Since June, the people of Pakistan have been facing devastating flooding—a catastrophe made much worse by climate change. Thousands have already died, amid fears that the worst is yet to come. Tens of thousands have lost their homes and all their belongings, and have been forced to flee to higher ground to survive. Many have no food supply or have been sickened with waterborne diseases. The government, already facing economic crisis, has done little to help.
We have received the following appeal from the Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Campaign, first formed in 2010 during destructive flooding that year, which is now being resurrected to help the more than 30 million Pakistanis in areas affected by the flooding. Please share far and wide. More information on how to donate internationally will be shared as soon it becomes available.
Comrades,
The catastrophic floods in most parts of Pakistan have once again laid bare the poor state of the country’s infrastructure. As in many other poor countries, the wretched and crisis-ridden Pakistani capitalism is incapable of copping up with the catastrophes of climate change caused by the system. More than 30 million people have been affected by the recent floods and thousands have died already. Tens of thousands have been rendered homeless and helpless under the open sky. It is feared that the worst is yet to come in the form of more rains, floods, epidemics in the affected areas, food inflation and worsening of already terrible economic conditions. There is virtually no relief coming from the government mired in the deepest economic crisis under the heel of IMF. The flood victims need our immediate support and help. Provision of safe and dry locations, foods, clean water, tents and medicines can save countless lives. Besides these measures, a countrywide protest campaign of workers and students is needed to force the government to start wide ranging relief and rehabilitation program. Hence, it is the need of the hour to establish countrywide ‘Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Committees’. These committees, besides relief and protest campaigns, would organize awareness campaigns in the masses regarding the vulnerability of the present situation. We maintain that the ruling classes, including capitalists, landlords and imperialist NGOs, along with their institutions of class rule and status quo only believe in exploitation and the plunder of public resources. We can’t place our class brethren and sistren in flood affected areas at their mercy. Only the exploited and the oppressed can understand the pain of the other exploited and oppressed. We, therefore, appeal to you to become a part of “Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Campaign” and provide financial, political and social support to the flood victims. We invite all progressive political and social organizations nationally and internationally including trade unions, student organizations and human rights organizations to join the campaign.
Immediate Demands
1. All government resources must be used on war footings to rescue the people trapped in floods.
2. Provision of immediate food and medical relief to the flood victims.
3. Government buildings and other luxurious palaces of the ruling classes must be used to shelter and rehabilitate the homeless flood victims.
4. All flood affected areas must be declared calamity-hit and all their utility bills, taxes and other obligations must be written-off for at least one year.
5. All fees and other dues of the students belonging to the flood affected areas must immediately be written-off.
6. An amount of at least 0.5 million PKR must be granted to each affected family.
7. The government must rebuild all the houses washed away in the floods.
For details regarding our relief and protest activities kindly follow our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/flood.campaign
We will be making an international finance appeal very soon.
