Solidarity with Haiti’s people — a Workers World statement

Published Jan 14, 2010 5:25 PM

The earthquake that flattened Haiti’s capital and brought a new calamity to millions of people in that heroic but impoverished country has awakened calls for solidarity and aid from the vast majority of the world’s people. The number one priority is to provide food, drinkable water and emergency medical care to the approximately 3 million Haitians affected by the disaster to try to limit the deaths, injuries and illnesses to the people.

All reports from Port-au-Prince, located 14 miles from the epicenter of the devastating 7.3 earthquake and whose un-reinforced buildings nearly all collapsed, are that casualties are already in the tens of thousands. Even the main hospital and the national palace have collapsed, as has the hotel housing the U.N. occupation force. One Haitian minister said he expected 100,000 deaths.

Anyone feeling solidarity with fellow humans is moved by this tragedy. One is especially moved if aware of the world’s debt to the Haitian people for their historic contribution: they carried out a successful slave rebellion and liberated their island from French colonialism.

We know that many of our readers want to offer their own personal aid to show solidarity with Haiti. There will be a myriad of private charities asking donations for aid to Haiti. Many of the most powerful charities, like the Red Cross, are closely tied to the imperialist establishment that has no desire to promote Haitian sovereignty.

We would suggest that those who wish to support the sovereignty of Haiti as well as get aid directly to the Haitian people donate to Fanmi Lavalas. This was recommended at a Jan. 13 Boston meeting hosted by the mostly Haitian-origin Steelworkers Local 8751 (School Bus Drivers), local Haitian organizations and others.

Fanmi Lavalas is the party associated with former Haitian President Bertrand Aristide, the most popular of recent Haitian leaders who was twice removed by military coups supported by the U.S. In the last instance, in February 2004, Aristide was expelled from the country by U.S. troops and agents in collaboration with French and Canadian imperialism.

Governments will provide the bulk of aid to Haiti. Some of these governments — mainly the old colonial powers and U.S. imperialism — will attempt to use the disaster as a way to increase their own dominance over the Haitians, even as others freely aid in solidarity.

It was predictable that the U.S. government, while delaying any actual delivery of aid, put its military foot forward. Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, said that the U.S. would send the Aircraft Carrier Carl Vinson along with the U.S. Bataan, an amphibian ship with an expeditionary unit of 2,000 Marines to police the Haitians in Port-au-Prince, claiming that security was “a serious concern.” (New York Times blog, Jan. 13)

In addition, while much of the U.S. media reports alleged looting, few mention that many Haitians barely survive from day to day and breaking into a shop may be the only way they are able to obtain food. No one can forget how the U.S. federal and local governments handled the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. There police, National Guard, army and mercenary guards from Blackwater focused on control and repression, not on aid and rescue.

In contrast Socialist Cuba, with the experience of sending medical brigades to meet emergencies in Pakistan, Bolivia, China, Guatemala and Indonesia, sent a team of 403 people to Haiti, 344 of them health care workers. On the first day they treated 800 Haitians and performed 19 surgical interventions. (TeleSur, Jan. 14) Cuba already had hundreds of medical doctors providing care in the Haitian countryside and provincial towns.

Chile, Nicaragua, Spain, Guatemala, France, Mexico and Russia all rushed aid, mostly food and water, to Haiti on Jan. 13, while the U.S. was still discussing how the Marines would land. China sent a 60-member search-and-rescue team with sniffer dogs.

Venezuela immediately sent 19 doctors and 10 firefighters who specialize in search and rescue along with 20 other experts and material aid. The Bolivarian government of Venezuela has always recognized South America’s debt to Haiti, which in the 1820s gave the aid to Simón Bolívar he needed to help free some of the South American countries from rule by Spain.

French imperialism especially — and the U.S. too — owes a great portion of its early wealth and subsequent development to its looting of the natural resources and super-exploiting the labor of Haiti, though they both refuse to acknowledge the reparations they owe to the Haitian people for that and for their continued role in preventing Haiti’s development.

The progressive movement in the U.S., while joining in providing aid and solidarity to the Haitian people, should also demand that the U.S. government stop deporting Haitians, allow the return of Aristide and provide reparations so the new Haitian government can establish a functioning system and stop military intervention and subversion of Haiti.

The Bail Out the People Movement has the right idea with its demand to use the $18 billion Wall Street now wants to pay its undeserving executive bankers in bonuses as a down payment on reparations to Haiti. It’s hard to imagine a similar transfer of wealth that could be more effective in establishing justice.

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Filed under: Fighting oppression, International solidarity

Anti-war movement should stop making easy choices, start making right ones

The already weakened anti-war movement in the U.S. has reacted with confusion to some recent developments in the U.S. war on the peoples of the Middle East.  In case there was any doubt, though, recent events show that the movement cannot view the situation in the various countries of the region independently of each other.

Moreover, it’s high time that some movement leaders stopped making the easy choices and started making the right choices.  The easy – but false – victory for Obama’s fake “withdrawal” of U.S. troops from Iraq, egging on the drumbeats for a U.S. war against Iran, sitting silently while U.S. and NATO forces become mired in a hopeless occupation of Afghanistan . . . these all reflect a movement leadership that is more concerned with currying favor in Washington than in stopping the ruthless and bloody U.S. war machine.

The following analysis from Workers World doesn’t offer easy solutions or paint regional complexities in black-and-white.  It tells the truth about the real issue: the U.S. role in the region.  And it concludes by calling on activists and organizations to stay focused on the task in front of us, which is not to decide who should rule in Iran but to force our government to take its boot off the neck of the people of the Middle East.

Anti-war movement debates Iran, the Middle East and U.S. wars

By John Catalinotto

Published Jul 20, 2009 9:30 PM

The conflict in Iran that opened up with the June presidential elections there has had an impact on the progressive and anti-imperialist movement worldwide, including in the United States. Misunderstanding the events has created some confusion in anti-war ranks. This is especially dangerous after Vice President Joe Biden on July 5 gave a virtual green light to an Israeli attack on Iran. The anti-war movement must stay alert to protest any move in that direction.

When very large crowds of people took to the streets in Tehran on June 15 to protest the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it appeared that this was an authentic popular movement, even if its strongest base was in the more affluent parts of the city.

Young people and women apparently were playing a large role in the protests. Some of the demands were for women’s rights and other democratic rights that were constrained by the religious political leadership of Iran’s revolution. It was easy for Western secular progressives to identify with the protests.

But some big questions remained.

If the protests were progressive, why did all the imperialist politicians in Europe and the United States and their corporate media take the sides of the opposition? This is especially strange since the key players in the opposition, the candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, were themselves identified with the regime in the past. At the time, U.S. sources even charged Mousavi with responsibility for overseeing the 1983 blast in Lebanon that killed over 200 U.S. Marines, since he was Iran’s premier then.

Rafsanjani, who is one of the richest people in Iran, is associated with increased privatization of industry and banking and with opening friendlier relations with U.S. imperialism. This would necessarily include cutting back on support for the Hamas and Hezbollah liberation movements and perhaps for Syria, and increasing cooperation with the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. How would privatization and cooperation with the U.S. increase democratic rights inside Iran?

A serious consideration of these questions must include an examination of U.S. imperialism’s goals regarding the entire Middle East and Central Asia. The George W. Bush administration used the 9/11 attack as a pretext to justify U.S. military aggression in the entire region—although the real goal was to conquer its world-important energy resources. A look at the news in the second week of July shows that this basic strategy remains in place.

U.S. troops still in Iraq

Some deceptive headlines gave the false impression that U.S. troops essentially withdrew from Iraq on June 30. Yet 134,000 troops remain in the country. They pulled out of 142 posts that were inside Iraqi cities, turning these posts over to Iraqi troops, but remain in 320 other posts around Iraq.

In some cases, rather than moving, the U.S. and Iraqi forces simply redefined the city boundaries, leaving the troops where they were. Such was the case with the U.S. Army’s Forward Operating Base Falcon, which used to be located inside Baghdad. Now, with a new boundary drawn, the 3,000 U.S. troops there are “outside” the city limits.

U.S. troops and higher paid mercenaries are expanding and improving their rural bases and even building new ones. Even if the Obama administration sticks to the announced timetable, at least 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in Iraq until at least the end of 2011. A war-spending bill the Democrat-controlled Congress just passed pours another $100 billion into the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. (Information from the website of Iraq expert Dahr Jamail—dahrjamailiraq.com)

Washington escalates war on Afghanistan and Pakistan

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, U.S. troop levels have already grown to 57,000 and are set to rise to 68,000 during the year. According to McClatchy News Service, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said July 13 “that when he gives his assessment to the Obama administration next month of what is needed to defeat the Taliban, he won’t be deterred by administration statements that he cannot have more U.S. troops.”

Britain, too, has escalated its presence in Afghanistan, with the result that 15 British troops died in the two weeks ending July 13. The Afghan occupation is nominally under NATO command. European leaders have ignored popular anti-war sentiment to send troops to the Afghan front, basing their appeal on President Obama’s reviving U.S. popularity in Europe after Bush brought its ratings to an all-time low.

Support for the war is waning quickly as the casualties mount, in Britain as well as in the rest of Europe and Canada.

Even the New York Times has had to admit that the increased troop strength and military activity in Afghanistan, with an increase in civilian casualties, is helping recruiting by the Taliban and other resistance forces. (July 3)

Along with Afghanistan is increased U.S. intervention in Pakistan. Both drones and planes are sent to bomb and rocket alleged “insurgent” targets, while the Pentagon pushes the Pakistani regime to send its army into border areas. Both activities have increased civilian deaths and created millions of refugees inside Pakistan. They have also increased recruiting by opposition forces, some allied with the Afghan resistance.

U.S. policies in Palestine

Washington’s policy toward Palestine has been to continue support for the Israeli state, despite Israel’s refusal to even stop new settlements in the occupied West Bank and its brutal blockade of the Gaza territory. It is based on U.S. strategic interests in the region, which involve relying on the Israeli state as a weapon against any liberation movement or sovereign government in the region.

The U.S.-based media attacked the Iranian elections as fraudulent. But remember that in Palestine, Washington and Israel refused to recognize what they knew were honest elections that made Hamas the leading party in 2006. Since then the U.S.-Israeli alliance has used force and withheld aid to try to drive Hamas from office.

Washington hasn’t altered its basic policy of occupation and control since the replacement of the neo-con regime fronted by Bush. So it’s consistent with their past misdeeds that the corporate media and all imperialist politicians—at least in North America and Europe—have targeted the Iranian government over the elections and have praised the opposition demonstrations.

Whatever the motive of the protesters themselves in Tehran, the imperialists’ motive is to eliminate Iranian sovereignty and reverse the 1979 revolution.

N.E.D.-funded group calls anti-Iran protest

A group in the U.S. calling itself United 4 Iran has called for protests on July 25 targeting the Iranian government. It says this is in sympathy with the youth and women involved in opposition demonstrations there. The anti-imperialist Stop War on Iran group, in response, issued a statement exposing the connections of United 4 Iran with funding groups closely associated with U.S. foreign policy—like the National Endowment for Democracy—and argues against any support for these protests.

“U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s new public threat against Iran underlines the dangers of a new war in the Middle East and the desperate need for political clarity within the anti-war movement concerning Iran,” the SWOI statement begins.

“With his July 5 comments on ABC’s This Week, Biden opened the door to a military attack when he said that the U.S. would not stand in the way of an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, calling such an attack Israel’s ‘sovereign right.’”

SWOI notes that some anti-war organizations have endorsed the United 4 Iran action, including United for Peace and Justice, and “urges them and other honest anti-war forces to reconsider their endorsement of the anti-Iran actions.”

SWOI urges everyone instead to “come out AGAINST current U.S. wars and the threats of a new war on the following week in a National Day of Coordinated Actions on Saturday, Aug. 1.” To read the full statement and/or to participate, see stopwaroniran.org.

E-mail: jcat@workers.org

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Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Filed under: International solidarity, Must read

Viva Palestina!

Historic humanitarian aid caravan passes through the Rafah gate into Gaza. Photo: http://www.vivapalestina-us.org

History-making aid for Palestine reaches Gaza

July 15—The largest humanitarian aid convoy in history to travel from the U.S. to Palestine succeeded in crossing the Rafah border into Gaza late today. After days of delay, the 218-person contingent of activists, buoyed by telegrams, emails and protests from many parts of the world, was finally allowed to pass into the besieged Palestinian enclave with more than $1 million in wheelchairs, walkers and medical supplies for the people of Gaza.

A genocidal attack on Gaza in December and January, on top of a two-year Israeli siege and blockade of the area, prompted British Member of Parliament George Galloway to organize the Viva Palestina caravans as a way to provide essential aid to a people under occupation who have been denied the most basic necessities of life.

The fact that this caravan hails from the U.S. gives it added resonance, as Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. government aid in the world. And Israel uses U.S. weapons and missiles against the Palestinian people on a daily basis.

The delegation received a heroes’ welcome from the people of Gaza. Its members include Galloway, New York City Council Member Charles Barron and former U.S. Congressperson Cynthia McKinney, who was imprisoned just a few weeks earlier by Israeli forces for attempting to bring aid into Gaza by sea with the Free Gaza Movement. Also participating are representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Cuba Coalition, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), International Action Center, the Answer Coalition, International Socialist Organization and Workers World Party.

—Information from John Parker in Gaza

Filed under: Fighting oppression, International solidarity

Israel attacks justice boat, kidnaps human rights workers, confiscates medicine, toys, olive trees

[Forwarded to me by the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) International Committee]

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:41:11 +0300
Subject: ISRAEL ATTACKS JUSTICE BOAT; KIDNAPS HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS;
CONFISCATES MEDICINE, TOYS AND OLIVE TREES
From: iristulip@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 June 2009
For more information contact:
Greta Berlin (English)
tel: +357 99 081 767 / [1]friends@freegaza.org
Caoimhe Butterly (Arabic/English/Spanish):
tel: +357 99 077 820 / [2]sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
[3]www.FreeGaza.org
[23 miles off the coast of Gaza, 15:30pm] – Today Israeli Occupation
Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF
HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries,
including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman
Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The
passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.
This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our
boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission
to the Gaza Strip, said Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman
and presidential candidate. President Obama just told Israel to let in
humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and thats exactly what we
tried to do. We’re asking the international community to demand our
release so we can resume our journey.
According to an International Committee of the Red Cross report
released yesterday, the Palestinians living in Gaza are trapped in
despair. Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed earlier during
Israels December/January massacre are still without shelter despite
pledges of almost $4.5 billion in aid, because Israel refuses to allow
cement and other building material into the Gaza Strip. The report
also notes that hospitals are struggling to meet the needs of their
patients due to Israels disruption of medical supplies.
The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza,
hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to
transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools,
hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught of
“Cast Lead. Our mission is a gesture to the people of Gaza that we
stand by them and that they are not alone” said fellow passenger
Mairead Maguire, winner of a Noble Peace Prize for her work in
Northern Ireland.
Just before being kidnapped by Israel, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza
Movement chairperson and delegation co-coordinator on this voyage,
stated that: No one could possibly believe that our small boat
constitutes any sort of threat to Israel. We carry medical and
reconstruction supplies, and childrens toys. Our passengers include a
Nobel peace prize laureate and a former U.S. congressperson. Our boat
was searched and received a security clearance by Cypriot Port
Authorities before we departed, and at no time did we ever approach
Israeli waters.
Arraf continued, Israels deliberate and premeditated attack on our
unarmed boat is a clear violation of international law and we demand
our immediate and unconditional release.
###
WHAT YOU CAN DO!
CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Justice
tel: +972 2646 6666 or +972 2646 6340
fax: +972 2646 6357
CONTACT the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
tel: +972 2530 3111
fax: +972 2530 3367
CONTACT Mark Regev in the Prime Minister’s office at:
tel: +972 5 0620 3264 or +972 2670 5354
[4]mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il
CONTACT the International Committee of the Red Cross to ask for their
assistance in establishing the wellbeing of the kidnapped human rights
workers and help in securing their immediate release!
Red Cross Israel
tel: +972 3524 5286
fax: +972 3527 0370
[5]tel_aviv.tel@icrc.org
Red Cross Switzerland:
tel: +41 22 730 3443
fax: +41 22 734 8280
Red Cross USA:
tel: +1 212 599 6021
fax: +1 212 599 6009
###
Kidnapped Passengers from the Spirit of Humanity include:
Khalad Abdelkader, Bahrain
Khalad is an engineer representing the Islamic Charitable Association
of Bahrain.
Othman Abufalah, Jordan
Othman is a world-renowned journalist with al-Jazeera TV.
Khaled Al-Shenoo, Bahrain
Khaled is a lecturer with the University of Bahrain.
Mansour Al-Abi, Yemen
Mansour is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera TV.
Fatima Al-Attawi, Bahrain
Fatima is a relief worker and community activist from Bahrain.
Juhaina Alqaed, Bahrain
Juhaina is a journalist & human rights activist.
Huwaida Arraf, US
Huwaida is the Chair of the Free Gaza Movement and delegation
co-coordinator for this voyage.
Ishmahil Blagrove, UK
Ishmahil is a Jamaican-born journalist, documentary film maker and
founder of the Rice & Peas film production company. His documentaries
focus on international struggles for social justice.
Kaltham Ghloom, Bahrain
Kaltham is a community activist.
Derek Graham, Ireland
Derek Graham is an electrician, Free Gaza organizer, and first mate
aboard the Spirit of Humanity.
Alex Harrison, UK
Alex is a solidarity worker from Britain. She is traveling to Gaza to
do long-term human rights monitoring.
Denis Healey, UK
Denis is Captain of the Spirit of Humanity. This will be his fifth
voyage to Gaza.
Fathi Jaouadi, UK
Fathi is a British journalist, Free Gaza organizer, and delegation
co-coordinator for this voyage.
Mairead Maguire, Ireland
Mairead is a Nobel laureate and renowned peace activist.
Lubna Masarwa, Palestine/Israel
Lubna is a Palestinian human rights activist and Free Gaza organizer.
Theresa McDermott, Scotland
Theresa is a solidarity worker from Scotland. She is traveling to Gaza
to do long-term human rights monitoring.
Cynthia McKinney, US
Cynthia McKinney is an outspoken advocate for human rights and social
justice issues, as well as a former U.S. congressperson and
presidential candidate.
Adnan Mormesh, UK
Adnan is a solidarity worker from Britain. He is traveling to Gaza to
do long-term human rights monitoring.
Adam Qvist, Denmark
Adam is a solidarity worker from Denmark. He is traveling to Gaza to
do human rights monitoring.
Adam Shapiro, US
Adam is an American documentary film maker and human rights activist.
Kathy Sheetz, US
Kathy is a nurse and film maker, traveling to Gaza to do human rights
monitoring.
###
–
Greta Berlin
Free Gaza Movement
357 99 081 767
[6]www.freegaza.org
[7]www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/

References

1. mailto:friends@freegaza.org
2. mailto:sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
3. http://www.freegaza.org/
4. mailto:mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il
5. mailto:tel_aviv.tel@icrc.org
6. http://www.freegaza.org/
7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29205195@N02/

Filed under: Fighting oppression, International solidarity

DPRK satellite is excuse for U.S./Japan militarism

What, exactly, is the “threat” posed by North Korea’s effort to launch a satellite into space?

The corporate-owned media refuse to question even for a moment the logic of casting this event as a belligerent action aimed at showing the world that the DPRK has the military ability to threaten its neighbor, Japan, with long-range rocket attacks.

Nearly a dozen countries are capable of launching satellites into space, and fifty countries have done so either on their own or with the assistance of other nations.  Yes, that includes South Korea, the portion of the Korean peninsula that continues to be militarily occupied by the United States.  It also includes India, Israel and Pakistan – each of which has nuclear weapons but is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.  So expressions of concern about nations developing the capability of using satellite-delivery systems to threaten neighbors with nuclear weapons seems at best hypocritical.

The real significance of the DPRK satellite launch is twofold.  On the one hand, it reflects the continued effort to demonize and criminalize the DPRK, rationalize the U.S. military occupation of the south, and show the world the degree of isolation and pressure that will be applied to small nations that refuse to live within the imperialist orbit of the United States.

On the other, it also plays into the ongoing public debate in Japan about Article 9.  This is the provision of the Japanese constitution, adopted after World War II, by which that nation has renounced the right to have a standing army or to have or host nuclear weapons:

ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. (2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

Article 9 may initially have been authored by U.S. officials, who wanted to ensure that Japan would never again pose a military threat to U.S. power in the Pacific after World War II.  Ironically, however, only a few years after the adoption of Article 9, the victory of the Peoples Liberation Army in China led to the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China – followed shortly thereafter by the establishing of the DPRK.  Suddenly the U.S. wanted military allies in Asia, and since that time Article 9 has sometimes been an obstacle to U.S. plans for the region.

Anti-war and anti-imperialist forces in Japan have struggled to retain Article 9 in the face of growing efforts  by Japan’s ruling class to play a more active military role in the region.  “Proving” that Japan is being threatened by the DPRK helps to build support both internally and internationally for the scrapping of Article 9 and the re-arming of  Japan.

In this light it is especially important for people in the U.S. to understand the real motivations for the near-hysteria that has been created over the DPRK satellite launch.  Progressives should reject efforts to whip up anti-DPRK militarism or to weaken Article 9.

Filed under: International solidarity

Israeli soldiers were ordered to kill civilians in Gaza

[updated 3/20/09 2:00pm]

When Palestinians, or medical workers, or humanitarian aid workers, or human rights activists say it, it’s propaganda and a lie . . . but what about when Israeli soldiers who were there in the thick of the assault on Gaza are the ones claiming that they were given orders to kill civilians indiscriminately?

According to the L.A. Times today, soldiers who participated in the Israeli assault on Gaza, an attak that was condemned by millions of people all over the world, are beginning to speak about what they were ordered to do there and did.  The stories are remarkably consistent with many of the worst stories that had been told by Palestinians – the stories that Israeli officials and apologists for zionism in the U.S. repeatedly told us could not be true:

One squad leader said he argued with his commander over rules of engagement that allowed the army to clear out houses by shooting the residents without warning.

“When we entered a house, we were supposed to bust down the door and start shooting inside and just go up story by story,” he was quoted as saying. “Each story, if we identify a person, we shoot them. I asked myself: ‘How is this reasonable?’ “

In a response to these accusations that can only be characterized as either pathological self-deception or cynical hypocrisy, “Defense Minister Ehud Barak repeated Israel’s traditional description of its armed forces as ‘the most moral in the world.’”

No doubt that phrase will be repeated ad nauseam by U.S. politicians while holding their hands over their ears so that they cannot hear the truth about the brutal regime that the U.S. funds.

UPDATE

In an article titled “Further accounts of Gaza killings released” published by the International Herald Tribune, there is also this:

Now testimony is emerging from within the ranks of soldiers and officers alleging a permissive attitude toward the killing of civilians and reckless destruction of property that is sure to inflame the domestic and international debate about the army’s conduct in Gaza. On Thursday, the military’s chief advocate general ordered an investigation into a soldier’s account of a sniper killing a woman and her two children who walked too close to a designated no-go area by mistake, and another account of a sharpshooter who killed an elderly woman who came within 100 yards of a commandeered house.

When asked why that elderly woman was killed, a squad commander was quoted as saying: “What’s great about Gaza — you see a person on a path, he doesn’t have to be armed, you can simply shoot him. In our case it was an old woman on whom I did not see any weapon when I looked. The order was to take down the person, this woman, the minute you see her. There are always warnings, there is always the saying, ‘Maybe he’s a terrorist.’ What I felt was, there was a lot of thirst for blood.”

Filed under: Fighting oppression, International solidarity

My rambling introduction, followed by “When Che Guevara Came to New York”

The recent epic film on the life of Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara has brought new attention to the life and work of the man.  But just as certainly, discussion of his legacy is revived by the new revolutionary spirit that is sweeping Latin America.  This renewed interest followed  a period in which Che, for most North Americans, was mostly an icon on the t-shirts of radical college students.

Ironically, for some the proliferation of that famous image justified Che’s dismissal as an important figure in the history of the Americas.  Parroting the line of some North American liberals, they try to portray Che as merely a macho bully, a guerrilla fighter whose time had already passed when the Cuban revolution succeeded, whose only legacy is the trivialized image of his face.

It needs to be said that the root of that cynical dismissal is, first and foremost, racism.  I say that from personal experience.  As a young progressive, I felt some admiration for Che and for Fidel Castro for their stand against U.S. imperialism and their efforts to build a revolutionary society in Cuba, but I took it for granted that both of these men were the image that had been presented to me by the cold war media: the swaggering embodiment of machismo, militaristic men devoid of any intellectual substance.

In spite of that strong prejudice based on racist stereotypes, there came a time when I felt that I needed to better understand the Cuban revolution.  I had friends who considered it a complete betrayal of the ideals of humanism and I had other friends who considered it the best existing embodiment of those ideals, and I needed to study up and decide for myself.

At the time, I worked on the night shift of one of the large, institutional state psychiatric hospitals that are now history in Connecticut.  The job was physically and emotionally exhausting in many ways, but if you had the stamina for it, you could sometimes be guaranteed a couple of hours of reading time over the course of the night.  So that’s where I did my studying up.

I knew I did not want to read about the guerrilla war itself.  I wanted to know about how these two men who were so much the face of the Cuban revolution to the world viewed the transition that took place after the overthrow of the old regime.  The books I began to read consiisted of articles and speeches by both Che and Fidel on issues like economic development, foreign trade, and the priorities for the Cuban healthcare system, though they also included some of the more inspiring speeches both had given on their hopes for the Cuban revolution.

So the first thing I noticed, sitting in an uncomfortable chair under a glaring incandescent bulb on a dark hospital ward, was that these guys were smart.  Really smart.  What’s more, they wrote beautifully and convincingly even about mundane economic problems.  And I began to feel a little embarrassed sitting there in the dark.  These were not the shallow, swaggering characters that I had imagined . . . that I had been taught to imagine.  They were intellects that in a hundred ways far exceeded the political leaders and political thinkers of my own country (or at least those with which I was familiar at that time).

For most of us, there are no lightbulb-over-the-head moments that transform our lives.  We make our decisions about life and our choices a tablespoon at a time.  But if I had to point to a life-changing experience in my own history and explain the event and the consequences, reading Che and Fidel would be at the top of the list.

The event was the sudden realization that as a human being who prided himself on being well-read, enlightened and free from prejudice, I had been completely shut off from a major part of the world’s knowledge and understanding by my own deeply-ingrained bigoted attitudes.  As an intellectual, I had absorbed the racism that I had been taught: that North American and Western European culture, philosophy and history were the pinnacles of human achievements, and that the people who lived beyond the boundaries of that culture were important only to the extent that they mirrored back to me what I already knew and accepted.

The consequence was a shift in perspective.  The United States no longer stood at the center of the world.  Latin America, Africa and Asia were no longer distant, uncivilized and unknowable places.  I went from reading Che and Fidel to reading other Latin American political thinkers but also novelists and poets.  And from there to great African revolutionaries . . .and Mao and China.  And before long I was back home again and reading Langston Hughes and Bobby Seale and Malcolm X and Assata Shakur and reading about Reconstruction and discovering that when you take off the blinders of white racism that so permeates the intellectual life of this country, the whole world looks different . . . even your own neighborhood.

This turned into a much longer introduction to the following article than I had intended.  But it may explain why I find the article itself so important.  It is Key Martin’s recounting of his own and others’ experiences as North American activists meeting Che Guevara in the U.S. in the 1960′s.  Another human perspective on someone who contributed immeasurably to our understanding of the human condition and our ambition to create human history:

When Che Guevara Came to New York

Che Guevara, Argentine-Cuban Revolutionary Speaks to CBS-TV’s “Meet the Press” on December 13, 1964 (AP Photo).
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire Photo File

When Che came to New York

by Key Martin

In January 1965, Ernesto “Che” Guevara gave up his post as
Minister of Industry in the new revolutionary Cuban government and returned to the guerrilla struggle. On Oct. 9, 1967, just 25 years ago, he was captured by CIA operatives in Bolivia and murdered.

Those were tumultuous years in the movement. Some of the events that provided the context for Che’s decision were:

- A sharp turn to the right in U.S. Latin American policy in favor of coups, military regimes, greater repression and death squads. This came as U.S. economic domination tightened and living standards fell.

- White mercenary columns marched through the Congo, destroying the liberation movement of the late Patrice Lumumba and leaving a gruesome trail of massacres.

- President Lyndon Johnson began massive bombing raids on North Vietnam and sent hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops into the south.

- The Civil Rights movement in the U.S. was raising demands with a power and anger that could no longer be ignored by the government.

Before Che disappeared, he made a last appearance at the United Nations and also met with a group of supporters in New York. At the time, none of us knew the real purpose of the meeting was to say goodbye. The discussion extended until midnight and covered a broad range of topics, from guerrilla movements in Latin America to the impact of the U.S. blockade on Cuba.

MEETING WITH CHE

Vince Copeland led the Workers World Party delegation to the
meeting. He edited Workers World newspaper for its first ten
years. A former steel worker and union leader (21,000 workers had gone out on strike when he was fired from the sprawling Lackawanna Steel Works outside Buffalo during the McCarthy period), he later wrote of the meeting:

“We were seated around Che in a semi-circle. [He was] sitting on the floor, probably to put us at our ease.

“Che was as handsome as his pictures and informally witty as he was reputed to be. `A revolutionist has to be a little loco,’ he told us with a sympathetic smile, when someone asked him what were the human qualifications necessary to create a movement to destroy capitalist oppression.

“You would never have known by anything in his manner that he was the author of the book `Guerrilla Warfare’–and more significantly a great practitioner of its lessons. Several of us remarked afterwards on the total absence of build-up and pomp and `greatness’ that every big shot in the capitalist world surrounds himself with on such occasions.

“He didn’t at all have the `commanding presence’ that great
leaders are supposed to have. Nor did he speak with an air of
special wisdom or was he overconscious of his position. He seemed like a person who would find it absolutely impossible to pontificate about anything at all, including that which he had the most right to speak authoritatively about–guerrilla warfare.

“He was just as serious about the number of eggs produced in Cuba as he was about the possibilities for world revolution. At that time, there was a great deal of talk about rationing of food in Havana. And with many of the statistics at his finger-tips, he made the fundamental point that for the great masses of Cuba, rationing was a tremendous step forward, because formerly they had had practically nothing and now they were being fed, while the formerly well-to-do had to wait.

“No one felt any more strongly than Che Guevara himself that he could not fail, and that the socialist revolution was inevitable.

By the same token, Che also was one of the foremost among those brave spirits throughout the ages who have taken to arms against oppression, who have sounded the clarion call to struggle for a better world. He felt deeply that one `who wills the objective must will the means thereto.’ And his advocacy of armed struggle, like his example of laying his own life on the line, shall not perish with him.”

In addition to Vince, a delegation of youth from Workers World was present, including Deirdre Griswold (the current editor of Workers World), Ellen Catalinotto (an anti-war community organizer), and this writer. Black Civil Rights activist Mae Mallory was also present.

Some years later we read Che’s diary, a moving account of his
experience in the guerrilla struggles in Bolivia, of the problems and sacrifices they faced, and his political thinking in the final months of his life.

When he saw his CIA murderer come into the room in Bolivia, Che, lying captive and wounded on a cot, said merely, “Now you will see how a real revolutionary dies.”

A few weeks after his murder, Workers World youth, active in Youth Against War and Fascism at the time, distributed hundreds of portrait-placards with the caption `Avenge Che.’ This was at the massive march to protest the Vietnam war that surrounded the Pentagon, the first demonstration that began to show the revolutionary militancy in the youth movement that the 1960s became famous for.

Che’s picture haunted the Pentagon that day and will continue to haunt them for generations to come.

http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2009/02/when-che-guevara-came-to-new-york.html

Filed under: International solidarity

An Open Letter to the People of Zimbabwe

Please Sign the Letter

First, let us begin by saying thank you. Thank you for demonstrating to and for African people and the world the courage and conviction that must be had to be self-determining in the face of insurmountable odds. Odds that would have crushed others with any less will to be free.

The road you chose for national liberation, which was carved through your first and second Chimurengas (armed liberation wars), cut an enduring path for us all to follow.

At this moment in time, when all the enemies of Africa have attempted to circle their wagons around you and crush your right to land and sovereignty, your leadership and the veterans of your struggle have rallied you to unite.

The words of one of Africa’s greatest patriots are so fitting to your struggle at this time:

“No brutality, mistreatment, or torture has ever forced me to ask for grace, for I prefer to die with my head high, my faith steadfast, and my confidence profound in the destiny of my country, rather than to live in submission and scorn of sacred principles. History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history, and it will be, to the north and to the south of the Sahara, a history of glory and dignity.”

–Patrice Lumumba’s last letter, December 1960

Lift the Sanctions Now!

As anti-war, community, political, youth, trade union activists and Pan Africanists along with other people of good conscience of all nationalities inside the U.S. and worldwide, we are declaring our full solidarity with the heroic struggle in Zimbabwe to defend the right to full independence and sovereignty. At the heart of this struggle is the ongoing fight for the control of African land, illegally and brutally stolen beginning in the late 19th century by racist British colonizers led by Cecil Rhodes.

The Lancaster House Agreement–signed by the representatives of the ZANU-ZAPU guerrilla movements and the British government in 1980–promised to legally transfer ownership of the millions of acres of arable land from a handful of very privileged white farmers back to the Zimbabwean people. The British government reneged on this promise while the people of Zimbabwe patiently waited for reparations in the form of land reform to happen. When their patience ran out after waiting 20 years for legal justice, the people had no other recourse but to expropriate the land themselves by any means necessary.

As a result of taking back what is rightfully their birthright: the land, the people of Zimbabwe have had to bear the full brunt of unmitigated ire and disdain on the part of the U.S. and British governments and more recently, the European Union governments. This disdain is reflected in the political demonizing of government leaders, notably President Robert Mugabe, who has defended the Zimbabwean people’s right to the land.

Defending the people’s right to the land, the fruits of their labor and the country’s resources means recognizing the right to self-determination and sovereignty without any imperialist interference. This is President Mugabe’s “crime” in the eyes of the imperialist governments and their media. Behind this demonizing of President Mugabe lies the real crime–the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S., Britain and other Western countries that have resulted in the collective punishment of the Zimbabwean people.

These cruel sanctions for almost a decade have caused massive unemployment, malnourishment, hyperinflation, deeper poverty, lack of health care and fuel, the deterioration of the infrastructure and much more. A recent cholera epidemic that has claimed the lives of thousands could have been prevented if water purification chemicals had not been banned under the sanctions.

These genocidal attacks on the human rights of the people of Zimbabwe are very reminiscent of the sanctions imposed on the Palestinian population in Gaza by the U.S.-backed Zionist state of Israel. Let’s be clear–President Mugabe is not to blame for the economic crisis in Zimbabwe; it is the sanctions.

These economic sanctions along with other austerity measures imposed by the IMF and the World Bank are acts of aggression against the people of Zimbabwe with a goal of igniting political instability and regime change. We unequivocally denounce these sanctions as war crimes and the officials who initiated them as war criminals. Even as a national unity government has been implemented, the sanctions remain in place.

The people of Zimbabwe, like the people of Gaza, Iraq, Somalia and elsewhere, are inspiring examples of resisting all forms of imperialist war and occupation. Millions of people around the world are facing an unprecedented economic crisis, including the U.S., where foreclosures, evictions, layoffs, utility shut-offs, lack of health care, tuition hikes and much more are skyrocketing at an alarming rate.

We face the same enemies at home as do the people of Zimbabwe–the worldwide clique of bankers and bosses who put their greed for profits before meeting people’s needs. Our solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe is not just moral in character but also material in character. Their victory is also our victory.

It is in this spirit of international solidarity that we will continue to work hand in hand with our sisters and brothers in Zimbabwe to demand from the U.S., British and other imperialist governments:

End the Economic Sanctions Now!

Full Land Reform for the Indigenous Zimbabweans!

Respect the Democratically Elected Leadership!

Stop the Demonizing!

Hands Off Zimbabwe!

Sign the Open Letter at http://www.iacenter.org/africa/zimbabweopenletter

Initial Signers:
Africans Helping Africans
December 12th Movement
Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST)
Friends of Zimbabwe
International Action Center (IAC)
Peoples Video Network
Dr. Molefi Asante, Pan-Africanist professor and author
Abayomi Azikiwe, editor, Pan-African News Wire
Amiri Baraka, playwright & poet
Sharon Black, All-Peoples Congress, Baltimore
Omowale Clay, December 12th Movement
Hillel Cohen, Doctor of Public Health, NY
Heather Cottin, Long Island Troops Out Now Coalition, NY
Chaka Cousins, All African People’s Revolutionary Party
Susan E. Davis, National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981*
Ellie Dorritie, ret., APWU*, WNY
Rachel Duell, prof., NJ
Andrea Egypt, organizer, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice (MECAWI)*
Sharon Eolis, nurse-practitioner, ret., NY
Leslie Feinberg, Co-founder, Rainbow Flags for Mumia, NY
Sherry Finkelman, UFT L. 2*, NY
Sara Flounders, co-director, IAC
Julie Fry, V-P., Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*, NY
Michael Gimbel, del., NYC Central Labor Council*
Jerome D. Goldberg, attorney, Detroit, MI
Fred Goldstein, author, “Colossus Feet with Clay: Low Wage Capitalism”
Deirdre Griswold, editor, Workers World
Teresa Gutierrez, coordinator, May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights*, NYC
Dr. Sue Harris, co-director, Peoples Video Network
Imani Henry, Playwright/Performer
Larry Holmes, national organizer, Bail Out the People Movement*
Debbie Johnson, co-founder, Detroit Action Network For Reproductive Rights*
Prof. Dr. Leonard Jefferies, City College CUNY
Stevan Kirschbaum, chair, Grievance Comm., USW L. 8751*, MA
Michael Kramer, I.D.F. veteran, Veterans for Peace, Chap. 021*, NJ
Donna Lazarus, UFT*, NJ
Janet Mayes, Ph.D., NY
Dr. James McIntosh, Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to African People
Monica Moorehead, Millions For Mumia; editor, “Marxism, Reparations and the Black Freedom Struggle”
Milt Neidenberg, ret., Teamsters L. 840*, NJ
Frank Neisser, CWA L. 1701, ret.*, MA
John Parker, coordinator, IAC, Los Angeles
Viola Plummer, December 12th Movement
Susan Schnur, Transit Union L. 268*, OH
Atty. Malik Zulu Shabazz, New Black Panther Party
David Sole, Pres., UAW L. 2334*, MI
Paul Teitelbaum, IAC, AZ
Jill White, EdD, IL
* For identification purposes only

Filed under: International solidarity

Chavez wins referendum, Wall Street groans

You can almost hear the groans and sighs of disappointment rising from Wall Street this morning.

No, it’s not the renewed predictions that the economy is continuing to crumble and that we have not yet gotten to the “bottom” of the recession yet.  It’s the news from Venezuela that the people have voted in favor of Hugo Chavez’s referendum lifting term limits.

The corporations were hoping for a little shadow of good news, which really had relatively little to do with how long President Chavez can continue to stand for democratic election.  They were hoping for a setback, a sign that all of the money and resources poured into opposing Chavez as a dictator or as a madman were paying off.  Given the mood on Wall Street, they were prepared to cheer even at a very close call that might show that Chavez’s “21st century socialism” had stumbled.  After all, the prospect of a successful alternative to their reign of greed, corruption and violence (I’m not just talking about pre-Chavez Venezuela . . . it’s equally true today, here) in these times is dangerous.  How long before more of us begin to consider the benefits of a government by and in the interests of the people?  So any tidbit that could demonstrate that the people of Venezuela were rejecting or even questioning the Bolivarian Revolution would have emboldened the bankers and CEO’s here in the U.S.

Sorry, Charlie.  The MarketWatch headline put it succinctly, “Chavez easily wins vote to abolish term limits.”  Yes, easily. With at least 54% of the vote even before all of the tallies are in.

Filed under: International solidarity

BBC: Prominent Jewish MP condemns Israel’s attack on Gaza

MP makes Israeli troops Nazi link

A prominent Jewish MP has compared the actions of Israeli troops with Nazis who forced his family to flee Poland.

Sir Gerald Kaufman, MP for Gorton in Manchester, drew the parallel during a Commons debate on the Gaza conflict.

Some members of the Jewish community – including his fellow MPs – have questioned the comments.

Louise Ellman MP, of the Labour Friends of Israel group, said the “dreadful” war in Gaza was not comparable to German actions in World War II.

Sir Gerald, who was brought up as an orthodox Jew and Zionist, told MPs: “My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town .. a German soldier shot her dead in her bed.

“My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza.”

“The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploit the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians.”

Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip have passed 1,000, medical sources in Gaza say, but Israel has continued to resist international calls for a ceasefire.

The Israeli government says the action is necessary to prevent Hamas rocket attacks into southern Israel.

Labour MP Louise Ellman said: “The Nazis were about rounding up and exterminating people because of their origins.

“What we’re witnessing in Gaza is a dreadful war and the Israelis are trying to stop Hamas continuing to launch rockets from Gaza, targeting and killing and murdering Israeli citizens.”

But speaking to the BBC on Friday, Sir Gerald said he was standing by his comments.

“We had an IRA bomb in Manchester which destroyed much of the centre – we didn’t send troops over to Belfast to murder 1,000 Catholics.”

Sir Gerald said he had been a long-term supporter of Israel and has personally known many of its prime pinisters.

But he added: “I am not going to stand by and keep silent when the Israeli troops – with a dreadful government sending them there – kill large numbers of innocent people with no useful result at the end of it all.

Filed under: Fighting oppression, International solidarity