December 2012 – Page 3 – New Socialist Alternative

Paul Murphy (MEP) on Caste Discrimination & Impact of FDI in Retail

14 December 2012

The following video is the intervention of Paul Murphy (MEP)- Socialist Party (Ireland) in the European parliament on the issue of caste discrimination suffered by Daliths in India and the impact of neo-liberal reforms on the working people of India, including farm suicides resulting in 250,000 deaths in the last 15 years. He spoke of the impact of Foreign Direct Investment in Multi-brand retail which would destroy the livelihood of small retailers and potential job losses for the 40 million employed in this sector. Paul also spoke of his support for the 48 hrs General Strike in February (2013). read more

Black Assembly

12 December 2012

Democracy has been murdered time and again in West Bengal. And the fact that neither the ruling party nor the opposition have any inherent capabilities in meeting the democratic aspirations of the people is not something new. Lack of informed debates, attentiveness of representatives in the house, if not watching porn or taking a nap, not allowing the speaker to moderate the business of the house etc., have been a common phenomena in this so called largest democracy. read more

University of Lucknow- Stop Casteism! Stop Discrimination!

5 December 2012

The following article was written by Seema Chandra, a student activist of Lucknow University, over an incident of caste discrimination suffered by her younger sister and college mate – Garima Chandra. Instead of acting on it, the University has only ended up legitimizing it by not only doing nothing against the errant students, but actually practising it themselves. read more

Bangalore- Demonstration against Human Rights Violations

5 December 2012

More than hundred students of the St Joseph College (Bangalore) gathered to mark their solidarity with human rights issues ranging from free Tibet to their solidarity with Sharmila Irom and all other human rights violations from across the globe. This included a long rally from the College campus to Town Hall. The authorities tried drive away the demonstrators in spite of the permissions. However the students did not give up and stood their ground in front of Town Hall for two hours in heavy rain. Activists, faculty members and students attended the rally and speeches were made by different activists and students raising their voice against human rights violations. read more

Tirupur – India’s Super Exploitation Zone

3 December 2012

Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), established in 1990, is well known for its cotton knitwear and has over 6500 companies related to garment industry. According to some estimates, Tirupur provides jobs to six lakh workers (600,000) and is supposed to have an export earning of over Rs. 12,000 crores. read more