A historic gathering of workers and
peasants in Pakistan
By: Farooq Tariq
On 29th January
an historic gathering took place at Faisalabad, the third largest city
in Pakistan. The event was jointly organized by the Labour Qaumi
(National) Movement and the Anjuman Mozareen Punjab (Punjab Tenants
Association), two movements of workers and peasants that, by their
defiant activities in several Punjabi districts, have caught the
imagination of thousands. For the first time, these two important
movements of workers and peasants in Punjab shared a common platform.
The famous Dhobi Ghat
parade ground was a sea of red flags that caught the attention of the
incoming crowd. Several bookstalls by left-wing organizations and
publishers reminded me of the 1960s. Many hundreds visited the book
stalls.
The high point of the
conference must have been the arrival of peasants from areas including
Lahore, Okara, Depalpur, Renala Khurd, and Kulyana Military Estate.
After travelling from different areas of the country, over 3,000
peasants joined one procession. They wore their traditional dress and
carried Dhool Damaka (drums).
Earlier on 27-28 January,
140 delegates from Labour Party Pakistan held their 5th congress
in the same city and leaders of the two movements participated in the
congress as delegates.
For two weeks prior to the
conference, the city was decorated with the red flags of the Labour
Party Pakistan and of the LQM. LQM activists worked day and night for
two weeks in order to cover all the roads with signs. Normally only the
parties of the rich are able to muster resources enough to color the
city. In this case, however, activists’ sheer determination to reach as
many as possible got out the message of a new labour-peasant movement.
Banners, posters and wall chalking signaled the message.
During a time of daily
suicide attacks and bomb blasts, holding the workers-peasant conference
was a significant development, uniting the under-privileged class under
their own leadership. Aside from religious gatherings and rallies, it
had been a long time since that many workers and peasants had gathered
together in Punjab.
The conference took place
in a tense atmosphere, so only committed activists and workers of the
two movements participated. Altogether there were over 10,000
participated. Local city officials prepared for any unwanted incident by
installing security doors and placing ambulances and fire brigade buses
on the site. (We had hoped to mobilize 30,000 but in this atmosphere
many local sympathizers stayed home.)
Following the end of the
conference, a young worker from Faisalabad told me, “I have come here to
see what a labour and peasant conference is. Now I have a telephone
number of Mian Abdul Qayum, the LQM leader; I am going to organize
workers in my factory”. At present, there is no union at his textile
factory in Faisalabad.
Several social
organizations including South Asia Partnership (SAP), Pakistan Institute
for Research and Education (PILER), Patan Taraqiyati Tanzeem, Women
Workers Help Line and others mobilized the women for the event alongside
with AMP and LQM. Over 1000 women participated: peasant women from Okara
Military Farms and other areas as well as women workers from different
factories.
The two main conference
slogans were the issuing of social security cards to all industrial
workers and land ownership rights to the Mozareen of Military Farms. But
solidaritistic and revolutionary slogans were very prominent: “Workers
of the world unite,” “One’s sorrow is everyone’s sorrow,” “Long live
working-class solidarity,” “Those who cultivate should sow,” “Asia is
red,” “Give one more push to demolishing walls,” Socialism is the only
answer,” “Revolution is our path,” “Struggle is our strategy,”
“Ownership of land or death,” “Trade union rights, our human right,”
“Issue social security cards,” “Down with capitalism and feudalism,” “No
to the IMF and World Bank,” “Down with American imperialism,” “No to
drone attacks and religious fundamentalism,” “For a peaceful democratic
Pakistan,” “Equal rights for women,” “No to discriminatory laws,” “Stop
violence,” “Give peace a chance.”
The conference was chaired
by Mian Abdul Qayum and the proceedings were conducted by Aslam Meraj,
LQM’s secretary. Speakers stressed the need for worker and peasant unity
to defeat the politics of the rich and feudal. They demanded that all
agriculture land occupied by the Military Farms administration must be
given to the tenants working on these lands for over 100 years. They
called for implementation of the minimum wage in all factories and for a
15,000 rupees ($160) monthly wage. They announced their intention to
participate in the coming local government elections at Faisalabad and
other cities. They condemned the atrocities by the military in
Baluchistan and announced full solidarity with Baluch people in fighting
exploitation and injustice. And they demanded the recovery of the
missing persons.
Speakers came from all
over Pakistan as well as from France and Australia. They included Rasul
Buksh Paleejo, leader Awami Tehreek, Pierre Rousset of France’s NPA,
Simon Butler of the Socialist Alliance Australia, Mehr Abdul Sattar,
secretary Anjuman Mozareen Punjab, Bushra Khaliq, secretary of the Women
Workers Help Line, Asim Sajad Akhtar organizer Peoples Rights Movement,
Younas Rahu, secretary Labour Party Pakistan, Sindh Chapter, Mohammed
Yousaf Baluch, chairman National Trade Union Federation, Safdar Sindhu,
secretary Pakistan Trade Union Federation, Ayub Qureshi All Pakistan
Trade Union Federation, Atif Jamil Pegan of Harmony Foundation, myself
and several others.
Several more on the
platform included Jamil Umer of the Awami Jamhoori Forum and leader of
the Coordination Committee
of Progress parties, Mohmmed, Tehseen executive director of the South
Asia Partnership, Sarwar Bari, executive director Patan Taraqiyati
Tanzeem, Khalid Mahmud director Labour Education Foundation, Begum
Sabeeha head of Khaksaar Tehreek, Nasim Bajwa, an eminent human rights
lawyer from the United Kingdom, Zulfiqar Shah of PILER, Ashraf Nadeem,
Mian Ashraf, Noor Nabi, Shabir Ahmad and Malik Saleem Jakar of AMP, Baba
Jan LPP Gilgit Baltastan, Abdul Jalal, LPP Swat. Nasir Mansoor, LPP
national labour secretary.
Speakers saw the
conference as an historic beginning of today’s working-class politics in
Pakistan. “It is new start and it will not be the last event in this
regard, we reject the economic and political policies of the present
government, which are dictated by American imperialism.” They noted that
Washington stands empty-handed before the people of Pakistan.
They commented that IMF
and World Bank policies are adding misery and poverty to the everyday
life of the working class. They refused to accept the dictates of IMF
and World Bank. They demanded that the government stop privatization and
provide subsidies for agriculture’s input. At the same time they
demanded that the government must end discriminatory legislation: All
citizens of Pakistan must be treated equally in the eyes of the law and
constitution. Finally, they noted they were sick and tired of the
in-fighting of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muslim League Nawaz.
They do not battle over issues of concern to the working class but only
on how to share power and status.
Speaker after speaker
stressed the need for an independent politics from those parties of the
rich. Many pointed to worker and peasant unity at the conference as a
practical alternative. Speakers urged the government to control poverty,
price hikes, unemployment and the power crisis.
Pierre Rousset, a leader
of New Anti Capitalist Party France (NPA) and organizer of Europe
Solidaire Sans Frontieres (ESSF), said that the French workers had
secured their social security rights after years of struggle.
Nonetheless, aided by the WTO, multinational companies were trying to
deprive ordinary people throughout Europe from their basic rights. The
response is concrete international solidarity by the workers of all
countries.
Simon Butler of Socialist
Alliance Australia conveyed revolutionary greetings from socialists in
Australia, mentioning that Pakistan and Australia might be opponents in
the cricket match but the workers of both countries will unite to fight
poverty and unemployment together.
For all those attending,
the conference was very positive. Most felt the power of unity: “We did
this despite all the threats of security. The police kept pushing us to
restrict the event inside the grounds, however, we carried out our own
plan and we did well” Rana Tahir, one of the main LLQM leaders, told me.
“It was like an Eid day
for the Faisalabad power looms workers. We are all happy with the
outcome. It is beginning of working class politics in the city. Just,
six years on, LQM did what the big parties cannot do. It was a challenge
to fill the ground and we did it. “We feel the power, the power of the
working class to change the society. If we can do this, we can do many
more things in support of the workers. Now the administration has to
listen to us and take us seriously” he commented after the rally.
The conference also passed
several resolutions.
