Friday, 29 July 2011
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Norway: Anders Behring Breivik and the New Reactionary Wave
Posted by onehundredflowers on July 26, 2011
This was originally written as a Facebook note, and is being re-posted here with the permission of the author.
What is clear is that the same problems that affect and preocupy the radical left in the Western world are being felt by the ideological right, and that their response will not always come packaged in the usual packages of State collusion, fringe parties and street hooliganism, but might take forms such as Breiviks, and perhaps even other forms of violence. It is too early to tell if this action will have a cooling effect in this particular ideological space … or if it will be a spark that lights a prairie fire.
Anders Behring Breivik is not a fundamentalist Christian, he is something worse
by SKSThe New York Times has repeated the lie that Anders Behring Breivik, the butcher of Oslo and is a fundamentalist Christian. He is not.
The New York Times‘ thesis is that he is somehow a mirror image of Al Qaeda, a disaffected Christian turning the tables on Islamic fundamentalism. He is not.
He is the vivid, brutal, expression of a bubbling right-wing political movement of the post 9/11 era, emerging not from fascism or neo-fascism or from “revolutionary nationalism”, but from the unholy marriage of Austrian School economics and paleo-conservative cultural identity Romanticism – think Goethe, Scifi/Fantasy novels, and von Mises spawn a child.
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Nepal Maoists adopt Peace and Constitution Paper and Organisational Changes to distribute power and rectify overconcentration of power in the leader.
Maoist spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma told reporters after the CC meeting that Dahal's paper was passed unanimously. The meeting, which was cancelled several times in the wake of internal rift, concluded today.
According to the proposal, senior vice chairman Mohan Baidya will head the Organisation department along with the disciplinary body while vice chairman Baburam Bhattarai will chair the parliamentary board and will be the prime minister candidate for the future government. Similarly, another vice chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha will lead the party's team in the current government with home portfolio.
Likewise, general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa has been given the responsibility to oversee the military commission.
The CC also gave a week's time to the office-bearers to distribute the responsibilities to other leaders.
Democracy and Class Struggle welcomes the redistribution of power within the UCPN ( Maoist) and the appointmant of Mohan Baidya aka Comrade Kiran has head of Party Organisation as well as the disciplinary body.
Monday, 25 July 2011
What Kind of System Needs to Torture Prisoners?
The courageous struggle of the prisoners at Pelican Bay should make many more people sit up and take notice and ask—and find the answers to—some important questions about the U.S. prison system.
Why does the U.S., which has 5% of the world’s population, have 25% of its prisoners?
Why has the number of prisoners in the U.S. gone from half a million in 1980 to over 2.3 million in the last three decades?
Why are so many of those incarcerated in the U.S. people of color?
And why does the U.S. routinely carry out torture in its prisons?
Prisoners at Pelican Bay End Hunger Strike... The Struggle Against the Inhumanity of Solitary Confinement Continues
Source: Revolution #241, July 31, 2011
On Thursday, July 21, prisoners in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) were about to enter the fourth week of their hunger strike, demanding an end to the inhumane conditions of solitary confinement. Hundreds of prisoners in other prisons had joined them in solidarity, refusing food. That morning, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) issued a press release saying the strike was over. And later that night, Marilyn McMahon from California Prison Focus reported that she and Carol Strickman, an attorney working with the mediation team representing the hunger strikers, had spoken with four of the hunger strike leaders who were eating again. McMahon said the prisoners had “extended their deeply heartfelt thanks to all their supporters outside” and “they emphasized that that support was responsible for their wins and their safety from retaliation. Above all, they hammered home the message: This is just the beginning!”
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Maoism Takes Root Among the World’s Oppressed
Posted by celticfire on July 22, 2011
This opinion piece originally appeared in the Guardian. Though it presents some worn out anticommunist assumptions, it is notable that the revolutions in Nepal and India have gained international attention and caused concern in ruling circles. Today Maoism speaks to the world’s poor more fluently than ever
Aside from the bland icon of the new China, there is a much more dangerous Mao, whose ideas retain their vitality
by Pankaj Mishra
In 2008 in Beijing I met the Chinese novelist Yu Hua shortly after he had returned from Nepal, where revolutionaries inspired by Mao Zedong had overthrown a monarchy. A young Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution, Yu Hua, like many Chinese of his generation, has extremely complicated views on Mao. Still, he was astonished, he told me, to see Nepalese Maoists singing songs from his Maoist youth – sentiments he never expected to hear again in his lifetime.
In fact, the success of Nepalese Maoists is only one sign of the “return” of Mao. In central India armed groups proudly calling themselves Maoists control a broad swath of territory, fiercely resisting the Indian government’s attempts to make the region’s resource-rich forests safe for the mining operations that, according to a recent report in Foreign Policy magazine, “major global companies like Toyota and Coca-Cola” now rely on.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Resistance Festival of Greece: The Squares of the World are Speaking
Posted by Mike E on July 18, 2011
Photo credit: Eric Ribellarsi
Kasama has been sharing a number of reports on the crisis and resistance in Greece.
By Jim Weill and Eric Ribellarsi
The following are some quick notes taken during the plenary of the Resistance Festival. They are fragmented and without much summation, but they should give our readers an idea of the general conversation that took place.
One of the most interesting sessions at the 2011 Resistance Festival in Athens was called the “The squares of the world are speaking.” It featured representatives from Tahir Square in Cairo, Puerta del Sol in Madrid, the movement against austerity in Argentina, and Syntagma Square in Athens.
Behind the panelists was a large banner that said “The peoples come to the fore – The fear is changing sides.” It is now oppressive governments who are afraid and the people who are on the offensive.
Nepal Telegraph Reports Maoists Chief Prachanda losing ground, says if he is in minority he will quit.
Senior Vice chairman Mohan Baidya Kiran of the Unified Maoists Party has asked Chairman Prachanda aka Pushpa Kamal Dahal of his own party to tender his resignation from the post of the leader of party’s parliamentary delegation.
A point blank demand.
Chairman Dahal in reply told Baidya in a blunt fashion that that he could be unseated only if majority of the Maoists leaders push him to minority.
First time the teacher and his disciple have come face to face.
The Dahal-Baidya verbal duel took place at the party’s steering committee meeting, July 10, 2011. The meeting had only lasted for around 20 minutes. But yet the impact must have been a heavy one.
“Not only as the leader of parliamentary delegation, I will also resign as the party chairman if you can prove majority in your favor and if my resignation is in favor of peace, constitution, revolution, country and people I will certainly quit the current post”, Dahal is quoted as saying by media.
Dahal’s inner pain could be sensed while saying so.
“Let us discuss the bottom-line to be adopted for peace and constitution”, Dahal said and added, “With this we can discuss on matters related with power sharing.”
Bhattarai, on the other hand, claimed that he will very much accept the post only if there was consensus in his favor but will not take part in the voting process.
Moderate Bhattarai.
According to Baidya’s power sharing model, Bhattarai should be elevated as party’s parliamentary delegation Chief and he himself be awarded as the party’s organizational head. In that eventually, if at all that takes a shape, Dahal will be constricted to a titular role in the party.
Dahal and ceremonial role? Forget it.
With Dahal refusing to tender his resignation and also who did not accept the power sharing model proposed by Baidya, the party has convened the central committee meeting, July 13, 2011.
“Whether or not Chairman Prachanda is in a minority, the issue will be appropriately decided by the central committee”, claims Barsaman Pun of Dahal panel.
As far as the question is who is going to lead the government is concerned, let it be clear that Chairman Prachanda will not lead the government, Pun told Annapurna Post.
Similarly, C.P. Gajurel of Baidya panel threatened that, “this time around too if our demands are not addressed by the central committee, we will once again submit our note of dissent.”
Registering note of dissent has become a regular phenomenon inside the Maoists.
“We will observe how Chairman Prachanda presents himself in the upcoming central committee meeting, his acts will eventually determine our future course of action”, declared Gajurel who is no less a hardliner than the declared hardliner-Mohan Baidya.
On the other hand, claims another Maoists leader Dina Nath Sharma, “Party chairman will hold several rounds of discussions with the party leadership much ahead of the CC meeting.
“He will try to bring party leaders into confidence”, so hopes Sharma.
“High-level consensus has already been reached to elevate Bhattarai ji as the country’s prime minister”, also claimed Dinanath and added, “The central committee meeting will ratify the decision in Bhattarai’s favor.”
Talking to the media in Chitwan district, another vice chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said that positive discussions have taken place in the party paraphernalia in favor of Babu Ram Bhattarai. “Our formal decision will favor Baburam ji.”
Haribol Gajurel of the Dahal panel tells Nayapatrika Daily that the newly found unity between Bhattarai and Baidya panel is an apolitical alliance.
Many believe it to be so but the alliance between two differing political poles remains intact.
He claims, “On ideological and political grounds they have been always at the opposite ends but they surprisingly have come to terms when it comes to sharing of the power.”
“Isn’t it an apolitical alliance”, he concludes.
In love and war, everything is possible and more so politics itself is defined as “art of the possible”, opine political observers.
But the substance is that Dahal is being cornered by his own long time associates. Must have some reason.
Albeit, every unnatural height has a fall ultimately.
Source:http://www.telegraphnepal.com/headline/2011-07-11/nepal-maoists-chief-dahal-losing-grounds-says-if-in-minority-he-will-quit
Democracy and Class Struggle also notes a report on Prachanda in Next Front called Yes he is being challenged here :.
http://thenextfront.com/politics/yes-he-is-being-challenged.html
Also Note Report on Recent Central Committee Meeting Here:
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/2011/07/prachanda-presents-political-dossier.html
Monday, 18 July 2011
Discussing Solidarity with the People of India by Jan Myrdal
Sunday, 17 July 2011
From http://sanhati.com/excerpted/3112/
An old article but worth reading
The Emperor’s New Cloak: Marxism, “A Rights-based Approach”, and Patnaik
December 22, 2010By Ravi Kant
Section 1
Recently, Professor Prabhat Patnaik, well known ‘Marxist academic’ and leading theoretician of parliamentary left in India, has proposed a ‘novel’ political agenda for the socialist project. To quote his lucid words (A Left Approach to Development; EPW, July 2010) “Against the ‘means-based approach’ to development that the bourgeoisie projects, the left must project ‘a right-based approach’…the acquisition of rights on the part of the people…amounts therefore to winning crucial battles in the class war for the transcendence of capitalism”. He argues that a bourgeois society because of the spontaneity of capital can never recognise the welfare rights of workers although there could be ad-hoc provisions which can be revoked at any time. Thus, the primary task of the left involves demanding right to minimum living standard and implementing it wherever they get the state power through parliamentary politics. Patnaik envisages this as an integral part of subversion to capital and a substitute of ‘violent revolution’, which in the words of Marx ‘is the midwife of every old society which is pregnant with a new one’.
From http://arvindtrust.org/
Please see details at http://arvindtrust.org/
Third Arvind Memorial Seminar
On
'Democratic Rights Movement in India: Orientation, Problems and Challenges'
The Third Arvind Memorial Seminar is being organized on 22-23-24 July 2011 in Lucknow, India. The topic for this year’s seminar is ‘Democratic Rights Movement in India: Orientation, Problems and Challenges.’ The focus will be on the condition, orientation, problems, challenges and prospects of the democratic rights and civil liberties movement in India.
We are inviting you to participate in this seminar. Please go through the attached images or pdf of the invitation for a detailed description of the subject and other details. Please click here http://arvindtrust.org/ if you have any difficulty in reading it. Please send us your postal address to enable us to send you the printed folder for the seminar and the brochure about Arvind Memorial Trust and Arvind Institute of Marxist Studies.
Please feel free to contact us for any queries.
We are inviting you to participate in this seminar. Please go through the attached images or pdf of the invitation for a detailed description of the subject and other details. Please click here http://arvindtrust.org/ if you have any difficulty in reading it. Please send us your postal address to enable us to send you the printed folder for the seminar and the brochure about Arvind Memorial Trust and Arvind Institute of Marxist Studies.
Please feel free to contact us for any queries.
Sincere regards,
Meenakshy (Managing Trustee), Anand Singh (Secretary), Katyayani, Satyam (Members)
Arvind Memorial Trust
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Indian Maoists: the Political Struggle with Special Police Officers
Posted by celticfire on July 15, 2011
Indian SPOs in training
[There have been interesting developments in India, where the formal police and army forces involved in "Operation Green Hunt" have in recent years been supplanted by rogue forces (para-military and para-police) recruited from among the oppressed tribal people. Now the official disbanding of various "Salwa Judum," "SPO" and Kova commando forces has been raised, as--at the same time--the formal entry of army units into rebellious regions is expanded. The following statement is on the political struggle which Maoists in Dandakaranya are waging with the adivasis who have been involved in these anti-people rogue forces. -- Frontlines ed.]
COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)
DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE
Press Release
July 7, 2011DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE
Press Release
An Appeal from Maoists to SPOs (Special Police Officers):
Defeat the ploys of the government to divide us and rule!
Stop fighting for the exploiters and oppressors
and come back to your villages!!
The Supreme Court delivered a judgment on the petition filed by social activist Nandini Sundar, historian Ramchandra Guha and ex-bureaucrat E.A.S. Sharma on July 4, 2011 and ordered the Chhattisgarh government that appointment of Adivasis as SPOs on the pretext of fighting Maoists and arming them with guns should be stopped. The SC opined that the very appointment of SPOs is unconstitutional. Previously too it had commented several times in the negative about Salwa Judum, SPO and Koya commandos.
Maoists Prepare for Talks with Indian State
Posted by celticfire on July 16, 2011
This article is from the Hindustan Times, and details the preparing talks between the Indian state and the rebel Maoist forces. The Maoists have demanded that three of their captured leaders negotiate the talks with the State, meanwhile the Indian state continues its strong arm posturing of non-negotiation. It should be noted that the Indian state has initiated a bloody war on its own people, titled ‘Operation Greenhunt’ under the guise of hunting terrorists – it has unleashed terror on its own people.
Maoists name leaders for talks with state
Communist Party of India (Maoist) has named Sudip Chongdar (alias Kanchan), Himadri Sen Roy (alias Somen) and Patit Paban Haldar, its three former state secretaries now behind bars in West Bengal, to represent them in case state plans to go ahead with its proposed dialogue with the rebels.
“If Mamata Banerjee has difficulty in holding talks with us directly, she could, for a start, launch dialogue with these three leaders, who are also ideologues, after releasing them,” said CPI (Maoist) leader Bikram in a statement faxed to HT on Friday.
Eyewitness in China: Corruption, Cynicism, & the Memory of Mao
Posted by kasama on July 15, 2011
We received the following report from a long-time supporter of Kasama.Kasama Comrades! Greetings from your Kasama South China Bureau!
I hope you will not mind me sharing some observations.
The Three Wise Men
Billboard in south China mocked among the population
No sooner had I last remarked about the fading image of Deng Xiaopeng when the city officials here erected a huge billboard him as well as Mao, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. The joke around town now is that the three wise men are not very wise and no one is referring to Mao.
The only upside to seeing this ugly lie is to hear the denunciations in a carload of people as you drive by, usually of Jiang Zemin.
Obama’s war record….. in one place
Posted by Mike E on July 16, 2011
Thanks to St. Pete for Peace.
Among other things, since taking office Obama has:
- Started a covert, drone war in Yemen- Started a war in Libya without congressional approval
- Escalated the war in Afghanistan
- Sharply increased drone attacks in Pakistan
- Continued the occupation of Iraq, in spite of saying otherwise
- Escalated the proxy war in Somalia by launching drone strikes
- Sold $60 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia
- Secretly deployed US special forces to 75 countries
- Signed an agreement for 7 military bases in Colombia
– Touted nuclear power, even after the disaster in Japan
- Opened up deepwater oil drilling, even after the BP disaster
- Did a TV commercial promoting “clean coal”
- Defended body scans and pat-downs at airports
- Signed the Patriot Act extension into law
- Continued Bush’s rendition program
In 2007, then-Senator Obama said: “If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I’m in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself, I’ll will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner.”… In 2011, President Obama did not find his shoes to join the massive protests in Wisconsin(read).
Here’s a partial history of Obama’s dealings – listed (roughly) chronologically, most recent first:
Revolution #239, July 17, 2011
Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers Reject CDCR Proposal
Strike Continues
CA Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity issued the following press release:MEDIA ADVISORY--JULY 15, 2011
Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers Reject CDCR Proposal
Strike Continues
California—This afternoon leaders of the Pelican Bay hunger strike unanimously rejected a proposal to end the strike from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). In response to the prisoners’ five, straightforward demands, CDCR distributed a vaguely worded document stating that it would, "effect a comprehensive assessment of its existing policy and procedure" about the secure housing units (SHUs). The document gave no indication if any changes would be made at all.
While the CDCR has claimed that there is no medical crisis, mediators report that the principal negotiators have lost 25-35 pounds each and have underlying medical conditions of concern. Despite promises from the federal Receiver overseeing CDCR, no one has received salt tablets or multiple vitamins.
The hunger strike is now in its third week and shows no signs of weakening. In fact, the settlement document distributed last night to all hunger strikers at Pelican Bay prison, resulted in some people who had gone off the strike to resume refusing food. Hundreds of prisoners at Pelican Bay remain on strike, with thousands more participating throughout California's 33 prisons. Advocates and strike leaders dismiss the false claims that the strike is being orchestrated by prison gangs.
International solidarity with the striking prisoners also continues to mount with demonstrations and messages emerging from the US, Canada, Turkey and Australia. According to mediation team member Laura Magnani, “From day one, the CDCR has demonstrated its inability to resolve this situation. We call on Gov. Brown to step in and negotiate in good faith to bring this situation to a just resolution.” Strike supporters plan to flood the Governor’s offices with phone calls and emails, echoing the strikers’ demands.
“Given how basic the striker’s demands are, it is immoral that the CDCR would insult these men with such poor faith proposals,” stated mediator, Dorsey Nunn.
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Revolution #239, July 17, 2011
Pelican Bay Prisoner Hunger Strike Update: July 14, 2011
At the time of this posting it has been 13 days since the prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison SHU went on a hunger strike—demanding an end to the inhumane way they are treated on a daily basis (see earlier coverage at http://revcom.us/s/pelicanbay-hungerstrike-en.html). As we have said, this is an extremely significant and extraordinary development, something that challenges people on "the outside" to sit up and take notice. And many have been moved to support the prisoners in their just demands.
From Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung
Twenty Manifestations Of Bureaucracy
February, 1970
[SOURCE: Joint Publications Research Service, (Washington, DC)]
1. At the highest level there is very little knowledge; they do not understand the opinion of the masses; they do not investigate and study; they do not grasp specific policies; they do not conduct political and ideological work; they are divorced from reality, from the masses, and from the leadership of the party; they always issue orders, and the orders are usually wrong, they certainly mislead the country and the people; at the least they obstruct the consistent adherence to the party line and policies; and they cannot meet with the people.
2. They are conceited, complacent, and they aimlessly discuss politics. They do not grasp their work, they are subjective and one-sided; they are careless; they do not listen to people; they are truculent and arbitrary; they force orders; they do not care about reality; they maintain blind control. This is authoritarian bureaucracy.
India: Conflict over Anti-Maoist Militias
Posted by celticfire on July 14, 2011
Thanks to Revolutionary Frontlines for sharing this. The Indian state has declared war on the Adivasi (indigenous) people of India by forced displacement from their homes in order to pave the way for multinational corporations to extract resources from their land, such as limestone, dolomite, coal, and bauxite. The Maoists of India known as “Naxalites” have militantly defended the Adivasi people and have won the support of thousands of the poorest of the poor in India because of this. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) which leads this struggle against the repressive Indian state has been the target of many attacks, both physically and ideologically. Individuals who have spoken out in support of the Maoists, such as Arundhati Roy and Dr. Binayak Sen have faced arrest and threats from the State. India’s central government has now called for the regional government of Chhattisgarh to disband its anti-Maoist militias that were formed to terrorize the people including anyone suspected of being a Maoist supporter. This should not be seen as a victory – the Indian state has recently moved specialized armies into Maoist liberated areas in order to carry the murders of hundreds of individuals fighting for liberation.
MUNEEZA NAQVI, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW DELHI, July 06, 2011 – India’s Supreme Court has told the government of an eastern state to disband a militia being used to fight Maoist rebels, a move that was hailed Wednesday by rights activists.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Monday, 11 July 2011
US Jobs Report Points To Renewed Downturn
By Andre Damon
10 July, 2011
WSWS.org
WSWS.org
The unemployment rate rose for a third consecutive month in June, as the US economy added far fewer jobs than new workers, according to the latest jobs report released Friday by the Labor Department. The report confirms a new downturn in the labor market amid the Obama administration's campaign to cut government jobs and spending.
The US economy added 18,000 jobs, less than one-fifth of the 105,000 that economists predicted in a poll conducted by Bloomberg News. The unemployment rate hit 9.2 percent, up from 9.1 percent in May, and 8.8 percent in March. The number of unemployed people grew by over half a million over the past three months.
Sunday, 10 July 2011
From Socialist Worker Online Issue: 2259 dated: 9 July 2011
Protests spread across Africa and threaten rulers
Demonstrators in Senegal in West Africa have forced the president to retreat from a planned constitutional change that would have allowed him to have stayed in office for another term.Demonstrations of a few thousand in March grew to mass protests by the end of last month. Protesters fought armed police with stones, screaming at the top of their lungs, “We have had enough!”
In Burkina Faso, West Africa, students protested in February after police beat a student to death.
By May demonstrations shook the government—including riots by members of the presidential guard who had not been paid for months.
Saturday, 9 July 2011
From Socialist Worker Online Issue: 2259 dated: 9 July 2011
Nato intervention stalls Libya revolt
by Simon AssafThe Nato war on Libya is in crisis. The Western powers’ bombing campaign has not delivered victory to the rebels—it has created a stalemate.
And it looks increasingly likely that Muammar Gaddafi’s regime will remain in place in the west of the country.
Despite all the promises of a quick Nato victory, Libyan rebels have not broken out of their eastern stronghold.
Although the rebel-held town of Misrata has survived, its fighters have been unable to push beyond the outskirts. It is a similar story in the western mountains south of the capital of Tripoli.
And it looks increasingly likely that Muammar Gaddafi’s regime will remain in place in the west of the country.
Despite all the promises of a quick Nato victory, Libyan rebels have not broken out of their eastern stronghold.
Although the rebel-held town of Misrata has survived, its fighters have been unable to push beyond the outskirts. It is a similar story in the western mountains south of the capital of Tripoli.
From Revolution #238 Online, July 4, 2011
The Horror of 160 Million Missing Girls—and of the Attacks on Abortion Rights
An Answer to Ross Douthat
On June 26, the New York Times ran an op-ed from Ross Douthat which highlighted the horror of there being 160 million girls missing from the world today, largely owing to sex-selective abortions. However, rather than indicting this as a horrible outgrowth of deeply entrenched male-supremacy and patriarchy, Douthat places the blame for this on women's right to abortion and the few hard-won advances that have been made in some spheres for some women. As such, he ends up arguing for the very male supremacy and traditional values that lead to this kind of thing in the first place.
Douthat's argument rests on three key assertions.
From A World to Win News Service
Gaza Flotilla Faces Barriers
Editor's note: As we go to press, a flotilla of boats is attempting to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. Following are excerpts from two articles by A World to Win News Service with background and analysis. Stay tuned to revcom.us for more on the flotilla, and updates on its status.
As a small flotilla prepares to ... defy the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza toward the end of the month, it is becoming clear that these ships and boats will have to sail amid powerfully conflicting currents. A riptide of contradictions might allow this pro-Palestinian protest to have a major impact, but at the same time it represents not only a real danger to the lives and safety of this brave group but also difficult political conditions that must be carefully navigated.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Monday, 4 July 2011
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Don’t miss Marxism in the year of revolutions :30-Jun to 4-Jul in Central London
From http://www.marxismfestival.org.uk/
Biplap: Against conspiracies to dissolve Nepal’s peoples army
Posted by Alastair Reith on July 2, 2011
- Men and women fight together for equality in Nepal’s red army
Interview with Netra Bikram Chand (Biplap), Standing Committee Member, Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Q1: What is happening inside your party’s ongoing Central Committee meeting?
Chand: The CC meet has two objectives.
First, we presume that since Nepal as a nation-state is currently undergoing through a period of sheer confusion and thus a clear policy needs to be developed to get the country rid of the confusion prevailing. Talks are there to be discussed on militia integration, of the constitution drafting and of course the issue of state restructuring.
Secondly, we have been discussing about the internal matters of the party as well. Of late, some issues have cropped up to the fore about our party which have made the general population serious. It is thus our bounden duty to dig the truth out for the sake of the avoiding people’s concerns.
#649 http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/
#649 | June 29 video shows head of riot police unit ordering his men to throw stones and marbles at protestors
Friday, July 1, 2011
The widespread tactic of riot police to throw stones and marbles at protestors was ordered from above, as this video shows. About 15” into the video, the head of the unit (heads of riot police units hold no helmet) directs his men to pick up stones and marbles and hurdle them back.
Friday, 1 July 2011
On the slogan of 'Long Live Revolution' by Indian Revolutionary Bhagat Singh
Shri Ramanand Chaterji the editor of Modern Review, ridiculed the slogan of 'Long Live Revolution' through an editorial note and gave an entirly wrong interpretation. Bhagat Singh wrote a reply and handed it over to the trying megistrate to be sent to Modern Review. This was published in The Tribune of December 24, 1929.
To
THE EDITOR MODERN REVIEW
You have in the December (1929) issue of your esteemed magazine, written a note under the caption "Long Live Revolution" and have pointed out the meaninglessness of this phrase. It would be impertinent on our part to try to refute or contradict the statement of such an old, experienced and renowned journalist as your noble self, for whom every enlightened Indian has profound admiration. Still we feel it our duty to explain what we desire to convey by the said phrase, as in a way it fell to our lot to give these "cries" a publicity in this country at this stage.
We are not the originators of this cry. The same cry had been used in Russain revolutionary movement. Upton Sinclair, the well known socialist writer, has, in his recent novels Boston and Oil, used this cry through some of the anarchist revolutionary characters. The phrase never means that the sanguinary strife should ever continue, or that nothing should ever be stationary even for a short while. By long usage this cry achieves a significicance which may not be quite justifiable from the grammatical or the etymological point of view, but nevertheless we cannot abstract from that the association of ideas connected with that. All such shouts denote a general sense which is partly acquired and partly inherent in them. For instance, when we shout "Long Live Jatin Das", we cannot and do not mean thereby that Das should Physically be alive. What we mean by that shout is that the noble ideal of his life, the indomitable spirit which enabled that great martyr to bear such untold suffering and to make the extreme sacrifice for that we may show the same unfailing courage in persuance of our ideal. It is that spirit that we allude to.
Simiarly, one should not interpret the word "Revolution" in its literal sense. Various meanings and significances are attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation it conjures up a feeling of blood stained horror. To the revolutionaries it is a sacred phrase. We tried to clear in our statement before the Session Judge, Delhi, in our trial in the Assembly Bomb Case, what we mean by the word "Revolution"
We stated therein that Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. They may sometimes be mere means for its achievement. No doubt they play a prominent part in some movements, but they do not - for that very reason -become one and the same thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end.
The sense in which the word Revolution is used in that phrase, is the spirit, the longing for a change for the better. The people generally get accustomed to the established order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change. It is this lethargical spirit that needs be replaced by the revolutionary spirit. Otherwise degeneration gains the upper hand and the whole humanity is led stray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affiars leads to stagnation and paralysis in human progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of humanity, so that the reactionary forces may not accumulate (strength) to check its eternal onward march. Old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to new, so that one "good" order may not corrupt the world. It is in this sense that we raise the shout "Long Live Revolution"
Yours sincerely
(Sd/-.)
Bhagat Singh
B. K. Dutt
To
THE EDITOR MODERN REVIEW
You have in the December (1929) issue of your esteemed magazine, written a note under the caption "Long Live Revolution" and have pointed out the meaninglessness of this phrase. It would be impertinent on our part to try to refute or contradict the statement of such an old, experienced and renowned journalist as your noble self, for whom every enlightened Indian has profound admiration. Still we feel it our duty to explain what we desire to convey by the said phrase, as in a way it fell to our lot to give these "cries" a publicity in this country at this stage.
We are not the originators of this cry. The same cry had been used in Russain revolutionary movement. Upton Sinclair, the well known socialist writer, has, in his recent novels Boston and Oil, used this cry through some of the anarchist revolutionary characters. The phrase never means that the sanguinary strife should ever continue, or that nothing should ever be stationary even for a short while. By long usage this cry achieves a significicance which may not be quite justifiable from the grammatical or the etymological point of view, but nevertheless we cannot abstract from that the association of ideas connected with that. All such shouts denote a general sense which is partly acquired and partly inherent in them. For instance, when we shout "Long Live Jatin Das", we cannot and do not mean thereby that Das should Physically be alive. What we mean by that shout is that the noble ideal of his life, the indomitable spirit which enabled that great martyr to bear such untold suffering and to make the extreme sacrifice for that we may show the same unfailing courage in persuance of our ideal. It is that spirit that we allude to.
Simiarly, one should not interpret the word "Revolution" in its literal sense. Various meanings and significances are attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation it conjures up a feeling of blood stained horror. To the revolutionaries it is a sacred phrase. We tried to clear in our statement before the Session Judge, Delhi, in our trial in the Assembly Bomb Case, what we mean by the word "Revolution"
We stated therein that Revolution did not necessarily involve sanguinary strife. It was not a cult of bomb and pistol. They may sometimes be mere means for its achievement. No doubt they play a prominent part in some movements, but they do not - for that very reason -become one and the same thing. A rebellion is not a revolution. It may ultimately lead to that end.
The sense in which the word Revolution is used in that phrase, is the spirit, the longing for a change for the better. The people generally get accustomed to the established order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change. It is this lethargical spirit that needs be replaced by the revolutionary spirit. Otherwise degeneration gains the upper hand and the whole humanity is led stray by the reactionary forces. Such a state of affiars leads to stagnation and paralysis in human progress. The spirit of Revolution should always permeate the soul of humanity, so that the reactionary forces may not accumulate (strength) to check its eternal onward march. Old order should change, always and ever, yielding place to new, so that one "good" order may not corrupt the world. It is in this sense that we raise the shout "Long Live Revolution"
Yours sincerely
(Sd/-.)
Bhagat Singh
B. K. Dutt
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