The Partisan

British Workers Fight Back

2011-09-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

The British section of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) are in full force this news cycle, fighting for workers' rights at both Pizza Hut and Guildhall.

The Britain and Ireland Regional Administration of the IWW recently received its "Certificate of Independence," which gives them the same rights as other unions in Britain.

Pizza Hut workers in Sheffield are fighting for better pay and better working conditions, especially for delivery drivers. Among their demands are safer scooters and better maintenance.

“Working conditions at the company are very bad, the hourly rate is £5.83,” said one employee.

“Delivery drivers who have no license for the scooters have to use their own vehicle, but they are only reimbursed £0.6 per delivery. It’s a total rip off! We have filed a collective grievance against this situation.”

So far, the IWW has forced management to admit that commission for delivery drivers could be better. They have also won new scooters.

The union is now trying to expand to more Pizza Huts in the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, London cleaners (janitors) in the IWW Cleaners and Allied Industries Branch have won a series of victories at Guildhall, their workplace at the Corporation of London. The Corporation of London is the municipal governing body of the City of London. The cleaners are employees of Ocean Contract Cleaning, a company with a history of frequently underpaying, or not paying, its workers.

Many of the cleaners of Guildhall are immigrants from Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and are subjected to abuse in the workplace because of this. They were constantly underpaid and some workers had to wait for months just to get wages that were owed to them. They are condemned to a strict attendance policy where if somebody is five minutes late, they are sent home, and they are fired if they are late again. The 34 cleaners of Guildhall organized in June, refusing to work until they were assured they would be paid properly. Despite the promises of their employer, they were left with two weeks worth of wages unpaid. The workers filed a collective grievance against the contractor via the IWW.

On July 15th, the IWW cleaners held a day of action by protesting outside of Guildhall. They were joined in solidarity by other IWW members, cleaners from other job sites in London, other labor unions from a variety of trades, and students.

This effectively forced the management of Ocean and the Corporation of London to invite the union to negotiations. In the end, the IWW secured the payment of wages owed to its members at Guildhall.

The Industrial Workers of the World, formed in the United States in 1905 by Marxists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists, is an anti-capitalist, militant labor union for all workers. It organizes both skilled and unskilled workers, as well as the unemployed.

Gov. Rick Scott Lies About Drugs, Profits from Prisons

2011-09-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Recent test results from Florida show that only 2 percent of temporary cash assistance applicants use drugs. This proves that Florida Governor Rick Scott was completely wrong in his bigoted claims that welfare recipients use drugs at higher rates than other people.

The Florida legislature passed a law earlier this year requiring all temporary cash assistance applicants be tested for drug use. Ninety-six percent were clean, while only 2 percent withdrew their applications for unknown reasons. The state will save only $60,000 at best from the rejected applicants.

This only shows that right-wingers are telling lies to demonize workers and the unemployed so they can cut social programs that help the poor.

In other Rick Scott related news, he wants to privatize Florida's prisons. This has lead the Teamsters Union to file an ethics complaint against him.

The union stated that Scott received $1 million in campaign funds from two private prison companies, GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America. In return, Scott is now advocating for the privatization of prisons in Florida.

They contend that this will result in the loss of 3,800 jobs and decrease public safety. The Partisan contends that it will increase the amount of people behind bars who shouldn't be locked up. These prison companies clearly want to profit from the captivity, enslavement, and misery of other human beings.

Nothing is as sure as U.S. debt payments

2011-05-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

This was originally written by Dean Sayers of The Thin Red Line and published on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website as a letter to the editor.

For all the hype about fiscal deficits, the numbers don't add up to any significant threat to the U.S. economy: The U.S. is highly unlikely to default on its debts, and debts are mostly held by private and public U.S. firms and individuals.

As Ludwig von Mises famously argued, if you print money (or create loans) you'll get inflation, and whoever gets the money first benefits from it most. But whom does inflation hurt? In a global economy, it is the relative debt/capital holdings that matter. These are called "net account balance" and "capital account balance." The U.S. far supersedes other nations in terms of net debt and net capital. What will expanded government purchases do to this dynamic? It depends on where those purchases go. If we look at the current data from the U.S. Treasury, we see that U.S. debt goes primarily to U.S. interests: 70.7 percent of U.S. debt is owed to U.S. firms or individuals.

If we decide to take Rep. Paul Ryan's advice, we will be reducing government purchases that expand net capital in the U.S. and net debt to entities in the U.S. If we follow these plans, the U.S.'s place in the global economy will contract: Capital will leave the nation.

In a nation with fiat currency, the government can simply create money. The trend in government borrowing is a testament to this fact; as Binyamin Appelbaum noted on "NewsHour": "Nothing is as sure in financial markets than that the United States government will repay its debts. And so the government gets the cheapest rates available."

Spaniards Protest, Clash with Police

2011-05-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

The people of Spain, taking a page from the Tunisian and Egyptian playbooks, have been protesting around the clock and occupying the streets of major Spanish cities since May 15. Angered by austerity measures, a 21.3 percent unemployment rate, and a corrupt two-party government, the Spanish people are demanding "real democracy."

The country-wide protest began in Madrid, in the plaza of Puerta del Sol, a week before the country's elections. The protests then spread to other cities, including Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, and Seville. The government attempted to stop the protests by banning demonstrations and giving orders to disband, but the youth of Spain have defiantly persisted with their protests.

Riot police clashed with the protesters in Barcelona today in an attempt to remove camps from the protest site. 84 protesters and 37 police were injured in the clash. Clashes also took place in the city of Lleida.

Faced with youth unemployment at over 40 percent, a lack of jobs for college-educated people, pay freezes for workers and the raising of the retirement age by the Spanish government, the Spanish people are fed up. While the rest of the world faced the Great Depression of the 20th Century, the Soviet Union saw industrial growth and everyone had a job. In Cuba, the unemployment rate was, until late last year, only around 2 percent. Communism is the answer to the problems of Spain. Time for a people's revolution!

Minnesota Activists Win $50,000 from Local Police, FBI

2011-05-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

Sarah Coffey, Erin Stalnaker and Kris Hermes, three activists from Saint Paul, Minnesota, won a $50,000 settlement in their lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Saint Paul Police Department on Thursday. The lawsuit was filed in August 2009 and stated that the FBI and police violated the plaintiffs' First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The homes of the three activists were raided on the eve of the massive demonstrations against the 2008 Republican National Convention. The police carried out several other operations to repress other left-wing activists in the days leading up to the Convention. This is the largest settlement related to the RNC protests.

"The City of Saint Paul and the federal government were forced to pay for their politically-motivated attack on organizers," said Sarah Coffey. "Rather than spend years in court fighting the government over its political surveillance program, we decided to use settlement money to invest in projects that oppose such repressive tactics."

The trio of plaintiffs is donating most of the $50,000 to the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the Institute for Anarchist Studies, the Impact Fund, and to create a national legal defense fund for political activists.

The raid drew national attention when the police tried to enter the living quarters of the 10 activists and residents without a search warrant. They were refused entry, leading to a several-hours-long standoff. After getting a verbal go-ahead from a judge, the police forcefully entered one of the homes and detained everyone inside including the owner, tenants and the activists. Nobody was arrested, no illegal items were found, and nothing was seized, but computers and cameras were searched.

The police accused the owner of a nearby home of receiving weapons in the mail and illegally searched that home as well. They attempted to tie that home owner to the now defunct Symbionese Liberation Front (an "urban guerrilla" group from the 1970s). No weapons were found.

"We hope this sends a message to law enforcement officials who would enter homes illegally or suppress political dissent," said Coffey, "there is a cost to their actions."

The police and FBI are still continuing their work to stifle political dissent in all its various forms across the political spectrum. Although this is a significant victory, there is still much work to be done.

Brazil demonstration in support of Indian Maoists

2011-05-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

On May Day of this year, the Brazilian Liga dos camponeses pobres (League of poor peoples)held a demonstration in Sao Paulo, Brazil to show solidarity with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the oppressed Adivasi peasants of India. The Maoists have a deep support base among the Adivasis, the poor tribal people, and are currently waging a guerrilla war against the Indian government.

Mahdi Resistance Rally Against Occupation in Baghdad

2011-05-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

Supporters of the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rallied in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad today. Members of al-Sadr's Mahdi army gathered in northeastern Baghdad early in the morning, leading up to a peaceful protest, rally, and march.

The Mahdi resistance soldiers marched through the capital without weapons, but still intended the march to be a display of force and a warning. Their message was simple, they want the United States and its allied forces to leave Iraq by December 31 (the deadline set by the SOFA agreement). If the occupation forces remain, the Mahdi resistance will resume its combat operations against the US military.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has expressed his hope that the Iraqi puppet regime will request that Western armed forces remain in the country beyond the year-end deadline. There are around 45,000 US soldiers remaining in Iraq. Some of them are still being killed while on patrol, despite the false claims of the Obama administration that the Iraq War is winding down.

The only way to minimize, and hopefully prevent, further death and destruction in Iraq is for the United States and its allies to leave Iraq entirely.

Americans Protest Against AIPAC, One Woman Injured

2011-05-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside of the recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Sunday. The protest was mainly organized by the women's peace group Code Pink, but other anti-war groups attended the protest as well, including the ANSWER Coalition and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. These activists were protesting Israeli war crimes against Palestinians and the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which is illegal according to international law and is the cause of a humanitarian crisis. The anti-AIPAC activities were part of the week-long Move Over AIPAC protests.

Some of the activists managed to sneak into the AIPAC conference and interrupt it. Rae Abileah (pictured here), a 28 year-old Jewish American and Code Pink member, was among them. Shouting, “No more occupation, stop Israeli war crimes, equal rights for Palestinians, occupation is indefensible,” Abileah interrupted the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the House Gallery. She was then tackled and beaten by AIPAC members. The police then dragged her out of the building, further injuring her neck and shoulders.

She was taken to the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC for treatment. While in the hospital police payed Abileah a visit to let her know she was under arrest. She is currently not being allowed any visitors at the hospital.

“I am in great pain, but this is nothing compared to the pain and suffering that Palestinians go through on a regular basis,” Abileah said from the hospital. “I have been to Gaza and the West Bank, I have seen Palestinians homes bombed and bulldozed, I have talked to mothers whose children have been killed during the invasion of Gaza, I have seen the Jewish-only roads leading to ever-expanding settlements in the West Bank. This kind of colonial occupation cannot continue. As a Jew and a U.S. citizen, I feel obligated to rise up and speak out against these crimes being committed in my name and with my tax dollars.”

This clearly shows the true goal of AIPAC, to commit savage acts of thuggery against all those who disagree with the foreign policy of Israel and the United States. This is not what democracy looks like.

Richmond's Homeless and Activists Take Over Park

2011-03-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

Currently, a coalition of the homeless and local activists are occupying Richmond, VA's Monroe Park. Here is a promotional video about it.

They are trying to stop Richmond's plans for the gentrification and criminalization of the homeless.

For more information visit:
http://monroeparkoccupation.wordpress.com/

They are currently in need of more tents, blankets, food, and people to spend the night with them. They are on the corner of Main and Laurel in Monroe Park.

From Madison to Richmond, from the Philippines to Egypt, the proletariat is fighting back!

Iranian Workers Avoid Green Movement

2011-02-25T14:55:00.000-08:00

The Iranian Green movement marched through Tehran on Sunday, reminding the world of the post-election riots a few years ago. They were inspired, propelled even, by the revolutionary wave that is shaking the Muslim world. The difference between the Iranian protesters and their counterparts in Tunisia and Egypt is the participation of organized labor.

Workers unions in Tunisia and Egypt went above and beyond to help remove the Western-backed dictators from power. In Iran, the working-class is silent. They were silent during the rowdiness of 2009 as well. The Iranians protesting against the government then and now are mostly middle class liberals, many being university students. In 2009, the students called for a general strike, which the Iranian workers ignored. The workers are still ignoring the students today, and as long as they keep ignoring them the regime will remain in place.

Iran has less income inequality than major Latin American and African countries and Iran doesn't suffer from the same levels of poverty as seen in Egypt.

This isn't to say that Iranian workers are without their share of unpaid wages and awful working conditions. Perhaps the Iranian working-class is aware that an overthrow of the Islamic Republic would only result in the establishment of a worse regime that serves the interests of exploiter countries like the USA and Israel. With that being said, tell the imperialist commentators to wipe that smile off their faces, there will be no puppet governments in Iran anytime soon.

Tens of Thousands Protest Against Anti-Union Bill in Wisconsin

2011-02-16T14:49:00.000-08:00

Around 30,000 people took part in a massive protest against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's attempt to eliminate collective bargaining rights for state workers. A variety of working people, students, religious leaders, and community members marched around the state Capitol building in Madison.

This is the second protest, with more expected this week. 10,000 to 15,000 people were present at the previous protest. In the days leading up to the protests, action against Walker's anti-union bill was taken by thousands of high school students who walked out of schools across the state.

The Wisconsin Joint Committee on Finance ended public debate last night, cutting out the chance for many concerned people to express their opinions on Walker's anti-union bill.

A series of television propaganda advertisements have been run by the right-wingers of Wisconsin in an attempt to pit private sector workers against those of the public sector. The propaganda attempts to convince the private sector employees that state employees have things better than they do. What the propaganda fails to say, however, is when public sector unions fight for better rights and benefits, it puts pressure on private sector employers to give their employees similar benefits. A victory for one is a victory for all in the same sense that an injury to one is an injury to all.

Walker's bill does not apply to firefighters and police because their unions supported him in the last election, but police and firefighters showed up anyway to speak out against governor Walker. It is clear that he is trying to get the support of the police so he can use them to carry out massacres against striking unions. He has also built up the National Guard for this same purpose. Throughout the history of the US as a whole and Wisconsin alone, we have seen the police and the National Guard used in such a fascist manner. Because of this, Scott Walker has been dubbed "Hosni Walker" after Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Pharaoh Walker is attempting to get his bill pushed through by the end of the week. The reason Wisconsin is facing financial problems is because the state government has sided with corporations who don't want to pay taxes and have overseas bank accounts. Some of these corporations have never hired a single worker in the state, but still have financial interests there. Wisconsin has lower corporate taxes than the surrounding states. Taxing them is what would be best for the local economy.

Riots in Iraq

2011-02-16T14:25:00.000-08:00

Clashes between security forces and protesters broke out in southern Iraq recently. Two thousand protesters took to the streets of Kut, Wasit Province to demand better public services, and they eventually sacked government offices and stormed the provincial council. Three government offices were set on fire, including the governor's home.

The protesters are demanding the resignation of provincial governor Latif Hamad al-Tarfa due to the horrible way basic public services such as electricity and water are handled.

“We demand that our rights be met, that we have better services and that the authorities fight corruption,” said Ali Mohsen, a 54-year-old university professor.

The police are saying that three people have been killed, and thirty people have been wounded, including fifteen police officers. Among the dead is a sixteen year old boy who was shot in the chest.

Police and soldiers fired weapons into the air to disperse the demonstrators, and private security guards working for the Wasit Council shot directly into the crowd.

"They were outside the law,” police Brigadier General Hussein Jassim said with regards to the actions of the private security personnel.

1-800-Flowers Abuses Women Farm Workers

2011-02-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

If you haven't yet begun your search for a good place to get flowers for your sweetheart on Valentine's Day, then you should make a note to avoid 1-800-Flowers.

1-800-Flowers is the largest florist in the world, as well as a large exploiter of women farm workers in Colombia and Ecuador. Two-thirds of their farm laborers are women, and over half of them have been assaulted or sexually abused by their male supervisors. These ladies are forced to work up to 80-hour weeks without overtime pay in the time leading up to Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, and are subject to attacks by police and the armed forces when they attempt to unionize.

Although most of the flowers come from Latin America, a smaller portion of them come from Africa. In Kenya, those who grow the flowers work up to 12 hour days for less than a dollar and must live in unsafe conditions.

As if that isn't enough, these women farm workers suffer from eye infections and miscarriages due to their exposure to hazardous pesticides.

1-800-Flowers doesn't offer any fair trade products. They have also been accused of contributing to the problem of human trafficking.

The Partisan requests that you do something really romantic by standing up for exploited farm women this Valentine's Day. Boycott 1-800-Flowers and sign the petitions that urge the company to do the right thing.

You can start here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/ask-1-800-flowers-to-offer-fair-trade-flowers-that-arent-picked-by-exploited-workers

Venezuelan Opposition Proposes Criminal as Presidential Candidate

2011-02-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

Venezuelan opposition party Un Nuevo Tiempo (A New Era), or UNT, has confirmed that it will propose Manuel Rosales as its candidate for president in the December 2012 elections.

Rosales is a former governor of Zulia and mayor of Maracaibo. He ran against Hugo Chavez in previous elections and lost by a wide margin. The united opposition approval body "Mesa de la Unidad" (Coalition for Unity), has yet to approve him. Other candidates have also been proposed.

The Mesa de la Unidad drew controversy to itself when Jose Sanchez, a known murderer, and Biaggio Pilieri, who was indicted for corruption, were accepted as members.

Interpol, or the International Criminal Police Organization, has an arrest warrant for Rosales. He left Venezuela to live in Peru after being charged with corruption in 2009. Rosales failed to appear for trial, clearly showing that he has something dirty to hide.

It is also known that Rosales met with Colombian terrorists and drug traffickers (who have admitted meeting him) to pay them to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and create chaos in Venezuela.

The opposition is demanding immunity for their candidates who were accused of crimes, but their demands have been rejected because the crimes were committed before they were sworn in.

Hugo Chavez will run as the candidate representing the parties taking part in the Bolivarian Revolution.

Houston Police Beat Minor

2011-02-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

Here you can see six Houston policemen brutally beating a young robbery suspected after running into the suspect with a police car. The police were unaware their actions were being taped, so we must ask if this is their standard procedure when capturing someone. The young suspected posed no threat to the police. After being hit by their car he put his hands behind his head and did not resist, but the police still kept beating him.

The Texas courts tried to keep this video a secret for almost a year, but it was recently leaked last week by community activist Quannel X of the New Black Panther Party. The local government wanted to keep the tape secret to prevent alerting the people of Texas, as well as the world, of exactly how sinister their regime really is. It seems that they were also trying to protect the police from getting a just sentence, given that courts are biased in favor of police.

"We hear these stories all the time in our community, all the time," local NAACP President D.Z. Cofield is reported to have said.

Notice how one of the guests in this video points out that they, as someone close to the Houston Police, hear about the local Police Department doing things like this frequently.

This happened last March after the suspect, 15 year-old Chad Holley, ran from police when he was spotted trying to commit a burglary. While The Partisan does not support the idea of burglary, we consider brutally beating a minor who didn't physically harm anyone to be much worse. The punishment for Holley does not fit the crime.

Four of the police officers have been indicted and charged with misdemeanor "official oppression" and could face up to one year in prison and a $4,000 dollar fine.

Uprisings Possible in Syria

2011-02-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

Protests are set to be staged Friday and Saturday in front of the Syrian parliament in Damascus and at Syrian embassies worldwide. Demonstrations will also be held in the cities of Homs, Aleppo and Qamishli.

The Syrian government cut down on its people's internet access last week by blocking certain websites and chats when rebellion erupted in Egypt.

Twenty plainclothes Syrian police officers violently attacked and dispersed fifteen demonstrators who were attempting to hold a candlelight vigil in support of the Egyptian people in Damascus on Wednesday. This was done under an emergency law, now in effect, which bans protests that are not approved by the government.

"Syria's authorities detained political and human rights activists, restricted freedom of expression, repressed its Kurdish minority, and held people incommunicado for lengthy periods, often torturing them, during 2010," stated a Human Rights Watch report from last week.

Syria also faces high unemployment rates, with every fourth Syrian being unemployed.

Activists both in Syria and living abroad have been working hard to start a reform movement in their country. Many of them are using Facebook and Twitter.

However, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad recently stated his intention to push through democratic reforms in his country. The government also increased the heating oil allowance for public sector workers by 72% last month. This was all done as an attempt to keep Syria stable and unaffected by the uprisings in other parts of the Arab world.

"I want to feel safe in my own country," said al-Assad, "That is my goal."

The social upheaval across the Middle East and North Africa is now sending shock waves throughout governments in the region, as seen by the reaction of the Syrian president. More upheaval is needed to bring freedom and equality to those countries, but recent news has shown us how much progress can be brought by confronting the system. Take note of this, North America! Governments should fear their citizens, not the other way around.

LA District Attorney orders Gestapo-style police raid on home

2011-02-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from Liberation News (linked to on left, PSLweb.org)

The family of Jeremy Marks awoke on Jan. 26 at 7:00 am to the sound of nearly 30 Los Angeles Police Department cops bursting into their house in full tactical gear, guns drawn. They searched the house, taking all computers, cell phones, cameras and trashing Jeremy’s bedroom, his parent’s bedroom and the living room.

Police vehicles filled the streets of the predominantly African American neighborhood in Lakeview Terrace. Neighbors were prevented from going into or out of their homes. A next door neighbor had guns pointed at him for trying to retrieve his children from Jeremy’s front porch, where they went every morning to be taken to school by Rochelle Pittman, Jeremy’s mother.

Pittman asked to see a search warrant. She knew that, by law, police must show a valid search warrant before entering a home. But there was none. For nearly 45 minutes, neither the police nor the District Attorney’s officers showed her anything. She continued to demand it until a warrant was produced well after the raid had begun.

And when Pittman asked, many of the invading cops refused to provide their names or badge numbers—a requirement under California law.

As the search ended three hours later, the house interior was unrecognizable. In addition to electronic equipment, Jeremy’s notes, papers and legal documents were seized—many of these documents are privileged attorney-client communications.

Every item used to communicate with the outside world about Jeremy’s case was taken from every member of Jeremy’s family, including his parents’ and siblings’ personal possessions.

The raid took place as Jeremy’s mother was attempting to gather herself and bring her kids and the neighbor’s kids to school. The neighbor’s children were at the front door when police came up with shields and shotguns ready.

Pittman recounted to Liberation at the scene that she shouted, “Let me get my granddaughter! Let me get my granddaughter!” as the police barged into the house. Pittman also demanded to wake up her son, Jeremy.

It was less than one year ago that Aiyana Stanley Jones, a seven-year-old girl, was murdered by Detroit police in a similar raid. Pittman knew better than to trust the police with her children and grandchildren. She did not want the cops to startle her son or give them any opportunity to harm him.

The truth behind the racist raid

The pretext for the raid, ordered by Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley’s office, was an attempt to gather evidence surrounding the May 10, 2010 incident near a Verdugo Hills High School bus stop.

That afternoon in May, Los Angeles United School District Police officer, Erin Robles, beat up a 15-year-old African American student, allegedly for smoking a cigarette. Jeremy, 18, quietly videotaped the incident. But because he was on probation at the time, the police arrested him on charges of “attempted lynching.”

The L.A. District Attorney’s office claims Jeremy yelled something during the incident, which they claim amounted to trying to “incite a riot during an attempt to free a suspect from police custody.” This charge is baseless, as bystander videos of the incident show.

For taping the incident, Jeremy was thrown into jail near Santa Clarita and kept there until December 2010. During that time, his mother’s tenacity began to win support for his case.

Now, nine months after the incident, it is hard to understand why D.A. Cooley would need to order a Gestapo-style raid simply to gather evidence. He could have uncovered evidence through simple discovery before trial or by issuing subpoenas. But he did not.

In fact, the same day of Jeremy’s house raid, a community source told Liberation that the home of another Verdugo Hills High School student was raided. This student has no criminal charges pending. He was targeted because he posted videos of the original incident on Youtube. These videos show that Jeremy did nothing illegal.

Why the sudden need to shut down an entire community with an army of heavily armed cops—just to collect some cell phones, computers and video that has been publicly available on the Internet for nine months?

The raids were clearly an act of intimidation and terror with the purpose of instilling fear in those targeted. Jeremy’s pre-trial hearings will begin in February. Cooley and the cops seek to get leverage so that the case will end before going to trial. They want to intimidate Jeremy and potential witnesses in order to influence the outcome.

All along, they have wanted Jeremy to accept an unjust plea deal that would send him to prison for nearly three years. But neither Jeremy nor his mother will admit “guilt” when, in fact, he did absolutely nothing wrong.

After the raid, Pittman told Liberation, “I’m not afraid. We’re not afraid. All this shows is that the D.A. knows that they do not have a case.”

The D.A. and the police are truly fearful of Jeremy’s case because of its potential to spark outrage in the African American community and with progressive people in general. They also want to stop people from exercising their constitutional right to videotape police. That is all that Jeremy did—he recorded a police officer beating a young student.

The powers that be would like to sweep Jeremy’s case under the rug before more people learn about the supreme injustice involved. Videotaping officers throughout the country is exposing an ongoing epidemic of police violence. It is viewed by young people and people of color as a method of self-defense.

Terror tactics utilized by the police expose the role of the state as an instrument of repression aimed at working families. But this harsh reality has not deterred Jeremy, Pittman or the rest of the Marks family. On the contrary, it has strengthened their resolve to fight back.

Just hours after the raid, these Liberation reporters accompanied Pittman to the Foothill Police Station as she filed a police misconduct complaint. And community supporters, including the Congress on Racial Equality, the ANSWER Coalition, the PSL and others organized a rally and press conference with Jeremy and his family at D.A. Cooley’s headquarters on Friday, Jan. 28.

Memphis Activists Harassed by FBI

2011-02-04T08:18:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from the Socialist Webzine (socialistwebzine.org)

Local activists, including members of the Memphis Socialist Party, gathered at the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center yesterday to file Freedom of Information Act requests as part of a nationwide day of action against recent FBI harassment of anti-war and international solidary activists. A few hours prior to the event, three FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force agents visited the Center to inform them that there was going to be a demonstration. They left after they were told that the Center was not only aware of the event but had planned it.

Approximately two hours later, the Memphis Police Department's TACT unit arrived with at least six unmarked black SUVs and one marked squad car. When questioned about the reason for their presence, they replied that they were there to keep the peace. The Center was eventually able to get into contact with the unit's chief, who made a vague statement about a call from a "concerned citizen."

On the same day, at least two activists (including the Chair of the Memphis Socialist Party) had their homes entered by the Shelby County Sheriff's Department on the pretext of warrants issued for failure to appear in court. In both cases residents were not given the opportunity to view the warrant, despite multiple requests. At the deCleyre Cooperative, police entered without permission through an unlocked door and moved through every room with their guns drawn, searching for someone who hadn't lived there in years.

Why were residents not allowed to see the warrants used to enter their homes? Why was the TACT unit, described by MPD's website as "not subject to regular calls," and "responsible for handling barricade situations, hostage rescues, counter terrorism, and high risk felony apprehensions," sent to respond to a single, unverified phone call? How is it a coincidence when the same group of activists is targeted by three separate law enforcement agencies on the same day?

The FBI has a long history of intimidation, harassment, and repression, but we refuse to be silenced by it. We will continue to stand in solidarity with our activist brothers and sisters.

Killer cop dead, three civilians wounded as uniformed officers open fire

2011-01-22T12:44:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from Liberation News (linked to on left, PSLweb.org)

As 2010 came to an end, the Baltimore Police Department celebrated the small decline in murder rates and overall crime in Baltimore. It was a seemingly progressive “step forward” in a city notorious for its high rate of drug- and gang-related crimes. But at the start of the new year, Sean “Loz” Gamble, a 22-year-old father, son, brother, fiancée and semi-pro football player ended up a victim of the largest, most well-organized armed gangs in the city—the Baltimore police.

On Jan. 8, Sean Gamble, his cousin Martin and a few other relatives went out for an evening of partying to celebrate Martin's birthday. Around 1:15 a.m. the next day, the group proceeded to leave the Select Lounge, a local nightclub, when Gamble found himself in an argument with plainclothes officer William Torbit. Witnesses say Torbit was aggressive towards an unknown woman outside the nightclub and that Gamble stepped in to deescalate the situation. Tension grew between the two men, while several others crowded around.

Shortly after, four uniformed officers, who had responded to a call, arrived on the scene with guns drawn. Officer Torbit revealed his weapon and fired at Gamble, who was unarmed, executing him in front of family members. In fact, Torbit was the only person involved in the confrontation with any sort of weapon.

But because Torbit was dressed in plainclothes, the uniformed officers did not recognize him as a cop, and unloaded a barrage of bullets into the mix of unarmed civilians and the one officer. Three were wounded and ironically, Torbit himself was riddled with 20 bullets.

As friends and relatives are left to mourn, as community leaders demand an investigation, and as the wounded heal from the assault, shooting officers Harry Dodge, Harry Pawley, Tovia Williams and Latora Craig have been placed on administrative leave with pay—a slap in the face to the Gamble family and to all who have suffered from the incident.

This incident is just one of an epidemic of police brutality and murder that is commonplace in predominantly Black and Latino working-class communities. The people united can have the strength to stand up to state thugs like the Baltimore Police Department and to hold them accountable. Justice for Sean Gamble and all victims of police brutality!

US Embassy Cables Reveal Imperialism’s Dark, Mundane Side

2011-01-10T02:35:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from http://llco.org/archives/11364 (Leading Light Communist Organization)

More revelations have come forward from Wikileaks, this time in the form of 250,000 cables between 250 US embassies worldwide. The leaked documents provide a revealing look into not only what the US and other world powers are up to, but also offer a glimpse behind the rhetoric and into US officials’ real opinions on their allies and enemies alike.

Here is a brief summary of only some of the revelations. While none of this comes as any surprise, the cables offer additional evidence of the US and imperialism’s treacherous role in the world:

The British government trained a Bangladeshi government death squad accused by human rights organization of over 1000 extra-judicial killing since it was founded six years ago. (1)

The cables also reveal Britain is pursuing the creation of a marine preserve on the Chagos Islands in order to prevent its resettlement by indigenous peoples forcibly displaced in 1973. The Chagos Islands include Diego Garcia, a joint US-UK military mega-facility used to maintain their global empire. (2)

McDonalds Restaurants used connections in Washington to bully the El Salvadorian government for a favorable settlement in a 24 million dollar lawsuit. (3)

Some of the cables expressed the depth and utility of First Worldist and pro-Amerikan ideology around the world. In one cable, a US official expressed concerns over long-term stability in Tunisia, yet noted with optimism that most there still “admire the ‘American Dream.’” (4) In others, aging Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, was described “obssesed” with admiration for Barak Obama immediately after his election, only to later feel betrayed. (5)

Some of the cables regarded disputes between Third World leaders, which imperialists watch out for and attempt to exacerbate. According to one cable, Hugo Chavez and Alvaro Uribe, presidents of Venezuela and Columbia, got into a heated argument at a Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) meeting in February of 2010. The disagreement, according to the US official, stemmed over what approach to take towards Columbia, with Chavez arguing for a more hard-line position of isolating the US lackey-regime over Uribe’s focus on overall regional integration. According to the cable, Cuban leader Raul Castro stepped in to de-escalate the situation. (6)

Chavez was the topic of many leaked cables. The opening summary of 2007 cable with the topic, ‘A Southern Cone Perspective on Countering Chavez and Reasserting US Leadership,” reveals some of the US’s strategy in dealing with the South American leader. The cable helps us understand US imperialism strategy in dealing with any number of regional opponents.

“This [cable] looks at ways the US can counter Chavez and reassert U.S. leadership in the region. …[T]here are six main areas of action for the US government as it seeks to limit Chavez’s influence: –Know the enemy: We have to better understand how Chavez thinks and what he intends; –Directly engage: We must reassert our presence in the region, and engage broadly, especially with the “non-elites”; –Change the political landscape: We should offer a vision of hope and back it up with adequately-funded programs; –Enhance military relationships: We should continue to strengthen ties to those military leaders in the region who share our concern over Chavez; –Play to our strength: We must emphasize that democracy, and a free trade approach that includes corporate social responsibility, provides lasting solutions; –Get the message out: Public diplomacy is key; this is a battle of ideas and visions.[...]

We must convince not only government leaders but civil society – the person on the street – that we are committed to a progressive and democratic vision for the Americas and to helping our neighbors meet their challenges. If we can, we will make quick inroads into marginalizing Chavez’s influence, bolster democracy and reassert our own leadership in the region.” (7)

The leaked cables also received a detailed spy program, initiated by Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State under the Obama administration, against top representatives at the United Nations, including the UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon. A directive called for the collection of credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers, frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures and “biographic and biometric information” on UN Security Council permanent representatives. Though this likely shocked many of Amerika’s allies, the directive was likely part of a larger spying program, as similar information was sought for leaders and public officials from various countries. Diplomatic missions in Israel, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt were asked to gather biometric information on Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaders and representatives. (8)

Cables also revealed US and British officials colluded to create a loophole in UK legislation in order to allow continued storage and deployment of US cluster bombs from British territory. Cluster bombs have been banned by the UN, but the US is not a signatory to any such treaties. (9)

Revealing a lack of confidence in Hamid Karzai, the US’s militarily-installed ‘president’ in Afghanistan, cables from 2009 describe him as erratic, emotional and paranoid. This comes at a time when the US is increasingly reliant on drone attacks into remote parts of Afghanistan where the puppet-state has little or no real control. (10)

To the ire of allies such as Germany, the US military has been charging a 15% administration fee on an international fund to help train police and military for the Afghan puppet-state. As of yet, 123 million Euros had been donated to the fund. Is this a sign the US military is overextending?(11)

In Peru, due to increasing disillusionment with the government, the Sendero Luminiso insurgency, nearly wiped out well over a decade ago, is beginning to make a come back. (12)

In a series of leaked cables, a US official describes two main factions operating today. One faction, made up of former leaders recently released from prison, is, according to the US leak, “now using their positions in civic organizations and union groups to foment social unrest.”

The other faction is made up of surviving guerrilla’s, who, according to the US cable., “…clung to survival on the jungle margins, adapting themselves to a political condition characterized by the absence of outside leadership or guidance… continuing the armed struggle while, in practical terms, gradually deepening and expanding their involvement in the drug trade.” (13)

It is important to note that while in activity of anti-imperialist forces is of interest to such in the First World, there is no reason to believe the specific claims made by US officials. Throughout the leaked cables, US official repeatedly implied or claimed Iran was pursuing an nuclear weapons program, which the government of the Iranian Republic denies.

Along the lines of claims against Iran as a pretext for economic and political war, the US, their own diplomatic cables say, pressured the Indian state into preventing sales of graphite to the defiant Middle Eastern country. (14) This occurred as the US haggled with the Yemeni president over trading weapons for supposed terrorists. (15)

The US has expressed interest in the MST landless movement in Brazil. (16)
Shell has infiltrated in Nigeria government. (17)

Other cables describe what was summed up in one report as a “U.S.-led conspiracy to force GMOs onto European countries by making those countries pay a steep price if they resist.” (18)

Julian Assange, the high-profile spokesperson for Wikileaks, for his role in disclosing the information, has been called a “hi-tech terrorist” by vice president Joe Biden and other high-ranking US officials. (19)

There is a danger in relying on the cables too much for information. They only present half the picture, i.e., the perspective of US officials, and only include that which the imperialists are willing to admit to each other. No doubt, the US commits these and worse crimes. The latest release from Wikileaks does however present an informative, and indeed evidentiary, look into the world as the imperialists see it while trying rule it.

(1) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/21/wikileaks-cables-british-police-bangladesh-death-squad

(2) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/21/mauritius-uk-chagos-islands

(3) http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/21/wikileaks-cables-mcdonalds-us-el-salvador

(4) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/217138

(5) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/17/wikileaks-fidel-castro-barack-obama

(6) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/251152

(7) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/06/07SANTIAGO983.html

(8) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-spying-un

(9) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-cables-cluster-bombs-britain

(10) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/02/wikileaks-cables-hamid-karzai-erratic

(11) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/02/germany-us-afghan-funds-wikileaks

(12) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/11/09LIMA1659.html

(13) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2008/02/08LIMA196.html

(14) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/05/09STATE53356.html

(15) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2005/04/05SANAA923.html

(16) http://wikileaks.ch/Cablegate-how-the-US-sees-the.html

(17) http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6322658,00.html

(18) http://www.naturalnews.com/030828_GMOs_Wikileaks.html

(19) http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/19/assange-high-tech-terrorist-biden

Richmond Jail Mocks Constitution and Human Decency‏

2010-12-31T15:42:00.000-08:00

The conditions at the Richmond Jail are unconstitutional and bring shame to our city, state, and country. Many have needlessly suffered and died because of sadistic treatment at the Richmond Jail. Those in charge of the Jail and the city government show no regard for the protections guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. The Sheriff, Commonwealths Attorney, Mayor,and Council profit from their abuse of poor people. The illegitimate "leaders" plan to spend double the amount of money jailing Richmonders than any other function of government in 2011. The Covetous crony capitalists will fund an expanded jail through something called the Virginia Public Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act, what a sick joke.

Amendment VIII of United States Constitution States Excessive bail shall not be required,nor excessive fines be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. The Sheriff and the commonwealth's attorney along with Council the Mayor and the Richmond Police act in opposition to this constitutional protection. Many inside the jail are being abused for actions that can not be considered crimes under the constitution like drug possession or driving on a suspended license. The US prison population could not be the largest in the world without arbitrary and unconstitutional incarceration.

This Tyranny must and will end. The Richmond Sheriff's Platform Committee is calling for the release of all prisoners in the Richmond Jail with non violent drug charges brought against them,mentally handicapped,and all others who pose no threat to the public and whose offenses do not violate the US Constitution. We are also calling for the resignation of Sheriff CT Woody for his crimes and violations of the law of the Land the United States Constitution.

This communique is dedicated to the political prisoners in the for profit prison industrial complex. It is inspired by John Mahoney, aka Hippie John.

Chris Dorsey, Richmond Sheriff's Platform Committee

Cuba Commutes Death Sentence, Zero People on Death Row

2010-12-29T15:14:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday the Cuban Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Humberto Eladio Real to 30 years in prison. Real was the last person on death row in Cuba.

Real was convicted of killing a man in a 1994 terrorist attack against Cuba. Real and six others illegally entered northern Cuba with assault rifles and killed a man. They were captured shortly afterward. The terrorists had intended to carry out acts of sabotage and destruction in order to destabilize the Cuban government.

Real was sentenced to death and his men were given long prison sentences.

The Cuban constitution allows for the death penalty, but they have been postponing death sentences for years now.

Earlier this month the Cuban government commuted the death sentences of two captured terrorists from El Salvador who had played a role in bombing Cuban tourist sites in the 1990's. They were given 30 year prison sentences.

As of 2009, the United States has 3,261 people on death row. As of December 2010, due to the commuting of Humberto Eladio Real's sentence, Cuba has zero people on death row. While anti-communists and the so-called "victims" of the Castro regime try to portray Cuba and communism as brutal dictatorships, the Cuban regime has shown mercy by not killing those who would destroy it. This speaks volumes against the imperialist, anti-Cuba propaganda.

Washington admits Cuban counterrevolutionaries lack popular support

2010-12-22T14:57:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from Liberation News (linked to on left)

After decades of failed attempts to overthrow the socialist government of Cuba, the U.S. government has secretly concluded that domestic counterrevolutionaries have proven to be totally ineffective. A leaked diplomatic cable from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana states: “We see very little evidence that the mainline dissident organizations have much resonance among ordinary Cubans.”

For over 50 years, Washington has funded and organized invasions, assassination attempts and terrorist attacks against Cuba with the assistance of reactionary forces inside the country and abroad. Nothing has been able to overthrow the revolutionary government.

Now, even Washington must admit that right-wing forces are “not likely to supplant the Cuban government,” and that simply “seeking resources” (i.e., U.S. taxpayer dollars) has become their “primary concern.”

The Cuban revolution has been able to survive because of the heroic efforts of the Cuban people. Using methods of socialist planning and distribution, health care, education, housing, employment and a variety of other essentials are guaranteed to everyone. The people of Cuba have endured tremendous hardships to defend their revolution, and it has become undeniably clear that they will not be fooled by domestic counterrevolutionary groups.

Conservatives Getting Government Handouts

2010-12-22T12:13:00.000-08:00

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota, is now in the spotlight for taking over a quarter of a million dollars in taxpayer money for her own use.

According to the Environmental Working Group, a watchdog group that monitors who receives government farm subsidies, has found that the Bachmann family farm took $251,973 in government money from 1995 to 2006. The Bachmann family took $20,000 dollars of your money in 2006 and $28,000 in 2005.

This is ironic, as Bachmann has voted against letting regular people get the same financial protection her farm received from the government. She voted against every foreclosure relief bill aimed at helping homeowners, but she was elected to represent a district with the highest foreclosure rate in Minnesota.

Then there is Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, another anti-socialist warrior, whose family has received $1 million in government farm subsidy money ("handouts"). Grassley himself took $238,974 of that money. His child used even more of it, but of course Grassley is against spending government money to help your children get health care and a good education.

Even the capitalist Heritage Foundation criticized Grassley on his pocketing of taxpayer dollars.

Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican form Kansas, has taken $500,000 in government money.

Max Baucus, a fiscally conservative Democrat representing Montana, took $250,000 in government farm subsidies. At the same time, he fights to keep regular people at the mercy of the market mechanisms that subsidies protect his farm against. Another one of these Blue Dog Democrats, Blanche Lincoln, recieved $715,000 of your money over a ten year period. She spent $10,000 of it for fun in 2007. $844,725 was collected by the father of Stephanie Sandlin, another Blue Dog Democrat.

The members of Congress, these so-called anti-spending, anti-handout, anti-socialist warriors, are the true "welfare queens." When they take your tax dollars for their large farms and, at the same time, try to stop government "handouts" to the poor and falling middle class, they are only trying to secure more money for themselves and their corporate bosses by taking money from the ordinary people.

In the Paris Commune, of which Marx drew much of his theory, and under Lenin in the Soviet Union, government representatives were paid only as much as a skilled worker and no more. That is one way to prevent politicians from robbing the people.

Fox News Viewers Significantly More Misinformed

2010-12-19T19:04:00.000-08:00

A study was recently released by the World Public Opinion project, which is managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, that shows that viewers of Fox News are significantly more misinformed than viewers of other news sources.

The study also showed that prolonged exposure to Fox News increases misinformation. However, the study also showed that the rest of the media is far from honest. CNN viewers were found to be only slightly less misinformed than those who tune in to Fox, and MSNBC also had a less than brag-worthy record.

These results are similar to another study done by the Program on International Policy Attitudes which showed that viewers of Fox News were more misinformed about the Iraq War others. This same study showed that the audiences of NPR/PBS were the most informed.

NBC/Wall Street Journal and Pew Research Center studies have also shown the delusional beliefs of Fox propaganda consumers when it comes to Obama and health care.

It is clear now why conservatives want to stop funding NPR and PBS. Doing so would strengthen the grip of deceitful propaganda in the United States and make it easier to manipulate the minds of the American people. The capitalist media, whether liberal or conservative, is a pool of lies. If you wish to be informed, then please continue to visit The Partisan and visit the other websites we've linked to on the left side of the page.

Boston police punch, kick 16-year-old at Roxbury Community College

2010-12-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from Liberation News (linked to on left in "News" section)

On Oct. 22, Boston police brutally arrested a 16-year-old at Roxbury Community College. Caught on video by several witnesses who used their cell phones to record the incident, at least one police officer is seen punching and kicking the young man, while several other officers hold him to the ground. In one video, you can hear the young man cry out in pain as he is forcefully held down while being punched and kicked.

The videos, posted on YouTube and shown on many news outlets, have been seen by tens of thousands of people. One of the videos was taken by student Eusida Blidgen, who should be commended for her actions as she continued to record despite being illegally told by an officer she must stop. Despite the police’s attempts to claim otherwise, it is legal to record the police in public.

Following protests and public outcry, the police announced that Michael T. McManus, the officer seen punching and kicking on the video, has been placed on paid administrative duty pending an investigation from the district attorney’s office.

The official police report greatly differs from the accounts of students and other witnesses who say the young man did not resist or attack police officers. Neither the district attorney nor the Boston police should be trusted to investigate this or any other incident of police misconduct, as they work hand-in-hand on a daily basis. Instead, there must be community control over the police through the creation of a civilian review board that is empowered to fire police officers.

Several protests have been held since the video went viral on YouTube. Several students at Roxbury Community College have taken a lead in organizing. Kieashia Hartfield, a junior, called for all of the officers involved to be fired, saying, “If they get to keep their job then that's just a slap in the face saying that they can do whatever they want to our people and get away with it.”

Student Government representative Tajudeen Akinbode pointed to the fact that this happened on a campus and in a neighborhood that is predominantly Black and Latino, noting, “This would not have happened at Boston University.”

Future actions will be organized as the students and others in the community have made it clear they will continue to raise their voices and fight back against all acts of racist police brutality.

Drug giant Pfizer used blackmail to cover up killing children

2010-12-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

The following brief was taken from PSLweb.org (Liberation news, linked to on left)

In 1996, 11 children died as human guinea pigs in tests by Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, when 100 of them were given an experimental antibiotic. Many others suffered deafness, muteness, blindness, paralysis and brain damage.

After charges were brought by the Nigerian government—criminal and civil—a tentative settlement was reached in 2009 ordering Pfizer to pay $75 million in compensation.

But compensating devastated families or survivors would cut into Pfizer’s massive super-profits. The company wanted to do everything possible to avoid this, so it turned to illegal methods to beat the charges.

According to diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks, Pfizer sought to do this by blackmailing Nigeria’s attorney general. Pfizer hoped they could force him to drop the charges through slander and intimidation. They hired private investigators to dig up things to be used against him, and also leaked information to the press to tarnish his reputation.

The conversations revealing Pfizer’s attempt to corruptly avoid legal responsibility for killing 11 children and disabling others took place between a Pfizer CEO and U.S. officials at the embassy at Abuja. The discussions further reveal the collusion between big business and its backers in the seats of imperialist power.

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/04/09ABUJA671.html

Shell oil planted spies in the Nigerian government

2010-12-16T23:06:00.000-08:00

The following brief was taken from PSLweb.org (Liberation News, linked to on left)

A 2009 diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks revealed that the oil giant Shell has staff secretly operating in every key ministry of the Nigerian government. In the cable, a Shell executive boasted to U.S. diplomats about having knowledge and influence over "everything that was being done."

Nigeria is the leading oil producer in Africa. It ranks eighth in the entire world for oil exports. Billions in profits are raked in from the oil underneath the homes of the Nigerian people, yet more than 70 percent of Nigerians live below the “official” poverty line.

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/10/09ABUJA1907.html

Tag Team partners Double H and the Cooch benefit from rigged system‏

2010-12-16T16:57:00.000-08:00

The following article was submitted by Chris Dorsey of Richmond's Justice Enforcement League.

l will begin by quoting Joe Lieberman talking to a colleague before a vote on the Senate floor several weeks ago. "It's rigged it's all rigged". Yes America, just like pro wrestling our political system and government is fixed. Over the past two years the American people have been manipulated to anger over legislation written by and for the Insurance industry giants, known to most as Obamacare. Now two local fascists, "Judge" Henry Hudson (aka Double H) and Ken Cuccinelli (aka The Cooch), have decided that the crappy so called health care bill violates the US Constitution. These are empty words coming from two people who have rose to power by body-slamming our founding document.

Double H got his start as an enemy of the people as an appointee of Federal Reserve prostitute and bad actor Ronald Reagan. Double H was later the director of the US Marshall during the unconstitutional siege at Ruby Ridge and subsequent murders which included a child. Since he began his current stint on the bench he has carried out the will of the illegitimate institutions that control the current US government.

Some think the Cooch may be from parts unknown, however he is really a carpetbagger from New Jersey who earned his belt as the undisputed champion of diarrhea-mouths for the bigoted venom he spews towards gay people and anyone who is not white. He also is a dutiful hooker to Dominion Power and Mcguire Woods. The Cooch is also complicit in Northrop Grumman's take over of Virginia's State Government and gleefully stands by as the weapons producer steals tax payer money and periodically shuts down the computer system for State Government agencies.

This tag team came together through Campaign Solutions, which is a political consulting firm which has done work for the Cooch and Sarah Palin (aka the Wackjob from Wasilla). If the whole system was not entirely rigged one may think that Double H who is an investor in Campaign Solutions would have a conflict of interest when hearing cases that involve the Cooch. Double H and the Cooch, just like Tim Kaine and Barack Obama, serve the same Globalist Bankers at the expense of the people and the US Constitution. They and their fellow plutocrats must and will be stopped for the good of America and the world.

US Bombs Sudan

2010-12-10T14:20:00.001-08:00

It seems that the United States has been violating Sudan's territorial integrity. The US bombed trucks and people in an area of Sudan that is away from any international border. The statements made at the end of the document seem to suggest that the politicians don't want us to see this leaked cable, which is linked to below.

Read more at: http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/02/09KHARTOUM249.html

Posted as part of The Partisan's support for Operation Leakspin.

Wikileaked Cable from Bogota

2010-12-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

The Partisan found the following sentence in a leaked cable from Wikileaks.

"Still, Pearl noted that the deaths of three [FARC] Secretariat members in 2008 had resulted in replacements that were more educated, intellectual, and aware of the international context of the conflict."

This one sentence from a leaked document disproves the myth that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been weakened by the attacks on their top members. If anything, FARC has become stronger because of the new Secretariat members.

The rest of this document from Wikileaks simply discusses the plans for peace talks between the Colombian government, FARC, and ELN. This leaked cable came from a bourgeois embassy in Bogota, the capital of Colombia. So keep in mind who is speaking and their motives. Read more at: http://213.251.145.96/cable/2010/01/10BOGOTA13.html

Though The Partisan does not speak on behalf of Anonymous, this was done in solidarity with their Operation Leakspin. We encourage our readers to participate. Do it for transparency in government, do it for free speech on the internet, do it for FARC, do it for yourself, for your mother, it doesn't matter, just do it.

US Tax Dollars fund Afghan Sex Slavery

2010-12-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

Wikileaks has recently made a cable from Afghanistan public. The information revealed that United States government contractor DynCorp is involved in the forced sex trafficking of little boys in Afghanistan.

It was reported that DynCorp threw a party for Afghan security recruits that involved trafficked children as sexual entertainment. Bacha bazi, as it is called, is the traditional Afghan "boy play" in which small boys are forced to dress as girls, dance for older men, and are then pimped (sold) for sex to the highest bidder.

These disgusting acts of child molestation are funded by American tax dollars via DynCorp, a firm which gets 95% of its budget from American tax dollars.

Afghan Minister of Interior Hanif Atmar has fought vigorously to keep this a secret. When he found out that journalists were investigating DynCorp's involvement in the forced sex trade of young boys in Afghanistan, he requested that the US suppress the story. Claiming that publishing this would endanger lives, Atmar has put the lives and health of children at risk.

This is not the first time DynCorp and American tax dollars have been linked to human trafficking. In Bosnia in 1999, it was revealed that DynCorp's staffers were pimping out Eastern European girls as young as 12 years old.

Tea Party President Wants Voting Restricted to Rich

2010-12-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Tea Party Nation president Judson Phillips made a very controversial statement recently. On the Tea Party Nation radio program, he advocated the removal of voting rights by saying:

"The Founding Fathers originally said, they put certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote. It wasn't you were just a citizen and you got to vote. Some of the restrictions, you know, you obviously would not think about today. But one of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense..."

The outdated idea he is advocating has its roots in the bygone days of before the industrial revolution, when slavery thrived and women could not vote.

Republicans such as Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia, Governor of Texas Rick Perry, Representative Paul Broun of Georgia, and Senator Mike Lee of Utah have all said that they wish to repeal the 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This Amendment is the one that states all Senators must be elected by the people.

By trampling on the Constitution which they claim to uphold and defend, the conservatives are waging class warfare in the name of the rich (CEO's and bought-off politicians) against regular people like you and I. These are the very same people who tell you to fear socialism because it is, in their minds, "undemocratic." Yet here they are, trying to take away your right to vote.

“When the oppressive forces maintain themselves in power against laws they themselves established, peace must be considered already broken.” - Che Guevara

IWW supports Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in support of Palestinian Rights

2010-12-03T21:39:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from IWW.org.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies) has officially voted to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in support of Palestinian rights. The “Resolution in Support of the Workers of Palestine/Israel” was adopted in an overwhelming vote both at the IWW’s convention in Minneapolis and by the membership via referendum. This vote makes the IWW the first union in the US and the third union in Canada to officially support the Palestinian United Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

Inspired by the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, the BDS movement calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until such time as fundamental Palestinian rights are recognized. The BDS call is supported by a broad cross-section of Palestinian society, including Palestinian unions.

The resolution to support the BDS campaign comes out of the work of the IWW’s International Solidarity Commission and the IWW Friends of Palestinian Workers Group, a grassroots network of Wobblies supportive of the Palestinian, Israeli and international struggle against Israeli apartheid. Support for the BDS campaign was also stressed by all the Palestinian workers who met with members of the IWW on the IWW delegation to Palestine, particularly the Independent Workers Federation of Palestine, with whom the IWW shares a close bond of solidarity.

“For a union concerned with international solidarity, supporting the BDS movement is the right thing to do”, said IWW member Nathaniel Miller, who serves on the International Solidarity Commission and attended the IWW delegation to Palestine. “By officially supporting this BDS call, the IWW stands shoulder to shoulder with Palestinian workers in a global picket line against Israeli apartheid.”

“Our support of the BDS movement is in line with traditional wobbly principles of anti-racism and international solidarity”

The IWW Friends of Palestinian Workers Group resolves to continue to advance the cause of Palestinian rights inside and outside of the IWW.

Founded in 1905, the IWW is a union with a long tradition of solidarity and anti-militarism, and has been central to some of the most important struggles in US working class history. More recently, the IWW has been successfully organizing at Starbucks and in the fast food industry, among workers long thought to be unorganizable.

Woman Jailed for Getting Pregnant Dies From Medical Neglect

2010-11-28T13:24:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from womensrights.change.org.

Thrown in jail for getting pregnant? That seems like a particularly absurd violation of women's reproductive rights. But it's actually an established policy in Allegheny County, PA. Cara reports at the Curvature that, for Amy Lynn Gillespie, becoming pregnant meant violating the terms of her work release under probation, and getting thrown in jail. Yet this story comes to an even more tragic ending, because Gillespie died while in custody from advanced pneumonia.

Gillespie's grieving mother has decided not to let the people who caused her daughter's death off the hook: she has a lawsuit against the Allegheny County jail warden, Allegheny Correctional Health Services Inc., the county itself, and a few other implicated individuals charging that medical neglect caused Gillespie's death. Though the young woman spent weeks complaining to guards of trouble breathing and mucus in her lungs, they refused to send her to access medical care until it was too late. The hospital, which is not charged in the lawsuit, says that Gillespie was beyond saving due to the long delay in getting her treatment.

Gillespie should not have been in jail in the first place: to imprison a woman for becoming pregnant is a violation of her human rights, and should not be a condition of probation or work release. To then neglect her, when the very pregnant condition she was locked up for meant that she needed extra medical attention, is horrifying. The crimes that got her in trouble with the law in the first place were minor shoplifting (when caught stealing food, she told the police officer she was hungry) and prostitution (which, though illegal, hurts nobody). Amy Lynn Gillespie's unnecessary death is nothing short of tragic, and highlights deep flaws with the Allegheny County prison system.

New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice is organizing a march to take place tomorrow, Novemeber 23rd, at noon outside the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail. In a press release reprinted at The Curvature, the advocacy organization states, "The death of any pregnant woman from preventable causes is reproductive injustice and is especially egregious in the custody of the Allegheny County Jail. We challenge the coercive and intrusive practice of conditioning work release on not getting pregnant. We must expose the criminalization of women and pregnancy as a threat to Human Rights that risks women’s health and women’s lives." Efforts earlier this year by the organization's The FOCUS on Women Campaign helped to pass a Senate bill banning the shackling of women during birth (it needs the support of the House to pass).

Click here to sign a petition to the Allegheny County government.

China Calls for Emergency Talks in Beijing

2010-11-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

China has called for emergency talks in Beijing in early December among the delegation leaders from the stalled Six-Party Talks. This is China's latest move to prevent further deterioration of peace on the Korean Peninsula.

"The Chinese side, after careful deliberation, proposes emergency consultations among the heads of delegation to the Six-Party Talks in early December in Beijing to exchange views on major issues of concern to the parties at present," said Wu Dawei, Chinese special representative for the Korean Peninsula affairs.

China has continuously called for peace and is now pushing for a return to the Six-Party Talks involving China, North Korea, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that Russia is committed to “work toward easing the tension between the two Korean parties, as well as resuming the six- party talks.”

Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul today. Both countries agreed that dialogue should be used to maintain peace in the region, but Lee Myung-bak has refused to return to the Six-Party Talks. He claims the time is not right for it, even though this refusal clearly creates more obstacles to maintaining peace.

Tensions Escalate in Asia, North Korea Readies Missiles

2010-11-27T23:44:00.000-08:00

North Korea has recently placed surface-to-air missiles on its launch pads in the Yellow Sea. This comes when the US and South Korea are conducting military exercises immediately after the North fired on South Korean military installations near the border between the two Koreas. The North was provoked when the South began shooting into the North's waters while conducting a drill that simulated an invasion of the North.

China has opposed the new South Korea and US military drills. China and Russia have been calling for peace in the region, but China refuses to criticize their ally North Korea.

The chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly will meet with Chinese officials on Tuesday.

The North Korean attack on Southern military infrastructure resulted in the death of two South Korean marines and two civilians. North Korea has called the civilian deaths "very regrettable."

South Koreans protested outside of a US Navy base in Pyeongtaek yesterday. They called for a halt to the war exercises between their country and the United States, and held signs calling for the USS George Washington carrier to "go home."

The USS George Washington further irritated China recently when it entered waters just west of the Korean Peninsula. China considers that area to be its "exclusive economic zone" and has objected to the foreign navy drills being held there without permission. Barack Obama, however, claims that China was notified of their plans ahead of time.

In a seemingly related note, two Chinese patrol boats came close to Japanese territorial waters today to patrol disputed islands, upsetting Japan. Known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, both countries claim these islands. It is worth mentioning that Japan is a close ally of the United States and foe of North Korea.

The Role of Unemployment in Capitalism

2010-11-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from propertyistheft.wordpress.com

Unemployment in Britain currently stands at roughly two and a half million. This is not far from the three million mark of the Thatcher era, which became a watermark for social discontent. With public sector job losses – and the private sector fallout – expected to claim another million people, it is unsurprising that people fear a return to those dark days.

As such, it seems a rather apt time to look at unemployment and the role it plays within a capitalist society.

Like most areas of economics, unemployment is a subject which has been entrenched in dogma by the advocates (including the less sincere ones) of the capitalist “free” market. Thus, in looking at its real function, we first need to sweep away the cobwebs of laissez-faire mythology.

Joblessness and the fables of the market

The most prevalent idea on the economic right, in this area, is one presented to be on Twitter during a conversation with @verybritishdude. Namely, that “trying to protect jobs results in fewer jobs (more unemployment).“

Or, as Ludwig von Mises put it;

The height of wage rates at which all those eager to get jobs can be employed depends on the marginal productivity of labor. The more capital — other things being equal — is invested, the higher wages climb on the free labor market, i.e., on the labor market not manipulated by the government and the unions. At these market wage rates all those eager to employ workers can hire as many as they want. At these market wage rates all those who want to be employed can get a job. There prevails on a free labor market a tendency toward full employment. In fact, the policy of letting the free market determine the height of wage rates is the only reasonable and successful full-employment policy. If wage rates, either by union pressure and compulsion or by government decree, are raised above this height, lasting unemployment of a part of the potential labor force develops.

Firstly the notion – prevalent generally in capitalist theories – the combination of workers is a “manipulation” of markets whilst employers are but neutral arbiters who invest capital needs to be challenged. Going right back to Adam Smith, it is a truth that “whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and every where in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labour above their actual rate.” Indeed, they “are disposed to combine … in order to lower the wages of labour.”

Thus, the idea that the problem is “union pressure and compulsion” is an absurdity. And, even if it wasn’t, how would we challenge the equivalent movements by the bosses without either the collective strength of the workers or “government decree?” We cannot – and indeed the free marketeers would not want to, as what they really advocate is private feudalism.

As to the ability of a capitalist labour market to reduce unemployment if freed from the constraints of job security and able to hire and fire at will? Well, it’s true, but only on the most superficial level.

Looking at employment statistics in Britain today, we get a glimpse of life under unrestrained capitalism. After a recession which took hundreds of thousands of jobs, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) tells us (PDF) that unemployment fell by 9,000. However, evidence suggests that full-time employment lost has been replaced with part-time jobs and self-employment. Average pay in the public sector rose by 2.1% on a year earlier, with the public sector equivalent being 1.9% – which against a Retail Price Index (RPI) up 4.5% from last year is a real terms cut of 2.4% and 2.6% respectively.

The point on wages, in particular, is backed up by Hugh Stretton in Economics: A New Introduction;

In defiance of market theory, the demand for labour tends strongly to vary with its price, not inversely to it. Wages are high when there is full employment. Wages – especially for the least-skilled and lowest paid – are lowest when there is least employment. The causes chiefly run from the employment to the wages, rather than the other way. Unemployment weakens the bargaining power, worsens the job security and working conditions, and lowers the pay of those still in jobs.

The lower wages do not induce employers to create more jobs … most business firms have no reason to take on more hands if wages decline. Only empty warehouses, or the prospect of more sales can get them to do that, and these conditions rarely coincide with falling employment and wages. The causes tend to work the other way: unemployment lowers wages, and the lower wages do not restore the lost employment.

To spell the point out, what we’re looking at under Mises’ vision is a steady casualisation of work, which may increase the profits of the bosses immeasurably but only makes life more miserable for everybody else.

And that, of course, is the endgame. If Mises, or any of his co-thinkers, were serious about a free market, they would not have failed to address the question of the economic power the employer holds by wielding capital, and acknowledging that worker organisation is simply the counter-point to that. Instead, he sticks with the tag line that anything which challenges the dominance of the employing class is “manipulation,” and even agression. Because, when the worker has the upper hand in the labour market, it’s terrifying.

As Dean Baker wrote in The Conservative Nanny State (PDF);

In periods of low unemployment, workers don’t only gain from higher wages. Employers must make efforts to accommodate workers’ various needs, such as child care or flexible work schedules, because they know that workers have other employment options. The Fed[eral Reserve Board, a government agency] is well aware of the difficulties that employers face in periods of low unemployment. It compiles a regular survey, called the ‘Beige Book,’ of attitudes from around the country about the state of the economy. Most of the people interviewed for the Beige Book are employers.

From 1997 to 2000, when the unemployment rate was at its lowest levels in 30 years, the Beige Book was filled with complaints that some companies were pulling workers from other companies with offers of higher wages and better benefits. Some Beige Books reported that firms had to offer such non-wage benefits as flexible work hours, child care, or training in order to retain workers. The Beige Books give accounts of firms having to send buses into inner cities to bring workers out to the suburbs to work in hotels and restaurants. It even reported that some employers were forced to hire workers with handicaps in order to meet their needs for labour.

All of which might seem to be an argument in favour of the free market, except for one practical point – the “pressure and compulsion” by the bosses which Mises conveniently overlooked;

From the standpoint of employers, life is much easier when the workers are lined up at the door clamouring for jobs than when workers have the option to shop around for better opportunities. Employers can count on a sympathetic ear from the Fed. When the Fed perceives too much upward wage pressure, it slams on the brakes and brings the party to an end. The Fed justifies limiting job growth and raising the unemployment rate because of its concern that inflation may get out of control, but this does not change the fact that it is preventing workers, and specifically less-skilled workers, from getting jobs, and clamping down on their wage growth.

Thus we come to the purpose that unemployment serves in a capitalist economy.

The reserve army of labour

It is revealing that controlling inflation is the justification for measures which maintain unemployment at a level favourable to employers over workers. Milton Friedman, a co-thinker of Mises, developed the theory of the “Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Employment” (NAIRU) to argue exactly such a point.

Or, as Edward Herman scathingly put it in Beyond Hypocrisy;

Conservative economists have even developed a concept of a ‘natural rate of unemployment,’ a metaphysical notion and throwback to an eighteenth century vision of a ‘natural order,’ but with a modern apologetic twist. The natural rate is defined as the minimum unemployment level consistent with price level stability, but, as it is based on a highly abstract model that is not directly testable, the natural rate can only be inferred from the price level itself. That is, if prices are going up, unemployment is below the ‘natural rate’ and too low, whether the actual rate is 4, 8, or 10 percent. In this world of conservative economics, anybody is ‘voluntarily’ unemployed. Unemployment is a matter of rational choice: some people prefer ‘leisure’ over the real wage available at going (or still lower) wage rates.

…

Apart from the grossness of this kind of metaphysical legerdemain, the very concept of a natural rate of unemployment has a huge built-in bias. It takes as granted all the other institutional factors that influence the price level-unemployment trade-off (market structures and independent pricing power, business investment policies at home and abroad, the distribution of income, the fiscal and monetary mix, etc.) and focuses solely on the tightness of the labour market as the controllable variable. Inflation is the main threat, the labour market (i.e. wage rates and unemployment levels) is the locus of the solution to the problem.

The flaw in Friedman’s reasoning, however, is that his “natural” rate is not natural at all. In fact, it alters based on exactly the same “manuplating” factors that Mises decried. As he put it himself in an article for The American Economic Review (PDF), it is not “immutable and unchangeable” because “many of the market characteristics that determine its level are man-made and policy-made.” Thus, “in the United States, for example, legal minimum wage rates . . . and the strength of labour unions all make the natural rate of unemployment higher than it would otherwise be.”

In other words, the natural rate of unemployment will be driven up (by state policy, as Baker details and Friedman concedes) in response to the strength of the working class – to avoid precisely the problem of employers having to compete for workers by attending to their needs and treating them with dignity.

And so, in practice, the theory of the “free market” transforms into the mechanism to control class conflict for the benefit of the ruling class.

This is not a new concept. In his unpublished manuscript, Wages, Karl Marx made the same point;

Big industry constantly requires a reserve army of unemployed workers for times of overproduction. The main purpose of the bourgeois in relation to the worker is, of course, to have the commodity labour as cheaply as possible, which is only possible when the supply of this commodity is as large as possible in relation to the demand for it, i.e., when the overpopulation is the greatest.

Overpopulation is therefore in the interest of the bourgeoisie, and it gives the workers good advice which it knows to be impossible to carry out.

Since capital only increases when it employs workers, the increase of capital involves an increase of the proletariat, and, as we have seen, according to the nature of the relation of capital and labour, the increase of the proletariat must proceed relatively even faster.

The above theory, however, which is also expressed as a law of nature, that population grows faster than the means of subsistence, is the more welcome to the bourgeois as it silences his conscience, makes hard-heartedness into a moral duty and the consequences of society into the consequences of nature, and finally gives him the opportunity to watch the destruction of the proletariat by starvation as calmly as other natural event without bestirring himself, and, on the other hand, to regard the misery of the proletariat as its own fault and to punish it.

The logical conclusion of which point, is that the capitalist system under which we all dwell not only generates permanent unemployment by its nature but actively demands it.

That said, this is not a conclusion which will be accepted by capitalists, of any stripe. In Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s words, “political economy – that is, proprietary despotism – can never be in the wrong: it must be the proletariat.”

Polls Show Americans Opposed to War With North Korea

2010-11-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

Despite the rhetoric from Barack Obama about committing US soldiers to a potential war in Korea, and despite the offer of the US Air Force to help South Korea should they start bombing the North, most Americans are opposed to the idea of a new Korean War.

According to a new Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll, 56 percent of Americans are opposed to unilateral military action in the highly unlikely event of a North Korean invasion of the South. The poll also showed that most Americans are against the US taking it upon itself to "punish" North Korea.

When the South Korean Navy ship called The Cheonan sank earlier this year, polls showed that only 27 percent of Americans wanted their country to help retaliate against North Korea.

Also according to the Chicago Council, only 27 percent of Americans felt it was very important to prevent China from supposedly "dominating" the Korean Peninsula.

The polls also showed growing opposition to the United States having bases overseas. Only 50 percent of Americans support having bases in Iraq, which is a decrease of seven percent since 2008. Support for bases in Afghanistan is now at 52 percent, which is a decrease of five percent.

The IMF's Takeover of Ireland‏

2010-11-25T01:53:00.000-08:00

The following article was emailed to The Partisan by the online forum of the Irish Republican Socialist Party.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party has warned of the threat to Irish democracy through the imposition of EU bureaucrats and the IMF on the Irish people.

Ross Gildea of the IRSP said:

“This government is an affront to democracy and obviously has no respect for Irish citizens. We now face a disastrous situation whereby the vultures of the capitalist class, the IMF, are circling and their influence in Ireland not only represents a further erosion of Irish democracy and sovereignty but also will serve to have a devastating social effect. The IMF are the enemy of working class people and their record in other countries should act as a warning for what is to come. They champion privitisation and will provide a recipe for even further unemployment in Ireland. This will mean that investors in London and New York will have significant input and power over your future and the lives of your children. The IRSP will not stand idly by as another draconian austerity budget looms with the most vulnerable in our society, as always, being left to pick up the tab for the boom and bust capitalist system”

He continued:

“It is outrageous that this government, which has it’s fingerprints all over the current economic crisis, is still in office. Likewise, it is a disgrace that private financial institutions can effectively hold the Irish people to ransom. The banks must be nationalised, but as we have seen from Anglo-Irish Bank, that is not enough. In both the political and economic spheres we as a country need to re-assess what we mean by the term democracy. We need representatives that are subject to recall at any time by the population and we need democratic worker control over any institution that is vital to building a sustainable economy. Our recent political and economic woes have shown the necessity of this.It is clear that those who walk the corridors of power have decided to move away from any semblance of social protection and are encouraging a race to the bottom with regard to workers' wages and living standards. The presence of the IMF is disastrous for Ireland and mass emigration will continue. We need only look at what the IMF did in Argentina and Jamaica, to give just two examples, to know what is in store for Ireland"

The IRSP activist concluded by saying:

“We need to send a clear message to this government, EU bureaucrats and the IMF. The Irish people will fight for their sovereignty and will resist any attempts to make the working class pay for this crisis. The IRSP will continue to oppose undemocratic and draconian cuts both North and South of the border and we believe that people taking to the streets is the only way in which this situation can be changed. The establishment parties are only interested in power, they will not bring about the radical changes we require and therefore we must stand up and do it for ourselves”.

The IRSP urges workers, the unemployed and all progressive forces in Irish society to mobilise for the upcoming protests in Dublin on November 27th and December 7th.

GA Police Arrest Innocent Press Member

2010-11-24T13:23:00.000-08:00

A Russian news reporter, a legal and recognized member of the US and Russian press, was arrested along with other innocent people at a protest against the School of Americas. As you can see, she did nothing wrong. Notice the cruel treatment she receives. Imagine if she were your friend, girlfriend, mother, daughter, or sister. You would be angry, wouldn't you? The American police don't recognize her rights, or yours, and they are fond of torture, thuggery, rape, and murder, regardless of whether you are innocent or not. The police aren't your friends, they don't protect you, and they should be viewed in the same way one would view Hitler's Gestapo. The police should be hated to the most extreme point possible in your mind.

North and South Korea Exchange Fire

2010-11-23T13:05:00.000-08:00

South Korea held controversial military drills today, provoking a fiery response from the North. Today's events have been called the worst incident since the actual Korean War of over 50 years ago.

Simulating an invasion of North Korea, 70,000 South Korean soldiers held a drill near the border with North Korea and repeatedly fired shots into Northern waters. North Korea responded by firing on South Korean military installations on the island of Yeonpyeong, which is seven miles from the North. At least 15 Southern soldiers were wounded and 2 Southern marines were killed.

South Korea responded by returning fire with K-9 155mm self-propelled howitzers and dispatching fighter jets. There have been no reports on the number of North Korean casualties. The shoot out between the two Korean militaries lasted around an hour.

This fight sent stock prices down. However, the US dollar, Treasury prices, and gold all rose in value as investors sought safe places to put their money.

"It brings us one step closer to the brink of war because I don't think the North would seek war by intention, but war by accident, something spiraling out of control has always been my fear," said Peter Beck, a research fellow from the Council on Foreign Relations.

"Any differences should be resolved by peaceful means and dialogue," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon via his spokesman.

"....[Both sides should]... do more to contribute to peace and stability on the peninsula," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

Representatives from the Administration of US President Barack Obama, in an amazing bout of double-speak, also called for restraint on both sides but also stressed its firm military commitment to South Korea.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was more direct, saying that, "Enormous retaliation should be made to the extent that North Korea cannot make provocations again."

While China and the United Nations are calling for peace and restraint, South Korea and its President are pushing for further conflict. The US, too, is feeding this fire by reminding the world of its staunch military commitment to South Korea.

Peace cannot be achieved through simulating invasion plans at the North Korean border knowing that Pyongyang would take it as a threat. Nor can it be achieved by indirectly threatening war through the stressing of America's military ties to the South.

It is clear that the United States would be the only country to benefit from a renewed war in Korea, and the fact that the value of its currency went up during this incident proves it. Clearly the ruling elites of the USA are seeking to profit from yet another war. Peace can only be achieved when the United States leaves Korea entirely.

Christmas drive for Republican Socialist POWs

2010-11-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

The following was taken from http://irspscotland.wordpress.com/

Below we print a request from Teach na Fáilte requesting support for IRSM prisoners both financially and materially through book donations, or even sending a xmas card. All expressions of support are always welcome.

The IRSP Alba/Scotland Support Group will be playing our part to support the prisoners and would encourage you to do likewise. All donations gratefully received.

*************************

Teach na Fáilte
Republican Socialist Ex-Prisoners Support Group
Costello House
392 Falls Road
BT12 6DH
Belfast

A Chara,

As I’m sure you are aware there are a number of Republican Socialist prisoners incarcerated in prisons throughout Ireland at this point in time. Some are serving lengthly sentences and are incarcarated many miles from their homes so they would be glad of your support especially around the festive season.

As the festive season is approaching I was wondering if you or any of your family, friends or comrades would be interested in sponsoring one of our prisoners or even sending them a Christmas card at this time.

In relation to sponsoring a prisoner you can send your correspondence directly to me at the address below. If you would prefer to send cards etc to me I will see that they get it or you can send cards directly to the prisoners themselves.

Anything that you choose to do would be greatly appreciated by the prisoners themselves as it would let them know that there are people still thinking about them

Fundraising efforts have also begun in many areas and we ask you to continue to support these.

Thank you for your time and effort

Gerard Murray.

—————————————————————

GERARD MURRAY
TEACH NA FAILTE
392 FALLS ROAD
BT12 6D BELFAST
IRELAND
gerardm042000@yahoo.com

E4 Landing
Portlaoise Prison
Portlaoise, Co Laois
Ireland

DENIS DWYER
PAUL KELLY
EUGENE KELLY
EOGHAN CLAIL
GERARD MACKIN
THOMAS KELLY
PADDY WALL
NOEL MOONEY
JONATHAN KEOGH
GERARD KELLEGHER
NEIL MYLES
ANTHONY LEE
GARETH BYRNE

The Grove
Castlerea Prison
Castlerea, Co Roscommon
Ireland

EDDIE MC GARRIGLE
JOHNNY MC CROSSAN

Roe 4
Maghaberry Prison
Old Road
Ballinderry Upper
Lisburn, Co. Antrim BT 28 2PT
North of Ireland

SEAN CARLIN

(Not all of the above named political prisoners are necessarily facing charges relating to RSM activities but for one reason or another they now find themselves on the INLA wing.)

Bloomberg appoints Hearst Magazines CEO to lead schools

2010-11-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from PSLweb.org.

In a Nov. 9 press release, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the current chancellor of education, Joel Klein, would be resigning to take a position as the executive vice president of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Cathie Black, the current CEO of the multi-billion-dollar Hearst Magazines, will be appointed as the new NYC school chancellor.

Black will have to be granted a waiver by the New York State Education Department in order to assume her position, because she lacks a master’s degree, professional certificate and teaching experience. Black attended parochial schools in Chicago growing up, and her children, while raised in New York City, attended private school in Connecticut. Despite her lack of experience with public education, Mayor Bloomberg can legally appoint the school chancellor without any checks or balances from parents, students or Department of Education employees due to a state law he pushed through the state legislature in 2002 at the beginning of his first term.

Black’s appointment is representative of a trend across the country of hiring corporate executives to manage the nation’s public schools. Black’s acceptance, together with Klein’s new appointment to the News Corp., signifies a deepening of this relationship in New York City. While Black has yet to make any detailed public statements outlining her strategy, she was quoted in the Nov. 9 press release as saying:,“My main goal will be to build on the work that has been accomplished during the Bloomberg Administration, and Chancellor Klein’s tenure,” meaning that NYC schools are headed for more public school closings, charter school openings and back-room deals with private educational management companies.

By passing the mayoral control law in 2002, which disbanded the Board of Education and created a Department of Education headed by the mayor, Bloomberg has effectively cut parents and school workers out of the equation in making decisions about city schools. In March of this year, a New York State Supreme Court judge ruled against the closing of 19 public schools because the Department of Education had committed “significant violations” of the state education law with its lack of community involvement.

Mayor Bloomberg, who is also the richest man in New York City with an estimated net worth of $16 billion, has no business presiding over the education of the city’s 988,000 public school students, when more than half this number of the city’s children are living in poverty. (Children’s Defense Fund, 2006)

Bronx high school teacher Rebecca Carter stated, “I'm discouraged that legislators still cling to the belief that we can improve our public school system by aligning it to a business model.” The education system should belong to the students, parents and school staff whose lives it actually touches, not a small circle of CEOs and VPs.

Parent, teacher and community organizations have already issued the call for Black’s nomination to be struck down, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation joins in that demand. Education does not belong to corporations or media moguls, it belongs to the people.

Obama to Give Medals to Two Right-Wing Politicians

2010-11-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

Shocking his supporters, United States President Barack Obama announced yesterday that he would award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George H.W. Bush, an ex-US President from the Republican Party.

This award is considered the highest civilian honor. Obama's announcement came a day after George W. Bush, ex-President and son of George H.W. Bush, said, “The decisions of governing are on another President’s desk, and he deserves to make them without criticism from me.” The last President said this at the groundbreaking of his library in Dallas.

Other Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients will include German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Warren Buffett.

“These outstanding honorees come from a broad range of backgrounds and they’ve excelled in a broad range of fields, but all of them have lived extraordinary lives that have inspired us, enriched our culture, and made our country and our world a better place. I look forward to awarding them this honor,” said Obama.

This is clearly an attempt by Obama to get on the good side of the Republicans. By awarding medals to George H.W. Bush and Angela Merkel, two conservatives, he has proven what The Partisan has been saying all along. The Democrats and Republicans represent the same group of people, the super-rich. Bourgeois unity and class interests, not working and middle class interests, will always come first on Barack Obama's agenda and this proves it.

In 1932, Fox Helped Make Propaganda Films for Hitler

2010-11-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

The following article was found in the Rock Creek Free Press (linked to on left), but was also published elsewhere.

By Webster Griffin Tarpley, PH.D.

Observers of the current US election season have noted the prominent role of Rupert Murdoch’s reactionary Fox News Channel, which currently employs GOP and “Tea Party” partisans Sarah Palin, Glen Beck, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Sean Hannity, and others. Some have alleged that a television network carrying so many potential political candidates and propagandists on its payroll is unprecedented. But there is a precedent for large-scale Fox intervention into a political campaign.

In 1932, the German newsreel subsidiary of Fox News Channel’s corporate ancestor, Fox Films, intervened in national elections in Germany.

The candidate Fox supported was Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

The basic facts are available in German historian Hans Mommsen’s authoritative study entitled The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy, which is translated into English and widely available in over five hundred libraries in this country. Mommsen, one of the most distinguished postwar German historians, is now Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Bochum. In Mommsen’s account of Nazi propaganda techniques, we find the following: “There was nothing that escaped the ingenuity of Nazi propagandists. A case in point was the use of film. Under Goebbels’ influence the party had begun to exploit the potential of the political propaganda film to an unprecedented extent as early as 1930. Such films were shown mostly in places where Hitler and other prominent party leaders were not able to appear as speakers. For the manufacture of outdoor sound film, the NSDAP turned to an American company, Twentieth Century Fox.“1

Scholar William G. Chrystal confirms this account and provides further important details in his 1975 article on “Nazi Party Election Films, 1927-1938.” Chrystal writes: “Support for two additional 1932 election films, Der Führer (The Leader), and Hitlers Kampf um Deutschland (Hitler’s Struggle for Germany) came from the German-based subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Tönende Wochenschau (Fox Weekly Sound Newsreel [i.e., Fox Movietone News]). In addition, they also supplied some mobile sound film vans to be used during the campaign. Thus at least part of Hitler’s support in that critical time was the result of Fox’s help. The background for this assistance is unknown since Fox Tönende Wochenschau records were destroyed during the war,” according to a July 9, 1974 letter to Chrystal from Joseph Bellfort, who was at that time the vice president of the Twentieth Century Fox International Film Corporation.2

Fox Helped Hitler’s Voice to Reach Many Germans for the First Time

Of the first of these two films, Chrystal writes: “…Der Führer (The Leader) was one of two sound films subsidized by Fox Tönende Wochenschau. Released on April 13, 1932, it was originally titled Volk und Führer (Nation and Leader). It was a relatively short film, 263 meters long, but it provided many people with their first opportunity to hear Hitler speak. These films were accompanied by an apparently popular tide which enabled their wider dissemination. In his diary on March 6, 1932, [Nazi propaganda boss Joseph] Goebbels noted: ‘We now also win the movie theater for our propaganda.’”3

This film lasts about five minutes. In it Hitler, speaking in Berlin on April 4, 1932, develops his characteristic theme that the German army was betrayed and stabbed in the back in November 1918 by the Weimar politicians, especially the Social Democrats. This speech was part of Hitler’s campaign for president, in which he was defeated on April 10, 1932 by von Hindenburg but nevertheless received almost 37% of the votes, which represented a new high in Nazi support up to that time. In the subsequent parliamentary election held on July 31, 1932, the Nazis added 19% to their previous totals to emerge for the first time as the largest single party in Germany with 38% of the votes — thanks in part to the assistance rendered to Hitler by Fox Movietone News.

Concerning the second film Fox made for Hitler, Chrystal writes: “…new Reichstag elections were called for November 6, 1932…. The second of the Fox-subsidized productions, Hitlers Kampf um Deutschland (Hitler’s Struggle for Germany), appeared on August 30. It comprised 606 meters of Hitler’s July, 1932 Eberswalde speech. An indication of the effectiveness of this speech and its film record can be found in its later use. When Reichstag elections were held again in March 1933, this same film was re-issued under a new title, Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler Spricht (Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler Speaks).”4

Hitler’s speech in the Brandenburg Stadium in Eberswalde on July 27, 1932, one of three he gave that day, is a classic demagogic performance. As Mommsen points out, “in the hectic 1932 election campaign” the Nazis organized mass rallies featuring “speeches that Hitler tailored specifically to the psychotic public mood that had been created by the deepening crisis.” (Mommsen, p. 338) “We are intolerant,” raved Hitler, promising to drive more than thirty other political parties out of Germany. “We have one goal before us, to fanatically and ruthlessly shove all these parties into the grave,” he added. This was the message which Fox Movietone News helped deliver to the German public. Six months after he gave this speech, Hitler seized power as chancellor and began consolidating his power as dictator — once again thanks in part to the help of Fox Movietone News.

Note that Chrystal speaks of Fox has having “subsidized” Hitler’s critical 1932 election campaigns. This can be considered as the 1930s equivalent of illicit contributions in kind to a politician under current US election law, which is the charge often made against Fox News today, as for example in a recent filing by the Democratic Governors’ Association in regard to the Kasich gubernatorial campaign in Ohio.

Fox Movietone News and the Rise of European Fascism

Robert Edwin Herzstein, in his article entitled “Movietone News and the Rise of Fascism in Europe, 1930-1935,” explored the partial archive of Fox Movietone News for these years now at the Thomas Cooper Library at the University of South Carolina.5 It is clear from this article that the regular weekly Fox Movietone newsreels also played into the hands of the Nazi and fascist media strategy. Proud of this record, “Fox called its newsreel operations ‘the mightiest of them all.’” (Herzstein, p. 314)

In the Fox Movietone newsreels and outtakes of Nazi rallies, says Herzstein, “one senses the enthusiasm, the communion between leader and masses…. Hitler is often seen standing in the presence of his friend and foreign press chief Ernst Hanfstaengl, apparently oblivious to the prying movie camera…. Hitler, in part a media creation, was better equipped to manipulate the masses by putting them on the movie screen. He made them part of the media action, and the outtakes show us how that was done.” (Herzstein, p. 317) Hitler’s rivals and adversaries, including his predecessor as chancellor, von Papen, the Austrian leader Dollfuss, and the Social Democrat Dittman all appear in the Fox footage in a negative or unflattering light by comparison.

One big fan of Fox Movietone News was the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who was given the opportunity to make one of his famous bravura speeches for the Fox camera. According to Herzstein, one of the first sound newsreels shown in the United States depicted Mussolini in March 1929 speaking in English directly to the American people, saying: “Your talking newsreel has tremendous possibilities. Let me speak through it in twenty cities in Italy once a week and I need no other power.” (Herzstein, p. 318) In the mind of the Duce, newsfilm was thus already the handmaiden of fascist power. Herzstein’s extensive survey of the Fox Movietone archive for 1930-1935 apparently yielded no examples of any criticism or unfavorable coverage of the fascist dictators, since none is mentioned in his article.6

The last Fox Movietone newsreels appeared in the United States in 1963. According to the Wikipedia article on Movietone News, parts of the Fox Movietone newsreel collection are still “owned and managed by the Fox Film Corporation’s corporate successor (and namesake), Fox News Channel. The majority of the collection is stored in New Jersey, mostly unseen since the newsreels were originally shown in theatres. During its early years, Fox News Channel had a weekend show which played the newsreels.”7

As the philosopher George Santayana rightly observed in 1905, “when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References:
1 Hans Mommsen, The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996, p. 339. emphasis added. Fox Film Corporation merged with Twentieth Century Pictures to form Twentieth Century Fox in May, 1935.
2 William G. Chrystal, “Nazi Party Election Films, 1927-1938,” in Cinema Journal XV:1, Autumn 1975, p. 32, published by the University Texas Press for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, emphasis added. See also Hans Barkhausen, “Kurzübersicht: Filme der NSDAP, 1927-1945,” and “Die NSDAP als Filmproduzentin,” in Günter Moltmann and Karl Friedrich Reimers, Zeitgeschichte im Film- und Tondokument: 17 historische, pädagogische, und sozialwissenschaftliche Beiträge, edited by Günter Moltmann and Karl Friedrich Reimers (Göttingen: Musterschmidt-Verlag, 1970).
3 Chrystal, p. 33.
4 Chrystal, p. 35.
5 Robert Edwin Herzstein, “Movietone News and the Rise of Fascism in Europe, 1930-1935: A Guide for the Researcher, Teacher, and Student,” The History Teacher XXI:3 (May 1988), pp. 313-320, published by: Society for History Education.
6 For part of Mussolini’s remarks, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTXhez2mNmM
7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movietone_News

Richmond Sheriff's Platform Committee

2010-11-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

The City of Richmond spends more on jailing its citizens than any expenditure. Those in charge of the jail have created one of the highest incarceration rates in the country with the biggest prison population on the planet. The current jail was built to house 888 inmates however the jail regularly holds 1500 people. Woody, Herring, Norwood, Jones,and Richmond City Council have conspired to create a inhumane unconstitutional jail in order to line their pockets and serve the interests of the capitalist powers that have put them in their roles.

Now the criminal local power structure is positioning themselves for a 137,000,000 dollar cash windfall coming to the jail from the ironically named Virginia Public Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act. The local money grubbers, AKA the Richmond Government and their string pullers, want to build a jail that will house over 1,800 people more than double the size of the current jail. This is unusual because the powers that be including Woody have stated their intention to reduce the number of inmates. Unusual until one understands that the people in control of our City, State and Federal Government are disingenuous liars that say one thing and do another.

On May 8, 2010 I announced my intention to be the next Sheriff of Richmond. When I am Sheriff many of the functions of city government will change. Most notably an immediate reduction in the population of the current jail to 850 people because we will not jail people for violating unconstitutional laws. In order to serve the people the Sheriff will carry out the will of the Richmond Sheriffs Platform Committee which is now forming and will be open to the public. The RSPC will set the agenda for what will become the umbrella constitutional regulator for all city,state,and federal,government agencies. When I am Sheriff I will take only one third of the salary that the current head of the inhumane jail pockets. Constitutional enforcement, public safety, and transparency will replace crony capitalism and back room deals.

The current leaders of our government are sociopaths that use positions of public service to live in big houses and drive expensive cars. Our tax dollars are being wasted by crooks. This corruption will end when I am Sheriff and the will of the people is enforced. Furthermore I challenge anyone in this criminal government structure to debate me on this or any other issue.

Chris Dorsey
contact at RVA4peace@gmail.com

Indigenous Peoples and countries expose scam US Periodic Review

2010-11-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from Censored News (click here).

The first ever US Periodic Review on Human Rights to the United Nations, delivered Friday, Nov. 5, 2010, in Geneva, failed Native Americans with a pathetic brief summary that ignored the United States far reaching and ongoing genocide of American Indians.

Countries from around the world lined up in Geneva to document the United States’ ongoing torture in violation of the Geneva Conventions, the US phony war on terrorism and US racial profiling leading to the deaths of migrants by US officers at the US/Mexico border. Countries challenged the US for ongoing hate crimes against Muslims, Arabs and South Asians.

As countries challenged the US continued use of torture, assassinations and kidnapping, neither President Obama nor Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were present in Geneva to justify the torture and unjust imprisonments. George Bush and Dick Cheney, popularized by the media and book tours, were not present to be held responsible for their use of torture or creation of laws enabling US torture.

Although the US attempted to ignore the rights of Native Americans, other countries focused on the failure of the US to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

US officials in Geneva responded to Australia, Cyprus, Finland, Germany and Norway, about the failure to adopt the Declaration and said it is reveiwing its position.

In Mexico’s advance questions, Mexico pointed out the ongoing racial profiling in the United States and the role of law enforcement. It also challenged the US to investigate deaths in custody. Further, it questioned the use of lethal force at the US Mexico border and the execution of Mexican nationals in violation of international law.

This issue of US torture was the primary issue that dominated the questions from around the world. In particular, Mexico asked the US about the provisions of its Army operations manual and violations of human rights.

The School of Americas’ operations manual, made public in 1996, was used to train Latin American military officers for decades, resulting in the torture, mutilation, rape and assassination of peoples, including tens of thousands of Indigenous Peoples, throughout the Americas.

Even today, a protest is planned at Fort Huachuca Army Intelligence Center in southern Arizona, where the School of Americas’ torture manual was published. In the annual protest at Fort Huachuca, to be held this weekend, Nov. 14, human rights activists point out the ongoing role of Fort Huachuca. Drones continue to kill civilians, and are used for US rogue assassinations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fort Huachuca officers have not been held responsible for their role in the torture at Abu Ghraib.

In advance questions, Mexico asked the US at the UN: “What mechanisms does the US have in place to periodically review the provisions of the Army operations manual are compatible with International human rights norms and international humanitarian law, in particular on measures to prevent and punish torture?”

Mexico questioned why local law enforcement now has the authority to enforce immigration laws, when only the US federal government has this authority.

In preparation for the review, the United States wasted the time and money of Native Americans, asking people to travel to Listening Conferences to testify about human rights abuses in the US. Nearly all of the testimony was ignored by the United States State Department in its final report to the United Nations.

While the US ignored or minimized its own human rights abuses, the United Nations compiled the documents from independent sources.

The United Nations has compiled summaries and a list of the Stakeholders. Stakeholders include the Western Shoshone, fighting Barrick Gold mining on sacred land at Mount Tenabo in Nevada, and the Navajos, long targeted by Peabody Coal mining for destruction of its land, air and water. Navajos demanded a halt to the relocation of Dine’ and other Indigenous Peoples from their homelands. Havasupai and Hualapai were among those documenting the uranium mining now threatening the pristine water and land in their homeland, the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

The independent US Human Rights Network has also published an extensive document on the US human rights abuses, including the abuse of sacred land and the extensive ongoing uranium mining targeting Lakotas and others Indian Nations.

The Human Rights Network report includes submissions on human rights from the Indigenous Environmental Network, International Indian Treaty Council, International Justice Program Owe Aku (Bring Back the Way), Laguna Acoma Peoples for a Safe Environment, Nation of Hawaii (Oahu and Maui Hawaii), National Native American Prisoners’ Rights Coalition, Pit River Tribe and Wintu Nationk, Venetie Traditional Council, Gwich’in in Athabascan Nation, Wanblee Wakpa Oyate, Pine Ridge Reservation and Western Shoshone Defense Project.

The report points out the legacy of death from uranium mining in the Southwest. "The Pueblo, Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai, and Western Shoshone Peoples were exposed to the ruinous effects of uranium mining milling, waste storage and weapons testing, since the late 1940’s. Uranium production has killed hundreds of Indigenous Peoples, including hundreds of miners still dying from radiation poisoning and cancers of all sorts. Radioactive residue blown by 324 the wind and seeping into surface and ground water in a continual poisoning of Indigenous communities has never been remedied."

Still, many of those who testified wasted their money traveling to the so-called Listening Conferences, because their testimony was not included in the summary. The US State Department has placed its pathetic summary online, which lacks names and key issues.

Since many victims of the United States policy of genocide, including the poor and people of color, lack access to the Internet, they were never informed that the US was collecting information on its abuses of them.

As countries challenged the US record of human rights in Geneva, the country of India pointed out the racism that leads to the high rate of imprisonment of blacks. It also pointed out the sexual harassment of women in the military.

The rape of US soldiers, by fellow US soldiers, in Iraq and Afghanistan is one of the most censored issues.

India said it is "concerned about human rights abuses by business corporations and inquired about the United States’ position on its Alien Tort Claims Act. It was concerned at the sexual harassment of women in the United States military and the disproportionately high conviction rates for African-Americans, as well as their low access to education, health and employment."

While the US failed Native Americans with a pathetic US Periodic Review, American Indians and the countries of the world have documented, and continue to document, the ongoing human rights abuses which the US mainstream media and US government censors.

As countries challenged the US on the promised closure of Guantanamo, Brazil challenged the US on its human rights abuses under the guise of counter-terrorism and Vietnam pointed out the discrimination toward migrants in the US.

There was this capsule, challenging the US in Geneva, as stated in the UN draft summary from Nov. 5.

"The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was concerned at, inter alia, the racial discrimination and intolerance against persons with African, Arab Islamic and Latin American origins, the denial of the indigenous community of their rights, human rights violations resulting from its policies of occupation and invasion and the imposition of blockades. It was concerned over the large number of prisoners at Guantanamo, deprived of their right to a fair trial."

G-20 Disagreements Spark Fears of World Trade War

2010-11-11T19:16:00.000-08:00

Fears of a global trade war have appeared as Group of 20 (G-20) countries, which are the first world and rising countries, wrestled with each over trade in Seoul, South Korea on Friday.

Accusations that both China and the United States are manipulating their currencies has brought back the specter of protectionist economic policies. Such policies were seen in the USA before the Great Depression. The possibility of a return to protectionism has sparked fears that the world may soon return to a higher level of recession.

The United States argued that China should let the value of the yuan rise, making Chinese exports more expensive and American imports in China cheaper for Chinese consumers. It is argued that this would shrink the American trade deficit with China, which is set to tie its 2008 record of $268 billion.

At the same time, other countries found the United States to be hypocritical on this matter. The American Federal Reserve plans to inject $600 billion into the US economy. This would decrease the value of the dollar, making American exports cheaper and giving the US an advantage.

Richard Portes of the Center for Economic Policy Research in London called the low chances of a substantive agreement "dangerous."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke out against first world countries trying to export their way to more wealth. He fears that there will be less consumption of goods from rising countries.

Failure to agree on currency and trade could intensify the desire of G-20 countries to manipulate their currencies to gain the upper hand. This could lead to an all out trade war, which would set up barriers to imports.

Gregory Chin, a senior fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation said that the US Congress "wants to see some blood ... wants a bit of a spat with China on currency wars."

The American House of Representatives recently voted to harm China for keeping its currency low.

South Korea and the United States, so far, have been unable to work out a stalled free trade deal, which is harming the possibility for other agreements. Developing countries have voiced concern over the falling yields of American government bonds. The developing world is vulnerable to economic collapse if investors decide to take their money elsewhere.

China and Taiwan have announced this week that they will restrict the amount of foreign money going into their markets.

Outside of the meeting place, the National Museum of Korea, thousands of protesters rallied against the G-20 and South Korean government and clashed with police. However, the protest was peaceful compared to others.

Bourgeois commentator and author Fareed Zakaria commented in his book The Post-American World that certain international issues, both economic and political, remind him of the tensions that led up to World War One. The First World War was caused by capitalist and inter-imperialist rivalries. What the world is witnessing among the G-20 governments, which usually cooperate a little better with each other, is probably the collapse of cooperation among the world's ruling classes. This could possibly lead to another World War, which, judging from the past two, always results in a Communist Party seizing power somewhere (but in no way is The Partisan trying to be prophetic).

Monroe Park Issue

2010-11-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

(Richmond, VA) Two pieces were recently published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. One was against the Monroe Park renovation plans, and the other was a letter in favor of them.

The first piece, by Michael Paul Williams, stated that the renovation plans are part of a gentrification process. Williams spent much of the article discussing the matter with regards to Food Not Bombs, which feels that relocating feeding programs to the Conrad Center is a bad idea.

“It’s inaccessible. It’s stigmatic. It is not a community meal. It’s across from the city jail,” said Mo Karn of Food Not Bombs. “It’s a completely different dynamic if you’re in a building.”

Homeless people were also quoted in the article.

If you'd like to read the entire update, see a video of the community meeting on Monroe Park, and read the City Council renovation plans, click the link below.
http://richmondspark.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/update-on-monroe-park-issue/

The class basis of US elections

2010-11-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

The following article was taken from Lenin's Tomb (click here).

The Democrats have lost the House of Representatives but kept the Senate by a slim margin. The Tea Party 'movement' will be credited for giving the Republicans this energy in the polls, but in fact there will be little evidence when the dust settles that anything particularly remarkable happened here. A few whack jobs got elected, quite a few didn't, turnout was probably around 40% (which will be hailed as a record high if true), and capitalism remains firmly in control of the political process. The dominant faction of the 'political class' will still comprise rich corporate lawyers, the majority of senators will still be millionaires, and Wall Street will still control the Treasury.

The Republican sweep, announcing a "seismic shift", will be every bit as flimsy as the 'revolution' of 1994. This was when Gingrich's hard right rump took control of both houses of Congress for the first time in fifty years. They added 54 seats to their total in the House of Representatives (2010 equivalent: 36, with 14 undecided), while adding 8 senate seats to their total to gain the upper house (2010 equivalent, 5, with 3 undecided - and no prospect of gaining control of the upper house). But the 'Republican revolution' took place with the support of less than 20% of eligible voters, with a turnout of less than 40%. Many of the same personnel who drove that 'revolution', and drafted the 'Contract with America' that few read or understood, are now 'activists' in the Tea Party movement. The FT calls Dick Armey an 'activist', for christ's sake.

This change in the political composition of the elected chambers as a result of the 2010 mid-terms will be even less significant than the 1994 congressional elections. The GOP's 'surge' will be predicated on, again, just about a fifth of eligible voters. Bear in mind that voter eligibility is, thanks to a racist criminal justice system and voting laws that deprive convicted felons of the right to vote, biased against poor and black voters anyway. But it will be depicted as a populist upsurge against what is perceived to be a tax-and-spend administration with socialist, Muslim, Kenyan anti-colonialist roots. In fact, the Tea Party 'movement' will probably not have had the effect that the commentariat is looking for. It is the result not of 'grassroots' right-wing anger, but of class-conscious business intervention in the political process - particularly by the billionaire Koch brothers. The 'grassroots' that are mobilised tend to be whiter and wealthier than the population at large, and they are heavily dependent on the media to talk up their activities.

In reality, just as in Massachusetts in January, millions of Democratic voters will not have turned out. Obama and his supporters have relied on a strategy of condescendingly lecturing the base, telling them off for expecting too much, which is grotesque and pathetic. (He saved capitalism, you fools!) His staff, as well, have been known to insult the base, especially progressives, as idiots and morons for being furious over the healthcare sell-out. So, why would grassroots Dems mobilise for an elitist pro-Wall Street clique that treats them like dirt and tells them they should be grateful? More on this in a bit. The point is that voters, just like the Tea Party 'movement', and just like the Republican base, will be heavily skewed toward the whiter and the wealthier, and the majority of the working class will have been effectively squeezed out of the electoral system.

***

If we understand electoral politics as a particular expression of the class struggle in the US, the bizarre trends noted above can be comprehended better. First of all, the obvious. Unlike in much of the world, the United States does not have a party of labour, that is a party created by and rooted in the organised working class. The electoral system is entirely dominated by two pro-business parties. The Democrats have, since the 'New Deal', tended to gain from whatever votes are cast by the working class, and have ruthlessly and jealously guarded that advantage against all potential 'third party' rivals. But the correlation between class voting and Democratic voting declined in the post-war era. This has usually been measured by the gap between the number of 'working class' and 'middle class' voters supporting the Democrats in any given election. You subtract the percentage of the 'middle class' vote that backs the Democrats from the percentage of the 'working class' vote that backs the Democrats and you have a class voting index - the Alford Index. This is not particularly sophisticated, and tends to rely on simplistic, occupational grading models of class. But the results of applying it do disclose a trend, which is worth noting.

One study, which focused on white voters (because African Americans were for much of the relevant period prevented from voting in much of the country), noted that the gap in 1948 was 44%. In 1952 it was 20%. In 1960 it was 12%. In 1964 it was 19%. In 1968, it was 8%. And in 1972, it was 2%. This form of 'class voting' benefiting the Democrats is subject to considerable variation depending on the context. I suspect that it would have been relatively high in 2008 and relatively low in 2004, for example. But the secular trend is one of decline. And the declining relevance of this particular index of class to determining voter behaviour has been interpreted by the usual dirt - sorry, by some academics - as a decline in class voting as such. It's been tied into a broader claim about the demise of class as an important factor in American life, most notably by Terry Clark and Seymour Lipset. This is just the American version of 'electoral dealignment' theory, which became popular among psephologists in the UK in the 1980s, and it maintains that as class loses its social significance, voters become more like consumers, choosing electoral brands based on the values they associate with that brand.

More plausibly, it has been claimed that since the Goldwater campaign in 1964, the Republicans learned how to use 'culture wars' effectively to win over a sector of racist white wokers. This is arguably the very effect that Republicans were unable to produce in 2008. Thus, the 'southern strategy' using a fusion of racial and religious politics, helped depress the overall levels of class voting. But it's important not to exaggerate this. Most white workers still don't vote Republican. In most cases, a majority of them simply decline to vote. Further, 'class voting' in the sense of working class mobilisation for the Democrats was in decline well before the overthrow of segregation and the onset of the Nixonite 'southern strategy'. Most of the decline cannot be explained by racism. According to Michael Hout et al (1995) [pdf], adjusting the research to take account of advances in stratification and class theory, and using multivariate analyses rather than just the Alford Indez, produces a very different picture. They build on the approach of critical psephologists such as John Curtice and Anthony Heath in the UK to suggest that 'electoral realignment' is a more plausible description of the trends than 'electoral dealignment'. Class still profoundly determines voting behaviour, and it determines it all the more if you consider non-voting one form of that behaviour.

The study shows changes in the make-up and alignment of the electorate. The number of owners and proprietors has declined - perhaps as ownership becomes more concentrated. Meanwhile the number of professionals and managers has increased. There has been an overall increase in white collar non-managerial voters, the votes of unskilled and semi-skilled workers remain steady, and the representation of skilled workers has fallen sharply. So the class structure has been recomposed, and the electorate has changed accordingly. Secondly, when you look at the partisan preferences of different class, you see that skilled workers became less Democratic between 1948 and 1992, while white collar workers went from being modestly Republican to being strongly Democratic. Professionals became more Democratic, while owners and managers became strongly Republican. Finally, on turnout, you see that managers, professionals and owners are much more likely to vote in presidential elections than workers of all kinds. The study concludes "The gap between the turnout for professionals and for semiskilled and unskilled [workers] ... corresponds to a range of 77 percent to 40 percent (using 60 percent as the average turnout)."

***

Thus, you have an electoral system that vastly over-represents owners, managers and professionals, and under-represents the working class by a wide margin. Incidentally, there's no sign that education has any impact on this. The increase in high school and college education among 'lower socioeconomic groups' has not led to a corresponding increase in turnout. Other research looking at non-voting corroborates this picture. Reeve Vanneman and Lynn Cannon's classic study, The American Perception of Class, looked at voting and non-voting behaviour in the US, comparing it with the UK, for the period covering the Sixties and early Seventies. They found that voters who were most inclined to self-identify as working class overwhelmingly voted for Labour in the UK, but overwhelmingly didn't vote in the US. By contrast, they found that more than two-thirds of supporters of the Democratic Party, which claims a near monopoly on all social forces left-of-centre in national elections, self-identified as middle class. Thus the perception of class, which Vanneman and Cannon show is strongly correlated to the reality of class, powerfully drives voting and non-voting behaviour.

Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward argued, in Why Americans Still Don't Vote, that the exclusion of the working class from elections is actively desired by politicians. They suggest that if politicians were interested in crafting a policy mix that would appeal to the poor, the poor would respond, and they would be able to command electoral majorities. Pippa Norris of Harvard University concurs: the evidence suggests that turnout among the working class will increase at elections if there are left and trade union based parties that are capable of mobilising them. But it is again worth stressing that the exclusion of the poor from the electoral system is not wholly voluntary. Thomas E Patterson, in The Vanishing Voter (2009), points out that the electoral system in the US has had a long tradition of seeking to exclude the uneducated and the poor, and Patterson argues that voter registration rules still work to limit the size and composition of the electorate. He notes that the US has a disproportionately high number of non-citizens among its total population (7%), and ineligible adults (10%). Thus, 17% of the total adult population at any given time is legally excluded from voting. The exclusion of so many voters is the result of deliberate projects: in one case to manage labour migration flows to benefit capital (non-citizens cause less trouble than those permitted to naturalise); and in the other case to construct a carceral state that imprisoned more poor and black Americans than ever before. On any given day, 1 in every 32 American adults is directly in the control of the criminal justice system, either through jail, parole, probation or community supervision. This only hints at the wider effects that this behemoth has on American society, but suffice to say that it deprives millions of the right to vote where it would easily make a significant difference to the outcome.

***

The 2010 mid-term elections have thus taken place not only without the participation of the majority of voters, but with the pronounced exclusion of millions of working class Americans and particularly African Americans. Don't believe me? Let's look at the exit poll results. You can see that there's a strong Democratic bias among voters with incomes under $50k, but they only represent 37% of the total vote, while making up just over 55% of the population. Those earning $100,000 or more make up more than a quarter of the vote (26%) and have a strong Republican bias, yet they represent less than 16% of the population. Breaking it down even further, 7% of the electorate is composed of those on $200,000 or more - again, strongly Republican - which is more than double their representation as a whole. In fact, I'm over-representing the higher income earners and under-representing lower income earners because I'm relying on figures for households rather than individuals. The percentage of individuals on $50k or less is 75%. Those on $100k or more make up just over 6% of the population. So, the turnout is enormously skewed in favour of the wealthy.

The two main parties will have constructed their electoral coalitions with a disproportionate reliance on professionals, owners, and managers. Their leading personnel, those who frame and carry through policy, will be bankers, laywers, and other members of the wealthy minority. Their daily consultations and coordinations will be with the industrial and financial lobbies who fund campaigns. And the "seismic shift", the "grassroots insurgency" that is supposedly propelling reactionary populists to the levers of power will have been effected principally by a relatively small shift in an already exclusive electoral system in favour of middle class and rich voters. I raise all this merely to put it in perspective. The drama of headlines, and of the vaunted new political eras, does not have much bearing on the real state of American society.

Lastly, the Tea Party. If these results are supposed to demonstrate the enormous clout of this movement, its great popular resonance, and so on, I am singularly unimpressed. They were up against a hugely unpopular Democratic Party, whose control of the executive has disappointed so many, amid a recession that has made everyone terrified. The economy is the number one issue in this election, and the numbers of voters who said they were optimistic about the future for the economy were tiny. If the Tea Party was such a wildly popular 'movement', it would not have contributed only a small fraction to the GOP's small slice of the voting age population. As dangerous as these creeps can be, as a Poujadist movement seeking to mobilise a mass base, it's a flop. And that's a key lesson of 2010.

Students Protest IDF Soldiers Campus Visit

2010-10-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

University of Michigan students walking out in protest of a visit by two Israeli soldiers.

Declassified documents expose U.S. planning for nuclear strikes against the DPRK

2010-10-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

The following article was taken from Liberation News (PSLweb.org linked to on left).

An Oct. 9 Associated Press article on declassified documents demonstrates once again the militaristic and aggressive nature of the U.S. military and government towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Korean people.

Some of the previously secret documents were released by the CIA, others were obtained by the private National Security Archive research group under the Freedom of Information Act, and still others were found in the National Archives and provided to AP by intelligence historian Matthew Aid. On this 60th anniversary year of the U.S. war of aggression against the people of Korea, the documents expose that for over half a century the U.S. military has prepared plans to attack the DPRK with nuclear weapons. This exposure lends support to the right of the DPRK to develop a nuclear arsenal in response.

The preparations for nuclear war against the DPRK began not long after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, which signaled the end of World War II. The U.S. war against Korea began on June 25, 1950, and a ceasefire (armistice) was signed on July 27, 1953, though the war has never formally ended.

The documents reveal that the Pentagon made repeated contingency plans to drop massive quantities of nuclear bombs on North Korea as the war dragged on. Areas targeted included those bordering the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union, both of which supported North Korea in its war to liberate the Korean Peninsula from U.S. occupation in the south.

The occupation came about as a result of the military and political division of the Korean nation after the defeat of Japan at the end of World War II. The U.S. Air Force even carried out trial drops of dummy nuclear weapons on the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, during the war. The AP article adds that in the late 1960s, nuclear-armed U.S. warplanes stood by in South Korea on 15-minute alert to bomb the north. Recently, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates affirmed that "all options are on the table,” the U.S. code phrase for its “right” to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against an adversary.

Today, the U.S. government hypocritically slams North Korea’s nuclear weapons program as being “provocative.” Six-country talks held between 2003 and 2009, involving Japan, Russia, the United States, France, South Korea and the DPRK, focused on ending North Korea’s nuclear program. The talks failed due to the belligerent response of the U.N. Security Council and U.S. after the DPRK launched a satellite in 2009 that the imperialists claimed was a test of a nuclear missile. At the behest of the United States, the U.N. then imposed additional sanctions on North Korea.

Later that year, the DPRK detonated a nuclear device underground, adding to its military means of deterrence of imperialist aggression and drawing further condemnation from the U.S. government.

In light of the long campaign of aggression by U.S. imperialism, the DPRK has the right of self-defense. The right to develop and use nuclear weapons in this context is a right that must be defended by revolutionaries, especially as the recently released documents lets the world see once again that the U.S. is an imperialist aggressor with no respect for the rights of the oppressed.

Richmond Protest Against Police Brutality

2010-10-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

Richmond, VA - Protesters took to the streets Friday night for the 15th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality (and the criminalization of a generation). A small crowd of people met up on 11th and Main Street where they were quickly addressed by the organizer.

The protesters then marched into the streets of Shockoe Slip and right into the InLight Richmond festival (a light-inspired art exhibition that consumed a good portion of the Shockoe Slip area). The speaker again addressed the crowd and people on the street. He went over a list of instances where police killed or brutalized people and explained the purpose of the protest.

The Special Events unit of the Richmond Police were not very happy about this, but allowed the protest to continue without amplified sound. When the speaker finished, the protesters chanted the names of police murder victims. They also held banners saying "Tear down all jails," and "police murder everywhere." One protester had an anarchist black flag and another had a red communist flag.

Over the course of the protest, a few pro-fascist people made a big stink about having their event interrupted. One drunk, old woman, who had clearly slobbered all over herself, was upset because "children didn't need to see this." Clearly she is in favor of sheltering her kids from the realities of protests, politics, and bad cops. Then two scrawny, pencil-neck art nerds said if the police weren't present they'd run off the protesters. In reality, we all know these kids have never thrown a punch in their life, let alone have the ability to run somebody off. There were also people who seemed to understand the reasons behind the protest, and one policeman even seemed to agree with the protesters that police brutality should be stopped.

Click here to read the call to action of the protest organizer.

This article is an edited version of what appeared on The Richmond Spark.

Labor Opposition to the FBI Raids and Grand Jury Grows

2010-10-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

The following article was taken from Fight Back News (linked to on left).

Minneapolis, MN - A growing number of trade unions are taking a stand against the recent FBI raids and grand jury witch hunt against anti-war, international solidarity and labor activists. Ten of the 14 people subpoenaed are trade unionists who have been active members of AFSCME, SEIU, Teamsters, and Education MN. They’ve been on the front lines and picket lines supporting their sisters and brothers during strikes, contract campaigns and workplace struggles. They have been vocal supporters of workers’ rights around the globe and they’re now under attack for speaking out against U.S. foreign policy. But in the spirit of “an injury to one is an injury to all,” the labor movement is coming to their defense.

On Oct. 1, the convention of AFSCME Council 5, representing 46,000 public employees in Minnesota, unanimously passed a resolution objecting to the recent FBI raids in Minneapolis and Chicago. On Oct. 14, delegates to the Duluth Central Labor Body (DCLB) unanimously adopted a similar resolution and “resolved that the DCLB forward this resolution to Midwest-area labor councils and the AFL-CIO and urge these organizations to similarly condemn FBI and DOJ attempts to intimidate and disrupt grassroots social movements.” Likewise, the San Francisco Central Labor Council delegates meeting voted on Sept. 27 to denounce the raids and “participate in the ongoing movement to defend our civil rights and civil liberties from FBI infringement.”

Chicago Teamsters Local 705 passed a resolution on Oct. 17 condemning the raids and noted that among those subpoenaed were, “Teamster Brother Mick Kelly from Minneapolis, as well as our Brother Joe Iosbaker, Chief Steward of SEIU Local 73, who has walked our ambulatory picket lines for the ‘Pain Ice Strike’ at University of Illinois-Chicago.”

On Oct. 18, the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council unanimously passed a resolution brought forward by the San Jose, California Local 6157 of the American Federation of Teachers. The resolution says the raids “mark a new and dangerous chapter in the protracted assault on the First Amendment rights of every union fighter, international solidarity activist or anti-war campaigner, which began with 9/11 and the USA Patriot Act.”

Cherrene Horazuk, chief steward of AFSCME 3800, stated, “The labor movement has been on the frontlines of fighting for freedom of speech and freedom to assemble. Our sisters and brothers, including four members of AFSCME 3800, are under attack for speaking out against U.S. government policy abroad and we need to take a stand against these attacks. Our local is calling on all unions and labor activists to demand an end to this witch hunt.”

Massive doctor shortages expected

2010-10-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

The following article was taken from Liberation newspaper (click its link on the left in the "news" section or visit PSLweb.org).

A recently released report by the Association of American Medical Colleges projects that the U.S. health care system will be facing a shortfall of 63,000 doctors in 2015. This will more than double to 130,600 by 2025 if no action is taken.

The outrageously high tuition at medical schools is a major cause of the predicted shortage. The average debt at graduation in 2009 was $156,456. Insufficient government funding for these institutions is also a factor. For example, nursing workforce development programs are facing a financial shortfall of over $23 million.

Some blame the impending lack of doctors on the recently passed health care “reform” law. Considering that the U.S. government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on imperialist wars and Wall Street bailouts, it is absurd to argue that the resources to avoid this shortage aren’t available. The real culprit in this situation is the irrational capitalist system, which is incapable of long-term planning to meet human needs.

National Conference on Socialism 2010-- Stand Up & Fight Back!

2010-10-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

Join us on November 13-14 in Los Angeles for a National "Fight Back" Conference on Socialism hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Find out what socialism is, what we aim for, and why socialism is the only answer to the misery created by capitalism.

Register today! Visit: www.PSLweb.org/conference

The conference will feature speakers, panels, organizing strategy sessions, entertainment, and discussion on topics related to the fight against capitalist exploitation, war, racism, and imperialism. We'll discuss what comes next for the people's movement.

SOCIALISM: THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE TO CAPITALISM

In the United States, the richest 400 people have as much wealth as 50 million households combined. The criminal occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq have cost the lives of over a million innocent people, and thousands of U.S. troops, while costing trillions of dollars. The richest banks and corporations have been bailed out by the government to the tune of $14 trillion, all on the backs of working people.

Working people worldwide are being squeezed for every last penny so that Wall Street can maintain its profit margins, and the environment is being destroyed by Big Oil and corporate greed. The epidemic of police brutality, checkpoints and immigrant bashing is intensifying as the capitalist state seeks to protect the class it serves. This is the reality of capitalism.

This is the reality of capitalism. Is this the way it has to be? No. Socialism is an alternative to this irrational and increasingly barbaric system. It is a system that puts human needs over private profits.

Conference Topics and Workshops Include:
• Why socialism is needed in the United States
• The evils of capitalism: mass layoffs and foreclosures
• What’s driving rising food prices?
• Rebuilding the organized workers’ movement
• Why Cuba’s revolution stands strong
• Black liberation and socialist struggle
• Seize BP!: capitalism vs. the people and planet
• Making universal health care a reality
• What can stop the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq?
• Organizing veterans and active duty troops
• Students and youth fight back
• Why is the Pentagon targeting Iran?
• Civil rights and civil liberties under attack
• Stopping the military-industrial complex

• Can we win affordable housing for all?
• Immigrant rights: the case for legalization
• Stop racism: defeating Arizona's SB 1070
• Fighting back against the Tea Party and the ultra-right
• Renewing the women’s rights struggle
• Real equality for the LGBT community
• Venezuela and Latin America’s leftward shift
• Stop colonialism: Puerto Rico, Haiti, Philippines...
• Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire
• China and the global capitalist economy
• Why the U.S. is threatening North Korea
• Africa: Imperialism’s hidden interests
• The prison and police brutality epidemic
• Building a revolutionary workers’ party

www.PSLweb.org/conference

The location is:

University of Southern California, Davidson Conference Center
3415 S. Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA

Phoenix Police Kill Unarmed Man

2010-10-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

About a week ago a Phoenix, Arizona police officer got away with murder after shooting an unarmed man and his dog in his own home.

Daniel Rodriguez, 29, now deceased, was pepper sprayed and tasered twice by Phoenix police officers when they entered his trailer.

His mother, Elvira Fernandez, called the police on him because he was yelling at her and breaking items inside of their home. The mother left the trailer, also her home, out of fear. She was unharmed.

According to reports, the mother had asked the police not to hurt her son.

"I said [to the police] just ask him to leave," Fernandez said. "They killed him for no reason. They just shot him. It's wrong what happened. It's not right the way it went down."

Policemen Richard Chrisman, 39, and his partner Sergio Virgillo, arrived on the scene and confronted Rodriguez. Rodriguez demanded that the police leave because they did not have a warrant. A heated exchange began, which provoked Chrisman to remove his pistol, place it to the 29 year-old's temple, and say, "I don't need no warrant, mother fucker."

Officer Virgillo has gained media attention recently for stating that Rodriguez wasn't a threat to the officers and that he saw no reason for his partner to use his gun. The officer has also said he thinks more than one shot was fired and he never saw a weapon in Rodriguez's hands.

After Chrisman put his pistol away, he tried to arrest and detain Rodriguez. He was met with fierce resistance, prompting the use of tasers and pepper spray. Neither of them were able to subdue Rodriguez, which has caused many people in Phoenix to suspect Rodriguez was abusing drugs.

Chrisman gunned down a pit bull that was also in the trailer. According to Virgillo, the dog was barking but never tried to attack.

The cop and the 29 year-old began arguing over why the dog was shot. Rodriguez tried to leave his trailer, but received a fatal gunshot for his efforts.

Chrisman was jailed for this, but was recently released on a $15,000 dollar bail. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Thanks to the help of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA), Chrisman was able to leave jail and obtain the bond money.

Over one hundred Phoenix protesters gathered outside of their city Police Headquarters to show their outrage over the killing of Daniel ("Danny") Rodriguez. Many activists and members of the Hispanic community feel that the shooting was racially motivated and that Chrisman should be charged with murder. The protests are growing, and activists are attempting to escalate them. Local officials are now fearing anti-police riots may soon erupt.

State Senator Richard Miranda provided the local CBS news with a copy of the Maricopa County's Brady List. The lists contains the names of police officers who have tampered with evidence in the past and lied in court or in reports. Chrisman is on that list.

The fact that this policeman is getting off with a mere slap on the wrist for purposely killing an unarmed, nonthreatening man for simply resisting arrest, as well as the fact that the PLEA has refused to condemn Chrisman's actions, shows that a major injustice is (yet again) being committed against the civilian and minority communities.

Phoenix pigs made the news earlier this year for attacking one of their city councilman for no reason. Click here to read that article.

Throughout history and the present, you can find organizations that have done many things to counter police brutality, including documenting police crimes and bringing them to the attention of human rights groups, teaching the people how to use weapons in self-defense against the police, patrol to keep police out of their neighborhoods, and set up neighborhood organizations that are meant to replace the cops and keep them away. It is up to the people in every city and town across the world to decide what they think is best to prevent police brutality, but the worst thing they can do is nothing.

No justice, no peace! Fuck the police!

Half of Romanians Want Communism Back

2010-10-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

Surveys show that half of Romanians feel they were better off under communism. This video is from the Maoist Rebel News.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUjbLjLIuQw

Female, Former Red Pepper Employee Arrested and Tortured

2010-10-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

The following was taken from the website of Red Pepper magazine (www.redpepper.org.uk).

Last Friday, during the No Border Camp: a convergence of struggles aiming to end the system of borders that divide us all, Marianne Maeckelbergh (US citizen and professor at the University of Leiden, Netherlands), a former Red Pepper worker, current contributor and a long-time global justice activist and the author of ‘The Will of the Many: How the Alterglobalisation Movement Is Changing the Face of Democracy’, was arrested for taking pictures while police were making arrests in Brussels, Belgium.

Having just entered Belgium, some two hours earlier, she witnessed violent arrests on the street. When Marianne began taking pictures, she was arrested. She was taken into police custody where she was violently dragged by her hair, chained to a radiator, hit, kicked, spat upon, called a whore, and threatened with sexual assault by the police. She also witnessed the torture of another prisoner also chained to a radiator.

This did not take place in a dark corner of the police station but out in the open, directly witnessed by police station authorities, who gave the impression that this was standard practice. Police removed her ID card, USB stick, the camera with the photos on it, as well as 25 euros in cash - to date they have refused to return her property.

Roughly 500 people were arrested, many preemptively, including people involved in the No Border Camp and other protest activities including an alleged attack on a police station. Marianne has now been released but as of Wednesday 6 October, 2010 at least four people are still incarcerated.

Your help is needed to secure the release of the remaining prisoners and to demand that the police are held accountable.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Call, email or fax Belgium’s UK Ambassador, H.E. Ambassador Johan Verbeke to demand the immediate release of all prisoners and express your outrage at the torture, abuse, and unjust incarceration of Marianne and others.

Ambassador’s Secretariat Tel: 020 7470 3700

Ann.Willems@diplobel.fed.be

Katja.Wauters@diplobel.fed.be

-----
The Partisan believes that all high-ranking police officers, and many rank-and-file policemen, should be arrested and put on trial for things like human and civil rights violations and regular murder. If found guilty, they should be executed. This applies to all police everywhere.

No justice, no peace! Fuck the police!

Protest at the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Convention

2010-10-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Virginia Tea Party Patriots convention, being held on October 8th and 9th, began at the Richmond Convention Center today, and The Partisan was on the scene.

Having arrived early to protest against the Tea Party, this writer noticed significantly less people were in attendance than expected, and only saw one bus bringing in people from out of town. It would seem that with all of the hype given to the Tea Party by the Richmond Times-Disgrace and other media, you can safely assume that the real number of attendees was significantly less than what the mainstream media will say.

Our small protest group gathered on the sidewalk by the media vans. We immediately pulled out our signs and tried to get in the background of the news broadcast. The signs read, "Greasy Old Perverts" with the letters G,O, and P in bold. Another sign said, "Tea Party = Corporate Media Shills." The best one of all said "Don't step on me," and had a picture of a turd, obviously a parody of the Gadsden flag ("Don't tread on me"). One of our fellow protesters was wearing a taco costume.

Some of the workers inside of the convention center waved at us in support of our anti-Tea Party signs.

Sam Brock from CBS 6 approached us and asked us to avoid getting in his camera shot. When we refused, however, he became angry and said something rude, having to be dragged away by his coworker. Maybe we misheard him, but he was, in our group's opinion, acting unprofessional. It is apparent that the media wants to censor and stifle those who disagree with the mainstream and discourage activism that isn't backed by the rich.

Later on, one of our group's members, Chris Dorsey, tried to get himself on the live broadcast again by maneuvering himself behind Sam.

We then went to another sidewalk with more cars and Tea Party members. We held up a 3x5 foot red Che Guevara flag. Chris held another sign saying "End the Federal Reserve." It is worth stopping here to explain how we put Che and anti-Fed sentiment together. The Federal Reserve is the monetary source for American capitalism, and although it might be replaced with something just as bad if it were brought down, it is still worth targeting along with other scum like the Republicans.

At the beginning of our protest, the Tea Party attendees just laughed at our signs (they were pretty funny), but this Che flag really angered them. One person across the street, claiming to be a Cuban-American, yelled her disagreement with the flag. I responded that she was a "worm," and flipped her off. Just because someone lives in a country doesn't mean they know what is/was really going on there, which is why there are so many ignorant people in America today. The same applies to anti-socialist people claiming Cuban ancestry. This isn't to say all criticisms of Cuba and Che are invalid, certainly there are many good ones that can be made.

Another person, an older man, yelled at us and I told him to "suck it." He didn't like this and said, "I'm going to break your face, bitch." I responded, "do it, I'd love an excuse to sue you." Say what you'd like, I wouldn't mind going to high levels of hypocrisy to screw over a right-winger, especially if I can take his money. I eventually told him to "get cancer." We said similar things to each other when he came around again in his car.

Threatening people with violence right away is a sign of poor mental health, and yet, it is something the conservatives love. With that in mind, only people who are messed up in the head would turn to hardcore right-wing ideology like that of the Tea Party. To be fair, I don't know that anti-Che individual, and this paragraph isn't meant to be a comment on his mental state in particular.

The thing is, this old man probably couldn't fight anyway given the shape he appeared to be in. He was just a trash-talker like every other conservative. If right-wingers weren't wimps and could actually fight, then Bush would have finished everything in Afghanistan within two terms.

At the end, we pulled out a large sign that read "9/11 was an inside job," and "follow the money." A lot of people seemed to like it.

Throughout the time of the anti-Tea Party protest, a few people stopped to have conversations with us. We discussed things such as how the Tea Party movement was being hijacked from the libertarians by the Neo-Conservatives (click here), and how similar things have happened to left-wing movements in the past. The awful two-party domination of American politics was also discussed, as well as the unfair parts of the health care legislation. One thing they told us was that certain mainstream Republicans didn't receive a warm welcome from the convention goers.

Click here to go to the blog of the protest group. Keep in mind that this entry is a personal account of the event, and the insults said here don't reflect the group's official line. The members agree on most things, but not everything (which is normal).

Also visit our sister website, The Richmond Spark.

Fed Calls US Economy "Unsustainable"

2010-10-06T15:54:00.000-07:00

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech in Rhode Island on Monday. Bernanke warned the audience of the Annual Meeting of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council that the state of American finances is "unsustainable."

Bernanke is quoted as saying:

"Let me return to the issue of longer-term fiscal sustainability. As I have discussed, projections by the CBO and others show future budget deficits and debts rising indefinitely, and at increasing rates. To be sure, projections are to some degree only hypothetical exercises. Almost by definition, unsustainable trajectories of deficits and debts will never actually transpire, because creditors would never be willing to lend to a country in which the fiscal debt relative to the national income is rising without limit."

He went on:

"The budgetary position of the federal government has deteriorated substantially during the past two fiscal years, with the budget deficit averaging 9-1/2 percent of national income during that time. For comparison, the deficit averaged 2 percent of national income for the fiscal years 2005 to 2007, prior to the onset of the recession and financial crisis. The recent deterioration was largely the result of a sharp decline in tax revenues brought about by the recession and the subsequent slow recovery, as well as by increases in federal spending needed to alleviate the recession and stabilize the financial system. As a result of these deficits, the accumulated federal debt measured relative to national income has increased to a level not seen since the aftermath of World War II."

"Economic conditions provide little scope for reducing deficits significantly further over the next year or two; indeed, premature fiscal tightening could put the recovery at risk. Over the medium- and long-term, however, the story is quite different. If current policy settings are maintained, and under reasonable assumptions about economic growth, the federal budget will be on an unsustainable path in coming years, with the ratio of federal debt held by the public to national income rising at an increasing pace. Moreover, as the national debt grows, so will the associated interest payments, which in turn will lead to further increases in projected deficits. Expectations of large and increasing deficits in the future could inhibit current household and business spending--for example, by reducing confidence in the longer-term prospects for the economy or by increasing uncertainty about future tax burdens and government spending--and thus restrain the recovery. Concerns about the government's long-run fiscal position may also constrain the flexibility of fiscal policy to respond to current economic conditions."

"It would be difficult to identify a specific threshold at which federal debt begins to pose more substantial costs and risks to the nation's economy. Perhaps no bright line exists; the costs and risks may grow more or less continuously as the federal debt rises. What we do know, however, is that the threat to our economy is real and growing."

It was obvious throughout other parts Bernanke's speech that he was blaming much of the future economic difficulties on the cost of state benefits and services to average people. The solution one would assume Bernanke implied is one that involves doing away with millions of people's jobs, health care, retirement benefits, and unemployment aid. Doing this will only make the economic situation worse because it will throw more people in the unemployment line and stop money from circulating. As you can see from the quotes, the Chairman also took this into consideration.

It should be obvious that these capitalists and their bankers are unable to get the US, and the world, out of this hole that they have dug. Of course, we should question whether or not they are actually trying. Perhaps the troubling economic hole they've put us in isn't just any hole, but rather a mass grave for the average person!

For Those Supporting the Arrests

2010-10-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

This post is for all of the pseudo-revolutionaries that are either apathetic to, or supportive of, the recent FBI raids on anti-imperialist, anti-war activists in the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and other leftist organizations that were targeted.

To those who spit on the victims of the raids due to their support for the FARC:
http://kasamaproject.org/2010/07/29/colombia-the-real-farc-ep-inside-and-out/

To those who spit on the victims of the raids due to their ideological and historical view of Stalin and Mao:

- Stalin and Bureaucracy
http://partisan-news.blogspot.com/2010/06/stalin-and-bureaucracy.html

-Stalin and Ukraine
http://partisan-news.blogspot.com/2010/06/stalin-and-ukraine.html

-Stalin: Politics and Power
http://partisan-news.blogspot.com/2010/06/stalin-politics-and-power.html

-Stalin's Purge of the Soviet Military
http://partisan-news.blogspot.com/2010/04/stalins-purge-of-soviet-military.html

-Moscow Trials and Great Purge
http://partisan-news.blogspot.com/2009/10/text-to-moscow-trials-and-great-purge.html

-A Response to the Socialist Worker (on Mao Zedong)
http://partisan-news.blogspot.com/2010/03/following-is-response-to-socialist.html

-The Era of Mao
http://partisan-news.blogspot.com/2010/03/era-of-mao.html

-Excerpt from Wild Swans and Mao's Agrarian Strategy
http://partisan-news.blogspot.com/2008/12/excerpt-from-wild-swans-and-maos.html

-Review of Mao the Unknown Story:
http://partisan-news.blogspot.com/2010/03/review-of-mao-unknown-story.html

To the wimps who spit on the victims due to their acceptance of violence:
http://zinelibrary.info/pacifism-pathology

Old Man Shoots Teen Over Pants

2010-10-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

A 45-year old man in Memphis, Tennessee recently shot at two teenagers due to his dislike of their fashion sense. One young man was injured when the older man shot his rear-end.

The two boys were walking down the street when Kenneth E. Bonds, 45, yelled at them for wearing sagging pants. The three began to argue and Bonds drew his semi-automatic pistol and threatened to open fire on the teenagers.

The two youths ran away, but one was injured from Bonds' gunshot. The injury isn't critical, and the other youth is unharmed.

It is unclear if Bonds has a lawyer. He is charged with aggravated assault, which is a Class C felony in his state.

The Partisan, as a critic of culture and adult-chauvinism, dislikes the current corporate-created culture that is pounded into the minds of youth. This includes drooping pants. However, the chauvinism of older generations and their attempt to control the free will and identity of youth is just as bad, if not worse given that it constitutes a form of age prejudice. The Partisan would like to wish a speedy recovery to the young victim, and also to issue the most harsh and hateful condemnation to the old scumbag.

GOP Rally

2010-10-02T23:38:00.000-07:00

The following was taken from The Richmond Spark (richmondspark.wordpress.com).

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) addressed nearly 3,000 Republicans and allies on Saturday.

“This is the first time I’ve seen this,” said an excited Cantor. “This economy is in dire shape, and people are really scared,” he said, conveniently forgetting that the economic troubles began under a Republican President.

“In a rush to pop champagne corks, Republican leaders like Eric Cantor have failed to account for how fatally flawed their candidates are and just how much the American people are rejecting their agenda to outsource jobs overseas, privatize Social Security and dismantle Medicare and repeal new checks on Wall Street,” said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee member Ryan Rudominer.

What supporters of both Republicans and Democrats forget is that both parties are responsible for the economic troubles. Republicans, if in power, will most definitely continue the destructive policies that helped cause the crisis that began under the Bush Administration. Virginia has a Republican governor, but unemployment is on the rise here. Keep that in mind!

The Democrats are not better. The Richmond Voice newspaper once criticized Obama for pushing a stimulus package that was reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.

Both of these capitalist parties are criminal. It’s time for a Marxist alternative!

VA Schools Suffer Budget Cuts

2010-10-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

The following was taken from The Richmond Spark (http://richmondspark.wordpress.com/)

Due to state budget cuts, parents in various Virginia school divisions will be holding fundraisers to acquire money for extracurricular programs.

Some schools decided to keep these programs, but charge fees to the families that enroll their children in programs like sports.

Across the Old Dominion, schools cut much of their funding for 2010-2011. Some believe these cuts are permanent.

With this being said, we must be outraged. What kind of society allows their children to suffer due to the mistakes of the older generations? If Virginians are to be put back to work, then spending on education must increase. According to a University of Massachusetts study, one of the best ways to create jobs is to spend money on education.

Police Raid Homes of Activists Nationwide

2010-09-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

The FBI raided six Minneapolis anti-war and third world liberation activists' homes on Friday. Homes in Michigan, North Carolina, and Illinois were also raided. The raid was conducted in order to find information on these activists' connections to "foreign terrorist organizations."

There were no arrests in Minneapolis, but several of the activists have been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury. Victim Mick Kelly had his home searched by police for information on his travel budget for trips to Colombia and Palestine. They were also looking for connections to the Colombian FARC guerrillas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Hezbollah's name was somehow thrown in the mix as well. Kelly insists that he doesn't have connections to these groups and that the raids were an attempt to intimidate anti-war activists.

The search warrants were signed by Federal Minnesota District Magistrate Judge Susan Nelson. The raid was carried out as part of a "Joint Terrorism Task Force" investigation.

Two Chicago activists were raided as well. No arrests were made, and the FBI spokesman for Chicago even said the victims weren't an "imminent threat to the community." Oddly enough, they were also raided under the guise of "anti-terrorism." How can one be a terrorist menace and not be a threat to the community? Obviously this was done to intimidate activists!

In all of the raids, police seized computers, cellphones, and documents from the activists.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization (a Marxist-Leninist group) seems to be one of the main targets. Students for a Democratic Society, Palestine Solidarity Group, and the Twin Cities Antiwar Committee were also targeted by government thugs.

Help South African Farm Workers Fight for Their Rights

2010-09-19T02:02:00.000-07:00

If you've been keeping up with the International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a radical left labor union, then you would be familiar with the CSAAWU. The IWW has been working in solidarity with them for the past few months.

CSAAWU, or Commercial Stevedoring Agriculture and Allied Workers Union, is a socialist union in South Africa. They are currently struggling for the rights of poor, black farm workers. Faced with poverty conditions, these workers are subject to an economic apartheid. Whites own and manage the farms (as well as the factories associated with them) and native Africans work them for low wages.

Below is a powerful video that can explain things better than this blogger. If you call yourself a leftist, a unionist, a Maoist, or what have you, then you'd pitch in a few dollars to The Partisan's fund to help the CSAAWU. The money collected will be sent to our comrades in South Africa via our local IWW members. No amount is too little! Simply click the donate option on the left side of the screen.

Blackwater Working for Monsanto Company and Canada

2010-09-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Blackwater, now called Xe, is back in the news again after it was reported that they have provided services to the Canadian Military, the Netherlands Police, and Monsanto Company.

Blackwater/Xe is a mercenary force most famous for its controversial run in Iraq under the Bush administration. Jeremy Scahill, a journalist who wrote a book on the soldiers of fortune, said:

"... entities closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign governments as well as several multinational corporations, including Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and banking giants Deutsche Bank and Barclays, according to documents obtained by The Nation. Blackwater's work for corporations and government agencies was contracted using two companies owned by Blackwater's owner and founder, Erik Prince: Total Intelligence Solutions and the Terrorism Research Center (TRC). Prince is listed as the chairman of both companies in internal company documents, which show how the web of companies functions as a highly coordinated operation."

A spokesperson for Monsanto said his company paid Total Intelligence for reports on groups and individuals that could pose a threat to the company wherever it operates. Total Intelligence worked on this by monitoring local news reports and searching the pages of activist blogs and websites. It didn't stop there, Blackwater's puppet company also infiltrated anti-Monsanto activist groups.

This is no surprise, given the fact that Monsanto is the same company that gave the world Agent Orange.

Another one of Blackwater/Xe's subsidiaries, the Terrorism Research Center, was paid over $1.6 million by Canada to provide training to its soldiers. This violation of the US export control laws, as well as other violations by the private death squad, incurred a fine of only $42 million. This is a mere slap on the wrist given the fact that Xe is raking in billions and has grown enormously over the past few years.

Blackwater is famous for killing 17 Iraqis and wounding 22 others in an unprovoked attack in 2007. It changed its name to Xe in 2009 as part of a public image makeover. Its founder Erik Prince is a known radical Christian fundamentalist.

Romania's health care system near collapse

2010-09-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

The following was taken from PSLweb.org

A complete lack of basic medical supplies and trained staff in Romanian hospitals point to dire problems in the country’s health care system. Patients are faced with a lack of staff and under-funding. Doctors demand financial compensation from patients seeking treatment, which low-paid workers and the unemployed can ill-afford.

"Incompetence, indifference and irresponsibility together equal crime," said Agnes Sekely, a Romanian accountant. "Guilty are the doctors, the nurses, the guards, the electricians, the lack of funding, in short the whole system.”

Health care was provided free of charge by the state after Romania became part of the socialist bloc following World War II. Annual expenditures for public health rose considerably, and the number of doctors and hospital beds available to the population rose concurrently.

Following the victory of the counterrevolution in 1989, the system has been progressively privatized, and the quality of health care is in sharp decline. Romania’s hospitals are now “on the ropes,” according to an Aug. 23 Associated Press report.

Largest US nuclear warships arrive in the Philippines to join counter-insurgency operations

2010-09-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

US military troops masquerading as actors in humanitarian missions have been repeatedly exposed as having overtly participated in Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) combat operations against the New People’s Army (NPA) in different areas in the country, as well as against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao.

The US Counter-Insurgency Guide confirms military assistance to “affected governments” like the Philippines in defeating the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDF), which it calls “terrorist”. It is also a reassertion of US imperialism’s containment and engagement policy against its economic rivals in East Asia and the Pacific, to secure its geo-political interest in the region.

This unmasks the US-Aquino regime of its total disregard for the national sovereignty and its subservience to US imperialism remarkably within the first 100 days of office.

The arrival of the 6,000 crewmember-strong USS George Washington, accompanied by three missile-guided destroyers, is one of the most blatant in a string of recent incursions into Philippine territory, which deserves no less than the people’s outright condemnation.

It is not surprising for Aquino government, however, to have allowed this latest travesty committed by the US Armed Forces against the people’s sovereign right since Noynoy Aquino’s recent pre-programmed electoral victory was made possible by US imperialist machinations.

US imperialism, being on the brink of a deep economic crisis, is insistent on securing new territories to siphon out natural resources like gas reserves and to open new markets for consumers for its surplus products. Having failed to acquire gas reserves in Iraq and is now sucked in deep in the quagmire of a costly war there, the US imperial power simply turns its eyes on the Philippines as its “Second Front,” where rich oil reserves just narrowly lie below the soils in Sulu and Palawan, in Liguasan Marsh and in the Agusan-Compostela Valley basin.

US imperialism is foisting its military power on Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines, and flagrantly declares its flat out support for the Aquino regime’s counter-insurgency war against the revolutionary movement to secure its economic interest and maintain its politico-military hegemony in the region. This latest incursion is nothing short of the re-imposition of the US imperialist’s war against the Filipino people’s movement for democracy and national liberation.

In Mindanao in particular, this signals the escalation of a more aggressive military intervention aimed at ‘reducing to inconsequentiality’ both the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Moro people’s armed resistance.

It will no less embolden US soldiers, especially those who are already based in Mindanao, to involve themselves more directly in intensified military operations and espionage against the people’s revolutionary movement in the island and the rest of the country. As a result, more and more US servicemen, together with their local fascist counterparts, will figure in committing wanton abuses against human rights such as torture, enforced disappearances, threatening entire peasant and Lumad communities, indiscriminate firing, burning down of villages, psy-war tactics, the rape of our women, and, of course, extra-judicial killings.

The NDFP in Mindanao enjoins the Filipino people to bring it to the attention of the Aquino government that allowing US nuclear warships to impose itself on Philippine shores, in complete disregard of the Filipino nation’s sovereignty, is a step closer to betraying the people’s trust. If the Aquino government is at all for the defense of the nation’s best interest, it must protect the integrity and security of the people first before pandering to the interests of a foreign imperialist power.

We call on all those who, in the past, have boldly fought hard against the continued basing of US military forces in the country – nationalist statesmen, church people and others who have been moved by genuine love of country – to break the silence and step up to assert true nationalism by defending the Filipino nation’s sovereign right.

Article on the Richmond 9/11 Protest Group

2010-09-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

The Richmond Federal Reserve building stands tall over the city, a grim reminder of the power and long-time criminality of the United States government and its corporate masters. On 9/11/01, the American elites, the people represented by the Federal Reserve, with the help of the fascist Bush regime, carried out one of the biggest false flag attacks in history, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.

Queue the “Justice Enforcement League,” a multi-tendency organization that knows the truth about the lies and slanders of the US government. On 9/11/10, they will hold a rally by the Richmond Federal Reserve building to raise awareness about how and why the US elites carried out the attacks back in 2001, which were blamed on imaginary “terrorists.” With a clear view of who the enemy is, the Justice Enforcement League aims to “serve the people, honor the truth, and uphold the Constitution.”

In the past, its members have been constantly harassed by the Richmond Police and censored by the Richmond Times Dispatch. One of its members, Chris Dorsey, was even removed from a public forum for criticizing VA politician Eric Cantor. The police even threatened to shoot him while in handcuffs. Add the previously mentioned groups to a list including Northrop Grumman, the military-industrial complex in general, as well as VA Governors Kaine, Warner, McDonnel, and one Bobby Scott. There you have the main list of enemies for the JEL. Quite a fight!

Along with the threats, we must point out the shady character of the American ruling class. Why is it that Bill Bergman of the Chicago Federal Reserve was fired for investigating short selling and monetary abnormalities a short while before September 11, 2001?

Follow the money, find the culprits!

Show up at the Kanawha Plaza or in front of the Richmond Federal Reserve (they're close) to protest on Saturday, September 11.

http://stj911.org/paul/SDGJ_Bios.html

http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9%2F11=insidertrading

http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/911stand.html?q=911stand.html

Jimmy John's Unionized

2010-09-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

The following article was taken from Liberation News (linked to on left in News section)

Workers at nine Jimmy John's sandwich restaurant locations across Minneapolis walked out to demand better wages, sick days, regular breaks, compensation for injuries, and better working conditions among other things. The work stoppage was the birth of the Jimmy John's Workers Union, an effort to organize the workers of the fast food franchise.

“I have been working at Jimmy John's for over two years and they still pay me minimum wage and schedule me one-hour shifts,” said Jimmy John’s employee Rikki Olsen. “I'm working my way through school and can barely make ends meet. I'd get another job, but things are just as bad across the service industry. Companies like Jimmy John's are profitable and growing, they need to provide quality jobs for the community.”

The Minneapolis franchise, owned by Mike and Rob Mulligan of Miklin Enterprises, Inc., pays minimum wage and offers full-time employment only for management positions. According to the Jimmy John's Workers Union website, the owners of Miklin Enterprises, Inc. made an estimated $2.3 million in profit last year, and plan to open new stores soon.

“If Mike and Rob Mulligan [the owners] have the money to open four new stores, then they have the money to pay us more than minimum wage," said a driver for Jimmy John's.

The franchise owners recently refused to meet with the union, provoking the workers to take action nationwide on Labor Day. Picketing and leafleting happened in 32 of the 39 states in which Jimmy John’s operates and brought business to a standstill on Sept. 2 with the support of 100 workers and allies.

“If Mike and Rob won't just sit down and meet with us, we feel we have no other choice but to put pressure on them to listen. We are going to show Jimmy John's corporate that if they don't ensure that their franchise owners are respecting their employees, there will be consequences at the national level,” said Emily Przybylsky, a Jimmy John’s worker in Minneapolis.

In an overt attack on the workers, the company has posted on Craigslist that it is hiring at all locations. The pay is only 50 cents more than what the rest of the workers are getting.

The Jimmy John's Workers Union was formed by, and is affiliated with, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The high degree of exploitation faced by Jimmy John’s workers is common in the fast food industry, and speaks volumes to the importance of labor organizing. This new development not only improves the position of the workers of the franchise vis-à-vis the company’s management, but may also set the stage for similar efforts in an industry with some of the lowest levels of labor organization. Militant efforts to organize workers are much needed to overcome the setbacks suffered by labor amid the economic crisis.

For more information, please visit:
http://jimmyjohnsworkers.org/front
http://iww.org/

Free Mumia

2010-08-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

Mr. Abu-Jamal, a renowned black journalist and author, has been on Pennsylvania’s death row for nearly three decades. Mr. Abu-Jamal has become a global symbol, the “Voice of the Voiceless”, in the struggle against capital punishment and human-rights abuses. There are over 20,000 awaiting execution around the globe, with over 3,000 on death rows in the United States.

The 1982 trial of Mr. Abu-Jamal was tainted by racism, and occurred in Philadelphia which has a history of police corruption and discrimination. Amnesty International, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, “determined that numerous aspects of this case clearly failed to meet international standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings. [T]he interests of justice would best be served by the granting of a new trial to Mumia Abu-Jamal. The trial should fully comply with international standards of justice and should not allow for the reimposition of the death penalty.”

http://mumialegal.org/node/72

US Economic Troubles Increase

2010-08-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

The Labor Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported on Thursday that jobless claims in the United States are skyrocketing and manufacturing activity is down in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country. The bad news "sent stocks tumbling," according to USA Today newspaper.

The number of people filing for first-time claims of unemployment benefits rose by 12,000 last week, making the number of first-time claims reach 500,000. This is the highest since mid-November. Economists incorrectly guessed that the number of claims would be only 480,000. The number of people filing for first-time unemployment claims has been rising for the past three weeks.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's most broad index for manufacturing activity in the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA also had grim things to report. Manufacturing activity in the area plummeted from +5.1 in July to -7.7 in August, despite predictions that it would reach +7.0. It was the first negative showing since July 2009, which shocked many economists due to the fact that manufacturing was one of the economy's few good areas.

Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial has put the odds of a double-dip recession at 15% to 20%.

"Germany's hiring, Hong Kong is hiring, New Zealand is hiring," said LPL Financial economist John Canally. "The rest of the world is growing quite nicely."

The USA, however, is not hiring.

As all this continues, the number of work discrimination claims by disabled people is increasing. The number of Americans with Disabilities Act related charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rose to 21,500 in 2009. This is because disabled people are more likely to be targets for layoffs.

While thousands upon thousands more Americans are losing their jobs, the banks and companies are hoarding money. They are unwilling to spend this money despite the fact that, if used properly, jobs and homes could be guaranteed for all ordinary people, including those in other countries that have been victimized by the US corporate and government elite.

The rich have robbed us, the workers, of our jobs. They have raped us of our dignity, plundered our bank accounts, and burned the homes of our friends and family worldwide. Sometimes they do it with guns, other times they use their special commandos who are so handsomely uniformed in designer suites. There is, undoubtedly, a war being waged against us. We cannot afford to lose it, for it surely means serfdom.

US Military Supporting Christian Extremist Events

2010-08-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Fort Eustis and Fort Lee, US Army forts in the state of Virginia, have been putting on a series of "Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concerts" for the past several years. These concerts have an evangelical Christian message and promote religion in the military of a supposedly secular state.

On May 13 of this year, around 80 soldiers at Fort Eustis were punished for refusing to attend one of these fanatical Christian concerts. This one in particular featured the all-girl rock group BarlowGirl as the headliner. The band describes itself as having, "an aggressive, almost warrior-like stance when it comes to spreading the gospel and serving God."

The father of the girls in the band, the Barlow sisters, was quite happy that his daughters could perform for the military. "We really believe that to be a Christian in today's world, you have to be a warrior, and we feel very blessed and privileged that God has given us the tool to deliver His message and arm His army," he said.

Some of the soldiers who were punished for refusing to attend the event filed a complaint with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Here is an excerpt from the MRFF account:

The week prior to the event the [unit name and NCO's name withheld] informed us of a Christian rock event that was about to take place on Thursday the 13th.

"On Thursday 13th at 1730 we were informed that instead of being dismissed for the day, the entire company (about 250 soldiers) would march as a whole to the event. Not only that, but to make sure that everyone is present we were prohibited from going back to the barracks (to eliminate the off chance that some might "hide" in their rooms and not come back down).

We were marched as a whole to chow and were instructed to reform outside the dining facility. A number of soldiers were disappointed and restless. Several of us were of different faith or belief. A couple were particularly offended (being of Muslim faith) and started considering to disobey the order.

From the dining facility we were marched back to the company area. There was a rumor circulating that we may be given a choice later on to fall out or attend. Though it was only a rumor it was also a small hope enough to allow us to follow along a little longer before choosing to become disobedient. We were marched back to the company area. To our dismay there was still no sign of us having a choice.

We started marching to the theater. At that point two Muslim soldiers fell out of formation on their own. Student leadership tried to convince them to fall back in and that a choice will be presented to us once we reach the theater.

At the theater we were instructed to split in two groups; those that want to attend versus those that don't. At that point what crossed my mind is the fact that being given an option so late in the game implies that the leadership is attempting to make a point about its intention. The "body language" was suggesting that "we marched you here as a group to give you a clue that we really want you to attend (we tilt the table and expect you to roll in our direction), now we give you the choice to either satisfy us or disappoint us." A number of soldiers seemed to notice these clues and sullenly volunteered for the concert in fear of possible consequences.

Those of us that chose not to attend (about 80, or a little less that half) were marched back to the company area. At that point the NCO issued us a punishment. We were to be on lock-down in the company (not released from duty), could not go anywhere on post (no PX, no library, etc). We were to go to strictly to the barracks and contact maintenance. If we were caught sitting in our rooms, in our beds, or having/handling electronics (cell phones, laptops, games) and doing anything other than maintenance, we would further have our weekend passes revoked and continue barracks maintenance for the entirety of the weekend. At that point the implied message was clear in my mind "we gave you a choice to either satisfy us or disappoint us. Since you chose to disappoint us you will now have your freedoms suspended and contact chores while the rest of your buddies are enjoying a concert."
At that evening, nine of us chose to pursue an EO complaint. I was surprised to find out that a couple of the most offended soldiers were actually Christian themselves (Catholic).

The Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concert series was Maj. Gen. James E. Chambers' idea. Chambers held the first concert at Fort Lee within a month of becoming the commanding general of the Combined Arms Support Command in 2008. He had been doing this at Fort Eustis for sometime before this, and his work is being continued by its new commanding general. The concerts are also promoted to those on Langley Air Force Base.

According to Chambers, his idea was to have a religiously diverse selection of performers, but clearly he was telling lies because only radical, fundamentalist Christians have performed in his events. Another problem is that only the chaplains' offices are allowed to hold religious events, the command officers are not.

These religious fundamentalist bands are very expensive, causing taxpayers of all religions to shell out anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 per band. The MRFF looked into other military "spiritual fitness" events, and it was found that $3.5 million went down the drain for one Christian extremist event.

Instances of Christian bigotry happen in the American military on a regular basis. What is happening in Virginia is just another example of this. With all of this in mind, as well as the recently exposed war crimes (thanks to Wikileaks), one must wonder if the American military is really any better than the Mujaheddin they are fighting. Perhaps the US Christian crusaders should climb back into the caves with their Taliban brothers.

Victory at WTJU

2010-08-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

The following was written by Brandon Collins and taken from The Socialist WebZine (click here).

Those who don't listen to WTJU 91.1 fm should tune in more often. So should I. I say "should" the same way I say "I should practice Yoga more often", or "I should read more Tolstoy". For 53 years, WTJU has been bringing Charlottesville eclectic Classical, Jazz, Folk, Rock, Kid's, and Current Events programming in a way that is healthy for our minds. It is healthy because the all volunteer staff has complete freedom to select their programming, and have very specific individual shows to broadcast educational and artistic music.

All of this came under assault recently. Under the banner of increasing revenue, listenership, and student involvement, the new station director, Burr Beard, sold UVA's Office of Public Affairs on the idea that WTJU should make a complete overhaul on how the station is programmed in order to become "more competitive in a commercial market". These changes, we found out rather hastily, would include switching to a mostly "Americana" format, would include playlists, eliminate classical music programming, and eliminate individual shows in favor of generic "block" programming.

The changes originally were slated to take place in a matter of days. News leaked out, and some announcers hit the press. The sudden attention granted the station a "temporary stay of execution", with management claiming they would open up the process to the announcers and the public. Through a series of more leaked information, it became clear that management was not listening to input, and was planning to implement programming changes with the appearance of inclusion to quell dissent.

Simultaneously, some announcers looked for help. One announcer, a former Wobbly, contacted the IWW in Richmond, which then contacted the Socialist Party of Central Virginia, and that's how we got involved. We quickly set to work trying to get the announcers to organize in some fashion. There was no time for a formal organization to be formed, so simply getting an organizing committee together would have to suffice. That took some doing. The announcers were emotionally frazzled, overworked and freaked out, and they had a lot to discuss.

An organizing committee finally formed, and began having all announcer discussions and meetings outside of the ears of management. They decided to stand in solidarity to protect the different genres and unique nature of the station rather than defend their individual turf. Points of unity were discussed, and a plan of action formed. The announcers came up with their own proposal to make changes to increase revenue, listenership, and student involvement without destroying what is best about WTJU- that it is eclectic, diverse, and that the announcers have the freedom to thoughtfully decide what to play. They added to the list of goals protecting the station's mission statement, which specifically states that the station is to be run free from the restraints of commercial competition.

It was determined early on that a highly visible and vocal pressure campaign from the community needed to happen as well. The idea was to make the issue visible everywhere, and to put pressure not only on management, but on their bosses at UVA. It was thought that creating any kind of hassle for UVA administrators could be very effective. Bringing any negative attention to UVA's assault on the arts and academic freedom would also gain us some ground. A solid show of unity could convince the bosses that we were prepared to continue the campaign at all costs.

We did this through e-mail "bombs" and rallying any community members we could find. We had musicians address their audiences at every turn. One recently resigned DJ addressed the large crowd gathered at Fridays after Five. Handbills and fliers went out everywhere. We got around 250 people to attend a community input session with management. It was an inspiring meeting. The community was unanimous in it's support of the announcers. Community speakers were not organizers in this effort, just regular folks who see the importance of retaining one of the last bastions of true art dissemination in the country. After hearing from very prolific and moving speakers, management has not only succumbed to the announcers' demands but are now prepared to be genuine advocates for the unique nature of the station and strong supporters of art for the benefit of all, rather than to compete in a commercial market. WTJU will remain freaky and in the hands of a capable volunteer staff!

The whole campaign came at us fast and furious. As is all too often the case, problems arose that needed a workers (volunteers) union to confront. No such organization existed, though at some point in the past the idea had been raised. From the standpoint of a socialist, being able to assist workers organizing on their own behalf is a victory by itself. The volunteers have managed to remain organized and are actively engaging in promoting their station as is. Even more interesting is that the community understood the need for solidarity, and that the concept of market driven art and education is completely abhorrent to the majority of the people! This too is a victory. I truly believe that if the Socialist Party of Central Virginia had not been known and available, the station I love would have been destroyed.

We have made many contacts since our founding, some of those are IWW folks in Richmond, and we greatly appreciate the advice we were given. We look forward to working with them in the future. Again, another victory, but none of this tastes as sweet, or sounds as beautiful as an activist win for something meaningful and vital to our community- that is weird, educational, and inspiring art from WTJU 91.1 fm.

The education reform money grab

2010-08-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

The following article was taken from PSLweb.org (click here).

As part of its “Race to the Top” initiative, the Obama administration is making close to $3.5 billion available for school districts to “overhaul” failing schools. This is a sharp increase from 2007 when the federal government only made around $125 million available for the same purpose. However, what on the surface may appear as a positive development is actually a ploy to further privatize public education.

Rather than asking school communities what would be needed in order to make their institutions successful, the government is contracting out this important task to private companies, often with little experience or track record in improving schools. Some of the companies seeking federal money include the giant British textbook corporation Pearson, a life coaching company called the Center for Evocative Coaching (with a recently changed, strategically titled Web site, schooltransformation.com), and a charter school management group, Mosaica Education, which currently has 50 percent of the schools under its management in “academic emergency.” (New York Times, Aug. 9)

Why is the task of overhauling so-called failing schools being contracted out to private companies with little experience in accomplishing that task? Why aren’t teachers being asked, “What would you need to make your classroom effective?” Why aren’t parents being asked, “What do you think your child’s school needs most?” The federal government is not attempting to pose these questions to school communities, because the answers would expose the fundamental flaw in school reform initiatives under capitalism.

If public-school parents, teachers and even administrators were asked these questions, they would probably list a series of proven, effective education methods, which are often already in practice in the nation’s top private schools and wealthiest public-school districts. Among these requests would be consistent access to technology, arts and enrichment programming, constructive discipline programs that teach children positive behavior rather than penalizing them, and giving teachers more time to plan and develop to be as effective as possible when they are in the classroom, not to mention limiting class sizes to 20 students or less. All these programs require an increase in funding.

In contrast, school reform as it stands right now involves shifting around the use of a shrinking pool of resources, leveraging these funds to promote the privatization of public education. The bottom line is that a capitalist government will not make public education a financial priority. It is unlikely that the federal government will shift its funding priority from war and foreign occupation to the education of the people. It is much easier to provide a small dose of hope to working-class families with children in the public-school system that things will improve by contracting out the responsibility to private entities, allowing these groups to make a profit.

While any increase in funding public education is welcomed, funneling that money to for-profit entities is not. Unproven initiatives spearheaded by entrepreneurs can make no fundamental change to the root of the problem. We demand the full funding of public education from pre-K through college, and the empowerment of communities to decide for themselves what their children need most.

Corey Ansel - Candidate for Ohio State Representative

2010-08-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

Corey Ansel, socialist candidate for Ohio State Representative (District 22)

Corey Ansel, 18, is the Green Party nominee for state representative in Ohio, district 22. He is a student from Columbus, Ohio and a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Ansel is a volunteer organizer with the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition. He has organized many events and demonstrations in his area to oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and in support of a free Palestine. Ansel is working build a Midwest Regional antiwar march in Chicago on Saturday, October 16 as well.

His socialist campaign will demand universal healthcare for all and will defend the right to free, quality education for all people. Ansel's campaign will demand an immediate end to education cuts and unemployment and will stand resolutely with all workers who demand the right to unionize and a living wage.

Ansel's Campaign Stands For ...

** Full employment—no layoffs. Job training for youth & unemployed.
** Fight Racism! Stop Police Brutality!
** Housing is a right for all—Immediate moratorium on all foreclosures & evictions.
** Free, high quality education from pre-school through college for everyone.
** Free, quality healthcare for all Ohio residents.
** No to U.S. Imperialism: U.S. Out of Iraq & Afghanistan; End the Occupation of Palestine; U.S. Hands Off Iran!
** Raise Ohio's minimum wage to $15/hour.
** Full federal equality for all immigrants and all LGBT people now!
** We need an economy based on people’s needs, not making the rich richer!

Please visit the website where this was originally posted in order to contact a campaign representative and get involved with the Ansel campaign.

http://www.pslweb.org/site/PageServer?pagename=voteansel

Text to the video: Human Nature

2010-08-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

The following is the text to the YouTube video called "Human Nature."

What is human nature? Does it even exist? Undoubtedly there are many people out there who think that humans are naturally evil, and that equality for everyone, communism, anarchism, and so forth could never work. They make the factor of human nature bigger than it really is. Although a transformation to total altruism would be nice, socialists of all sorts have absolutely no plans to force it on anyone as hardcore libertarians would have you believe. Altruism is barely relevant to the formation of new societal and organizational structures and the development of new technologies which are required for communism to be achieved on a global scale. Such economics have more to do with producing an abundance of things, to generalize the plan, than they do with people’s attitudes.The people who automatically throw out the human nature argument have no knowledge of Marxist theory, but still want to feel as if they are contributing something intelligent to the debate. Unfortunately, it isn’t a sign of intelligence to robotically repeat an argument we are all familiar with due to the fact that it has been brought up billions of times. So now, in this video, I will bring it up again in order to neutralize it.

“…all history is nothing but a continuous transformation of human nature.” – Karl Marx

The famous philosopher John Locke once argued that humans are a blank slate and their so-called “nature,” their beliefs and desires, are instilled in them through their experiences in life. Basically, he said that people aren’t naturally anything. It’s simply monkey see, monkey do.

The way human beings view others is not the same in different societies. When humans were still tribal and living in the woods, we certainly didn’t have the same desires and outlooks which we have now. For example, John C. Cremony spent time with the Pima indigenous tribe in 1850. Because they were still living in tribes, obviously, these people lived in a different kind of society and were at a different stage of development than the white societies of today. Cremony noted that jealousy in relationships didn’t exist among tribe members. Jealousy, which is arguably an extension of competitive greed, is quite common in our modern, competitive, market society.

In the book Mutual Aid, by zoologist and evolutionary theorist Peter Kropotkin, it is also stated that the way people act towards each other depends on the economic structures in which they live. For example, when the traditional guild structures still existed people would look after the sick people who were poor. In modern times you are told to go to the nearest, cheapest medical establishment. In the South African tribal society of the Hottentots, people who had food would, of their own free will, see if others wanted to share it before they began eating. In modern capitalist society, you eat without sharing and shed no tears for those who are starving. Kropotkin also states that communal lands existed for thousands of years, and were a major part of human society, until the feudal rulers confiscated them. He continued by saying that the communal lands were always well taken care of when they weren’t under attack by the rich lords.

So Kropotkin was basically trying to argue that humans have an inclination to give each other mutual aid, that this is what helps the human race survive, and the given examples are reflections of that natural inclination. Based off of his research, one can safely conclude that human beings would naturally become more friendly and nice in a society with an organizational structure that promotes cooperation and mutual aid instead of competition and money-grubbing.

Another reason people might act a certain way which could fall under the category of man’s so-called “evil nature” is culture. Going back to the example of the Pima, the reason the jealousy situation was different for them is because their culture was very different from modern culture. However, it is important to note that culture changes with the economic structure of society, which is why, for example, a modern American would feel like a foreigner in his own country if he were transported back to the 1770’s. Pause here for a moment and seriously think about the differences between life in modern times and life over 200 years ago.

Here is an excerpt from an essay called Why Socialism by Albert Einstein, a man who needs no introduction and was far more intelligent than any capitalist who might disagree with him. The excerpt is entirely related to what I have been saying and what Locke and Marx said.

“Modern anthropology has taught us, through comparative investigation of so-called primitive cultures, that the social behavior of human beings may differ greatly, depending upon prevailing cultural patterns and the types of organization which predominate in society. It is on this that those who are striving to improve the lot of man may ground their hopes: human beings are not condemned, because of their biological constitution, to annihilate each other or to be at the mercy of a cruel, self-inflicted fate.”

He went on to say that: “Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.”

In the pamphlet called The Soul of Man Under Socialism, the famous writer Oscar Wilde states that capitalism has destroyed individualism by causing people to confuse the individual with his property. He argued that man is simply living to collect more fancy things and not enjoying life.

“Indeed, so completely has man’s personality been absorbed by his possessions that the English law has always treated offences against a man’s property with far more severity than offences against his person,” said Wilde.

Wilde is certainly correct. Fake individualists, also known as capitalists, respect property rights more than human and civil rights, and care very little that their system would reduce workers to nothing more than consumers and objects controlled by their bosses. They seem to think freedom is somehow spawned solely from money and the amount of breathing room corporations have.

To finish, I would like to say that Taoism, an ancient Asian religion with over 200 million followers, believes that human beings are naturally good.

Sources:

“The Soul of Man Under Socialism” by Oscar Wilde.

“An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” by John Locke

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/poverty-philosophy/ch02c.htm

http://www.hermitary.com/solitude/taoism.html

http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/Pimas.html

http://monthlyreview.org/598einstein.php

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/mutaidch7.html

Police torture Syracuse man to death

2010-08-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

The following was taken from Liberation News (linked to on left in News section).

On Friday, Aug. 6, Raul Pinet Jr. died while in the custody of the Onondaga County Justice Center in Syracuse, N.Y. Pinet was arrested on charges of trespassing and resisting arrest

Family members of Pinet who were present at the time of arrest said that officers were beating him severely. Video footage from a cell phone shows Pinet being pinned to the ground by a crowd of officers, being punched and moaning in agony. His sister, Luz Pinet, said that he was bleeding, had a bump under his eye, was bleeding from his mouth and was screaming for help because he could not breathe.

When Pinet was taken to the Justice Center, a nurse examined him and noticed “a few abrasions” but failed to treat him. His restraints and clothes were removed and he was left naked and face-down on the floor. Fifteen minutes later, Pinet became unconscious and died.

This death comes as Chundra Smith is preparing to sue Onondaga County for the death of her daughter, Chuniece Patterson. Patterson was an inmate who died in custody at the Justice Center last year after being denied medical care while having an ectopic pregnancy. A report recently released this year documents the deliberate negligence of nurses and deputies involved.

Sheriff Kevin Walsh, who last year called Patterson’s death “natural,” recently commented in the case of Pinet that “everything seemed to be very much by the book.” Walsh is right: police brutality and the murder of inmates is “by the book” at the Syracuse Justice Center.

Richmond, Virginia 9/11 Protest

2010-08-14T12:56:00.001-07:00

There will be a protest in front of the Richmond, VA Federal Reserve building on September 11, 2010. We encourage everyone who feels that 9/11 was an inside job, or at least that the US government used 9/11 as an excuse to crack down on our rights and launch wars of aggression, to attend.

There will be a planning meeting for this protest on August 22, 2010. Show up at 2400 W. Main Street at 3:00 PM. The place is a store called The Happy Corner.

On September 10, there will be a pre-protest banner and sign making night at The Black Hand house. Show up at 7:00 PM at 3112 Woodcliff Avenue.

For more information, visit the Facebook events:

Planning meeting: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142919212406461&ref=ts

9/11 Protest: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147344038625899

9/10 pre-protest banner and sign making: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151514294859252

Public Opinion Turns on Afghan War

2010-08-12T13:45:00.001-07:00

A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll shows that opposition to the War in Afghanistan is surging. US General Petraeus is reportedly planning to launch a pro-war propaganda campaign in the coming weeks.

According to the Wall Street Journal, 68% of Americans don't feel that the Afghan War will come to a successful conclusion despite the fact that Afghanistan has been President Obama's strong point since he took office and tuned up his strategy. Only 44% of Americans approve of Obama's job with the war. This is a decrease from March when the majority of people approved.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said that the initial troop withdrawals next summer "will be of fairly limited numbers." Petraeus is expected to argue that the rest of the troops set to be deployed by Obama will not arrive until later this month, and therefore the counterinsurgency campaign needs more time.

Petraeus is setting up "Local Defense Initiatives," similar to the Community Defense Initiative of McChrystal, which would use Pentagon money to militarize more Afghans to fight the Taliban. This plan, which was forced on Afghan President Hamid Karzai, will lead to a nasty civil war in that country. This plan is similar to the failed "Vietnamization" plan of Nixon and Kissinger.

General Petraeus' Afghanization strategy, just like its predecessor in Vietnam, will fail. The American bourgeoisie wants to keep fighting in Afghanistan so it can control the oil and minerals of that country, and they will use any excuses they can to cover up their criminal occupation. Don't be fooled by false flag operations, paid liars on television, and a rehashed strategy that was made to fail.

Free Bradley Manning Rally (Video)

2010-08-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a video from Russia Today news about the recent protest to free Bradley Manning in Quantico, Virginia. Around the end of the video you can see the Nazi Quantico police trying to stifle the protesters' free speech by threatening them with arrest for chanting and walking to a park (where they were allowed to be by the mayor of the town). Free Manning, arrest all cops.

Ending the culture of impunity in the Philippines

2010-08-10T23:18:00.001-07:00

Here is a recent news video from Al Jazeera about police brutality and torture in the Philippines. Although hopes are high that the new regime will end this, the New People's Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines feel that the new heads of the government will act like the previous ones, which is why they insist on continuing to fight.

Rally to Support Whistleblower Bradley Manning

2010-08-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

What: Rally in Support of Whistleblower Bradley Manning
When: Sunday, August 8, 12PM
Where: Quantico Marine Corps Base where Manning is being held in pre-trial confinement; we will meet at the Amtrak station in Quantico
Who: Veterans, former CIA analyst, peace activists

Private First Class Bradley Manning, a 22-year-old intelligence analyst stationed in Iraq, stands accused of disclosing a classified video depicting American troops in Iraq shooting civilians from an Apache helicopter in 2007. Eleven people were killed, including two Reuters employees, and two children were critically injured. No charges have been filed against the soldiers who did the killing.

News sources have also speculated about Manning's involvement in the leak of over 90,000 secret documents (collectively known as the Afghanistan "war logs") made public by WikiLeaks on July 25.

“No top-level officials in the Bush and Obama administrations have been held accountable for their roles in dragging us into the Iraq war on the basis of lies or for potential war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. But whistleblower Bradley Manning sits in jail in Quantico, facing up to 52 years in prison,” says Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK: Women for Peace. “It’s totally unjust and that’s why we’re going to Quantico to call for Manley’s release.”

The whistleblower behind the Vietnam era’s Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, has called Mr. Manning a hero. “I admire the courage of Bradley Manning for sacrificing himself to make the public aware of the futility of the war in Afghanistan,” says Ellsberg.

“Blowing the whistle on war crimes is not a crime,” says former Marine Corporal Jeff Paterson of Courage to Resist, a group raising funds for Manning’s legal fees.

Sect of Revolutionaries: "We are at war with your democracy"

2010-08-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

Last week the Sect of Revolutionaries, a Greek militant organization, stated that its goal is to turn Greece into a war zone. They said this in a seven page statement sent to the media last week.

"Tourists should learn that Greece is no longer a safe haven of capitalism. We intend to turn it into a war zone of revolutionary activity with arson, sabotage, violent demonstrations, bombings and assassinations, and not a country that is a destination for holidays and pleasure," said the Sect's statement.

"Our guns are full and they are ready to speak," they continued. "We are at war with your democracy."

The Sect of Revolutionaries, sometimes translated as Rebel Sect, explained their reasoning behind the assassination of investigative journalist Sokratis Giolias. According to what the media has told the public, Giolias was shot because one of his police bodyguards was also working to protect the Supreme Court president.

"He chose to live as a rodent in the kingdom of mud, his sordid circle, and we as wolves outside of the herd," the Sect said with regards to Giolias. They targeted him because of his "dominant position in the electronic form of new journalism."

The Sect of Revolutionaries detailed how they carried out surveillance of Giolias' daily activities and investigated his background. The Sect has said that it went the extra mile to make sure Giolias wasn't shot inside of his home by his wife and kid (he was shot outside of his home in the front yard).

Giolias was a known critic of militant groups and a police collaborator. He would help the police identify activists and acted as a mouthpiece for the cops and the right-wing. Despite the claims of Giolias being an investigative journalist that uncovered corruption in the government, he himself was involved in a number of scandals. With this being said, Greece is probably better off without him.

"The ultimate planning and duty of an urban guerrilla is to disorganize the interior of his country, to strike the national economy and stain the public image abroad," said the Sect.

It is now clear that they plan to strike the Greek economy by scaring away tourists.

"In other European countries, home-grown terrorism has been on the decrease for years, but in Greece the situation is not unlike pre-Bolshevik revolutionary Russia," said Athanasios Drougos, a defense and counter-terrorism analyst in Athens.

A picture of their arms cache was also contained in their most recent statement. The Sect displayed three AK-47's, several semi-automatic pistols, and brass knuckles. One of their firearms is thought to be a "Scorpion" sub-machine gun. The weapons were arranged in the same manner the November 17 militants used to display their weapons.

Regarding their year-long period of inactivity, the Sect of Revolutionaries had this to say, "During this time several of us trained in weapons, learned new techniques, read and were informed on [unknown] until then fighting situations, exchanged experiences and thoughts with other fighters and restocked in the supplies/equipment sector."

The militants have said that their next possible attack will be against, DIAS police officials, prison guards, and public prosecutors. They warned those controlling the prisons to "change their stance" on the treatment of prisoners.

They also criticized other known media figures in last week's statement.

The mainstream media, however, will avoid telling you anything too negative about Giolias. Also, the Sect of Revolutionaries must have given more details on why they killed him. It is possible the media is withholding information in order to avoid sparking support for the militants. As someone with experience in dealing with the media, I am almost positive this is the case.

Article on the Shining Path

2010-08-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

BJ Murphy of RALA has written an essay about the Shining Path in Peru. He discusses Artemio, the accusations of drug trafficking, civilian deaths, and many other things. Click the link below to read it.

http://redantliberationarmy.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/the-shining-path-revealed-behind-the-lies-propaganda/