[OPE] Banaji on Naxalite insurgency in India

Here is an interesting interview with the Marxist historian Jairus Banaji.

    An interview with Jairus Banaji
    "SL: What you are arguing then is that the Naxalites constitute a
    major impediment to the reinvention of the Left?

    JB: Absolutely! That would be an understatement. The militarized
    Maoism of the last two decades is a politics rooted in violence and
    fear. Those in positions of leadership refuse to do any “hard
    thinking” in Mao’s sense. You cannot build a radical democracy, a
    new culture of the Left, on such foundations. The recent beheading
    of a CPI (Marxist) trade-union leader who refused to heed the bandh
    (strike) call of the CPI (Maoist) is a spectacular example of how
    profoundly authoritarian the Naxal movement has become under the
    pressure of its overwhelming militarism. When actions like that
    damage their credibility, they are explained away as “mistakes.” But
    these continual “mistakes” fall into a disturbing pattern."
    <http://platypus1917.org/2010/08/06/the-maoist-insurgency-in-india-end-of-the-road-for-indian-stalinism/>

//Dave Z
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Received on Sat Aug 7 12:05:23 2010