The War on Truth Against the Maoist Rebels

The following was taken from RALA (click here).

“I hold that it is bad as far as we are concerned if a person, a political party, an army or a school is not attacked by the enemy, for in that case it would definitely mean that we have sunk to the level of the enemy. It is good if we are attacked by the enemy, since it proves that we have drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves. It is still better if the enemy attacks us wildly and paints us as utterly black and without a single virtue; it demonstrates that we have not only drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves but achieved a great deal in our work.” ~Mao Zedong [*]

by BJ Murphy

The current dispositional attitude of post-Cold War communist revolutions has mirrored the very thought-strategies of those that remind us eerily of what had been partaken upon, by the help of mainstream media no less, through US intelligence agencies against those that posed a threat to their “national security”. Although, as the information that’ll be provided here will show the mere corruption of foreign governments, the help of the US intelligence agencies & media has allowed the circulation of biased, one sided reporting in order to demonize pre-selected resistance organizations, in which bring about either 1) to disengage any support by foreign allies, &/or 2) to justify imperialist actions, politically & economically. [1]

Nepal

Currently in Nepal, the wage of revolutionary warfare has been put to an indefinite halt for the time being by the UCPN-M (Maoist) as the current peace accord between themselves & the now-toppling government is still within effect. For the time being, although the Nepalese Maoists are finding themselves getting closer & closer to winning a majority seat holder in the current government, they are still struggling against oppositional forces in which have sought out to not only disengage the party from near majority ranks, but are at most trying to at least prevent any Maoist-led government to come to form as their numbers as seat holders show. [2] Though, it is best to first understand that in 2008 the UCPN-M had won majority seats within the Nepalese government, in which brought them at majority rule. But because of certain situations, in which became a conflict of interests between the ruling Maoist party & the Nepalese President [3], the party then gave up their majority rule in the government in order to find themselves back in the front lines with the intentions of truly winning majority government rule over the current bourgeois state.

FARC-EP Says Santos, Gov't are Narco-terrorists

The following is a video statement from one of the head FARC-EP officials, Alfonso Cano, discussing the new Santos regime in Colombia. He states that the real narcotics traffickers and terrorists are in the Colombian government.

Bangladeshi Garment Workers Continue to Riot

Thousands of garment workers in Bangladesh protested for the second day on Saturday in Dhaka, the nation's capital. Demanding better pay and working conditions, the workers clashed with riot police in northern parts of Dhaka.

“Over 20,000 workers walked off the job and many clashed with police, hurling stones and rocks. We fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them,” one police inspector said.

Over 100 people have been reported as injured since the police fired rubber bullets and tear gas. The Bangladeshi government has set the monthly minimum wage for garment workers at $43 US dollars. Labor union officials say that the amount isn't sufficient to cover the needs of the workers given the rising prices of goods in their country.

The Partisan reported last month that garment workers in Bangladesh are among the lowest paid in the world, and, therefore, it is right for them to rebel!

Colombia: The Real FARC-EP Inside and Out

The author of The Partisan has written a new essay on the FARC-EP guerrillas in Colombia. It was published on the Kasama Project website recently. Check out our essay:
http://kasamaproject.org/2010/07/29/colombia-the-real-farc-ep-inside-and-out/

Business Web sites: 'Marx was right'

The following article is by Richard Becker and was taken from PSLweb.org.

While they didn’t actually come right out and say that, an article posted by a number of business-oriented Web sites in the last week irrefutably confirms some of Karl Marx’s key assertions regarding the capitalist system.

Over the past century and a half, countless capitalist politicians and academics have built careers trying to prove that Marx and his writings were outdated, misleading and just plain wrong. Nowhere has the effort to discredit Marxism been more energetic than here in the United States.

Incurring particular wrath in bourgeois circles over the years was Marx’s contention in his groundbreaking 1867 work Volume I of “Capital”: “Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time the accumulation of misery . . . at the opposite pole.” In other words, as the rich get richer—and because they are getting richer—the poor get poorer.

The enemies of Marx and socialism argued vehemently that this had been disproved by an overall rise in wages and living conditions for much of the working class inside the imperialist countries in the late 19th and much of the 20th century. What the apologists of capitalism always left out of their “analysis” was the super-exploitation and extreme impoverishment of the workers and peasants of Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East—the vast majority of the world’s people—which, in addition to an industrial monopoly, made possible a temporary rise in living standards inside the colonizing states.

Over the past three decades, however, working-class living standards in the United States have resumed the downward trend inherent under capitalism, and in the last few years at a quickly accelerating pace.

An article by Michael Snyder, “The Middle Class in America is Radically Shrinking, Here Are the Stats to Prove It,” has been picked up by numerous Web sites including Tech Ticker and Business Insider.

The points made by Snyder include:

• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1 percent of all Americans.
• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30-to-1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300- and 500-to-1.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
• For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number to go up to 43 million in 2011.
• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010—the highest rate in 20 years.
• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.

While presenting an array of very useful facts, Snyder does not draw the only logical conclusion from his own report: The capitalist system must go.

Sect of Revolutionaries Claims Shooting

The Greek militant group called Sect of Revolutionaries, sometimes translated as Rebel Sect, claimed responsibility for the shooting of known journalist Sokratis Giolias in Athens recently.

The group sent a seven page statement, in CD form, to the local newspaper Ta Nea.

"Rebel Sect ... claimed responsibility for the killing of Giolias," said an unnamed police official.

Ta Nea said it will publish the Sect's statement by Wednesday.

Giolias was tricked into leaving his home and then shot more than a dozen times.

Thousands of Secret US War Documents Revealed

The Wikileaks organization recently released secret US government documents regarding the Afghan War. The New York Times, The Guardian, and Der Spiegel were given over 90,000 documents that show a side of the Afghan War that the United States government doesn't want you to see.

“It is a complete history of the Afghan war from 2004 to 2010,” said Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange.

The New York Times reported that the documents show that Pakistan is having "representatives of its spy service to meet directly with the Taliban in secret strategy sessions to organize networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan leaders."

A document from 2008 has revealed that a high-ranking Pakistani intelligence officer was plotting with the Taliban to assassinate Afghan President and US puppet leader Hamid Karzai. Pakistan, unsurprisingly, has rejected this claim.

Massacres of civilians were also revealed by the documents.

US military field report 52169 details a supposed battle between US forces and "insurgents." A US Air Force Lockheed AC-130H Spectre was called in and opened fired on the supposed insurgents. The field report goes into detail about the combatant death toll, but says nothing about civilians. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported that 90 civilians were killed in the incident. More than half of the dead civilians were children. This shows how the US military whitewashes its crimes, it simply does not mention its wrongdoings in the ground reports.

American President Barack Obama has condemned the leaking of these secret documents, clearly showing his shady nature.

Congress May Bring Back The Draft

On July 15, 2010, Democrat Charles Rangle introduced a piece of legislation into Congress that would basically reinstate the draft (compulsory military service). H.R. 5741 will give the President of the United States the power to require all American citizens between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform either military service or civilian service in the interests of "national defense and homeland security." It would also give him the power to require citizens to join the military during wartime to meet the manpower needs of the military.

In February 2009, President Barack Obama asked Congress to send him a bipartisan bill in favor of "national service." Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel outline a plan similar to H.R. 5741 in his book The Plan.

Under this new legislation, nearly every American will be forced into two years of military or security service. Even conscientious objectors will be unable to avoid this new draft. Instead, they would have to choose noncombatant or civilian service, which will be defined by the President.

This bill is currently being debated in the House Committee on Armed Services chaired by Rep Ike Skelton.

Infowars.com, a website run by known government critic Alex Jones, has called this bill the "slavery bill." Slavery is the best word for this. The "hope and change" the "Democratic" Party is bringing the US and the world is, in reality, a change back to the days of the draft and, well, slavery. We can rest assured that there will be Republicans on the political scene that will support the slavery bill in order to further their imperialist, warmongering agendas. One can't help but wonder what kind of international chaos the American government plans to start in the next few years. Why would it need conscription like this if it isn't planning on starting another major war?

Declare war on the new draft before it sends you to the front lines!

Regarding the Sheriff's Comments on the Richmond City Jail

The following was submitted to The Partisan by the "Justice Enforcement League." The Partisan is willing to publish submissions from other progressives every so often. Feel free to share with us.

After hearing Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody in the media responding to the outcry against the deadly conditions at the Richmond City Jail, it would seem Woody is nothing but a figurehead with no control over the jail. If Woody is unable to prevent such inhumane conditions, then who can and why does Woody's position exist? The numerous deaths of the past 5 years are evidence of the violations of the 8th Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. When one institution of the local government is broken in such a manner, it should be the responsibility of other local government institutions to restore sanity. City Councilman Marty Jewell, however, has stated that the City Council has no authority to investigate the jail despite his support for an investigation. The Mayor's office has taken no action.

"I have been very vocal about overcrowding and the physical condition of the jail and I will continue to be an outspoken advocate for my employees and the residents that I am charged with keeping safe," said Sheriff Woody (murderer).

Despite the rhetoric of Woody and other government officials, they all share in the responsibility of the crimes at the City Jail. For example, Mayor Dwight Jones and other officials have been aware of the inhumane conditions at the City Jail for a long time, but Jones only spoke out recently after the deaths occured. Acting as a helpless tool, the Sheriff has done nothing but advocate for building a new jail that would only serve to line the pockets of city bureaucrats with taxpayers' money.

We are tired of the abuses by the people entrusted with our tax dollars and safety. Instead of profiteers and disinterested officials, we need someone who stands for justice and the Bill of Rights.

- Justice Enforcement League

US Confiscates Computers for Cuba

US Customs officials in Texas confiscated five computers that were going to Cuba. The computers were donated by residents of Vancouver as part of the 21st Century Cuba-United States Friendship Caravan.

"I think this is just a harassment and intimidation tactic," said Janine Solanki, a member of Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba.

Solanki, who is traveling to Cuba with the caravan, said that the US officials said the computers were taken because they could possibly be used for military purposes in Cuba.

"These computers are Pentium 4s that are five-year-old used computers, so it's a bit of a ridiculous charge," said Solanki.

"And so this is something we have seen in past years," said Solanki. "In 1996, they confiscated 400 computers and we actually had a 94-day hunger strike until they were released after getting international pressure on them."

The Friendship Caravan, sponsored by Pastors for Peace, is an aid caravan that collects and delivers tools, construction supplies, medical equipment, educational materials, and more to Cuba. It also aims to raise awareness about what is really going on in Cuba and the unjustified US harassment of the island.

While the American and European mouthpieces in the media maintain that Cubans aren't allowed to have computers and access the internet, this recent development, and the 1996 incident, proves that the US is preventing Cubans from using the internet and computer technology as part of the economic embargo and its sadistic plan for toppling the Castro regime. The US itself continues to block Cuban access to fiber-optic tubes that would allow the island's inhabitants internet access.

Greek Journalist Shot

Greek journalist Sokratis Giolias, age 37, was shot to death in front of his Athens home on Monday morning. Giolias was the news editor at Thema 89.9, a private radio station in Athens, and of a tabloid called Proto Thema. He also wrote for a blog called Troktiko, which was famous for writing about scandals in the Greek government.

Giolias was lured outside of his home by men disguised as security officers. They told him that someone was stealing his car. He was shot at least 15 times once he was outside. At least two or three people had carried out the attack. A burned car, originally reported stolen, was found near the scene of the incident.

Police had originally ruled out the possibility of the attack being the work of leftist militants, but this changed as the investigation continued.

"Examination of 16 nine-millimetre Parabellum cartridges found on the scene of today's homicide ... shows they were fired by two weapons used in the activities of the Revolutionary Sect group," the police said in a statement.

The Revolutionary Sect, also translated from Greek as Sect of Revolutionaries or Rebel Sect, is one of the leftist militant groups that emerged from the 2008 riots after Greek police murdered a 15 year old. The Sect of Revolutionaries is known for a few attacks on police and one on Alter TV. The rebel organization was thought to be inactive since it hasn't carried out an attack in 13 months.

A BBC correspondent stated that the journalist was killed by contract killers, and an article on Proto Thema also mentions this possibility. It said that the methodology used was closer to that of hitmen than left-wing militants. Given the fact that weapons used in killings often circulate through the underground, this is very possible.

No group has claimed responsibility for the shooting. Given the history of the Sect of Revolutionaries, they will release an official statement within the next few days if they are indeed responsible. We must avoid jumping to conclusions and immediately pointing fingers. It is hard to understand why a group that has been inactive for over a year would suddenly reemerge and shoot someone. We must also question why the group would adopt the methods of contract killers instead of its usual methods. Were they really "disguised" as security officials? Perhaps the killing was a set up by the police who didn't like what Giolias was reporting, and they used the name of the Sect of Revolutionaries because it would be easy to get away with it given the groups' inactivity.

Guide to Abusing Children in Prison

The following article was taken from RALA (click here), but has a source of its own. The country in question here is the UK.

Shocking details of techniques used to inflict pain deliberately on children in privately run jails have been revealed for the first time in a government document obtained by the Observer.

Some of the restraint and self-defence measures approved by the Ministry of Justice include ramming knuckles into ribs and raking shoes down the shins. Other extraordinary passages in the previously secret manual, Physical Control in Care, authorise staff to:

■ “Use an inverted knuckle into the trainee’s sternum and drive inward and upward.”

■ “Continue to carry alternate elbow strikes to the young person’s ribs until a release is achieved.”

■ “Drive straight fingers into the young person’s face, and then quickly drive the straightened fingers of the same hand downwards into the young person’s groin area.”

The disclosure of the prison service manual follows a five-year freedom of information battle. The manual was condemned last night by campaigners as “state authorisation of institutionalised child abuse”.

Published by the HM Prison Service in 2005 and classified as a restricted government document, the manual guides staff on what restraint and self-defence techniques are authorised for use on children as young as 12 in secure training centres. The centres are purpose-built facilities for young offenders up to the age of 17 and run by private firms under government contracts.

Instructions to staff warn that the techniques risk giving children a “fracture to the skull” and “temporary or permanent blindness caused by rupture to eyeball or detached retina”.

The guidance, designed to cope with unruly children, also acknowledges that the measures could cause asphyxia. One passage, explaining how to administer a head-hold on children, adds that “if breathing is compromised the situation ceases to be a restraint and becomes a medical emergency”.

Carolyne Willow, national co-ordinator of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), which led the campaign for disclosure following the deaths of two teenage boys in secure training centres, said: “The manual is deeply disturbing and stands as state authorisation of institutionalised child abuse. What made former ministers believe that children as young as 12 could get so out of control so often that staff should be taught how to ram their knuckles into their rib cages? Would we allow paediatricians, teachers or children’s home staff to be trained in how to deliberately hurt and humiliate children?”

The campaign for publication began following the deaths of Gareth Myatt and Adam Rickwood. Myatt, 15, died while being held down by three staff at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre in Warwickshire. Myatt choked on his own vomit and died.

In the same year, 2004, 14-year-old Rickwood, from Burnley, hanged himself at the Hassockfield Secure Training Centre in County Durham. A judge ruled last year that the carers who restrained Rickwood shortly before his death had used unlawful force.

His mother, Carol Pounder, was said to be “relieved” that other parents would now know the truth behind the use of restraint.

Deborah Coles, co-director of the charity Inquest, which campaigns on the issue of contentious deaths in custody, claimed their deaths emanated from a “culture of obfuscation, secrecy and complacency… in which dangerous, unlawful and ultimately lethal practices continued unchecked”.

Earlier this month the government was prepared to go to a tribunal to fight against the disclosure of the manual, despite the information commissioner ruling that the public interest was so grave the document should be released. The Ministry of Justice backed down and last week released the entire 119-page document. Previously, officials had even refused to give a copy to the parliamentary human rights committee.

Phillip Noyes, director of strategy and development at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said: “These shocking revelations graphically illustrate the cruel and degrading violence inflicted at times on children in custody. On occasions these restraint techniques have resulted in children suffering broken arms, noses, wrists and fingers. Painful restraint is a clear breach of children’s human rights against some of the most vulnerable youngsters in society and does not have a place in decent society.”

One former manager of a secure children’s home with almost 20 years’ experience said the revelations were “horrifying” and described the self-defence techniques as “child abuse”.

“Nose distraction” techniques – sharp blows to the nose – have already been found by the Court of Appeal to have been routinely and unlawfully used in at least one centre.

The legal director for CRAE, Katy Swaine, said the contents of the manual offered evidence that the treatment of children in secure training centres had contravened human rights laws. She said: “The guidance given in this state-authorised manual violates human rights because it allows staff to deliberately hurt children outside cases of life-threatening necessity.”

During the 12 months up to March 2009, restraint was used 1,776 times in the UK’s four secure training centres.

Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the former children’s commissioner for England and emeritus professor of child health at University College London, said: “It’s time the whole country knows what is going on under their noses. This is just part of a brutal system, and we welcome the fact this is finally in the open.”

Malcolm Stevens, a former government policy adviser and director of secure training centres who helped to develop the government’s guidance for staff working in secure centres during the 1990s, said he could not understand why pain-inducing techniques were endorsed. He said: “I have never seen the need to use pain-compliant techniques, and after 15 years my view has not changed. I have no truck with distraction techniques.”

The document also describes the application of steel handcuffs: children are forced to “adopt a kneeling position” while a second staff member “takes control of the head” by grabbing the back of the neck while cupping the chin.

Willow, who has drawn up 30 parliamentary questions to be tabled by MPs this week to ascertain how many times these self-defence techniques have been used in the past five years, said: “The ritualistic humiliation of making children kneel down to get handcuffs on and off is truly sickening and a clear abuse of human rights. Techniques include holding a ‘child’s forehead to the floor with another hand on the back of the neck’.”

Obama's Generals

Much trouble was created for the Dutch government when the Prime Minister failed to make good on his campaign promise to withdraw his troops from Afghanistan. The German President resigned after confessing that his government's participation in the Afghan War had nothing to do with safety and terrorism, but rather it was in the interests of big business. All of this was topped off within the past few weeks with the resignation of American General Stanley McChrystal.

The writer of the Rolling Stone article that caused the General so much trouble said, "[McChrystal] was marred by a scandal of abuse and torture of prisoners at Camp Nama in Iraq. [...] He was extremely successful as head of Joint Special Operations Command, the elite forces that run the darkest government operations."

"We killed a staggering number of people, but as far as I know, none of them came to prove a threat," said General McChrystal earlier this year.

General Petraeus, the replacement commander of NATO forces appointed by Barack Obama, is the author of a secret directive that authorizes the use of American Special Operations troops for deployment in other countries, regardless of how friendly or hostile they are to the USA. This may pave the way for military strikes against Iran. Petraeus is in favor of taking the war in the Middle East beyond Afghanistan and Iraq.

The fact that Barack Obama is working with Generals who employ such criminal tactics shows exactly what kind of "hope and change" he is bringing the world. Hope his henchmen don't kill you next because he is only Changing his butcher apron.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

The following was sent in to the Partisan by the "Justice Enforcement League" regarding our article on the Richmond City Jail protest and the prisoner issue.

The Constitution is the basis of the law and the reason the U.S. government exists. Government officials including Richmond city sheriff C.T. Woody swear an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution however they seem not to understand the most straightforward elements of our founding document. Amendment VIII of U.S. Constitution states; "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment." The municipal affiliate of the prison industrial complex which includes not only the Sheriff's Office but also the Richmond Police Department and the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney seems to conduct itself exclusively in violation of this important part of the Constitution.

There are many cases of people being held in the Richmond City Jail because of their inability to pay fines imposed. In some cases people are imprisoned for not paying fines for traffic violations such as driving on a suspended license. The jail is also full of victims in the so called war on drugs which in reality is nothing more than a war on the Constitution and the American people. This brings us to the deadly conditions for the people inside the Richmond City Jail, a place where many have died prematurely due to their treatment. Many held in the jail have died as a result of beatings, organ failure as a result of heat exposure (the temperatures reach as high as 120 degrees) and withholding necessary medical treatment. Most who suffer the brutal, unconstitutional treatment at the Richmond City Jail do not die from their inhumane treatment, however, they suffer from the physical and emotional scars caused from beatings, rapes, and diseases that spread like wildfire.

Government officials have not addressed the deaths they are responsible for, nor have they shown any evidence the conditions have improved. The reply given by those responsible for the deaths at jail have been dubious. Commonwealth Attorney Mike Herring and Sheriff C.T. Woody addressed council and the Mayor on Monday night and gave lip service to reducing the jail's population of inmates. No mention of the deaths, and no mention of current conditions. I have stated to several media outlets, including NBC 12 on Friday, July 9th that the deaths at the jail were a result of violations of the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. The sheriff's response to this came four days later in a statement to Channel 12 News; he said he is opposed to overcrowding in the facility. Well, as you can see, those criminally responsible have their empty talking point.

The sad fact is that the Richmond city government's unconstitutional nature mirrors all the local, state, and federal institutions that get their authority from the current U.S. government. We the people must form a government based on serving the people, honoring the truth, and upholding the Constitution. We need a revolution of ideas and actions against the criminal status quo that has created the biggest prison population in the world. We must restore the U.S. Constitution and its basis the Great Law of Peace. I announced my intention to be the next Sheriff of the city of Richmond on May 8, 2010 - for the purpose of enforcing the Constitution and equal protection under the law regardless of personal income, race, gender, or sexual orientation. There must be accountability for the deaths caused by cruel and unusual punishment at the jail.

Chris Dorsey, Justice Enforcement League

20 Killed in Iran Bombing

Two bombs went off outside of a mosque in southeastern Iran on Thursday in the city of Zahedan. At least twenty people were killed including members of the Revolutionary Guard, and at least one hundred people were wounded. This comes less than a month after Iran hanged a member of an insurgent group from that region.

The attack appears to have been carried out by suicide bombers. There have been no claims of responsibility for the attack so far, but the area is home to the Jundallah. Western readers will probably remember its name from its 2009 attack in Zahedan which killed over 120 people.

Jundallah (meaning "soldiers of God") is a Baluch ethnic and Sunni insurgent group in Iran. It gained notoriety for a series of kidnappings and bombings carried out six years ago. Jundallah has played a role in destabilizing Iran's border region with Pakistan. Iran claims that the United States, United Kingdom, and Al-Qaida are supporting the group. Although the US and UK deny these claims, facts state otherwise.

On May 22, 2007, ABC news reported that, "the United States has supported and encouraged an Iranian militant group, Jundallah, that has conducted deadly raids inside Iran from bases on the rugged Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan 'tri-border region'."

Seymour Hersh, an investigative reporter for the New Yorker, reported that American agents are in Iran working to create an armed rebellion among the Baluchi ethnic minority, and Jundallah is a Baluchi group they work with.

With all that being said, there should be no doubt in the mind of the reader that the US and its friends aren't fighting against "terrorism" and Islamic extremism in the Middle East. In fact, they are encouraging it when it serves their imperialist needs.

Protest Against the Jail and Police Brutality in Richmond

If you are looking for information on the October 22nd protest, click here.

At least 30 Virginia protesters gathered at Richmond City Hall on Friday to demonstrate against the inhumane conditions in Richmond City Jail and police brutality in general. This came after said jail experienced its second inmate death in less than a week last month.

Before leaving City Hall, two speakers discussed the sweltering heat inside of the jail, the improper medical treatment of prisoners (including handling medication), the beatings that take place in the jail, and its overcrowding issue. They also spoke out in solidarity with Oscar Grant, an unarmed man killed by Oakland police last year. The speakers called for all prisoners in the City Jail to be released.

"With people actually dying, you have to break out of your bureaucratic constraints and do something," said Mo Karn, an organizer of the protest.

The protesters then marched down to the City Jail chanting "It's time to liberate, end the police state!" Once they reached the jail one could hear inmates yelling out in support of the protest. Armed police officials gathered at the entrance of the jail. The protesters boldly stood in front of them and chanted, "No justice, no peace, fuck the police!" They also chanted for prisoners rights.

On the trip home, The Partisan talked to a former inmate who wished to only be called Tony. He had this to say:

"It gets hot in there. I had to sleep on the floor in the shower room for three months when I was doing time. Believe it or not, they used to have air conditioners in there, but they took them all out. They have a warehouse full of air conditioners though. I'd know because I used to be a trustee in there."

Richmond City Jail is built to house a little over 800 inmates. It now contains double that amount. One inmate, Grant Sleeper, died from heat exposure in the jail recently.

It has been said that at least 21 people have died in the Richmond City Jail over the years, but there is no way of knowing how many have actually died because there aren't enough records and the prison officials try to cover up the deaths. Some estimate the number of dead prisoners to be anywhere from 30 to 50. Bureau of Justice statistics show that from 2000 to 2007 more than 8,000 people died in jail nationwide.

According to local news sources such as CBS 6 and Fox 12, most of the prisoners in Richmond City Jail are non-violent offenders. One man who was interviewed on the news stated that he spent several days in the hot jail for a driving offense in which nobody was harmed.

It's time for a new and humane system of rehabilitation and consequence. In theory, prisons are supposed to contain those who are "too dangerous" for the world and reeducate those who aren't. However, you can't do this when people are dying, being treated like animals, and being exposed to people and mentalities that are much worse than most new inmates.

Iran Ready to Defend

Iranian military leaders said on Tuesday that they are prepared to repel potential US and Israeli invasion forces. Brig. Gen. Amir Pourdastan, commander of the Iranian ground forces, said his soldiers can stop any attack on Iranian borders with the help of high-precision missiles (not to be confused with nukes).

"I can confirm that we have advanced missile capacity that would enable us to strike any aggressor," Pourdastan said. He also stated that there has been an increase in the precision of Iranian missiles.

Air Force Operations Sub-Commander Majid Pirhadi said that Iran plans to equip all bases along the border with drones (unmanned-aircraft). He said the drones would carry out reconnaissance and eventually other operations. He went on to emphasize that the air force is highly developed. The Iranians are working to upgrade their MiG-29 fighter jets.

The Iranian Parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security Commission founded a special committee to confront US and Israeli threats against their nuclear program.

Cuba Calls for Enlargement of UN Security Council

Cuba recently stated that they feel the UN Security Council will be neither effective nor representative while entire regions are excluded from the decision making process and the category of permanent members.

Cuba has demanded an enlargement of the UN Security Council in order to better take the interests of the third world into consideration.

"Cuba considers that the number of permanent members on the UN Security Council must increase to add two new developing countries from Asia, two from Africa, and two from Latin America and the Caribbean," said Cuban Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Verson, Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN.

"It is impossible to examine the issue of regional representation without considering the close link with the rest of the aspects of the Security Council reform," Verson said.

"Likewise, we favour an increase in the number of non-permanent members to achieve an adequate representation of the developing countries," he continued.