India: Indian Indigenous Activist and Journalist Dayamani Barla In Her Own Words

Dayamani Barla speaks to the Real News about her work, activism and her hopes for the future indigenous struggles in India

The UK's "Economic Recovery" Questioned : John Weeks: UK's Economic recovery only benefits the 1%

60 Years of Strife: Ending War in Korea

Democracy and Class Struggle publishes this important report on the Peace Movement in South Korea has part of raising the importance of resolving the Korean conflict and combating pro imperialist Leftism on the question of the Korean National Liberation Struggle.

We also wish to draw your attention to new provocation against North Korea here  :
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/seoul-and-washington-in-ulchi-freedom.html

On the surface, the casual observer of Korea could be forgiven for forgetting that the nation is still at war. The South has been utterly transformed since the days of the fighting, with the impressive skyline of modern-day Seoul reflecting the country's modern, high-tech economy.

Even the DMZ has been tamed and gentrified, with souvenir shops and tourist attractions mingling seamlessly with military personnel whose presence at times seems more ceremonial than operational.

But beneath that surface remains the deep, lingering scars of a nation divided against itself, and the memories of a bitter, brutal war.

Now, 60 years after the signing of the armistice, Korean peace activists are working harder than ever to confront the myths that have propped up and maintained this state of war, spearheading an effort to finally bring real peace to the Korean peninsula.

FURTHER BACKGROUND ARTICLES ON STRUGGLE IN KOREA

See Also: http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/korea-two-months-of-drills-and-mock.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/north-korea-is-reacting-to-us-aggression.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/north-korea-and-united-states-will-real.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/korea-beneath-surface-investigation.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/alan-winnington-and-taejon-massacre.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/wales-remembering-defence-of-korean.html

SPEECH BY DPRK AMBASSADOR TO UK HYON HAK BONG
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/dprk-ambassador-to-uk-hyon-hak-bong.html


FOR AN ANALYSIS OF SOUTH KOREAN CAPITALISM READ FOLLOWING :
http://democracyandclassstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/financial-warfare-recolonization-of.html

FOR ANALYSIS OF CURRENT US STRATEGIC BACKGROUND TO  KOREAN CONFLICThttp://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-asian-pivot-us-china-contradictions.html

PRESS RELEASE
By CPP Information Bureau
09 August 2013

US ups military aid to push Aquino to sign access agreement -- CPP

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today said plans by the Obama government to increase US military aid to the Philippines is clearly aimed at further pushing the puppet Aquino regime to forge an agreement with the US allowing greater US military access to Philippine port facilities, especially in Subic and other former US military bases. The US government has announced that it would raise US military assistance to the Philippines from US$30 million to US$50 million in 2014.

The CPP issued this statement as Aquino’s foreign affairs secretary Alberto del Rosario yesterday announced that the Aquino regime is set to start talks with the US government to forge the access agreement.

“Heightened US military aid to the Philippines, which mostly takes the form of providing decommissioned war materiél, is also Obama’s reward to Aquino who has exhibited unquestioning servility to the US,” added the CPP.

The CPP charged that this would only further strengthen the US’ foothold in the Philippines. “Even without the planned agreement, the Philippines has already been serving as a vast US military base, with American warships, jet fighters, drones and combat troops maintaining a permanent presence in Philippine territory.”

The CPP further pointed out that the US military has been maintaining an exclusive military base within the AFP Western Mindanao Command headquarters in Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City. Even Filipino officers are banned from the area reserved for the 700-strong Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTFP).

“Under the Aquino regime, Philippine sovereignty has depreciated severalfold,” said the CPP. “The Aquino regime has blindly allowed the US military to make use of the Philippines as a base of its operations in its declared aim of deploying more than half of its overseas military strength into the Asia-Pacific region.”

“The permanent and increasing presence of the US military in the Philippines has provoked China to become more aggressive and has worsened diplomatic tensions among the various claimants of disputed territory in the South China Sea.”

“Violations of Philippine sovereingty are bound to worsen with the new access agreement effectively granting the US basing rights in the Philippines.”

“Increased military aid to the Philippines will also result in worsening violations of human rights abuses committed by the reactionary armed forces in the conduct of its US-designed Oplan Bayanihan war of suppression,” pointed out the CPP.

Seoul and Washington in Ulchi Freedom Guardian Provocation Against North Korea planned for Mid - August

Democracy and Class Struggle publishes this video to alert readers to new provocation against North Korea called Ulchi Freedom Guardian.

The Asia-Pacific Perspective, is a  monthly show where James Corbett of corbettreport.com and Broc West of apperspective.net break down all the latest news and headlines from the Asia-Pacific region.

This month: the South Korean and US armies prepare to stage the largest drills in the world to stoke tensions with North Korea;

Japan's invisible army starts to uncloak; and the Fukushima leak is now (finally) an admitted
emergency.

FURTHER BACKGROUND ARTICLES ON STRUGGLE IN KOREA

See Also: http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/korea-two-months-of-drills-and-mock.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/north-korea-is-reacting-to-us-aggression.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/north-korea-and-united-states-will-real.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/korea-beneath-surface-investigation.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/alan-winnington-and-taejon-massacre.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/wales-remembering-defence-of-korean.html

SPEECH BY DPRK AMBASSADOR TO UK HYON HAK BONG
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/dprk-ambassador-to-uk-hyon-hak-bong.html


FOR AN ANALYSIS OF SOUTH KOREAN CAPITALISM READ FOLLOWING :
http://democracyandclassstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/financial-warfare-recolonization-of.html

FOR ANALYSIS OF CURRENT US STRATEGIC BACKGROUND TO  KOREAN CONFLICThttp://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-asian-pivot-us-china-contradictions.html

Maoism Rising Among Chinese Students

Source: http://www.signalfire.org/?p=25204

[1] Chinese Anger Over Pollution Becomes Main Cause of Social Unrest
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03...

[2] Suicide nets at Foxconn
http://news.cnet.com/2300-13579_3-100...

[3] Chinese Factory Workers Hold Managers Hostage In Strike Over 2-Minute Bathroom Breaks
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01...

[4] Modern-day Maoists worry Chinese authorities
http://observers.france24.com/content...

[5] On December 24, 2004, Maoists in China Get Three Year Prison Sentences for Leafleting
http://monthlyreview.org/commentary/o...

SEE ALSO:

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/thirty-years-of-capitalist-reform-by.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/contemporary-china-what-is-its-social.html

Philippine Government Free Thomas Van Beersum Now !

 

 

UPDATE FROM THOMAS

 

Am now in Hong Kong waiting for my flight back to Amsterdam. I was not allowed to board my plane and to go back to my country yesterday morning. I got detained for about 30 hours at the airport just so the immigration officials could deport me. This harassment is obviously done to distract the people from the actual problems that the country faces, such as the almost total domination of its econom...y by foreign capitalists and the complicity of comprador puppets such as Aquino. And let's not forget the human rights abuses under Aquino's administration either. So far there have been 142 documented cases of extrajudicial killing and 164 frustrated killing; 16 incidents of enforced disappearance; 76 cases of torture and 293 cases of illegal arrest and detention.

I want to thank the people and groups that have been supporting me and although I've been blacklisted, I will still firmly support the just struggle of the Filipino people for social and national liberation. Mabuhay

 

 

 

 

Democracy and Class Struggle call for the immediate release of Thomas Van Beersum by the Philippine Government.


“While notorious human rights violators and corrupt officials can freely go in and out of the Philippines, Dutch activist Thomas van Beersum was detained by the Bureau of Immigration today.

 Clearly, he is being persecuted by the Aquino government for exercising his freedom of expression…” – Karapatan


By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — A Dutch activist who joined the protest action during the State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino III was prevented from leaving the country by immigration officials.

Thomas van Beersum is being held at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). He became prominent when photos of him castigating a policeman for the violent dispersal during the SONA demonstration came out.

In a phone interview with Bulatlat.com, Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) who was able to talk to Van Beersum over the phone, said the Dutch activist was being asked to get a clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) before he can leave the country.

Cortez said a certain Soloren who introduced himself as an intelligence officer of the Bureau of Immigration told him over the phone that Van Beersum needs to secure a clearance from the NBI stating that he is not facing any pending charges.

As of press time, Cortez is seeking ways to talk with the Dutch activist in person. “He is not aware of any charges filed against him,” Cortez told Bulatlat.com. “He did not do anything illegal and merely voiced out his opinion regarding the human rights situation in the country. He was only exercising his freedom of speech.”

Van Beersum was one of the more than 200 delegates of the International Conference on Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines held last month in Manila. In his open letter to Joselito Sevilla, the policeman whom he was seen shouting at during the SONA protest, Van Beersum said: “I attended the SONA protest because I had been outraged by the human rights violations committed by the corrupt Aquino regime.”

He mentioned Dutch missionary Willem Geertman as a person he personally knew who was murdered last July 3, 2012. Cortez said the detention of Van Beersum is a clear case of harassment. In a statement, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan denounced the detention of Van Beersum and demanded for his immediate release.

“We demand that his rights be respected, that he not be paraded like a criminal,” Bayan said.

Cristina Palabay, secretary general of human rights alliance Karapatan, said: “While notorious human rights violators and corrupt officials can freely go in and out of the Philippines, Dutch activist Thomas van Beersum was detained by the Bureau of Immigration today. Clearly, he is being persecuted by the Aquino government for exercising his freedom of expression, a right guaranteed by the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights even of non-citizens, and his support for the campaign against extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations.”

CPI Maoist by Harsh Thakor

Democracy and Class Struggle publishes this contribution from Harsh Thakor to further support and debate the future of the Indian Revolution.

The views expressed in this article are those of Harsh Thakor and not those of Democracy and  Class Struggle.


CPI Maoist by Harsh Thakor


It has become a fashion in some revolutionary circles to criticize or condemn the C.P.I.(Maoist) particularly in groups like the C.P.I (M.L) led by K.N.Ramchandran and the C.P.I (M.L) Class Struggle group which upholds the late Kanu Sanyal who term them as  ‘terrorists.’.

The  Rahul foundation  erroneously criticizes the C.P.I.(Maoist) as non-marxist.

The C.P.I.(Maoist ) has defied all odds with their struggle in Dandkaranya their best example.

Irrespective of errors in their military line they have defended armed revolutionary resistance more than any organization in India.

Whatever maybe it’s weaknesses in practice the C.P.I. (Maoist) is the most correct of all revolutionary groups. They have proved how much they are ingrained with the masses.
 
In spite of adverse subjective conditions they have formed revolutionary commitees or ‘Janata Sarkars.’

There is an analytical article in RDF organ Jan Pratirodh by Ajay Kumar which elaborates how democratically the ‘Janata Sarkars’ are created and how they participate in the everyday struggles of the tribals.

The innovations  of the Maoists Are absolutely unbelievable, literally  creating  subjective conditions for their cause. They have defied groups who professed the ‘3 stage theory’ and prolonged armed struggle.

Writers like Bernard d’Mellow or filmmakers like Sanjay Kak testify this phenomena.

In spite of Bernard not accepting India as semi-feudal and colonial he has recognized the depths of their work. within the guerilla Zones. In spite of not following orthodox Marxism-Leninism Mao-Tse Tung Thought they have innovated unique forms of struggle. Forces condemning them are actually speaking against the revolution.

The author some years ago spoke to veteran Comrade Sunder Navalkar who upheld the struggle of the C.P.I.Maoist as the only genuinely correct line apart from their lack of urban work ,wrong stand on supporting nationality struggles as armed struggles and replacing Mao Thought with ‘Maoism.’The Central Team of the C.P.I(M.l) in 1997  inspite of not merging with the erstwhile PW Group or now the C.P.I.(Maoist) defended the movement in Dandkaranya and Bihar and comrades from the T.Nagi Reddy stream that deferred armed struggle who merged into the C.P.R.C.I.(M.L.) tooth and nail defended the C.P.I.(Maoist) as a genuine revolutionary force.

The self criticism made b y the C.P.I.(M.L)Peoples War group in 1980 is of historical importance in the rectification of  the Charu Mazumdar line.

“All forms of struggle are subordinate to, and are guided by the concrete political line. If the concrete political line deviates from the mass line, the forms of struggle cannot but be otherwise….. So in order to negate the line of annihilation, we have to negate the wrong ideology which is alien to Marxism and its consequential political and organisational manifestations. The rejection of other forms of struggle and organisation : Until then the party negated all mass organisations and all other forms of struggle, thereby isolating the party from the masses which made comrades easier targets for the enemy. In order to combat the long-standing revisionist practice of conducting mass struggles on the lines of economism and adopting legal and open forms of organisation as the only form of organisation, our party arrived at a one-sided and wrong formulation that the armed form of struggle is the only form of struggle and armed form of organisation the only form of organisation


 The CPI (ML) peoples war November 1995 conference was major achievement and reflected the great fighting spirit displayed by the organization from 1980 Today forces like The Communist Party of Philippines, the most theoretically correct party since the revolutionary Chinese Communist party led by Mao have recognized the C.P.I.(Maoist) which is significant. The inter-group self criticism of clashes between M.C.C.and P.W in 2001 had historic significance and played major role in the formation of the Maoist Party in 2004

Quoting Gautam Navlakha (Heartland of Rebellion):

 “Those who believe in liberty and equality must rejoice at the remarkable strides Maoists have made and for showing us how far the spirit of serving the people can take us. Critics can find faults, magnify them, over-read them, rulers can try to eliminate them. However one can never deny they are rooted in the people.’ They survive because of this, and they are expanding politically because a significant number of oppressed look to them for help. Its not only about Maoists reaching out to people. People are reaching out to them for help and inviting them to new areas, to assist them in everyday struggles. Therefore, I believe that whether they are dealt a setback or lose their bases or bases here or there, this movement is not going to  be obliterated. They have taken root among the people and if they are pushed from one area they will sprout elsewhere.”

Below I am reproducing a criticism of K.N.Ramchandran’s attack on the C.P.I.(Maoist) published in blog  Workers Dreadnought in March 2011.

K.N.Ramchandran: Some friends will definitely ask: how can you criticize the Maoists when they are shedding so much blood, when their leaders are also killed? How can you criticize them when they are waging a war against the state? Of course, we have respect for the sacrifice of the cadres of CPI(Maoist). That is why we condemned the killings of Shyam and Kishen, and many others like them in the past. Mao has repeatedly advised that we should not waste even a drop of blood, avoid unnecessary sacrifice. But even after more than three decades of their practice, the CPI(Maoist)leadership is not prepared to make an evaluation of their practice so far. In the first wave of left adventurism almost all the ML parties which emerged in 1960s suffered severe setbacks and disintegrated. Later, almost all the Maoist groups in different parts of the world like the Shining Path of Peru were wiped out. The Maoists in Philippines is almost stagnant. In Nepal they succeeded to play a leading role in overthrowing the monarchy only when they changed their line and took mass line.
In India, whatever may be the claims of the Maoist leaders and the propaganda of the state, they are a dwindling force. Not only that, all the former socialist countries have degenerated to capitalist path and the ICM is facing a severe setback. Without taking these aspects in to consideration, and the momentous changes that have taken place during the post-Second World War decades in to consideration, just by waging few squad actions in such a big country like India with more than 1.25 billion people and with such organized and centralized oppressive state machinery, how can the revolution be led forward? If the CPI(Maoist)leadership, impervious to all these factors, continue its suicidal path, can anyone justify them?
 

We are of the view that the leadership should be ruthlessly criticized and they should be asked to change their line if they want to contribute towards revolutionary advance. We are criticizing the CPI(M) leadership more fiercely, as revisionism is still the main danger in the communist movement. The task before the communist force is to take lessons from the past, reorganize the Party and lead the People’ Democratic Revolution forward mobilizing all the revolutionary classes and sections for it. We appeal to their cadres to come out of this anarchist politics and join the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist camp.

Workers Dreadnought: There are some things in this last and closing statement that I will not address: namely K.N. Ramachandran’s tired polemic about ‘squad actions’. K.N. Ramachandran has repeated this line like a mantra for decades and is not apt to change anytime soon. However, I do not think that it is fair to claim that the CPI(Maoist) has made no evaluation of its work in the last three decades, any close observer of the CPI(Maoist) knows that this is not true, and I am confident that a summation document will be produced when the time is appropriate. Whether or not such document will be circulated publicly I do not know. Furthermore, the fact that the party has not disintegrated and has grown, with more areas of work than it did three decades ago, demonstrates its successes. Indeed, failures and setbacks have occurred, and will occur again, but that does not mean to suggest that the party has not learned from its mistakes and this is in fact part of the revolutionary process. As Mao Zedong famously said, “Fight, fail, fight again, fail again, fight again . . . until their victory; that is the logic of the people, and they too will never go against this logic. This is another Marxist law.” All revolutionary movements make mistakes; the question is whether they can learn the appropriate lessons. Indeed, if we were to be terrified of making mistakes than we would be unable to do anything, it would petrify the movement. But, we could ask K.N. Ramachandran who is so proud of his four decades in the ML movement where is his summation of his work and practice. Indeed, why does he feel that he remains a marginal politics both on a national level, and in most regional politics as well?

Finally, the failures of the Shining Path have to be understood in their own context as they have much to do with the situation in Peru, the personal authority invested into the figure of President Gonzalo, the urban strategy that was employed (indeed, if something can be said about the similarities between Peru and India is that leaders tend to be far more vulnerable in urban spaces, and often are arrested there – like the recent arrest in Kolkata of Rama Krishna and four other comrades), and their treatment of their support bases in light of state repression. Regarding the situation in the Philippines, K.N. Ramachandran is simply making stuff up. Indeed, the people’s war in the Philippines has grown steadily, albeit more slowly than some had hoped, with the development of new guerrilla fronts and the growth in the revolutionary mass movement. In the case of Nepal, K.N. Ramachandran demonstrates once again his own revisionist attitudes when he refers to the current politics of the UCPN(Maoist), which they earlier attacked, as being “mass line” when in fact it can be better described as a liquidation of the revolutionary movement.

Philippines: 17 soldiers killed, 11 wounded in successive NPA offensives in Northern Samar

PRESS RELEASE
By AMADO PESANTE
Spokesperson, Rodante Urtal Command
NPA Northern Samar Provincial Operations Command

 

17 soldiers killed, 11 wounded in successive NPA offensives in Northern Samar

 

The Rodante Urtal Command of the New People’s Army (RUC-NPA) in Northern Samar today said 17 were killed and 11 wounded among soldiers of the 8th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in a series of military engagements launched by the RUC-NPA from June to July 2013.
 

According to Ka Amado Pesante, spokesperson of the RUC-NPA, “These series of military actions occurred in the barangays (villages) of Avelino, Cuenco and Lakandula in Las Navas, Northern Samar, dealing 12 killed and two wounded on the enemy. One Red fighter was martyred and four wounded in these military actions.

"Meanwhile, in the town of Victoria, five soldiers were killed and nine wounded last 25 June when a team of Red fighters and the people’s militia harassed operating troops of the 20th Infantry Battalion between Barangays Lungib and Luisita. There were no casualties on the side of the NPA in this tactical offensive."

Ka Amado Pesante added that the military actions were in response to the people’s demand for the punishment of the 8th Infantry Division, over widespread human rights violations committed by its troops while carrying out brutal military operations under Oplan Bayanihan (Aquino government counter-insurgency program).

“They encamp in civilian communities, commit bombing with mortars as well as aerial strafing on farmlands, destroy properties, and disrupt the livelihood and peace of the people. Recently, a peasant in Brgy. Cuenco, Las Navas, complained that 8th ID troops burned his rice crops worth P42,000 during their military operations.”

Ka Amado Pesante also belied the military’s statement that the revolutionary movement was on its last legs, and clarified that innocent peasants were victimized in the 20th Infantry Battalion’s report about 53 “NPA surrenderees” in Brgy. E. Duran, Bobon.

“The 20th IB commander, Lt. Col. Noel Vestuir, and 8th ID chief Major General Gerardo Layug, are both so desperate to conceal the advances of the revolutionary movement, that they misrepresented the peasants they forced to attend a meeting as 'NPA surrenderees'.

"In fact, because of the successive attacks on their troops, the soldiers are extremely fearful during their operations. Even though they comprise several columns during their operations, they don’t dare to make camp and merely sleep on the ground when resting. They also race against each other in crossing rivers out of fear of an NPA ambush. The US-Aquino regime has dumped six battalions and a special forces unit in Northern Samar, but they run like dogs with tails between their legs when attacked by the NPA.

"They will surely embarrass themselves further with their statements about crushing the revolutionary movement because the people of Northern Samar and the whole region are determined to defeat Oplan Bayanihan.”

Ka Amado Pesante called on all NPA units in Northern Samar to further intensify and spread tactical offensives in response to the call of the Communist Party of the Philippines to defeat Oplan Bayanihan and raise the level of warfare in not too short a time to the strategic stalemate from the strategic defensive.

“The people of Northern Samar cherish the NPA as their army and genuinely advancing their interests. The people’s support further strengthens the efforts of the NPA and the entire revolutionary movement and will surely ensure the defeat of the fascist, pro-imperialist and corrupt maneuvers of the US-Aquino regime.”

Defeat Oplan Bayanihan!live the New People’s Army!

 Long live the people of Northern Samar!

 Long live the people’s war!

Sri Lanka : Haunted by her Yesterdays

This documentary tells a story of silent agony, trapped screams and repressed mourning. A story of women forced to deny their identity -- who are trapped in between a government which sees them as "Tigers," and a society whose norms they are no longer deemed worthy of. These women fought bravely alongside men as members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during Sri Lanka's bloody thirty-year civil war. From protectors and defenders of their families, villages and nation, thousands of female ex-combatants have now returned home to assume more traditional roles as mothers, wives, widows, and teachers -- in communities where they are perpetually shunned.

Through several powerful voices, "Haunted by Her Yesterdays" allows a few to share their pain and suffering -- the wounds that remain unhealed, the scars that are impossible to ignore and the hearts that still burn with pain, passion and grief -- for the world to hear. This film is a gripping tale of loss, betrayal and struggle, but --above all else -- it is a search for inspiration and a call for action. As the country's war-torn North and East struggles to rebuild itself, this documentary tells a deeply moving story that has been overlooked for far too long