Thursday, June 30, 2011
The people fight back: Syntagma square flooded with demonstrators once again, after two days of unrecedented police violence in Athens
The waves after waves of police violence during the General Strike of June 28-29
deterred no-one. Once again, thousands took to the streets and gathered in Syntagma to protest against the memorandum, the troika, the government but also, this time, the police. The change in the atmosphere was quite stunning, with anti-police slogans chanting through the air. The rage of the previous days was there, but the fear was gone. Tonight’s assembly was one of the largest Syntagma has seen.
Source: The Greek Streets
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Democracy and Class Struggle says Don't work support the 30th June Strikers
TO FOLLOW STRIKE ACTIONS ON 30TH JUNE VISIT HERE :
http://www.j30strike.org/
Also visit :
http://themarch26thmovement.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Greece - Video Reports and Updates
Despite the profound level of state violence in Athens today, thousands remain in the streets and on Syntagma square, resisting. An assembly is ongoing at Monastiraki square while a barricade has just been erected in Filellinon. There are several police blockades in various points across the city. Since early morning today, there is an ongoing chemical war-fare against the people. DIAS & DELTA motorcycle police attacked and beat up hundreds of demonstrators around Ermou Str, raided university premises and even restaurants beating up tourists and protesters. For the first time ever, the luxurious King George hotel on Syntagma Square has been evacuated
Twenty demonstrators arrested and 46 injured as protests continue in Athens during the night
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Held in a cell for three hours, the demonstrators were then transferred to the police HQ for another six hours. All detentions were swiftly turned into arrests, and all people in solidarity are calling for a solidarity gathering for tomorrow (29.6) at 10 a.m. outside the courthouse in Euelpidon Street.
Source: From the Greek Streets
Held in a cell for three hours, the demonstrators were then transferred to the police HQ for another six hours. All detentions were swiftly turned into arrests, and all people in solidarity are calling for a solidarity gathering for tomorrow (29.6) at 10 a.m. outside the courthouse in Euelpidon Street.
Source: From the Greek Streets
Clashes in the Streets of Athens has Greek Protests escalate
A communications truck was set on fire in central Athens on Tuesday, and youths hurled rocks and fire bombs at riot police, as a huge demonstration against new austerity measures descended into violence. The demonstration was called by unions, alongside a general strike that has brought the country to a standstill. Firefighters arrived on the scene to extinguish the blazing truck, the second one to be set alight during Tuesday's riots. Tuesday's clashes came at the start of a two-day strike called by unions furious that the new 28 billion euro (40 billion US Dollar) austerity program will slap taxes on minimum wage earners and other struggling Greeks.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Video calling for general strike + blockade of the Parliament in Greece, 28-29 June 2011 prepared by Popular Assembly of Constitution Square
This video prepared by the Popular Assembly of Syntagma (Constitution) Square, calling for the 48hours strike on Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 June, and for the blockade of the Parliament on Wednesday 29 June, in order to block the adoption of the new "Middle Term Program" demanded by the IMF-EU-ECB Troika and supported by the Papandreou government.
Democracy and Class Struggle calls for solidarity actions with the Greek People who are pathfinders for the new democratic structures of the 21st century. Read the work of Kris Giov on the Democracy of the Squares :
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/2011/06/democracy-is-born-in-squares-by-kris.html
Also see Greek Solidarity message from March 26th Movement in UK to Greek protestors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpXdQ-OgFxs&feature=youtu.be
Sunday, June 26, 2011
International Communist Movement and Mao Zedong Thought by Harsh Thakor
Democracy and Class Struggle publishes this contribution of Harsh Thakor not because we agree with all of the views expressed in this document, but because we find this document a useful summary of some of the debates in the movement in the last few years. Readers are invited to post their views on this document.
1.Trends
A major deviationist trend within the Marxist-Leninist Movement are the distortions of the polemics of Comrades Marx,.Lenin,Stalin and Mao Tse Tung .The chief proponent of this are the Nepalese U.P.C.N(M) and the Kasama group of U.S.A. Com.Mike Ely initiated the Kasama Project Group,a breakaway group from the R.C.P., U.S.A . The Kasama trend almost reduces Com Stalin to a non-Leninist and all Mao’s ideology as an anti-thesis of Stalinism..The Kasama project is one of the greatest ever Marxist-Leninist efforts to create a forum for debate, which has been lacking in the history of the Communist Movement ,but they deviate from strong theoretical foundation. Howevever its reading of Com.Mao’s cultural revolution and theories are virtually analyzed as something different or separate from Leninism.
The other trend that needs to be combated is that of Maoist third worldism propogated by the Leading Light Communist Organisation (LLCO)that advocates that the entire first world working class is reactionary and only the third world proletariat is revolutionary.It also upholds Lin Biao’s line as the revolutionary line as against that of Com.Mao Tse Tung. Infact it attributes the theory of Peoples War to Lin Biao.It slashes Bob Avakian from a left sectarian standpoint and even overlooks Avakian’s positive points.True it upholds Lenin and Stalin but claims that Com.Mao later veered towards revisionism with Zhou En Lai etc.
It terms some of the major third world Maoist struggles like that led by the Communist Party OF Phillipines or C.P.I.(Moaist) as that led by armed revisionists.Infact there is a significant connection between the Lin Biaoist ideology with that of rejecting the first world proletariat as a counter-revolutionary force strategically.Upholding Lin Biao’s line is counter to the correct trend in the International Communist Movement.True Lin did propogate the Peoples War concept but it was fundamentally derived from Com.Mao Tse Tung and not an original formulation of Lin Biao as advocated by the Leading Light group.
I have quoted comments and writings of intellectuals like Joseph Ball and Mike Ely.(Kasama group)Ball logically refutes Kasama’s looseness on the assessment of Stalin but he too finds fault with Mao’s line towards the end.
Significant points have been raised by this section on the class nature of the first world proletariat who reflect a general reactionary attitude and compared with workers of the third world countries live in relative luxury. However only for a temporary period first world workers will they not identify themselves with the struggles of the third world people. We must take into account the anti-war protests of European workesr and strikes combating the Imnperialist system.
Both these trends are harshly critical of the R.C.P.(U.S.A) led by Bob Avakian but from deviationist perspectives. Infact the R.C.P.took a progressive stand criticizing the Nepalese Maoists multi-party co-ordination nad defended the vanguard role of the single proletarian party. Infact Kasama has taken several ecclectical positions on Lenin and the dictatorship of the Proletariat. They see Maoism as something anatagonistic to Stalin’s ideology and even different from Leninism. True they foster a democratic spirit of discussion and debate and welcome a huge range of views but basically do not derive at a proletarian class analysis.I consider the R.C.P.U.S.A more progressive than the Kasama or the L.lc.o.I feel Avakain makes some very valid points in democracy Can we do better than that?”True the R.C.P has fallen victim to losseness in theory and practice and hardly drawn out a mass revolutionary programme for the working class.Nor has it given adequate support to the third world movements.A revolutionary writer Joseph Ball,a staunch opponent of the rightist trends within Kasama is sympathetic to certain aspects of the L.L.C.O . but also partially to the. R.C.P.Ball was critical of the m Nepalese Comrades multi-party approach which Bob Avakain also opposed.
Quoting Joseph Ball in defense of Avakian “Well, I didn’t think my comments on the UCPN(M) would go down too well here to be honest.It is true that you have a lot of good things to say about the exploitation of the Third World, and the First World worker’s complicity in all of that. My article on the UCPN(M) reflects some of this. RCP-USA is very aware of this type of analysis too. However, they still think revolution in the USA is possible for reasons other than economic ones. I reserve judgement on this line but I find it a lot easier to see how revolution could occur in Third World nations.I am afraid where Monkey Smashes Heaven (Leader of L.L.C.O.)fails and where Avakian succeeds is that his theory of the state in ‘Democracy Can’t We Do Better Than That?’ and ‘Democracy; More Than Ever Can’t We Do Better Than That?’ is correct wheras MSH and other groups that have shared its line seem to have a fairly anarchist view of the state. As far as I can tell, MSH favours a sort of Shanghai Commune approach to state organisation under socialism (correct me if I am wrong). This does not really take into account the full dialectical relationship between the need to use the state to defend the revolution and the need to advance the erosion of the differences between leaders and led and the withering away of the state.This criticism should be taken in the spirit in which it is intended.I’m not trying to ‘sell’ Avakian here but I think MSH tends to see his line in black and white, when it’s really shades of grey. After all, RCP-USA dropped its involvement in US labor unions precisely because it was felt that the strictly economic problems of US workers were pretty unimportant compared to the problems of the Third World proletariat. Not the MSH line, I know, but not really the MSH’s version of the RCP-USA line either.
Personally,the author recognizes the disparity between the first world and third world proletariat but feels disqualifying the role of the first world section would be capitulation.True the first world proletariat is complacent and much better paid but in recent times they have been affected by great level sof unemployment,jobcuts and also been launched into major strikes against globalization and anti war struggles.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Fight Back the New State Offensive in Chhattisgarth and Odisha - Press Statement of CPI Maoist
COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)
CENTRAL COMMITTEE
Press Release
June 15, 2011
Fight back the new state offensive in Chhattisgarh and Odisha
as part of Operation Green Hunt – Phase II!
as part of Operation Green Hunt – Phase II!
Any fascist offensive aimed at looting this country is bound to be defeated by the courageous resistance of the self-respecting people of India
This announcement comes within days of the announcement of SAIL to privatize Raoghat mines in Bastar (Chhattisgarh). This comes within days of the stiff resistance of the Odisha people against the land grabbing of POSCO for ‘the biggest foreign direct investment in India’ (read ‘one of the biggest attempts in history to grab the natural resources in India’). This also comes within days of a series of attacks by our PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerilla Army) on the mercenary forces of the central and state governments in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra parts which constitute DK. The ruling classes concentrating on the borders of the states where the Maoist movement is strong and expanding so that there won’t be any boundaries to their exploitation; so that he they could expand their loot unbridled. (For example, between Odisha and Jharkhand; between West Bengal and Jharkhand; Chhattisgarh and Mahararashtra; CG-AP-MR etc. previously) The relation between the cause and effect is obvious for all to see.
Present Situation and Historical Task of the Proletariat from UCPN (Maoist)
Supplied by Shree Krishna Bhatta
Dear Comrades,
Today, our great and glorious party, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), has arrived at a serious and extraordinary juncture of possibilities and challenges.
The way how people's revolution, in the external struggle, is advancing amid immense possibility of victory and serious danger of defeat, in the same manner, party's internal life, as a reflection of the former, also lies in the midst of potentiality of advance and danger of anarchism and chaos as well. The height to which we can create new unity, voluntary discipline, self-confidence and vigour by means of a correct line, strategy, tactic, plan and programme to ensure as far as possible the decisive victory of revolution in this complex crossroads of class struggle, to that level will we be able to make victorious the revolution and party by safeguarding them from the danger of defeat and anarchism. In order to develop that kind of line and plan, we, by abandoning all kinds of subjective prejudices, must be able to have objective estimation of the situation and balance of class force based on the universal theories of MLM. The plan and programme prepared on the basis of objective analysis will enable our party to lead the decisive victory of revolution. Expressing high regard and esteem to the entire known and unknown martyrs of Nepalese people's revolution including those of ten years of people's war and admiring the entire disappeared, injured fighters and their family members, this plenum of the central committee will be able to bring about a new dynamism in our party.
1) A short evaluation of present situation
a) On the international situation
After the dissolution of erstwhile Soviet Union and so-called "end" of cold war, the academic pundits of western imperialism widely propagated that capitalism had become "absolute", communist ideology and communism had "ended" and the "unipolar" world had been established. The premeditated propaganda is going on, but the whole imperialist world order has now entrapped into a dreadful global economic crisis. To have emerged an epicentre of new global economic crisis in the United States of America that had been presenting oneself as a leader of the world imperialism after the Second World War imparts a special meaning and implication.
When the imperialist moneybags were celebrating "victory" of capitalism before the dreadful cyclone of the current financial crisis had come up, right then too it was clear from the statistics of the World Bank itself that the gap between rich and poor had been surprisingly widening. Consequently, after the 90s the living standard of about a 1.75 billion of the people has severely dropped. About a 30,000 children, who could be cured by primary healthcare, are dying daily and about 1 billion people victimized by malnutrition cannot reach their 40. Children ranging from 250 million to 300 million in number from poor countries of the third world are being used as child-slaves for their bread and butter. Millions of young women are being pushed into prostitution daily. Tens of millions of youths of the third world are being forced to be sold as modern slaves in the globalized labour market for their livelihood. It is a short glimpse of so-called victory of capitalism after the cold war.
On top of that the present economic crisis has given rise to a more horrendous outcome. The bourgeois economists the world over are now bound to realize that the present global economic crisis is of several times deeper and wider nature and of far-reaching significance than the crisis that had emerged around 1930, before the Second World War. Big banks, financial institutions and industries of the United States of America have been declared to be bankrupt over night. In America, about 7 hundred thousand workers had lost their job merely in the last February; 6 hundred 50 thousand workers have been now loosing their jobs in every three months. Only after the economic crisis has started, 4.4 millions of people have lost their jobs. The industries that produced about 20 millions of cars before are now forced to produce only half of that. This Tsunami of severe economic crisis is going ahead engulfing not only the United States of America but also the third world countries, including Europe.
The imperialist ringleader who used to publicize that the open market economy was a non-missing target are now forced to take such a policy that provides financial support in different forms including nationalization of banks and bail of out industries by the government. It has been to the extent that some of the bourgeois economists are now referring to adopt some of the aspects of socialist economy to put the instantaneous crisis on hold. From this what has been proved once again is that it is the capitalism that is the main reason to bring crisis one after another for humanity and it is socialism only that can bring about a bright future for the human beings. The dream of unipolar world with which America as a gangster had come forward the world over is now becoming a daydream as a result of inter-imperialist contradictions along with the resistance carried by Russia, which is consolidating internally, and China, which is an upcoming economic super power. However, the proletariat must not minimise imperialist globalization and military strategy of capturing the whole world and the unjust wars which are being imposed upon Iraq, Afghanistan, Middle East, South Asia and the world over and the stratagem of military bases being established there as well. Rather, in order to resist that it is urgent to go forward seriously with immediate and long-term plans to handle inter-imperialist contradictions, to resolve the principal contradiction between imperialism and oppressed people and nations by building, on the basis of proletarian internationalism, a worldwide united front amongst the communist revolutionaries. Finally, the imperialist globalization and hooliganism of the US imperialism is bringing the world revolution closer and proves that revolution is the main trend today.
It is necessary to be clear on the background and reason behind this economic crisis that has exploded after about 70 years in United States of America, the centre of imperialist world order. The capitalism always creates a problem of overproduction because it pays no attention to the basic needs of the masses but always emphasizes on production that produces super profit to investors. The development of huge industries and worldwide apparatus to earn super profit results in creating a socialist base and mechanism and consequently it creates a contradiction with the private ownership of the capitalists; which is the inborn reason behind the fall of capitalism and rise of socialism. A question arises here, what reason caused to stop for so long years the process of fall of capitalism and rise of socialism that was intense during the period of the First World War to the advent of the Second World War? In the advent of the Second World War, one of the main reasons behind it was, in view of economic recession and inevitability of war, to centralize the main strength and investment in war-centred military economy on the part of the United States of America. From Second World War to Vietnam War and the cold war to different levels of wars till now made it possible to sustain capitalist economy in general and American economy in particular. Production of fighter planes, submarines, tanks, rockets and other military equipments in an extensive way and enormous wealth plundered thereof helped maintain that situation. Another important reason behind this is the temporary respite that they gained by expanding finance capital all over the world and increasing domination in the big markets like China, India and Russia. But, as a result of inherent unproductive and speculative nature of finance capital, it was unavoidable on the part of world imperialism to get trapped soon into a new crisis and so got trapped too.
In the period following the collapse of former Soviet Union, the imperialists deliberately developed worldwide mechanism for globalization of finance capital and extraction of profit to exploit and oppress the labourers and working class people the world over. As a result of the development of globalized production and oppressive structures, today the outburst of crisis and unemployment is spreading everywhere whether it be the US or Europe or Asia or Africa or Latin America. Special attention to be paid here is that the capitalist economy, on which war and military industries sustained, is now entrapped into a worldwide severe crisis. In order to protect it from being ruined the imperialists should develop terribly destructive technical weapons and impose qualitatively disastrous genocidal wars. Now, traditional and scattered wars and usual war economy is not sufficient to safeguard capitalism. Right at this point, a danger of imperialism staging a most severe destruction in the history of mankind is hidden behind it. Therefore, it has become especially necessary for the people, who are in favour of justice, equality, peace and independence, to come forward together against the imperialist crisis and terror of wars. In fact, this situation in the final analysis is creating a qualitatively favourable situation to build a people's new world through world revolution.
India is gradually surrendering to the US imperialism. As a result of this, America is intensifying its economic, political and military activities all across the region. Entrapping India in its strategic web, the US imperialism is going ahead along its master plan of suppressing the entire national liberation, new democratic and socialist movements in this region and encircling and dividing China, the strong competent of the 21st century. In spite of this, the need to pay attention on is that there exists contradiction too between the US and India in view of mutual shares in South Asia. In the context of Nepal, India wants to extend its border up to the Himalayas, where as US wants to establish a special base in Nepal and go ahead on its own. The proletariat in this region should determine its strategy and tactic paying attention to both the aspects i.e. collusion, the principal aspect, and contention, the secondary aspect, existing in between US and India. In general, Asia, Africa and Latin America remain as the storm centres of revolution, but as a result of firstly, the special nature of contradiction against feudalism and imperialism, secondly, the wideness of revolutionary national liberation and democratic movements and thirdly, huge number of exploited and oppressed masses living in South Asia, make it a main storm centre of world revolution in the first decade of the 21st century. In this context, proletarian revolutionaries should take up a policy to go ahead by uniting the entire national liberation, democratic and socialist movements and building a broad united front against imperialism. What is necessary to pay attention here is that the wave of victory of anti-imperialist leftists in Latin American countries in the elections attracts a special significance. The left opinion there will have a special role in developing an anti-imperialist front in the world level.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
UK Mass Strike Action 30th June 2011
VISIT : March 26th Movement - The Alternative Platform on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_195577873809391&ap=1#!/pages/March-26th-Movement-Alternative-Platform/207218579290202
March 26th Movement Blog Here :
http://themarch26thmovement.blogspot.com/
IMF downgrades US - Max Keiser, Stacy Herbert and Professor Steve Keen discuss current Economic Crisis
This time Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, report on IMF dowgrades, zombie consumers and a financial circus. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Professor Steve Keen about the Greek debt crisis and Minsky's moment.
Democracy and Class Struggle publishes this video to throw light on the current economic crisis - the views of Professor Steven Keen challenges the anti labour and anti working class economics of the capitalist classes.
Resolution of the People's Assembly Athens on 22nd June 2011 - 48 Hours in the Streets to Block Medium Term Program
48 hours in the streets:
An appeal to the whole country to join Syntagma [Constitution] Square next week, in order to block the Medium Term Program [*]
It has been one month since we have flooded the squares along our country, claiming to get grip of our lives. In the end of June, our struggle comes to a turning point. This government of zero social acceptance is attempting to vote the Medium Term Program. This plan must not pass. We cannot allow for the looting of our social wealth, we are not willing to tolerate the degradation of the majority of the people in favour of the profits of the few.
The communicative manoeuvres, the fake reshuffles and the blackmailing of the government, IMF, EU do not fool us. We now know that the dilemma isn’t whether to choose "Memorandum" or "Default", as memoranda lead with a mathematical accuracy to social devastation.
For the two day period of the discussion and voting process of the Medium Term Program within the Parliament, unions have released a call for a general 48hour strike. During these two days, no one should work, consume, nor support even the minor breakage of the strike. From the very first morning of the strike we will gather in Syntagma Square along with the People’s Assemblies from all over the country and throughout all the neighbourhoods of Athens.
On the actual day of the voting, we will surround the Parliament – sending out the message that this Middle Term Program is rejected by the people.
It has been one month now that we prove, each and every day, that there are no "one-way streets", and that we possess the power to draw a new course for our society. Now is the time for us to take the next big step. Now the time is ours, now it is the time for us to speak!
It is either us or them! Real democracy now!
The People’s Assembly - Syntagma Square, June 22nd, 2011
[*] A new plan of complete sell-out of the country’s wealth and of extreme social destruction demanded by the IMF-EU-ECB Troika and supported by the Papandreou government. The unions call for a 48 hours general strike on next Tuesday 28 & Wednesday 29 June, and the People's Assemblies dedided to block the access to the Parliament the same day.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Kobad Ghandy on Hello Bastar by Rahul Pandita
Source:http://indianvanguard.wordpress.com/
Afterword
On 5 February this year, in a village in Uttar Pradesh, a 16-year-old Dalit girl was attacked by three uppercaste youth. While she was returning from the fields, they dragged her away in an attempt to rape her. When she resisted and shouted for help, they fled. But before running away they chopped off her ears and part of her hand with an axe and badly injured her face. The inhumanity of this action would be unthinkable in any civilised society.
But here, in India, it is hardly noticed. This is routine. In our highly patriarchal system, a girl’s life is cheap; a poor Dalit girl is less than a chattel in the prevailing upper-caste/upper-class social thinking.
This single incident brings out three factors.
First: the intolerance to any form of Dalit assertion, even if it is an assertion to resist rape.
Second: the impunity with which Dalits can be attacked even in a state ruled by a Dalit leader that comes from the knowledge that the establishment will not touch the culprits.
Third: it brings out the arrogance of the upper-caste youth, a superiority complex instilled since birth.
Rahul Pandita’s Hello, Bastar coincides with the third death anniversary of Anuradha Ghandy. It is an occasion to remember her monumental contribution to the understanding of the caste/Dalit question in India and the significance of its resolution for the democratisation of the individuals, and with it, the society.
In a society where a small percentage of people consider themselves superior to all others merely due to birth, there can be no democratic consciousness.
There have been other books on this subject, but they have primarily been based on secondary sources. But Rahul has personally investigated the issue, traversing difficult and often risky terrain. Such investigative journalism is a refreshing breeze in the stagnant air of superficiality that dominates reporting today.
Having personally studied the developments in Chhattisgarh and having interacted with many revolutionaries and their sympathisers, the author has no doubt added to the reliability of the information. One may agree or disagree with the views presented, but the facts of the Maoist movement seem well elucidated. So, this book becomes an important source material for anyone seeking to study the particular model of development.
Generally, to the ordinary reader of the mainstream media, the issue is just that of violence. This book brings out that the question of violence is secondary; the key question is how to develop the country and its people. The Maoists have one method as reflected in their policies as elaborated in this book while the established government has another, seen in their economic and political policies over the past years.
Let us now address the larger question of India’s real growth. In the Global Hunger Index 2010, India ranks 67th among 88 countries — it was 65 in 2009. And if we turn to the recently-developed UNDP Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which more accurately measures income on the basis of income, health, education etc., we find the situation even worse.
India, it says, has 65 crore people who are poor on this index. It amounts to 55 percent population.
The Right to Food Campaign says that two-thirds of our women are anaemic. India is also at the very bottom of the recently-compiled ‘Quality of Death’ index.
The water in our country is so badly polluted that it has turned into one of the major killers. According to the United Nations (UN), one lakh people die each year of waterborne diseases in India.
If one looks at the issue of food, the situation appears equally grim. Per capita food grain consumption has fallen from 177 kilos per year in 1991 to 151 kilos in 1998 (it has dropped even further now). Compare this to 182 kilos recorded by the LDCs (Least Developed Countries) and 196 kilos in Africa.
Besides general reading, this book could be useful for any future dialogue between the government and the Maoists which is an urgent necessity.
Rahul has put in enormous effort to produce a work based on an important phenomena in today’s India. This will only help any discourse to evolve a better future.
Kobad Ghandy
When Ganapathi and Kishenji took to Arms
The following is an edited extract from the chapter, The Return of the Spring Thunder. Situated on the southern edge of the Adilabad district, Tappalpur appeared to be a quiet village. But a group of about a dozen men, who lay low outside a mansion on the evening of 25 September 1976, knew that it was not quite so. The village was ruled by the 65-year-old landlord GV Pithambar Rao, one-time MLA, who now devoted all his time to managing the affairs of his lands.
The Velama caste to which Rao belonged was known for its aversion to engaging in any form of productive work. In fact, there is a saying about the Velamas that even if burning coals land on their thighs, they would expect their bonded labourers to remove them instead of saving themselves.
Around that time, 14 per cent of Adilabad’s population was tribal, with Gonds constituting three-quarters of it. The district was also home to the Sringareni collieries, the biggest in south India. But only about six to seven per cent of their employees were tribals. Big industrial houses had business interests here in products such as coal and bamboo.
There was a lot of unrest among the landless poor, who were at one time landowners but had lost their land to money-lenders, who had come from Maharashtra and other parts of Andhra Pradesh. In many cases, the poor tribals had cleared large tracts of forest land for agriculture, after paying bribes to the revenue and forest officials.
Later, the same forest department officials began evacuating the tribals from the forest area, denying them even the little sustenance that came through cultivation.
The Velama caste to which Rao belonged was known for its aversion to engaging in any form of productive work. In fact, there is a saying about the Velamas that even if burning coals land on their thighs, they would expect their bonded labourers to remove them instead of saving themselves.
Around that time, 14 per cent of Adilabad’s population was tribal, with Gonds constituting three-quarters of it. The district was also home to the Sringareni collieries, the biggest in south India. But only about six to seven per cent of their employees were tribals. Big industrial houses had business interests here in products such as coal and bamboo.
There was a lot of unrest among the landless poor, who were at one time landowners but had lost their land to money-lenders, who had come from Maharashtra and other parts of Andhra Pradesh. In many cases, the poor tribals had cleared large tracts of forest land for agriculture, after paying bribes to the revenue and forest officials.
Later, the same forest department officials began evacuating the tribals from the forest area, denying them even the little sustenance that came through cultivation.
69 years ago the the Battle of Stalingrad : Henry Metelmann a personal account of experiences in the German Panzers at the Battle of Stalingrad
The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943
The Stalin Society was honoured by Henry Metelmann speaking at its Annual General Meeting on 23 February 2003, chaired by Ella Rule, with Iris Cremer, Secretary. He gave a memorable account of his life as a youngster in Germany in the Hitler Youth, prior to his being involved in the German army at Stalingrad. He drew strong parallels between Nazi German expansionism and present-day Anglo-American imperialism’s aggression against Iraq. The following version of his speech was compiled from extensive notes taken at the meeting.
I was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain until it broke up in 1991.
I would like to say that I do not consider myself a historian. I come from a poor working-class family in Germany. I only had a state education, and I am not today speaking my mother tongue.
When Harpal Brar rang me after I spoke at the Imperial War Museum, I didn't realise there was a Stalin Society. I did not know it existed. I am glad to have learnt something. I am glad to be here. It is a great honour.
The main line of my talk will be to guide you through the process of how I, a boy from Schleswig Holstein, ended up in the Napoleonic retreat at Stalingrad. I sometimes wonder why we have not learnt from history. Napoleon in 1812 invaded Russia. He started off with 650,000 from East Prussia and advanced towards Smolensk and Moscow, but had to retreat. The Russian army harassed the retreat and when the army returned to Paris, Napoleon arrived with only 1,400 soldiers. Of course, the original 650,000 had not all been soldiers, and only half of them were French anyway - others were Germans and Poles. For many illiterate peasants it seemed a good idea to join Napoleon's army. We thought when we invaded the Soviet Union in the campaign codenamed Barbarossa that we were the strongest and the most intelligent - and we now know what became of that!
I was born in 1922 in Schleswig Holstein. My father was an unskilled labourer. Up to 1866 Schleswig Holstein had belonged to Denmark. The Bismarck and the Prussian Army started a war with Denmark, after which Schleswig Holstein became German. When I was a soldier in Russia the temperature on the coldest day was -54 degrees. I wished the Danes had won that war since I would not then have been a German in Russia suffering from the terrible cold of 1942. In the end, whatever our nationality, we all belong to one big family, which I realise now, but obviously did not at that time.
The 1930s in Germany
Up to the age of 10 (from 1922 to 1932) I lived in the Weimar Republic, which came into existence after the Kaiser was thrown out in 1919. I experienced all that as a small boy. Obviously I didn't understand anything of what was happening. My parents were very loving and did everything possible for me, but I remember a tumultuous situation - strikes, shootings, recession, 7 million unemployed, blood in the streets. I lived in a working-class quarter outside Hamburg where the people were suffering great hardship. There were demonstrations where red flags were carried, women carrying children and pushing pushchairs, shouting 'Give us bread, give us work', workers shouting ‘Revolution’ and ‘Lenin’.
My father was very left-thinking and explained many things. The ruling class of Germany was very frightened by this situation and decided to do something about it. I witnessed street fighting that I had to run away from, and thought this was all part of life.
On Christmas Day 1932 I was 10 years old. Shortly afterwards, on 30 January 1933, a bomb exploded at the Reichstag. That was when Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. My mother kept asking how Hindenberg could allow this to happen, because we all knew the Nazis were thugs. We knew they were just a racist party who talked about revenge and beating people up.
I thought it all interesting and exciting, even though my mother told me they were gangsters. I would see brown-shirted storm troopers marching through town and I thought they were very glamorous. As young boys we tried to sing their songs and proudly marched behind them. In the last three columns, at the end of the marches, came the sweepers and if people on the pavement didn't salute the flag, the sweepers would force them to do it. Later I was in the Hitler Youth and was ashamed for my mother to see me.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Solidarity Call Out - June 30th - Support the Strike - Stop the Cuts
VISIT : March 26th Movement - The Alternative Platform on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_195577873809391&ap=1#!/pages/March-26th-Movement-Alternative-Platform/207218579290202
March 26th Movement Blog Here :
http://themarch26thmovement.blogspot.com/
Monday, June 20, 2011
Final Call to Mobilise for the Mumia Abu Jamal Demonstration at US Embassy London on 24th June at 5pm to 7pm
DEMONSTRATE
Outside the
US EMBASSY
GROSVENOR SQUARE
nearest tube Marble Arch
on 24th June at 5-7pm
For FREEDOM FOR
MUMIA
And ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
Contact:
thePanAfrikanVoice @gmail.com
FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA
Sunday, June 19, 2011
19th June - 25th Anniversary of Prison Massacre in Peru
«... the prisoners of war, like the great masses of history,go on winning battles beyond the grave, because they live and fight within us, conquering new victories. We feel their vigorous and indelible presence shining and palpitating, teaching us today, tomorrow and forever how to give ones lives for the Party and the revolution.»
Glory to the Day of Heroism! Chairman Gonzalo
At the beginning of his 1985–1990 term, President Alan García demonstrated an interest in changing the counter-subversive strategy of his predecessor, Fernando Belaúnde Terry, with the purpose of reducing human rights violations against the civilian population, by calling on the civil society to propose solutions to the problem of political violence in Peru.
Despite such rhetoric of peace and non violence his government authorized a swift and violent takeover of the prisons to regain control, placing Peru's human rights violations back into the national and international spotlight.
Riots
June 18, 1986 6:00 AM Lima - Peru, prisoners rioted within multiple prison facilities in Lima and Callao. The riots took place while a congress of the Socialist International, of which Alan García's APRA political party was a member, was being conducted in Lima. The prisoners in San Juan de Lurigancho, El Frontón, and the women's prison in Santa Mónica, who had tacit control of the prison interiors, rose up and took prison guards and three journalists as hostages. They demanded the immediate release of 500 people imprisoned for terrorism. García and his government were caught off-guard by the uprising. At 10:00 AM an emergency cabinet session began with the participation of García and military commanders. Three hours later, the Minister of the Interior, Abel Salinas, announced that if the prisoners did not surrender, the prisons would be retaken by force. .
Negotiations
The government of Peru sent a negotiating commission formed by Caesar Samamé, Augusto Rodriguez Rabanal and Fernando Cabieses, arriving at El Frontón Prison at 4:30 PM. However, negotiations did not bring about results.
Assault
6:00 PM, as the negotiations failed, the order to assault the prisons was given. The first attack began in the women's prison at Santa Mónica, where the Republican Guard, which at the time was responsible for protecting Peru's borders and prisons, regained control relatively quickly. They demolished a wall and sent tear and paralyzing gases into the prison. In two hours the hostages were released, and two people had died.
At midnight, June 19, the assault on the prison on the island of El Frontón commenced. The assault was carried out under the command of the Peruvian Navy. The director of the prison, a judge, and the public prosecutor had protested against the Navy's intervention, and declared that they were no longer responsible for what occurred inside the prison as a result of the assault. Meanwhile, from the island of El Frontón the vice-minister of the Interior, Agustín Mantilla, announced that the island was under the control of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces as it had been declared a restricted military zone.
Later, the Navy, with Naval Infantry support, attacked the "Blue Ward" of El Frontón, which was where Shining Path members were imprisoned. The walls of the prison were then destroyed with the aid of helicopters. During the assault three members of the Peruvian Armed Forces, one of the hostages, and 135 prisoners were killed. Simultaneously, Republican Guard SWAT team arrived at Lurigancho prison, and placed explosives around the outer wall of the Industrial Pavilion Part prison where the Shining Path held hostages. A joint offensive by troops of the Republican Guard and the Peruvian Army followed. At 3:00 am, after heavy fighting with guns and grenades, Hours later, numerous prisoners that occupied the building lay dead: most had been executed, one by one, by a shot to the nape of the neck.
According to a cable from the United States Department of State, "at least 100 prisoners were summarily executed." The Peruvian government itself concluded that all 124 rebellious prisoners in Lurigancho prison died in the assault, and that no fewer than 90 were victims of extrajudicial executions.
The national and international scandal that resulted from this multiple crime was enormous. During President García's delayed visit to the scene of the events, he declared that there were two possibilities: "either they [the terrorist] go or I go." Nevertheless nothing was ever done to punish the guilty. In fact, Luis Giampietri, the orchestrator of the massacre at El Frontón, would later become Alan García's vice president
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Democracy vs Mythology: The Battle in Syntagma Square
Source:http://sturdyblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/democracy-vs-mythology-the-battle-in-syntagma-square/
I recently discovered this excellent article on the Internet ,it addresses the racist stereotyping of Greece and Spain has the protests against austerity have reached a new pitch.We must vigourously defend our militant class brothers and sisters in Greece and Spain from these slanders of the media.Make sure this article on Greece gets circulated on the web. This most miltant section of the working class in Europe needs our solidarity - the battle for democracy and socialism rages in Greece.See also Chris Giov's article on the Democracy of the Squares here:http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/2011/06/democracy-is-born-in-squares-by-kris.html
Editor of Democracy and Class Struggle : Nickglais
I have never been more desperate to explain and more hopeful for your understanding of any single fact than this: The protests in Greece concern all of you directly.
What is going on in Athens at the moment is resistance against an invasion; an invasion as brutal as that against Poland in 1939. The invading army wears suits instead of uniforms and holds laptops instead of guns, but make no mistake – the attack on our sovereignty is as violent and thorough. Private wealth interests are dictating policy to a sovereign nation, which is expressly and directly against its national interest. Ignore it at your peril. Say to yourselves, if you wish, that perhaps it will stop there. That perhaps the bailiffs will not go after the Portugal and Ireland next. And then Spain and the UK. But it is already beginning to happen. This is why you cannot afford to ignore these events.
The powers that be have suggested that there is plenty to sell. Josef Schlarmann, a senior member of Angela Merkel’s party, recently made the helpful suggestion that we should sell some of our islands to private buyers in order to pay the interest on these loans, which have been forced on us to stabilise financial institutions and a failed currency experiment. (Of course, it is not a coincidence that recent studies have shown immense reserves of natural gas under the Aegean sea).
China has waded in, because it holds vast currency reserves and more than a third are in Euros. Sites of historical interest like the Acropolis could be made private. If we do not as we are told, the explicit threat is that foreign and more responsible politicians will do it by force. Let’s make the Parthenon and the ancient Agora a Disney park, where badly paid locals dress like Plato or Socrates and play out the\
fantasies of the rich.
It is vital to understand that I do not wish to excuse my compatriots of all blame. We did plenty wrong. I left Greece in 1991 and did not return until 2006. For the first few months I looked around and saw an entirely different country to the one I had left behind. Every billboard, every bus shelter, every magazine page advertised low interest loans. It was a free money give-away. Do you have a loan that you cannot manage? Come and get an even bigger loan from us and we will give you a free lap-dance as a bonus. And the names underwriting those advertisements were not unfamiliar: HSBC, Citibank, Credit Agricole, Eurobank, etc.
Regretfully, it must be admitted that we took this bait “hook, line and sinker”. The Greek psyche has always had an Achilles’ heel; an impending identity crisis. We straddle three Continents and our culture has always been a melting pot reflective of that fact. Instead of embracing that richness, we decided we were going to be definitively European; Capitalist; Modern; Western. And, damn it, we were going to be bloody good at it. We were going to be the most European, the most Capitalist, the most Modern, the most Western. We were teenagers with their parents’ platinum card.
I did not see a pair of sunglasses not emblazoned with Diesel or Prada. I did not see a pair of flip-flops not bearing the logo of Versace or D&G. The cars around me were predominantly Mercedes and BMWs. If anyone took a holiday anywhere closer than Thailand, they kept it a secret. There was an incredible lack of common sense and no warning that this spring of wealth may not be inexhaustible. We became a nation sleepwalking toward the deep end of our newly-built, Italian-tiled swimming pool without a care that at some point our toes may not be able to touch the bottom.
That irresponsibility, however, was only a very small part of the problem. The much bigger part was the emergence of a new class of foreign business interests ruled by plutocracy, a church dominated by greed and a political dynasticism which made a candidate’s surname the only relevant consideration when voting. And while we were borrowing and spending (which is affectionately known as “growth”), they were squeezing every ounce of blood from the other end through a system of corruption so gross that it was worthy of any banana republic; so prevalent and brazen that everyone just shrugged their shoulders and accepted it or became part of it.
I know it is impossible to share in a single post the history, geography and mentality which has brought this most beautiful corner of our Continent to its knees and has turned one of the oldest civilisations in the world from a source of inspiration to the punchline of cheap jokes. I know it is impossible to impart the sense of increasing despair and helplessness that underlies every conversation I have had with friends and family over the last few months. But it is vital that I try, because the dehumanisation and demonisation of my people appears to be in full swing.
I read, agog, an article in a well-known publication which essentially advocated that the Mafia knew how to deal properly with people who didn’t repay their debts; that “a baseball bat may be what’s needed to fix the never ending Greek debt mess”. The article proceeded to justify this by rolling out a series of generalisations and prejudices so inaccurate and so venomous that, had one substituted the word “Greeks” with “Blacks” or “Jews”, the author would have been hauled in by the police and charged with hate crimes. (I always include links, but not in this case – I am damned if I will create more traffic for that harpy).
Mobilise for Free Mumia Abu Jamal Demonstration at US Embassy on the 24th June between 5-7pm
DEMONSTRATE
Outside the
US EMBASSY
GROSVENOR SQUARE
nearest tube Marble Arch
on 24th June at 5-7pm
For FREEDOM FOR
MUMIA
And ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
Contact:
thePanAfrikanVoice @gmail.com
FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA
Balance of military forces in Nepal - in relation to PLA integration into NA by Peter Tobin
Democracy and Class Struggle has received this report from our comrade in Nepal Peter Tobin on the current status of PLA military integration.We share Peter's concerns about current developments.
Democracy and Class Struggle welcomes the decision of the UCPN (Maoist) to call a Party Congress later this year has a positive move to resolve differences and unite the party.
Balance of military forces in Nepal - in relation to PLA integration into NA.
****************************************************
Before reporting on arguments around the integration into NA, (as per terms of 2005 CPA) of approximately 20,000 PLA cadre, it is necessary to understand the overwhelming logistical and numerical apparent superiority of the military available to the reactionary parties through the state apparatus.
The Nepalese Army has 95,000 active personal. It has been well-armed by India, US, UK, Russia and Israel. Its officer caste are trained in India, US and UK, and its high command is profoundly anti- maobaadi (viz 2008 coup against Prachanda-led coalition).
Last year PM Nepal - the unelected UML, GS, and Delhi's placeman after Prachanda - threatened to unlease the forces at his disposal against any "Maoist attempt to seize state power", during the May manifestations. There is no doubt that NA general staff would have complied.
It receives $1.7 billion from US though the EMET programme which is jointly funded by Defense/State Departments, and funnelled through, the euphemistically titled: EIPC (Enhanced International Peacekeeping Capabilities)
Further military networking and synching occurs through OCD (Office for Defense Co-operation) convened under CINCPAC (US Commander-in Chief - Pacific).
The OCD office is in the American Embassy - I have tried to take a picture of this Reich Protector's bunker - It is architecturally the projection of ugly American power and I wanted to attach it to my comments, but was taken in by Nepalese embassy police -jointly controlled by the Americans, and questioned for an hour, photos copied and then deleted, mobile phone nos taken and personal details and my photo taken. I was told it was against the law, but was shown no proof, was read no rights, and was not offered legal representation. (I tried to tell them of my construction background, and how, aesthetically, I was interested in grotesque, fascist-brutalist architecture, but to little effect)
Initially, this growing,post 9/11 relationship, with the US, compromised it 'traditional' neo-colonial subservience to India, but as each share an equal detestation and fear of Maoism, and so, along with Nepalese quislings form a unholy triumvirate, in opposition, by fair means or foul, to Maoist advance.
Add to NA figures another 40,000 heavily armed paramilitaries - 'Armed Police Force' and potentially, the reactionary static classes have access approximately 150,000, active military/para-military personal - equipped with new, and well-tried weaponry - a huge superiority of man, and fire-power, over about 20,000 PLA men.
It is almost certain that there is a contingency plan, in Washington and Delhi, should all means and stratagems fail, of imposing a Chilean-style solution, in the event of Maoists taking state power, through a People' revolt.
Right now Kathmandu has the formal appearance of a city under a military dictatorship; it is an armed camp, soldiers or paras, bristling with guns are either on every street corner, patrolling, or charging about in personnel carriers. Every government, or significant building is guarded and fortified.
There are dozens of military barracks - large and small - scattered throughout Kathmandu - like chocolate chips in a cookie, and holding thousands of soldiers and police.
After obviously noting the traditional Lee Enfield, Sterling, and AK 47s, I can now spot Heckler-Kochs, Galils, and Insas; Kmandu must be one of the most heavily military infested cities in the world, with troops, paras, primed, preened, and ubiquitous.
Many among NA ranks have combat experience, not just against the PLA from 1996 to 2005, but as UN 'peacekeepers' and US mercenaries in Iraq and Somalia. Sending a further contingent to NATO-occupied Afghanistan is now being given strong government consideration. The High Command are in favour, as it develops their policy of building a flat up Washington's arse.
All these forces fall under the remit of the NDC (National Defence Counsel), which the principle members are the PM, the Home Minister and the CoS. Its recommendations go to the President - who has replaced the King - since 2008 as the ultimate Commander.
(That's 'democracy' folks - replacing the rule of one man and his advisers by another man and his. It was, in fact, a functional and symbolic a change of class power, the feudal succumbing to the Bhradralok dressed up in the forms of democracy, and the latter, for the second time since 1990, both riding on, and betraying, the Peoples' revolutions of 1990 and 2006)
All this looks bleak on paper - so needs to be heavily qualified: The NA is not completely homogeneous, demographically Nepal is a young country, youth unemployment is high, in the cities and countryside; the army is therefore an attractive magnet. (They held a recruitment rally in one of gardens in Tudikhel park near city-centre, and thousands turned up last Friday). Many of recruits are, like their peer group, naive, friendly, and curious. (I get asked the same question by bored sentries, as I do everywhere: 'kun desh aaunuhuncha? kina Nepalma basnuhuncha? - Where from? Why Nepal? etc. Always in the polite form.)
It reflects the diversity of communities, and ethnic groups in Nepal, and whether it would follow a blood-thirsty, anti-Maoist, officer caste, through whatever gates of hell they might choose to open up, is moot; tragically, dozens were shot by the RNA and AP, during both Andolans, but it could have been much higher.
One of the reasons CoS, Thapa, ran to the King after 19 days of popular, determined agitation, to tell him the war was lost, was said to be significant rank-and-file revulsion at what killings had occurred and definite reluctance to be active butchers in further killings of their own people.
In the short-term they might well participate in a 'crack down' or, indeed, a coup. But whether they are capable of the sustained murderous sadism that all ranks showed, following Kissinger's 1972 coup,in the CIA trained Chilean army - is doubtful.
Uncertainty regarding the unswerving loyalty of the NA's lower ranks, is one reason its officer caste, through the high command, have prevaricated over integrating committed PLA cadre into its ranks, is the fear of 'Bolshevik' contagion spreading among the NA rank-and-file.
It is worth noting that UPCN(M) Politbureau member, CP Gajurel was quoted as saying, to the effect, that the paramilitary Armed Police Force was a greater threat than the NA.
But the biggest reason not to over-awed by the raw statistics is; this was the same military machine, that, despite complying with the axiom of warfare that requires those attacking a fortified, or entrenched position to possess, no less than a 3 to 1 majority over a defender,could not defeat, or even out-manoeuvre the PLA, for the best of a decade. Despite $20 billion US aid, swelling its ranks from 50,000 to 70,000, in the few years following 2002, it signally failed to defeat, or roll-back the Mobaadi,
To the contrary it was pushed out of more and more of the countryside, and into its city strongholds, where the Maoists now faced the attacker's dilemma. A few attempts, around 2002, to break into Kmandu had been costly and easily repulsed - to send the PLA in frontally, or even to try insert them into urban areas, would have been military suicide.
This stalemate led the Maoists to adapt the PPW and move from an armed phase, to a political one, by making a tactical alliance with reactionary parties against the, by now, common monarchical enemy, in order; first to overthrow feudalism, and second, equally important, to gain access to the urban masses and bring them into the revolution.
The balance of forces is exactly the same today as it was in 2006, except that the PLA - still in brigade structure and still with access to weapons - is re-located in cantonments as per the CPA, and it underlines the importance of the PLA to the Party and the People.
It why the UCPN(M) has consistently refused the demands of the political/military reactionaries; to dilute, dismantle or disarm this crucial armed section of the proletariat.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Modern India: Arundhati Roy and Siddhartha Deb
Democracy and Class Struggle does not agree with all the views expressed in this interview about Maoism, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution but we know which side of the Peoples Struggle in India that Arundhati Roy is on.
Her criticism is that of a friend and not an enemy.
Check out the following books by Mobo Gao and Minqi Li for an alternative view to anti - Mao History.
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/2008/05/battle-for-chinaa-past-mao-and-cultural.html
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/2008/11/rise-of-china-and-demise-of-world.html
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The last hours of Pompeii (some thoughts from Syntagma today) From the Greek Streets
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Syntagma, Athens, June 15th 2011. How to put to words what we lived in this square, over the course of a single day?
A society in some spectacular turmoil; the most unusual of suspects have now taken to the streets. Syntagma was meant to be the epicentre of today’s attempt to block off Parliament as called by the square’s popular assembly. It was also the main focus point of the General Strike. At times, it felt like worlds in collusion: the naivety of pacificism, the fetischisation of anti-police violence. And around this collusion, a myriad others… In Syntagma today we fought off the Neo-nazis of the Golden Dawn, who had the nerve to show up at a General Strike. We saw the demonstrators’ clashing with police in the square’s South-eastern corner (for an unjustifiably long time) being followed by an astonishing, but only momentary, sweeping clean of the thousands on its square. People were trampled over tents, gassed like ants, fainting all over. By the time that the Delta motorcycle police tried to come into play, people had learnt the rules of the game — and they pushed them off. Twelve hours of nearly uninterrupted beating, tear-gassing, running, fighting. For these twelve hours, Syntagma compressed and showed naked the haphazard patterns into which people’s actions are cornered by this social order. A social order that is crumbling, an authority at loss, unable to manage its populace any longer. A regime that has fallen a while ago, only resting on the fallacy of some imagined national unity to try engineer change, to lengthen its days.
How can we possibly buy this? The hundreds of thousands who were out in Athens today already know: Syntagma was a storm; we are just waiting for the thunder.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Arundhati Roy speaks at Friends Meeting House London on 12th June 2011
Rest to be uploaded soon ! We will publish more videos of Arundhati Roy meeting videos as soon as they become available.
Free Mumia Abu Jamal - Demonstrate at US Embassy London on the 24th June 2011 between 5-7pm
DEMONSTRATE Outside the US EMBASSY
24 GROSVENOR SQ
LONDON W1
JUNE 24th 2011
5pm -7pm
FOR FREEDOM FOR MUMIA
Mumia has been in prison for 30 years for a crime he did not commit.Mumia is innocent .He is a political prisoner.Mumia should be released unconditionally immediately
FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA FREE MUMIA
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW !!!
Call U.S. Department of Justice Main Switchboard 202-514-2000
Public Comment Line 202-353-1555
Email US Attorney General :
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.
Ask for a civil rights investigation into the 28 plus years of violations of Mumia's rights in the court system, and also into the history of surveillance and targeting of Mumia when he was only a teenager
Contact:
ThePanAfrikanVoice@gmail.com
07597078221/07949738851
Mumia is innocent
Mumia Abu Jamal, a former Black Panther, investigative journalist and human rights activist was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer. Mumia has been on Death Row for 29 years. Amnesty International said the trial did not meet basic standards of fairness. Mumia is innocent