MSH comments on Interview with Ganapathy , General Secretary of the CPI(Maoist)

Monkeysmahesheaven has an interesting list of articles on what it
calls Fake-Maoism

In that section they have an article on Comrade Ganapathy's Interview where in he
comments on the recent Islamic Upsurge.. They seem to agree with what he
had said...

Excerpt: Interview with Ganapathy, General Secretary, CPI(Maoist)

[The questions that follow have been sent by various newspapers to Ganapathy, General Secretary, CPI(Maoist). More than half of these were sent by BBC. The answers by Ganapathy are being sent to the media in the background of the successful completion of the Congress of the CPI(Maoist) and other recent developments—Azad, Spokesperson, CPI(Maoist), 24th April, 2007]

[The following is only a small section of the full interview available online — PF]

On the Islamic Upsurge:

Q: But globally the fight is now becoming pro-globalisation versus Islamic upsurge—in this scheme of things how do you see a classless society?

A: Globalisation is a war on the people and on every value cherished by the people for centuries. Globalisation is the ideology of the market fundamentalists. The market fundamentalists are destroying everything a nation had possessed and preserved for centuries. They promote nothing but sheer greed and self-interest with the sole aim of global hegemony and the means to achieve it is a war on all fronts—military, economic, political, cultural, psychological. And to achieve this “lofty” goal, they think even the destruction of the world is collateral damage.

There is a people’s upsurge against globalization all over the world and Islamic upsurge is an integral part of the worldwide people’s upsurge against imperialism, imperialist globalization and war.

A classless society-Communism—is a conscious human project and has to be built through the transformation of human consciousness. And to achieve this, the first step is to destroy imperialism on a world scale and domestic reaction in every country. Islamic upsurge is a reaction to imperialist globalization and imperialist oppression and exploitation of the world people, and Muslim masses in particular. As long as imperialism exists, and as long as it bolsters up decadent reactionary comprador Islamic regimes in countries of Asia and Africa, it is impossible for the Muslim masses to come out of their fundamentalism. It is only after the destruction of imperialism on a world scale can the Islamic masses come out completely from their obscurantist ideology and values. This will pave the way for the establishment of a classless society.

Q: What is your opinion about Islamic upsurge?

A: The answer to this question is already contained in the above explanation. In essence, we see the Islamic upsurge as a progressive anti-imperialist force in the contemporary world. It is wrong to describe the struggle that is going on in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestinian territory, Kashmir, Chechnya, and several other countries as a struggle by Islamic fundamentalists or as a “clash of civilizations” long back theorized by Samuel Huntington and which is being resurrected by all and sundry today. In essence all these are national liberation wars notwithstanding the role of Islamic fundamentalists too in these struggles. We oppose religious fundamentalism of every kind ideologically and politically as it obfuscates class distinctions and class struggle and keeps the masses under the yoke of class oppression. However, “Islamic fundamentalism”, in my opinion, is an ally of the people in their fight against market fundamentalism promoted by the US, EU, Japan and other imperialists.

The upsurge is bound to raise the anti-imperialist democratic consciousness among the Muslim masses and bring them closer with all other secular, progressive and revolutionary forces. I see the Islamic upsurge as the beginning of the democratic awakening of the Muslim masses despite the domination of fundamentalist ideology and outlook in the Islamic movement at present. Our Party supports the Islamic upsurge and seeks a unity with all anti-imperialist forces.

Q: Nasarullah of Hizbollah has recently said that Left should come close to Islamists. In Indian context—what do you feel?

A: I basically agree with what Nasarullah of Hizbollah has said. One must understand that Nasarullah is referring to the struggles for national liberation from imperialism in Islamic countries.

The need of the hour is to achieve the unity of all forces opposed to imperialism, particularly US imperialism, which is aggressively destroying every human value handed over to us by thousands of years of history and is oppressing every nation of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Left cannot even claim itself to be democratic if it does not initiate steps to unite with the forces in the Islamic movement which are fighting for national liberation from imperialism, particularly US imperialism. All the ongoing movements which are supposed to be led by Islamic forces in various countries as I had mentioned above, are national democratic movements in content. The strong religious language used by the leadership of these movements does not alter their national democratic essence and their anti-imperialist character.

MSH has not done enough investigation into the CP India (Maoist) to know the details of its line or whether it can be considered a true Maoist party. In any case, the above orientation toward the “Islamic upsurge” is correct. MSH likes what Ganapathy has to say here.

Just because the “Islamic upsurge” casts itself as religious does not negate that such movements 1. have a democratic character and 2. are part of the broad united front against the principal enemy, U$ imperialism. Let’s see what Mao Zedong had to say about it in On Contradiction:

When imperialism launches a war of aggression against such a country, all its various classes, except for some traitors, can temporarily unite in a national war against imperialism. At such a time, the contradiction between imperialism and the country concerned becomes the principal contradiction, while all the contradictions among the various classes within the country (including what was the principal contradiction, between the feudal system and the great masses of the people) are temporarily relegated to a secondary and subordinate position.

Lin Biao in Long Live the Victory of People’s War said:

Since World War II, U.S. imperialism has stepped into the shoes of German, Japanese and Italian fascism and has been trying to build a great American empire by dominating and enslaving the whole world. It is actively fostering Japanese and West German militarism as its chief accomplices in unleashing a world war. Like a vicious wolf, it is bullying and enslaving various peoples, plundering their wealth, encroaching upon their countries’ sovereignty and interfering in their internal affairs. It is the most rabid aggressor in human history and the most ferocious common enemy of the people of the world. Every people or country in the world that wants revolution, independence and peace cannot but direct the spearhead of its struggle against U.S. imperialism.

Just as the Japanese imperialists’ policy of subjugating China made it possible for the Chinese people to form the broadest possible united front against them, so the U.S. imperialists’ policy of seeking world domination makes it possible for the people throughout the world to unite all the forces that can be united and form the broadest possible united front for a converging attack on U.S. imperialism.

Insofar as it is possible, proletarian forces should attempt to assert their leadership role within the united front. However, if proletarian forces are too weak to assert their leadership role, they should not take up positions that amount to de facto calls for “revolutionary” defeatism against oppressed nations. They should also defend themselves within the united front. They should maintain organizational autonomy and not liquidate into the united front. They should not enter into de facto alliances with imperialists for sectarian reasons. Forces that take up such a reactionary line are basically doing the work of the CIA; they are plan B and plan C compradors. Those fake-Maoists in the “RIM” who have entered into an alliance with U$ imperialism against the Taliban and Islamic Republic of Iran are traitors. Serve the People of IRTR said:

We communists are atheists. Religion is fundamentally opposed to the philosophical position of materialism and therefore must be rejected by every communist. But religion is a product of social conditions. It cannot be eliminated under the obscurantist systems of capitalism and feudalism that prevail everywhere in the world today (with the exception of a few small, isolated societies that still practice so-called primitive communism). In particular, the contradiction between religion and science is not the principal contradiction at this time; the principal contradiction is that between imperialism and the oppressed nations.

Observe what that means when the white-chauvinist First World “left” attacks Islam today, in 2007. Such “leftists” elevate their opposition to religion above their (stated, not genuine) opposition to imperialism. They end up serving imperialist interests, whether they realize that or not. It’s no accident that the imperialist media in the united $nakes try to fan up opposition to Islam; that serves, by extension, to build up opposition to several powerful resistance movements and to distract the proletarian camp from our main enemy, U$ imperialism.

By contrast, we communists see that most Muslims today are proletarians and therefore likely allies of the international communist movement. We correctly regard them as part of the united front against imperialism. If the Iraqi resistance, after gloriously liberating the country from the Great $atan, set up an Islamic theocracy, that would be a contradiction for the Iraqi people to resolve eventually. But even an Islamic theocracy, while not ideal from a communist perspective, would be by far preferable to a Yankkkee puppet state (including, tellingly, a “communist” party hand-picked by the united $nakes). Right now, with their country under imperialist occupation, the Iraqis cannot choose between theocracy and other forms of government; the great $atan is imposing a puppet regime on them. Setting up any other government, theocratic or not, is predicated on the liberation of Iraq from Yankkkee clutches. And that means uniting all patriotic forces, including religious ones, in the anti-imperialist struggle. That’s because the fight against U$ imperialism is the principal contradiction. (source: https://irtr.info/forums/vtopic3005.html)

People need to wake up and see that not everyone calling themselves “Maoist” is a real Maoist. Bob Afakean’s new age cult pyramid scheme and the fake-Maoists in the “RIM” should be treated as enemies of the proletariat for attacking the “Islamic upsurge” and making alliances with the Great Satan, Amerikkka. People need to start looking beyond how people self-identify. People need to examine the content of people’s lines and the objective effects of those lines in the world. Revisionism doesn’t wear a “kick me” sign — neither does the CIA.

MSH

Tags: Islamic Upsurge, MIM, Ganapathy, Cpi(maoist), hizbollah, lebanon, imperialism, islam, naxalite, maoist