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 No. 35, Summer 2013 Table
of Contents Click on image to left for pdf version of complete issue. |
No to Islamist Rightists and Coup-Potting Liberals!
Egypt: Down with Military Rule Fight for Workers Revolution!
On July 3, after three days of millions-strong mass demonstrations against the Islamist government of President Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian armed forces seized power. Secular bourgeois liberals and leftist youth spoke of a new wave of the “revolution” that began with the toppling of former Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, or of a “second revolution.” Some denied there had been a coup, others called it a people’s coup, saying the army acted to carry out the will of the masses. But the Egyptian army is not championing the interests of “the people,” it is defending the army. The civilian forces who collaborated with the military takeover were soon revealed as puppets. Talk of a victorious revolution in Egypt, both in 2011 and today, is a cover for the fact that the military officialdom has been the core of the state apparatus for more than half a century, was so under Morsi and his Islamist government, and still is. Yet many of the conditions for a far-reaching social revolution are ripe, if not overripe. What’s missing in Egypt today is a revolutionary leadership to prepare the masses for a struggle to overthrow capitalism, to organize that struggle and then establish a new state power based on class organizations of the workers. Egypt: Down with Military Rule – Fight for Workers Revolution! (9 July 2013)
For a Socialist Federation of the Near East!
U.S./NATO Imperialists Get Your Bloody Claws Off Syria!
The Islamist insurgency against the authoritarian regime of Bashar Assad soon became a communal civil war that is now spilling over Syria's borders. Based on lying claims that the Syrian government supposedly used chemical weapons, the U.S. (which has the largest bio-chemical weapons stockpile in the world and has used them to massacre Vietnamese and Koreans) has now announced it will directly arm the reactionary “rebels.” Should Washington and its NATO allies unleash their murder machine as they did in Libya, this would turn the civil war into a war against imperialist intervention, in which revolutionary Marxists would stand foresquare for defense of Syria, while giving no political support to the Assad regime. Various leftist camp followers are de facto supporting the Islamist gangs in the name of a non-existent “Syrian Revolution.” As in Libya, these reformists are acting as cat's paws for imperialist intervention. To replace repressive “secular” bonapartist regimes like Assad's and bar the way to Islamic reaction, communal slaughter and imperialist domination, communists fight for workers revolution throughout the region, beginning with the powerful Turkish proletariat. U.S./NATO Imperialists Get Your Bloody Claws Off Syria! (9 July 2013)
“Big Brother” on Steroids
Lurching Toward Police State U.S.A.
Hats Off to Edward Snowden for Revealing U.S./UK Imperialists’ Dirty Secrets
Earlier this month, a former contract employee of the National Security Agency, Edward Snowden, released documents proving that the United States government has for years secretly gathered telephone records and recorded Internet usage of the entire U.S. population, and much of the world. This is proof positive of what former NSA analysts had earlier charged. U.S. officials from the Obama White House down scramble to justify the massive secret spying while pursuing the whistleblower around the globe. But claims of “stopping terrorist attacks” are a pretext. This “surveillance state” serves U.S. cyberwarfare plans and internal repression, as part of a broader imperialist drive to intensify police control. No policy reforms or “safeguards” will stop the cybersnoops once they have the capacity. It will take a revolution to put Big Brother out of business. Lurching Toward Police State U.S.A. (25 June 2013)
Stand with Bolivia Against U.S. Imperialist Piracy! (9 July 2013)We Don’t Beg, We Demand: Full Citizenship Rights for All Immigrants!
No to the Anti-Immigrant “Immigration Reform”
On June 27, the United States Senate approved S. 744, the bipartisan bill touted as “comprehensive immigration reform” and a “path to citizenship” for the officially estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Yet the Senate bill is a vicious piece of anti-immigrant, police-state legislation which will not provide a means of achieving citizenship for the majority of undocumented immigrant working people. It would turn the Mexican border into a militarized war zone, institute a “guest worker” program amounting to indentured servitude, throw immigrant workers out of jobs, impose employment requirements leading to a national identification card, and make possible many millions more deportations than Obama has already carried out. Democrats and Republicans, representatives of capital, are enemies of immigrants and workers. They will not approve an immigration reform providing full and equal rights for the millions of workers who produce super-profits for the bosses. So long as capital rules, immigrants will be under attack. No to the Anti-Immigrant “Immigration Reform” (1 July 2013)
Immigration “Reform”: The Big Swindle
There has been almost no reference in the discussion of immigration reform of a crucial aspect of how the “bi-partisan” Senate plan would work. Many have heard the basics: after handing over to the immigration agency their personal data, passing a background check by police, paying a hefty fine, paying all back taxes, they could get provisional status. Ten years later they could apply for a permanent residency and a few years later for citizenship. But most people are not aware that in order to qualify for a Green Card, immigrants’ income would have to be 25% above the official poverty level for all 10 years. Thus millions of low-wage undocumented immigrants would not be eligible even if they met all the other criteria. Immigration “Reform”: The Big Swindle (May 2013)
Millions in the Streets Against Bourgeois Governments of the Popular Front and the Right
Hot Winter in Brazil: Mobilize Workers Power! Organize a General Strike!
Transform the protests into a working-class revolt pointing to a struggle for power
Form self-defense committees based on the power of the workers movement
Push for councils of workers and working-class neighborhoods!
Forge a revolutionary workers party! The goal: international socialist revolution!
For nearly three weeks, huge, explosive mobilizations against the policies of capitalist governments have shaken Brazil. Beginning with protests against a 20-cent increase on bus fares in São Paolo, the movement broadened rapidly to include issues of corruption, preparations for the World Cup and the Olympics, the sharp increase in the cost of living and above all, police violence. From the north of Brazil to the south, seats of government were besieged. Eventually, the bourgeoisie came to realize that it would have to retreat and the governments of key states and cities withdrew the fare increases. But at the same time, the bourgeois right-wing is trying to capitalize on the protests. The main task s to mobilize the workers movement in order to give proletarian leadership to the protests and organize a general strike, forming bodies for working-class struggle against the governments of the ruling class. Hot Winter in Brazil: Mobilize Workers Power! Organize a General Strike! (25 June 2013)
“Andean Capitalism” Against the Working Class
Brutal Repression by Evo Morales Against Bolivian General Strike
The Bolivian government of President Evo Morales and his vice president Álvaro García Linera, leaders of the MAS (Movement Toward Socialism) is reputed to be leftist. It claims to be leading a “cultural and democratic revolution.” However, its policies are summed up in the watchword, "Andean capitalism." On May 6, the COB labor federation launched a general strike, the most important workers’ mobilization since Morales’ 2005 election as the first indigenous president of South America’s poorest nation. The government’s response to the workers was massive repression. The confrontation underscores that the “Indianist” capitalist regime is counterposed to the basic needs of the country’s indigenous worker and peasant majority. It is necessary to build the nucleus of a workers party on the Trotskyist program of permanent revolution. A worker-peasant-indigenous government is the only way in which the indigenous masses can actually seize and exercise power, undertaking their emancipation as part of an international socialist revolution. Brutal Repression by Evo Morales Against Bolivian General Strike (6 June 2013)
“Left” Forum for Andean Capitalism (6 June 2013)
Activists Demand: Stop Repression Against Bolivian Miners! (9 June 2013)
The Fight to Save Beatriz’s Life
Down with El Salvador’s Abortion Ban!
For the last month and a half there has been a mounting cry to allow a young woman from El Salvador, Beatriz, to receive an abortion that would save her life. But although she suffers from lupus and kidney disease, and the fetus lacked a brain and could not survive outside the womb, the Salvadoran Supreme Court refused a petition to allow doctors to perform a therapeutic abortion. On the contrary it ruled that under no circumstances could the woman’s life take precedence over the fetus. Due to the outcry over the case, she was finally able to terminate the life-threatening pregnancy with a Caesarean section. But the struggle against the murderous abortion ban continues, as women in El Salvador are jailed for up to 30-40 years for abortions, or simply miscarriages, which are labeled aggravated murder. The right to abortion is a democratic right, but also a class demand since the bans affect poor and working women in particular. The Internationalist Group calls for free abortion on demand, and puts forward a working-class program for women's liberation through socialist revolution. Down with El Salvador’s Abortion Ban! (6 June 2013)
Protest in NYC Against Abortion Ban in El Salvador (6 June 2013)A Hero, Not a “Criminal” – She Must Not Die in Prison!
Free Lynne Stewart Now!
Crusading radical civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart was vindictively sentenced to 10 years in prison after a frame-up trial. Her “crime”: fearlessly defending her client and refusing to let the government silence him. Her conviction was part of a sharp move toward a police state. Already battling breast cancer when she was jailed, after needed medical treatment was delayed in prison her cancer has metastasized. Some 16,000 people have signed a petition calling for her compassionate release, the prison warden has signed off but the papers are sitting on a desk in Washington as the clock is ticking. We urge readers to join a national call-in day on May 30 calling for Lynne’s immediate release. Free Lynne Stewart! (May 2013)
Bradley Manning is a Hero – Free Him Now!
World’s Bloodiest War Criminals Stage Kangaroo Court-Martial
Private 1st Class Bradley Manning is on trial by court martial under the 1917 Espionage Act for releasing to the public the “Collateral Murder” video of wanton murder from U.S. helicopter gunships in Iraq, as well as a trove of documents posted by WikiLeaks exposing numerous crimes by U.S. imperialism around the world. While no charges were ever brought against the killers in the Apache helicopter and U.S. commander-in-chief Obama keeps on slaughtering innocent civilians with his drone strikes, Pfc Manning is facing life in prison (and potentially the death penalty) for his heroic actions. The purpose of the trial is to intimidate would-be whistle-blowers, but instead Manning’s example has inspired others. Free Bradley Manning! Hands Off Edward Snowden and Julian Assange! A workers America will give them the honor they deserve. Bradley Manning is a Hero – Free Him Now! (July 2013)
Mobilize Portland/Vancouver Labor – Stop the Lockout, Scabs Out!
For International Labor Solidarity – Defend the ILWU, Defeat the Grain Bosses!
Anti-Japanese Rhetoric Is Ticket for Defeat – Join with Workers Worldwide
The international grain cartel is on a union-busting tear. At the end of February, United Grain in Vancouver, Washington locked out Local 4 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The bosses are now operating the terminal with scab labor and armed guards. In early May, Columbia Grain in Portland, Oregon locked out ILWU Local 8, using the same scab-herders. They must be stopped, by powerful union action. Union leaders have focused on denouncing the Japanese owners of the companies, while praising the U.S.-owned company that agreed to an interim contract” containing big concessions by the ILWU. Yet the entire grain cartel is behind the attack on the union. Flag-waving appeals undercut international labor solidarity which is key to defeating the war on the workers. For International Labor Solidarity – Defend the ILWU, Defeat the Grain Bosses! (May 2013)
Smash the Capitalist Education Counter-Reform
Mexico: For a National Education Strike!
For over two months, teachers of the state of Guerrero have been on strike against the educational counter-reform ordered by Mexico’s president and backed by the government of the three main bourgeois parties, PRI, PAN and PRD. This “reform” does nothing to deal with the disastrous state of Mexican education. Instead, it focuses on punishing teachers, laying the basis for mass firings. The bosses' government's idea of “dialogue” is with riot clubs and bullets. This has not stopped the courageous teachers of Guerrero, who have repeatedly shut down key highways, besieged the state Congress and attacked offices of the ruling parties, government agencies and corporatist pseudo-unions pushing the anti-teacher “reform.” But the Guerrero teachers alone cannot win against a united ruling class: a national education strike is urgently necessary. Moreover, this free-market counter-reform was ordered by imperialism, via the OECD. In order to prevail, the struggle against the capitalist attack on public education must extend into the imperialist heartland of the United States. Mexico: For a National Education Strike! (May 2013)
Defend the Independent Teachers of Guerrero! (May 2013)Macaulay War College?
War Criminal Petraeus, Out of CUNY!
The City University of New York has just announced the appointment of ex-general David Petraeus – ex-commander of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars and former CIA chief – as a visiting professor in the university’s Macaulay Honors College. News of this sparked widespread outrage at CUNY. Petraeus is a certified war criminal, who oversaw torture centers and the “collateral murder” of civilians in Iraq, bombings of wedding parties in Afghanistan and Obama's campaign of “targeted killings” by drones which has murdered over 200 children in Pakistan alone. The Internationalist Clubs call on students, faculty, staff and campus workers to drive war criminal Petraeus out of CUNY with protest and exposure. War Criminal Petraeus, Out of CUNY! (25 April 2013)
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