Chhatthisgarh is a newly created state in central India, part a broad swath of remote forested lands running north and south in the country’s interior where the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has been very active. Most of the inhabitants are tribal people (Adivasi) who work as day labourers and earn much of their living from the forests – for instance, gathering and selling leaves used to make bidi cigarettes, or harvesting flowers used to make liquor. To deprive the insurgency of their support, State-organised vigilante groups and other security forces have “relocated” 50,000 of these people into squalid prison-like camps near roads where the military can watch over them. In the government action going on in the name of Salva Judum (“pacification campaign”) in the Bastar region of Chhatthisgarh, India, not only have hundreds been arrested, tortured, murdered and gang-raped, but their entire economic lifelines have been smashed. Through brutal terror, the government’s aim is to extinguish the sparks of revolution taking place in the very heart of India. Over the past 25 years of struggle the Naxalites, as Maoists in India are known, awakened these tribal people to a life of self-respect, smashing the cruel and brutal authority of the state machinery and establishing the rudimentary form of the new people’s power. It is an epic struggle of sacrifice and determination where hundreds of Maoists and their supporters in this region have given their lives for the birth of the new society. Prior to the entry of the Naxalites, 30 years of so-called independence had done nothing for the tribal people; in fact their conditions had only worsened. They lost their land to mining projects, and were regularly hounded and looted by forest and other government officials in league with the local feudal elements. Now, through these 25 years of armed struggle against the government forces they have got basic education, medicine, agricultural knowledge, etc. – no doubt in rudimentary form – through the organisation of the new power set up under the leadership of the Maoists who live and die with them. The media proclaims from the rooftops that the Naxalites are preventing development; but the reality is that the only development the tribals have ever seen is after the Naxalites have entered the region. And now the fruits of these small victories are sought to be snatched away from them with the utmost of brutality. Thousands forcibly displaced, over a hundred brutally murdered, 70 villages burnt down, 40 women gang-raped, crops destroyed, cattle and poultry looted — all in the name of the Salva Judum. This has been going on since June 2005, but due to a systematic blackout this has consciously not been reported in the mainline media. Except for a few fact-finding reports, what has come in the [Indian] press is only government propaganda. The brutalities are horrifying. Young boys beheaded. Their severed heads stuck on the posts of their own houses. Women gang-raped, tortured and their breasts severed, pregnant women’s foetuses ripped open… and then left bleeding to die an agonising death deep in the forests. Entire villages burnt down, crops destroyed and all the cattle and poultry robbed or killed. The people herded into concentration camps – along the style of the “strategic hamlets” used by the US forces in Vietnam and other counter-insurgencies. Living as slaves in these extremely unhygienic concentration camps doing forced labour for the police and paramilitary for a pittance. In an attempt to starve the revolutionary masses to surrender to the State, at first they closed down all local weekly markets and then stopped supplying essential commodities, like rice, to the ration shops. As is well known, the weekly markets are the sole economic lifeline for the Adivasi peasants, as it is in these markets that they sell their produce and purchase all their daily needs. So the State’s intention is very clear – to force them to either surrender or starve to death. In addition their crops were destroyed, their cattle looted and their houses and all material and food grain stocks destroyed. A huge mass of population already living a subsistence existence now faces starvation. And with Salva Judum operations still continuing, the situation is becoming hell. The entire campaign was begun by the Congress Party opposition in the State assembly with full support from the local BJP government. Both parties are hand-in-glove in this campaign of brutality and terror where paramilitary forces, lumpen thugs, feudal elements, government officials and police have all ganged up in a systematic and well-planned campaign. Behind them stand the money-bags of big capital and the imperialists. This region is very rich in iron ore and the Tatas (one of India’s biggest monopoly capitalist families, who own steel mills, among other things) have already signed a memorandum of understanding for land in this area. The Naxalites have been vehemently opposing the displacement that takes place through such projects under the signboard of “development”. The only succour for the people is the support they get from the Naxalites in the forests who share their limited food with the displaced tribals. It is under these conditions that we appeal to you to lend a helping hand to the starving tribals who have faced inhuman brutalities, for the single reason that they have “stood up” and refused to bend to the corrupt, exploitative and oppressive rule of the present system. We appeal to you to lend a hand of support to this historic struggle going on in the very heart of India. This you can do in varied ways and even small contributions will be appreciated. You can come and lend your expertise by staying in the area for a few months, or contribute money, medicine and any other items that will be of use to the tribals and forces fighting there. We also request you to spread the message of what is taking place in the so-called largest democracy in the world, which is consciously being kept hidden from the public. It is important that the real truth reaches the people of the country and world at large. - 22 May 06 AWTW.