Racial Justice and the Occupy Movement

Democracy and Class Struggle welcomes the work of Thanu Yakupitiyage to make immigrant rights a part of the OWS Movement.

Making Immigrant Rights a central part of the OWS Movement also exposes the "hidden" rightists in the OWS Movement who promote racist conspiracy theories has part of their Anti Wall Street rhetoric.

The whiteness of the Occupy Movement has to be challenged has it expands not only in USA but also in Britain.

Look at some of the comments on you tube on this video to see that she has touched the raw nerves of rightists and racists.

Ten years on more than 150 detainees remain at Guantánamo Bay.

On 11 January 2002 the first detainees were transferred to Guantánamo Bay. Since then, the US detention facility has made the world’s headlines because of shocking human rights concerns.

Ten years on more than 150 detainees remain at Guantánamo Bay. Most have never been charged with a crime and don't know when they will face trial, if at all.

Those who have been charged face unfair trial by military commission. Even those found not guilty can be returned to indefinite detention. This is in violation of international human rights law and must end now.

Human rights concerns in Guantánamo Bay remain an unfinished story. How long before the US government closes the book on Guantánamo and meets its human rights obligations?

Democracy and Class Struggle says the latest video of US Marines urinating on dead bodies of Taliban soldiers shows the continued disregard the US has for human rights. This abuse of prisoners dead and alive is part of the legacy and culture of Guantanamo Bay and of the Bagram base in Afghanistan.

Sign the Amnesty International Petition here:
http://www.protectthehuman.com/petition_actions/10-years-on-end-detentions-at-guantanamo-bay

Liverpool Occupy Protestors assaulted by Security Guards

This footage has been uploaded with only a minimal level of editing so that people can view this with an open mind, but for those who wish to know more, here is a small backstory to the event:

07.01.2012

Occupy protesters in Liverpool held a demonstration on Liverpool's main high street to highlight tax avoiding companies such as Top Shop, Boots and Vodafone. Security guards from these retailers and other nearby stores brutally attacked the protesters including women, children and the elderly. Witnesses saw security guards punch a pregnant protester and burn a lit cigarette into one protesters face, along with countless other acts of criminal assault. On arrival, the police arrested 4 of the peaceful protesters and 1 security guard.

Personally, I have nothing to do with the protests and was simply present to document the event. As an independent film maker, my intension was to report on both sides of the story, however that became impossible after I was unjustifiably forced into an ally way by 4 security guards and pushed to the floor, whilst demonstrating my right to film in a public place. I was also called a "fucking peado" and had my photo taken by 2 security guards who told me "we'll fucking get you".

Do these actions demonstrate the ideals of the retail stores these security guards represent? Or is this just the actions of mindless thugs, taking any opportunity to out their pent up aggression? Are these the kind of people we want in our society - pedestrians in uniform, exercising a non-existant authority, warped by their idiotic willingness to simply have a fight?

Something needs to be done...but I doubt anything will.

Visit : http://www.occupyliverpool.org/

Nepal: the dialectical path of socialist revolution in semi-feudal societies by Kumar Sarkar.

In the  “Third Anuradha Gandhi Memorial Lecture” delivered on January 14, 2011, in Mumbai, India , Baburam Bhattarai , Maoist leader of Nepal presented his understanding of the democratic revolution in Nepal in the era of imperialism as follows:

“Another theoretical issue currently being debated within the Maoist party is the nature of democratic revolution. In a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society one has to pass through a stage of bourgeois democratic revolution before transiting to socialism.

Especially in a country like Nepal, where autocratic monarchy has ruled for hundreds of years, it  would be prudent to go through a phase of democratic republic before completing the bourgeois democratic revolution. A democratic republic was established through a peace negotiation with the parliamentary parties after 10 years of ‘People’s War’.

But the question now is how to turn this democratic republic into a People’s Democracy or New Democracy. Can it be achieved through the Constituent Assembly? Or, is an armed insurrection necessary? Also, the usefulness and prudence of the democratic republic phase is being questioned. It is exactly here that the differences between anarchism, reformism and Marxism come out sharply. Whereas reformists disagree with a revolutionary leap, anarchists discard the need of passing through stages and sub-stages. Marxists support both revolutionary leaps and the need to pass through stages.

The question of imperialism and expansionism has been another important issue in Nepal’s revolutionary movement. Whereas globalised imperialism has spread its tentacles in almost all spheres of the Nepali economy, society and state, the domination of expansionism in the last 200 years has been the most vexing issue. There has been a razing debate within the Maoist party regarding the strategy to fight against foreign domination, particularly expansionism. Also, given the country’s sensitive position between the emerging global powers in India and China, a balanced relation with both neighbours is crucial for the success of the New Democratic revolution. It is thus prudent to focus on the internal democratic agenda to unify the country and to take on foreign domination.

The fight for loktantra in Nepal is sure to reach its climax in the next few months. Either we will move ahead by rising above the traditional parliamentary democracy on the way to drafting the constitution of a People’s Federal Democratic Republic or the country will move towards regression even before the May 28 deadline. In order to forestall this possibility and institutionalize a loktantrik government system in, all true republicans, patriots and progressive forces should not delay their joint effort towards this goal.” (Emphasis and italics added).

From the above extract of the lecture we observe the following:

1.       It is necessary  “to pass through a stage of bourgeois democratic revolution before transiting to socialism.”

2.       In Nepal’s specific situation of autocratic Monarchy, “it  would be prudent to go through a phase of democratic republic before completing the bourgeois democratic revolution.” And,  “a democratic republic was established through a peace negotiation with the parliamentary parties after 10 years of ‘People’s War’”.

3.       “The question now is how to turn this democratic republic into a People’s Democracy or New Democracy.” The “Marxist” answer to this question is the need for “both revolutionary leaps and the need to pass through stages.”

4.       Due to Nepal’s geopolitical position between the two rising world powers, “a balanced relation with both neighbours is crucial for the success of the New Democratic revolution. It is thus prudent to focus on the internal democratic agenda to unify the country and to take on foreign domination.” (Emphasis added)

5.      Finally, Bhattarai recognises the goal of  “rising above the traditional parliamentary democracy on the way to drafting the constitution of a People’s Federal Democratic Republic.”, which he has now abandoned.

It is extremely interesting to note (from 4) that, according to Bhattarai, “for the success of the New Democratic revolution” it is necessary to relegate the contradiction with imperialism and expansionism to a secondary postion, which is just “another important issue”, and make the “internal democratic agenda” i.e. contradiction with feudalism the principal one!! So, somehow, one has to separate the fight against the imperialist “tentacles in almost all spheres of the Nepali economy, society and state, the domination of expansionism in the last 200 years” from the democratic revolution  and ‘prudently’ “ focus on the internal democratic agenda to unify the country and to take on foreign domination” later!!

First, dialectics to Bhattarai is subjective and wishful thinking. Second, he does not recognise the nature of the New Democratic Revolution in the era of imperialism.

Let us examine thoroughly the issues raised in 1-4, and, from the outcome, investigate the source of major reversals in the socialist revolution in semi-feudal countries, from China to Nepal.

Marian Price: imprisoned without trial - in everyday language, interned

The continuing imprisonment of Marian Price in Maghaberry is a scandal and would be seen more widely in this light were it not for her politics. Ms Price is in jail on the order of Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, who signed a document last May ordering the police to put her behind bars.

She had been arrested on May 11th and charged with encouraging support for an illegal organisation. This arose from an action at the 32 Country Sovereignty Movement’s Easter commemoration in Derry city cemetery: on a blustery day, she reached up to hold the script from which a masked representative of the Real IRA was reading the ‘Easter Message’.

Two days later Ms. Price appeared at Bishop Street, where she applied for and was granted bail. She was rearrested when she came out onto the steps of the courthouse.

Mr Patterson had signed a document the previous night purporting to revoke the licence on which she had been released almost 30 years earlier from a life sentence for the 1973 Provisional IRA bombing of the Old Bailey.

If the Derry court had remanded Ms Price in custody, the document would not have been produced. We might not know even now that it existed.

It is not clear whether the prosecution had been aware of the document as it argued against bail. What’s clear is that the bail application had been a farce. The role of the court had been rendered meaningless by Mr Patterson preparing the way in advance to have the decision set aside if it went against his wishes.

This was as blatant an abuse of process as can be imagined.

The offence is compounded by the fact that here is real room for doubt whether Mr Patterson had authority to order Ms Price back to jail in the first place.

Her lawyers insist she had been freed from the Old Bailey sentence on the basis of a Royal pardon and that the terms of the pardon supersede the powers of the Secretary of State.

The lawyers have asked three times for the pardon to be produced. Three times, the State has maintained that no copy can be discovered.

At one point, her solicitor was told that the pardon must either have been lost or somehow been shredded.

Thus, Ms Price has spent the last seven months in Maghaberry, not on the basis of conviction for a crime but because Owen Patterson believes that the State is better off with her out of the way. She is imprisoned without trial - in everyday language, interned.

She is the only woman in an all-male prison and thus, for practical purposes, in solitary confinement. She is 57 years-old and in very poor health and in constant pain. But these are not the main reasons she should be released.

She should be released because it is an affront to justice and to the rights of citizens that she has been denied her liberty, and even denied sight of the evidence which Owen Patterson says he has seen and which he claims entitles him to deny her her liberty.

Rights - or privileges

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the reason there hasn’t been more of a hullaballoo about this matter is that many of those who might have been expected to stand up for civil rights are repelled by Ms Price’s politics.

Which means in turn that the extent to which civil rights are defended in the political mainstream is to some extent at least determined by the political beliefs of whomever is being denied their rights.

This means that the rights we speak of are not rights at all, but privileges to be granted or withheld according to a politician’s judgment of where the State’s interests lie.

The only adequate response is for all who value civil liberties to tell Mr Patterson loudly and with one voice – Free Marian Price now.

 Eamonn McCann

The IRPSG believes this situation should be highlighted by all women’s groups and we strongly urge you to take up the issue and campaign on her behalf, as we know you have campaigned tirelessly on all issues  of sexism and discrimination against women and are sure you will focus on this central issue in this case also. We have also contacted the Crossroads Women's Centre to highlight this issue on the urgings of Emma Lewis, who is a members of ours and a supporters of theirs. We will supply whatever details of the case you need and attend whatever events you may wish to promote in this cause.

Comradely Gerry Downing

Secretary IRPSG


Source : Pan Afrikan voice - a communication with Feminist Fightback from IRPSG

Inside Job - the 2008 Financial Crisis - this Film about contemporary history is important has we enter the next phase of the Financial Crisis in 2012

Inside Job, Narrated by Matt Damon (Full Length HD) from jwrock on Vimeo.

Democracy and Class Struggle Publication is not  endorsement of the views in this film - however we believe the detail in this film of the operation of contemporary financial capitalism is very important to understand to prevent the second phase of the global crisis not ending up like the first phase.

American Holocaust of Native American Indians

The powerful and hard-hitting documentary, American Holocaust, is quite possibly the only film that reveals the link between the Nazi holocaust, which claimed at least 6 million Jews, and the American Holocaust which claimed, according to conservative estimates, 19 million Indigenous People.

It is seldom noted anywhere in fact, be it in textbooks or on the internet, that Hitler studied Americas Indian policy, and used it as a model for what he termed the final solution.

He wasnt the only one either. Its not explicitly mentioned in the film, but its well known that members of the National Party government in South Africa studied the American approach before they introduced the system of racial apartheid, which lasted from 1948 to 1994. Other fascist regimes, for instance, in South and Central America, studied the same policy.

Noted even less frequently, Canadas Aboriginal policy was also closely examined for its psychological properties. America always took the more wide-open approach, for example, by decimating the Buffalo to get rid of a primary food source, by introducing pox blankets, and by giving $1 rewards to settlers in return for scalps of Indigenous Men, women, and children, among many, many other horrendous acts. Canada, on the other hand, was more bureaucratic about it. They used what I like to call the gentlemans touch, because instead of extinguishment, Canada sought to remove the Indian from the Man and the Women and the Child, through a long-term, and very specific program of internal breakdown and replacement call it assimilation. America had its own assimilation program, but Canada was far more technical about it.

Perhaps these points would have been more closely examined in American Holocaust if the film had been completed. The films director, Joanelle Romero, says shes been turned down from all sources of funding since she began putting it together in 1995.

Perhaps its just not good business to invest in something that tells so much truth? In any event, Romero produced a shortened, 29-minute version of the film in 2001, with the hope of encouraging new funders so she could complete American Holocaust. Eight years on, Romero is still looking for funds.

American Holocaust may never become the 90-minute documentary Romero hoped to create, to help expose the most substantial act of genocide that the world has ever seen one that continues even as you read these words.


If you want to study more about native movements in North America there is no better place to start than here on the Speed of Dreams site :


http://bermudaradical.wordpress.com/resources/study-guide/

"I ll Occupy Recuitment Song - Build support for Occupy Movement in 2012

Visit: http://occupii.org/

PLA demands post of Major General for integration says Chandra Prakash Khanal

The spokesperson of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the UCPN (Maoist) Chandra Prakash Khanal has said that the integration process will not move ahead until the PLA commander gets the post of Major General in the NA while integrating the combatants.

Speaking at a programme in Kathmandu on Sunday, Khanal said that the PLA will not go ahead for the integration until the political parties agree to integrate the top commander of the PLA as the Major General of the NA.

“Integration based on the personal qualification is not acceptable for us. We want respectful integration,” he added.

He also said that if the combatants opting for integration are not integrated due to the limit of the agreed numbers, they should be provided compensation package.

“Until the gap between the numbers agreed upon and the numbers opting for integration is not addressed, we will not discharge the combatants who have chosen for voluntary retirement,’ he warned.


Comrade Kiran in his latest report to the CC UCPN Maoist said :


"The People’s Liberation Army is being dissolved in a humiliating and insulting way.  The integration of People’s Liberation Army is being done in DDR (disarm, dissolve and rehabilitate) model on the basis of individual recruitment and disarmament, instead of opting for SSR (security sector reforms) model". 

Did Chairman Gonzalo write a letter to Nepalese Maoists urging peaceful road ?

Democracy and Class Struggle has seen reports in the Nepalese press that Chairman Gonzalo of the Communist Party of Peru (Maoist) has sent a letter to the Nepalese Maoist Party calling for peaceful road to socialism. This of course is intended to back the current revisionist renegade road of Prachanda and Bhattarai.

We have not seen the actual letter and we are suspicious of such claims of a letter has we also have doubts about the authenticity of some other statements that have emanated from  Chairman Gonzalo while in prison during the past decades.

If Chairman Gonzalo was free to speak and we heard his views directly then we could make a judgement.

We call for the immediate release of Chairman Gonzalo from prison so that he can speak his mind freely.