Communist Party of the Philippines denounces plans to revert Subic to US military use

Executive Director Edilberto Adan of the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission confirmed plans to increase the number of "joint military exercises" and made proposals to "put back in harness" the Subic International Airport as a military airport in order to be used by US military forces.

PRESS RELEASE CPP Information Bureau 10 October 2012

CPP denounces plans to revert Subic to US military use

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemned proposals by officials of the Aquino regime to refurbish the military facilities of the former Subic Naval Base in order to accomodate the growing number of visiting US troops involved in various types of US military operations in the Philippines.

At the same time, the CPP denounced the arrival of more than 2,200 American troops purportedly joining the Philippine Amphibious Landing Exercise (PHIBLEX) with 1,600 soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in various parts of the Philippines from 8-18 October.

The CPP issued its statement after Executive Director Edilberto Adan of the VFA Commission confirmed plans to increase the number of "joint military exercises" and made proposals to "put back in harness" the Subic International Airport as a military airport in order to be used by US military forces.

Until 1991, the Subic Naval Base was one of the biggest military bases of the US in the Philippines, servicing American warships, submarines and other military naval vessels. Riding on the crest of mass protests against the US military bases, the Philippine Senate voted that year not to renew the 1946 Military Bases Agreement (MBA), which resulted in the reversion of the Subic Naval Base and other American bases, camps and facilities to the Philippines. "The Aquino regime's plans to allow the US military to use facilities at Subic follows a longstanding promise made by the puppet government's officials in the Strategic Defense Dialogue with US officials since January of this year," said the CPP. "

These schemes to accomodate the increasing number of US soldiers in the Philippines will virtually overturn the historic abrogation of the MBA and bring us back to the days of US military bases," said the CPP. "The US government seeks to retain the Philippines as one of its key military outposts in the Asia Pacific region," said the CPP.

 "The US military seeks to gain access to Philippine seaports and airport facilities in order to use as them as stations for repair and resupply and provide rest and recreation for its troops." "The Aquino regime is shamelessly extending all possible accomodations to the US' military needs," said the CPP. "In doing so, it serves the US imperialist power-projection operations in the Asia-Pacific.

The US seeks to maintain its dominant presence and control of key sea routes to ensure the flow of US commodities to the Asia-Pacific market and put pressure on countries to further liberalize their economies." "By maintaining its military presence, the US also seeks to preempt the growth of potential military adversaries such as China and Japan, even as it still considers them strategic economic partners."

Partisan Cymru Plaque in Memory of the Corn Riots of 1775 -1816

See Pitchfork and Pike for further information:

http://hanescymrugoch.blogspot.co.uk/

Join the work of the Great Unrest Goup 2012 for a Welsh Socialist Republican Party - History Commission to recover the history of class struggle in rural as well as urban Wales.
 
Never forget the national struggle in Wales is a class struggle however much the political right try to obscure this basic fact by their false bourgeois nationalist histories.

Marcus Garvey Legacy Tour 2012 with Omali Yeshitela Chairman of African Socialist International and Leader of Uhuru Movement

The tour features acclaimed Guyana-born actor Ron Bobb-Semple, whose one-man show, “The Spirit of Marcus Garvey” has received rave reviews.  Bobb-Semple channels the identity and persona of the great orator and leader Marcus Garvey.

Omali Yeshitela, lifelong U.S.-based African liberation activist, Chairman of the African Socialist International and leader of the Uhuru (Freedom) Movement will also lead the tour.

Omali Yeshitela is the founder of The Burning Spear newspaper, the only black power journal in continuous existence since 1967.  He leads numerous campaigns and organizations representing the interests of African people inside the U.S., Africa and around the world.  Known as an electrifying and enlightening lecturer, Yeshitela speaks to enthusiastic audiences the world over.

Bobb-Semple’s powerful portrayal of the brilliant early 20th century black leader, Marcus Garvey, is coupled with the fiery presentations of Yeshitela, whose work to unite Africa and African people worldwide today seeks to make a reality of Garvey’s dream of “Africa for Africans, those at home and those abroad.”

The Marcus Garvey Legacy tour shows that the aims of the Jamaican-born and Harlem, New York-based Garvey, who built an organization of 11 million Africans worldwide in the 1920s, are more relevant to today’s world than ever before.

This is not simply a nostalgic look at the work and times of Garvey; the goals of this tour are to show that the spirit of Marcus Garvey is alive and well in a time when the majority of African people everywhere continue to struggle to overturn the poverty and oppression resulting from colonialism and slavery.

This program has already been performed and enthusiastically received at the ancestral home of Garvey in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica; aboard cruise ships in the Caribbean and at the Akwaaba Hall in St Petersburg, FL, where it received a standing ovation.

Remembering Comrade Hafiz of Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan

PCm Italy expresses red salutation to the Communist(Maoist) Party of Afghanistan on the death of comrade Hafiz
His history is a true example of communist and internationalist in communist movement in Afghanistan and in the world.

Honour and Glory to Comrade Hafiz

long live to Communist(Maoist) Party of Afghanistan


PCm Italy
central commitee
11 october 2012

To the Communist (maoist) Party of Aghanistan,

Dear Comrades,

It is with deep sadness that we learnt the death of Comrade Hafiz. Because we are proletarian internationalists, we consider every loss for the maoist movement of a particular country as our own loss. Especially with your party as we signed the joint 2012 May 1st Declaration.

As a revolutionary leade, Comrade Hafiz will inspire a new generation and the revolutionary seeds he sowed during his entire life will undoubtely blossom.

Our condoleances go to the entire Communist (maoist) Party of Aghanistan, to its sympathizers, to his familiy, relatives and friends.

Maoist Communist Party of France

To the Central Committee of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan:

Dear comrades,

It is with sadness and deep emotion that we learned of the death of Comrade Hafiz, a Central Committee member of your Party and a dedicated activist and veteran of the communist movement of Afghanistan and the international communist movement.

The death of a comrade is always a loss for our movement, and it is even more when it occurs in a context like the one we face today in Afghanistan, where resistance to imperialist occupation is unfolding and requires a solid ideological, political and organizational leadership that puts the interests of the proletariat and the masses above anything else.

Everywhere in the world, the proletariat and the oppressed peoples are resisting the crisis of capitalism and the wars of aggression waged by the big imperialist powers. The aspiration to revolution and to a world free from any kind of oppression and exploitation has perhaps never been as extended as it is now.

On May 1st 2012, together with the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Naxalbari) and the Maoist Communist Party – Italy, your Party issued an important call to build a new Marxist-Leninist-Maoist international organization. There is no doubt that the rich experience of Comrade Hafiz with the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) will inspire and serve the formation of such an organization that our movement urgently needs.

There is no better way to pay tribute to Comrade Hafiz than to work for consolidating the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties where they exist, for building such parties in every country of the world, for unfolding the world proletarian revolution and building the international organization we need for leading it.

Please convey our deepest condolences to all relatives and friends of Comrade Hafiz, to his comrades, members and supporters of your Party.

Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR-RCP Canada)
October 8, 2012

A special meeting of the central committee of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan was held on 14 September, 2012 to pay tribute to the passing away of Comrade Hafiz and issue the following Communiqué.

 In commemoration of the death of Comrade Hafiz, member of the central committee of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan The central committee of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan announces with immense and profound sadness and sorrow the death of Comrade Hafiz, a central committee member of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan, to all the members and supporters of the party, Maoist parties and organizations of the world, and the entire international communist movement. Comrade Hafiz was a veteran of the new democratic movement in Afghanistan.

He started his political and revolutionary activities in the ranks of the Sholajawid movement in the 1960s while he was a high school student. He remained committed to the line and objectives of the movement even after the movement’s collapse.

When the Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) led the reprehensible April coup in 1978, and the subsequent Soviet social-imperialist invasion and occupation happened in December 1979, comrade Hafiz continued his revolutionary and national-democratic activities in exile.

 In 1984, under the influence of the formation of Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) and its political and ideological line, comrade Hafiz, along with several other comrades, formed the Committee for MLM Propaganda and Agitation that published the journal Shola. This journal played a significant role in the propagation of the Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. In the late 1980s, when the Committee for the Consolidation and Unity of the Communist Movement of Afghanistan was formed by joint efforts of the Communist Revolutionary Cell of Afghanistan and the Committee for MLM Propaganda and Agitation, comrade Hafiz participated as the representative of the group under his leadership.

The Committee for Consolidation and Unity expanded with the participation of the Marxist-Leninist Alliance--Mao Zedong thought faction and the Organization to Struggle for the Liberation of Afghanistan. In 1991, after the congress and the formation of the Communist Party of Afghanistan, Comrade Hafiz led the successful negotiation for the merger of the Committee for MLM Propaganda and Agitation with the Communist Party of Afghanistan and became a central committee member of the Communist Party of Afghanistan. For several years, Comrade Hafiz led an émigré committee of the supporters of the Communist Party of Afghanistan.

In 1993 he was a member of the delegation of the Communist Party of Afghanistan in the second Expanded Meeting of RIM that ratified and issued the document Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism; in that meeting our comrade played a distinguished revolutionary role. Comrade Hafiz was a representative of the Communist Party of Afghanistan in the 2004 Unity Congress of the Communist (MLM) movement in which he was elected as a member of the central committee of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan.

While leading an émigré unit of party supporters, our comrade significantly contributed to the party and the revolution. Over many years he played a crucial role in carrying forward the international activities of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan, both in relation to the activities of RIM and also as a contact of our party with particular Maoist parties at the international level.

Comrade Hafiz was actively involved in the ideological and political propaganda for RIM; he had an active role in the publication of A World to Win, RIM’s journal and also RIM’s internal publications into Farsi-Dari. The central committee of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan expresses its solemn condolences over the immense loss of this veteran comrade to members and supporters of the party, other Maoists of Afghanistan and the world.

In particular we pay our tribute to the family of this comrade and express our commonality of deep sadness with them. All the party units within the country and party supporters outside of the country, in accordance with their particular local and regional circumstances, are obliged to honor and commemorate this comrade’s death and celebrate his life achievements as a revolutionary within this month. Messages of commemoration within the country can be sent through party contacts and channels; condolences from outside of the country can be sent through party supporters or electronically through email to sholajawid2@hotmail.com.

What's happening at Foxconn Zhengzhou ?

Extracts from Report in Financial Times By Kathrin Hille in Zhengzhou

The ramp-up of the Zhengzhou plant since 2010 is part of Foxconn’s gradual shift of its manufacturing operation to China’s inland provinces, a strategy which the company hoped could address rising labour costs and labour shortages.

But some of the new plants, have met the same problems as the company’s largest factory in Shenzhen, the export hub next to Hong Kong. This comes as labour unrest is generally on the rise in China, with young workers less willing to sacrifice their personal lives for meagre savings, and more aware of their rights.

The Zhengzhou dispute follows a riot at Foxconn’s plant in Taiyuan in late September. More than 2,000 workers in that factory – which makes iPhone components – smashed shop windows, overturned cars and burnt a police post following a brawl between workers and security guards.

On Saturday, Foxconn denied a report by China Labor Watch, a US-based non-governmental organisation, that up to 4,000 of its workers in Zhengzhou went on strike on Friday. It would only acknowledge in a statement that there had been disputes between a small group of production-line workers and quality assurance personnel at the Zhengzhou factory earlier in the week on October 1 and 2.

In the Saturday statement, Foxconn said: “These were isolated incidents and were immediately addressed and measures taken, including providing additional staff for the lines in question, to address the issues raised by both production workers”.

But in Zhengzhou, workers, company representatives and government officials told the FT of a continued strain on labour relations that was exacerbated by the pressure caused by the iPhone 5 orders.

There have been complaints, for example, from consumers about scratches on the back of the new device.

“There was some problem with the coating chosen for the casing, so they tightened the rules for quality control,” said Cai Yun, an engineer who has been with Foxconn for six years. “But the pressure in these jobs is already too high.

You add one more thing, and there’s bound to be trouble.

Recent Testimony from Workers at Zhengzhou Foxconn Sept 11, 2012

Recent news has reported that the base monthly salary of official workers in Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory has risen to 2,000 RMB ($312.5) beginning on August 1, whereas the salary used to be 1,800 RMB ($281.3).

Since the beginning of July, Foxconn Zhengzhou has been assembling the iPhone 5. Given the production demands associated with such an order, the workers still have excessive overtime hours every month, working 20 or more hours of overtime per week.

Some workers will only get two or three days off per month; line and team leaders will only get one day off.

Moreover, there are also student-interns under 18 years old in the Zhengzhou factory. Such a situation, in fact, is prevalent in other Foxconn factories, such as those in Huai’an, Chongqing, and Taiyuan Foxconn.

A line leader we interviewed told our investigator that there were 10 student-interns between the ages of 16 and 18 assigned to his production line. The following is the original message he sent on September 10, 2012:

I passed by the female dorm building and saw a group of female students quarreling with their teacher. They were all young. I heard one student crying, “I want to go back to school. I don’t want to work here anymore! Why do you force us to work in this remote place!”

The schools always send student workers in the afternoon, so even if the female students want to leave, it would be too late. Today is Teacher’s Day. I don’t want to say bad things about teachers, but I can’t help cursing them.

The following is a worker’s testimony about the status of their working conditions after Apple alleged Foxconn had improved its Chinese labor conditions: "I am a current worker at Foxconn (Zhengzhou). In fact, all the reports of increasing wages and reducing working hours are deceptive.


1. Wages are low.

Though wages are seemingly increasing, they are actually decreasing. The monthly base salary is now [in July] 1,550 RMB ($242.2).

After deducting for meal, accommodation, and social insurance fees of 420RMB ($65.9), 110 RMB ($17.2), and 180 RMB ($28.1), respectively, the average monthly income is now 2,100 RMB ($328.1).

[In August, the factory raised the base salary of new workers to 1800 RMB ($284) and of veteran workers to 2000 RMB ($316),but we don’t yet know the total salary after overtime and deductions are accounted for.]

2. Management is abrasive. Management verbally abuse workers and reduce some workers’ overtime hours on purpose [so that they work less hours and get lower pay).

3. The rate of work is intense. We workers have to complete the work load of what before was 11 hours (or sometimes up to 14 hours)in only 10 hours.

4. The management of the dorms use room keys to check workers’ rooms, including personal lockers, at their own will without permission of the workers.

5. Unlawful deduction of wages. The break time of workers is used as time for work preparation.

Also, workers are kept after work to have meetings in which workers are scolded by management, the occupied time also not being calculated into wages.

In August, the worker provided China Labor Watch with an update on iPhone 5 production:

We are now producing the iPhone 5. We 87 workers have to assemble 3,000 phones per day, and as our team leader told us, after the new iPhone goes public, we will need to assemble 6,500 phones per day.

We are now working more than 10 hours a day. There are many student workers in our production line, all of whom are around 18 years old. They've been complaining and demanding to go back to school but are never allowed.

See  also :
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/minqi-li-on-china-and-neo-liberalism.html

see also: http://redchinacn.net/portal.php

Robert King Q&A plus showing of 'Angola Three: The Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation' Friday 12th October 2012

 

 

Brother Robert King (Angola 3)

 

Collectively, the Angola 3 - Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King - have spent over 100 years in solitary confinement in the biggest prison in the U.S, a former slave plantation known as Angola, for their activism against the conditions in the prison as members of the Black Panther Party.

 

Robert King is the only freed member of the Angola 3 and continues to fight for the freedom of Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox who remain incarcerated after some 66 years, even though extensive proof of their innocence has been established.

Robert King (Angola 3) returns to London this Friday for screening 'Angola Three: The Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation' Guest Speaker: Brother Robert King (Q&;A)

Friday 12 October 2012 Time: 6.30pm – 9.30pm (7pm prompt start) Venue: Clapham Methodist Church, Nelsons Row, London SW4 7JR

Admission: FREE (donations welcome)

More info Contact: 07531 286 969

 

Getting There:

 

Buses: 88, 155, 345 along Clapham High Street, or 35, 37, 137, to Clapham Common walk a few yards towards Sainsbury on Clapham High Street and turn right.

Tube: Northern Line to either Clapham North or Clapham Common Stations

 

Major Challenges Face Chavez in New Term

Chania a Greek City - The first general strike against the new coalition government boosts the confidence of left organisers plus watch Stop Cartel TV - Greece

Watch live streaming video from stopcarteltvgr at livestream.com

Interview with Ana from Venezuelan comuna in Caracas 'El Panel 2021 plus Tierras Libres' and justice for Campesinos

see also: http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/are-venezuelan-communal-councils-en.html

For a Maoist Critique of Chavez visit here :

http://www.revcom.us/a/094/chavez-en.html

Indigenous Peoples in Venezuela :

http://bermudaradical.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/venezuela-celebrates-indigenous-resistance-day-ancestral-lands-granted-to-indigenous-communities/#more-15253

Land Reform in Venezuela :

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/963
Venezuela's Agrarian Land Reform: More like Lincoln than Lenin
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6938
More than 1 Million Venezuelans Benefit from Land Reform Program
http://monthlyreview.org/2009/07/01/the-venezuelan-effort-to-build-a-new-food-and-agriculture-system

Watch Tierras Libres - the lack of justice for Campesinos in Venezuela is an immanent critique of the Chavez government whatever his words of justice they are not matched by actions of justice. Of course Chavez has the opportunity to right these wrongs now he has been re elected and silence critics like Democracy and Class Struggle.



Democracy and Class Struggle says watch Tierras Libres and the struggle in the Venezuelan countryside for land and  justice.

Nepal & India: Questions to Comrade Kiran

 

 

This interview was originally posted in Nepali on weeklynepal, an online Nepali news portal, then translated into English. There is a minor edit for clarity.

 

Are you an anti-India leader?

I’m not anti-India but inimical to the Indian oppression and hegemony. I’m not against India and the normal Indian people. Those who call me an anti-India are seriously flawed. We are internationalists and patriotic at the same time. Therefore, we have no antagonism with India and the normal Indian people. Our belief is that Nepal should not face Indian oppression. Alongside this we have opposed Nepalese puppets as well.

Who are the puppets in the nation, today?

Nepal is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. Post WW-II, the usual practice of direct colonisation has come to an end. In these modern days oppression and exploitation is widely maintained by inducting domestic puppets within oppressed nations itself.

Has your protest against India benefited Nepal?

Lets not take the issues that we have raised as simple as a protest. There are problems, how this government will act upon to solve these problems is the principle theme. CPN-M is a political party. We have raised issues through surfacing the problems. In the past Baburam had raised the same issues himself. If there are problems, they need to be resolved. Now, we still need to see what happens between Indian oppression and the Nepalese government. We come across problems almost every day, like the border encroachment, removal of original border pillars, installation of new border pillars in wrong places etc. Don’t we need to look at these things?

So a protest against India will resolve the problem?

We have not just opposed India. We have opposed the Indian oppression as well as its Nepalese puppets. This is an opposition to the Nepalese government as well; or else let the government resolve the problems or warn Indian expansionism. We have problem of unregulated vehicular movements, revenue and custom etc. These are issues that need to be resolved.

If so, vehicles with Indian registration number are not to be allowed to operate in Nepal?

They can be operated but has to be regulated under the norms. Norms must not be violated; legal process has to be maintained. In places vehicles with Indian registration number enter and exit Nepal without any restriction, shouldn’t the government regulate that? Let them enter through the correct process. Legal procedure has to be maintained. It has been too much! It is not just the problem of vehicles, there are other problems too. But, this prohibition cannot be for forever.

There is a pressure from all around to withdraw this decision, will it be withdrawn?

Don’t talk about the withdrawal of the decision; we want to see the problem resolved at the outset and then we shall talk. This is what we have said to the government. Forget about pressure! Entrepreneurs have interpreted in their own way, which is also correct. But, the interest of the normal Nepalese people is that the national sovereignty of Nepal has to be safeguarded and respected. Please don’t just talk about the vehicles, why was upper-Karnalee and Arun-III handed over to India by deceiving the parliament? Even the Koshi high dam project has been handed over to India without consulting anyone. The puppets here are doing all the wrong things.

For that the government has to be opposed, can it be sorted out by opposing India?

We have been opposing the government as well. Now everyone has to come forward in this issue to seek a solution of the problem. The patriotic forces also have to come forward. Do we not have people and a law? How can they do whatever they like, ignoring everyone?

The President of Nepali Congress has also said that your decision needs to be withdrawn?

Whoever says that this decision has to be withdrawn, needs to have an ability to forge the solution of this problem too. We stand on the side of resolving these issues, not for an antagonistic rivalry.

What should be done so vehicles with Indian registration number can be operated in Nepal without any restriction?

Vehicles with Indian registration number can only operate as needed in Nepal, not without any restriction. Very few Nepali number plated vehicles can operate in India, so there needs to be equality there. The incumbent Prime Minister, Baburam Bhattarai had raised these issues in 1996 himself. But, the problems are still as they were then. Nepal has changed a lot since but these problems are still here. I have heard that the government has vowed to take action against us! Should the government take action against us or seek a solution to the problems?

There are allegations that you are enforcing your party’s agenda for publicity stunt?

Nobody does anything such for publicity. The problems are very serious; we have raised these issues to rectify them. In our country the leaders have become such puppets, forget about the issue of vehicular movement, the border pillars are being removed almost every day, why are these leaders silent on this issue?

 

Should the solution not be sought diplomatically?

They do everything without any due respect to Nepal and the Nepalese, don’t they have to approach diplomatically? So should we oppose this or not?

 

Are you ready to fight India?

We are not yet ready to fight. We want to approach diplomatically as well. We want to utilise every other methods at the earliest. This is a voice of our protest; every patriotic person needs to listen. The government has to listen as well and come forward to find a correct way to resolve this issue.

 

What happens if your concern is not taken seriously?

What happens if our concern is not taken seriously – leave it for the moment! We will certainly think about it. This is an issue of national sovereignty of our nation.

 

It is believed that your struggle is an outcome of a thought that protesting India is meant to be greatly patriotic?

Don’t talk just about being patriotic. At the moment, the biggest export, import trade is with India. The economy of our country is fully dependent upon India. We appreciate a cordial relationship between these two countries. However the matter of diplomacy, that is the responsibility of the government – we are not in the government. We have been saying from within our country – why is there Indian intervention in our internal matter. We are not protesting India from within India, are we? We respect the national sovereignty of India, but our voice must be heard. Our principle is that a bigger nation should not dominate a smaller nation.

 

India had assisted you during the 10 years long insurgency, hadn’t?

Absolutely not! We fought the people’s war with support and assistance of the Nepalese people. Revolution is not something that can be imported or exported. The struggle was fought on the strength of the Nepalese people.

 

The 12 points agreement was signed in India, wasn’t it?

Yes, but I believe that it didn’t have to be done in such a way

.

Is a journey of consensus in Nepalese politics about to begin?

There has to be a consensus. Consensus is a necessity at this moment. But for this Baburam has to resign and pave the way to form a unity government.

 

What if the Prime Minister doesn’t resign?

If he doesn’t resign, he will be ousted through a struggle. If the people can overthrow a monarchy that ruled for over 240 years, who is Baburam? Morally Prachanda seems to be well above Baburam. I’m surprised why Baburam doesn’t resign even in such a turbulent situation.

 

How should the agreement be forged?

 

Baburam has to resign first and pave the way to form a unity government. After that we have to move forward by forging agreement on all contentious issues through multilateral roundtable conference.

 

Is there a possibility of party unity?

There is a huge ideological gap between Prachanda’s group and us. When there is a huge ideological gap, unity is not possible. There will be no unity at the moment.