The New Socialist Alternative (Indian Section of the CWI) made a very good intervention at the ViBGYOR documentary film festival that took place recently in Thrissur, Kerala (12th – 16th Jan. 2011). We were noticed very well through our stall that attracted a very good audience & managed to sell Socialist books worth Rs. 4000, including 25 copies of Marxism in Today’s World (MiTW) book. We also sold all the Papers that we had carried. We have gathered many serious contacts to follow-up in states like Maharashtra (Mumbai & Pune), Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and also in Kerala.
Our comrades spoke in two Mini Conferences, and in the one on ‘Self Determination, State and Human Rights’ we were one of the panelists. We had five discussion meetings at our stall on our ideas Socialism and the CWI, though it started as discussion meetings with one or two, swelling to ten at times. Our ‘Campaign to reclaim democracy’ was very popular among many young people who were just turning political!
The local news papers and channels interviewed our comrades partly because one of us cycled 543 Kms. to the event, but we turned those opportunities to propagate our views. Medha Patker of ‘National Alliance of Peoples’ Movements’ who came to the valedictory, visited our stall and bought MiTW and the pamphlet on Che, and later in her speech referred to us by name few times on the point of the need to create a new mass political party of the working masses which has been raised by us on several occasions.
Our work in the anti-POSCO movement, anti-Nuclear issues and our initiatives against the War in Sri Lanka has got us enormous respect amongst some of the groups on the left. We have even gained a kind of appreciation and authority because of our public representatives in EU and elsewhere, especially through our interventions in the EU Parliament. Tamil Solidarity is also another initiative that got mentioned among the activists.
Jagadish G Chandra
Bangalore