Brian Leeson National Chairperson of Eirigi released by Garda without charge

Mr Mac Cionnaith Eirigi General Secretary stated Brian Leeson, national chairperson of republican socialist party, éirigí, had been released from Garda custody without charge just before 10pm last night.

“Brian’s arrest and detention,” he claimed, “was a cynical exercise by the gardaí designed to foster a climate of black propaganda and misinformation within sections of the media directed against Brian and against our party in general.”

“Brian’s release, without charge, confirms our view that his arrest had a clear political motivation.”

More attacks on Eirigi by British and Irish States - North and South of the border

Recent Statements from Eirigi

éirígí confirm Ursula Shannon is party member

29/11/12

In a statement issued tonight (Thursday), éirígí general secretary Breandán Mac Cionnaith has confirmed that Ursula Ní Shionnáin is a member of the socialist republican party.

Mac Cionnaith said, “It is well-known fact that Ursula Ní Shionnáin is a member of éirígí and has been for several years. The party is not seeking to hide or minimise that fact in any way.

“That she has now been charged following her arrest under the Offences against the State Act is also a matter of public fact.

“Even though she has been charged, I am conscious that Ursula is still entitled to a presumption of innocence.

“Unlike some sections of the media during the past forty-eight hours, éirígí is not prepared to engage in prejudicial comment about this case.

“Neither will we do or say anything which could possibly undermine or jeopardise Ursula’s legal defence in any way.

“Therefore, the party will not be taking any steps to distance itself from Ursula.

“However, I have no doubt that some of the more sensationalist media outlets will try to exploit Ursula’s arrest to insinuate all sorts of conspiracy theories and to engage in McCarthy-like ‘reds under the beds’ hysteria against éirígí. That, of course, will be nothing new.”

Further example of political policing in Newry

29/11/12

éirígí spokesperson John McCusker has said that an early morning raid upon the home of one of their activists, Stephen Murney, and his subsequent arrest in Newry yesterday demonstrates yet again the political nature of the PSNI.

“Stephen is well-known as an éirígí party member in the Newry area who is very active within his local community. For the past couple of years, the PSNI have conducted a lengthy and intense campaign of harassment against him.

“Independent human rights organisations are currently investigating this campaign of harassment against Stephen and other people in the Newry area. Indeed, they have documented evidence detailing this open political victimisation. It has included constant stop and search procedures, harassment, assaults, house searches and threats from the PSNI officers – all carried out under the guise of so-called ‘anti-terror’ legislation.

“This morning, the PSNI seized items from Stephen’s home which included éirígí party literature and personal items belonging to him and other members of his family. Stephen was then arrested and taken to Antrim Holding Centre. Relatives of Stephen believe the PSNI chose this morning for this particular exercise for simple the reason that the PSNI would have known it was his birthday.”

McCusker added, “Many of Stephen’s neighbours gathered beside his home this morning in a show of solidarity and to demonstrate their abhorrence of the PSNI’s actions. I would commend those people for showing such communal solidarity with Stephen and his family.

“Serious questions must be asked about the overt and aggressive political policing which is becoming a daily occurrence, not only in Newry but right across the Six Counties.

“Contrary to the message preached by constitutional nationalist parties, the era of political policing has never ended,” concluded McCusker.

Flames, Fury & Frustration: Arab Spring spins into Arab Winter?

Nasser on Muslim Brotherhood in 1953 and Samir Amin on Muslim Brotherhood in 2012

The Samir Amin Video is from 2011 but its message for Egypt Today is very clear.

The Muslim Brotherhood -- which is part of the power system -- should not be considered merely as an "Islamic party," but first and foremost as an ultra reactionary party that is, moreover, Islamist. Reactionary not only concerning what are known as "social issues" (the veil, sharia, anti-Coptic discrimination), but also, and to the same degree, reactionary in the fundamental areas of economic and social life: the Brotherhood is against strikes, workers' demands, independent workers' unions, the movement of resistance against the expropriation of farmers, etc

Samir Amin
Monthly Review June 2012
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/amin300612.html

Eirígí condemns arrest of party chairperson - Brian Leeson

Picture Brian Leeson


29.11.2012

The socialist republican party, éirígí, has condemned the arrest and continued detention of the party’s national chairperson, Brian Leeson.

Leeson was arrested by gardaí at his home late on Tuesday evening.

In a statement strongly condemning Leeson’s arrest and detention, the party’s general secretary, Breandán Mac Cionnaith said, “Brian Leeson was arrested at his home by gardaí late on Tuesday evening.

“Neither the party nor Brian’s family are aware of any reason why the gardaí should have chosen either to arrest or continue to detain him.

“However, it is clear that some sections of the press have engaged in ill-founded comment in relation to Brian’s arrest in terms that can only be described as highly sensationalist speculation. Such coverage is undoubtedly and quite obviously highly prejudicial.

“Brian has played a central role in organising opposition to the austerity policies being implemented by the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition in Leinster House.

With further austerity and anti-working class measures due to be announced within the next few weeks, we are of the view that this arrest and the accompanying coverage by some media outlets is designed to undermine opposition to this forthcoming budget and to attack our party.

“We also believe that it is more than just mere coincidence that Brian’s arrest came just over a week after the party voted at our annual Ard Fheis to contest local government elections in the 26 Counties.

“We fully believe that these things are most certainly not unconnected.”

Nepal : The upcoming Party Conference/Assembly will bring about a solid and meaningful plan - Comrade Kiran

Below is an interview with Comrade Baidya aka Kiran in Nepal Telegraph in which he points to importance of upcoming Party Conference/Assembly

TGQ1: Paradoxically as it seems that your party, the NCP-Maoists has been voicing for the demand of a new government whereas the parliamentary parties too have been making similar claims.

Tell us that isn’t the entire talks emanating from various parties were revolving around formation of a new government?

The talks appear to have centered on the periphery of the government only?

Baidya: It can be interpreted in two ways. The first one is apparently centered on having a government only for the sake of government by replacing the incumbent one. The second one is that when we demand a new government then it has some theoretical and ideological premise. What we feel is that if a new government is formed under the command of the revolutionaries then something substantial could be done for the country.

This is our theoretical base on which our demand stands. But yet what we have begun observing of late is that things are becoming more and more grave. Even if we conduct yet another poll for the Constituent Assembly, we feel that such a body could not provide the nation with a new constitution. At this juncture and with the prevailing situation, what is for sure is that we see no chances of the formation of a government under the command of the revolutionaries.

This is what I am talking on practical terms. The State authority is the same old one. More over the bureaucracy too remains the same. So when everything are old in place then whatever comes to the surface will be nothing more than a goiter in the neck. What we wish to stress here is that if you in all earnest desire to transform the nation then the NC, the UML and even Bhattarai’s continued presence in government will have no impact or whatsoever. The problems will remain as it is. That is why we prefer the formation of such a government which is revolutionary in nature and be commanded by the revolutionaries.

TGQ2: Your party has been voicing for a intensive dialogue in between various parties and several other stake holders in order to get the country out from the current mess. But given the present political situation it appears that your formula will not work. Is it so or otherwise?

Baidya: Now it is more difficult. The outlet to the present transitional stalemate appears impossible even if you go in for a composite dialogue in between the parties. This method will not work now. Talking of an out let to the current deadlock in clear terms then I must say that the exit could be either those forwarded by the parliamentary parties or by the status quoists.

I think the country is moving towards that direction. The way the parties are moving, take it for granted that such a solution will never provide a constitution in people’s favor and guarantee the basic fundamental rights of the population. The vent as we need and demand is next to impossible if the manner the political parties have been moving with their own preferred stances. If you need an outlet that is in the favor of the people then the people themselves have to wage a struggle for securing their own rights and well being. We must open a new chapter once again. I tell you that the way the parties have been handling the jumbled politics will never provide with an outlet that favored people’s pressing and fundamental demands.

TGQ3: But the fact is also that the sort of struggle you desire appears not in sight? So how the things will move then?

 Also tell us that you and your party leaders allege other parties as parliamentarian parties which should then mean that your party prefers now to detach itself from the parliamentary patterns ?

What say you?

Baidya: To tell you frankly, we have not yet begun the process of struggle as stated by you. Our prime agenda at the moment is centered on conducting the first General Assembly of the new party. This is our prime agenda as of today. We will definitely bring out planned drafts for waging a struggle. Programs will definitely come time permitting but only when we plan it well.

It is because of this no solid programs as such as regards our struggle or for that matter the movement have not come to the surface. For the time being we have brought out some simple programs. A planned way of struggle has yet to come to the public. General Assembly is our primary agenda, as stated earlier. It would be after this General Assembly where we will have intensive debates and discussion and the ideas thus collected which will be condensed and later a solidified, effective and meaningful program of struggle will be announced.

It is on these lines we have been thinking of late. As regards your attached question, let me remind you that the initiation of the ten years long people’s war was against the monarchical parliamentary system. When you talk of the parliamentary system with monarchy then it means that you are talking of a particular system. When we have jumped into what we call against the old system then it should automatically mean that we are opposed to parliamentarianism. It is very natural. That’s why we are not the followers of the old system that is of the parliamentary pattern.

TGQ4: You waged a ten year long people’s war but which could not let the people feel of any tangible change as promised.

Is it that the people are reluctant in supporting your proposed movement because of this?

What say you?

Baidya: Very pertinent question you have raised. Yes! We went for a ten year long people’s war which could not bring about any qualitative changes in the life styles of the people. We underwent through a grave cheat and deceit. In many countries across the globe, there are least evidences wherein you could find that the central leadership have cheated the people. But in Nepal, the central command of the party itself cheated the people ultimately.

That is why it was due to this swindle, things were not what was expected of the people’s war. The people’s war could not found its real objective and thus suffered a serious setback. This is the situation the country felt. The nation landed in a different political situation because of this hold up. Yes! I admit that what had been promised during the initial days of the people’s war could not transform the country in a desired manner.

TGQ5: So looking at the present day situation, what your party thinks on getting the country out from the current mess?

What is your party’s fresh line of thought as regards the prevailing situation?

Baidya: Well, talking of the safe passage to the country’s current ailments, the talk of the restoration of the CA body, and election of the CA is consuming much of the time. The politics is revolving round these issues. The people now do not in favor of the slogan for Constituent Assembly nor it is with the revolutionaries instead it has slipped into the hands of the opportunists. That is why let us not boggle our minds in talking these redundant issues.

It will have no meaning as such. We must now push the people’s agenda of nationalism, People’s Republic and of the livelihood and for that I think we should wage a struggle now. The people have no other alternative than what I just stated. Even the revolutionaries do not have any other suitable option with them. We must have transformation through the struggle.

But how to make it all pervasive one will be very much debated and decided by our party’s upcoming General Assembly. This GA will bring about a solid and meaningful plan on how to proceed in the days ahead. People’s constitution could only be drafted through the street protests. It will come through people’s struggle from the streets. This is the main point. CA body has no meaning now as regards the new constitution.

Source of Interview : http://www.telegraphnepal.com/five-questions/2012-11-29/nepal:-ncp-maoist-is-not-follower-of-parliamentary-system.html

Free Mumia Abu Jamal campaign events over the weekend of 7 - 9 December to mark the 31st anniversary of Mumia's arrest and imprisonment.

There will be three campaign events over the weekend of 7 - 9 December to mark the31st anniversary of Mumia's arrest and imprisonment.

Friday 7th December, 4.00 - 6.30 pm

Picket at US Embassy

Grosvenor Square

London W1A 2LQ

nearest underground, Bond Street

Saturday 8th December, 1.00-3.00 pm

Rally at Brixton Tube station

Brixton Road

London SW9 8HE

Sunday 9th December, 5.00 - 7.30 pm

Film showing of Cointelpro re US counterintelligence programme against Black Panthers and others, followed by discussion

365 Brixton Road

London SW9 7DA

nearest underground station, Brixton

Marikana Meeting in Brixton - London - Speech by Cecil Gutzmore of Marikana Miners Solidarity Campaign on Afrikan Liberation

Please join us in solidarity with the Marikana Miners as we continue our regular picket this Thursday, 29th November:

There are weekly pickets at Embassy of the South Afrikan Neo Colony.

Join us on Thursday, 29th November:

Picket from 4.00pm – 7.00pm  ( Picket every week)

Embassy of the South Afrikan Neocolony

South Africa House Trafalgar Square

London WC2N 5DP

Please spread the work. Revolutionary regards

Cecil Gutzmore Marikana Miners Solidarity Campaign (MMSC)

See Also :
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/behind-marikana-massacre-and-wave-of.html


Democracy and Class Struggle applauds the speech of Brother Cecil Gutzmore in Brixton has it goes to the heart of the question, national liberation without the necessary social liberation from capitalism just results in neo colonialism. 

The Great Unrest Group 2012 for a Welsh Socialist Republican Party calls for the immediate release of Brian Leeson chairperson of Eirigi

The Great Unrest Group 2012 for a Welsh Socialist Republican Party calls for the immediate release of Brian Leeson Chairperson of Eirigi who was arrested by Irish Republic Political Police in Dublin last night.

Release Brian Leeson Now ! Brian Leeson Chairperson of Eirigi arrested in Dublin last night

Picture of Brian Leeson of Eirigi


Democracy and Class Struggle calls for the immediate release of Brian Leeson  !

It is our view that the educational campaign of Eirigi exposing Special Branch and MI5 activity against the membership of Eirigi  is one of the reasons for this arrest - all democrats should protest his arrest and protest Special Branch and MI5 interference in democratic organisations in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Although his arrest is in Dublin we suspect the Irish Republic's Political Police and British MI5 are working together to undermine Eirigi's' success throughout Ireland.

We have always admired Eirigi's creative anti austerity campaigning throughout Ireland - we call for end to  Political Policing  north and south of the Irish border - free Brian Leeson Now !.

Make yourself aware of the recent publications and videos from Eirigi exposing Special Branch and MI5 activity here . A Recent Eirigi video is here :

Brian Leeson, the leader of an Irish republican group which left from Sinn Féin has been arrested at his home in Dublin.

 

 

Éirígí does not have an armed wing but has a reputation for taking part in confrontational protests on both sides of the border.

 

An Éirígí activist has confirmed toChannel 4 News that the republican group's leader was arrested but claimed they had little information on the possible motivations for the arrest.

 

Brian Leeson is a former prominent activist with Sinn Fein. He led a breakaway from the party in 2006 and took a number of dedicated activists with him.

 

Councillor Minihan, who is the group's only elected representative in the republic of Ireland, told Channel 4 News that she believes the move is "political policing at its best" and say the group's high profile protests have made them a target for police.

 

The Dublic City councillor stressed that the organisation is a legitimate political party and has no idea why their leader was arrested.

 

Irish police have said they will not comment on individual cases.

 

Members of Éirígí came out to lead protests during the Royal visit to Dublin last year, beheading an effigy of the monarch outside the GPO, and last July Cllr Minihan was jailed having refused to pay a court imposed fine after throwing paint at the house of former Minister for Health, Mary Harney

.

The group has been associated with prominent dissident republicans like Colin Duffy, Dominic McGlinchey junior, and convicted Massereene barracks murderer Brian Shivers, who had attended their meetings.

The group's Cork branch confirmed their leader was arrested and called for activists to gather outside the police station where they believe he is being held.

 

"Éirígí Chairperson Brian Leeson was arrested last night at his home by political police.

Éirígí is holding a protest at Lucan Garda Barracks at 8pm tonight," the group's Facebook read.

Source: Channel 4 News

See Also : Secret Justice no Justice at All here :
http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest241112.html
 

The Committee to Support the Revolution in India welcomes the holding of the International Conference in Support of the People's War in India.

Comrades,

The Committee to Support the Revolution in India welcomes the holding of the International Conference in Support of the People's War in India.

Our Committee was formed in September 2010 following the formation of the International Committee to Support People's War in India.

Since the foundation of our Committee, we felt it was important to make know as much as possible the People's War in India in different segments of the population, as the media of the ruling classes do almost no information. Only a few organizations, some Internet sites or blogs like ours produce articles, publish photos and reports.

We have participated in the solidarity week of April 2011 and January 2012. Where organizations were already sensitized, we organized meetings and pasted posters in neighborhoods, universities and factories where we usually intervene.

This year, in preparation for this Conference, comrades from Maoist Communist Party of France, from the FRAP and from RCP-Canada have distributed thousands of leaflets and pasted hundreds of posters at the Festival of Humanite [attended by 650 000 people], in several universities, in indo-Tamil peoples neighborhoods of Paris and its suburbs.

We realized and exposed information notices on the People's War in India. This gave us the opportunity to discuss with many people who stopped to inform themselves.

We did not know that this was happening in India was often their first sentence, which encourages us to increase and improve information about this so important struggle at the international level.

In Toulouse, a few days before the conference, an initiative was organized by the Marxist-Leninist Communist Organization Proletarian Path.

For our Committee, supporting the People's War in India is opposing our own imperialism. That is why we contacted the factory workers from Michelin in Clermont-Ferrand who opposed the implementation of a Michelin plant in Tamil Nadu. A concert-meeting should be held in this city in the coming months thanks to young comrades of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Youth and the Occitan revolutionary organization "Libertat".

We do not see this conference as an end but as a beginning to expand our activity to all who are willing to support the People's War in India. That is why we plan to organize other meetings in other cities after this conference, because the activity of the committee and the other initiatives of other comrades or forces ready to promote and support the people's war must continue in order to amplify as much as possible this solidarity.

People's war in India is a support to the struggle of other peoples of the world, so it should also be made known to those who struggle in other countries for the same purpose : the national and social liberation.

We believe that this conference will have positive repercussions for boosting international support for the People's War in India and through our work, the echoes of the Comrades struggle in India will reach the heart of the factories, neighborhoods and universities around the world.

Lets draw revolutionary inspiration that comrades in India are bring us to feed the just revolt of the peoples around the world and transform it into a revolution.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE'S WAR IN INDIA  !

LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY OF PEOPLES   !

Committee to Support the Revolution in India

Hamburg

November 24th, 2012

Red Salute from Democracy and Class Struggle to Big Successful Conference in Hamburg in Support of People's War in India

Press release

Internationalist gathers in Hamburg in Support of the People’s War in India

On the 24th of November the International Conference in Support of the People´s War in India took place in the city of Hamburg, Germany. Following the joint Call of the International Committee to Support of the People’s War in India and the Hamburg based League against Imperialist Aggression, internationalists from different parts of the world came together to exchange views on who to develop the international work in support of the struggle of the Indian people against imperialism, semi-feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism.

Delegations, organizations and individuals from Afghanistan, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Croatia Columbia, France, Germany, Holland, Iran, Italy, Kurdistan, Norway, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Galice and Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and many other countries participated in the Conference, Messages from India, Tunisie, Nepal..  Some 300 hundred persons attended the event.

Communist Parties, revolutionary mass-organizations, revolutionary youth organizations and solidarity and anti-imperialist organizations from all corners of the world made statements of support to the Indian comrades. From many countries from where comrades and friends of the Indian Maoists were not able to attend with a delegation sent messages of support. A list of the participating Parties and Organizations and all the speeches and messages will be published in the upcoming days on the website of the Conference: www.indienkonferenz.tk

On the same webpage pictures from the Conference as well as information of the preparatory campaign - including the official video of mobilization, the graffiti paintings, posters and so forth – can be seen.

The Conference also contained a cultural program with music groups preformed Swedish folk music, German Rap and Revolutionary songs in Turkish, all in a profound anti-imperialist spirit.

An important statement was made by a Palestinian comrade, who pointed out who the struggle of the Indian people are linked to the resistance against the murderous Zionist Occupiers and their Yankee-imperialist masters. At the end of the speak slogans in support of the heroic Palestinian people resounded the hall. The organizers of the Conference stated a strong condemnation of the barbaric attacks on the population of Gaza.

Another important feature of the Conference was the great number of youth who participated, not only as participants but also as part of the organizing structures. This aspect, together with the truly internationalist character of the event, gave it a very vivid and dynamic character.

After the official part of the program delegates and participants continued to celebrate and long into the night revolutionary songs in many different languages and anti-imperialist, militant antifascist and communist slogans made the tune of a rejoicing feast of internationalism.

As a result of the Conference concrete steps have been made in the Coordination of the forces who support the People’s War in India. This without a doubt will have very real impact on the international work and lead to a stronger international campaign.

When we wrote the Call to the Conference we stated that we wanted it to be a vivid expression of proletarian internationalism. It was. Form the Hamburg Conference sounds a cry that says:

We stand with our comrades in India!

Victory to the People’s War!

International Committee to Support the People’s War in India

League against Imperialist Aggression (Hamburg, Germany) 

Statement from Maoist Communist Party of France at Hamburg International Conference to Support People's War in India 0n 24th November 2012

Comrades,

Maoist Communist Party of France salutes the International Conference convened today in Hamburg to provide and develop international solidarity to the People's War in India led by the Communist Party of India-Maoist.

In this period of crisis of imperialism, the people’s war in India should be a source of inspiration for all communists, revolutionaries, the working class and the peoples of the world.

The imperialists, old and new, and their watchdogs are willing to put the world to fire and sword in order to quench their thirst for profit, to redistribute wealth among themselves, to expand their spheres of influence and impose their domination against the people. This sharpens the class struggle and increases the importance of finding a revolutionary issue to this crisis.

In this context, people’s revolts against poverty and for freedom and social justice in the Arab countries have shown their limits. If the proletariat and the people’s masses don’t lead the struggle, then the ruling classes supported by imperialism hijack the just people's revolt. And then they impose through an other form the domination of imperialism and the new watchdogs by taking the place of the old ones.

Here in Europe, the specter of fascism which our people have suffered so much reappears in new forms. In the imperialist countries, regardless the color of the bourgeois governments, revolt is brewing because the consequences of the crisis become unbearable for the working class and the large majority of the people. Here and there spontaneous revolts burst of.

There is therefore a more and more pressing necessity to develop the revolutionary movement in every country around a clear line and a well-defined strategy, arming ourselves with Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

Today, to make people of the world know the reality of people's war in India is putting forward its strategic objective which is part of the struggle for the emancipation of the whole humanity. Doing this, is renewing hope in the future among the working class and the masses of the people who carry on their shoulders the burden of the crisis of imperialism. And this is showing the path to be followed to free ourselves from the capitalist imperialist system of exploitation and oppression.

People's War in India should be a source of inspiration for our people to organize resistance. We must adapt the forms of struggle to the concrete conditions of our respective countries, based on our history, our traditions of resistance and struggle, taking lessons from the victories we won in the past but also from the defeats we suffered.

People's War in India, the ones which continues in Peru and the Philippines, the ones that start again or are under preparation elsewhere in the world are a great encouragement to the people of the world.

Drawing on the example of the People's War in India, we ensure that the working class of our respective countries "lifts its head and takes control over its affairs".

This Conference, bringing together communists, revolutionaries, consistent anti-imperialists from some twenty countries, may be the starting point for a broad anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-fascist and people’s revolutionary front in connection with the struggles of our respective countries and can help to regroup communists in each country and at the international level.

LET’S EXTEND SUPPORT TO THE PEOPLE'S WAR IN INDIA !

LONG LIVE PEOPLE’S INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY !

TOGETHER, WE WILL DEFEAT THE IMPERIALIST AND THEIR WATCHDOGS !

Maoist Communist Party of France

Hamburg,

November 24th, 2012

Support Petition: We Urge the Welsh Government to withdraw Pilotless Military Drones Testing in West Wales: Great Unrest Group 2012

"‘Pilotless military drones are a major and highly dangerous development in weapons of warfare. These drones are being deployed with ease and impunity, often resulting in innocent civilian deaths.

We urge the Welsh Government to withdraw its support for the UK’s drones to be tested at Aberporth and flown over a large area of Wales.’

Support the Anti drone petition launched by Cymdeithas y Cymod

Also UK wide petition here : http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/david-cameron-end-the-secrecy-surrounding-the-use-of-british-drones

The Great Unrest Group 2012 for a Welsh Socialist Republican Party

Celtic League : West Wales Drone Site Cause for Concern

News from Celtic league

Unmanned military drone aircraft are best known for lethal attacks in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they are used to target Taliban suspects,
but in Wales the aircraft is best known for the nuisance that it causes
among residents while it is being tested over the UK’s first segregated
airspace specifically for testing drones.

Unlike in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where it has been claimed that the
unmanned aerial systems (UAS) or drones have been responsible for killing
high levels of civilians, the drone testing area in Wales, has yet to claim
its first innocent victim, but residents are increasingly angry at the high
pitched noise that the flying drones make. The designated airspace extends
inland 40 miles to the east of the Welsh coast and covers an area of 499
square miles and has been operational since 28thJuly 2011, since the Welsh
government secured permission from the United Kingdom’s Civilian Aviation
Authority (CAA) for the space to be used. General aviation pilots can still
fly through the region, as well as Royal Air Force pilots who conduct
training missions nearby. It has been reported that the airfield has been
used to test the SELEX Galileo‘Falco’ , an Italian-made unmanned airplane
that is being used by the Pakistan military to patrol border areas with
Afghanistan. Tests of other drones have also been undertaken, including the
British army’s Watchkeeper WK450, which is being built by an Israeli firm
to conduct reconnaissance, surveillance, weather and other targeting
missions and until this year has only been tested over the Irish Sea.

The UAS’s operate from an old WW2 airfield next to the Aberporth military
range on Cardigan Bay, which is currently the only centre for the testing
and evaluation of both military and civilian UAVs in the UK.

In the USA permission for the flying of drones in commercial airspace less than 400 feet is extremely difficult and is only ever given permission if the drone is operated in ‘line of sight’, but in Wales even the line of sight restriction has now been lifted.

In Australia the government has designated certain areas as ‘smart skies’, where the testing of drones is permitted under a three year programme, which is based in an airfield outside Brisbane. However Wales is significantly smaller than Australia and the risk of fatal crashes into populated areas is higher.

Residents in the Aberporth area and beyond have complained bitterly about
the noise, crash landings and mysterious lights in the sky, but the current
Welsh Government however are fully supportive of the development and
promotion of the drone airspace. The Government say that it would like to
attract commercial and military testing of their UAS’s and have argued that
this is a growth area that that will bring employment to the country.
However it was initially argued that the development of the Aberporth
airfield site would create hundreds of jobs, which locals say has not
occurred. Nevertheless the Welsh Government insists that the drone airport
and airspace will draw commercial firms from the USA and elsewhere that are
not permitted to test their drones in the same way in their own airspace.

At the Celtic League 2012 AGM in Breizh, a resolution was passed expressing
concern of the use of drones off the Welsh coast and Irish Sea, in view of
the high volume of domestic air traffic between Britain, Ireland and the
Isle of Man. It may only be a matter of time before civilian casualties are
being counted in Wales, in much the same way as they are in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

For comment or clarification on this news item in the first instance
contact:

Rhisiart Tal-e-bot,
General Secretary,
Celtic League
Tel: 0044 (0)1209 319912
M: 0044 (0)7787318666
gensec@celticleague .net

The General Secretary will determine the appropriate branch or General
Council Officer to respond to your query.

ISSUED BY THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE


Democracy and Class Struggle salutes the Celtic League for raising the concerns and supporting the people of West Wales in their oppostion to testing of these remote killing devices in Wales.

The so called "Welsh" Assembly Government in Cardiff are nothing but quislimgs of the British State machine both civil and military and the Aberporth drone testing site in West Wales which employs 30 people is their quisling contribution to "scientific development" in Wales.

See Also: http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/buzz-box-drones-tested-over-west-wales.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/no-rule-can-justify-us-drone-strikes.html


"We at the Great Unrest Group 2012 for a Welsh Socialist Republican Party thank the Celtic League for raising this important question for he people of Wales at their AGM in October.

"‘Pilotless military drones are a major and highly dangerous development in weapons of warfare. These drones are being deployed with ease and impunity, often resulting in innocent civilian deaths.

We urge the Welsh Government to withdraw its support for the UK’s drones to be tested at Aberporth and flown over a large area of Wales.’

Support  the Anti drone petition launched by Cymdeithas y Cymod

Great Unrest Group 2012 for a Welsh Socialist Republican Party

Speech of Alan Stewart of the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement at John Maclean Graveside Commemoration on 25th November 2012

I am Alan Stewart. I am a member of the Northern England branch/commun of the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement.

I welcome you to this John MacLean Commemoration.

John MacLean is talked of as Scotland's favourite Socialist Saint.

But why is he so important? Why did we commemorate him? Why do we remember him?

We remember him firstly as an internationalist. The first Soviet Consul in Scotland. He ran a consulate in Portland Street in the Gorbals.

 The Post Office refused to deliver the mail and the state wanted it shut but MacLean fought on..admired by Connolly.

We remember him as a pioneer in working class education. He himself got an MA through evening study. Later he and colleagues ran scores of classes in economics. He went on speaking tours. He wrote pamphlets. All the time spreading socialist ideas.

We remember him as an exponent of working class self organisation. Organising the unemployed. At the fore in the Clyde Workers Committee. Backing striking women workers in Neilston. All the time taking the fight to capital.

We remember him as a principled opponent of imperialist wars. He went to prison several times because of his steadfast opposition to the slaughter of World War One.

He organised anti-war rallies.

The first was at Nelson's Column on Glasgow Green. At first the anti-war movement was small but it grew.

And finally, given what is happening today, we remember him, like Connolly as someone who recognised the intextricable link between the demand for socialism and the demand for national liberation.

The national question -the right to national self determination- was a democratic demand at the heart of socialism. Not an irrelevance or an add on.

We will be marching shortly to the MacLean Cairn.

There will then be a rally and social at the Shawbridge Tavern.

Thank you comrades for your support.

All Hail the Scottish Workers' Republic!

http://scottishrepublicans.myfreeforum.org/Graveside_Oration_John_MacLean_Commemoration_Nov_25_2012_about2182.html

http://www.marxists.org/archive/maclean/

The Great Unrest Group 2012 for a Welsh Socialist Republican Party salutes the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement Commemoration of John Maclean.

Our solidarity with you is to is to to build a Welsh Socialist  Republican Party that can provide social as well as national liberation for the People of Wales.

Forward to a Scottish Socialist Republic - Forward to a Welsh Socialist Republic

No Rule can Justify US Drone Strikes - Richard Becker

For more information on Drones and UK campaign against them visit here :http://dronewarsuk.wordpress.com/

For Welsh Readers Sign the Petition of Cymdeithas y Cymod Against Drones Here:
http://www.bepj.org.uk/anti-drone-petition-launched


See Also :  http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/buzz-box-drones-tested-over-west-wales.html

Today is Kishenji's birthday we never forget u johar johar Kishenji anna ku johar

 

 

Today is Kishenji's birthday we never forget u johar johar Kishenji anna ku johar - thanks to Telengana Deva for reminding us
 

Mallojula Koteswara Rao( Kishenji)
Born  26 November 1956.
Karimnagar district, Andhra Pradesh, India

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/death-of-comrade-kishanji-all-men-must.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/first-anniversary-of-death-of-comrade_24.html

"Buzz Box" Drones tested over West Wales - enrages locals

For more information on Drones and UK campaign against them visit here : http://dronewarsuk.wordpress.com/

For Welsh Readers Sign the Petition of Cymdeithas y Cymod Against Drones Here:
http://www.bepj.org.uk/anti-drone-petition-launched

First Report from Hamburg Conference in Support of People's War in India on 24th November 2012

Picture Comrade Azad
 

The meeting in support of People's War in India in Hamburg was well attended with representatives from Maoist Communist Party of France, VP Proletarian, Maoist Party of Italy, RCP Canada, Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan, Communist Party of the Philippines, Swedish and Austrian comrades, Serve the People of Norway, Spanish and Galician comrades.

A  Marxist-Leninist youth group from France and the TKP/ML and MKP were there as well.

 

There were messages of support from Indonesia and Nepal.

 

We hope to publish a more detailed report soon

 

Newsflash : Family Statement on Marian Price

 

Family Statement on Marian Price

McGlinchey and Price family statement issued on 22 November 2012 in relation to the ongoing imprisonment of Marian Price

We as Marian's family are appalled at the lack of urgency being displayed by the Parole Commissioners who are at present reviewing her case. There is a broadly shared view both within our family and the wider community that a stalling process is being employed to delay a determinant decision. We have all been assured that these Commissioners have the powers to deliver such a verdict and this view has been continually reinforced by the Secretaries of State past and present as well as David Ford's Department o Justice and their respective appointees.

It is now 18 months since Owen Paterson employed mechanisms to revoke a license he claimed Marian was held under. She is now imprisoned for offences dating back almost 40 years. Marian has been bailed by the courts yet since May 2011 has remained in solitary confinement in prison and presently is held in an isolated hospital unit.

As a consequence of her treatment in Maghaberry and Hydebank prison Marian's health has continued to deteriorate. The hospital staff now treating Marian's various illnesses have had an arduous task balancing highly toxic medications with other treatments. This ordeal for all involved should be not be happening. The courts have said Marian should be released on bail and all medical opinion has stated she cannot be treated in an environment that is not conductive to recovery.

 

Marian has been in an 'outside' hospital since June and is held under guard with all the rules and regulations applied to a prison regime. The fact that she has been hospitalised by such a lengthy period without improvement and indeed marked deterioration speaks volumes about the chronic state of her health.

Our family can no longer await the pleasure of those with the power to deal expeditiously with this legal limbo. Marian has been forced to endure the brunt of game playing to the detriment of her mental and physical health. We call on those assigned to adjudicate in this travesty of a so called justice system to act now before a shameful situation becomes irredeemable.

The Parole Commissioners have not complied with the obligations apportioned to them. Marian is entitled to have a hearing within a reasonable time under Article 5 of the European Convention.

 

The Commissioners dealing with Marian's case must discharge their statutory legal duties without interference from any source. Their delay in embarking on the pathway to a resolution of this urgent matter is tilting the scales towards further deterioration in Marian's already serious ill health.

At the same time we call on the state to produce the evidence if it exists so that Marian's legal team can defend her. The Parole Commissioners must swiftly enact the duties charged to them and after such a lengthy process come to a just and decisive ruling.

 

Related Link: http://irishblog-irelandblog.blogspot.com/
http://irishblog-irishblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/newsflash-family-statement-on-marian.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/wwiD+%28IrishBlog%29

Mariátegui, the Comintern and Indigenous Peoples by Marc Becker

 

 

José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira (14 June 1894– 16 April 1930)

was a Peruvian journalist, political philosopher, and activist. A prolific writer before his early death at age 35, he is considered one of the most influential Latin American socialists of the 20th century. Mariátegui's most famous work, Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (1928), is still widely read in South America. An avowed, self-taught Marxist, he insisted that a socialist revolution should evolve organically in Latin America on the basis of local conditions and practices, not the result of mechanically applying a European formula

 

 

 Democracy and Class Struggle is publishing an extract from a study by Marc Becker on Mariategui on Indigenous People's and the Comintern.This article shows how Mariategui was extending the Comintern discussion on the National Question to Indigenous People's in Latin America in the late 1920's.The full article appeared in Science and Society in 2006.

SeeAlso:http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/to-undertand-mariategui-by-chairman.html

The Indian Question in Latin America

 

If the 1928 Sixth Congress led the Comintern to "discover" Latin America, the 1929 Buenos Aires conference led Latin Americans to "discover" the Indian (Gamma, 1997, 53). The proposal to establish an Indian Republic in South America originated in one of the most hotly disputed issues to emerge out of the Comintern’s Sixth Congress concerning the role of racial and ethnic minorities within a country’s larger revolutionary struggle. The Comintern determined that Blacks in both South Africa and the United States comprised subject nations, and instructed local communists to build alliances with these groups with the goal of organizing revolutionary national movements to fight for their self-determination. "One of the most important tasks of the Communist Party," the Comintern’s congress concluded, "consists in the struggle for a complete and real equality of the negroes, for the abolition of all kinds of racial, social and political inequalities." Delegates recognized "the right of all nations, regardless of race, to complete self-determination, i.e., going as far as political secession" (Communist International, 1929, 57; Degras, 1956, Vol. 1, 497). Application of this policy was as controversial and complicated in South Africa and the United States, with some white radicals replicating the dominant society’s racist attitudes, as it later would be in South America (for example, see Barry Carr, 1998, 238).
 

The original impetus for engaging the "Negro Question" came not from the Comintern, but from Black activists in local communist parties. Four years before the Comintern’s historic Sixth Congress, the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) began actively to recruit Black members, and by 1928 a vast majority of its members were Black and the Party published material in African languages. Their success led to the discussion of this topic at the Sixth Congress in Moscow, including the drafting of slogans for independent Black and native republics in the Americas. In the adopted Theses on the Revolutionary Movement in Colonial and Semi-Colonial Countries, the Comintern applauded the CPSA’s "successes among the negro proletariat," urged them to continue the struggle for racial equality. The Comintern also encouraged the establishment of an "independent native republic," a demand that extended somewhat beyond the CPSA’s previous activities (Communist International, 1929, 57–58; ES, 1992, 14; Solomon, 1998, 79–80). Following South Africa’s lead, the Sixth Congress instructed the CPUSA to fight for the "right of self-determination for Negroes" (Communist International, 1929, 57). African–American activist Harry Haywood (1978) played a central role in these debates in Moscow, and was key in implementing this policy in the United States. Reflecting a greatly increased consciousness of racial oppression, in 1931 the CPUSA came to the defense of nine young Black men charged with rape in Alabama in the famed "Scottsboro Case." Subsequent attacks against "white chauvinism" within the CPUSA were rigorous, probably far surpassing that of communist parties in South Africa or South America (MPR, 2001, 395; Solomon, 1998; Berland, 2000). In turn, engaging racial issues forced white communists to come to a deeper understanding of United States realities (Zumoff, 2003, 342).

 

Emerging out of these pivotal debates on the Negro Question at the Sixth Congress in Moscow, race became one of the most contentious and widely debated topics the following year in Buenos Aires. The complicated ramifications of building alliances across racial and class divides and problems with "white chauvinism" were similar in South America to those militants encountered in South Africa and the United States, and raise similar issues of the construction of eth- nic and national identities. Even the process through which this topic came to be raised at the Buenos Aires conference indicates the marginalized nature of discussions of race among communists in Latin America. Although the original agenda that Codovilla published in La Correspondencia Sudamericana (December 15, 1928, 45) included the "Cuestión campesina" ("peasant question"), there was no mention of engaging the issues of race or Latin America’s Indigenous peoples.

According to Jürgen Mothes (1992, 157), Jules Humbert- Droz, a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI), insisted that Codovilla include a discussion of race on the meeting’s agenda. As head of the Latin Secretariat, Humbert- Droz presented a report on Latin America to the Sixth Congress and was largely responsible for bringing the region to the Comintern’s attention (Degras, 1956, Vol. 2, 448, 567; Barbé, 1966, 226, 30). As a result, in April, only two months before the conference, Codovilla added a debate on "The Problem of Race in Latin America," with a Peruvian, Brazilian, and Cuban presenting theses on the subject. In a March 29, 1929 letter, Codovilla specifically requested that Mariátegui prepare a document on the Indians’ struggle for emancipation from their current state of slavery for the meeting. Codovilla noted that he was requesting that Mariátegui, who was already well known for his defense of Peru’s marginalized rural Indigenous peoples, address this subject because of his "profound knowledge" of the problem, his "serious studies" on the topic, and because he was the only person who could provide a solid base on which the Comintern could build its strategies (Mothes, 1996, 95).