Indian supporters of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) are holding a public meeting in Chennai on October 2 to discuss the ICFI statement Socialism and the Fight Against War and to oppose the Indian government’s participation in the imperialist war drive.

Fifteen years after the US launched its “war on terror,” the whole world has been drawn into an ever-expanding maelstrom of imperialist violence that has seen the military devastation of entire countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.

The US and major European powers are now preparing for war against Russia, while in the Indo-Pacific region, Washington is enlisting allies in its confrontational “pivot to Asia” against China. These developments, which are driven by the deepening of crisis of world capitalism, underscore the danger that mankind will be dragged into another catastrophic world war and one fought with nuclear weapons.

The US is aggressively pushing India to be a “frontline” state against China. Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has further integrated India into Washington’s military build-up in Asia. India’s increasingly bellicose attitude towards Pakistan is being fuelled by the backing it is receiving from US imperialism.

The Modi government’s participation in the US war drive against China is occurring behind the backs of the Indian working class and poor. The so-called “left” in India, including the Stalinist Communist Party of India Marxist, is covering up the immense dangers arising from Washington’s reckless drive for global hegemony.

The ICFI has called on the working class to oppose the imperialist war drive by build ing a global anti-war movement on the basis of internationalist and socialist principles.

S peakers at the Chennai public meeting on October 2 will analyse the causes and consequences of the rising tide of militarism and war and present the political alternative that has to be fought for by the international working class. We invite workers, young people, students and socialist- minded intellectuals to attend the meeting and participate in this important discussion.

Date: Sunday, 2 October 2016, 10.30 a.m.

Venue: First floor, Periyar EV Ramasamy Nagammai Education Research Trust,
277/2 Chennai–Thiruvallur High Road,
Ambattur, Chennai 600053
[Near the Ambattur Telephone Exchange]