Monday, June 02, 2025

INDIA

UP: Ramayana, Vedic Workshops in Govt Schools Challenged

Why the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government’s move of using public funds for imparting religious instruction violates Article 28 of the Constitution.

“No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly maintained out of State Funds” unless “established under any endowment or trust which requires that religious instruction shall be imparted in such institution”. (Article 28 of the Indian Constitution)

It has been more than 75 years since the founding fathers (and mothers) of the Constitution took this bold stand when they were shaping the guidelines around which the newly independent country would move forward. A cursory glance at the constitutional debates makes it abundantly clear that a majority of the members – despite their own religious inclination – were clearly of the opinion that schools, whose basic purpose was to open minds of children and not make them a dumping ground of useless information, should never be opened up for any type of religious instruction.

What was important was that they were seeing the perils of poisoning of minds by religious frenzy in this part of the sub-continent, and were keen that the future of independent India should be secured on secular grounds only.

Perhaps it needs emphasising that Article 28 of the Constitution makes it more explicit and does not leave any ambiguity as far its implementation is concerned.

“No person attending any educational institution recognised by the state or receiving aid out of state funds shall be required to take part in any religious instruction that may be imparted in such institution or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institution or in any premises attached thereto unless such person or, if such person is a minor, his guardian has given his consent thereto cultural and educational rights.”

What Does One Mean by Religious Instruction?

The expression religious instruction here has a restricted meaning. It conveys that teaching of customs, ways of worships, practices or rituals cannot be allowed in educational institutions wholly maintained out of State funds.

Much water has flown down the Ganges, the Jamuna and all rivers of the country and it appears that slowly, but not so silently, attempts are on to water down the provisions of this Article and facilitating religious instruction in government schools through the back door.

The manner in which Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh has suddenly decided to hold summer workshops on the Ramayana and the Vedas in government schools across the state, without any broader consultation with the stakeholders involved in this endeavour, is symptomatic of the brazen attitude of the government. We are told that these workshops will be organised under the aegis of the International Ramayana and Vedic Research Institute, Ayodhya, and will include activities, like Ramlila, Ramcharitmanas recitation, Vedic chanting, painting, and mask-making.

As expected, this retrograde move by the Yogi government has generated anger among the broad masses as well as concerned citizens, who have demanded that this move be immediately rescinded.

Broadly they have three big objections:

- One, it clearly goes against the provisions of Article 28 of the Constitution and thus is a violation of constitutional principles and values.

- Two, in a state where people of different faiths have been living together for centuries together - giving primacy to the religion of the majority - will be an act of overt discrimination against all religious minorities, including those handful of students who are atheists.

- Three, such workshops will reinforce the deep-rooted gender and caste discrimination in these scriptures.

The resistance to this move has taken two forms. On the one hand, concerned citizens or political leaders have condemned these attempts as a violation of the Constitution. Leaders like Chandrashekhar ‘Ravan’ of the Bhim Army, also a Lok Sabha MP, has even suggested that if at all the government wants to organise workshops, they should be focused on the Constitution.

Secondly, courts have been approached at various levels with pleas that they condemn such moves and help strengthen the struggle for constitutional values and principles.

One such petition is not only aimed at “[s]afeguarding constitutional values but also at ensuring that our education system remains inclusive, secular, and scientific”. It demands quashing of the orders dated May 5 and May 8, 2025, and seeks following relief.

• Directing authorities to refrain from promoting specific religious texts in schools.

• Ensuring that education remains inclusive, secular, and scientific.

• Stop this act of overt discrimination which sanctifies and legitimises gender and caste discrimination.

The petition also explains why this order of the Yogi government is unconstitutional and harmful to society for the following reasons:

One, such an order violates secularism. Everybody knows that the Constitution recognises secularism as a fundamental feature (S.R. Bommai vs. Union of India, 1994). Mandating Ramcharitmanas and Vedas, which are Hindu religious texts, in public schools promotes a specific religion. This violates Article 28(1) of the Constitution, which prohibits religious instruction in State-run schools.

In Aruna Roy vs.Union of India (2002), the Supreme Court clarified that while comparative study of religions in a secular context is permissible, promoting a single religion’s text is unconstitutional.

Two, such orders promote caste and gender discrimination:

Certain verses in Ramcharitmanas, such as “Dhol, gawar, shudra, pashu, nari, ye sab tadan ke adhikari” (Sunderkand, 58.3) and “Nari swatantra na bhave, pati bina dukh pave” (Ayodhyakand,

60), demean Shudras and women. These verses contradict Article 14 (equality before the law), Article 15 (prohibition of discrimination), and Article 17 (abolition of untouchability) of the Constitution. Promoting such texts in schools not only violates the rights of Scheduled Castes and women but also undermines social equality.

Three, it facilitates attacks on scientific temper: Article 51A(h) of the Constitution imposes a duty on every citizen to promote scientific temper, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform. Prioritising religious and mythological texts, such as the Ramayana and the Vedas weakens rational thinking and scientific inquiry.

In Santosh Kumar vs. Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development (1994), the Supreme Court stated that education must promote a scientific and rational outlook, not religious superstition.

Four, promote violation of minority rights: Articles 29 and 30 grant minorities the right to preserve their culture and educational autonomy. Mandating Ramcharitmanas imposes a Hindu-centric culture on students from Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and other minority communities, violating their cultural and religious rights (St. Xavier’s College v. State of Gujarat, 1974).

Five, administrative impropriety. This impropriety can be understood in the way an institute under the culture department issued orders directly to officials of the education department, which is a violation of administrative protocols.

The way the Supreme Court emphasised in the U.P Gangadharan vs. State of Kerala (2006)case that administrative actions must follow established protocols. Since the said order has been issued without consultation with the education department, it is illegal and arbitrary.

It is also no small matter that the move facilitates misuse of public funds. Article 27 prohibits the use of taxpayer money to promote any particular religion. The use of public funds for these workshops, such as for teacher training and materials, promotes Hindu religious values, which is against the ruling in Prafull Goradia vs. Union of India (2011) and also displays lack of constitutional morality. We should not forget that in the case of Indian Young Lawyers Association vs. State of Kerala (2018), the Supreme Court defined constitutional morality as adherence to principles of equality, liberty, and justice. Promoting caste and gender hierarchies of Ramcharitmanas contradicts these values.

There is nothing surprising about this move by the Yogi government which, as the petition well explains, is a clear “violation of Constitution”. Remember, with the ascent of BJP at the Centre (in 2014), many states opened up various ways and means in which a particular religion -- namely Hindu religion -- is overtly or covertly promoted.

Take this news item where neighbouring Madhya Pradesh has already introduced Hindu religious texts as part of the curriculum of State government schools. A few years ago, the then BJP government in Rajasthan had come under the scanner of civil liberty activists and educationists for its controversial move to bring Saints-Mahatmas in government schools. It is now history how the Haryana government had decided to include the Bhagwad Gita in the school curriculum, merely a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought his party, the BJP, to power at the Centre.

Such moves, which seem to violate constitutional principles and values, are, in fact, a reinforcement of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS-BJP’s tremendous discomfort with the Constitution itself. It is now history when the Constituent Assembly adopted the draft of the Constitution in November 1949, within three days after its adoption, an editorial in the Organiser (RSS mouthpiece) criticised it in no uncertain terms and praised Manusmriti: [Excerpts from an Editorial on Constitution, Organiser, November 30, 1949). The Hindutva Supremacist movement was praising Manusmriti and counterposing it with the newly adopted Constitution. Another stalwart of the Hindutva movement, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, similarly lambasted the draft of the Constitution and emphasised that Manusmriti should have been made the basis of Indian laws.

What is worth emphasising here is that there are various judgements/interventions of the courts at the highest level itself which have been categorical in cautioning the executive about bringing in religious instructions in schools.

Take the case of a petition filed by a lawyer Vinayak Shah from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, in the Supreme Court. It has challenged the recitation of Sanskrit prayers in Kendriya Vidyalayas. According to him, doing so effectively amounts to “religious instructions for schools funded by the government”. This, Shah has argued, violates Article 28(3) of the Constitution, which says that nobody attending educational institutions recognised by the State or those which receive aid out of State funds, shall be required to take part in any religious instruction or religious worship in institutions or premises attached to them—unless they are minors and their guardian has consented to it.

This petition revolves around three issues:

One, it is not right to compel children of all religions, including those from families that are atheist and agnostic, to sing Hindu prayers.

Two, considering the constitutional prohibition on students being made to take religious instruction in government-funded schools, the 1,100 Kendriya Vidyalayas must not insist on holding such prayer meetings every day.

Three, prayer songs obstruct the development of a scientific temper in students, which in turn Violates Article 51A(h) of the Constitution that says that it shall be the duty of every citizen to develop a scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.

Considering the seminal importance of this issue, a bench led by Justice Rohinton Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran have referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India to be examined by a Constitutional Bench comprising at least five judges.

One can also look at a case from Maharashtra where Sanjay Salve, a teacher at a Nashik school had waged a lonely struggle against the management of a school that had refused to give him a raise for he had refused to fold hands during school prayers. Salve approached the courts asking that his right to freedom of expression be protected. He said that he cannot be forced to stand with folded hands during prayers and that singing of prayers amounts to imparting religious education, not permissible under Article 28(1) of the Constitution.

A two-member bench of the Bombay High Court had ruled in his favour, saying that “forcing a teacher to do so [fold hands during prayers] will be a violation of the fundamental rights.

One can also refer to how the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), tasked to assist and advise Central and state governments over school education, shared a manual on sensitising schools to the needs of minority students.

A point worth contemplation in view of the Yogi government’s order is that whether educational institutions can compel students to have religious instruction under the name of moral education, as many such orders are couched in the language of teaching “value” to the students.

Perhaps the draft committee of the Constitution, chaired by B R Ambedkar, was aware of this possibility and had made it explicit that any such act would be a violation of Article 19, which gives the right to freedom of expression to every citizen and its violation would be, in fact, a violation of Article 25(1). It says:

“Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion.”

Looking back, one can see the progressive nature of these various articles in the Constitution, instituted by a draft committee -- majority of whom were believers and hardly a few who were declared atheists -- who were keen that no matter what it takes, schools administered by State funds should never be allowed to give religious instruction in any form. May be after witnessing the Partition of the country, where religion was used as a basis of nationhood by a significant section of the population and which witnessed tremendous bloodletting, they could foresee the importance of keeping religion restricted to one’s private domain.

Whether Yogi government will be allowed to have its way and thus further facilitate dilution of Constitutional principles - with its controversial order of organising Ramayana and Vedic workshops in government schools of UP -- is the key question before us today!

Either way, the battle to save the Constitution will continue unabated.

The writer is a senior independent journalist. The views are personal.

21 May 2025

The Pan-African Path to Full Liberation

Jonis Ghedi-Alasow | 26 May 2025

African Liberation Day was established to honor the anti-colonial struggles of the African peoples and nations for independence, a fight which continues today with different contours.

People in Ziniaré, Burkina Faso, greeting Ibrahim Traoré on March 20, 2025. Photo: Presidence Burkina

Now, more than ever, is the time to commit to the emancipatory project of revolutionary Pan-Africanism. For the first time in decades, a new anti-imperialist path is being forged in Africa through the creation of the Alliance of Sahel States. Our task is to defend and advance a continental Pan African Project that concretely represents most of Africa’s peoples.

Africa is both the wealthiest and poorest continent on Earth; it is rich in resources yet poor in GDP. The continent boasts an abundance of mineral resources, including uranium from Niger, which until recently powered every third lightbulb in France, as well as cobalt from the Congo, crucial for the electronic devices of much of the developed world.

South Africa still holds over 75% of the world’s platinum supply, yet the people living above these platinum deposits do not have flushing toilets. The Congo, from King Leopold’s barbarism and the uranium extracted for use in the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima to today’s scramble for rare earth minerals, has remained both rich and poor. While the Congo Basin could feed the entire continent, Africa suffers from the highest rate of hunger in the world.

Half of Africa’s population is under 19, a considerable demographic advantage with the potential for a brighter future. This youthful energy, if harnessed and guided, can be the driving force behind the revolutionary transformation we seek. However, this potential is at risk of being squandered, with most of Africa’s youth at risk of becoming another unharnessed, lost generation.

All of this is a direct consequence of the lingering legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, European colonialism, and the neo-colonial subordination of post-independence Africa by the United States and its Western European allies.

Divide, rule, and weaken

Africa’s simultaneous fortune and misfortune is rooted in the fact that this continent has more countries than any other. “Divide and rule” was more than just the British imperial policy of the 19th and 20th centuries; it was the modus operandi for weakening Africa’s potential since the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885.

Fragmented into 54 nominally independent countries, Africa’s 1.5 billion people have been prevented from fully benefiting from the continent’s collective human capacity and material wealth.

The active balkanization of Africa is not merely a historical phenomenon. Balkanization continues today. In 2011, Sudan was divided into two countries. The central government in Kinshasa lacks full sovereignty over the entire Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since the Biafran War of 1967, efforts have been made to divide Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, into multiple states beholden to Western imperialism. Even Burkina Faso – the land of Thomas Sankara and Ibrahim Traoré – has faced repeated attempts at fracture, especially following NATO’s destruction of Libya and the subsequent jihadist ventures into the Sahel.

History is not merely a rear-view window through which the African people can look as we drive into the future. Instead, it is the culmination of 580 years of struggle between the forces of oppression and exploitation and those of resistance and liberation.

Africa’s contemporary reality – particularly the ongoing issue of Balkanization, the stark contrast between immense material wealth and significant poverty, and the unfulfilled potential of our people – did not emerge in isolation. It stems from Africa’s long-standing role as the anchor of development in Western Europe and North America.

Colonial accumulation

This reality is succinctly outlined by Walter Rodney, who argued that “two factors have brought about underdevelopment [in Africa]. In the first place, the wealth created by African labor and from African resources was grabbed by the capitalist countries of Europe; and in the second place restrictions were placed upon African capacity to make the maximum use of its economic potential – which is what development is all about. Those two processes… [explain]… why Africa has realized so little of its potential and why so much of its present wealth goes outside of the continent.”

Undoubtedly, many will attribute the problems of Africa to ‘internal factors’ such as failed states, poor governance, corruption, ethnic conflicts, leadership failures, and more. Of course, these factors are significant, and those responsible must be held accountable.

However, and more importantly, none of these factors emerge out of nowhere, and none are without beneficiaries. These manifestations of Africa’s challenges are frequently cited as the root causes of the continent’s problems. Yet, such an analysis substitutes the appearance of a problem for its essence.

These so-called ‘internal factors’ can be traced back to cliques of slavers, colonists, and neo-colonists who are the primary beneficiaries of Africa’s socio-political and economic problems. For them, dysfunction in many parts of Africa is highly functional.

Capitalist slavery fueled the Global North’s development. This system, alongside the colonial exploitation of Africa and its people and the ongoing neo-colonial economic and political world order, is why Africa remains at the bottom of the global food chain. If revolution is understood as ‘fundamental change,’ then it is clear that overcoming this unjust reality necessitates a revolutionary transformation.

Pan African revolution

Such a revolution is possible only when rooted in the African peoples. A political movement that genuinely enjoys popular support from peasants, workers, the urban poor, women, and youth, along with a steadfast commitment to the unity of all people across Africa and the diaspora, can aspire to overturn what Walter Rodney described as Africa’s active underdevelopment.

This commitment to African unity and the African people as the protagonists of fundamental social transformation through a new socialist trajectory for our continent is what Pan-Africanism is.

The political project of Pan-Africanism is not solely rooted in identity, such as race, nor is it tied to geography, excluding the sixth region of our continent – namely, the African diaspora.

As a political project, Pan-Africanism recognizes that the modern capitalist world was founded upon the bones of our ancestors, beginning with the establishment of the first slave trading posts in modern-day Mauritania in 1445. It acknowledges that this system enables a small group to accumulate wealth and power at the expense of the vast majority.

Confidence in the possibilities of Pan-Africanism is not based on a naïve assumption that the peoples of Africa are homogeneous or inherently inclined towards this political project. Instead, it is rooted in the fact that, despite differences in culture, religion, language, geography, and other factors, Africa remains unified by a common history and, for better or worse, a shared future.

Individual people, organizations or countries cannot determine whether the future is characterized by prosperity or drudgery. This choice only exists at the level of the African continent. Drudgery is the world that has been built at our people’s expense since 1445. Such a world must be defeated once and for all, and through Pan African unity, replaced by socialism.

We must heed Chris Hani’s words when he said, “Socialism is not about big concepts and heavy theory. Socialism is about decent shelter for those who are homeless. It is about water for those who have no safe drinking water. It is about health care, it is about a life of dignity for the old. It is about overcoming the huge divide between urban and rural areas. It is about a decent education for all our people. Socialism is about rolling back the tyranny of the market.”

Pan-Africanism remains relevant as it constitutes the quickest path to socialism in Africa. For over a century, figures ranging from W.E.B. Du Bois and Anna Julia Cooper to Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, and Thomas Sankara have championed the cause of Pan Africanism.

Imperialism has repeatedly sought to snuff out any individual or country which has threatened to serve as a unifying anchor for African liberation, from the assassinations of Thomas Sankara and Patrice Lumumba to the overthrow of leaders like Nkrumah. Despite this, Pan-Africanism, both as a methodology of struggle and an articulation of social, political, and economic aspirations, continues to persist against all odds.

As a shield and a spear against the US-led imperialist bloc, the imperative to build upon the revolutionary legacy of our predecessors is stronger than ever. We require political unity and centralized coordination of Africa’s enormous capacity, as Nkrumah demanded, alongside the regional economic integration championed by Nyerere.

Our African countries must jointly reject the neoliberal world order imposed by the United States, which lacks even the façade of human rights and democracy that once formed the rhetoric of imperialist subordination of Africa. Simultaneously, we must dismiss the international capitalist political economy that seeks to keep Africa and its people in a state of underdevelopment and drudgery. We must forge our independent path of development.

AES showing the way

This is why the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) represents one of the most significant developments since Nkrumah’s era. Despite understandable challenges and contradictions, the defensive, economic and anti-imperialist integration of these countries, through patriotic revolutions, widespread popular support, and a resolute rejection of French imperialism, marks an essential step toward the fundamental aspirations of Pan-Africanism. The AES symbolizes the antidote to balkanization and the erosion of African sovereignty; this process must be defended and celebrated as a milestone in Africa’s struggle for self-determination.

Those committed to African liberation must transcend the tremendous inspiration we derive from the Alliance of Sahel States. We must wholeheartedly defend the gains made by the revolutionary processes unfolding while intensifying the urgent task of securing true sovereignty and development in all corners of our continent.

The gains in the AES cannot be attributed solely to soldiers with guns. Instead, these achievements stem from the widespread popular support for sovereignty in these countries. There are many areas of Africa where such alignment between the aspirations of the people and the actions of governments is less pronounced. In these regions and countries, people’s movements and organizations must be strengthened and unified through political education, solidarity campaigns, and the clear articulation of the experiences and aspirations of Africa’s people.

In this task, there are no shortcuts. Only through unwavering confidence in the African people, the organizations they build, and the political and organizational leaders that emerge in the struggles for a better world can we truly advance in our fight for sovereignty, development, and prosperity in Africa.

In July 2025, we commemorate 100 years since the birth of Frantz Fanon, who concluded his last book by reminding us that “each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.”

The step towards African liberation in the Sahel is that very mission. The aspirations voiced by the peoples of the AES – true sovereignty and prosperity for themselves and their children – must be defended, replicated, and multiplied. This is perhaps the mission our generation must decide to fulfill or betray.

Jonis Ghedi-Alasow is the Coordinator of the Pan Africanism Today Secretariat.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch

Tanzania Elections: Democracy in Crisis Amid Repression

Nicholas Mwangi |

Tanzania’s elections are scheduled for later this year, unfolding amid widespread concerns over political repression and worsening economic conditions.

As Tanzania heads toward the general elections scheduled for October 28, 2025, the political climate signals not a moment of renewal, but of a tightening grip on power, cracking down on dissent, and escalating public disillusionment. Far from an inclusive, exciting pre-elections season, the lead-up to the election has shown little awareness of the issues facing ordinary people.

Opposition party barred from election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (NEC) in Tanzania officially announced on April 12, 2025 that it would bar the main opposition party, Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), from participating in the 2025 general elections as well as any by-elections until 2030.

The reason?

CHADEMA declined to sign a mandatory electoral code of conduct that was required for all parties. Other parties like CCM, ACT-Wazalendo, CUF, CHAUMMA, TLP, and NCCR-Mageuzi signed the code.

CHADEMA had insisted that no elections should happen without comprehensive reforms in electoral laws and processes. Tensions escalated further when CHADEMA’s leader, Tundu Lissu, was arrested and charged with treason and “publishing false information” online. The government accused him of inciting the public to obstruct the electoral process under the party’s banner: “No Reforms, No Elections.”

Kenya civil society delegation detained at the airport

Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu appeared in court May 19, 2025, to face treason charges. The case has drawn widespread attention locally and internationally, raising serious concerns over political repression and the state of democratic freedoms in Tanzania.

The situation escalated further when the Tanzanian government detained and deported prominent Kenyan opposition leader and lawyer Martha Karua of the People’s Liberation Party, along with a delegation of lawyers who had traveled to observe Lissu’s trial. Tensions deepened after Kenya’s former chief justice, Dr. Willy Mutunga, and his delegation were intercepted and detained by Tanzanian authorities as they attempted to attend the ongoing trial. The delegation’s mission was to observe court proceedings in solidarity and ensure international legal standards were upheld.

Media gagged: dissent criminalized

Of concern also is the freedom of the media, as in 2024 alone, three newspapers were suspended for a month. The Citizen, Mwananchi, and Mwanaspoti – were suspended for 30 days after publishing animated content critical of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, underscoring the shrinking space for dissenting media voices.

Since June of last year, authorities have arbitrarily arrested hundreds of opposition supporters, restricted access to social media, banned independent media outlets, and been implicated in the abduction and extrajudicial killing of at least eight government critics.

Political alternatives?

While CHADEMA and CCM may differ in tone and posture, both parties broadly champion neoliberal economic policies: privatization, deregulation, and market-led development. Their ideological similarities leave many Tanzanians with a hollow sense of political choice.

“The crisis is not just electora – it’s systemic,” says Muhemsi, a member of the Tanzania Socialist Forum. “What CHADEMA is doing is exposing the undemocratic process, but not offering a radical break from the neoliberal framework.”

Alongside brutal repression, the state deploys a subtler strategy: manufacturing consent through soft power. According to Muhemsi, the government heavily invests in entertainers, influencers, and state media to craft an image of unity and progress.

“They’re building a parallel reality,” he explains. “They want people to see calm and development. Meanwhile, the underprivileged majority are sidelined.” This dual strategy – violence on one hand and propaganda on the other – creates a suffocating environment for political imagination from below.

Economic discontent

Alongside public discontent is a worsening economic situation. For Tanzania’s ordinary citizens, small-scale farmers, informal traders, street vendors, and unemployed youth, the cost of living has skyrocketed. Food and fuel prices continue to rise while wages stagnate. Essential services like healthcare and education are increasingly commodified, and strategic sectors like ports have been handed over to foreign investors under government deals.

“People are tired,” Muhemsi states. “Access to dignified work, education, or health has become a privilege. Most ordinary people live in daily struggle while a few elites grow richer.”

He further highlights the fragmented nature of working-class politics:

Some still support CCM – clinging to its nationalist rhetoric or believing change is slow but ongoing.
Others back the party opportunistically – hoping for state patronage or political appointments.
But a growing section feels deeply betrayed – aware that both ruling and opposition elites are detached from everyday realities.

Muhemsi says, “But people know what isn’t working. And they’re looking for alternatives.”

Resistance beyond the ballot

Despite repression, resistance persists. Rural land conflicts such as those involving the Maasai in Ngorongoro and Loliondo have turned deadly. In cities, street vendors continue to resist forced removals.

Grassroots formations, especially among smallholder farmers and informal workers, are organizing. Some are building alternative financial systems around cooperatives to break free from exploitative lending. “There is also growing solidarity,” Muhemsi notes, “among farmers, cooperatives, and land rights activists on addressing the many challenges they face.

What lies ahead?

As Tanzania awaits the 2025 elections, the stakes are high. It remains to be seen what the election campaign period will look like for the opposition, and if grassroots movements will cohere into a broader political force. The state may parade a narrative of stability and development. But beneath that façade lies a country grappling with poverty, tensions, and repression.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch

21 May 2025

TN: Significance of Samsung India Union’s Struggle

C. Saratchand |

SIWU’s victory has deep implications for India’s working people and their struggles amid the proliferation of neoliberal projects.

Image Courtesy: Peoples Democracy

On May 19, 2025, the Samsung India Workers’ Union (SIWU), affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), secured a landmark wage agreement after a protracted struggle against the Samsung management. This agreement, mediated by the Tamil Nadu government, granted workers an overall wage hike of Rs. 18,000 over three years, alongside benefits, such as special promotions, enhanced leave entitlements, and improved working conditions.

While the mainstream media seeks to portray this as a “mutual agreement”, the settlement was, in reality, a concession wrested from capital through relentless struggle by SIWU and the solidarity of fraternal organisations of the working people.

A Brief History of SIWU’s Struggle

The proximate roots of the struggle lie in the Samsung management’s ‘super exploitative’ labour practices at its Sunguvarchatram factory in the outskirts of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, as per reports. The Samsung factory’s 1,800 permanent workers, producing refrigerators, televisions, and washing machines for the world market, faced stagnant wages, ‘super-exploitative’ labour practices, and systematic denial of union rights. For 16 years, annual wage increments rarely exceeded Rs. 3,000, as per SIWU.

In June 2024, the workers of this Samsung factory began efforts to unionise, seeking affiliation with CITU. Their demand was simple: recognition of their constitutional right to form a union, as guaranteed by the Trade Unions Act of 1926. However, the Samsung management reportedly sought to initially suppress these efforts with the support of the state government. When these efforts failed, the Samsung management is said to have tried to set up a ‘puppet union’ and reportedly sought to coerce workers to join it.

SIWU said the state government delayed the union’s registration for 212 days—far beyond the legally mandated 45 days.

The workers responded with strikes, protests, and a 38-day sit-in, braving ‘state repression and management intimidation’. The legal battle reached the Madras High Court, where lawyers appearing on behalf of SIWU argued that Samsung management’s actions violated constitutional guarantees on the formation of unions.

The Madras High Court’s eventual ruling in December 2024, ordering the SIWU’s registration, was the first victory. The SIWU’s registration on January 27, 2025 was the second victory.

The union alleged that the Samsung India management tried to retaliate by suspending 25 union leaders and maintaining a discriminatory wage system. According to this “two-wage” policy—pro-management workers, who were a negligible minority, received a higher wage, in an effort to undermine SIWU. The SIWU responded with strikes, other types of mass mobilisations and deployment of procedures to deal with industrial disputes as allowed by the law. This compelled the state government to initiate mediation.

The success in the May 19, 2025 negotiations is being termed as the third victory for SIWU. The agreement reached therein resulted in wage hikes of Rs.18,000 spread over three years, reinstatement promises for suspended workers, and an end to discriminatory practices by the Samsung management. However, past experience indicates that the struggle of SIWU will continue to both secure and consolidate this victory.

Fight Against Neoliberal Projects in India

SIWU’s victory has deep implications for India’s working people and their struggles. The proliferation of the neoliberal project in India has involved an offensive by capital to try and roll back whatever gains had been achieved by the working people in the country.

In this context, some states in India, including Tamil Nadu, have emerged as centres of labour arbitrage, as part of the so-called China-Plus-One strategy of multinational corporations to partially reconfigure global production networks, especially in the lower and lower-middle reaches of the relevant technological ladder.

Therefore, it was not surprising that local representatives of the neo-fascist dispensation, which is second to none in its obsequiousness vis-à-vis metropolitan capital, were egging on the state government to carry out a harsh crackdown on SIWU, as is their wont in states that it rules, especially Gujarat.

But the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led state government of Tamil Nadu was reportedly hesitant to unleash “full-spectrum repression”. The DMK is in a long-term political alliance, directed against the neo-fascist dispensation, with the Left parties and other fraternal organisations, who were firmly supporting SIWU. Therefore, in a reversal of the usual trend regarding alliances among non-Left parties, the Left was able to exercise effective political persuasion in ways that meaningfully complemented SIWU’s struggle. Consequently, the DMK-led state government was impelled to reverse its previous policies in this regard and engage in purposeful mediation.

The larger macroeconomic context of the struggle of SIWU involves the dual role of wages as both a part of the cost of production and a source of demand. Wage increases and better working conditions, which enable increases in labour productivity, if generalised, can increase macroeconomic demand in ways that do not necessarily negate the rationale of labour arbitrage. If this generalisation impels an ascent of the technological ladder through an industrial policy that is not beholden to metropolitan capital, then it will be possible to decisively break with the neoliberal project.

Successful struggles by unions, such as SIWU, that go hand in hand with the necessary political-organisational consolidation of the political organisations of the working people are necessary steps on the path to craft such a break with the neoliberal project.

The writer is Professor, Department of Economics, Satyawati College, University of Delhi. The views are personal.