t hci r own Gc ocr<II Scact:uy we s st til nu hunger strike' The f:SUI a righH"nr omanr:a11on also c,po;cd ttu:i' aut,.;t udcllt iJ;.,Iog ';-, L SL · ChMtcr of Ucnt;utds rcgardtng pressing ISroes oi i1br;m . sports. \101 etc ;os 1 plo) to dl\·crt the studentS attention. This is not su rp5n sin~ '" It lo;" b;c n the ho<ton of thiS orgon";.ott on or ,"! oo "ng p"' ; ' Ito""1 , ,,d fe.o-hike' ita"~ m glo\·c " i th o" n pJradigm of lll<lgJc realism' "' I heir 'cstcrdJ'' s pamphlet whc. hedabelod the .

·tdrnin lstrauons 111 other um,:..:rsttt~-. .tnd ttc "' bo1ng I io'' cd to constntct neilr T.tpll Host c1 " a completeh um1c.:eptble attempt to use the pub!.c spaces of the un" c " " ' for corporate prup;~gand The SFl ha' ., h' "-s been opposed to any attempts to u;c the uni Yersit) Ia nd for cofjlorate proniollon and the b;~od1ng over of ex. sting pub he spa ;es h 1-c ca nt ce us and dhab.1; to corpo oate in!crests. With this perspective SF! had C;Hher opposed ancmpl> to repl;~cc Ganga Dhaba by :1 shopping plat.<L The pr<,ious Sfl-A!SF-led JNCSU had also uUually opposed the proposal of selling up an outlet selling tting price s>mcture of other canteensioutlets in JNU..

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However. tl1e ob.tections raised b) !he JNUSU at tl13t time against the !ISC of !his ou!lct fur COIJlO"te advertisement have evidently been undermined in the actual contract arrived al between the Administrottuu ;md Nestle about which both the CDC and the JNUSU were kept in the dark. We demand that this contr>ct be made 11uhlic and it he thomughly reviewed to en sure !bat Nestle is not. allowed to misu.<c university ' l.acc. to carry out l"·omotiona[ acthities incnnsistclll with the JNU ethos and to ensure that~ .

there is !itrict control on the prices charj!cd by it..

We believe llt " h.'1 is rcq 111 red lS n sustai ned dentocrauc ideological and .

pohltca I campnig1t Io popular tLO consumption pnttnJS con.sistent with viPne>l ic t nd u st n:t I g ro111 h While the S Fl tS co lltrtti !led to such a struggle. we dcmomd to l-11011 f runt Ihe ultra-ldl organi7.aUen' :tk-c 1:: ·\1 S ~ wh) the> "re toking sides in the competition berween different MNC s bv denm:td i 11 g the cancellation of the contrnct ,.,th , .~''"" ~INC " hi lc keeping Stlenl on the sale of other !VJNC products within the campus·> Let the 1\lSA justif)· its owtt unprinciplc<l stand Ocfore ;~ccusi11g the others of l)iug .

Along \\tlh thiS issue tu<HI) o.ther pressing issues in the Charter of Demands remuin to be conceded by the Admutistcdtion We a ppea I to the st udcnt com mu 1111 v 1 o rlh' behind the couf'ie or ac1 ion o" , h esc i ssucs to be dcctded bv the J Nt,;S U Counci t i11 its .

llleeling tomorrO"\ Stll-.

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Parirnal Maya Su<.lha.kar .

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Prc.sident, JNU-SFl.

Jvotirmo,· Bhattach:w\'a.

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Secretary. JNU-SFl .

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A Tribute to file Spirit o{ 1he Rvssian Rcvolv'tlon' !olnlilly.1MU1ii~II~U11hat Uve5 On In Struggles 0~ The Worldns Glass.

FILM SCREENING .

Herbert J. Biberman's .

A Film That Hollywood CouldNot Stop I {1954) 1 hr 33 min .

That Was Made DefyingAnti-Communist Censorship and Witch~Hunt at the Height oftheMcCarthy Era In the USA I .

Where ActualMexican-American Workers and Union Activists Perform the Roles I.

That Is Based on a Real-Life 1951 Strike Against Against a Mining Company in the USA IThat Is A Story of How Working Class Women Assert Themselves and Come to theForefront of the Struggle! .

7 N·ov:Tonight ahi·Mandavi Mess 9.3 .

The Russian Revolution that took place on 7 November 1917, was a historic victory for the oppressed the world over. Inleaps and bounds, Russia ushered in a massive revolutionary social and political transformation that offered a model forthe whole world: a glimpse of the immense human emancipatory potential that socialism could unleash. Soviet Russiaalso played a historic role in defeating fascism -paying a huge human cost in the process..

Inner contradictions remained, however, and counter-revolutionary tendencies emerged and eventually resulted in the end.

of the USSR in 1989. The Soviet collapse was celebrated by capitalist ideologues as the 'end of history' -but subsequentevents have proved otherwise. All over the world today, protest movements against a crisis-ridden capitalism are·erupting,and in their quest for an alternative vision, they are turning the pages of history and revisiting the Russian revolution..

The Russian revolution's vision of human emancipation is one that will forever continue to inspire the revolutionary strugglesof workers, of women, of oppressed castes and communities, the world over. .

The best tribute to the legacy of the October Revolution can be paid by recognizing how its spirit animates the struggles of workers all over the world -not least, in the very heart of world capitalism. Saltof the Earth (1954), the exhilarating story.

ofa Mexican mine-workers' struggle in the USA that comes to be led by women, shows the spirit ofthe Russian Revolutionin action. .

"Salt of the Earth" was made at the height of anti-communist witch-hunt during the McCarthy era in the US. Thefilm's writer Michael Wilson. director Herbert J. Bibeanan. and producer Paul Jarrico had been blacklisted by the Hollywoodestablishment due to their involvement in communist politics. Its director Herbert J. Biberman was a member of the'Hollywood Ten'. blacklisted and jailed for 6 months in jail for refusing to bear witness against other communist filmmakersin the House of Un-American Activities headed by Senator McCarthy. .

The film is based on the real-life 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company in Grant County, New Mexico..

Most of the actors in the film are actual miners and their families as actors in the film..

The film was denoynced by the United States House of Representatives for its communist sympathies. and the FBIinvestigated the film's financing. The American Legion called for a nation-wide boycott of the film. Also. film-processing labs were told not to work on Salt of the Earth and unionized projectionists were instructed not to show it. After eight tabsrefused to process the film. Biberman finally hag to submit tb§ reels under the title "Vaya Con Oios" to even get a printmade. After its opening night in New York City the film languished for 10 years because all but 12 theaters in the countryrefused to screen it. .

A journalist documented: "During the course of production in New Mexico in 1953, the trade press denounced it as asubversive plot, anti-Communist vigilantes fired rifle shots at the set, the film .

's leading lady [Rosaura Revueltas] was.

deported to Mexico, and from time to lime a small airplane buzzed noisily overhead.... The film, edited in secret, wasstored for safekeeping in an anonymous wooden shack in Los Angeles." .

A contemporary New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther, reviewing the film, wrote: "The real dramatic crux .of the.

picture is ... the issue of whether the women shall have equality of expression and of strike participBtion with the men. Andit is along this line ofcontention that Michael Wifson~s t(}ufly muscled script develops considerable personal drama, rawemotion and power. n .

The film is narrated by Esperanza, a mine-worker's wife. At one point in the film, she confronts her husband, a Unionleader who is unhappy with his wife's joyful participation in the strike: .

Have you learned nothing from this strike? Why ar:e you afraid to have me at your sid~.

.? Do you still think you can ha'(edignity only if I have none? The Anglo bosses look down on you, and you hate them for it. astay in your place, you dirty.

Mexican"-that's what they tel~you. .

~utwhy must you say to me, d~tayin yourplace."DQyou~(eelbetterhaving somean_eiower than you? Whose neck snail I stand on, to make me feel superior? And what will/ get out ofit? I don't want anytning.

./ower than I am. I'm low enough already. I want to rise. And push everything up with me as I go ....

"Salt of the Earth" speaks directly to our experien~ In India. Its Mexican workers have much in common wtth theadivasis who.are forced to become workers in the mining companies that have snatched away their land. The racial division.

between the white .(Anglo)"'and Mexican worl<ers (whereby the former have better wages and living a'hd wotking conditionsignorant about Mexico's national heroes) mirrors the divisions of caste and community w~hin India's "working,:;-;;;r:.,. poor Mexican womett"pattle patriarchal values that, too, are similar to what we.face here i~ ·India. ~nd through.

and division, emerges an inspiring tale of working class unity that recognises abd cherishesall!.... Akbar, ·President, AISA. JNU . _ Ashutosh Kumar, .Jt..Secy, AISA,JNU .

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